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{{short description|English cricketer and British Indian Army officer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox cricketer
| name =
| image = Brigadier_L_P_Collins.jpg
| country = England
| fullname = Lionel Peter Collins
| birth_date = 27 November 1878
| birth_place = [[Reading, Berkshire|Reading]], [[Berkshire]], England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1957|9|28|1878|11|27}}
| death_place = [[Fleet, Hampshire|Fleet]], [[Hampshire]], England
| nickname =
| family = [[Sidney Olivier]] (brother-in-law)<br>[[Louis Hunt (cricketer)|Louis Hunt]] (son-in-law)
| batting = Right-handed
| bowling =
| role =
| club1 = [[Berkshire County Cricket Club|Berkshire]]
| year1 = 1897–1913
| club2 = [[Oxford University Cricket Club|Oxford University]]
| year2 = 1899
| club3 = [[Marylebone Cricket Club]]
| year3 = 1907–1910
| columns = 1
| column1 = [[First-class cricket|First-class]]
| matches1 = 19
| runs1 = 858
| bat avg1 = 26.81
| 100s/50s1 = 1/3
| top score1 = 102[[not out|*]]
| 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''' [[Order of the Bath|CB]], [[Order of the Star of India|CSI]], [[Distinguished Service Order|DSO]], [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] (27 November 1878 – 28 September 1957) was an [[English people|English]] cricketer and [[British Indian Army]] officer. Collins played minor counties cricket for [[Berkshire]] and after attending [[Keble College, Oxford]] [[first-class cricket]] for [[Oxford University Cricket Club]]. He joined the British Army after university and in 1901 was seconded to the [[Indian Staff Corps]], serving with the [[Gurkha Brigade]] of the [[British Indian Army]]. He was in England and North America in 1907 playing for the [[Marylebone Cricket Club]] and later appeared for the [[Army and Navy cricket team|Army and Navy]] and [[Free Foresters Cricket Club|Free Foresters]] cricket teams. Collins served with the Gurkhas on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] of the [[First World War]] and received the [[Distinguished Service Order]] in 1915 for actions during the [[Battle of Neuve Chapelle]]. He later returned to British India and was [[mentioned in dispatches]] for service in [[Baluchistan]]. 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 a brigadier and commandant of the [[Indian Military Academy|Indian Military College]] at [[Dehra Dun]].

==Early life, cricket and military career==
The seventh son of Henry Collins, he was born at [[Reading, Berkshire|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 of English and Welsh cricket|minor counties cricket]] for [[Berkshire County Cricket Club|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 Cricket Club|Oxford University]] against AJ Webbe's XI at [[University Parks#Cricket ground|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 (university sport)#University of Oxford|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 [[field hockey|hockey]].<ref name="OBIT"/>

After graduating from Oxford, Collins enlisted in the [[British Army]] in April 1900 as a [[Second lieutenant#United Kingdom & other Commonwealth countries|second lieutenant]] in the 6th (militia) battalion of the [[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>{{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 [[Marylebone Cricket Club in North America in 1907|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 (British Army and Royal Marines)|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 cricket team|Oxford and Cambridge Universities]] at [[Officers Club Services Ground|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 Cricket Club|Free Foresters]].<ref name="FCM"/> Across nineteen first-class matches, he scored 858 runs at an [[batting average (cricket)|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 (cricket)|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 (military)|brevet]] [[Major (United Kingdom)|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 (United Kingdom)|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 (Chief Commissioner's Province)|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 Academy|Indian Military College]] at [[Dehradun|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> He retired from military service in October 1936, upon which he was granted the [[Military rank#Types of rank|honorary]] rank of brigadier.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=34333|date=20 October 1936|page=6688}}</ref> From 1934 to 1936, Collins was an [[Aide-de-camp#United Kingdom|aide-de-camp]] to [[George V]], ceasing in the post upon the king's death in January 1936.<ref name="OBIT"/>

He died at [[Fleet, Hampshire|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 1911 and John Humphrey Collins born at Quetta, Indian 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 [[Distinguished Service Order|Companion of the Distinguished Service Order]] in recognition of his gallantry and devotion to duty whilst serving with the Expedition Force:
{{Quote|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}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Lionel}}
[[Category:1878 births]]
[[Category:1957 deaths]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Reading, Berkshire]]
[[Category:sportspeople 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 Regiment officers]]
[[Category:Indian Staff Corps officers]]
[[Category:Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers]]
[[Category:Army and Navy cricketers]]
[[Category:Free Foresters cricketers]]
[[Category:British 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 Indian Military Academy]]

Lionel Collins - Revision history

Bot at 04:53, 28 October 2022