Without question, Dame Liz was one of the most photographed, filmed, and written about women of the 20th century. Always in the limelight beginning with her starring role in National Velvetat the age of 12, she captivated audiences like no one else before her or ever since.
Frederick II Oldenburg of Denmark Birth 1 Jul 1534 in Haderslevhus Castle, Haderslev, Denmark Death 4 Apr 1588 in Antvorskov Castle, Antvorskov, Denmark
First published in 1868, Wilkie Collins’ novel The Moonstoneis generally regarded as the first detective genre novel in the English language. T. S. Eliot deemed it “the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels in a genre invented by Collins and not by Poe.” The Moonstone and many of his other novels are still popular and continue to receive rave reviews.
The screenplays of three movies (1909, 1915 & 1934) and a BBC Masterpiece Theatretelevision series (1959) were all adapted from the novel. In 2012 the BBC commissioned a new adaptation of the work for airing as a television series (release date unknown).
Wilkie is named as one of the writer-contributors of the 1887 edition of Dictionary of National Biography. Compiled alphabetically by surname lineages, the general reference tome features biographical and genealogical information about illustrious personages of British history. Both Rev John Collins and Dr Samuel Collins, as aforementioned, received individual attention in the section of Vol. XI (pp. 363-383 ) devoted to the COLLINS lineage.
His brother, Charles Collins, married married Dicken’s daughter, Kate.
Mabel Collins (1851 – 1927), theosophist and prolific novelist, may have had a brush with Jack the Ripper. According to Aleister Crowley, occult journalist Roslyn D’Onston was her paramour at the time of the murder of East End prostitutes between 1888 and 1891. Owing to his writings on the black arts, peculiar behavior and the ritualistic nature of many of the murders, he was contemporarily considered a prime suspect as the infamous serial killer by Scotland Yard. Mabel’s own experience before she brushed him off suggests his culpability shouldn’t have been later dismissed by police investigators.
Playwright Arthur Collins managed Theatre Royal, Drury Lane from 1869 to 1923. He assumed the position after playing the principal role in saving the theatre building from demolition to make way for a potato market planned on the Covent Garden site . The Royal Theatre, Drury Lane celebrated its 350th anniversary in 2013.
The Crown enfranchised antiquarian and genealogist Arthur Collins, Colonel David Collins to compile the first-ever comprehensive historical genealogical record of English peerage. The resulting Collins’s Peerage of England was first published as a single volume in 1708. Sir Samuel Egerton Brydges, 1st Baronet (1762 – 1837), republished a greatly enhanced and expanded version in 1812 under the same title. Irish genealogist John Burke took the project to an entirely new level with the publication of Burke’s Peerage & Baronetagein 1826.
The following lists of our most noted literary representative:
An Collins (fl 1650) English theological essayist Anthony Collins (1676 – 1729) English philosopher and essayist Arthur Collins (1682 –1760) English antiquarian, genealogist, historian, publisher of Collins’s Peerage of England Arthur Worth “Bud” Collins, Jr (born 1929) American journalist, television sportscaster Charles Allston Collins (1828 – 1873) English painter, illustrator, essayist, brother of novelist Wilkie Collins, son-in-law of Charles Dickens Clarence Lyman Collins (1848 – 1922) , author of Collins Memorial Courtney Collins contemporary Australian novelist Dan Collins American journalist, senior producer for CBS News.com Doug Collins (1920 – 2001) British-born Canadian journalist Gilbert Henry Collins (1890 – 1960) British novelist Hercules Collins (died 1729) English minister and biblical essayist Isaac Collins (1746 – 1817) American printer, publisher, bookseller and merchant John Churton Collins (1848 – 1908) British literary critic, essayist and professor of English literature at Birmingham University Joseph Edmund Collins (1855 – 1892) Canadian teacher, publisher, journalist and author Mabel Collins (1851 – 1927) English theosophist novelist Michael F. Collins (1854 – 1928) American newspaper publisher and politician Mortimer Collins (1827 – 1926) English poet and novelist Perry McDonough Collins (1813 – 1900) American entrepreneur, author of A Voyage Down the Amoor Richard Collins (1545 – 1609) Master, The Worshipful Stationers of London Samuel Collins (1576–1651) English clergyman and academic, Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge and Provost of King’s College, Cambridge, Anglican theological essayist Samuel Collins (1616 – 1670) British doctor, author of The Present State of Russia Seward Collins (1899 – 1952) American New York socialite and publisher Suzanne Collins (born 1962) American television writer and novelist Tom Collins contemporary Scottish journalist and content editor Warwick Collins (1948 – 2013) British novelist, screenwriter, yacht designer and evolutionary theorist Wilkie Collins (1824 – 1889) English novelist, playwright, and short story writer William Collins (1721 – 1759) English poet William Collins, Sons Scottish printing company founded in 1819 by a Presbyterian schoolmaster, William Collins Rev William Lucas Collins (1815 – 1887) Church of England presbyter and essayist
Niall stood on equal footing with the likes of Alexander the Great of Macedonia (356 – 323 BC) and William The Conqueror (1028 – 1087) 1st Norman King of England as both a feared ruler and empire builder. As the first true ruler of all of Ireland, his success as an invader put fear in the hearts of rulers of all nations within his reach. Niall made many incursions into Britain and Gaul, particularly in those areas formerly ruled by the Roman Empire.
