 R.G. Collingwood was born in 1889 at Cartmel Fell, Lancashire, at the southern tip of Windermere. His father, W.G. Collingwood, was an archaeologist, artist, and acted as John Ruskin’s private secretary in the final years of Ruskin’s life; his mother was also an artist and a talented pianist. When he was two years old the family moved to Lanehead, on the shore of Coniston Water, close to Ruskin’s house at Brantwood.