COLLETER (Gr. κόλλος, glue), a botanical term for the gum-secreting hairs on the buds of certain plants.
COLLETTA, PIETRO (1775-1831), Neapolitan general and historian, entered the Neapolitan artillery in 1796 and took part in the campaign against the French in 1798. On the entry of the French into Naples and the establishment of the Parthenopean republic (1799) he adhered to the new government, and when the Bourbon king Ferdinand IV. (q.v.) reconquered the city Colletta was thrown into prison and only escaped the death penalty by means of judiciously administered bribes. Turned out of the army he became a civil engineer, but when the Bourbons were expelled a second time in 1806 and Joseph Bonaparte seized the throne of Naples, he was reinstated in his rank and served in the expedition against the brigands and rebels of Calabria. In 1812 he was promoted general, and made director of roads and bridges. He served under Joachim Murat and fought the Austrians on the Panaro in 1815. On the restoration of Ferdinand Colletta was permitted to retain his rank in the army, and given command of the Salerno division. At the outbreak of the revolution of 1820 the king called him to his councils, and when the constitution had been granted Colletta was sent to put down the separatist rising in Sicily, which he did with great severity. He fought in the constitutionalist army against the Austrians at Rieti (7th of March 1821), and on the re-establishment of autocracy he was arrested and imprisoned for three months by order of the prince of Canosa, the chief of police, his particular enemy. He would have been executed had not the Austrians intervened in his favour, and he was exiled instead to Brünn in Moravia; in 1823 he was permitted to settle in Florence, where he spent the rest of his days engaged on his Storia del reame di Napoli. He died in 1831. His history (1st ed., Capolago, 1834), which deals with the reigns of Charles III. and Ferdinand IV. (1734-1825), is still the standard work for that period; but its value is somewhat diminished by the author’s bitterness against his opponents and the fact that he does not give chapter and verse for his statements, many of which are based on his recollection of documents seen, but not available at the time of writing. Still, having been an actor in many of the events recorded, he is on the whole accurate and trustworthy.
See Gino Capponi’s memoir of him published in the Storia del reame di Napoli (2nd ed., Florence, 1848).
(L. V.*)
COLLEY, SIR GEORGE POMEROY (1835-1881), British general, third son of George Pomeroy Colley, of Rathangan, Co. Kildare, Ireland, and grandson of the fourth Viscount Harberton, was born on the 1st of November 1835, and entered the 2nd Queen’s Regiment from Sandhurst as ensign in 1852. From 1854 to 1860 he served in South Africa, and was employed in surveying and as a magistrate in charge of the Bashi river district in Kaffraria. Early in 1860 he went with his regiment to China to join the Anglo-French expedition, and took part in the capture of the Taku forts and the entry into Peking, returning to South Africa to complete his work in Kaffraria (brevet-majority). In 1862 he entered the Staff College and passed out in one year with honours. After serving as brigade-major at Devonport for five years, he went to the War Office in 1870 to assist in the preparation of (Lord) Cardwell’s measures of army reform. He was appointed professor of military administration at the Staff College in 1871. Early in 1873 he joined Sir Garnet Wolseley at the Gold Coast, where he took charge of the transport, and the success of the Ashanti expedition was in no small degree due to his exertions. He was promoted brevet-colonel and awarded the C.B. In 1875 he accompanied Wolseley to Natal (C.M.G.). On his return home he was appointed military secretary to Lord Lytton, governor-general of India, and in 1877 private secretary (K.C.S.I.). In 1879 he joined Wolseley as chief of the staff and brigadier-general in S.E. Africa, but, on the murder of Cavagnari at Kabul, returned to India. In 1880 he succeeded Wolseley in S.E. Africa as high commissioner and general commanding, and conducted the operations against the rebel Boers. He was defeated at Laing’s Nek and at the Ingogo river, and killed at Majuba Hill on the 27th of February 1881. He had a very high reputation not only for a theoretical knowledge of military affairs, but also as a practical soldier.
See Life of Sir George Pomeroy Colley by Lieut.-Gen. Sir W. F. Butler (London, 1899).