Collins was the son of General Arthur Tooker Collins and Harriet Fraser, of Pack, in King's County, Ireland: he was the grandson of Arthur Collins, author of the _Peerage of England_.[72] At fourteen years of age he was lieutenant of marines; two years after, he commanded the military guard which attended Matilda, Queen of Denmark, to her brother's Hanoverian dominions, and had the honor of kissing her hand. It is said that, three years subsequent, he distinguished himself in that fatal conflict already noticed--the battle of Bunker's Hill. In 1774, he was captain of marines in the _Courageux_, of 74 guns, commanded by Lord Mulgrave, and was present with Lord Howe, at the relief of Gibraltar. At the peace of 1782, he retired to Rochester, in Kent, with his lady, an American, who survived him. The despatch, announcing his decease, was filled with lamentations: "I am sure," said the writer, "when I speak the feelings of my heart on this melancholy occasion, that it is not my single voice, but that of every department whatsoever in the settlement, who with the most heartfelt regret acknowledge him to have been the father and the friend of all," His person was remarkably handsome, and his manners prepossessing: to a cultivated understanding, and an early fondness for literature, he joined a most cheerful and social disposition. Colonel Collins was buried in the church-yard of St. David's, Hobart Town. To provide a temporary place for public worship, a small wooden church was erected on the spot, and its altar was reared over his grave. This building was blown down in a tempest, and its materials being carried off, left the resting place of Collins long exposed to the careless tread of the stranger. Sir John Franklin, always generous to the memory of official worth, reared a monument, bearing this inscription:-- Sacred to the Memory of DAVID COLLINS, ESQ., Lieutenant Governor of this Colony, and Lieutenant Colonel of the Royal Marine Forces. On the first establishment of the colony of New South Wales he was employed as Judge Advocate, And in the year 1803 he was entrusted by his Majesty's government with the command of an expedition, destined to form a settlement at Port Phillip, on the south coast of New Holland; but which was subsequently removed to Van Diemen's Land. * * * * * Under his direction as Lieutenant Governor, the site of this town was chosen, and the foundation of its first building laid in 1804. He died here on the 28th of March, 1810,[73] aged 56 years. And this monument long projected was erected to his memory in 1838, by direction of His Excellency SIR JOHN FRANKLIN, K.C.H., K.R. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 41: _Ross's Almanack_, 1829.] [Footnote 42: Ibid, 1835.]