12/28 Lance-corporal Colin Mitchell Campbell 29/5/1885-3/8/1918

The late Colin Mitchell Campbell, who died in the Dunedin Hospital on August 3, was born in 1888 at Lochgilphead, Scotland, and went to sea when quite a lad. In 1907 he joined the service of the Union Steam Ship Company, in which he proved himself an efficient and capable officer. At the outbreak of war he was among the first of the company's officers to enlist, and left, with the Third Auckland Regiment upon the departure of the Main Body for Egypt. He assisted in the loading of the ship and the embarkation, and subsequently until the first landing at the Dardanelles was retained as an extra officer on the bridge. Mr Campbell also took an active part in the skirmish on the Suez Canal. He was very badly wounded eight hours after the landing, and after 18 months in hospital in Egypt and England, he came to New Zealand as extra officer on the hospital ship Maheno. He had four trips as second officer, and when coming out last voyage contracted an illness from which, owing to his weakened constitution he never recovered. Mr Campbell was a member of the Waimana troop of the Legion of Frontiersmen. When in England in 1916 he married, and his wife is expected to arrive in New' Zealand next week. For many years he made his home in Dunedin, where he made many friends, and his genial and kindly disposition endeared him to all. -Otago Daily Times, 7/8/1918.

Looking at Colin Campbell's service record, it looks as if he suffered a broken thigh from a gunshot wound.  It took a long time to heal - perhaps there was infection involved - and it is also possible that he was an early New Zealand victim of Spanish Influenza.  He was discharged from the army on January 20th, 1917, as being "no longer being physically fit for war services on account of wounds received in action."

He is commemorated on the cenotaph in his Scottish home town of Lochgilphead.

Andersons Bay Cemetery, Dunedin.  Allan Steele photo.

Lochgilphead cenotaph.