| Authorised form of name | Collinson; Peter (1694 - 1768) |
| Dates | 1694 - 1768 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | 94 Lombard Street, London, England |
| Date of birth | January 1694 |
| Place of death | Thorndon Hall, Brentwood, Essex |
| Date of death | 11 August 1768 |
| DatesAndPlaces | Burial:
Long Lane burial-ground, Bermondsey, London |
| Occupation | Mercer |
| Research field | Natural history |
| Dissemination of science |
| Activity | Education:
Quaker school at Wandsworth, Surrey
Career:
Took over the family business with his brother James and improved it by extensive trading with the American colonies; helped Mark Catesby (FRS 1733) to find patrons in America; Sir Hans Sloane (FRS 1685) encouraged his interest in the metamorphosis of insects, much of his collection was deposited in Sloane's museum and he later contributed to the British Museum; his gardens at Peckham and Mill Hill were known for their exotics and he is credited with introducing or reintroducing 180 species into England; encouraged the cultivation of silk, flax, hemp and wines in America; London agent for the Library Company of Philadelphia (1732); corresponded with Benjamin Franklin (FRS 1756) and other scientists in America, Europe and elsewhere;
Memberships:
FSA; Berlin Academy; Uppsala Academy
|
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 05/12/1728 |
| Relationships | Son of Peter Collinson, Mercer, of Hugal Hall on the borders of Lake Windermere and Elizabeth Hall; married (11 June 1724) Mary, daughter of Michael Russell of London; one son, one daughter; Quaker, but withdrew from Society of Friends |
| Source | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; DSB; DQB
References:
H G Lyons, 'Two Hundred Years Ago: 1739' in NR 1939 vol 2 pp 34-42
R V Jones, 'Benjamin Franklin' in NR 1976-7 vol 31 pp 201-225
John H Appleby, 'Ginseng and the Royal Society' in NR 1982-83 vol 37 pp 121-145
Geoffrey Cantor, 'Quakers in the Royal Society, 1660-1750' in NR 1997 vol 51 pp 175-193
Obituary, Gentleman's Magazine (1768) p 398
Notes:
DNB gives birth date of 14 January 1694 and birth place near Windermere. DSB agrees with DQB date of 28 January and is corroborated by Quaker Register of births. DNB gives father-in-law as Mr Bushell of Mill Hill, Hendon, Middlesex. Proposed by Sylvanus Bevan; Sir Hans Sloane; John Gaspar Scheuchzer |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/13091055 |
| Code | NA8428 |
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| IM/000926 | Collinson, Peter | nd |
| IM/000925 | Collinson, Peter | nd |
| AB/1/2/1/125 | Letter to Mr West from Dr Hill | 17 January 1768 |
| L&P/2/91 | Paper, 'On cancer major' by Peter Collinson | 1 January 1751 |
| L&P/1/266 | Paper, 'On the food of the soal fish' by Peter Collinson | 1743 |
| RBO/16/10 | 'Account of the same aurora borealis by Mr Richard Lewis' | 1730 |
| IM/005839 | Franklin, Benjamin | 2001 |
| L&P/1/309 | Letter, 'Of the alt-marsh mussel Pensilvania' from John Bartram to Peter Collinson | 4 July 1742 |
| L&P/3/331 | Letter, 'Of the migration of swallows' from Keane Fitzgerald to Peter Collinson | 27 March 1758 |
| L&P/2/499 | Letter, 'Of certain fossils - oysters, belemnites' from Joshua Platt to Peter Collinson | 22 March 1754 |
| L&P/2/175 | Letter, 'Of certain clay nodules' from Joshua Platt to Peter Collinson | 1750 |
| L&P/4/349 | Paper, 'Of the East Indian elks' by James Parsons and Peter Collinson | 26 February 1766 |
