Introduction
Lieutenant General Sir Edwin Henry Hayter Collen GCIE CB (1843–1911) was a British Army officer in India, who served in the Council of the Viceroy of India.
Background and family
Collen was born in 1843, the son of Henry Collen, a miniature portrait painter and early photographer to the court. He married, in 1873, Blanche Rigby, daughter of Charles Rigby, JP, and they had three sons and a daughter.
Army career
Collen joined the Royal Artillery in 1863, and served in Abyssinia in 1868 and later in Afghanistan and Sudan. After passing through Staff college in 1871-72, he joined the Indian Staff Corps. As and administrator in India, he served as Secretary in the Military Department, and was a Military Member of the Council of the Viceroy of India from December 1895 until he retired in April 1901. He was promoted to Major-General on 18 January 1900.
Honours
Collens was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (KCIE) in the 1893 New Year Honours list, and was promoted to a Knight Grand Commander (GCIE) of the same order in the 1901 New Year Honours list. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 1897 Diamond Jubilee Honours list.