Ernest Charles Collings was born in Shoreditch in 1865 to herald painter John Richard Collings and his wife Eliza (nee Clark). He followed the family profession to become an heraldic artist. In 1890 he married Edith Fanny Jackson and they had one child, Percy Vere Collings. Ernest was a Freemason with the St Michael Lodge and became Master of the Lodge in 1899, taking over the role from his brother, artist Albert Henry Collings.
Ernest passed away in 1920.