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.

Related event

Guided walk: From Tyne to Trafalgar, 11am, Friday 23 October 2026, free, advance online booking essential.

The acquisition of the flag was supported by the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Sir James Knott Trust, Community Foundation North East, XTX Markets, the Drapers' Charitable Fund and several other donors.