William Wilkie Collins was born on January 8, 1824, in Marylebone, London, England, the son of artist William Collins and Harriet Geddes. He had one younger brother. His middle name Wilkie honors his godfather David Wilkie. The family was deeply religious, though Wilkie hated church. After being educated at home, he attended the Maida Vale Academy, then lived with his family in Italy and France for two years. Back in England, in 1838, he attended a private boarding school in Highbury, where he was bullied into telling a story each night before bedtime. This forced him to create new material on a regular basis, which led to his future career. In 1840, Wilkie worked as an apprentice tea clerk, which he hated, but stayed there for five years. By 1843, his first story, "The Last Stage Coachman" was published. His father was unhappy that Wilkie was not intending to become a clergyman, or a painter, so he forced him to study law. After his father's death in 1847, he began writing on a regular basis, though he did pass the bar in 1851. That same year, he became friends with Charles Dickens. The two acted together in a play attended by Queen Victoria. The two continued touring for several years. During this time, Wilkie developed gout and began taking opium to treat it, which he became addicted to. Although he was against marriage, Collins lived with Caroline Graves and her daughter from 1858, until his death in 1889. She briefly left him to marry another, but divorced after two years and returned to Collins. At this point, he assumed the name William Dawson, while having a relationship with a woman named Martha Rudd, with whom he had several children. When Charles Dickens died in 1870, Collins became depressed. His younger brother had married Dickens' daughter Kate, but he died in 1873. While touring the U. S. in 1873, Wilkie became friends with Mark Twain and Oliver Wendell Holmes. As he became older and his health failed, he began to mentor younger writers. He died on September 23, 1889, at the age of 65, from a stroke in London. He is buried with Caroline Graves.