PART
ONE
The Main
Gloucestershire Line - 1800 to 1830
This is the second of four sections of
this Collett family line
Updated August 2022
Sarah Collett [1N1] was born in the
hamlet of Whelford and, with no church at Whelford at that time, she was baptised
at the parish church in Kempsford on 9th August 1818. She was the eldest child of Robert Collett
and his wife Mary Trotman and, rather curiously, the couple’s youngest daughter
was name as Sarah Ann Collett. From that information, it was
wrongly assumed that Sarah did not survive beyond childhood. However, it is established that she later
marriage Andrew Smith (1809-1881), and died in 1903. Their daughter Clara Smith was born in
1852, her birth registered at Northleach (Ref. 6a 310) during the last quarter
of the year, shortly after which she was baptised at Coln St Aldwyns on 25th
December 1852, the child of Andrew and Sarah Smith. She later married Job Cole (1850-1927), when
their wedding was recorded at Cirencester (Ref. 6a 549) during the first three
months of 1874. All of their children
were born at Coln St Aldwyns, and they were William Cole in 1875, Edward Cole
in 1877, Walter Cole in 1879, Harriet Cole in 1881, Charles Cole in 1884,
Ernest Cole in 1888, and Annie Cole in 1890.
In the earlier census of 1881, Clara’s younger sister Louisa Smith
was staying with the young Cole family.
Two years after the census in 1891, Clara Cole was 39 when she died, her
death recorded at Northleach register office (Ref. 6a 220) during the second
quarter of 1893
William Collett [1N2] was born at
Whelford in 1820 and was baptised at Kempsford on 20th February
1820, the eldest son of Robert and Mary Collett. Maybe because of overcrowding in the family
home at Whelford prior to 1840, William had left his family by 1841. Instead, he was in lodgings at the home of
the Lea family on the Market Place in nearby Fairford, where he was recorded
with a rounded age of 20 years. Eighteen
months later, when he was approaching 22, he married Maria Clargo of Hinton
Parva near Swindon. Maria was four years
younger than William, having been born on 15th February 1824 at
Little Hinton, the daughter of Thomas Clargo and Ann Pearce. The marriage of William and Maria was
recorded at Highworth, north-east of Swindon, during the last three months of
1842 (Ref. viii 555). By the time of the
census in 1851 Maria had given birth to four children while she and William
were living in Kempsford, including a set of twin boys who sadly died shortly
after being born. Following the baptism
of the fourth child at baptised at Kempsford in 1849, the family left Whelford,
when they moved the short distance south to the adjacent village of Castle
Eaton, where they were living at Droveway Cottages in 1851. As a result of their loss, the family on that
occasion comprised William Collett from Kempsford who was 30 and an
agricultural labourer, Maria Collett from Hinton who was 27, their son Fredrick
Collett who was seven, and their daughter Mary who was two years old, both of
them also born at Kempsford
Perhaps William lost his
job in Castle Eaton because, just after the census day the family moved again,
on that occasion to Highworth, where a further three children were added to the
family, which was residing at Red Lane in Highworth on the day of the next
census in 1861. That year the family was
made up of agricultural labourer William Collett aged 39, whose place of birth
was Whelford, Maria Collett who was 37, and their five children Frederick
Collett aged 17, Mary Jane Collett aged 13, Ann Collett who was seven, Thomas
Collett who was three and William Collett who had not yet reached his first
birthday. Maria gave birth to a further
two children during the 1860s but, according to the census for Highworth in
1871, the three eldest surviving children were no longer living with William
and Maria by that time. The family
living at Cherry Orchard Lane in Highworth comprised William Collett from
Whelford who was 50 and an agricultural labourer, his wife Maria Collett aged
47 from Hinton in Wiltshire, Thomas Collett who was 14 and working as a
shepherd boy, Arthur Collett who was eight and Maria Collett who was three
years old. Living nearby in Faringdon
Road was the couple’s married eldest son Frederick with his wife Emma, while
the whereabouts of son William, aged ten years, remains a mystery
Maria Collett died at
Highworth on 11th May 1879, where she was buried six days later,
leaving just her husband and youngest daughter still living at Highworth in
1881. Her death was also recorded at
Highworth (Ref. 5a 3), when she was 57.
William Collett was listed as a widower and labourer who had been born
at Whelford, although he gave his age as being 58, rather than 60. At that time in his life, he was living at 3
Wrag Cottage in Highworth with his daughter Maria Collett who was 14 and who
had been born at Highworth. According to
the next census in 1891, William Collett was still living at Highworth but at
the Shrivenham Road home of his youngest daughter, who was married by then with
children of her own. William was
described as being a widower at the age of 70 years, who was still working as a
farm labourer. Seven years later,
William Collett died at Highworth on 22nd December 1898, following
which, he was buried there on 27th December, at the age of 78. The informant of his death was very likely
his youngest child Maria, who perhaps did not know his year of birth because,
when she reported his passing, she thought he was 72, as recorded at Highworth
register office (Ref. 5a 4) at the end of 1898
1O1 – Frederick Collett was born in 1843 at
Whelford
1O2 – Joseph Collett was born in 1846 at Whelford
1O3 – Ralph Collett was born in 1846 at
Whelford
1O4 – Mary Jane Collett was born in 1848 at
Whelford
1O5 – Ann Collett was born in 1853 at
Highworth
1O6 – Thomas Collett was born in 1857 at
Highworth
1O7 – William Collett was born in 1860 at
Highworth
1O8 – Martha Collett was born in 1862 at
Highworth
1O9 – Maria Collett was born in 1867 at
Highworth
Mary Ann Collett [1N3] was
born at Whelford and was baptised at Kempsford on 28th July 1822,
the daughter of Robert and Mary Collett.
It is possible her absence from the family home in 1841 may have been
the result of her being married by then, that or she too may have suffered a
premature death
Richard Collett [1N4] was born at
Whelford in 1824, the son of Robert and Mary Collett, although curiously,
unlike his siblings, no baptism record for him at Kempsford has been
found. However, it is established that
he was living with his family at Whelford in 1841, when he had a rounded age of
15. After a further decade, he had left
the family home in Gloucestershire and had moved to Oxford with his brothers,
and it was there that he met, and later married, Sarah Speake on 12th
June 1848 in the area to the south of Oxford known as South Hinksey. The continuation of this family line is provided in
Part 37 – The Oxford City
Jane Collett [1N5] was born at Whelford and was baptised at Kempsford on
25th June 1826, another daughter of Robert and Mary Collett. She was living with her family at Whelford in
1841, when she was recorded as Jane Collett who was 15 years of age. Six years later, and following the reading of banns, Jane Collett
married William Lucker at Kempsford on 6th December 1847. Jane and William were both of full age, with
William’s occupation being that of a labourer, when they were both residing in
Kempsford, Jane named as the daughter of Robert Collett, a labourer, and
William being the son of Edward Lucker, a labourer. Neither of them was able to sign the parish
register, so made the mark of a cross, as did witness William Collett, Jane’s
eldest brother (above). It is
interesting to note, it was only on the occasion of their wedding day that
William’s surname was recorded in error as Lucker when, on all other occasions
the name was confirmed as Looker. Once
married, the couple settled in the village of Sparsholt-with-Childrey, just
west of Wantage, where William had been born, and where their first two
children were born. Those details were
confirmed within the census return for Sparsholt in 1851, when William Looker from
Sparsholt was 27 and a labourer, Jane Looker was 25 and from Whelford in
Gloucestershire, when their two daughters were Sarah A Looker and Ellen
Looker, who were three years of age, and ten months old, respectively, and
both born at Sparsholt. Three sons were
added to the family during the following decade, and were recorded with the
family in 1861, but with the couple’s eldest daughter absent of that
occasion. Every member of the household,
excluding Jane, had been born at Sparsholt, with agricultural labourer William
Looker being 37, Jane Looker from Whelford 36, Ellen Looker who was ten, Elizabeth
Looker who was nine, Charles Looker who was five, Isaac Looker
who was three, and John Looker who was nine months old. After a further ten years, William Looker was
46, Jane Looker was 44, Charles Looker was 16, Isaac Looker was 13, John Looker
was 10, and Joseph Looker was eight years old. Completing the family group was granddaughter
Ann Looker who was two years of age, the likely base-born child of one of the
couple’s two eldest daughters. Once
again, it was only Jane who had not been born at Sparsholt, with William saying
he was born at Childrey, the very next village to Sparsholt
It was during
the following years that the family emigrated to New Zealand, where they were
recorded in 1881. The New Zealand
Electoral Roll for the Waipa District of North Island, identified William
Looker, a labourer, and a resident of Cambridge West, where he was a freeholder
of Lots 264 and 267. He was still there
in 1882, when the New Zealand Land Records described his freeholding as six
acres, with a value of £200. It was
eight years later that William Looker died on 20th March 1891, when
he was recorded as being 66 to 67 years old.
The record of his passing confirmed that he died at Cambridge West and
was buried at Leamington Cemetery, at Leamington, Waipa District, with his
place of birth being Childrey in the Vale of the White Horse. His wife Jane Looker survived for a further
twenty, when she died at Cambridge West on 21st May 1911 at the age
of 84, and was buried with her husband.
Five years earlier, the Electoral Roll for 1905/06, listed three members
of the Looker family living at Cambridge West, and they were Jane, and sons
John and Joseph, both labourers, together with Joseph’s wife Sarah Ella
Looker. Also recorded in the same
electoral roll was Jane’s other married son Isaac and his wife Betsy Ann
Looker, but at nearby Ohaupo to the west of Cambridge West
Anne
Collett [1N5x], was previously in error Anne (Jane)
Collett [1N5], and she married William Curtis on 16th October 1849
at Norton, near Gloucester, the event recorded at Gloucester (Ref. xi
477). William was born on 29th
November 1823 at Sandhurst, two miles south-west of Norton, and was the son of
William Curtis and Eleanor Burdett.
Around seventeen months after their wedding day, the couple were
recorded in the Norton census of 1851.
