Rev William Lucas Collins (baptised 23 May 1815 – 24 March 1887) was a Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

 clergyman and author.

Life and career

Collins was born in Oxwich, Glamorgan

Glamorgan

Glamorgan or Glamorganshire is one of the thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It was originally an early medieval kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three...

, Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

, and educated at Rugby School

Rugby School

Rugby School is a co-educational day and boarding school located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, England. It is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain.-History:...

 (1829–33) and Jesus College, Oxford

Jesus College, Oxford

Jesus College is one of the colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship Street, Cornmarket Street and Market Street...

 (matriculating

Matriculation

Matriculation, in the broadest sense, means to be registered or added to a list, from the Latin matricula – little list. In Scottish heraldry, for instance, a matriculation is a registration of armorial bearings...

 in 1833, obtaining a BA

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 in Literae Humaniores

Literae Humaniores

Literae Humaniores is the name given to an undergraduate course focused on Classics at Oxford and some other universities.The Latin name means literally "more humane letters", but is perhaps better rendered as "Advanced Studies", since humaniores has the sense of "more refined" or "more learned",...

 in 1838 and his MA in 1840). He was ordained in 1840 and held the living

Benefice

A benefice is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The term is now almost obsolete.-Church of England:...

 of Cheriton, Glamorgan from 1840 until 1867. He also held positions as curate of Great Houghton, Northamptonshire

Great Houghton, Northamptonshire

Great Houghton is an averaged sized village in the Borough of Northampton.It lays right on the edge of the large market town, on the Bedford Road .The village has two pubs, a large village hall...

 (1853 to 1862), a diocesan inspector of education, rector of St Peter's Church, Lowick

St Peter's Church, Lowick

St. Peter's Church, Lowick, is a parish church in the Church of England in Lowick, Northamptonshire, England.-Description and history:Although the church has early fourteenth century origins, it is mainly late fourteenth and early fifteenth century, being built for the Greene family of Drayton House...

 (1873 to his death) and vicar of Slipton

Slipton

Slipton is a hamlet in the East Northamptonshire civil parish of Lowick....

, Northamptonshire (1876 to his death). He was an honorary Canon

Canon (priest)

A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....

 of Peterborough Cathedral

Peterborough Cathedral

Peterborough Cathedral, properly the Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew – also known as Saint Peter's Cathedral in the United Kingdom – is the seat of the Bishop of Peterborough, dedicated to Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Andrew, whose statues look down from the...

 from 1870.

He was a writer in addition, contributing articles on university life and public schools to Blackwood's Magazine

Blackwood's Magazine

Blackwood's Magazine was a British magazine and miscellany printed between 1817 and 1980. It was founded by the publisher William Blackwood and was originally called the Edinburgh Monthly Magazine. The first number appeared in April 1817 under the editorship of Thomas Pringle and James Cleghorn...

. He also edited volumes on Homer

Homer

In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...

's Iliad

Iliad

The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...

 and Thucydides

Thucydides

Thucydides was a Greek historian and author from Alimos. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BC...

 for the publisher John Blackwood

John Blackwood

John Blackwood was a Scottish publisher, younger brother of William Blackwood. John succeeded his brother as head of the business in 1834, on William's death; four years later he was joined by Major William Blackwood, who continued in the firm until his death in 1861. In 1862 the major's elder...

's series Ancient Classics for English Readers.

Collins died in Lowick rectory in 1887.