Robert Collins (British Army officer)

Robert Collins
Born	1880
Died	1950
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1899 - 1938 1939 - 1941
Rank	Major-General
Commands held	73rd Infantry Brigade 3rd (Meerut) Indian Division 61st Infantry Division Staff College, Camberley
Battles/wars	First World War Second World War
Awards	Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George Distinguished Service Order

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

Military career

After service with the 6th Warwick Militia, Collins 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.^[1] 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 Infantry Brigade later in 1918 and 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 3rd (Meerut) Indian Division in 1934 before retiring in 1938.^[1] He was recalled at the start of the Second World War to be General Officer Commanding 61st Infantry Division followed by being made Commandant of the Staff College, Camberley before retiring again in 1941.^[1]

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.^[2] He was also author of Lord Wavell, 1883-1941 - A military biography (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1947).^[3]

Family

In 1912 he married Violet Agnes Monro.^[4]

References