On that day William Curtis from Norton was 26 and an agricultural
labourer, his wife Anne from Kempsford was 24 and, with them at Turnpike Road,
was their baby daughter Jane Curtis, not yet one year old. The marriage produced a total of three
children for the couple and all of them were born while the family was living
at Norton. They were Jane Curtis
(born on 21st December 1850), William George Curtis (born on
18th May 1855) and Alfred Curtis (born on 6th
September 1859). In 1871 their eldest
child Jane had already left the family home in Norton, while their youngest
child Alfred was also missing that day.
That situation meant that William and Anne only had son William aged 15
living with them. By the time of the
census in 1881, William and Anne were residing at Coombe Hill just three miles
north-east of Norton, midway between Gloucester and Tewkesbury. At that time in their lives, William Curtis
from Sandhurst was 57 and a general labourer, his wife Anne Curtis from
Whelford was 59. Still living with them
that day, was their unmarried daughter Jane Curtis who was 30, together with
her base-born son Charles Curtis who was seven years old, both of them born at
Norton. Anne Curtis died in 1890 and was
buried on 12th November 1890 at nearby Leigh, when she was 68 years
old, her death recorded at Tewkesbury (Ref. 6a 145). Just a few months later agricultural labourer
William Curtis had a rounded age of 70 when he was still living within the
Parish of Leigh, his daughter Jane Curtis was again living with him, and her
son Charles aged 19, and two further grandchildren William and Annie Curtis who
were seven and four respectively. Four
years later, the death of William Curtis was recorded at Tewkesbury (Ref. 6a
275) during the second quarter of 1895, when he was 72. The aforementioned son, William George Curtis, was the great great
grandfather of Sally Walters of Canada.
Work is now needed to determine who were Anne Collett’s parents
John Collett [1N6] was born at
Whelford during the first six months of 1828 and was baptised at Kempsford on 3rd
August 1828, the son of Robert and Mary Collett. It would appear that he accompanied his older
brother Richard (above) in a move that took them from Whelford to Oxford,
possibly when he was around twenty years of age. The continuation of this family line is provided in
Part 37 – The Oxford City
Isaac Collett [1N7] was born at
Whelford and was baptised at Kempsford on 26th September 1830, the
son of Robert and Mary Collett. Just a
few months before the census in 1851 Isaac’ mother died, so the census return
for Kempsford that year recorded Isaac as being 20 and an agricultural
labourer, like his father, with whom he was living together with his brother
Joseph (below) and sister Sarah Ann.
Isaac later married Emma who was born in 1838 at Cumnor, in what was
then Berkshire, to the west of Oxford, which is now part of Oxfordshire
following the 1974 boundary changes. The continuation
of this family line is provided in Part 37 – The Oxford City
Charles Collett [1N8] was born at
Whelford and was baptised at Kempsford on 28th April 1833. The baptism record at Kempsford confirmed
that Charles was the son of Robert and Mary Collett, and later in his life, he
accompanied three of his brothers (above) when they moved to live and work in
Oxford. The continuation of this family line is
provided in Part 37 – The Oxford City
Joseph Collett [1N9] was born at
Whelford and was baptised at Kempsford on 24th May 1835, the son of
Robert Collett and his wife Mary Trotman.
He was six years old in Whelford census of 1841, when he was the
youngest of the six children still living there with their parents. He was also still living at Whelford in 1851,
together with his father Robert, his older brother Isaac and his younger sister
Sarah Ann Collett (below), all of them born at Whelford, when Joseph Collett
from Whelford was 16 and working as an agricultural labourer with his father
and brother. It was eight years later,
on 11th April 1859, that he married Piety Chappell (Chapple) at St
Nicholas Church in Bristol. She was born
at Hawkesbury where she was baptised on 15th June 1838, where she
was one year old in the June census of 1841, the daughter of John and Hannah
Chapple. It would appear that Piety gave
birth to the couple’s first child towards the end of the same year or very
early in the following year. However,
there are a number of unsolved issues relating to the early life of Joseph
Collett, between 1859 and 1861, and again in 1873, when he was recorded as
George
The first occasion was
the marriage record for Piety Chappell, which confirmed she was a spinster and
the daughter of John Collins Chappell, while the groom was recorded as George
Collett, a bachelor and the son of Robert Collett. Then, in the census of 1861, Piety’s husband
was recorded again as George Collett. In
addition to which, at the time of the baptism of their first child at Berkeley
in 1860, the parents were named as George and Piety Collett, as they were in
1873 for the joint baptism of two of their later children, Rosa and Albert. Fortunately, for every subsequent census
return completed for the couple, their names were confirmed as Joseph and Piety
Collett, from Whelford/Kempsford and Hawkesbury, respectively, that despite
another error in 1861 census which recorded Piety’s place of birth as
Tewkesbury, instead of Hawkesbury
After being at Berkeley,
for the birth of their first child, and at Bowcott at the time of the birth of
their second child, in 1861, George (sic) and Piety and their two daughters
were residing within the Gloucestershire parish of Wotton-under-Edge, at
Rushmere Turnpike Gate. The census that
year stated that head of the household (George Collett from Tewkesbury sic) was
25 and a cowman, and that his wife Piety Collett was 23 (sic) and from
Tewkesbury (sic), when their two daughters were Elizabeth Collett who was one
year old and from Berkeley, and Mary Collett who was only a few months old and
born at Bowcott, just two miles north-east of Wotton-under-Edge. Five more children were added to their family
during the next decade, during which time the family left Wotton-under-Edge and
moved north to Dursley, where they were living in 1871. Joseph Collett was 34 and a labourer from
Kempsford, Piety Collett was 31 and from Hawkesbury, Elizabeth Collett from
Berkeley was 11, Mary Collett was 10, Sarah (listed as S A Collett) was eight,
John Collett was seven, Eliza Collett was five, George Collett was two and Rosa
(listed as R E Collett) was only a few months old. The two youngest children were recorded as
having been born at Dursley, while the other four children were said to have
been born at Walton Edge, also known as Wotton-under-Edge
Within a year, the family
had moved again, on that occasion to Uley, one mile north-east of Dursley,
where all of the couple’s remaining children were born. According to the census in 1881, the family
was settled at Rockstowes, just west of Uley, when Joseph Collett, aged 44 and
from Kempsford, was still a cowman and an agricultural labourer. His wife Piety Collett from Hawkesbury Upton
was 41 and still living at Uley with them were eight of their eleven
children. They were Elizabeth Collett
aged 21, Eliza Collett aged 15, George Collett aged 12, Rosie Collett aged 10,
Albert Collett who was seven, Minnie Collett who was six, Florence Collett who
was three and Arthur Collett who was not one year old. The three absent children were Mary who was
working as a parlour at a private hotel in London at the age of 20, Sarah Ann
who was a domestic nursemaid with a family at Bromley in Kent, and John was a
policeman in Somerset. Only four of the
five youngest children were still living at the family home at Rockstowe in
Uley in 1891. The census that year
recorded the reduced family as Joseph Collett aged 54 and an agricultural
labourer, Piety Collett aged 51, Rose E Collett who was 30, Minnie K Collett
who was 16, Florence L Collett who was 13 and Arthur H Collett who was 10. Also living and working at Uley Green in Uley
was their daughter Eliza Collett who was 26 and a parlourmaid at the home of
Baines family
After a further ten
years, Joseph and Piety were still living at Rockstowes, when the census return
for March 1901 recorded the elderly couple as still living within the parish of
Uley, where Joseph Collett from Whelford was 66 and a cattleman working on a
local farm and his wife Piety Collett from Hawkesbury was 61. Only the two youngest children were still
living at the family home in Rockstowes and they were Florence L Collett aged
23 from Uley and Arthur H Collett, also from Uley, who was a general agricultural
labourer at the age of 20. Joseph and
Piety both died during the first three months of 1911 and, judging by the
record of their deaths held at the Dursley register office, there may have been
only days separating their passing.
Their respective reference numbers indicate that Joseph Collett was the
first to die (Ref. 6a 41) at the age of 75, and that he was followed very
shortly after by Piety Collett, with the very next ledger number (Ref. 6a 45),
when she was 71
1O10 – Elizabeth Collett was born in 1859 at
Berkeley
1O11 – Mary Collett was born in 1861 at Bowcott
in Wotton-under-Edge
1O12 – Sarah Ann Collett was born in 1862 at Wotton-under-Edge
1O13 – John Collett was born in 1863 at Wotton-under-Edge
1O14 – Eliza Collett was born in 1866 at Wotton-under-Edge
1O15 – George Collett was born in 1868 at Dursley
1O16 – Rosa Emma Collett was born in 1870 at Dursley
1O17 – Albert Collett was born in 1873 at Uley
1O18 – Minnie K Collett was born in 1875 at Uley
1O19 – Florence Louisa Collett was born in 1877 at Uley
1O20 – Arthur Henry Collett was born in 1880 at
Uley
Frances Collett [1N11] was born at
Highworth on 17th May 1831, where she was baptised on 10th
June 1831 at the Independent Congregational Zion Chapel on the High Street, the
daughter and eldest child of William Collett and Hannah Dixon. Just over six
years later, her parents took the family to live in Fairford, where they were
recorded in the census of 1841, when Frances was named as Fanny Collett aged
ten years. On leaving school in
Fairford, Frances worked as a laundress, eventually joined by her younger
sister Clara, as they were both described in the Fairford census of 1851. Frances Collett from Highworth was 19 years
of age, Highworth also being where Clara was born, but who died just three
years later in 1854. It was towards the
end of the following year, when Frances Collett married Joshua Wiltshire, the
event recorded at Cirencester (Ref. 6a 641) during the last three months of
1852
Once they were married,
the couple initially settled at Darlaston in Staffordshire, where their first
four children were born, although only one of them survived. Emma Wiltshire was the first child,
her birth recorded at nearby Walsall, as were the other three, during the first
quarter of 1855. Next was surviving son Joshua
Collett Wiltshire born during the third quarter of 1856. The next offspring was given the names of
Frances’ parents, when William Dixon Wiltshire was born during the third
quarter of 1858, who died in 1859. The
family of only three members was still living at Willenhall Street in Darlaston
in 1861, where Joshua was 31 and a blacksmith from Wiltshire, his wife Frances
was 29 and from Highworth, and their son Joshua Collett Wiltshire was four
years of age. Just over a year later,
another daughter was added to the family at Darlaston, Clara Phillips
Wiltshire was born Q2 in 1862, who died one year later
However, the loss of
those three children may have been the reason why the family of three swapped
Staffordshire for County Durham since, by 1871, it was at Throston, an area of
Hartlepool, that they were recorded in 1871, by which time Frances had given
birth to Emily Hannah Wiltshire at Thirsk (Yorkshire) on their journey
north during the second quarter of 1868.
