Cuthbert Collingwood was born in Side, Newcastle, where a bust commemorates him. He received his early education at the Newcastle Grammar School alongside the future Lords Eldon and Stowell, but when he was eleven, he began his naval service aboard the frigate Shannon. From 1779, Collingwood's career became oddly entwined with that of Horatio Nelson, as he was constantly appointed to ships vacated by the latter. The two became very friendly in the West Indies in the early 1780s: 'What an amiable, good man he is,' wrote Nelson in 1784. 'All the rest are geese.'
Collingwood spent the years 1786-89 in Northumberland, making the acquaintance of his own family, as he put it. In 1791 he was married at St Nicholas to Sarah Blackett, daughter of John Erasmus Blackett, the Mayor of Newcastle. The couple were a contrast. Sarah, though fond of dresses and dancing, was placid and uncomplaining - a good quality in view of Collingwood's tendency to irritability. They set up house in Oldgate in Morpeth, where Collingwood planted oak trees, the traditional naval timber. The River Wansbeck flowed past the walls of his 'good and strong-built' brick house, much of which remains today, along with his quay-wall - his favourite walk when at home- though, sadly, his little summer-house was demolished in the 1970s.
Collingwood took a notable part in the 'Glorious First of June' (1794) when a French fleet suffered great damage. For some reason, however, he was not awarded the customary gold medal. Later, in the Cape St Vincent action of 1797, Collingwood again distinguished himself, capturing two Spanish ships and assisting Nelson aboard the Captain. Nelson wrote to him the following day: '"A friend in need is a friend indeed" was never more truly verified than by your most noble and gallant conduct yesterday in sparing the Captain further loss; and I beg, both as a public officer and a friend, you will accept my most sincere thanks.' This time Collingwood was awarded a gold medal, but declined it because of the earlier one having been withheld. He accepted when both were sent to him. 'Old Cuddy' did not use the brutal discipline common in the navy of his time. One of the crew wrote:

'A better friend of seamen never trod the quarter-deck...No swearing, threatening or bullying was to be heard or seen... nor do I recollect a single instance of a man's being flogged on board. Was discipline neglected then? By no means. There was not a better disciplined crew in the fleet.'

In 1805, Collingwood took part in the extensive Atlantic manoeuvres which led up to the decisive battle of Cape Trafalgar. Nelson's brilliant strategy allowed Collingwood in the Royal Sovereign full freedom of action, and in the event he attacked a superior force. Nelson was full of praise, though Collingwood, in a rarely-quoted phrase, had been muttering: 'I wish Nelson would stop signalling, we know well enough what we have to do.' With shot raining down on him, he munched on an apple and said: 'Now gentlemen, let us do something today which the world may talk of hereafter.'
At eight minutes after twelve, after enduring the fire of six French and Spanish ships for a quarter of an hour, the Royal Sovereign led the lee division through the enemy line, firing her famously swift broadsides on either side. Nelson cried 'Bravo!' while Collingwood remarked: 'What would Nelson give to be in our situation!' Within forty minutes the Royal Sovereign was a helpless hulk and had to be taken in tow. When the action of the Lee column was over, Collingwood's victory was complete. Of the fifteen enemy ships engaged, ten had been captured and one blown up. On Nelson's death, Collingwood took over as commander-in-chief and carried out the battle plan with great gallantry and ability, though experts have often debated what Nelson would have done.
Collingwood was raised to the peerage and received a pension of £2000 a year for life. After Trafalgar there was little opportunity for him to distinguish himself at sea, as he patrolled the Mediterranean - a vital task, but a weary one to a man at his best in the thick of the action. 'My family are strangers to me, ' he said once. 'How little do the people of England know the sacrifices we make for them.' He longed for his Morpeth home with its 'beautiful views which are nowhere to be exceeded' in order to be 'out of the fuss and parade of the world, surrounded by those I love and who love me.'
Collingwood died at his post in 1810, an example of dedicated service, and is buried next to Nelson in St Paul's Cathedral. He gave his name to streets all over Tyneside and his monument stands at the mouth of the Tyne, a tall plinth by John Dobson (q.v.) with a 23 foot effigy on top sculpted by James Lough (q.v.). The guns of the Royal Sovereign at the base of the monument, are the only Trafalgar guns extant, apart from those on H.M.S. Victory.