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COLLINS, John (d.1597), of Hythe and Warehorne, Kent.
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Biography Detail
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Family and Education
s. of Giles Collins (d.1586) of Hythe by Margaret, da. of John Taylor of Shadoxhurst. educ. Winchester, scholar 1545. m. (1) Emma, da. of John Toke or Tooke of Bere, nr. Dover, 2s.; (2) Elizabeth, da. of Thomas Wise of Woodchurch, 2da.1
Offices Held
Freeman and jurat of Hythe 1584, mayor 1588, 1589, 1592, 1597-d.; brodhull rep. in at least the years 1588, 1589, 1591, 1594.
Biography
Collins, one of ten children, paid 25s. for the freedom of Hythe in 1584 and was active in the town’s affairs until his death 13 years later. His first mayoralty, in Armada year, was busy, and included organising the fitting out of ships and a visit to the lord treasurer about ship-money. In September he was returned to Parliament and was paid wages of 3s. a day. He and his fellow-Member, John Smythe I, were instructed to petition the Privy Council to discharge the port from acting upon a writ which had been served on one of the jurats, the port regarding it as an infringement of their liberties. Also, while he was in London during his first Parliament, he was subpoenaed to appear in Chancery in a case concerning a Dover sailor. As burgess for Hythe, he may have attended a committee concerning the explanation of statutes on 28 Mar. 1593.2
A gap in the Hythe records from 1591 until after the end of the century makes it impossible to follow the events of the later years of Collins’s life. His death occurred in 1597 while he was mayor, and he was buried in Hythe parish church, where there is a memorial. In his will, proved 23 May 1598, he left his lands in the parishes of Orlestone and Warehorne, west of Hythe, including the manor known as Parkers, to his elder son Giles. His other children were not forgotten, and among the other beneficiaries was his brother-in-law, William Knight, MP for Hythe in 1601.3