The Throston census in 1871, listed the family as Joshua who was 41 and
a smith, Frances who was 39, son Joshua Collett Wiltshire who was 14 and Emily
H Wiltshire who was nearly three years of age.
Living with the family was Frances’ mother, the widow Hannah Collett nee
Dixon, from Middlesex who was 62. She
may have arrived to look after the family, with daughter Frances most likely
suffering with her health, since the death of Frances Wiltshire was recorded
very shortly thereafter at Hartlepool (Ref. 10a 118) during the second quarter
of 1871, when she was 40 years old
Cornelius Collett [1N13]
may have been born at the end of 1838 or early in 1839, with his birth recorded
at Cirencester (Ref. xi 247) during the first three months of the latter. He was born at Fairford, the second child of
William and Hannah Collett, who was two years old in the Fairford census of
1841. Tragically, two years later, when
his mother was about to give birth to another member of the family, the death
of Cornelius Collett, aged four years, was recorded at Cirencester (Ref. xi
179) during the second quarter of 1843.
His brother (below), born just after, was given the same name
Cornelius Collett [1N14] was
born at Fairford in 1843, the third child and only surviving son of William
Collett and his wife Hannah Dixon. His
birth was recorded at Cirencester (Ref. xi 39) during the second quarter of
1843, just after his brother and namesake (above) died. He was seven years old in the census of 1851,
and was an apprenticed plumber at the age of 17 in 1861. On both occasions he was living with his
family at Milton Street in Fairford, but thereafter he moved north to
Hartlepool in County Durham. Eight years
later, the marriage of Cornelius Collett and Catherine Gainnes was recorded at
Hartlepool (Ref. 10a 229) during the last quarter of 1869. Interestingly, one of the witnesses was
Thomas Dixon – his mother’s maiden name, the surname given to Catherine’s last
child. Their first child was born at
Hartlepool in 1870 and was followed by another four children who were also born
there over the next ten years
According to the 1881
Census, the family was living at 31 Corporation Road in Throston, a district of
Hartlepool. Cornelius was 36 and was
working as an insurance agent. His place
of birth was confirmed as being Fairford, while his wife Catherine was 34 and
had been born at Bishops Auckland. Their
family comprised four sons, William Collett who was ten, Albert Collett who was
eight, Arthur Collett who was four and Walter D Collett who was one year old,
plus their daughter Thirza E Collett who was six years of age. Two years later, Cornelius Collett aged 39,
died in 1883, when his death was recorded at Hartlepool (Ref. 10a 269) during
the second quarter of the year, as was that of his youngest child Walter Dixon
Collett two years later. What happened
to Catherine and her family after that is not known, as no record of them has
been discovered in Great Britain after 1881.
It seems highly likely that the remnants of the family may have
accompanied Albert, who is known to have sailed to a new life in Australia
The known details of the
other children of Cornelius and Catherine are as follows. The birth of William Collett was recorded at
Hartlepool (Ref. 10a 1) during the fourth quarter of 1870, following which he
was baptised at Hartlepool on 15th December 1870. Thirza Elizabeth Collett’s birth was also
recorded there (Ref. 10a 193) during the last three months of 1874. Arthur Collett was born towards the end on
1876, with his birth recorded at Hartlepool (Ref. 10a 26) during the first
quarter of 1877, who was baptised on 4th January 1877. The birth of the family’s last child was also
recorded at Hartlepool (Ref. 10a 329) during the first quarter of 1880, after
which he was baptised at Hartlepool on 11th February 1880. It was just over five years later that Walter
Dixon Collett died at Hartlepool on 19th March 1885
1O21 – William Collett was born in 1870 at
Hartlepool
1O22 – Albert Collett was born in 1872 at
Hartlepool
1O23– Thirza Elizabeth Collett was born in 1874
at Hartlepool
1O24 – Arthur Collett was born in 1876 at
Hartlepool
1O25 – Walter Dixon Collett was born in 1880 at
Hartlepool; died in 1885
Elizabeth Collett [1N15] was
born at Fairford towards the end of 1845, the youngest known child of William
Collett of Whelford and his wife Hannah Dixon.
Her birth was recorded at Cirencester (Ref. xi 271) during the first
three months of 1846. In the Fairford
census of 1851 Elizabeth was five years old, when she was living there with her
family. What happened to Elizabeth over
the next decade is not known, while it was during the 1860s that she
accompanied her older brother Cornelius (above) to Hartlepool, where she was
living in 1871. Elizabeth from Fairford
was 25 and a dressmaker, a lodger at the home of William and Sarah Wilson. After a further ten years Elizabeth Collett
was living and working in South Wales. According to the census
in 1881 unmarried Elizabeth Collett, aged 36 and from Cirencester, was living
at 27 New Market Inn within the parish of Brecknock St John Evangelist. Living there with her was ‘her sister’
Harriet Collett who was 18 and born at Llanelly, who was working as an inn
keeper, as was Elizabeth. However, the
reference to Harriet as her sister is very confusing. It would not have been possible for that to
be the case, since Elizabeth’s mother was born in 1808 and would have been 54
at the time of Harriet’s birth. It is
more than likely that she was the youngest daughter of George Collett (Ref.
1O77), from Cirencester, and his wife Rachel from Clydach. And it was at the Railway Inn at Clydach near
Llanelly that George and Rachel were living at that same time in 1881, thus
making another connection with the two inns
Henry Collett [1N16] was born at
Whelford in 1822 and was baptised at Kempsford on 28th July 1822,
the base-born son of unmarried Mary Collett who was only eighteen years old at
the time of the birth. His mother was
eventually married when Henry was nearly four years old, but he never joined
his mother’s family, instead he was raised by his grandparents Whelford. On the day of the first national census in
June 1841 Henry Collett of Whelford was living there at the age of 19, at the
home of his widowed grandfather Robert Collett who was 69. No record of Henry has been identified within
the next census in 1851 even though it is established that he married Eliza
Boffin on
23rd March 1848 at Harbury, to the south-west of Southam in
Warwickshire where the event was recorded (Ref. xvi 468). Henry was 27 and Eliza, who was only 17, was
already carrying his child on that day, since their daughter was born at
Harbury within the next seven months.
Eliza Boffin was born during 1831, the daughter of Richard and Annie
Boffin of Harbury
Tragically that first
child did not survive and was missing from the family in 1861, as was the
couple’s fourth child, another infant death.
The birth of their daughter Mary Collett took place at Harbury before
the end of October, following which she was baptised at Harbury on 5th
November 1848, when she was confirmed as the daughter of Henry and Eliza
Collett. Two more children were added to
the family at Harbury, one before 1851 and the other just after, although a
search for them and their parents on the day of the census in 1851 has produced
no positive result. During the
mid-1850s, Henry’s work took the family from Warwickshire into Staffordshire, where
two sons named Thomas were born, prior to a second move into the neighbouring
county of Leicestershire
On the day of the census
in 1861, the family was residing in the village of Burbage, near Hinckley in
Leicestershire. The census return that day
listed the family staying at The Cock, which may have been an inn/boarding
house, as Henry Collett from Whelford in Gloucestershire, who was 36 and a
railway labourer (when he was actually nearer 39), his wife Eliza Collett from
Harbury, who was 32 (when she was only 30), and just three of their five
children, John Collett who was 10 and Elizabeth Collett who was eight – both
born at Harbury, and Thomas Collett who was two years old and born in
Staffordshire. Just over one year after
that census day, the couple’s sixth child was born at Blaby, just south of
Leicester
Unlike any other family,
in my forty plus years’ experience of genealogy, the same Collett family was
also recorded in the 1861 census living at Bond Street in Hinckley. In that census return Henry Collett from Kempsford
in Gloucestershire was 36 and a railway excavator, his wife Eliza
Collett from Harbury was 32, John Collett was 10, Elizabeth Collett was eight,
and Thomas Collett was two years old, with all three children described as
having been born at Harbury. Apart
from the location, the words underlined are the only difference between the two
entries. That very unusual situation is
perhaps resolved by the enumerator’s note written on the census form when it
was delivered to the Bond Street property.
That note stated, the property was unoccupied on Sunday 7th
April 1861. From this, it can perhaps be
deduced that the landlord at The Cock had completed the census form for the
family staying with him over the Saturday evening/Sunday morning, only for them
to move into the Bond Street premises that same day
Some years following that, the family left
Leicestershire, when they moved north to Wigan in Lancashire, where their last
child was born. However, shortly after
the birth, the family moved again to Farnworth, near Widnes, midway between
Liverpool and Warrington. It was at
Whitfields Entry in Farnworth that the family was living in 1871. Apart from Henry, as head of the household,
and son Thomas, no other member of the family was described as having an
occupation but, judging by the fact the family had five boarders staying at the
premises, the Collett family may have been managing their home as a boarding
house. According to the census return
that year, the family was made up of Henry Collett from Kempsford who was 47
and a railway labourer, his wife Eliza who was 40, and their three youngest
sons Thomas Collett who was 12, Joseph Collett who was nine, and Henry Collett
who was three years old
During the next decade Henry Collett died
although, so far, no record of his death has been discovered. By the time of the census in 1881, Eliza
Collett from Harbury was 49, a widow and a housekeeper, living at 12 Catherine
Street in the hamlet Skelton in the North Riding of Yorkshire, just inland near
Saltburn-on-Sea. Living there with Eliza
were her two youngest sons Joseph Collett of Blaby who was 18, and Henry George
Collett who was 13 and from Wigan. Completing
the family group were the two grandchildren of Eliza Collett, and they were
siblings Annie and Richard Simmons, the children of Eliza’s married, but
recently deceased daughter Elizabeth. As far as can be determined, Eliza Collett from
Warwickshire was living alone in 1891 at Stanghow Road in Skelton, when she was
59. She still living in Skelton in 1901,
when the census return that year confirmed that Eliza Collett was 69 and born
at Harbury who, by then, was residing in Peare Street. By that time in her life, her four surviving
sons had not been living in England since the 1880s, so she had no offspring
close at hand when, presumably, she passed way during the first decade of the
new century
1O26 – Mary Collett was born in 1848 at
Harbury, Warwickshire
1O27 – John Collett was born in 1850 at
Harbury, Warwickshire
1O28 – Elizabeth Collett was born in 1852 at
Harbury, Warwickshire
1O29 – Thomas Henry Collett was born in 1856 at Norton
Canes, Staffordshire
1O30 – Thomas Collett was born in 1859 at Brereton,
Staffordshire
1O31 – Joseph Collett was born in 1862 at Blaby,
near Leicester
1O32 – Henry George Collett was born in 1867 at
Wigan, Lancashire
Edwin Collett [1N17] was born at
Whelford in 1836 and was baptised at nearby Kempsford church on 25th
September 1836. He was four years old in
the census of 1841 when he was living with his family at Horcott near Fairford,
just north of Whelford. In 1851 he was
in his last year at school, when he was 15 and still living with his family
within the parish of Kempsford. After
leaving school he only ever worked as a labourer, according to the subsequent
census returns. Furthermore, it would
appear that he never married. Following
the death of his mother during the 1850s, Edwin was living with his father and
two younger brothers Alfred and Frederick (below) at Whelford in 1861, when he
was 24 years of age. It was a similar
situation ten years later, when Edwin, aged 35, and his unmarried brother
Alfred, were the only members of the family still living at Whelford with their
father in 1871. The Kempsford census in
1881 recorded Edwin in error, as Edward Collett, who was 45 when he and brother
Alfred were again the only children living there with their father. John Collett died during the 1880s, after
which Edwin and Alfred continued to live together, as confirmed in the census
of 1891. Curiously, within the Whelford
census that year, the birth place of both men was recorded as Horcott, where
previous their father informed the census enumerator that it was Whelford or
Kempsford. It was the younger brother
who was credited with being the head of the household, while they were both
working as farm labourers, when Edwin Collett was 54. Four years later the death of Edwin Collett
was recorded at Cirencester (Ref. 6a 231) during the last three months of 1895,
when he was 59 years old
Frederick Alfred Collett [1N18] was
born at Whelford in 1840, his birth recorded at Cirencester (Ref. xi 246)
during the second quarter of the year.
He was then baptised at Kempsford on 9th August 1840, the son
of John and Mary Collett. As Alfred, he
was just one year old at the time of the 1841 Census when the family was living
at Horcott, near Fairford and north-west of Whelford. Ten years later, as Frederick Collett aged 11
and a scholar, he and his family were residing in Whelford, when his younger
brother Frederick was absent that day.
After leaving school he worked with his father as a carrier, as
confirmed in the Whelford census of 1861, when he was 21, and again in 1871 when
he was 31. In 1881 Alfred was 41 and was
still living with his widowed father
Frederick Collett [1N19] was born at Whelford on 2nd
December 1843 and was the son of
Historical Note: In
November 1877, a British expeditionary force of some 1,500 men was sent out
under Colonel Mocatta, to punish the Jowaki Afridis at the North-West
Frontier. The short Afghan Campaign
forced the Afghan Amir to accept a British Mission at Kabul.
The
family then spent a relatively short period of five hundred and fifty-two days
back in England, during which time the couple was blessed with a set of twins,
of which one tragically died. At the end
of his spell in England, Frederick was once again posted overseas, that time to
Gibraltar. That posting commenced on 25th
August 1880 and lasted for eleven years and fifty-nine days
It
was at Gibraltar where the couple’s next six children were born, all of them
daughters. Sadly, only two of the girls
survived beyond childhood. Frederick’s
time serving on the Rock of Gibraltar came to an end on 22nd October
1891. The following day he was
transferred to the island of Jersey, where he was appointed Keeper of the
Castle at Mont Orgueil Castle, a position he held for three years and seventeen
days until he was discharged from the army on 8th November
1894. Within in his military service
records there was a note that indicated his ‘intended residence’ at the time of
his discharge was to be 74 Chapel Street, Gorse Hill in Swindon. However, the sea journey from Jersey to
mainland Britain shortly after, may have been too much for Frederick’s wife who
never fully recovered from the ordeal and within three months of his discharge
from the army Rosa had passed away. The
death certificate confirmed the date as being 1st February 1895 and
that she had died from ‘obstinate vomiting following a sea voyage, exhaustion
and a four-day coma’. The address at
which the couple was staying was stated as being 55 Ferndale Road, Gorse Hill
in Swindon. Frederick was the informant
and, under occupation for him, was written ‘of independent means’. Following the death of Rosa, Frederick returned
to Jersey where, for the next twenty years, he was employed by the government
as the warder of Mont Orgueil Castle
Just
after the turn of the century Frederick was listed in the 1901 Census as being
aged 56 and was living at that time in the St Martins district of Jersey with
his daughter Gertrude Collett who was 19.
Frederick’s occupation was confirmed as being warder of Mont Orgueil
Castle and his place of birth was simply given as England, while daughter Gertrude’s
place of birth was confirmed as being Gibraltar. By April 1911, Frederick’s daughter Gertrude
had left Jersey and in her place were two of Frederick’s ‘so called’ nieces and
a ‘so called’ nephew. The census return
confirmed that Frederick Collett was the 65-year-old caretaker of Mont Orgueil
Castle and was born at Kempsford.
Working alongside him, as assistant caretaker, was his ‘so called’ niece
Lillian Maud Collett, who was 26 and from Meysey Hampton, near Kempsford. His other ‘so called’ niece, Jessie Maria
Collett aged 31 and also from Kempsford, was acting as Frederick’s housekeeper,
while the ‘so called’ nephew was four-year-old Frederick Reynold Collett who
had been born at St Helier on Jersey.
Both nieces were unmarried ladies and Frederick Reynold Collett was more
than likely the base-born child of Jessie Maria, who had probably been sent to
Jersey to live with her ‘so called’ uncle Frederick Collett, to avoid any embarrassment
for her family back in Gloucestershire.
The address where the group was living at that time was described as The
Lodge, Mont Orgueil, St Martin in Jersey.
It was in early 2021
when the riddle of Frederick and his two ‘so called’ nieces and nephew was
finally resolved, after many years of trying.
Firstly, and possibly to save any embarrassment to Frederick Collett, he
chose to reveal the two sisters from England as being members of his own
Collett family, plus that of young Frederick, hence the reason why all three
were recorded with the Collett surname, when staying with him in 1911. In fact, their surname was actually Baker (as
in Frederick’s obituary below) and as such, were the two daughters of Albert
Baker and his wife Fanny Maslin of Kempsford.
Fanny’s mother was Emma Maslin, nee
Collett, the first-born child of Elizabeth Tyrrell and James Collett, the
younger brother of Frederick’s father, John Collett. Therefore, the correct relationship with the
sisters’ mother Fanny Baker, was that she was Frederick’s niece, and NOT his
sister, as described in the obituary.
Therefore, Jessie and Lily were his great nieces, with whom he obviously
had a close relationship in their hour of need from 1906 onwards, when
Frederick Reynold Baker was secretly born on the Channel Island of
Jersey
Upon
his retirement, four years later in 1915, Frederick left Jersey and moved to
Derby, where he lived for two years at 94 Uttoxeter New Road before his death
on 1st May 1917. He was aged
72 and the cause of death was stated as ‘valvular disease of the heart’ and
‘syncope’. The death certificate also
confirmed he was an army pensioner and former master gunner. The informant of the death at Derby was his
married daughter Edith Harrison of 12 Hillersdon Avenue in Barnes (which is still there today). An obituary appeared in the Derby Daily
Telegraph on Friday 4th May 1917, which includes a reference to his
two ‘so-called’ nieces Jessie and Lily Baker, the daughters of Albert Baker and
Fanny Maslin. The whole obituary reads
as follows:
DERBY VETERAN’S FUNERAL
“The
funeral of an army veteran took place today (Friday) at the Old Cemetery with
full military honours. The deceased was
Mr Frederick Collett, formerly a master gunner in the Royal Artillery, who died
on Tuesday last at the age of 72. He
served 32 years in the army, most of which time he was in India and
Gibraltar. He held three medals,
including one for meritorious service, which entitled him to an increased
pension. After leaving the army he was
for another 20 years in the government service being warden of Mont Orgueil
Castle, Jersey, where he was well known and respected. The cortege left 94 Uttoxeter Road where he
passed away, the chief mourners being Mr and Mrs Fred Harris (son-in-law and
daughter) –
she being Edith Harris nee Collett, Mr and Mrs Baker (brother-in-law
and sister) – she being niece Fanny Baker nee Maslin, and the
misses Jessie and Lily Baker (nieces) – they being his great nieces. The Notts and Derbyshire Regiment provided
the bearer and firing party under Sergeant Walker, and the Rev. J E S Hackforth
chaplain to the forces conducted the service.
The Last Post was sounded by buglers at the graveside. Some beautiful wreaths were sent by relatives
and friends. Messrs Wathall & Co.
were the undertakers.” The three
medals he received were the Jowaki Campaign Medal, a Long Service and Good
Conduct Medal awarded in 1882, and the Meritorious Service Medal which came
with an annuity of ten pounds
1O33 – Edith Collett was born during 1877 in
India
1O34 – Jessie Collett was born during 1878 in
India
1O35 – Frederick Collett was born during 1880 in
England
1O36 – Rosy Collett was born during 1880 in
England
1O37 – Gertrude Collett was born in 1881 at
Gibraltar
1O38 – Annie Collett was born in 1883 at
Gibraltar
1O39 – Mary Collett was born in 1884 at
Gibraltar
1O40 – Ida Collett was born in 1885 at
Gibraltar
1O41 – Maud Collett was born in 1886 at
Gibraltar
1O42 – Jenny Collett was born in 1887 at
Gibraltar
Charles Robert Collett [1N20] was
born at Whelford in 1848 and was baptised on 11th June 1848 at
Kempsford. Within the census of 1851, he
was simply recorded as Robert Collett aged three years, but just four months
later he died. The parish records at Kempsford
also confirmed that he was buried there on 3rd August 1851, aged
just three years
Emma Collett [1N21] was baptised at
Kempsford on 13th March 1831, the eldest child of James Collett and
Elizabeth Tyrrell, although she was born at Whelford where she was living with
her family in 1841 at the age of 10 years. During the following year, Emma’s mother died giving
h to her last child, after which Emma’s widowed father remarried. Just seven years later, Emma Collett and James
Maslin were married at Highworth, to the east of Swindon, on 13th
August 1849. The record of their wedding
day confirmed that Emma’s father was James Collett, and that the father of
James Maslin was also James Maslin senior.
