John (1) Collinson

John (1) Collinson CE, FRGS
File:Collinson, John (1).jpg
Born	1842
Died	1922
Residence	9 Clarendon Gardens, Maida Hill 37 Porchester-terrace, Hyde Park, W [1875] 13 Palace Gate, W. [1881] 90 Cromwell Road, SW [1883]
Society Membership membership ASL, AI ordinary fellow left 1885.11 last listed elected_AI 1866 elected_ASL 1866.09.05 societies Royal Geographical Society

Notes

House Notes

proposed 1866.08.01
number after name to distinguish from another with same name

Notes From Elsewhere

[From The Playing Card vol. 32, number 2: Thierry Depaulis & Jac Fuchs 'First steps of bridge in the West, Collinson's Biritch']
1. The 'Biritch' pamphlet
The 'Biritch' pamphlet is a modest four-page booklet of a rather small size: 10 x 15
cm. Its first page - which is also its title page - is headed: "BIRITCH, OR RUSSIAN
WHIST" below a rectangular engraved ornament. A simple line of tiny Maltese
crosses separates this title from the beginning of the text. The only clue that is
mentioned on the pamphlet is a small caption, at the bottom of page 1: "[Entered
at Stationers Hall.]" We have traced four copies only, but this is not surprising for
a document which today would have simply been photocopied. It is a small miracle
that the originator of the booklet chose to copyright it. Of these four copies one is
alas missing: the copy which was in the former British Museum "Reference Library"
(now the British Library), shelfmark 7913.aa.51., was destroyed during the Blitz
in 1940 or 1941.Monckton describes it as "a double sheet of buff paper about 6 in. by 4 in. It
was published in February, 1886, by Messrs. Blandford Low [sic] & Co., of 34,
Lime Street, E.C. —a firm whom the writer has been unable to locate [...] The
author, supposing this individual to be identical with the holder of the copyright,
was one Mr. John Collinson, whose address is given as 90, Cromwell Road, but
who no longer resides there..." ....
It has been questioned whether this "unidentified John Collinson" (Parlett, p.
225), owner of the copyright, was the real author of the little book. This question
was in fact answered in 1894 by... John Collinson himself in a letter to the Editor
of The Field magazine, which had just published a review of the earliest bridge
manual, The Pocket Guide to Bridge, by "Boaz" (London : Thomas De La Rue, 1894).
It seems no-one paid attention to what Collinson had to say. Here are his words as
published in The Field, 4 August, 1894, p. 215:
"Bridge, Biritch, or Russian Whist — My attention has been called to your notice of
Bridge Whist. It may interest your readers if I enclose a copy of the rules of'Biritch'
which I published about ten years ago, at the request of some friends. You will notice that
the rubber points are forty as against a hundred; four aces in one hand, eigthy as against
a hundred; and the biritch or without trump4 value of tricks ten as against twelve. In
case of a revoke slam (great or little) cannot be counted. - John Collinson."
Not only did Collinson's pamphlet go unnoticed, but his claim of authorship
was rapidly forgotten as well.
2. Who was John Collinson?
John Collinson was born on 7th November 1842, at Usworth (County Durham)6.
We have found nothing on his youth and on his education. In 1863 Collinson
went to Nicaragua with Commander Bedford Pim of the British Navy to advance
the interests of Great Britain in Central America through the construction of a
proposed railway across Nicaragua from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific. The
expedition gave rise to an official account: Descriptive account of Captain Bedford
Pirn's project for an international Atlantic and Pacific junction railway across Nicaragua
(London, 1866) to which was added a Report and estimate of cost by John Collinson.
On his return to England in 1866, John Collinson published two papers:
"Explorations in Central America, accompanied by survey and levels from Lake
Nicaragua to the Atlantic Coast", in Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society
(Vol. 12,1867, pp. 25-44) and "The Indians of the Mosquito Territory", in Memoirs
of the Anthopological Society of London (Vol. 3,1870, pp. 148-56; read 9 Aug., 1867).
From the Kelly's Post Office London Directories7 and the City of London Electoral
Registers8 we know Collinson had definitely settled in London. From 1867 to 1872 he