The entire succession of Irish kings finds its initial roots in Niul (Nel) Nemnach mac Farsaid ( – 2401 BC) of Egypt, Prince of Scythia (birth ca. 1350 BC). His father Foenius Farsaid was a Scythian king who helped Nimrod build the Tower of Babylon during the 16th century B.C. Foenius is credited with creating the Gaelic language (modern scholars also credit him as the founder of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin).
Niul’s father banished him from Crete for killing his brother during a row they had with one another. He made his way to Egypt where he soon befriended Pharaoh Semenkhkare. Niul spoke 72 languages. He utilized his linguistic expertise to gain a ministerial position as a trusted and valued interpreter and advisor. He was so favored the pharaoh later gave him his daughter’s hand in marriage (Irish legend has it that Niul is the eponym of the Nile River). Their son Gaodhal Glas was the namesake of the Gaelic people.
During one of his raiding expeditions in Wales, Niall’s men captured a young lad who would later in life radically change Irish culture. St Patrick‘s (389 – 461) parents were killed right in front of him before being taken into captivity. His father, a descendant of Joseph of Arimathia, who served as the Roman Governor of Cornwall, was a Roman official who was also a Hebrew-Christian (Japhethite) minister. His father was born in Armorica, France (ca. 300)
At that time, his Judaic lineage residing in Wales and Cornwall had already suffered egregious religious persecution, mainly at the behest of Celtic druid priests, by Munster rulers of the land for more than two centuries. Previously, Conan Meriadoc, King of Dumnonia (305 – 367), who was also a maternal descendant of Joseph of Arimathia, led the migration of his people to resettle in Brittany, France, to escape the initial onslaught.
In the tradition of his father, Niall had the habit of enslaving common folk and his relatives alike. Niall brought Patrick back to Ireland, most likely selling the teenager to a druid priest who put him to work as a shepherd. After six years of enslavement, he fled to Britain following the urging of an angel who came to him one night in his sleep.
He returned to Ireland as a cleric who as a bishop baptized Conall Gulban – one of Niall’s sons who was the first Irish nobleman to receive the sacrament. Conall was the primogenitor of the Dunkeld dynasty of Scotland.
Niall may have been one of the most fecund males in Irish history. Before a recent DNA study conducted in Ireland, academics had more than some doubt that he existed as more than a mythical Irish figure. However, as the study found that over 84% of Irish males possess his YDNA (R-M269), there’s little doubt now that Niall indeed lived and loved during the 4th century A.D. as his legend would have it. Moreover, both Conn of the 100 Battles (died about 464), Niall’s 6th great-grandfather, and Galamh mac Bile (1853 BC – 1805 BC), the ancient primogenitor Irish High Kings dynasty as well the Uí Néill sept, are of the same YDNA haplogroup.
Some interesting scientific facts about the R-269 haplogroup lend credence to ancient Irish lore concerning the advent of the Irish King dynasty almost three millennia ago:
-After 230 generations, the R1b-P297 haplogroup mutated to R1b-M269 between 7,000 and 11,000 years ago in the Pontic-Caspian steppe region (present-day Ukraine).
-The Scythian Empire flourished from the 8th to the 3rd century BC and occupied most of that geographic territory before expanding out into Eastern Europe and Eurasia, including Greece and Turkey (Partha).
–Niul Nemnach mac Farsaid of Egypt, Prince of Scythia, was born about 1401 BC in Nenual, Scythia (now Ukraine). He’s believed to have been the earliest renowned primogenitor of the Irish High King dynasty.
The last pure-play pretender to the throne was Hugh O’Neill (1550 – 1616), Earl of Tyrone. He led the resistance of King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I agenda to bring all of Ireland under Crown control. He even managed to consolidate enough support amongst Irish nobility to act as the High King for a while. However, after his defeat at the Battle of Kinsale, he went into self-imposed exile five years later and never returned to Ireland thereafter. He died and was buried in Rome in 1616.
My Norse ancestors immigrated to Donegal, Ireland from Orkney, Scotland during the early 12th century. They were to become Anglo-Saxons in nature rather than Irishmen in nature, however, when they immigrated to Danelaw, England during the early 14th century, first to Herefordshire and then to Suffolk a generation later.