James junior was baptised at Ramsbury on 12th October 1828,
the son of James and Hannah Maslin. The
first child of James and Emma was born at Highworth in 1850, the family of
three also recorded living there in the census of 1851. James Maslin from Ramsbury, south-east of
Swindon in Wiltshire, was 22 and a general dealer/merchant, his wife Emma
Maslin was 19, and their daughter Ketura Maslin was under
one-year-old. Six weeks after that
census day, Ketura was baptised at Highworth on 9th May 1851, and a
few months later, that same year, Emma gave birth to twin daughters at
Highworth, where they were also baptised on 30th October 1851, the
children of James and Emma Maslin. The
births of Elizabeth Maslin and Emma Maslin were recorded at Highworth
(Refs. viii 30 and viii31). Other Maslin
children were born at Highworth during the 1850s, but none has been confirmed
as the offspring of James and Emma
By the end of the decade,
the family was living at Whelford, their subsequent children’s births recorded
at Cirencester, and by 1861, Emma was living with her two surviving children at
the Whelford home of her uncle John Collett, her father’s older brother, while her
husband James may have been away on business that day. The census return for 1861, included Emma Maslin,
aged 29 and of Whelford, as a married lady who was a boarder with, and the housekeeper
for, widower John Collett (Ref. 1M7). With
Emma was her two daughters Jane (Fanny) Maslin who was three and Charlotte
Elizabeth Maslin who was one year old.
Four more children were added to her family over the following six
years, with all six children baptised together in a joint ceremony at Kempsford
on 7th March 1868, when just Emma’s name was entered in the parish
register. It is therefore possible that Emma’s husband was not in the best of
health towards the end of the decade since, one year after the children were
baptised, the death of James Maslin was recorded at Cirencester (Ref. 6a 40)
during the second quarter of 1869, when he was 40 years old. The names of the children baptised were Fanny
Maslin, Charlotte Elizabeth Maslin, Emma Clara Maslin, Ernest Albert
Maslin, Louisa Maslin, and Angelina Maslin. The births of her children were all recorded
at Cirencester as follows: Fanny Maslin (Ref. 6a 35) in 3rd Qrt
1858; Charlotte Elizabeth Maslin (Ref. 6a 23) in 1st Qrt 1860; Emma
Clara Maslin (Ref. 6a 139) in 1st Qrt 1862; Ernest Albert Maslin
(Ref. 6a 133) in 3rd Qrt 1863; Louisa Maslin (Ref. 6a 75) in 1st
Qrt 1865; and Angelina Maslin (Ref. 6a 92) in 3rd Qrt 1866
Two years after losing
her husband, according to the next census in 1871, Emma Maslin from Kempsford,
at 40 years of age, was a widow and, once again, she was the housekeeper for
John Collett and his three bachelor sons Edwin, Alfred and Frederick (above),
at their home in Whelford. The children
living with Emma that day were Elizabeth Maslin, Ernest Maslin, Louisa Maslin
and Angelina Maslin, all of them born at Whelford. It was the same situation in 1881, when Emma
Maslin was 49 and continuing with her role as the housekeeper to John Collett
and his two unmarried sons Edwin and Alfred.
However, in addition to two of her older children, Albert who was 17 and
an agricultural labourer and Louisa aged 16, Emma then had two new younger
children with her, they being Francis Henry Maslin, who was seven and listed as
deaf and dumb, and Ernest Theodore Maslin who was four years old, both of whom
were listed as having been born at Kempsford.
Both of them appear to be the base-born children of her unmarried
daughters, and therefore Emma’s grandchildren. After her uncle John Collett
died in 1889, Emma and some of her children were still recorded two years later
living at Whelford where, by then, she was head of the household at the age of
59. On that occasion, her place of birth
was curiously recorded as Horcott, just south of Fairford and north-west of
Whelford. Supporting her mother, who had
no stated occupation, was her daughter Louisa Maslin who was 26, and her son
(grandson) Ernest Theodore Maslin who was 14.
Eight years earlier, one of Emma’s children gave birth to Ada Frances
Maslin, who was also living with her grandmother that day
During the next decade,
Emma left Whelford and moved three miles north to Hatherop, where she was
living in 1901 at the age of 69, when her place of birth was recorded as
Kempsford, rather than Whelford. The
three members of her family living with her, were her daughter Louisa Maslin who
was 36, and Ernest Theodore Maslin who was 24 and a general labourer, with his
very recently married wife Minnie Rose Maslin from Fairford who was 31, the
former Minnie Rose Dyer. Sadly for Emma,
her daughter Louisa died eight years later, her death recorded as Gloucester
(Ref. 6a 150) during the third quarter of 1909, when she was 44. To complete the Maslin family, and how it is
linked to Frederick Collett (above), Emma’s eldest daughter Fanny Maslin, aged
18, married Albert Baker, aged 20, on 7th May 1876 at Kempsford, and
they had a number of children born in the village of Preston, their births
recorded at nearby Cirencester. Two of
them, Jessie Maria Baker, born in 1879, and Maud Lillian Baker, born in 1884,
were living with elderly war veteran and widower Frederick Collett (above) at
St Helier in Jersey from around 1905 until his death in 1915, the two girls and
their parents named in his later obituary.
The reason they were sent to live with their great uncle, was because
one of them had given birth to a base-born son Frederick Baker, although in the
Jersey census of 1911, all three of them were recorded as Collett, and not
Baker. The grandmother of the two
sisters was Emma Maslin, nee Collett, the eldest daughter of James Collett,
whose older brother was the aforesaid Frederick Collett
Eliza Collett [1N22] was born at
Whelford and was baptised at Kempsford on 18th August 1833, the
second child of James Collett and his wife Elizabeth Tyrrell, and was eight
years of age in the census of 1841.
Hannah Collett [1N23] was born at
Whelford and baptised at Kempsford on 21st June 1835. She was six years old the Kempsford census of
1841 and was 16 in 1851, when she was a servant at the Whelford home of her
uncle
Job Collett[1N24] was born on 8th
August 1837 and was baptised at Kempsford on 10th September
1837. He married Susannah Gibbs at
Highworth on 10th March 1863.
Susannah was born at Hampton in Highworth on 7th January 1843
and was baptised there on 8th February 1844, the daughter of Joseph
and Charlotte Gibbs. Job was described
as being 25, while his bride was recorded in the parish register as 20. Once they were married, Job and Susannah
settled in Hampton Hill in Highworth, and it was there that six of their seven
children were born. By 1871 the marriage
had produced the first two children, when the family was listed as Job Collett
from Kempsford who was 33 and working as a hurdle maker, Susannah Collett was
27 and from Hampton, as were their two children, Cornelius Collett who was
seven and Mary J Collett who was four.
All of the baptism records, so far located for the children of the
family, confirmed that their parents were Job and Susannah Collett
According to the next
census in 1881, Job was still employed as a hurdle maker, just like his father
James Collett, when he was recorded as being 43 and born at Kempsford. His wife Susannah was 38, and with them were
the four youngest of their seven children.
They were Rose Collett who was nine, Winifred Collett who was six,
Berthelay Collett who was five and Ada Collett who was eleven months old, and
all confirmed as born at Hampton. No
record has been found in 1881 for Cornelius and Mary Jane, who would have been
17 and 14 respectively. Sometime during
the next few years, the family left Highworth when they moved to Whelford,
where their last child was born. That
move was confirmed in the census of 1891, by which time the family living at
Whelford. Hurdle maker Job Collett was
52, Susannah Collett was 49, and their three youngest daughters were Bertha
Collett who was 14, Ada Collett who was 10 and Olive who was two years
old. It is interesting to note that, at
that time, Job’s son Cornelius was still living in Highworth at the age of 27
Less than one year later,
the death of Job Collett was recorded at Cirencester register office (Ref. 6a
315) during the first three months of 1892, when he was 53. Nine years after losing her husband, Susannah
Collett was a widow aged 58 when, in 1901, she was living at Kempsford where
she had been forced to take work as an agricultural labourer to support herself
and her daughter Olive Collett who was 12 and confirmed as born at
Whelford. By the time of the Whelford
census in April 1911, Susannah Collett was 68 and was living there with her son
Cornelius Collett who was unmarried at 46, and her daughter Olive Collett who
was 22. Susannah survived for another ten
years, when the death of Susannah Collett was recorded at Swindon register
office (Ref. 5a 7) during the last quarter of 1921, when she was 78
1O43 – Cornelius Collett was born in 1864 at
Hampton Hill, Highworth
1O44 – Mary Jane Collett was born in 1867 at
Hampton Hill, Highworth
1O45 – Rose Collett was born in 1871 at
Hampton Hill, Highworth
1O46 – Winifred Collett was born in 1874 at
Hampton Hill, Highworth
1O47 – Bertha Annie Collett was born in 1876 at
Hampton Hill, Highworth
1O48 – Ada Collett was born in 1880 at
Hampton Hill, Highworth
1O49 – Olive Collett was born in 1888 at
Whelford, near Kempsford
Timothy Collett [1N25] was born in 1840
and was baptised at Kempsford on 19th April 1840. Within the next decade his father profession
as a hurdle maker took the family to Highworth near Swindon, where they were
living in 1851, when Timothy was 11 years old.
After a further ten years Timothy had joined his father as a hurdle maker
and, at the age of 21, he was still living with his parents in a tied cottage,
while working at Hampton Turville Farm.
