Skip to main content

Collins, John H.(--1860)

Biographical Overview

Birth Date: 0
Death Date: 1860-12

Notes

<b>Troupe(s)</b>: Soloist; Ethiopian Harmonists
<br><br>
<b>Role</b>: dancer, vocalist
<br><br>
<b>Info</b>:
John H. Collins first appears in our database in 1847 when Bell’s Life in London mentions, on July 25th, that he performed for some 200 nights with the Ethiopian Serenaders at the St. James theatre filling in for the injured Germon. He is also listed as a solo singer at Vauxhall Gardens, and as a member of the Ethiopian Harmonists all in that same year. While a ‘Collins’ appears in 1850 in Staffordshire, in all likelihood it is a different man as Era refers to him as “the negro melodist and dancer from Liverpool” (September 14, p.11) and John. H. Collins seems to have been performing with The New Orleans Serenaders Operatic Troupe in America at that time, judging by a sheet music cover from that year. T. Allston Brown also cites Collins as a member of Sam S. Sanford’s Minstrels (Clipper, October 21, 1876).
<br><br>
Playbills from the Liverpool Concert Hall from November of 1847 list J. H. Collins as a featured soloist with the Ethiopian Harmonists performing the following numbers:
Rosa Lee; Get Along Home, Yellow Gals; Mary Blane; Goin Ober de Mountain; My Skiff is on de Shore; Lucie Neal; I wish I was in Ole Virginny; De Colour Fancy Ball; Lucy Long.
<br><br>
Collins died of yellow fever in Havana, Cuba in December 1860
<br><br>
<i>Please see the 'Bibliographic Sources' link at right for a complete listing of materials (both primary and secondary) from which the above information was compiled.</i>
<br><P align="right">
Alexis Butler.

Troupe Affiliation

Troupe Name Troupe Type # of events
Collins, J.H. Minstrel 1
Collins, J.H. Minstrel 1
Collins, J.H. Minstrel 1
Ethiopian Harmonists (1847-?) Minstrel 1
Ethiopian Harmonists (1847-?) Minstrel 1
Ethiopian Harmonists (1847-?) Minstrel 1

Event Naming Person

Event Type Date Location Troupe
Variety - Vauxhall Gardens, London, London (city-county) Collins, J.H.
Variety - Vauxhall Gardens, London, London (city-county) Collins, J.H.
Minstrel Show - Bull's Head Concert Room, Dudley, Staffordshire Collins, J.H.
Minstrel Show - Concert Hall, Liverpool, Lancashire Ethiopian Harmonists (1847-?)
Minstrel Show - Concert Hall, Liverpool, Lancashire Ethiopian Harmonists (1847-?)
Minstrel Show - Concert Hall, Liverpool, Lancashire Ethiopian Harmonists (1847-?)

Sounds & Acts

Title Type Number of Events Found
1 Color'd Fancy Ball, De Song 1 event(s)
2 Get Along Home, Yellow Gals Song 1 event(s)
3 Going ober de Mountains Song 1 event(s)
4 I Wish I War At Ole Warginny Song 2 event(s)
5 Lucy Long Song 1 event(s)
6 Lucy Neal Song 2 event(s)
7 Mary Blane Song 3 event(s)
8 My Skiff is by de Shore Song 3 event(s)
9 Rosa Lee Song 2 event(s)