Not long before his death, Queen Victoria inquired about the health of Wilkie Collins. The Times of 15 Jul 1889 stated that ‘The Queen has made special inquiries as to his health’. [1]
Wilkie Collins was a born storyteller. He was a master of the intricate plot and brilliant at creating suspense and atmosphere. He died peacefully on 23 September 1889 and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery, London.
As a writer, Collins was a celebrity, and friends with all the great literary men of his day. As a man, he was as mysterious as any of his books – secret mistresses and children, a double life that was kept from his public, rejection of religion, dire health problems that turned him into a drug addict – all were a part of the life he hid from public view. In 1863 his earnings topped £10,000, probably more than any other writer earned in a single year during the 19th century.
Collins despised the institution of marriage and steadfastly refused to regularise the position of the two women in his life. However, he was a devoted father and gave his children a good education.
Collins spent much of his life plagued by illness with Rheumatic gout attacking different parts of his body, particularly his eyes. He tried all the available remedies of the day and consulted every doctor he could find, but by the time he was in his late thirties, he was addicted to laudanum, a derivative of opium.
Over his lifetime, Collins wrote over 30 novels and more than 50 short stories, some of which were published in magazines edited by Charles Dickens, a travel book, and plays, reviews, and articles. Burdened by poor health, he continued to write in his final years before dying from a stroke at age 65. Never yielding to Victorian conventions, he insisted upon a simple funeral in his will.
He is remembered as a mercurial and charming man, with a “keen love of fun”, he was a loving father and supported the two women who, in their own ways, represented the different sides of his personality. His novels are well worth seeking out – he was a writer who helped to shape a literary genre and a brave author who challenged the accepted conventions of his world.