Full medal write up
MILITARY GENERAL SERVICE 1793, CLASP TALAVERA ‘CHAS COLLIS, CAPT 24TH FOOT’, PUNJAB 1848, CLASP CHILIANWALA ‘ENSIGN H.C.B. COLLIS, 24TH FOOT’, INDIA GENERAL SERVICE 1854, CLASP NORTHWEST FRONTIER ‘LIEUT. G.W.R. COLLIS H.M'S 1ST BN.6TH REGT.’, BRITISH WAR AND VICTORY MEDAL 1914-20 ‘2ND LIEUT. C.R.H. COLLIS, R.M.’, SPECIAL CONSTABULARY LONG SERVICE MEDAL G.VR ‘CHARLES R.H. COLLIS’
Charles Collis was born on 2 December 1784 in High Holburn, Middlesex and was commissioned Ensign of the 5th Foot on 23 January 1800. Advanced to Lieutenant on 17 September 1803, he became Captain of the 24th Foot on 31 October 1805. Serving with the 2/24th, he landed with his battalion at Lisbon in April 1809 for service in the Peninsular campaign. Serving alongside the 2/31st and 1/45th in Mackenzie's Brigade, 3rd Division, the 2/24th were among the small number of British troops engaged in the combat at Casa de Salinas on 27 July 1809, where the battalion suffered just 9 casualties of the 447 lost by the 3rd Division. However the following day at Talavera, the 2/24th suffered an horrendous number of casualties when supporting the Guards, many of the wounded being burned to death when the grass they were fighting over caught fire. Captain Collis was among the wounded, being shot through the legs and was left on the field of battle, where he subsequently taken prisoner by the French. After treatment for his wounds, he arrived at the notorious fortress of Verdun on 13 May 1810, remaining in French hands until released in April 1814.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Talavera
According to analysis in Michael Lewis’s ‘Napoleon and his British Captives’ the Army accounted for only 25%, or 1,000 officers and other ranks, of a total of 4,000 British sailors and soldiers held as prisoners of war by Napoleon. Lewis indicates that a total of 229 Army officers were held as prisoners during the Napoleonic War. A particularly high number of officers were taken prisoner after Talavera, many wounded; Lewis indicating no less than 52. In addition, analysis suggests that perhaps 16 Surgeons and Assistant Surgeons elected to attend to the needs of the wounded after the battle in full knowledge that they would fall into captivity as Wellington’s forces left the field. Captain Collis’s period of captivity would have been spent largely on parole in Verdun, this at his own expense, having given his word not to attempt escape. He was released with the termination of the war with Napoleon in April 1814. Five other wounded officers of the 24th were left on the field at Talavera and subsequently taken prisoner. Assistant Surgeon Elkington of the 24th was also taken prisoner and it is likely he was one of those who volunteered to stay behind with the wounded.
After his release by the French, Collis’s wounds prevented him from continuing active military service, though he was promoted Brevet Major 12 August 1819. He subsequently exchanged on half-pay of the 84th Foot in December that year, receiving a pension of £100 due to wounds received at Talavera. He was finally advanced to Lieutenant Colonel (half-pay) on 10 January 1837.
Collis had married in 1825 at the age of 40, Emily Ridsdon, with who he would have 8 children; 3 daughters and five sons, by which time he was living in Milverton, Somerset. Of his sons, his eldest, Hector Crabb Bartholomew Collis, would follow his father into the 24th Foot and was killed at the battle of Chillianwalla in 1849. His 2nd and 3rd sons, Algernon Charles Lukyn Ridsale Collis (1832-1847) and Wyndham Trevellian Browne Collis (1834-1845) both died in youth and were buried in Somerset. However his 4th and 5th sons followed their father and elder brother into the army, joining the 6th Warwickshire Regiment of Foot. The 4th son Gustavus Wheatley Berry Collis (1840-1910) was Commissioned Ensign, 6th Foot on 24 April 1858 and retired from the army with the Honorary rank of Major on 17 April 1880. The 5th son Augustus Randolph Adolphus Collis (1842 -1913) was Commissioned Ensign, 6th Foot on 27 April 1860, Lieutenant, 1 December 1865 and Captain 12 May 1875. He served alongside his brother until Gustavas retired from the army in 1880 and Augustus retired himself the following year with the Honorary rank of Major. Unlike Gustavas, he did not serve in the Hazara campaign and had no medal entitlement.
Lieutenant Colonel Charles Collis died on 26 August 1849 a few months after the death of his eldest son. A memorial tablet in memory of Charles and Hector was placed in St Peter and St Paul Church, Bishop’s Hull, Taunton, Somerset, where it still resides:
“THIS TABLET IS ERECTED TO THE MEMORY OF LIEUT COL CHARLES COLLIS AND HIS ELDEST SON, ENSIGN HECTOR C. B. COLLIS, BOTH OF H.M. 24TH REGT. LIEUT COL COLLIS WAS SEVERELY WOUNDED AND TAKEN PRISONER AT THE BATTLE OF TALAVERA IN 1809 AND DIES AT WILTON ON 26 AUGUST 1849, AGE YEARS. ENSIGN COLLIS WAS KILLED CARRYING THE QUEEN’S COLOUR AT CHILLIANWALLAH ON 13TH JANUARY 1849 IN THE 21ST YEAR OF HIS AGE.”………….
SEE PDF FOR FULL WRITEUPCondition; couple of EK’s to first two, or NEF, IGS/WW1 pair better. All with attractive patina and original ribbons, the MGS/Punjab these on their original long ribbons. Medals came from the family, but alas the family no longer had Ensign Collis’s Colour Belt section when purchased from them. Presumably the medals were handed down through the line of Major Augustus Randolph Adolphus Collis.
A quite outstanding and important group relating to Officers casualties of the 24th Foot, which along with Isandhlwana, Talavera and Chillianwala being the most disastrous battles in the regiments history, for which medals were awarded.