Robert Collins (British Army officer)

British Army general (1880–1950)

Robert Collins

Born| 22 August 1880
Died| 6 March 1950 (aged 69)
Winchester, Hampshire, England
Allegiance|  United Kingdom
Service/branch|  British Army
Years of service| 1899–1938
1939–1941
Rank| Major General
Service number| 5261
Unit| Royal Berkshire Regiment
Commands| 73rd Brigade
9th Infantry Brigade
7th Infantry Brigade
3rd (Meerut) Indian Division
61st Infantry Division
Staff College, Camberley
Battles/wars| Second Boer War
World War I
World War II
Awards| Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
Distinguished Service Order
Mentioned in despatches (8)

Major-General Robert John Collins CMG DSO (22 August 1880 – 6 March 1950) was a British Army officer who became Commandant of the Staff College, Camberley.

## Military career

[edit]

Educated at Marlborough College, Collins, after service with the 6th Warwick Militia during the Second Boer War, was commissioned into the Royal Berkshire Regiment in 1899.[1] He fought in the Second Boer War and then served with the Egyptian Army until 1911 and attended the Staff College, Camberley from 1913 to 1914, where J. F. C. Fuller was one of his fellow students.[2]

He took part in the First World War, becoming Chief Instructor at the Staff School in Cambridge during the last year of the war.[1] He was appointed Commander of 73rd Brigade later in 1918. In March 1916 he was awarded the Croix de Guerre.[3]

With the war now over, he became an instructor at the Staff College, Camberley in 1919 before taking up a post as Director of Military Training in India in 1924.[1] He went on to be Commandant of the Small Arms School in 1929 and General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 3rd (Meerut) Indian Division in 1934 before retiring in 1938.[1]

He was recalled at the start of the Second World War to be (GOC) of the 61st Infantry Division followed by being made Commandant of the Staff College, Camberley before retiring again in 1941.[1][4]

He was one of the founders, with Phoebe Cusden, of the Reading Düsseldorf Association which provided help from the people of Reading in Berkshire for the people of Düsseldorf in Germany which had been heavily bombed during the War.[5] He was also author of Lord Wavell, 1883-1941 - A military biography (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1947).[6]

## Family

[edit]

In 1912 he married Violet Agnes Monro.[7]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
2. ^ Smart 2005, p. 66.
3. ^ "No. 12923". The Edinburgh Gazette. 3 April 1916. p. 663.
4. ^ Smart 2005, p. 67.
5. ^ Reading Dusseldorf Association
6. ^ AIM25
7. ^ Armorial families : a directory of gentlemen of coat-armour by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, p.107

## Bibliography

[edit]

* Smart, Nick (2005). Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War. Barnesley: Pen & Sword. ISBN 1844150496.

## External links

[edit]

* Generals of World War II

Military offices

Preceded by

Arthur McNamara

|  Commandant of the Small Arms School
1929–1932  | Succeeded by

Cyril Gepp

Preceded by

New post

|  GOC 61st Infantry Division
September–November 1939  | Succeeded by

Adrian Carton de Wiart

Preceded by

Bernard Paget

|  Commandant of the Staff College, Camberley
1939–1941  | Succeeded by

Montagu Stopford

Honorary titles
Preceded by

Sir Felix Ready

|  Colonel of the Royal Berkshire Regiment
1940–1947  | Succeeded by

Sir Miles Dempsey