251244 Pte. Alfred Collins British Army 5th Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry from:Little Compton (d.25th September 1915) Alfred Collins was born in Little Compton in the county of Oxfordshire in January 1896. He was the son of George Hubert and Lily Collins.
He enlisted into the British Army in Oxford in October 1914. He gave his age as 19 at the time of his enlistment even though he was in fact only 18 at the time. His occupation at the time of enlistment was listed as a plough boy. He was single at the time of enlistment. He entered the British army as Private 15281 into the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. He was posted to the 5th (Service) Battalion, A Company.
He embarked to France with the battalion and landed at Boulogne on 21st of May 1915. The Battalion formed part of the 42nd brigade in the 14th (Light) Division. The Battalion took part in an attack on enemy positions at Bellwaarde Farm near Ypres in Belgium on 25th of September 1915. It sustained heavy losses during the attack. Private 15281 Alfred Collins was reported missing presumed killed in action during that attack on Bellewaarde Farm on 25th of September 1915.
He has no known grave and so is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres in Belgium. He was posthumously awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal. The medals would have been forwarded to his next of kin after the war.
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