| L&P/3/139 | Letter, 'Microscopical observations' from Edward Wright to Petter Collinson | 26 December 1755 |
| L&P/1/230 | Letter, 'On the disappearing of Saturn's ring in 1743 and 1744' from Godfrey Heinsius to Peter Collinson | 13 September 1743 |
| L&P/2/199 | Letter, 'Of a small species of wasp' from John Harrison to Peter Collinson | 19 July 1748 |
| L&P/1/424 | Letter, 'Effect of apple farina (pollen) on other apple blooms' from Benjamin Cooke to Peter Collinson | 7 October 1745 |
| L&P/1/317/1 | Letter, 'Of a bone found in a ship's bottom' from Beck to Peter Collinson | 1744 |
| L&P/2/133 | Letter, 'Of the periodical appearences of locusts' from Peter Collinson to Martin Folkes | 1750 |
| L&P/2/289 | Letter, 'Of the shells of crabs' from James Parsons to Peter Collinson | 22 April 1752 |
| L&P/2/10 | Letter, 'Of a great black wasp from Pennsylvania' from John Bartram to Peter Collinson | 20 December 1749 |
| L&P/1/439 | Letter, 'Of cobwebs and cattle disorders' from John Payne to Peter Collinson | 22 December 1745 |
| L&P/1/350 | Letter, 'On the libella' from Peter Collinson to Hans Sloane | 23 June 1744 |
| L&P/1/454 | Letter, 'Legendary acct. of cockatrice' from Benjamin Cooke to Peter Collinson | 20 February 1746 |
| L&P/2/343 | Letter, 'Of an electrical kite' from Benjamin Franklin to Peter Collinson | 3 October 1752 |
| L&P/4/191 | Paper, 'Of the cicada of North America' by Peter Collinson | 1764 |
| L&P/3/223 | Letter, 'Extract of a letter sent from Philadelphia' from Benjamin Franklin to Peter Collinson | 23 September 1756 |
| L&P/3/174 | Letter, 'Of a remarkable fossil Orthocertites' from Edward Wright to Peter Collinson | 18 May 1756 |
| L&P/4/413 | Letter, 'Of elephants teeth' from Peter Collinson to Matthew Maty | 19 November 1767 |
| L&P/2/477 | Letter, 'Of dyeing black without logwood' from Gustavus Brander to Peter Collinson | 7 February 1754 |
| L&P/4/156 | Letter, 'Remarks on swallows on the Rhine' from Francois Achard to Peter Collinson | 7 September 1762 |
| L&P/4/255 | Letter, 'A beautiful Chinese pheasant - the argus' from George Edwards to Peter Collinson | 1 March 1765 |
| L&P/4/257 | Letter, 'Account of Gmelin's work on the fossils of Wirtemberg' from Edward Mendez da Costa to Peter Collinson | 25 February 1765 |
| L&P/1/355 | Letter, 'Of a gold-colour varnish' from Peter Collinson to the President of the Royal Society | 1745 |
| L&P/4/46 | Letter, 'Computation of lives' from James Burrow to Peter Collinson | 1761 |
| L&P/1/122 | Letter, 'A note relating to vivaprous fish shewed by Mr Ames' from Peter Collinson to John Machin | 1742 |
| L&P/3/169 | Letter, 'Of copper springs lately discovered in Pennsylvania' from John Rutty to Peter Collinson | 22 April 1756 |
| L&P/2/71 | Letter, 'Of the earthquake shock of March 18' from Benjamin Cooke to Peter Collinson | 26 March 1750 |
| L&P/1/265 | Paper, 'On the hardness of shells' by Peter Collinson | 1743 |
| L&P/3/300 | Paper, 'Agreeing with some of his views and dissenting from others (birds of passage)' from Peter Collinson to Jacobus Theodorus Klein | 6 March 1758 |
| L&P/2/517 | Letter, 'Of corallines' from John Ellis to Peter Collinson | 1754 |
| L&P/1/286 | Paper, 'On the colour of men's skins' by John Mitchell | 22 April 1743 |
| RBO/21/36 | 'An Account of the American Ginseng by Mr Peter Collinson' | 1738 |
| IM/001543 | Franklin, Benjamin | 2001 |
| L&P/2/384 | Letter, 'Of a marine cluster-polype' from John Ellis to Peter Collinson | 8 November 1753 |
