Marie Collings, sometimes referred to as Mary Collings, was a wealthy Guernsey heiress who ruled as Dame of Sark from 1852 to 1853, being the island's second female ruler and the first holder of the fief from the presently ruling seigneurial family.
11 Facts About Marie Collings
1.
2.
Marie Collings inherited the fortune of her father, the privateer John Allaire, who had obtained the mortgage on the fief shortly before his death.
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Marie Collings was born into a wealthy family from Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands.
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Marie Collings was one of the two daughters of the privateer John Allaire, the other one being Catherine Allaire.
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Marie Collings's father was reputedly the most affluent man in Guernsey, whose fortune appears to have stemmed not only from privateering during the Napoleonic Wars, but from outright piracy.
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Marie Collings was married to Thomas Guerin Collings, Constable of the Town and Parish of Saint Peter Port.
7.
Marie Collings then decided to foreclose the mortgage, forcing him to seek Queen Victoria's permission to sell the seigneurie of Sark on 10 November 1852.
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Saint Peter 8.
Marie Collings never visited it during her tenure, "to the regret of the Sark people".
9.
Marie Collings meanwhile resided in Guernsey, and was represented in Sark by her only son and heir apparent, the Anglican priest William Thomas Marie Collings.
10.
Marie Collings succeeded her as seigneur of Sark upon her death in 1853, less than a year after the purchase.
11.
Marie Collings was survived by a daughter, Catherine Ann Allaire Ozanne.