Festival planned to celebrate Lord Collingwood

Jan 22 2010 by Tony Henderson, The Journal

A 10-month celebration was launched yesterday of the life of the North East’s greatest seafarer.

This year sees the 200th anniversary of the death of Admiral Lord Cuthbert Collingwood who was born in Newcastle and whose family home in Morpeth still stands.

Collingwood went to sea at the age of only 12, starting a naval career which spanned the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars.

He was first into action and so began the fighting at Trafalgar and, after Lord Nelson’s death, finished the battle.

Collingwood died at sea on March 7, 1810, and is buried next to his close friend Lord Nelson in St Paul’s Cathedral.

Of 49 years in the navy, Collingwood spent an astonishing 44 years at sea.

That record and devotion to duty is reflected in the title of an exhibition which served yesterday to mark the opening of the events- packed Collingwood 2010 Festival.

The exhibition at Newcastle Discovery Museum in Blandford Square is called Collingwood: a Northumbrian Abroad, and runs from Saturday until June 27.

It delves into Collingwood’s thoughts, through his logs and letters, during a lifetime on the ocean wave.

Fascinating objects have been loaned by Collingwood’s descendants in Northumberland.

Collingwood has suffered from being in the shade of the charismatic Nelson, and the belief is that his achievements have not been given the acclaim they deserve.