There’s every reason to believe that Christopher Columbus knew full well the North American continent existed before he voyaged to the East Indies in 1492. Though he considered the landmass as part of Asia, his knowledge of the location of America was based on written accounts of two Venetian mariners who navigated Prince Henry Sinclair‘s fleet of ships to Nova Scotia and as far south as Rhode Island almost a century before. Columbus married into the Sinclair family, so he may have had an even more intimate knowledge of Prince Henry’s voyage, including navigational maps, to North America.
Leif Erikson (970 – 1030) and his father were the first Europeans to discover Greenland around 1000 AD. From there, he explored Vinland and later permanently settled in Greenland. The inhabitants established seafaring routes for hunting and trading expeditions along the North Atlantic coast of Canada. Given this experience, it’s unlikely the Viking community as a whole didn’t know that North America existed (but if they didn’t, it could have been a closely guarded secret).
Nicolò (c. 1326–c. 1402) and Antonio Zeno (died c. 1403) were two Venetian aristocrats whose family held Mediterranean trade route rights since the time of the First Crusade. Prince Henry rescued Nicolò after his exploration vessel shipwrecked somewhere in the vicinity of the Orkney Islands. Nicolò’s tale of a strange, faraway continent visited by hapless Icelandic fishermen prompted Prince Henry and his Templar brethren to plan an exploration voyage there. Antonio later joined Nicolò to act as navigator for the voyage.
A Knight Templar himself, Prince Henry had the means and wherewithal to organize and provision the voyage through the coffers of the Templar treasure guarded by Templar Knights at Roslin Castle. The Templars also maintained the fleet of ships that were employed. Most of the ships survived the voyage of the Templar band who fled Europe to Scotland to avoid persecution by the Catholic Church after Pope Clement V decreed egregious suppression of the order throughout Europe and England in 1312.
The name of the Templar grandmaster who directed the preparations for the voyage is currently unknown. It’s likely, however, that he’s buried inside Rosslyn Chapel. Officially, the last grandmaster of the order at the time of its banishment was Jacques de Molay. In 1314 he was burned at the stake in Paris.
In 1398 a fleet of his eighteen ships set sail for the New World. Laden with Templar treasure with 300 colonists aboard, the fleet made landfall first at Greenland before reaching Nova Scotia. A contingent of Templars later landed in Rhode Island. Newport Tower they constructed is a replica of the baptistry of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. It is the only visible footprint of the Templar’s 14th-century influence in North America since only the footings of Sinclair Castle remain in Nova Scotia. The castle was constructed by Henry and his Templar brethren.
After the Templar order disbanded in 1312, a group of them fled to Scotland, as previously noted, to establish a presence on or about the Sinclair’s Rosslyn estate. In 1314 Henri St Clair, 7th Earl of Roslin, and his son William led the Templars at the decisive Battle of Bannockburn. The Scottish victory turned the tide in Scotland’s favor in their longstanding mortal struggle to gain independence from England.
Sir Thomas was the 13th out of twenty-five knights Edward III Plantagenet (1312- 1377) King of England dubbed into the Most Noble Order of the Garter in 1344. He and the others are considered founder knights of the oldest and most revered society of chivalry in English history. His brother Sir Otho was also invested as one of the founding knights chivalric order.
Thomas fathered four children with Joan Plantagenet “The Fair Maid of Kent” (1328 – 1385). A year after his death in 1360 she married her cousin Edward the Black Prince (1330 – 1376), Edward III’s son. The royal couple’s son Richard II reigned in England from 1377 to 1399.
John Holland (1352–1400), Thomas’ second son and half-brother of Richard II, was created first Duke of Exeter in 1397. After his execution for treason two years later, the title was recreated in 1416 for Thomas Beaufort (1377–1426), who died without issue. King Henry V (1386 – 1422) restored the title and all honors to the Holland family in 1439 in recognition of the faithful service of John Holland to the throne. The title went extinct after Henry Holland (1430 – 1475), John’s only son and claimant to the throne himself, became attainted as a Lancastrian in 1461, thereby forfeiting the peerage and his estates to his wife, Anne of York, Duchess of Exeter (1439 – 1476).
Francis Gabriel Holland and his brother Richard were the first of Sir Thomas’ direct descendants to immigrate to America from England during the early 17th century. He skippered the ship Supply which sailed from Bristol, England for Jamestown, Virginia on September 18, 1620. The ship landed at Berkeley, Virginia on February 8, 1621, less than two months after the Mayflower anchored in Plymouth Harbor.
Sir Thomas de Holland, 1st Earl of Kent, 1st Baron Holand, KG Birth 5 May 1314 in Upholland, Lancashire, England Death 26 Dec 1360 in Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France
The Patricians Genealogical Research Foundation 