W. Lucas (William Lucas) Collins

William Lucas Collins was a 19th-century English clergyman and author, born in Wales and educated at Rugby School and Jesus College, Oxford. Sources consulted agree that he built a dual career in the Church of England and in letters, serving in a series of parish posts while publishing widely for Victorian readers.

He is best remembered for popular classical studies and retellings, including books on Homer, Virgil, Cicero, and Lucian. Reference sources also note that he contributed articles to the ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, which fits his reputation as a writer who could make learned subjects accessible without losing their interest.

There is some variation in the sources about his birth year: modern reference pages commonly give 1815, while some library and older catalog records use 1817. He died in 1887. I wasn’t able to confirm a suitable portrait image from the pages searched, so no profile image is included here.