Born in Warrington and at the age of thirteen was working as a wire-drawer in a wire rope works. He became interested in Lepidoptera and in 1905 moved to Oxford as a temporary assistant in the Hope Department. Smith,A.Z. (1987) p.30 quotes Collins's letter of appointment dated 30 January 1905: 'to be in the Department & begin work at 7.30 each week-day, having had breakfast before arrival, or taking it during & without interrupting his work. An hour's interval for lunch or dinner... Work resumed in the afternoon...& continued till 5.30 except on Saturdays when there is no work in the afternoon. Nett result 9 hrs per day for 5 days; 6 hrs on Saturday: Total 51 hours per week...'. She also notes that Collins soon came under the influence of J.J.Walker and William Holland who involved him in the study of the Coleoptera on which he subsequently worked until his retirement at the age of 70 in November 1935. Collins' main beetle collection is in the Horniman Museum. It contains about 15,500 specimens in 34 cabinet drawers from England, Scotland and Wales with a few from Ireland. Not all the specimens bear a collector’s label, those that do include the names of J.J.Walker, W. Holland, N. Joy, C.E.Tottenham and H. Donisthorpe. Most of the specimens date from the late 1890s to the mid 1940s (I am grateful to Christine Wildhaber for this information. The Horniman Museum would be pleased to hear from anyone knowing more about the collection). Johnson (2004) p.9 records that there is a collection of c,2,000 specimens in the Manchester Museum (together with collections of other orders). He also records: ‘On Collins’ wishes, his collection was left to Harry Britten who retained specimens of the rarer species, and locally divided the remainder amongst active young entomologists, including Charles F. Griffith, Alan Brindle and others.’ Johnson (2004) p.9 records that there is a collection of c,2,000 specimens in the Manchester Museum (together with collections of other orders). He also records: ‘On Collins’ wishes, his collection was left to Harry Britten who retained specimens of the rarer species, and locally divided the remainder amongst active young entomologists, including Charles F. Griffith, Alan Brindle and others.’Other insect collections including Diptera, Hemiptera and Hymenoptera are housed in the HDO, along with some notebooks and other manuscript material. I have also seen beetles collected by Collins in the general collection at Manchester Museum and in the E.C.Bedwell collection at the Castle Museum, Norwich. Further collections of Diptera, Hymenoptera, etc. are mentioned by Hancock, E.G. and Pettit, C.W. (1981). Pederson lists correspondence with C.J.Wainwright, 1925-1938, in the RESL. Donisthorpe named Oxypoda Collinsi after him. There is an obituary in NWN., 17, 1942, pp.113-114. (MD 3/02)
Dates
1865 - 3 April 1942