COLLEN, JOHN *

Builder, of Portadown, Co. Armagh. John Collen's grandfather John Collen I (1782-1858) was a stonemason working near Tanderagee, Co. Armagh, and his father Thomas Collen I (1813-1896), third son of John Collen I, carried on the business. John Collen, the subject of this entry, was the eldest son of Thomas Collen I by his wife, Elizabeth née Harcourt. He emigrated to Australia in 1857 and returned to Ireland four or five years later with capital and experience. During the 1860s he and his brother Thomas Collen II developed a construction business in Ulster and in 1872 opened an office in Dublin (see COLLEN BROS. COLLEN BROS. ). John Collen became Deputy Lieutenant of Co. Armagh and in 1911 High Sheriff. After the passing of the Local Government Act, he represented Portadown on Armagh County Council. He died at his home, Killycomain House, Portadown, on 19 May 1921. He had married his wife, Mary, circa 1858 and had eleven children.  He was the father of WILLIAM COLLEN. WILLIAM COLLEN.

See WORKS.

All information in this entry is fromthe 1911 census, http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai001589627/ (last visited Oct 2009), from Collen's obituary in IB 63, 4 Jun 1921, 390, and from an interview given to David Griffin by Lyle Gordon Collen in October 1994.

1 work entries listed in chronological order for COLLEN, JOHN *

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