Iris Collins

Iris Rhudella Collins-Williams (31 January 1915 – June 2001) was a Jamaican businesswoman and politician. She was elected to the House of Representatives in 1944, becoming its first female member.

Biography Collins was born in Cambridge in January 1915, the fourth daughter of Catherine and Welham Collins, who were farmers. She attended Westwood High School, graduating in 1929, after which she then studied at Business College in Kingston from 1930 to 1932. she contested the Saint James North Western constituency in the 1944 elections and defeated the incumbent MHA Allan Coombs, becoming the first woman elected to the House of Representatives. During her term in the House, she was a member of the Education, Social Welfare, Agriculture, Lands and Commerce committees.