| L&P/1/280 | Letter, 'On the Manna persicum explanta. Alhagi maurorum' from John Fothergill to Peter Collinson | 25 February 1744 |
| EL/L6/49 | Letter, from James Logan to Peter Collinson, dated at Philadelphia | 20 November 1735 |
| L&P/2/469 | Letter, 'Of the pheasant of Pennsylvania and the Otis minor' from George Edwards to Peter Collinson | 10 January 1754 |
| RBO/17/10 | 'An account of a remarkable Seeming Alteration in the Size and Shape of objects at a distance occasion'd by the Exhalations from the Earth by Peter Collinson' | 1731 |
| CLP/8ii/72 | Letter, regarding observations of a comet and an eclipse at Philadelphia in Pennsylvania [USA] from Dr Kearsly to Peter Collinson | 1737 |
| L&P/1/131 | Letter, 'Concerning a water animal (hydra) which being cut into pieces becomes so many perfect animals' from John Frid Gronovius to Peter Collinson | 1742 |
| L&P/3/288 | Letter, 'Of a fossil thigh-bone from the Stonesfield Slate' from Joshua Platt to Peter Collinson | 20 January 1758 |
| EL/L6/44 | Letter, from Richard Lewis to Mr Collinson, dated at Annapolis in Maryland | 27 October 1732 |
| EL/C3/39 | Letter, from [Peter] Collinson to Cromwell Mortimer | nd |
| L&P/2/198 | Letter, 'Of electrical experiments' from Benjamin Franklin to Peter Collinson | 4 February 1751 |
| L&P/1/346 | Letter, 'Concerning the germination of melon seeds 33 years old; and, of a skeleton of a man found with stag's horns near Bakewell' from Roger Gale to Peter Collinson | 1745 |
| EL/C3/43 | Letter, from Benjamin Cooke to Peter Collinson, dated at Newport | 1733 |
| EL/L6/48 | Letter, from James Logan to Peter Collinson, dated at Stenton | 31 October 1737 |
| L&P/2/238 | Letter, 'Of the effects of lightning' from Benjamin Franklin to Peter Collinson | 29 June 1751 |
| EL/W3/157 | Letter, from Christopher Will to Mr [Peter] Collinson, dated at Philadelphia | 1 July 1734 |
| EL/V/71 | Extract of a letter, from Captain Vigor to Peter Collinson, dated at St Petersburg | 1737 |
| CLP/4ii/4 | Paper, account of the aurora borealis of 22 October 1730 from Richard Lewis to Peter Collinson | 10 December 1730 |
| CLP/6/72a | Letter, account of boring a well at Queensborough by Frost, Young, Oxley, Roswell, Stacey, Hayward, Ward, Hogg, Dod, Finch, Devert, and Jones | 9 October 1723 |
| L&P/4/45 | Letter, 'Of checking the too luxuriant growth of fruit trees' from Keane Fitzgerald to Peter Collinson | 19 January 1761 |
| L&P/3/138 | Letter, 'Of the earthquake of Nov 1 at New York' from Cadwallader Colden to Peter Collinson | 9 December 1755 |
| L&P/3/175 | Letter, 'Of a remarkable fossil Orthoceratites' from Edward Wright to Peter Collinson [Second letter] | 11 June 1756 |
| L&P/2/478 | Letter, 'Concerning a particular species of coralline' from John Ellis to Peter Collinson | 7 February 1754 |
| L&P/1/178 | Letter, 'Of certain ferruginous stones 'Granadoes Terrelles'' from Benjamin Cook to Peter Collinson | 4 October 1742 |
| CLP/2/37 | Paper, 'An account of a remarkable seeming alteration in the size and shape of objects at a distance, from the exhalations from the Earth' by Peter Collinson | [1732] |
| L&P/4/333 | Letter, 'Of the Jaculator fish' from Peter Simon Pallas to Peter Collinson | 20 October 1764 |
| L&P/2/565 | Letter, 'Of Mount Taborg in Sweden (iron ore)' from Petrus Ascanius to Peter Collinson | 6 December 1754 |
| L&P/4/200 | Letter, 'An account of the fish from Batavia [Jakarta, Indonesia] called Jaculator' from Johann Albrecht Schlosser to Peter Collinson | 22 September 1763 |