Francis Derwent Wood - Lord Henn Collins

Richard Henn Collins, Baron Collins (31 January 1842 – 3 January 1911) was an Anglo-Irish lawyer and judge.

Life

Born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, Collins was educated at the Royal School Dungannon and

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

(where he was elected a Scholar), and Downing College, Cambridge. In 1867, he was called to the English

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

and joined the northern circuit. He was made a

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister o ...

in 1883 and a judge in 1891. Having made a Lord Justice of Appeal in 1897, he was appointed also to the Privy Council. In October 1901, Collins became

Master of the Rolls The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the President of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales and Head of Civil Justice. As a judge, the Master of ...

after the death of Sir Archibald Smith, and the following month was appointed to the accompanying post of Chairman of the

Historical Manuscripts Commission The Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts (widely known as the Historical Manuscripts Commission, and abbreviated as the HMC to distinguish it from the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England), was a United Kingdom Royal Com ...

. He received the honorary degree

LL.D. Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation refers to the early ...

from the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

in May 1902. On 6 March 1907 he was appointed a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, receiving additionally a

life peerage In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages A ...

with the title Baron Collins, ''of Kensington in the

County of London The County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as Inner London. It was created as part of the general introduction of elected county government in England, by way of the Local Government A ...

''. He resigned as Lord of Appeal on 9 January 1910. Lord Collins was judge of the trial of Oscar Wilde's libel prosecution against the

Marquess of Queensberry Marquess of Queensberry is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. The title has been held since its creation in 1682 by a member of the Douglas family. The Marquesses also held the title of Duke of Queensberry from 1684 to 1810, when it was in ...

on 3 April 1895 (as noted in "The Trials of Oscar Wilde", by

H. Montgomery Hyde Harford Montgomery Hyde (14 August 190710 August 1989), born in Belfast, Ireland, was a barrister, politician (Ulster Unionist MP for Belfast North), prolific author and biographer. He was deselected by his party in 1959, losing his seat in th ...

(1962) at p97). He represented

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

on the

Venezuela Boundary Commission The Venezuelan crisis of 1895 occurred over Venezuela's longstanding dispute with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland about the territory of Essequibo and Guayana Esequiba, which Britain claimed as part of British Guiana and Venezuela ...

, established to adjudicate in the

boundary dispute A territorial dispute or boundary dispute is a disagreement over the possession or control of land between two or more political entities. Context and definitions Territorial disputes are often related to the possession of natural resources s ...

between British Guiana and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

in 1899. In 1904, he was chairman of the commission which investigated the case of

Adolf Beck The Adolf Beck case was a notorious incident of wrongful conviction by mistaken identity, brought about by unreliable methods of identification, erroneous eyewitness testimony, and a rush to convict the accused. As one of the best known causes ...

He died at

Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th c ...

, East Sussex on 3 January 1911.

Family

His wife, Jane Ogle, Lady Collins (d.1934), is buried in

Brompton Cemetery Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is a London cemetery, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries. Establ ...

. His younger son, Sir Stephen Henn-Collins, became a High Court judge.

Cases

*''

Sumpter v Hedges ''Sumpter v Hedges''

898 __NOTOC__ Year 898 ( DCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * January 1 – King Odo I (or Eudes) dies at La Fère (Northern France) af ...

1 QB 673 is an English contract law case, concerning substantial performance of a contract and restitution for unjust enrichment. Facts Mr Sumpter was a builder. He had a contract to build two houses and stables for M ...

'' *'' Wilde v Douglas'' *''

Chandler v Webster ''Chandler v Webster'' 904 1 KB 493 is an English contract law case concerning frustration. It is one of several coronation cases which appeared in the courts after King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 191 ...

'' *'' Henderson v Arthur''

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Richard 1842 births 1911 deaths Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Burials at Brompton Cemetery Knights Bachelor Law lords Masters of the Rolls Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Queen's Bench Division judges 19th-century King's Counsel Scholars of Trinity College Dublin 19th-century English judges 20th-century English judges Lords Justices of Appeal Peers created by Edward VII Presidents of the Classical Association