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Lewis John Collins (23 March 1905 – 31 December 1982) was an Anglican priest who was active in several radical political movements in the United Kingdom.

Life

Educated at Cranbrook School, Kent, and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, Collins was ordained a priest in 1928 and served as chaplain of his old college and vice-principal of Westcott House, before becoming chaplain of Oriel College, Oxford, in 1937. He served as a chaplain in the Royal Air Force during World War II and was radicalised by the experience. In 1946, upon returning to Oxford, he founded the organization Christian Action to work for reconciliation with Germany. He was appointed as a canon of St Paul's Cathedral, London, in 1948, an office he held for 33 years. Shortly afterwards he became disturbed by the newly developing apartheid system in South Africa.

In 1951, Collins was one of the four founders of the charity War on Want, which fights global poverty. In 1956, he committed Christian Action to raising funds for the defence of anti-apartheid activists accused of treason in South Africa and this gave rise to the Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa. The fund raised more than £75,000 to help defend the accused during the Treason Trial. Collins was strongly opposed to a proposed cricket tour by Frank Worrell's West Indies to South Africa in 1959, leading a successful campaign to have it cancelled.

Collins was strongly opposed to the spread of nuclear weapons and was one of many on the left in Britain who believed that it was unnecessary and wrong for Britain to own such weapons. He was one of the founders of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. He was also a member of the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship, working with the Reverend Sidney Hinkes on anti-nuclear campaigns.

He was one of the signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting a world constitution. As a result, for the first time in human history, a World Constituent Assembly convened to draft and adopt the Constitution for the Federation of Earth.

The Canon Collins Educational & Legal Assistance Trust, formerly known as Canon Collins Trust for Southern Africa (CCETSA) is a charity founded in 1981. It was set up as the Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa and Collins was its first chairman. In the days of apartheid it provided money to help South African and Namibian refugee students gain the higher education in the United Kingdom and in independent African states. It now provides scholarships for students within South Africa and in other African countries.

Family

Collins married Diana Clavering Elliot (1917–2003) in 1939; they had four sons, including the judge Andrew Collins. In 1999, Diana Collins was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

References

1. ^ "The John Collins Society". Oriel College. Archived from the original on 13 April 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
2. Cricket and society in South Africa, 1910-1971 : from union to isolation. Murray, Bruce K., Parry, Richard, 1956–, Winch, Jonty. Cham, Switzerland. September 2018. ISBN 978-3-319-93608-6. OCLC 1050448400.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
3. "Letters from Thane Read asking Helen Keller to sign the World Constitution for world peace. 1961". Helen Keller Archive. American Foundation for the Blind. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
4. "Letter from World Constitution Coordinating Committee to Helen, enclosing current materials". Helen Keller Archive. American Foundation for the Blind. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
5. "Preparing earth constitution | Global Strategies & Solutions | The Encyclopedia of World Problems". The Encyclopedia of World Problems | Union of International Associations (UIA). Retrieved 15 July 2023.

Bibliography

• "COLLINS, Rev. Canon Lewis John", Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2015; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014. (subscription required)
• "Collins, (Lewis) John", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online edition (subscription required)

External links

• Collins's biography on the Canon Collins Educational & Legal Assistance Trust website
• Obituary of Diana Collins in the Daily Telegraph
• Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament website

• 1905 births
• 1982 deaths
• Alumni of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
• Alumni of Westcott House, Cambridge
• Anglican pacifists
• British anti–nuclear weapons activists
• Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament activists
• People educated at Cranbrook School, Kent
• People from Cranbrook, Kent
• Recipients of the Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo
• Royal Air Force chaplains
• Royal Air Force personnel of World War II
• Staff of Westcott House, Cambridge
• World Constitutional Convention call signatories