Arthur James Nicholls Collins

A Fourth Hand with Trawler Queen of Devon (Lowestoft), Arthur died on 20th of December 1914 at the age of 16.

Arthur was born at Lowestoft on 10 March 1898, a son of Arthur and Johanna Collins. He was baptised at Saint Margaret's Church, Lowestoft, on 30 March 1899, and his family lived at 11 Factory Street. He attended London Road Council School before, on 4 July 1910, becoming a pupil at Saint John's School. A marginal note in Saint John's School register states that Arthur left on 22 February 1912 - gone to sea. In 1910 his family lived at 37 Beckham Road, and later they lived at 23 Wilde Street, Lowestoft. 

His father Arthur who was also serving on the Queen of Devon died at the same time. Arthur's brother William died in 1917 in the loss of the trawler Chrysolite. 

On Tuesday 15 December 1914 the Queen of Devon sailed from Lowestoft. On 20 December an explosion was heard around fifty-five miles east by north of Lowestoft and it was presumed that the Queen of Devon had struck a mine. 

See: World War One – History of Lowestoft's Fishing Industry (wordpress.com)