Editing Marie Collings (section)

== Mortgage ==

[[File:Collings Coat of Arms, Sark.JPG|thumb|upright|Collings family coat of arms at the gate of the Seigneurie]]
On 24 February 1844, desperate for funds to continue the operation of the [[Silver mining|silver mine]] on the island, the then-[[Seigneur of Sark]] [[Ernest le Pelley]] obtained [[The Crown#Crown Dependencies|crown permission]] to mortgage the [[fief]] of Sark for £4,000 to Collings' father. The latter died within two years, leaving his wealth to his daughters.<ref name="Laughton">{{cite book|first1=Leonard George Carr|last1=Laughton|first2=Roger Charles|last2=Anderson|first3=William Gordon|last3=Perrin|publisher=Society for Nautical Research|title=The Mariner's Mirror, Volume 72|year=1986|page=82}}</ref> The mortgage and the [[List of tenants of Jethou|tenement]] of the island of [[Jethou]] passed to Collings.<ref name="Ewen"/><ref name="Laughton"/> The mine closed in 1847, two years after the uninsured collapse of its deepest gallery, and when Ernest le Pelley died in 1849 his successor, [[Pierre Carey le Pelley]], was unable to keep up his mortgage payments to Collings. She then decided to [[foreclosure|foreclose]] the mortgage, forcing him to seek [[Queen Victoria]]'s permission to sell the seigneurie of Sark on 10 November 1852. The widowed Marie Collings bought it on 4 December for £6,000 less the sum borrowed and an accumulated interest of £616.13s,<ref name="Ewen"/> for a total of £1,383.<ref name="Marr">{{cite book|last=Marr|first=James|author-link=James Marr (author)|title=Guernsey people|year=1984|isbn=0850335299|publisher=Phillimore}}</ref>