William Collins

COLLINS, MR. W. E. W., born in 1849, died at Heacham, Norfolk, on January 7, 1932, at the age of 83. Of this player, Mr. A. J. Webbe, the famous Oxford and Middlesex batsman, wrote in a letter to The Times. A very fine left-handed bowler, essentially the man for a hard wicket, as he was very fast off the pitch and came a lot with his arm. Also a great hitter. He was five years in the Radley XI., captain in 1866 and 1867, at the same time being Head of the School. He then went up to Oxford, where he failed to get his Blue, but at that time the Oxford XI. was mainly composed of Brasenose men, and Collins was at Jesus. In August, 1874, when playing at Freshwater, in the Isle of Wight, Collins actually hit up 338, not out, in about four hours, and all run out, as there were no boundaries! "Buns" Thornton had a great opinion of Collins as a cricketer, so in 1886 he invited him to play for Lord Londesborough v. the Australians at Scarborough. Out of the huge score of 558 made by the English XI., Collins, who went in last, made 56 not out, scoring, I believe, off every ball he received. In 1888 he was invited to play for Oxford Past and Present v. the Australians at Leyton, and in the first innings took six wickets for 35 runs, he being then 42 years of age. What a pity that he played hardly any other first-class matches but these! Mr. Collins appeared at times for Shropshire and the M. C. C. He was an able writer on a variety of subjects, being for many years a frequent contributor to Blackwood's Magazine on cricket, animal life and other subjects. He also wrote a large part of Annals of the Free Foresters, published in 1895. Extremely popular and known to his intimate friends as Colenso, Mr. Collins was a man of most generous disposition.
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack