Anthony Collett was an author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

 and writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

 on natural history

Natural history

Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...

 subjects and was The Times

The Times

The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

' nature correspondent during the 1910s and 1920s.

He was born at Cromhall

Cromhall

Cromhall is a village in South Gloucestershire, England. It lies between Bagstone and Charfield on the B4058. It also borders LeyhillCromhall is about 1 mile from Falfield on the A38 Tortworth turn off. Tortworth Estate is owned by Lord Morton, Earl of Ducie. The village of Cromhall is spread out...

, Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....

, educated at Bradfield School

Bradfield School

Bradfield School is a secondary school situated on the edge of the village of Worrall, in the parish of Bradfield, in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The school caters for pupils between the ages of 11 and 16. It is a specialist Engineering College and provides specialised courses such as...

 and Oriel College, Oxford.

In 1917, he was described as "of 5 Stone Buildings, Lincoln's Inn

Lincoln's Inn

The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, W.C.", which strongly suggests that he was a lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

, or at any rate involved in the legal profession in some capacity.

W. H. Auden

W. H. Auden

Wystan Hugh Auden , who published as W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet,The first definition of "Anglo-American" in the OED is: "Of, belonging to, or involving both England and America." See also the definition "English in origin or birth, American by settlement or citizenship" in See also...

used many phrases from Collett's Changing Face of England in his poems.

The Chase, a 130 acre (0.5260918 km²) woodland in Woolton Hill, was dedicated to the memory of Anthony Collett (according to a plaque on the site) when the land was presented to the National Trust in 1944 by Sir Kenneth Swan as a nature reserve and bird sanctuary.