Editing William Frederick Collings (section)

== Seigneurship ==

[[File:Collings Coat of Arms, Sark.JPG|thumb|upright|Collings family coat of arms at the gate of the Seigneurie]]
Collings inherited his father's fief on the latter's death in 1882, but none of his father's interest in military matters. Less than five years after his accession, the Royal Sark Militia, once cherished by his parents, deteriorated into what a visiting journalist described as "seven dozen pairs of boots". By 1900, he had neglected it enough for it to completely disappear. He refused to spend money on maintenance of his fief, but was the first seigneur to be sufficiently fond of it to reside there permanently. In 1899, he refused to sell the island for an enormous amount of money to a man who intended to open a casino there.<ref name="Marr">{{cite book|last=Marr|first=James|author-link=James Marr (author)|title=Guernsey people|year=1984|isbn=0850335299|publisher=Phillimore}}</ref>

The Sarkese admired Collings for his skill in sailing, shooting, and [[rock climbing]],<ref name="Smithsonian"/> and he enjoyed their strong support.<ref name="Marr"/> However, he was "a violent terror when he had taken drink", according to an islander.<ref name="Marr"/> The [[alcoholism]] caused him to attack the vicar's wife with his stick, write [[anti-clericalism|anticlerical]] messages on walls, insult the [[constable]], break window panes and ride into private gardens. He once appeared before the Sénéschal for threatening to shoot a journalist.<ref name="Smithsonian">{{cite web|url=http://footenotes.net/Pages/Sark.htm|title=How to Keep the 20th Century Mostly at Bay|date=May 1986|publisher=Smithsonian}}</ref><ref name="Anne">{{cite book|title=Women in World History|last=Commire|first=Anne|publisher=Gale|isbn=0787640662|year=2000|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/womeninworldhist07comm}}</ref> Collings' bitter enemy on the island was the French-born vicar, who often displayed his animosity towards the British by omitting prayers for [[Queen Victoria]] and her family, to which the Seigneur responded by stamping out of the church and protesting to the vicar's superiors.<ref name="Marr"/>