{{short description|English cricketer and British Indian Army officer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2019}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = Brigadier | name = Lionel Peter Collins | image = Brigadier_L_P_Collins.jpg | alt = Collins in military uniform, seated at a desk. | caption = As commandant of the Indian Military College, 1935 | honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|GBR|CB|CSI|DSO|OBE}} | birth_date = 27 November 1878 | birth_place = Reading, Berkshire, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1957|9|28|1878|11|27}} | death_place = Fleet, Hampshire, England | family = {{plainlist|*Sidney Olivier (brother-in-law) *Louis Hunt (son-in-law)}} | module = {{infobox military person | embed=yes | allegiance = United Kingdom | branch = British Army | service_years = 1900{{endash}}1936 | battles_label = Wars | battles = {{Tree list}} * First World War ** Battle of Neuve Chapelle\ * Third Anglo-Afghan War {{Tree list/end}} | commands = Indian MIlitary College }} | module2 = {{Infobox cricketer | child=yes | nickname = | batting = Right-handed | bowling = | role = | country = England | club1 = Berkshire | year1 = 1897–1913 | club2 = Oxford University | year2 = 1899 | club3 = Marylebone Cricket Club | year3 = 1907–1910 | columns = 1 | column1 = First-class | matches1 = 19 | runs1 = 858 | bat avg1 = 26.81 | 100s/50s1 = 1/3 | top score1 = 102* | hidedeliveries = true | catches/stumpings1 = 5/– | date = 13 January | year = 2019 | source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/11250.html Cricinfo }} }}
Brigadier '''Lionel Peter Collins''', {{postnominals|GBR|CB|CSI|DSO|OBE}} (27 November 1878 – 28 September 1957) was an English cricketer and British Indian Army officer.
Born in Reading, Collins was educated at Marlborough College, a public school in Wiltshire, and first played minor counties cricket for his native Berkshire in 1897. He went up to Keble College, Oxford, in 1898, where he made first-class debut in 1899 for Oxford University Cricket Club. He joined the British Army upon leaving Oxford in 1900 and spent most of his early career serving in British India. In 1904, playing for a Gurkha Brigade team, he made two centuries in the same match, and repeated this achievement twice in the span of ten days: a feat described by ''Wisden'' as "quite without parallel in the history of the game".<ref name=":0" />
Collins made his final first-class appearances before the First World War, playing for the Marylebone Cricket Club, for the Army and Navy, and for the Free Foresters. During the war, he served with the Gurkhas on the Western Front and received the Distinguished Service Order in 1915 for actions during the Battle of Neuve Chapelle. He later returned to India and was mentioned in dispatches for service in Baluchistan during 1918. Collins was with British forces during the Third Anglo-Afghan War of 1919 and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his actions. From 1932 to 1936 he was the first commandant of the Indian Military College at Dehra Dun.
Collins was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1934, and also made aide-de-camp to King George V. He retired from the army in October 1936 and died at Fleet, Hampshire, on 28 September 1957.
==Early life, cricket and military career== The seventh son of Henry Collins, he was born at Reading on 27 November 1878.<ref name="BOOK">{{cite book |last1=Humphris |first1=Mary |last2=O'Moore |first2=Creagh |title=The V.C. and D.S.O. |date=2001 |publisher=Naval & Military Press |page=389 |volume=2nd volume |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VHWOAQAACAAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref name=profile/> Collins was educated at Marlborough College, before going up to Keble College, Oxford in 1898.<ref name="BOOK"/><ref>{{cite book |title=Oxford University Gazette |date=1898 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=80 |volume=28th volume |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4JRIAQAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref> He had debuted in minor counties cricket for Berkshire in 1897,<ref name="MCM">{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/28/28654/Minor_Counties_Championship_Matches.html |title=Minor Counties Championship Matches played by Lionel Collins |website=CricketArchive |access-date=25 January 2019 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> before debuting in first-class cricket for Oxford University against AJ Webbe's XI at Oxford in 1899.<ref name="FCM">{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/28/28654/First-Class_Matches.html |title=First-Class Matches played by Lionel Collins |website=CricketArchive |access-date=25 January 2019 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> He made six further first-class appearances for the university, all of which came in 1899 and gained him a blue.<ref name="FCM"/><ref name="OBIT">{{cite web|url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/228433.html |title=Wisden – Obituaries in 1957 |website=ESPNcricinfo |date=4 December 2005 |access-date=25 January 2019}}</ref> While attending Oxford, he also gained a blue in hockey.<ref name="OBIT"/>
After graduating from Oxford, Collins enlisted in the British Army in April 1900 as a second lieutenant in the part-time 6th (Worcestershire Militia) Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=27183|date=17 April 1900|page=2510}}</ref> He transferred to a regular army battalion in January of the following year.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=27293|date=17 March 1901|page=1766}}</ref> In October 1901 he was seconded to serve in British India with the Indian Staff Corps, being promoted to lieutenant on 21 December.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=27395|date=7 January 1902|page=150}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=27426|date=18 April 1902|page=2603}}</ref> Collins toured India with a Gurkha Brigade cricket team in February 1904 and three times in ten days made two centuries in the same match. ''Wisden'' described the feat as "quite without parallel in the history of the game".<ref name=":0">{{cite book |last1=Rice |first1=Jonathan |last2=Renshaw |first2=Andrew |title=The Wisden Collector's Guide |date=2011 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=9781408165270 |page=107 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DnuQD4swYGoC |access-date=28 January 2019 |language=en}}</ref>
Collins returned to England in 1907, when he played eight first-class matches for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), including two on their 1907 tour of North America.<ref name="FCM"/> He also played seven matches for Berkshire in the 1907 Minor Counties Championship.<ref name="MCM"/> By 1910, he was serving in the 4th Gorkha Rifles and was promoted to captain in March of that year.<ref name="OBIT"/><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=28350|date=22 March 1910|page=2035}}</ref>