Five years later he married (1) Elizabeth Smith at Highworth on 21st
January 1866 at a time when Elizabeth was with-child, since the couple’s first
son was born five months later. Both of
them were described as being 25, and Timothy’s father was confirmed as James
Collett
Tragically, Timothy and
Elizabeth’s first child did not survive and it was just the two of them that
were listed in the Highworth census return for 1871, when both of them were 30,
Timothy from Kempsford and a carpenter and Elizabeth from Highworth. Having already suffered the loss of his son
James, Timothy then had the anguish of losing his wife, when Elizabeth Collett
nee Smith died on the 21st June 1872, following which she was buried
at Highworth on 25th June 1872, when she was 33 years old. Her death was subsequently recorded at
Highworth (Ref. 5a 4) during the second quarter of that year. It was just over one year after being widowed
that Timothy married (2) Elizabeth Adams, the event recorded at Highworth (Ref.
5a 7) during the third quarter of 1873.
Elizabeth Adams was born at Hinton Parva, to the east of Swindon around
1841, the daughter of Thomas and Hannah Adams.
During the next seven years the couple was blessed with the birth of
three children, who were all born at Highworth, as was their fourth child, but
after the next census day. According to
that census in 1881, Timothy, at 40, was an agricultural labourer living at
Westrop in Highworth with his wife Elizabeth from Hinton (Parva), also 40 years
of age, and their two oldest children, Albert Collett who was six and Annie
Collett who was four years old. Perhaps
rather strangely, the couple’s latest edition, Harriet Collett was eleven
months old and was listed as living with Timothy’s married sister Ruth Addis
nee Collett (below)
Ten years later the
family was still living within the Highworth area in 1891, but at nearby
Hampton Turville where carpenter Timothy and his wife Elizabeth were both 50
and living with them were their three children Albert Collett aged 16, Annie
Collett aged 13 and Alice Collett who was nine years old. Their daughter Harriet was 11 years of age
and was still living in Highworth with Timothy’s sister Ruth Addis. Just over seven years after that census day,
the death of Timothy Collett was recorded at Highworth (Ref. 5a 2) during the
third quarter of 1898 when he was 57 years of age. Timothy actually died on 9th
August 1898 and was buried with his first wife at Highworth on 13th
August that year. No record of Elizabeth
Collett from Hinton Parva has been revealed within the census of 1901, while
the death of Elizabeth Collett was recorded at Swindon (Ref. 5a 7) during the
fourth quarter of 1925, when her age was recorded by the informant as 81. It was in the churchyard of St Margaret’s
Church at Stratton St Margaret where she was buried on 26th December
1925
1O50 – James Collett was born in 1866 at
Highworth
The
following are the children of Timothy Collett by his second wife Elizabeth
Adams
1O51 – Albert Ernest
Collett was
born in 1875 at Highworth
1O52 – Annie Elizabeth
Collett was
born in 1877 at Highworth
1O53 – Harriet Collett was born in 1880 at
Highworth
1O54 – Alice Collett was born in 1881 at
Highworth
Ruth Collett [1N26] was born at
Whelford in 1842 and was baptised later that year at Kempsford on 2nd
October 1842. She was the youngest child
of James Collett and Elizabeth Tyrrell and shortly after she was born her
mother died. Her father later married
Susannah of Wanborough, near Swindon. By
the time Ruth was 26, she had given birth to a base-born daughter and it may
have been just prior to that when she and her father, together with James’
second wife Susannah, left Whelford and moved to Highworth in Wiltshire, where
her baby was born. Three years later
Ruth and her daughter were confirmed as living at Highworth in April 1871 at
the home of James Collett and his wife Susannah. Ruth Collett was 29 and her daughter
Elizabeth was three years old. Sometime
during the next decade, while still at Highworth, Ruth met and married William
Addis an agricultural labourer who was born at Highworth in 1839. In the census of 1881 Ruth Addis gave her age
as 35 (sic), while William Addis was 41.
The couple was living at Westrop in Highworth with Ruth’s daughter
Elizabeth Collett, aged 13, who was working as an agricultural labourer. Living with the family of three was Ruth’s
niece Harriet Collett aged just eleven months, the daughter of Ruth’s brother
Timothy (above). Just over eight years
later, the death of Ruth Addis was recorded at Highworth (Ref. 5a 2) when she
was 48. It was on 27th July
1889 that she died, after which she was buried at Highworth four days later on
1st August
1O55 – Elizabeth Collett was born in 1868 at
Highworth
Barbara Collett [1N27] was
born at Bibury, either during the latter months of 1798 or the first two months
of 1799, shortly after the marriage of her parents in 1798. She was baptised at the Church of St Mary in
Bibury on 28th February 1799, the eldest of the seven known children
of Giles Collett and his wife Elizabeth Gregory. Barbara may well have been married by 1841,
since no record of a Barbara Collett has been found in any census return
Giles Lawrence Collett [1N28] was
born in 1801 at Bibury, where he was baptised as Giles Laurence on 3rd
April 1801, the eldest son of Giles and Elizabeth Collett. It has been assumed that Giles later
travelled to London where he took up work as a smith and where he possibly
married (1) Elizabeth, although no record of their marriage has so far been
found. What is known for sure is that
Giles and Elizabeth had a daughter and her baptism was recorded at St George’s
Church in Hanover Square in London on 29th August 1827 (Ref. 724),
the parents being named as Giles Lawrence Collett, a smith, and his wife
Elizabeth whose abode was described as the Workhouse. During April of the following year Giles
Lawrence Collett was on trial in Gloucestershire and was sentenced to one month
in prison for larceny. What he stole was
not mentioned in the papers
Six years after that,
Giles Collett married (2) Ann Ship at the Church of St John the Evangelist in
Lambeth on 21st September 1834, presumably following the death of
his first wife Elizabeth and possibly even his daughter. Once married, the couple settled in London
and it was at the Church of St Martin-in-the-Field, in Westminster, that their
first three children were baptised. The
baptism entry there for their son also revealed that he had been born one month
earlier on 14th September 1838.
It is also interesting that Giles Collett was recorded in the Tax
Assessments Pavement Rates Ledgers for 1835 as residing at 30 St Martins Lane
within the St Martin-in-the-Fields area of Westminster
Perhaps times were still
hard for Giles and his family, as he once again resorted to stealing and on 25th
November1839 he was sentenced at the Old Bailey to seven years in prison. At that time in his life, the record shows
his crime was ‘larceny by servant’ when he was a married man aged 34 who was
working as a smith. He was dispatched
from Newgate Prison in London on 16th December 1839 and sent to
Portsmouth, where he was assigned to the ship Leviathan, a convict hulk. The record also indicates that he received a
pardon four years later on 9th October 1843. However, the census in 1841 recorded just
Giles Collett, aged 35, as residing in the Leviathan Convict Hulk, moored at
Portsea Island. Where his wife and
children were on that day has still to be discovered
Upon his release from
prison, Giles was reunited with Ann and his family and, by the time of the next
census in 1851, the family was residing at Green Dragon Court in the Middlesex
parish of St Sepulchre, within the West London registration district. Giles Collett and Ann Collett were both 45,
and Giles from Cirencester was still working as a smith. Three children had been added to the family
after his release, although there was no record of the couple’s eldest son
Leonard. On that occasion the children
were listed as Elizabeth who was 15, Eleanor who was 14, Charlotte who was
eight, John who was five and Francis who was two. All of them, including Ann, were born in
London. It was seven years later that Giles
Collett died, his death recorded in West London (Ref. 1c 9) during the first
three months of 1858. The baptism of his
youngest daughter Charlotte was conducted at St Sepulchre, while the birth of
his youngest son Francis was registered at West London (Ref. ii 10) during the
first quarter of 1849. By 1871 Francis
Collett of London was 22 and working as a tailor in the St George district of
the city, where he was in lodgings
1O56 – Elizabeth Collett was born in 1827 in
London; baptised there on 29th August 1827
The following are the
known children of Giles Collett and Ann Ship:
1O57 – Elizabeth Ellen Collett was born in 1835
in London; baptised there on 20th September 1835
1O58 – Eleanor Isabel Collett was born in 1837
in London; baptised there on 11th June 1837
1O59 – Leonard Frederick Collett was born on 14th
September 1838 in London; baptised there on 21st October 1838
1O60 – Charlotte Felton Collett was born on 11th
July 1842 in London; baptised there on 15th March 1843
1O61 – John Collett was born in 1845 in London
1O62 – Francis Collett was born in 1848 in West
London
Isabel Collett [1N29] was born at Bibury
in 1803 and was baptised there on 3rd March 1803, the daughter of
Giles and Elizabeth Collett. Isabel
never married and on the day of the census in 1851 Isabel Collett from Bibury
was 44 when she was a servant at the Paddington home of Luke Price and his
family. No record of her has been found
ten years later but in 1871, and again ten years later, she was listed living
within the Kensington district of London.
In 1871 she was 68 and that year she was lodging with the Stevens family
when, as Isabella Collett, she was working as a charwoman. By 1881 she was 78 and an inmate at 87
Portland Road in Kensington, which was described as a home for the aged and the
poor. She had no stated occupation,
while her place of birth was confirmed as Bibury in Gloucestershire. It was just less than five years later that
the death of Isabel Collett, aged 83, was recorded at Kensington (Ref. 1a 98)
during the first three months of 1886
Francis Collett [1N30] was
born at Bibury in 1804 where he was baptised at the Church of St Mary on 22nd
November 1804, the son of Giles and Elizabeth Collett. It was at the church of St Mary de Lode in
Gloucester that he married Sarah Elizabeth King on 8th November
1828. Sarah was the daughter of Thomas
and Ann King and was baptised at Coln St Aldwyns on 21st June
1806. She was not the Sarah King
baptised at Bristol on 2nd February 1806, who was the daughter of
John and Catherine King. In the census
of 1851 Sarah’s place of birth was named as Coln St Aldwyns, where all of the
couple’s children were baptised even though the family was only living there
when their three eldest children were born.
