terry carter
Birmingham Pals
Remembering
Birmingham Weekly Post Saturday 9 September 1916
Youngest Birmingham Soldier Killed
Pte G W Collett, killed, was the son of Mr Collett, Holliday Road, Erdington. He was one of the youngest, if not actually the youngest soldier in the British Army. He had been with the colours two years, and was only 16 at the time of his death. He was 5ft 9in. in height and looked older than he was. In fact, when he enlisted the doctors accepted his statement that he was 19.
Pte George William Collett, KIA 18 July 1916, No.3270, 1/8th Bn. The Royal Warwickshire Regiment has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Somme Memorial to the Missing, Thiepval. Nowadays with the wealth of research material available, we now know that a 16 year casualty during WW1 was not such a rare event as the newspaper made out. In fact on 1 July 1916, Pte John James Perkins, from Camp Hill, of the 1/6th Bn Royal Warwicks was killed and he was also 16.
Terry
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