Maria Stuart Collins

Maria Stuart Collins (nee Proctor) (c. 1760 – c. 1830) was a Canadian novelist and the editor of the abridged version of An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, one of the most important contemporary historical documents recording the First Fleet and development of Sydney from its early days as a convict colony. Her correspondence with her husband's family survives and provided insights on the life for an officer's wife who was separated from her husband for a long time, while he was overseas on colonial business. Maria was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, c. 1760. She married David Collins, an English marine officer, in 1777 in Halifax. She gave birth to a daughter in 1778 who died in infancy. Although born to one of the most prominent Nova Scotia families, Maria was in great financial distress after her husband's death in 1810, and petitioned the UK government for a number of years before being awarded a pension. She died in Stonehouse, near Plymouth, Devon, Great Britain, in about 1830.

Early life Maria Stuart Proctor (sometimes spelt Procter) was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the daughter of Charles Proctor and his wife Margaret. member of the House of Assembly of Nova Scotia, warden of St Paul's Church, trustee of the Commons at Halifax, lieutenant colonel in the Halifax Militia and provost marshal. As such, Maria had been brought up to "the prospect of a very large fortune." Their daughter did not survive infancy and was buried on 17 September 1780 in Chatham, Maria began to suffer from ill-health and did not have any more children.

Promotions for David followed. He became captain-lieutenant in August 1779 and captain in July 1780. In 1781 he joined HMS Courageux in the Channel Squadron. and Maria, worried about her health in 1804, asked her husband to support her mother. He agreed and instructed his bankers to support her mother in the amount of £150 per annum if anything happened to Maria.

In 1807 Maria wrote to David and told him she was intended to join him in Hobart, but she did not do so.

David died suddenly in 1810 while Lieutenant-Governor of Tasmania. His death left Maria in a tenuous financial situation.

Literary career

Novels Maria wrote novels to provide an income while David was away. These were written either under a pseudonym or anonymously at a time when women did not openly write novels. According to a Trelawny descendant, "Many of Maria's novels were still in the family library at Ham [House, Plymouth] in 1900, but their titles have not been recorded and the books apparently destroyed during World War II."

An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales This account was published in London in two volumes, Volume 1 in 1798 and Volume 2 in 1802. These volumes were written by David Collins with Maria's help. It covers the colony from its first settlement in 1788 to August 1801. She was sceptical that the Account would be a commercial success, writing to him in 1797/98 that "Those who published before the [expedition to Botany Bay] was new did not succeed, it is very unlikely you should now it is forgot but you are surely right to do the best you can." Later she would write that her husband "was compelled to employ his hours in literary labour to procure a subsistence." She therefore abridged the 2 volumes and condensing them into one, reducing some 950 printed quarto pages to 562. "She slashed her way through the thickets of her husband's prose to breathe life into it ... So skilful and effective were her cuts, that many considered her text a distinct improvement on the original." for a pension pointing out that she had "been born and bred a gentlewoman and with better prospects than my hard fate has realised," her ill-health and that she had only thirty six pounds a year to live on, her 'husband's creditors having taken everything including a small property of my own amounting to one hundred a year." She was now dependent on the support and accommodation of friends. She petitioned Lord Bathurst, Secretary of State for the Colonies, in September 1812 that she "must now find a residence for myself; but where to turn; to what corner of the world, situated as I am, to direct my bewildered course?" Her brother-in-law, George Collins petitioned Lord Liverpool on her behalf. It transpired that before he left for Tasmania, Lord Hobart, who would become the Earl of Buckingham promised David, that if Maria's situation "should appear to be such as to require the aid of government, I should consider it my duty to support any application from her". As Earl of Buckingham he wrote to Earl Bathurst in support of her application and she was awarded a pension of £120 per year. In 1815 she petitioned again for an increase, but this was refused.

Death and will On 12 February 1828, Maria wrote her will. She was then residing at 23 Durnford Street, Stonehouse Devon. She left specific gifts of jewellery, including a gold watch set with pearls, gold enamelled watch keys, a rose diamond ring, a small garnet hoop rings, her books and a Jusia Japan box to her nieces and nephew and the widow of General Desborough. The residue of the estate was left to her nephew, Theophillis Desbrisay of the Royal Artillery. She died sometime in 1828–1830 before probate of the will was granted in September 1830.