Preceded by Harry Ell Party New Zealand Liberal Party Role Member of Parliament | Name William Collins Political party Liberal Party Succeeded by Harry Ell | |
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Preceded by Richard Molesworth Taylor Spouse(s) Alice Annie Collins (nee Skinner, m. 1886) Died April 12, 1923, Sydney, Australia | ||
William Whitehouse Collins (4 September 1853 – 12 April 1923) was a New Zealand Member of Parliament for Christchurch in the South Island.
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Early life
Collins was born on 4 September 1853 in Harborne, Staffordshire, England and came to New Zealand in 1890. He married Alice Annie Skinner, a daughter of Ehenezer Skinner of Sydney, in 1886.
Member of Parliament
Collins represented the City of Christchurch electorate in the House of Representatives from 1893 to 1896 and again between 1899 and 1902. He also stood in the 1896 election, but was narrowly defeated.
He was a rationalist (free-thought) lecturer and was involved with the English Secularists and obtained a diploma from the National Secular Society.
The Canterbury Freethought Association was established in Christchurch in 1881 and ran until 1917. Collins left for Sydney in 1918 and died there on 12 April 1923.