to John Southey, fifteenth Lord Somerville [q. v.] At ten years old the ox scaled about 3,800 Ibs., but, dislocating its hip-bone, was killed at Oxford in April 1807. A still more famous animal was Comet, born in the autumn of 1804, which 'Charles Colling declared to be the best bull he ever bred or saw, and nearly every judge of short-horns agreed with him' (Bates, p. 16). A portrait of Comet, by T. Weaver, is in possession of Mr. Anthony Maynard of Harewood Grove, Darlington. Others belong to Mr. John Thornton of 7 Princes Street, Hanover Square, W., and Mr. H. Chandos-Pole-Gell, Hopton Hall, Derbyshire.
On 11 Oct. 1810 Colling sold off his entire herd at a public auction, which was very largely attended. The prices fetched by each animal are quoted in many works on the subject (e.g. Youatt, Cattle (1834), p. 231; David Low, Breeds of Domestic Animals (1842), i. 51). Comet sold for one thousand guineas, and the forty-seven lots went in all for 7,116l. 18s., or an average of 151l. 8s. 5d. A testimonial was presented to Colling by forty-nine subscribers in the shape of a silver-gilt cup inscribed, 'Presented to Mr. Charles Colling, the great improver of the short-horned breed of cattle, by the breeders whose names are annexed, as a token of gratitude for the benefit they have derived from his judgment, and also as a testimony of their esteem for him as a man. mdcccx.' His brother Robert died ten years later, in 1820, but Charles lived on in retirement until 16 Jan. 1836, when he died in his eighty-sixth year.
A picture of the two brothers by Thomas Weaver, probably painted about 1811, was engraved by William Ward, A.R.A., and published in 1825, and again in 1831. A reproduction of part of the engraving appears as the frontispiece of the 'Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society' for 1899. An engraving of Charles Colling by G. Cook, from a portrait by I. M. Wright, is in the 'Farmers' Magazine' for February 1844.
[The most elaborate biographical sketch of the brothers Colling is by Cadwallader J. Bates in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, 1899, pp. 1–30. See also the same writer's Thomas Bates and the Kirklevington Shorthorns (1897); T. Bell's Hist. of Improved Shorthorn Cattle (1871); John Thornton's Shorthorn Circular, 1868–9, vol. i. The brothers Colling are constantly referred to in works on stockbreeding as the great improvers of the Shorthorn breed of cattle.]
COLLING, ROBERT (1749–1820), stockbreeder, born in 1749, was the eldest son of Charles Colling of Ketton, near Darlington, and brother of Charles Colling [q. v. Suppl.] After receiving 'an ordinary education,' he was apprenticed to a grocer in Shields; but 'not having his health' he came home to his father's farm and commenced an agricultural career. After spending some time at Hurworth, he entered on a farm at Barmpton, under the Lambton family. He had then 'no thought of becoming a breeder of shorthorns, and only kept dairy cows.' The foundation of his pedigree herd was a yellow-red and white bull, originally bought on the advice of his brother Charles for eight guineas, and afterwards sold to his brother for the Ketton herd (known in shorthorn history as 'Hubback'). A 'shyness' sprang up between the brothers, which became accentuated in March 1793; and the Barmpton and Ketton herds for some time lived apart, though later more amicable relations were restored. When, in October 1810, Charles Colling sold off his Ketton herd of shorthorns, Robert's herd at Barmpton 'became the centre of interest' to the breeders of shorthorns, which had then become fashionable. A famous white heifer (daughter of the bull Favourite), which weighed at four years old 1,820 lbs., was painted by Thomas Weaver, and an engraving of the picture was made by William Ward, and published on 13 Dec. 1811, with a dedication to Robert Colling. The heifer was purchased by two butchers, and exhibited at Christmas 1811, at the stables of the Three Kings, Piccadilly, as 'the greatest wonder of the world of the kind,' and then weighed 2,448 lbs. 'The same system of in-and-in breeding that had been in vogue at Ketton was pursued without interruption at Barmpton, and that without any admixture of fresh alloy' (Bates, p. 22). Robert carried on his herd until Michaelmas day, 1810, when it was sold by auction, and sixty-one lots fetched 7,852l. 19s. He died unmarried at Barmpton on 7 March 1820, leaving his property to his brother Charles, a final sale being held on 3 Oct. 1820.
Robert was described as 'a model all-round farmer good cattle, good sheep, good crops, neat hedges, neat farm-buildings,' but, not being so much of a specialist, was less known than his more businesslike and versatile brother Charles.
[Authorities as under Charles Colling.]
COLLINS, WILLIAM WILKIE (1824–1889), novelist, eldest son of the painter, William Collins (1788–1847) [q. v.], and elder brother of Charles Allston Collins [q. v.], born in Tavistock Square, London,
