Lieutenant John ‘ (‘Tim’) Collins MBE DSC and Bar RNVR

JOHN ‘TIM’ COLLINS

            Six foot six inches tall, John Collins was always known as ‘Tim’, a name derived from his naval sobriquet ‘Tiny Tim’ and which followed him throughout a gallant war record to successful subsequent careers in business and racehorse ownership.

            In 1923, the baby’s health prompted a return from South Africa to Birmingham where his father set up a new business as a furrier. Tim flourished scholastically and obtained a place at Birmingham University, but the outbreak of war saw him volunteering for the RNVR.  He was called up in 1941, selected for officer training at HMS King Alfred and in 1942 appointed to Coastal Forces, joining a Motor Gun Boat then building at Appledore in Devon.  Voyaging to the Mediterranean, he took part in army support operations along the North African coast, subsequently joining as second-in-command a 70ft Vosper Motor Torpedo Boat based initially at Malta and then Sicily after the success of the Operation Husky invasion of July 1943.  During attacks against enemy forces in the Straits of Messina he was slightly wounded by a near miss from shore batteries and was hospitalised in Tunisia.

            By November 1943 Collins had rejoined his flotilla which was based at Bari on the east coast of the ‘heel’ of Italy.  This port was packed with shipping in support of the 8^th Army’s drive to the north and was considered by the military staff to be pretty much safe from attack by a much depleted Luftwaffe.  This judgement was shown to be catastrophically wrong on December 2^nd when a surprise night attack by 105 Junkers 88 bombers from Luftflotte 2 sank 28 ships of various types, damaging several others.  Further damage and many of the 1000 casualties were caused by fire from a fractured bulk petrol pipeline flooding into the harbour and the explosions of two ammunition ships which shattered windows seven miles away.. But the worst effect was caused by the mustard gas bombs carried in the American Liberty ship John Harvey – of doubtful legality, these were intended to be used in retaliation should the Germans employ chemical weapons.

            Mixed with oil, the gas had a devastating effect on anyone swimming in the harbour, producing blisters and burns.  Collins and another Coastal Forces officer, Lieutenant Claude Holloway (obituary June 8, 2012) were among those who leapt in to help survivors and thus were badly affected with mysterious symptoms that baffled the medicos.  By the end of the month 83 of the 628 hospitalised military victims had died.  The presence of mustard gas was at first concealed but the number of witnesses forced the US high command in February 1945 to admit the accident and to deny the intention to be the first users of gas in war. For his bravery, Collins was appointed MBE. 

            In early 1945 he was able to rejoin the 28^th Flotilla which had been re-equipped with powerful radar-fitted American boats.  Commanding MTB 406, he took part in a series of fierce actions in the Adriatic where this Flotilla chalked up a remarkable record, firing 51 torpedoes to sink or immobilise 21 ships. Collins was awarded the DSC and Bar.

            At the end of the war in Europe, Collins was appointed Flag Lieutenant to Admiral Pridham-Wippell, CinC Plymouth, where he met his first wife, Gillian Smith, a Wren officer and daughter of the second Baron Bicester. He was demobilised in 1946 and chose to join his father-in-law’s bank, Morgan Grenfell, rather than his father’s fur business. His career in banking included a year in NewYork working for  JP Morgan and a firm in Canada.  He became a director of Hudson’s Bay Company and subsequently a director of Morgan Grenfell in 1957, contributing an expert knowledge of the British steel industry, handling the denationalisation of steel companies in 1961 and having a major role in the takeover of UK Ford by American Ford.  He was noted for his excellent memory – it was alleged that while business opponents would be burdened by files and briefcases, Collins would consult rough notes on the back of a bus ticket

            He succeeded Sir John Stevens as chairman of Morgan Grenfell Holdings from January 1974.  During his time the business expanded abroad to Rome, Singapore, Hong Kong and Moscow, acquiring a sound reputation in corporate finance. Other occupations included director and chairman of Guardian Royal Exchange Assurance Group until 1988, director of Rank Hovis Macdougall, chairman of Oxfordshire St John’s, High Sheriff and Deputy Lieutenant of Oxfordshire. Friends knew him as a man of few words, modest to the point of shyness, but with a very clear moral sense, and an ability to make wise decisions and carry board members with him.

            His death was much remarked in the horse racing world.  He was noted as one of the key figures in the rescue of Cheltenham Racecourse from property developers, putting together a financial package and helping to set up the Racecourse Holdings Trust which earned him free entry to Cheltenham for life.  Enthusiastically owning several racehorses, his best was the champion two-mile chaser Remittance Man which won fifteen races including the 1991 Arkle and the following season’s Queen Mother Champion Chase.

            Collins was a keen fisherman and was elected one of the 25 members of the exclusive Houghton Angling Club.

            His wife Gillian died in 1981.  In 1986 he married Jennifer Cubitt, the younger daughter of the famous Desert General, ‘Strafer’ Gott.  He is survived by her, the son and daughter of the first marriage and the two stepdaughters of the second.

Lieutenant ‘Tim’ Collins RNVR  MBE DSC and Bar, Coastal Forces officer and chairman of Morgan Grenfell Holdings was born on 24 April, 1923.  He died on September 4 aged 89.