Edward James Mortimer Collins (29 June 1827 – 28 July 1876) was an English

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

, journalist and poet. Some of his lyrics, with their "light grace, their sparkling wit and their airy philosophy", were described in the 1911 ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' as "equal to anything of their kind in modern English".

Biography

He was born at

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

, son of Francis Collins, a

solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...

there, and his wife Maud Branscombe. He was educated at a private school, and after some years spent as mathematics master at Elizabeth College, Guernsey, he relocated to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Collins devoted himself to

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

written from the Conservative Party perspective, mainly for

periodical Periodical literature (singularly called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) consists of Publication, published works that appear in new releases on a regular schedule (''issues'' or ''numbers'', often numerically divided into annu ...

s. He also wrote occasional and humorous verse, and several

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

s. Soon after his second marriage, to Frances Collins in 1868, he settled at Knowl Hill,

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

and from this time he rarely left his home for a day and published several novels. Collins died at the Nightingale Hotel, Richmond, while visiting his son-in-law. His funeral was attended by many literary friends, including

Tom Taylor Tom Taylor (19 October 1817 – 12 July 1880) was an English dramatist, critic, biographer, public servant, and editor of Punch (magazine), ''Punch'' magazine. Taylor had a brief academic career, holding the professorship of English literatu ...

, the editor of Punch, the novelist R. D. Blackmore, and the poets Frederick Locker and R H Horne. He was buried in St Peter's Church, Petersham; there is no memorial stone.

Writings

In 1855, he published his ''Idyls and Rhymes''; and in 1865 his first story, ''Who is the Heir?'' was published. A second volume of lyrics, ''The Inn of Strange Meetings'', was issued in 1871; and in 1872 he produced his longest and best sustained poem, ''The British Birds, a communication from the Ghost of

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

''. He also wrote several novels, including ''Sweet Anne Page'' (1868), ''Two Plunges for a Pearl'' (1872), ''Miranda'' (1873), ''Mr. Carrington'' (1873, under the name of R. T. Cotton), ''Squire Silchester's Whim'' (1873, set in Devon), ''Sweet and Twenty'' (1875), and ''A Fight with Fortune'' (1876). His

three-volume novel The three-volume novel (sometimes three-decker or triple decker) was a standard form of publishing for British fiction during the nineteenth century. It was a significant stage in the development of the modern novel as a form of popular literatur ...

''Transmigration'' (1873) is "a fantasy of multiple incarnations of which the middle one is set on a

utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', which describes a fictiona ...

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

."George Locke, "Wells in Three Volumes? A Sketch of British Publishing in the 19th Century," ''Science Fiction Studies'', Volume 3 No. 3 (November 1976), p. 283. Collins is credited by the ''

New English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editi ...

'' with introducing ''psithurism'' to the English language. Derived from the Ancient Greek for "whisper", it was applied specifically to the whispering of the wind. This was observed (inaccurately) by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' newspaper in an editorial of 30 September 1909 - reprinted on 30 September 2006 but not available online.

Notes

References

* *

External links

* * *Archival material at {{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Mortimer 1827 births 1876 deaths Writers from Plymouth, Devon English male poets English male novelists 19th-century English poets 19th-century English novelists 19th-century English male writers Occasional poets Victorian novelists Victorian poets English fantasy writers Writers from London 19th-century English journalists English male journalists Writers from Berkshire Burials at St Peter's, Petersham