Collins, Wilkie (William) 1824-89
English novelist

Born in London, the elder son of the artist William Collins, he was educated partly at Highbury, but from 1836 to 1839 was with his parents in Italy. After his return he spent four years in business, and then was called to the Bar, but gradually devoted himself to literature, beginning with a Life of his father (1848). His first work of fiction was a novel about the fall of Rome, Antonina (1850). With Basil (1852) he turned his attention to mystery, suspense and crime, writing the first full-length detective stories in English. His best work was written in the 1860s when he produced The Woman in White (1860), No Name (1862), Armadale (1866) and The Moonstone (1868). Perhaps because of his poor health and opium addiction, his later novels, often driven by pressing social issues, are more uneven in quality.

Bibliography: K Robinson, Wilkie Collins: a biography (1951); William H Marshall, Wilkie Collins (1950)