Captain Sir Robert Henry Muirhead Collins, (1852–1927) was an English-born Royal Navy officer, Colonial (Permanent Victorian Naval Forces) naval officer, Colonial public servant, Australian Federationist, Australian public service department head and Australia's official representative in London.[1] [2]
| 1852 | Born 20 September 1852, Chew Magna, Somerset, England | ||
| 1866 | 1877 | Joins Royal Navy | |
| 1876 | Appointed Lieutenant | ||
| 1877 | Appointed Lieutenant Commander; retired from Royal Navy | ||
| 1877 | Appointed lieutenant in the Permanent Victorian Naval Forces (PVNF), Victoria (Australia) | ||
| 1884 | Appointed Commander, PVNF | ||
| 1886 | Retired from Victorian navy with rank of Captain | ||
| 1886 | Married Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. Samuel Brush, pastoralist, of Boondara, New South Wales | ||
| 1886 | 1901 | Secretary for Defence in Victoria | |
| 1901 | 1906 | Inaugural Secretary of the Australian Department of Defence | |
| 1904 | Appointed CMG[4] | ||
| 1906 | 1910 | Official Secretary to the Commonwealth of Australia in London | |
| 1913 | Delegate for the Commonwealth Government at the International Conference on Lifesaving at Sea in London | ||
| 1917 | Retired | ||
| 1919 | Knighted | ||
| 1927 | Died 19 April 1927, Bath, Somerset, England[5] |
Collins was born to Dr Charles Howell Collins, a surgeon, and his Henrietta Jane Heaven (née Groset). Collins died in 1927 and was survived by his wife and their son, Major Howel Collins (graduated from Royal Military Academy in Woolwich) of the Australian Army.