James Collis

Infobox Military Person
name=James Collis


caption=
born=birth date|1856|04|19
died=death date and age|1918|06|28|1856|04|19
placeofbirth=Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England
placeofdeath=Battersea, London, England
nickname=
allegiance=British Army
branch=
serviceyears=
rank=
unit=
commands=
battles=
awards=Victoria Cross (forfeited and re-listed)
relations=
laterwork=

James Collis VC (19 April 1856 - 28 June 1918) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Details

Collis was a 24 year old Gunner in the Royal Horse Artillery, British Army, during the Second Afghan War.

Action

On 28 July 1880, during the retreat from Maiwand to Kandahar in Afghanistan, when the officer commanding the battery was trying to bring in a limber with wounded men under cross-fire, Gunner Collis ran forward and drew the enemy's fire on himself, thus taking their attention from the limber. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for this action.

Citation

:"For conspicuous bravery during the retreat from Maiwand to Kandahar when the officer commanding the battery was endeavouring to bring in a limber with wounded men under a cross-fire, in running forward and drawing the enemy's fire on himself, thus taking off their attention from the limber."

Further information

Collis was one of eight men whose VCs were forfeited. He was stripped of the medal on 18 November, 1895 after being convicted of bigamy. [ [http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/stewart/bbcollis.htm COLLIS ] ]

On Collis' death his sister made a plea to King George to restore the decoration to her brother. The King was deeply touched and felt that once the medal had been awarded it should not be forfeited. His Private Secretary, Lord Stamfordham sent a letter on the 26 July 1920 he expressed his views with some force. "The King feels so strongly that, no matter the crime committed by anyone on whom the VC has been conferred, the decoration should not be forfeited. Even were a VC to be sentenced to be hanged for murder, he should be allowed to wear his VC on the scaffold." [ [http://www.victoriacross.co.uk/vcforfeitures.html VC FORFEITURES ] at www.victoriacross.co.uk]

He was born in Cambridge on 19 April 1856, and died of a heart attack in Battersea hospital on 28 June 1918. When he died, his coffin was draped with the Union Flag and borne on a gun carriage escorted by a military firing party. At the Wandsworth cemetery he was given full military honours and there was no mention of his crime or the forfeiture of the Victoria Cross. For 80 years he laid in an unmarked pauper's grave, with no headstone to acknowledge his act of bravery in the service of his country. A short ceremony was held on 22 May 1998 at Wandsworth Council's Magdalen Road Cemetery to mark the erection of a headstone, resplendent with the carving of his Victoria Cross. [ [http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/bbcollis.htm JAMES COLLIS VC ] at www.victoriacross.org.uk]

References

External links

* [http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/stewart/lonswest.htm Location of grave and VC medal] "(S.W. London)"
* [http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/stewart/aaholder.htm#Colliss Gunner James Colliss]
* [http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/stewart/bbcollis.htm News Item] "(biography & re-burial details)"