Introduction

Biography

William was the son of farm­er Will­iam Giles Col­lins and Har­ri­et Rod­way, and hu­sband of Al­ice Bai­ley (mar­ried 1877 in Guild­ford).

After an ap­pren­tice­ship in Car­diff, Wal­es, Coll­ins moved in 1876 to Guild­ford, Sur­rey, where he worked as an iron­mon­ger for ov­er five de­cades.

He joined the Sal­va­tion Ar­my (SA) in Guild­ford in 1881. He held a num­ber of SA po­si­tions, in­clud­ing corps se­cre­ta­ry, band se­cre­ta­ry and corps ser­geant ma­jor. He re­tired in 1931.

A num­ber of his songs can be found in the SA’s War Cry and Mu­sic­al Sal­va­tion­ist.