1899 – 25 September 1984
Frances Collins was born in South Wales and her early interest in archaeology and local history was awakened while being driven around her father’s country doctor practices. She attended Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, reading Modern History and graduated in 1921. A career in teaching followed, culminating in her appointment as Head of St Saviour’s and St Olave’s Grammar School, Southwark.
Upon her retirement in 1959 she moved to Meonstoke and was able to devote her energies to helping organize various aspects of the Hampshire Field Club – and to local history. Her own researches focused on the Meon Valley and with John Hurst she published village histories of West Meon, Warnford, Corhampton, Exton and Soberton, as well as Meonstoke. She became a leading correspondent of the Medieval Village Research Group and, with Jim Oliver, published surveys of the deserted villages of Lomer, Colemore and Prior’s Dean.
Other interests included the transcribing of parish registers and contributing to graveyard surveys, with the demographic information being passed on to the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure.
Sources
Grahame Soffe/HFC Newsletter
Portrait
Contribution to county’s history
Local history research in the Meon Valley.
Relevant published works
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Collins F, Oliver J (1971) Lomer: A study of a deserted medieval village, Proc Hants Field Club & Archaeol Soc 28, 67-76
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Oliver, J & Collins, F B (1975) Colemore and Prior’s Dean, Proc Hants Field Club & Archaeol Soc 32, 83-92
Critical Comments
Other Comments
Contributor
Dave Allen Oct 2021
Keywords
Meon valley, local history, Medieval Village Research Group, parish registers
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