' Captain Thomas Chuck Collins '
Information thanks to Aline Burgess, from her book ' The history of a Ware family'.

Thomas was born in Bristol in 1801, to Thomas and Susanna (Chuck) Collins.

Thomas Chuck Collins was a British Army officer as his father was; he obtained a commission in his father's regiment by purchase in 1820. I cannot think Thomas could possibly have afforded to pay for the commission, so I think perhaps the Chuck family might have helped him out.

In 1825 young Thomas purchased his lieutenancy and transferred into an infantry regiment which was serving in the West Indies, but had its home depot in Winchester. I believe he joined the Depot staff in order to stay near his parents, who were left behind in Dorchester when The Bays moved on to Manchester.

When Thomas Collins senior finally died on the 15th September 1827, he soon transferred regiments once more and elected to sail for India to join a British regiment stationed in Trichinopoli. If he was prepared to risk the climate, a young officer's pay would stretch much further in India than in England and Thomas was evidently attracted by the excitement and opportunities of an exotic foreign land.

In India, Thomas Collins had transferred into the 44th Regiment of Foot in 1831, when his original regiment was due to return to England. In 1841 the 44th was sent to Afghanistan to relieve one of the regiments in Kabul, where they were defending the Shah nominated by the British to replace the previous ruler, whom they had deposed as unfriendly to British interests.

This action turned out to be a great mistake, as Shah Suja and his British support force were intensely resented by the Afghan tribal chiefs. The First Afghan War was one long story of bad decision-making, awful blunders and incompatible personalities, which inevitably led to disaster.

Shortly after Thomas and the 44th arrived in Kabul, the trouble erupted into a violent uprising, which eventually resulted in the whole British 'Army of the Indus' ignominiously evacuating Kabul and endeav­ouring to retire to Jellalabad, where there was a small British force.

The retreat began on the 6th January 1842 in deep snow and they were under continuous attack from bands of tribesmen from the very start. After three days, General Elphinstone ordered all the wives and children to be given up as hostages to the enemy, to save them from certain death by attack, starvation or freezing cold. The husbands of the women and a handful of men too badly wounded to fight, were ordered to go with them.

The rest of the army, which had set out with 4,500 fighting men and 12,000 camp followers, valiantly struggled on, being fiercely attacked every inch of the way. By January 13th there were only about forty of them left alive and Thomas was one of them.

The final annihilation of the army took place at a village called Gandamak, when all but half a dozen were slaughtered. The few who were taken prisoner were sent to join the rest of the hostages, except for just one single man, Dr. Bryden, who managed to escape both death and capture and struggled on to Jellalabad. It was the most dire disaster ever experienced by the British army up to that date.

It was many months before the dreadful news filtered back to England. They did not hear of the November uprising until March, so the news of the Last Stand at Gandamak would not have reached Susanna, his mother, before about June and even then, she must have held out hopes for many more months that SOMEHOW Thomas had managed to survive. Twenty years were to elapse before she was to hear a first-hand account of the last days of her elder son's life.

See also:
General Pollocks Memoirs - edited version
The Distastrous Campaign of Afghanistan

A memorial stone in one of the churches in Ware reads...

To the memory of
THOMAS CHUCK COLLINS
Captain of H.M.s 44th Regiment,
Eldest son of
THOMAS COLLINS
Lieutenant and Adjutant, of the
2nd Regiment of H.M.s Dragoon Guards
and SUSANNA his wife
who was killed at Gundamuck, in the
Disastrous Campaign of Affghanistan
January 13th 1842,
in the 41st year of his age.
And of MARGARET,
Second daughter of the above
THOMAS and SUSANNA COLLINS
and wife of
GEORGE TREVOR SAYERS CARRUTHERS,
Captain of 1st Regiment
Madras Native Infantry
who died at Bellary, Madras
February 21st 1852,
in the 41st year of her age

This tablet
is erected by their loving mother
A.D. MDCCCLXI

Another stone I have been informed of by someone contacting me from the India List is:

 H.M.s 44th Foot Regiment

Memorial in Alverstoke Church, near Gosport – England.

"Sacred to the memory of
Colonel T. Mackrell, ADC to Her Majesty.
Major W.B. Scott, Captain T. Swaine,
Captain R.B. McRea, Captain F.R. Leighton,
Captain T. Robinson, Captain F.C. Collins,
Lieutenant W.H. Dodgin, Lieutenant W.G. White,
Lieutenant W.G. Wade, Lieutenant H. Cadett,
Lieutenant S. Swinton, Lieutenant F.J.C. Fortye,
Lieutenant A.W. Gray, Paymaster T. Bourke,
Lieut. and Qr. Master R.B. Halahan,
Surgeon J. Harcourt, Assistant Surgeon W. Balfour,
Assistant Surgeon W. Primrose.
And 645 non-commissioned officers
 and soldiers of the 44th Regiment,
who fell upon the field of battle in the
disastrous Afghan War of 1841 and 1842.
They sank with arms in their hands unconquered,
but overpowered by the united horrors
of climate, treachery, and barbarous warfare;
their colours saved by Captain J. Souter,
one of the few survivors, hang above this stone,
which is erected to their memory
by the officers of the 44th Regiment, June 1844."

I am fairly sure that  the Collins listed above is actually Thomas Chuck Collins, and that whoever transcribed the records had made a small mistake in transcription, as easily happened in those days with written records.

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