The Trafalgar Flag of Lord Collingwood

In the Atrium, Ground Floor

Opposite Turbinia

Free, no booking

Pictured above: Keeper of History Kylea Little, and great, great, great neice of Lord Collingwood, Susan Collingwood-Cameron. Image by North News.

Be the first in the country to see the battle-scarred hand-sewn Union flag, created and flown on board HMS Royal Sovereign, the flagship of Newcastle-born Vice-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805.

The Trafalgar Flag is on display for two weeks before being stored while we redevelop one of the permanent galleries to showcase the flag and the story of Lord Collingwood. 

The flag will be on display on Trafalgar Day, 21 October. 

Collingwood recruited many of his sailors from the local maritime community. This led to Royal Sovereign’s crew gaining the nickname ‘Tars of the Tyne’. The flag itself would have been maintained (and possibly even made) on board the ship by these sailors. Nowhere supplied more men for Nelson’s Royal Navy than the skilled mariners of the Tyne and the Wear, and there were over 500 ‘Geordie’ sailors in Nelson’s fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar.

-

Help North East Museums raise the additional funds to create a new display featuring the flag and shining a light on the life of Lord Collingwood.

Find out more and donate.