Monument in Newcastle Cathedral commemorating Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood d. 1810
Location
St Nicholas's Cathedral, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England
Transcript
'SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF VICE-ADMIRAL CUTHBERT BARON COLLINGWOOD, WHO WAS BORN IN THIS TOWN ON THE 26TH SEPTEMBER, 1750, OF AN ANCIENT FAMILY. HE SERVED WITH GREAT BRAVERY IN THE ACTION OF THE 1ST OF JUNE, 1794; AND BORE A DISTINGUISHED PART IN THE VICTORY OFF CAPE ST VINCENT IN 1797. IN THE GREAT BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR HE LED THE BRITISH SQUADRONS INTO ACTION, AND PRESSED FORWARD WITH HIS SINGLE SHIP INTO THE MIDST OF THE COMBINED FLEETS OF FRANCE AND SPAIN. ON THAT DAY, AFTER THE DEATH OF HIS ILLUSTRIOUS COMMANDER AND FRIEND LORD NELSON, HE COMPLETED THE MOST GLORIOUS AND DECISIVE VICTORY WHICH IS RECORDED IN THE NAVAL ANNALS OF THE WORLD. IN THE COMMAND OF THE MEDITERRANEAN TO WHICH HE SUCCEEDED, HE DISPLAYED UNRIVALLED SKILL AS A SEAMAN, AND GREAT TALENTS AND ADDRESS IN THE CONDUCT OF MANY IMPORTANT NEGOTIATIONS. AFTER FIVE YEARS, DURING WHICH HE NEVER QUITTED HIS SHIP FOR A SINGLE NIGHT, HE BECAME ANXIOUS TO REVISIT HIS NATIVE LAND; BUT BEING INFORMED THAT HIS SERVICE COULD ILL BE SPARED IN THOSE CRITICAL TIMES, HE REPLIED, THAT HIS LIFE WAS HIS COUNTRY'S, AND PERSEVERED IN THE DISCHARGE OF HIS ARDUOUS DUTIES, TILL EXHAUSTED WITH FATIGUE, HE EXPIRED, ON BOARD HIS MAJESTY'S SHIP THE VILLE DE PARIS ON 7TH MARCH, 1810, IN THE 60TH YEAR OF HIS AGE. IN PRIVATE LIFE HE WAS GENEROUS AND AFFECTIONATE - A PIOUS, JUST, AND EXEMPLARY MAN. A MONUMENT WAS ERECTED TO HIS MEMORY BY PARLIAMENT, IN THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST PAUL WHERE HE LIES BY THE SIDE OF THE HERO TO WHOM HE SO WORTHILY SUCCEEDED IN THE VICTORY OF TRAFALGAR. HIS WIDOW (DAUGHTER OF JOHN ERASMUS BLACKETT, ESQ., OF THIS TOWN), AND HIS TWO DAUGHTERS, HAD CAUSED THIS CENOTAPH TO BE ERECTED; AND ON LADY COLLINGWOOD'S DEATH, ON THE 17TH SEPTEMBER, 1819, IT WAS INSCRIBED TO BOTH THEIR REVERED AND LAMENTED PARENTS, BY THEIR GRATEFUL CHILDREN'
Details
Type: Monument
Position: West End
Materials: Marble
Date Erected: 1819
Artists: John Charles Felix Rossi; R. Cockrell
Event
Battle of Trafalgar
Event Date
1805
Event Category
1803-1815 Napoleonic War
People
Age: 60
Date of Death: 7/3/1810
Cause of Death: Unknown/None
Rank / Occupation: Admiral
Organisation: Royal Navy
Extra
Bibliography: Rupert Gunnis 'Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851' (London, 1964); Geoffrey Murray 'The Life of Admiral Collingwood' (London, 1936), Ed. Colin White 'The Trafalgar Captains: Their Lives and Memorials' (London, 2005) p. 44.
Recorder: B. Tomlinson
Photographer: B. Tomlinson