Fourteen-year-old soldier to be remembered on memorial

A 14-year-old soldier who persuaded officers he was old enough to fight for his country will be remembered on a new memorial.

Private George William Collett, born in 1899, lived on Harcourt Street, Newark, and was educated at Magnus Grammar Academy.

His mother, Elizabeth Collett (nee Coombes) died aged 36, and it believed this caused George to leave school for paid employment.

He found work at the General Electric Company at Witton, Birmingham, and his father moved with him.

After war was declared, George was determined to join the Army.

He enlisted in Aston, Birmingham at 14. At 5ft 9ins tall, he managed to persuade the authorities he was 19.

He served in the 1/8th battalion, Warwickshire Regiment.

Private Collett was killed in action on July 18, 1916, when his trench came under heavy bombardment.

An extract from the Magnus School diary of the Great War reads: "George had completed his training and was in France before his father, Joseph, a former borough councillor, discovered exactly where he was.

"Joseph asked the Army to send the boy home. George demurred. And in March, Joseph received a letter from the military authorities stating that George ‘has been medically examined and found physically fit to bear the strain of active service, and as he has expressed the wish to remain with his unit in the Expeditionary Force, he is being retained.’"

Private Collett wrote a letter stating: "I think it is my duty to stop out here.

"I assure you that the wet, muddy trenches are no attraction — it is no delight to sit in two foot of water all night long.

"Nevertheless, why are we all sticking it so? Supposing all us chaps were to give in? Then the Boches would get through.

"We have seen and heard what the Germans did to the peasants when they advanced in the early part of the war. And we know they would do their work just as well on the English civilians provided they got through and overran England.

"That is the reason we have got to hold out. So you can see the reason why I am sticking it.

"There are plenty of chaps not much older than me doing the same."

Private Collett has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, France.

He name will also be included on a new memorial commemorating Nottinghamshire’s war dead.

The memorial, in the Memorial Gardens on Notting-ham’s Victoria Embankment, will feature 14,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and civilians across the county who died, including many from the Advertiser area.

The chosen memorial deisgn, which was formally launched on Armed Forces Day in June, is an elevated, circular design, giving a protected space for reflection.

A five-metre high monument will feature in the centre, explaining the purpose of the memorial.

There will be space lower down for poppies to be placed in the lead up to Remembrance Day and other events.

Lighting under the holes will aim to create a stunning effect at night for visitors.

Names of the fallen will be etched into the circular stone surrounding the monument, with lighting to the top of the ring to illuminate the surface and the names.

Nottingham city and Nottinghamshire county councils, along with the county’s seven district and borough councils, including Newark and Sherwood, have pledged a total of £270,000 for the project.

It is hoped the remaining £50,000 that is needed will be made up of donations from local people and businesses.