Log In

Joseph Collins Edit Profile

engineer mining engineer

Joseph Henry Collins FGS,, mining engineer, mineralogist and geologist.

Background

Of Cornish descent, he was born in London.

Career

He died at his home, Crinnis House, near Street Austell, on 12 April 1916 and is buried in Campdowns cemetery, Charlestown. He was at various times the Secretary or President of the three learned societies of Cornwall – Royal Geological Society of Cornwall (President from 1903–1904, and 1911–1912), the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society and the Royal Institution of Cornwall. Collins was the founding Secretary of the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland in 1876 and was involved in founding the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, becoming its Vice-President in 1892.

He also lectured for, and was secretary of, The Miners Association.

Collins pioneered systematic exploration for china clay in the Street Austell area, and had a long association with the area, as well as introducing both the filter press and the monitor to the china clay industry. From 1881–1884 he was the chief chemist and metallurgist for Rio Tinto mines in Spain but left due to ill health, possibly malaria.

Achievements

  • Contributed significantly to the Transactions of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, and was awarded the Bolitho Medal by the RGSC in 1898. The Collins medal was first awarded in 2010, to Doctor Henry Emeleus.

Works

All works