Sometime between August 1838 and June 1841 the family settled in the
town of Cirencester, where they were living when the first national census was
conducted that year
At that time in their
lives, the family comprised Francis and Sarah, who were both given the rounded
age of 35, Sarah who was 12, Ann who was nine, Henry who was six and Azaria who
was two years old. After a further ten
years the family was living within the Castle Ward area of Cirencester, by
which time Sarah had presented Francis with two more children, although sadly
their youngest daughter died when she was four years old. The census in 1851 recorded that Francis
Collett, aged 46 and from Bibury, was a whitesmith, that his wife Sarah was 45
and that their three children on that occasion were Henry Collett who was 16,
Francis Collett who was 12 and from Northleach, and William Giles Collett who
was just two years old and born after the family had settled in
Cirencester. Of the couple’s two absent
daughters, it is established that Sarah, the eldest child, had already left
England for New Zealand as a servant in the employ of the Reverend Thomas
Jackson who is reputed to be the first Bishop of Canterbury, while Sarah is
understood to be the first Collett to settle in Canterbury
It was almost exactly one
year later that Francis, together with his eldest son Henry Cornelius Collett who was
a carpenter, sailed on the ship
‘Samarang’ to New Zealand, ahead of the rest of the family. The sailing ship left England on 26th
March 1852 and arrived in New Zealand on 31st July that year. It was believed within the family that
Francis came from a long line of stonemasons.
However, the passenger list confirmed that he was a blacksmith, while
his death certificate stated that he was a whitesmith, as he had been in
1851. The Colletts were skilled
tradesmen with a fair education, but not affluent enough to set themselves up
as businessmen or landowners. In a list
of persons eligible for Jury Service in Christchurch in 1853 a Francis Collett
and a James Collett, were both described as blacksmiths of Papanui
It was seven years after
Francis and Henry had arrived in New Zealand that the rest of their family
joined them there. The New Zealand Immigration
and Passenger Lists Database included a Sarah Collett amongst the passengers of
the sailing ship ‘Clontarf’ which arrived at Lyttelton on 5th
January 1859. Travelling with Sarah were
two of her three surviving children, and they were her married daughter Anne
Bryan with her husband, and her youngest son William Collett. What had happened to Azaria Francis Collett
is not known at this time, as he too may have died between 1851 and 1859 as his
older sister Elizabeth did in 1846. The
place of residence stated for immigrant Sarah Collett, aged 52, was Cirencester
in Gloucestershire, England. Another Collett
on board the ‘Clontarf’ for that same journey was Harriet
Rayner nee Collett (62M33) of London, who had with her, just nine children, her
husband having previously sailed to New Zealand in 1856
It may also be significant that carpenter
Samuel Collett (Ref. 1N73) of Quenington, just half a mile from Coln St
Aldwyns, travelled to New Zealand in 1858 and that he and his family also
settled in Canterbury. Having been
reunited with his wife, Francis and Sarah were living at Charles Street in
Kaiapoi in 1860, when his occupation was simply that of a labourer. At that time, he was recorded as being
eligible to serve as militia man with the Christchurch District Militia for the
year ending 31st March 1861.
Also included on that same listing was the aforementioned Samuel Collett
of Lower Avon North in Christchurch, whose occupation was confirmed as being
that of a carpenter
Sarah Collett nee King
died in May 1861, and was buried on 25th May 1861 at Barbados Street
Cemetery. Following the death of his
wife, Francis
Collett remained living with his daughter Sarah Isabella Roil and her two
youngest children, the twins. One night
in 1884 he went to bed with a little devotional reading to close the day. Nobody could have guessed that it was to be
his final sleep. His daughter found him
the next morning with, resting on his chest, the old prayer book given to him
thirty-two years earlier in the church near Cirencester. Francis Collett died at Christchurch,
Canterbury NZ, on 17th May 1884 and was buried with his late wife in
the Barbados Street Cemetery. In New
Zealand to this day, there is an old prayer book with the inscription “From
Cirencester, England – Mid-lent Sunday March 21 1852 to F. Collett, Bibury The
Holy Church throughout the world doth acknowledge Thee”, this being the same prayer book that Francis
was holding when he passed away
1O63 – Sarah Isabella Collett was born in 1829 at
Coln St Aldwyns
1O64 – Anne Collett was born in 1832 at
Coln St Aldwyns
1O65 – Henry Cornelius Collett was born in 1834 at
Coln St Aldwyns
1O66 – Azaria Frances Collett was born in 1838 at
Northleach
1O67 – Elizabeth Mary Collett was born in 1841 at
Cirencester
1O68 – William Giles Collett was born in 1848 at
Cirencester
Catherine Collett [1N31] was
born at Bibury in 1806 and was baptised at St Mary’s Church on 1st
January 1807, the daughter of Giles and Elizabeth Collett. Just as with her eldest sister Barbara
(above), no record of Catherine has been found in any census, so there is a
possibility that she was married prior to 1841
Henry Collett [1N32] was born at Bibury
in 1808 and baptised there on 21st October 1808, the youngest son of
Giles and Elizabeth Collett. As with his
brother Giles Lawrence Collett (above), no record of Henry of Bibury has been
found in any census, therefore he may have died before June 1841 or left the
country
Frances Collett [1N33] was
born at Bibury in 1812 and was it was there also that she was baptised on 6th
September 1812, the last known child of Giles Collett and his wife Elizabeth
Gregory. Frances would have been only
fifteen years old when her mother died and was buried at Bibury in 1827 and was
twenty-one when her father passed away in 1833.
During the last three months of 1852, a Frances Collett married Joshua
Wiltshire at Cirencester (Ref. 6a 641), and there is ever possibility that she
was Frances Collett from nearby Bibury
Henry Collett [1N34] was, it is
estimated, born around 1790. He was
married and widowed during his life, and was married for a second time on 14th
November 1844 to Elizabeth King at the Church of All Hallows the Great in the
City of London. Henry was described as a
widower and the son of William Day Collett, while Elizabeth’s father was named
as George Patterson, making it very likely that she was a widow, Henry being
her second husband
Lydia Collett [1N35] was born at
Cricklade during 1799, the eldest child of John and Betty Collett who was
baptised at St Sampson's Church in Cricklade on 16th February
1800. She was only 18 when she married
(1) Edmund Wall on 3rd February 1818 with whom she had ten children,
and all of them born and baptised at Siddington. Edmund Wall was baptised on 4th
May 1799 at South Cerney, but died on 5th August 1845 and was buried
at Siddington on 9th August 1845.
For another reference to the Wall family name, see also Betty Collett
(below). She was Lydia’s younger sister
and she married John Chesterman Wall at Siddington, whose death was recorded at
Cricklade. It therefore seems very
likely that Edmund Wall and John Chesterman Wall were brothers. Following the death of Edmund Wall in 1845,
Lydia married (2) Harry Packer on 28th May 1849 at Siddington. According to the census of 1851 for
Siddington, Harry Packer was born at Ashton Keynes and was a labourer at
66. Living with him at that time was his
wife Lydia Packer, aged 52, who gave her place of birth as Siddington, rather
than Cricklade, and her daughter Emma Wall who was 11
The ten children of Lydia
Collett and Edmund Wall were Elizabeth Wall who was baptised on 3rd
December 1818, Mary Wall, who was baptised on 20th December
1821, Thomas Wall who was baptised on 6th March 1823, Edmund
Wall who was baptised on 7th May 1825, William Wall who
was baptised on 4th December 1826, Eliza Wall who was
baptised on 14th July 1828, Maria Wall who was baptised on 8th
May 1831, John Wall who was baptised on 7th September 1833, Jane
Wall who was baptised on 14th April 1837 and Emma Wall
who was baptised
on 10th November 1839 at Siddington and she later married William
Poocock. This is the family line of Doreen Cox of
Cirencester
James Collett [1N36] was born at
Siddington where he was baptised at St Peter’s Church on 28th
November 1801, the eldest son of John and Elizabeth Collett. Tragically he suffered an infant death and
died shortly after
James Collett [1N37] was born at
Siddington and was baptised there on 28th November 1802 at St
Peter’s Church, when his parents were named as John and Betty Collett. It was also there that he later married Sarah
Maysey on 3rd March 1828.
Sarah Maizey was baptised at Fairford on 30th June 1811, the
daughter of James and Mary Maizey. The
couple initially settled in Siddington, where the twins were born before the
family moved to Bristol, where daughter Jane was born and then on to Bathford
in Somerset, where their only known son was born and where the family was
living in 1841. The census that year
recorded the family living at Turnpike Gate on Bradford Road, where James
Collett had a rounded age of 35, Sarah Collett had a rounded age of 30, Martha
Collett was 12, Jane Collett was seven and Charles Collett was under one year
old
No positive record of the
family has been found in 1851, although it is confirmed that the couple’s two
youngest daughters were baptised at Swainswick near Bath either side of
1850. However, by 1861 the family was identified
residing at Swainswick Street in Swainswick within the Bath & Batheaston
registration district of Somerset, where James Collett from Siddington was 59
and an agricultural labourer, his wife Sarah was 52 and making a living as a
laundress, and living there with them were three of their children. They were daughters Jane Collett aged 25 and
from Marshfield in Gloucestershire, Eliza Collett who was 12 and Sarah Collett
who was nine, both of them born after James and Sarah had settled in Swainswick. Nearly five years later, Sarah died at
Swainswick, the death of Sarah Collett recorded at Bath (Ref. 5c 549) during
the first three months of 1866, when she was 58. During the probate process, undertaken at
Bristol on 6th June 1866, it was revealed that Sarah Collett died on
1st March 1866, the beneficiary being her husband James Collett
After a further five
years, James Collett aged 69 was a widower and a labourer in the census
conducted during 1871, when he and his two unmarried daughters were still
living in Swainswick. They were Jane Collett
who was 36 and Sarah Collett who was 19.
According to the next census in 1881, James Collett was again living at
Swainswick in Somerset, where he was described as a widower and a former
labourer aged 79, who had been born in Siddington. The only person living with him that day was
his unmarried daughter Jane Collett aged 46 and from Marshfield near Bristol,
who was a laundress. Just less than
three years later, the death of James Collett was recorded at Bath (Ref. 5c
464) during the first quarter of 1884, when he was 83
1O69 – Martha Collett was born in 1829 at
Siddington
1O70 – Mary Collett was born in 1829 at
Siddington; baptised there on 12th June 1829
1O71 – Jane Collett was born in 1835 at
Marshfield
1O72 – Charles Collett was born in 1840 at
Bathford, near Bath
1O73 – Eliza Collett was born in 1848 at
Swainswick, Bath
1O74 – Sarah Collett was born in 1851 at
Swainswick, Bath
Henry Collett [1N38] was born at Siddington and baptised St Peter’s Church on 28th
August 1805, the son of John and Elizabeth Collett. Henry was an agricultural labourer and he was
married by banns to (1) Elizabeth Mills of Painswick in Gloucestershire on 16th
October 1827 at nearby Haresfield, all as confirmed by the bishop’s transcript. Elizabeth was born at Haresfield in 1808 and
was baptised there as Betsy Mills on 26th March 1809, the daughter
of Edward Mills and Sarah Steel.