Collins once again returned to England in the summer of 1910, where he resumed playing first-class cricket. He made one appearance for the MCC against Oxford University, and appeared for the combined Army and Navy cricket team against Oxford and Cambridge Universities at Aldershot,<ref name="FCM"/> as well as appearing for Berkshire in minor counties cricket.<ref name="FCM"/> Collins made two final first-class appearances in 1913 for the Free Foresters.<ref name="FCM"/> Across nineteen first-class matches, he scored 858 runs at an average of 26.81.<ref name=profile>{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/28/28654/28654.html |title=Player profile: Lionel Collins |website=CricketArchive |access-date=25 January 2019 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> He made one century, a score of 102 not out against Oxford University in 1910.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/8/8155.html |title=Oxford University v Marylebone Cricket Club, 1910 |website=CricketArchive |access-date=25 January 2019 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> He played his final minor counties match for Berkshire in the same year, having by that point appeared for the county in 42 Minor Counties Championship matches.<ref name="MCM"/>
==WWI and later military career== Collins served with the Gurkhas in the First World War, during which he received the Distinguished Service Order in May 1915 for gallantry and devotion to duty during an attack on a German trench during the Battle of Neuve Chapelle.<ref name="DSO">{{London Gazette |issue=29157 |date=8 May 1915 |startpage=4507|supp=y}}</ref> He was made a brevet major in June 1916, and was confirmed permanently in the rank in April 1917.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29608|date=2 June 1916|page=5565|supp=y}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=30011|date=6 April 1917|page=3339}}</ref> He was made a temporary lieutenant colonel while in change of a battalion in May 1917.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=30494|date=25 January 1918|page=1236}}</ref> He returned to British India with the Gurkhas in 1918, where he was mentioned in dispatches during action in Baluchistan.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=30629|date=12 April 1918|page=4503}}</ref> Shortly after the conclusion of the war, he was again made a temporary lieutenant colonel while in change of a battalion in January 1919,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=31123|date=14 January 1919|page=725}}</ref> but relinquished the rank the following month.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=31162|date=4 February 1919|page=1814}}</ref> Collins served in the Third Anglo-Afghan War of 1919 and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire on 3 August 1920 for his role in this campaign.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=13621|date=6 August 1920|city=edinburgh|page=1786}}</ref>
He was appointed to the rank of lieutenant colonel permanently in February 1925.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=33040|date=21 April 1925|page=2687}}</ref> From 1932 to 1936 Collins, then a temporary brigadier, was the first commandant of the Indian Military College at Dehra Dun.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Obituary |date=30 September 1957 |page=12 |issue=53959 }}</ref> He was appointed as a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1934 Birthday Honours.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=34056|date=4 June 1934|page=3558}}</ref> In the 1936 Birthday Honours he was made a Companion to the Order of the Star of India.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=15294|date=26 June 1936|city=edinburgh|page=539}}</ref> From 1934 to 1936, Collins was an aide-de-camp to George V, ceasing in the post upon the king's death in January 1936.<ref name="OBIT" /> He retired from military service in October 1936, upon which he was granted the honorary rank of brigadier.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=34333|date=20 October 1936|page=6688}}</ref>
Collins died at Fleet, Hampshire, on 28 September 1957.<ref name=profile/>
==Family== Collins married Gladys Lysaght in 1910.<ref name="BOOK"/> The couple had two sons (Peter Rutherford Collins born in 1911 and John Humphrey Collins born in Quetta, India, in 1918) and one daughter, Rosemary Emily Collins.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Howard |first1=Joseph Jackson |last2=Crisp |first2=Frederick Arthur |title=Visitation of England and Wales |date=1919 |publisher=Priv. printed |page=x |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NrQ-AQAAMAAJ |access-date=28 January 2019 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Fox-Davies |first1=Arthur Charles |title=Armorial families: a directory of gentlemen of coat-armour |date=1929 |publisher=Hurst & Blackett, ltd. |page=406 |isbn=9780715347652 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pg8MAQAAMAAJ |access-date=28 January 2019 |language=en}}</ref>
==Honours and awards== *8 May 1915 – Captain Lionel Peter Collins, 1st Battalion, 4th Gurkha Rifles is appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order in recognition of his gallantry and devotion to duty whilst serving with the Expedition Force: {{Blockquote|text=For conspicuous gallantry throughout the campaign, especially on 12th March, 1915, when he took the initiative with his Company in the attack at Bios de Biez and captured a German trench, took 100 prisoners, killing or wounding a considerable number of the remainder of the occupants.|source=''The London Gazette''<ref name="DSO"/>}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{cricinfo|id=11250}}
{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} {{s-bef|before=New post}} {{s-ttl|title=Commandant of the Indian Military Academy|years=1932–1936}} {{s-aft|after=Harold Kingsley}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Lionel}} Category:1878 births Category:1957 deaths Category:Military personnel from Reading, Berkshire Category:Cricketers from Reading, Berkshire Category:People educated at Marlborough College Category:Alumni of Keble College, Oxford Category:English cricketers Category:Berkshire cricketers Category:Oxford University cricketers Category:Worcestershire Militia officers Category:Worcestershire Regiment officers Category:Indian Staff Corps officers Category:Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Category:Army and Navy cricketers Category:Free Foresters cricketers Category:Indian Army personnel of World War I Category:Royal Gurkha Rifles officers Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Category:British military personnel of the Third Anglo-Afghan War Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath Category:Companions of the Order of the Star of India Category:Commandants of the Indian Military Academy Category:19th-century British Army personnel