View source for Godfrey Collins

{{Short description|British politician}}
{{About||the member of the Indian Civil Service|Godfrey Ferdinando Stratford Collins}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
[[File:Godfrey_Collins.jpg|thumb|right|Sir Godfrey Collins]]
'''Sir Godfrey Pattison Collins''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|KBE|CMG|PC|sep=,|size=100%}} (26 June 1875 – 13 October 1936) was a [[Scotland|Scottish]] [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] (and later [[National Liberal Party (UK, 1931)|National Liberal Party]]) politician.

He entered the [[Royal Navy]] in 1888 and was a midshipman, East Indian Station from 1890 to 1893. He was elected as [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for [[Greenock (UK Parliament constituency)|Greenock]] in 1910 and sat for the constituency until his death (from 1931 as a Liberal National).

He was [[Parliamentary Private Secretary]] to [[J. E. B. Seely, 1st Baron Mottistone|J. B. Seely]], as [[Secretary of State for War]] from 1910 to 1914, and to [[J. W. Gulland]], Chief Liberal [[Whip (politics)|Whip]] from 1915. He served in [[Egypt]], [[Gallipoli]], and [[Mesopotamia]] from 1915 to 1917, and was appointed a lieutenant-colonel in September 1916. He was a Junior [[Lord of the Treasury]] from 1919 to 1920 and Chief Liberal Whip from November 1924 to 1926. From 1932 to 1936 he served as [[Secretary of State for Scotland]].

As Secretary of State, he was responsible for over thirty Bills affecting Scotland, chiefly: a scheme for the creation of smallholdings, the Herring Industry Act of 1935 (establishing the Herring Industry Board), the Illegal Trawling (Scotland) Act, the Education (Scotland) Bill of 1936, which sought to raise the school leaving age to fifteen from 1939, and the Housing (Scotland) Act of 1935, which laid down a statutory standard of overcrowding and sought to effect widespread slum clearances and the building of low-rent accommodation for low-wage earners.

He was appointed a [[Order of St Michael and St George|CMG]] in 1917, [[Order of the British Empire|KBE]] in 1919 and a [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Privy Counsellor]] in 1932.

== References ==
* Torrance, David, ''The Scottish Secretaries'' (Birlinn 2006)
*Pottinger, George, ''The Secretaries of State For Scotland, 1926-1976'' (Scottish Academic Press, 1979)

== External links ==
* {{hansard-contribs | mr-godfrey-collins | Godfrey Collins }}

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{{s-par|uk}}
{{succession box
  | title  = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Greenock (UK Parliament constituency)|Greenock]]
  | years  = [[January 1910 United Kingdom general election|1910]]–[[1936 Greenock by-election|1936]]
  | before = [[Halley Stewart]]
  | after  = [[Robert Gibson (UK politician)|Robert Gibson]]
}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{succession box | title = [[Liberal Chief Whip]] | years  = 1924–1926 | before = [[Vivian Phillips]] | after = [[Robert Hutchison, 1st Baron Hutchison of Montrose|Robert Hutchison]]}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box
  | title  = [[Secretary of State for Scotland]]
  | years  = 1932–1936
  | before = [[Archibald Sinclair, 1st Viscount Thurso|Sir Archibald Sinclair]]
  | after  = [[Walter Elliot (Scottish politician)|Walter Elliot]]
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Secretaries of State for Scotland}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Godfrey}}
[[Category:1875 births]]
[[Category:1936 deaths]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Scottish Liberal Party MPs]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies]]
[[Category:National Liberal Party (UK, 1922) politicians]]
[[Category:National Liberal Party (UK, 1931) politicians]]
[[Category:Royal Navy officers]]
[[Category:Secretaries of state for Scotland]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1910]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1910–1918]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1918–1922]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1922–1923]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1923–1924]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1924–1929]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1929–1931]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1931–1935]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1935–1945]]