W. G. Collingwood

William Gershom Collingwood, (6 August 1854 - 1 October 1932), was author, artist, and antiquary. In 1872 he went to University College, Oxford. While at Oxford he met John Ruskin. During the summer of 1873 Collingwood, visited Ruskin at Brantwood, Coniston. Two years later Collingwood was working at Brantwood with Ruskin and his associates. Ruskin admired his draughtsmanship, and so Collingwood went to the Slade to study, between 1876 and 1878, he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1880.

For many years Collingwood was dedicated to helping Ruskin. He stayed at Brantwood as his assistant and travelled with him to Switzerland. In 1883 he married Edith Mary Isaac (1857–1928) and settled near to Ruskin. He edited a number of Ruskin's texts. His biography of Ruskin was published in 1893.

In 1896 Arthur Ransome met the Collingwoods and their children, Dora (later Mrs Ernest Altounyan), Barbara (later Mrs Oscar Gnosspelius), Ursula, and Robin (the later historian and philosopher). Ransome learned to sail in Collingwoods' boat Swallow and became a firm friend of the family, even proposing marriage to both Dora and Barbara. After a summer of teaching Collingwood's grandchildren to sail in Swallow II in 1928, Ransome wrote the first book in his Swallows and Amazons series. He used the names of Collingwood's grandchildren for some of his characters.

By the 1890s Collingwood had become a skilled painter and also joined the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society. He wrote a large number of papers for its Transactions; becoming editor in 1900. Collingwood was particularly interested in Norse lore and the Norsemen, and he wrote a a novel, Thorstein of the Mere which was a major influence on Arthur Ransome.

Collingwood was a member of the Viking Club and served as its president. His study of Norse and Anglican archaeology in the north, made him widely recognized as the leading authority. Following Ruskin's death Collingwood continued to help for a while with secretarial work at Brantwood, but in 1905 he went to University College, Reading, and served as professor of fine art from 1907 until 1911.

Collingwood joined the Admiralty intelligence division at the outbreak of the First World War. He returned to Coniston in 1919. His writing continued with a history of the Lake District and perhaps his most important work, Northumbrian Crosses of the pre-Norman Age. He was great climber and swimmer, and a tireless walker into advanced age. In 1927 he experienced the first of a series of strokes. His wife died in 1928 and Collingwood died in 1932.

Reference

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (2004)