John Norman Collie 1859-1942

Abstract

Born on 10 September 1859, John Norman Collie was the second son of John Collie and the grandson of George Collie, an Aberdeen merchant, whose ancestors came from Ireland in the days of Cromwell. George Collie married Margaret Roy, the daughter of Captain Roy McGregor. George Collie’s brother was a surgeon in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic wars. He served on the warships which annexed Western Australia. He discovered the Collie river, and the town of Collie, also named after him, celebrated its centenary in 1935 when the Premier of Western Australia unveiled a statue to him. Dr Collie wrote to his brother George a number of letters in which he described his experiences in Western Australia, and these letters, as the result of negotiations by Professor N. T. M. Wilsmore, himself a native of Perth, W. A.,and a student and later a lecturer at University College, London, are now in the archives of the cities of Perth and Canberra. John Collie married Selina Mary, the third daughter of Henry Winkworth, the son of the Rev. Henry Winkworth who was the vicar of St Saviour’s, Southwark. Henry Winkwrorth married Miss Dickenson of Kentish origin and had by her four daughters, Catherine, Susanna, Selina Mary and Alice, and two sons. Catherine was the author of Lyra Germanica , and Susanna wrote a life of Catherine. Susanna worked for many years in Clifton and Bristol on the provision of model dwellings for workpeople and was in fact one of the pioneers in this field. John Collie and his wife had four sons, the two eldest being Henry and John Norman, and one daughter, Susan Margaret, who was their third child and for many years Head of the Bedford High School for Girls. The foregoing epitome of John Norman’s ancestry is of considerable interest. On the one side he had Highland blood in him and from the other he inherited the Winkworth personality which revealed itself in so many members of that family. To this may be attributed the outstanding personality with which he was unquestionably endowed.