Mr. W. W. Collins.

Fair Play, Volume I, Issue 9, 30 December 1893, Page 9

Mr. W. W. Collins.

Mr. William Whitehouse Collins, whose portrait we publish above, is one of the new members of Parliament, and represents Christchurch in the House of Representatives. He was born at Harborne, Staffordshire, on September 4th, 1854, and is the grandson of John Collins who, as a Chartist leader, suffered 12 months’ imprisonment in Warwick gaol in 1839. His father, Joseph Collins, was a Birmingham manufacturer. Mr. Collins received his education in a private school at Harborne, and afterwards studied in the Midland Institute and at Mason’s Science College, Birmingham. Mr. Collins at one time had serious intentions of entering the Ministry, and in preparation for that work drifted into a line of thought which eventually landed him on the freethought platform. He was for some years employed in his father’s business, and on his retirement about 1876, became one of the firm of Collins Bros. During Charles Bradlaugh’s Parliamentary struggle, Mr. Collins threw himself heartily into the contest for constitutional rights, speaking in all the principal centres in England until the demands on his time compelled him to decide between business pursuits and the platform. From this time forward Mr. Collins had the personal friendship of Charles Bradlaugh. In 1884, after passthe examination in science and philosophy, he was granted a diploma as special lecturer to the National Secular Society. He was a member of the Birmingham Junior Reform Club, and was in immediate contact with some of the men who have made their names famous in English politics. In 1885 he received and accepted an invitation from the Sydney Liberal Association to become its permaneut lecturer, and in January, 1886, delivered hift first lecture in Sydney. Since then he has lectured in nearly every part of Australasia; While in Sydney Mr*

Collins started a newspaper, Freedom, advocating political, social and religious liberty and himself edited it. In January, 1890, he came to New Zealand and lectured throughout the colony, eventually settling down in Christchurch, where ho has remained almost continually since, being President and lecturer for the Canterbury Fx*eethought Association. In politics Mr. Collins is an ardent Liberal. In philosophy he is a groat admirer and devoted student of Herbert Spencer. Ho has in science and art received South Kensington distinctions, and was for a time science lecturer to the Technical Board of New South Wales.