William Collins

Bran Nicol (University of Surrey)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Dates

Born 25 Dec 1721
Died 12 Jun 1759
Activity 1739-1759

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Clergyman
Poet

Resources

Biographically, William Collins is an elusive figure. We know the bare facts of his life, but these lead to many more questions than answers. He was born on Christmas Day 1721 in Chichester, West Sussex, to fairly elderly parents. His father, William Collins, was a hatter by trade, who had twice been Mayor of Chichester. From 1725 to 1733 Collins was probably educated at the Prebendal School in the town. At the end of his time there, two crucial events occurred: on 30 September 1733 his father died. Around five months later Collins was admitted as a Scholar to Winchester School in Hampshire, where his contemporaries included Joseph Warton, who became a fellow poet, and remained Collins's close friend throughout his life. Indeed a …

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

1484 words

Citation: Nicol, Bran. "William Collins". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 January 2001 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=963, accessed 25 November 2024.]

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here