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Collingwood`s Northumbrians Old and Valuable Officers Tony Barrow |
 Collingwood’s status as a naval hero has long been celebrated in North East England. He was, according to the late Professor Michael Lewis, ‘a more than ordinarily straightforward and upright man’. Born in Newcastle of an old established Northumberland family, Collingwood was an exceptional officer with considerable combat experience. During a long and illustrious career he served with numerous other battle-hardened naval officers whose family roots lay in the county. Some like his mentor and long-time patron, Admiral Robert Roddam, rose to the highest ranks of the Royal Navy, but most of the others are less well known. Collingwood’s Northumbrians: Old and Valuable Officers, explores the lives and experiences of some of these naval officers who came together under Collingwood’s command in the years surrounding Trafalgar. Their careers were, perhaps, more typical than Collingwood’s, or Roddam’s, but no less fascinating. Collectively they participated in many of the notable naval events of that era and their stories, told here for the first time, help to illuminate a Northumbrian naval tradition that has endured until relatively recent times. Using a variety of primary sources, contemporary accounts, correspondence and family papers, the book explores the socio-cultural context of Admiral Collingwood’s career and those of the officers he commanded. It explains the role of provincial patronage, the importance of family connection and the rewards, as well as the hazards, of a naval life. Above all it demonstrates that Collingwood’s well known preference for recruiting young officers from his native Northumberland went much deeper than simple regional loyalty. It reflected a long established practice and Collingwood’s own career was a product of it. ISBN : 978 1 901888 60 7 RRP : £8.95 Postage : £2.50 |