Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 11.djvu/368

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Collingwood
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Collingwood

flicker. He died the following evening, 7 March. The body was brought to England, and, after lying in state in the Painted Hall at Greenwich, was buried in the crypt of St. Paul's by the side of Nelson. The monument to his memory is in the south transept of the cathedral. His portrait, by Howard, is in the Painted Hall, to which it was presented by the family. By his wife, who died 17 Sept. 1819, he had two daughters, Sarah, whose husband, Mr. G. L. Newnham, afterwards took the name of Collingwood, and Mary Patience, who married Mr. Anthony Denny, both of whom bad issue. He had no son, and the title, on his death, became extinct.

From the close connection between the careers of Nelson and Collingwood at different and critical stages, it has become to some extent customary to speak of Collingwood as Nelson's compeer, and as one of the greatest of England's admirals. A critical examination of the story of Collingwood's life shows that there is, in reality, no foundation for any such opinion. As a young officer Collingwood was certainly not distinguished above his fellows for either zeal or ability. He was promoted, mainly by family interest, to be lieutenant at the age of twenty-five; his promotions to be commander and captain came from the private friendship of Sir Peter Parker. As a captain or an admiral, where he had Nelson's example or instruction he did splendidly; where Nelson's influence was wanting, he won no especial distinction; and after Nelson's death, as commander-in-chief, he did, at most, no better than scores of other respectable mediocrities who have held high command. A careful study of the 'general order' which he issued on 23 March 1808, when in daily hopes of meeting the enemy, shows how curiously he had failed to grasp the secret of the tactics which had triumphed at Trafalgar. He seems to have fancied that the magic of 'the Nelson touch' lay, not in the concentration of the attack, but in the formation in two columns; and by dispersing the attack along the whole line, was prepared to repeat so much of the tactical blunders of a past age. To speak of the author of this memorandum, who never commanded in chief before the enemy, as a tactician worthy of being named along with the victor at the Nile, at Copenhagen, and at Trafalgar, is simply a misuse of language. But stress is often laid on the fact that Collingwood's private life was noble and pure. That he was an earnest and pious man, exemplary in his domestic relations, is admitted; but from a strictly professional point of view, Collingwood can only be considered as a brave and capable sailor, a good officer, an admirable second in command, but without the genius, fitting him to rise to the first rank as a commander-in-chief.

[A selection from the public and private correspondence of Vice-acimiral Lord Collingwood, interspersed with memoirs of his life, by G. L. Newnham Collingwood, 8vo, 1828. This, by Collingwood's son-in-law, is the standard biography, and has passed through several editions; all others of later date are mere transcriptions of Mr. Newnham Collingwood's statements and opinions, which, from the writer's natural bias, ought not to be by any means always implicitly accepted. Official letters and other documents in the Public Record Office; Naval Chronicle, xv. 15, and xxiii. 379; Nicolas's Nelson Despatches, passim (see index at end of vol. vii.); Brenton's Life of Lord St. Vincent, vol. i. chap, xvi.; Bourchier's Life of Sir Edward Codrington, i. 47-51.]

J. K. L.


COLLINGWOOD, GEORGE (d. 1716), Jacobite, was descended from the ancient family of Collingwood which was seated at Eslington, Northumberland, in the early part of the reign of Henry VIII. Having taken part in the rebellion of 1715, he was taken prisoner at Preston. He was ordered for London, but, having been seized with the gout at Wigan, was carried thence to Liverpool, where, after trial, he was found guilty and executed there on 25 Feb. 1715–16.

[Patten's History of the Rebellion in 1715; Noble's continuation of Granger's Biog. History of England, iii. 464; Burke's History of the Commons, i. 472.]

T. F. H.


COLLINGWOOD, ROGER (fl. 1513), mathematician, was elected a fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge, in 1497, being then B.A., and proceeded M.A. two years later. He had the college title for orders on 7 Aug. 1497, was dean of his college in 1504, and obtained a license on 16 Sept. 1507 to travel on the continent during four years for the purpose of studying canon law. On the expiration of that term it was stipulated that he was to resign his fellowship, and his name, accordingly, disappears from the college books after 1509–10. He acted, however, as proctor of the university in 1513. Under the name of 'Carbo-in-ligno' Collingwood wrote an unfinished treatise entitled 'Arithmetica Experimentalis,' which he dedicated, in the character of a former pupil, to Richard Fox, bishop of Winchester. The manuscript is preserved in the library of Corpus Christi College, Oxford.

[Cooper's Athenæ Cantab, i. 24, 526; Tanner's Bibl. Brit. (title Carbo); Coxe's Cat. of Oxford MSS. Corpus Christi Coll. Collection, p. 36.]

A. M. C.