William Frederick Collins (1901 – 1901)

                                    Unnamed Collins (1908 – 1908)

George Collins was born in 1873 in Quenington in Gloucestershire, the son of Emanuel and Elizabeth, nee Bulpit, Collins. Both his parents are buried at Newtown Road Cemetery. George married Elizabeth Ann Green in 1899 in Newbury district. Elizabeth was born in 1872 in Bucklebury.

In the 1901 census George and Elizabeth were recorded living in Bartholomew Place in Newbury along with infant son Hubert Henry. George was a whitesmith’s labourer.

George and Elizabeth had another son William Frederick just a few weeks after the census. Sadly, William died aged 4 months on 23 August 1901 and he was buried at Newtown Road Cemetery on 27 August. An announcement appeared in the Newbury Weekly News dated 29 August as below.

COLLINS – Aug. 23, at Bartholomew Place, Newbury, William Frederick, the beloved infant son of George and Elizabeth Collins.

In April 1908 a stillborn child was born to Mrs Elizabeth Collins of Staple Yard in Newbury, according to the Newtown Road accounts. The child was buried at Newtown Road Cemetery on 30 April 1908.

In the subsequent 1911 census George and Elizabeth were recorded with two children Hubert Henry aged 11 and Elizabeth Zoe Cecilia aged 4 in 3 Rotherfield Place, Park Lane in Newbury. George was a blacksmith’s striker.

In 1912 George and Elizabeth had another daughter, Millicent Gwendoline Evelyn.

George died aged 45 on 19 November 1918. At the time of death he was a railway goods porter living at 12 Wilfred Place, Bartholomew Street in Newbury. An inquest was held on 21 November and evidence was given that his heart was more than twice the natural size and very fatty. The doctor giving evidence had no doubt that the cause of death was failure of the heart’s action from fatty degeneration and the verdict given was in accordance with this evidence. George was buried on 26 November at Shaw Cemetery.

In the 1921 census Elizabeth was recorded as a widow living with her three children in Enborne, her son Hubert was recorded as being disabled in the war.

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