Arthur Collins in 1860

Arthur Shuckburgh Collins (31 December 1832 – 26 September 1911), later spelling his surname Collyns, was a 19th-century Member of Parliament from Nelson, New Zealand.

Early life and education

Collins was born on 31 December 1832 in Devon, son of William Wrangham Collins (1799–1880) and Henrietta (1799–1861), daughter of Reverend Charles Shuckburgh, of The Moot, Downton, Wiltshire.^[1] He received a 'good education'.^[2] The family emigrated to Nelson on the Pekin from London, arriving on 15 January 1850.^[3] In his younger years, he excelled in sports.^[2]

Career

Collins represented the Collingwood electorate from 1868 to 1873, when he resigned.^[4] He was a Provincialist, but once elected, he changed his mind and became an ardent supporter of the abolition of the provinces.^[2] He then represented the Suburbs of Nelson electorate in 1881 from 11 January to 8 November, when he retired.^[4]

Personal life

On 29 September 1855, at Christchurch, Collins married Catherine Anne, daughter of Thomas Isaacson, of Brighton, East Sussex, and niece and adopted daughter of Reverend J. F. Isaacson, rector of Freshwater, Isle of Wight. They had three daughters: Henrietta, Adelaide, and Emily. Following Catherine's death, he married Erica Elspeth, daughter of James Mackay, of Drumduan, Nelson, New Zealand; they had five sons (the eldest being the teacher and cricketer John Ulric Collins) and five daughters.^[5][6]

Erica Elspeth Collins, his second wife (ca 1876)

In the 1870s, he changed the spelling of his surname to Collyns. He lived at Hillwood, near Nelson, and at Mount Fyffe, at Kaikōura.^[7]

Collyns died on 26 September 1911. He is buried, as are his wives, at Wakapuaka Cemetery.^{[citation needed]}