[2] Collins was educated at King Edward VI School in Bury St Edmunds and at Christ's College, Cambridge University.
[3][2] Collins was a medium-paced bowler who bowled, according to a memoir after his death in 1934, "with swerve and swing from leg and accomplished many notable performances in those days of low scoring".
"[5] The report goes on: "Collins regarded his bad luck on his only appearance for Cambridge against Oxford as a distinct misfortune which he did not deserve to undergo, and his being 'called' went a long way towards the removal of all restrictions as to the height of the ball when delivered.
[8] However, the obituary version of the match and of Collins' alleged role in the law change was reprinted pretty much unaltered in the 1935 edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.
[4] He introduced rugby union football on the curriculum at Newport Grammar School after arriving in 1871, reputedly starting organised play of that sport in the district.
[4] Following his first wife's death, he married secondly to Lota, daughter of a Doctor Graves, of Cookstown, County Tyrone, in Ireland.