Robert Collis

William Robert Fitzgerald Collis (1900 – 1975) was an Irish doctor and writer. As an author he was known as Robert Collis. As a doctor, he was commonly known as Dr Bob Collis. Maurice Collis was his elder brother.

He worked for the Red Cross in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp after its liberation by Allied troops. He was instrumental in bringing five orphaned children from the camp to Ireland in 1947, and adopted two of them.

He wrote the play "Marrowbone Lane" in 1942 and an autobiography "The Silver Fleece" in 1939. The book "Straight On" (1947), with Han Hogerzeil, whom he later married, recounts the liberation of Belsen. Other books included "The Ultimate Value" (1951) about the refugee children, "A Doctor’s Nigeria" (1960), and "To Be a Pilgrim" (1975).

He was involved in establishing Cerebral Palsy Ireland. One of his first patients was Christy Brown, a cerebral palsy patient who later became a notable author himself. Collis proofread Brown's first attempt at an autobiography.