lived at 9 Clarendon Gardens. In the same years he had an office at 9 Westminster
Chambers, Victoria Street where the directories mention him as "civil engineer". At
this address, which was also referred to as 9 Victoria Chambers, there were dozens
of offices, mainly occupied by civil engineers and railway companies.
Thanks to the census records of 18719 we know the man John Collinson and his
family. At 9 Clarendon Gardens, we find:
"John Collinson, head, male, 28, civil engineer, born at Durham [i.e. Usworth,
County Durham]
Cecilia, wife, 29, born at Guernsey
Edward D., son, 5, scholar, born in Middlesex
Ellen C, do [= daughter], 3, born in Middlesex10
Marie Symes, servant, 34, cook/domestic, born in Dorsetshire, Stoke Abbott
Martha Want, servant, 30, born in Hertfordshire
Harriett Lovell, servant, 27, born in Somersetshire, Bath"
This establishes that Collinson was fairly well off by 1871, as he already had three
servants. In the same years he added to his name "FRGS" (Fellow of the Royal Geographical
Society), and "FASL" (Fellow of the Anthropological Society of London). From 1872 John
Collinson had offices at 50 Old Broad Street, where he was styled "banker", or "foreign
banker". The Collinson family moved to 37 Porchester Terrace in 1872.
In the 1870's John Collinson was active in the United States. There he got
involved in examining different railway projects. One of these resulted in The
Denver Pacific Railway: its present position and future prospects (London : Denver
Pacific Railway, W.J. Johnson, printer, 1870), a report published with William
Abraham Bell. From around 1870 until 1876, John Collinson represented English
and Dutch investors in a huge project in New Mexico that began with the purchase
of lands from Lucien Bonaparte Maxwell (1818-1875). "In January 1870, the
Maxwells made out a deed to John Collinson, a well-known English investor, and a
joint-stock company doing business as the Maxwell Land Grant and Railway
Company for 'two million acres more or less' [...]. Collinson owned the majority (...)
of the 50,000 shares of the company, with other well-known European and Eastern
investors [...]." Maria E. Montoya explains that Collinson's idea was to issue bonds
to smaller investors across Europe and the United States, "redeemed at par on July 1,
1895, payable in either London in pound sterling or Rotterdam in Dutch guilders." n
This is why we know of a report by John Collinson that was published in 1870,
in English and in Dutch. Unfortunately the venture did not do well: people who
actually inhabited the lands - Jicarilla Indians, Mexican farmers and Anglo miners
- protested, rather violently, against this stronghold. "Within months [...] the
company faced financial ruin." In 1874 a reorganisation was felt necessary and a
Proposal dated 20 Nov. 1874 was "handed to the committee in Holland of Maxwell
bondholders"12. In July 1875, the company declared bankruptcy.
Some years afterwards Collinson seems to have been involved again in an American
project, that of the Atlantic, Mississippi & Ohio Railroad Company. A report by
him provoked a reply from its president, General William Mahone. In 1879
Collinson was still dealing with American affairs. A Report of Mr. John Collinson
and Mr. E. R. Leland, to the Council of Foreign Bond Holders, and the Funding Association
of the U.S.A. on the Virginia State Debt was published and sent to investors. On 12
May, 1879 an article on the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railway was published
in The Times by John Collinson.
From all this, we can see John Collinson started his career in the railway
construction business abroad. Having certainly been trained as an engineer, he
appears to have gradually become a consultant, and eventually to have concentrated
on financial activities. Railways were in full boom in the second half of the 19th
century. British technology and know-how were particularly sought-after. And
many British capitalists were ready to invest in railway companies. It is no surprise
to hear John Collinson was offered to investigate railway possibilities in Turkey.
The Ottoman Empire was dramatically under-equipped: a few short lines had been
built in "Turkey in Europe", but none was seriously available in Asia Minor.
Was this the opportunity for incorporating? From 1879 the London trade
directories mention Collinson's offices as "John Collinson & Co, (general)
merchants, 20 St Helen's Place / Bishopsgate Street, London E.C.". John Collinson
is not mentioned in the 1881 census records, possibly because he was abroad
at the time. In 1882 his private address changed for 90 Cromwell Road.
According to Collinson's own words (in his letter of 9 June, 1906 quoted below),
from 1880 to 1884 he "spent a considerable time in Constantinople and Asia
Minor". He must have spent much of his time in the Mersin/Adana region where
a group of British financiers, led by Sir Thomas Tancred (1840-1910), had planned
to set up a railway. No doubt John Collinson was the "engineer on the spot" whom
the Times correspondent in Constantinople referred to in an article of 188413. We
will see that Collinson did not waste his time in Constantinople, learning a new
exciting card game called 'Biritch'.
Granted on 8 January, 1883 to an "Ottoman company formed under the name
of the Mersina, Tarsus and Adana Railway Company", the concession was secured.
In 1884 John Collinson was back to London and in December he could
organise a first meeting of the company shareholders under the presidency of the
Duke of Sutherland.
The Mersin/Adana railway track was finally opened in 1886, exactly when
John Collinson was entrusting the firm of Blandford Lowe & Co in London with
the task of printing a four-page pamphlet entitled Biritch, or Russian whist. At
about the same time, the offices of John Collinson & Co moved to 8 Great
Winchester Street. In 1887-8, while John Collinson was chairman of the Mersina,
Tarsus and Adana Railway Company, there were difficult tax-refund discussions
with the Council of Administration of the Ottoman Public Debt.
From 1894 to 1906 we have hardly any news from John Collinson. We know
that the Collinson household moved again in 1891, to 21 Ashley Gardens. In 1906
the Deutsche Bank took over the Mersina, Tarsus and Adana Railway Company.
We know that by 1899 John Collinson had resigned as chairman. But bridge player
he still was. William Dalton had started his series on bridge in The Saturday Review
in 1905; in May and June 1906 the articles dealt with "The Evolution of Bridge".
The 19 May issue did not go unnoticed: a few days later Collinson wrote a reply
which was published in the same magazine on 9 June. By then he was living at "21
Ashley Gardens, Victoria Street, S.W." He was still travelling much since he writes:
"Absence from England prevented me from seeing yours of the 19th until now."
According to the London directories, Collinson vacated his house in Ashley
Gardens in 1915 or 1916. On 27 January, 1915 "John Collinson of Number 21 Ashley
Gardens in the County of London and Number 8 Great Winchester Street in the
City of London Esquire" wrote his will14, whose sole beneficiary was Louis Leopold
Marks, 8 Great Winchester Street, London. (Thus John Collinson's wife and children
seem to have all died before 1915.) This done Collinson moved to the Russell
Hotel, in Russell Square, where he lived for a few years, then he chose to go to the
Midland Grand Hotel, in St Paneras, Middlesex, where he died on 21st April 1922.
John Collinson & Co appears to have survived its founder: in 1923 it was located
at 85 London Wall.

Publications

External Publications

Title of book. Biritch, or Russian Whist
Name of Publisher and Place of Publication.Blandford Lowe & Co,
34 Lime Street London EC
Name and Place of Abode of the John Collinson 90 Cromwell Road
Proprietor of the Copyright. London SW
Date of First Publication. 9th July 1886

Descriptive account of Captain Bedford
Pirn's project for an international Atlantic and Pacific junction railway across Nicaragua
(London, 1866) to which was added a Report and estimate of cost by John Collinson

"Explorations in Central America, accompanied by survey and levels from Lake
Nicaragua to the Atlantic Coast", in Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society
(Vol. 12,1867, pp. 25-44)

[possibly, from The Freemanson, Oct 3. 1885]THE ANALOGY BETWEEN MAGIC , ALCHEMY , AND OLD ROSICRUCIANISM. AN ESSAY READ BEFORE THE ROSICRUCIAN SOCIETY OF ENGLAND , BY JOHN COLLINSON , FRA. Ros. CR.

House Publications

The Indians of the Mosquito Territory Memoirs of the Anthopological Society of London (Vol. 3,1870, pp. 148-56; read 9 Aug., 1867