However, another source says she was the daughter of William and Martha
Mills and that she was born at Painswick on 1st May 1803. Following their
wedding, the couple settled in the town of Painswick where their first five
children were baptised. The birth
certificate for their fifth children Henry, states that his father was labourer
Henry Collett and that his mother was Elizabeth Collett, formerly Mills. The birth was registered in the Stroud
sub-district of Painswick, and Henry Collett signed the register by making the
mark of a cross. Unfortunately, the
residence of the informant is not clear to read on the certificate, but it may
be that it was ‘Haresfield, Painswick’.
That might indicate the family was living in Haresfield, but that the
children were baptised in Painswick, as perhaps there was no parish church in
Haresfield
Sometime after 1838 the family moved for a
short while to Stroud, where their sixth child was baptised, before finally
settling down to live at Cirencester where their last two children were
born. The 1841 Census recorded the family living at Watermoor Road in
Cirencester with both Henry’s and Elizabeth’s rounded age being stated as
35. The children at that time were
William Collett aged 12, Sarah aged 10, George Collett who was eight, Edwin
Collett who was six, Henry Collett who was three and Harriett Collett who was
one year old. Elizabeth Collett nee
Mills died on 26th March 1850 while the family was living at
Cirencester. From the 1851 Census Henry,
an agricultural labourer, was a widower aged 45 and all of his children were
still living at Cirencester with him.
They were William Collett who was 22, Sarah Collett 20, George Collett
18, Edwin Collett 15, Henry Collett 12, Harriett Collett 10 and James Collett
who was eight years old. Where their
daughter was that day has not been discovered.
The census return also confirmed that Painswick was the place of birth
of the first five children, and Stroud and Cirencester for the last two. Sometime between 1851 and 1861 Henry married
(2) the widow Mary from South Cerney
However, during those
same ten years, nearly all of his children left the family home on Watermoor
Road, leaving just his youngest child Jane living with him and Mary. The 1861 Census for Cirencester listed the
family as Henry Collett from Siddington who was 55, Mary Collett from South
Cerney who was 57, while Henry’s daughter Jane Collett was 17. With no further record of Henry after that,
it seems likely that he died between 1861 and 1871. Certainly Mary Collett, a widow of 69 and
from South Cerney, was still living in Cirencester in 1871, and on that
occasion had her granddaughter Selina Pittaway from Cirencester, aged nine
years, living there with her. It was the
same situation ten years later, when Mary Collett of South Cerney was 80 and
described as an agricultural labourer’s widow, while still living with her at 8
Beeches Cottage in Cirencester was her granddaughter Selina Pittaway, aged 19,
who was a dressmaker. Selina was
presumably the daughter of one of Mary’s children from her previous marriage
1O75 – William Collett was born in 1829 at
Painswick
1O76 – Sarah Collett was born in 1831 at
Painswick
1O77 – George Collett was born in 1833 at
Painswick
1O78 – Edwin Collett was born in 1835 at
Painswick
1O79 – Henry Collett was born in 1838 at
Painswick
1O80 – Harriet Collett was born in 1840 at Stroud
1O81 – James Collett was born in 1842 at Stroud
1O82 – Jane Collett was born in 1843 at
Cirencester
Betty Collett [1N39] was born at
Siddington in 1808 and was baptised there on 5th June 1808, the
daughter of John and Elizabeth Collett, as confirmed in the parish register for
St Peter’s Church. Although baptised as
Betty she was often later referred to in various documents throughout her life as
Elizabeth. On 16th June 1827
at Siddington she was married by banns to (1) John Chesterman Wall who was also
of Siddington, where he was baptised on 14th August 1803. John was probably the brother of Edmund Wall
who married Betty’s older sister Lydia Collett (above). John Wall died on 9th July 1855
and his death was recorded at the Cricklade District office. Betty spent the next eleven years as a widow
before she married (2) John Tombs on 6th October 1866 at
Siddington. Eight years later on 12th
July 1874, Betty Collett died at Siddington as a result of chronic heart
disease and asthma. The death
certificate recorded at Cirencester District office gave her age as 67. That office also recorded the death of Mary Wall
on 20th October 1846 who was possibly Betty’s daughter who would
have been just been approaching her fourteenth birthday. From Betty’s daughter Ruth Wall is the family
line of Sue and Gareth Kinsey of Hartfield in East Sussex
The nine children of
Betty Collett and John Chesterman Wall were all born and baptised at Siddington
and were Jacob Wall, born on 25th July 1828 and baptised on
10th August 1828, George Wall (see below), Mary Ann Wall,
born on 3rd December 1832 and baptised on 14th December
1832, Emmanuel Wall, born on 18th March 1835 and baptised on
6th April 1835, Charlotte Wall, born on 2nd
September 1837 and baptised 18th September 1837, Ruth Wall,
baptised on 18th August 1838, Stephen Wall, born circa 1842, Caroline
Wall, baptised on 30th June 1844, and Alfred William Wall,
who was baptised on 10th December 1848
Their second son George
Wall was born at Siddington on 4th
November 1830, where he was baptised on 9th January 1831. He was still there when he married Elizabeth
Cook Saunders by banns in the parish church at Siddington on 5th
June 1852. Elizabeth was the daughter of
Thomas Saunders and Jemima Cook baptised on 12th April 1833 at
Brokenborough, near Malmesbury in Wiltshire.
The couple had nine children born at Siddington between 1852 and 1875,
two of which died as children. For the
early part of his life, George was simply a labourer but from the 1871 Census
onwards his occupation was that of a shepherd.
In
1881, the family home was at ‘The Quarries’ in Siddington and was changed to
‘The Common’ in Siddington in 1891.
George Wall died of heart failure at Siddington on 4th
September 1895 at the age of 65, at which time he was listed as a farmer
labourer. Elizabeth Wall died from
gangrene of the leg on 2nd May 1906 also at Siddington at the age of
73 and was referred to as ‘the widow of the late George Wall, shepherd’. Eldest surviving daughter Selina Wall, born on 28th
Dec 1854, married George Woodward at Cirencester on 23rd Dec 1880,
this being the family line of
JOHN COLLETT [1N40] was born at Siddington
and baptised there on 12th April 1811, the son of John and Elizabeth
Collett. He later married Mary Ann Dent
of Stoke Gifford in Gloucestershire in 1836.
Mary was born in 1815 and was the daughter of John Dent (1778-1841) and
Sarah Iles (1779-1841) of Siddington.
Both of her parents died in July 1841, first her mother on the sixth day
of the month, followed by her father exactly three weeks later. About six years after they were married, on
27th March 1842 a John Collett, who was a labourer from Siddington,
was sentenced to a term of imprisonment in Gloucester Gaol. The interval between the dates of birth of
John’s third and fourth child suggests that the gaoled man was indeed this
According to the next
census in 1861 John Collett from Siddington was 49 and his wife Mary was
48. On that occasion five of their
children were living with them at Siddington and they were Sarah who was 21,
Charles who was 14, Robert who was 12, Isabella who was three and William who
was one year old. How the ages of both
Robert (who would have been six) and Isabella (who would have been 12) were
reversed is a mystery, unless it was an error made by the enumerator. John and Mary were still living in Siddington
at the time of the 1871 census, when John was 60 and a labourer, while Mary was
56 and from Stoke Gifford. The only
child still living with them on that occasion was their youngest son Henry who
was six years old, following the death of son William during the previous year,
his death recorded at Cirencester (Ref. 6a 282) during the third quarter of
1870. For the census of 1881 John
Collett, aged 70, was still working as an agricultural labourer and he and wife
Mary, who was 66, were living at Upper Siddington with their youngest child
Henry Collett who was 15 and another agricultural labour born at
Siddington. It was within the next
twelve months that Mary Ann Collett died, her death recorded at Cirencester
(Ref. 6a 250) during the first quarter of 1882.
John survived his wife by nine years, when the death of John Collett was
recorded at Cirencester (Ref. 6a 291) during the first quarter of 1891, aged
79, and prior to the census day that year
1O83 – Susanna Collett was born in 1837 at
Siddington
1O84 – Sarah Ann Collett was born in 1839 at
Siddington
1O85 – Alice Collett was born in 1842 at
Siddington
1O86 – Charles Iles Collett was born in 1846 at
Siddington
1O87 – Isabella Collett was born in 1849 at
Siddington
1O88 – ROBERT COLLETT was born in 1855 at
Siddington
1O89 – William Edward Collett was born on 24th
July 1859 at Siddington
1O90 – Henry John Collett was born in 1865 at
Siddington
Thomas Collett [1N41] was born at
Siddington on 1st October 1813 and was baptised there 24th
October 1813, the son of John and Elizabeth Collett. He married Elizabeth Gardiner at Fairford on
8th October 1837, where she was baptised on 26th May 1814
Dinah (Diana) Collett [1N42] was
born at Siddington on 20th April 1816 and was baptised there on 9th
June 1816, the youngest child of John and Elizabeth (Betty) Collett. She was 21 years old when she married John
Robertson at Siddington on 31st December 1837
Nancy Collett [1N43 was baptised at
Stonehouse on 19th May 1799, and she later married James Stockham on
23rd August 1835 at Bisley in Gloucestershire
Sarah Collett [1N44] was possibly born
during 1803 and was baptised on 15th April 1804 at Stonehouse in a
double ceremony with her brother
John Collett [1N45] was baptised at Stonehouse on 15th April
1804 in a double ceremony with his older sister Sarah Collett (above). No record has been found to suggest that he
ever married, and he died on 20th January 1835 aged 30, just two
weeks before his father Aaron Collett passed away, following which John was
buried in Stonehouse Churchyard
Martha Collett [1N46] was baptised on 28th September 1806 at Stonehouse and later married
Samuel James. Their daughter, Sarah
James was born at Berkeley in 1839 and was listed in the census of 1851 as
living at the home of her uncle
Hester Collett [1N47] was baptised at
Stonehouse on 24th December 1809, but she failed to see her first
birthday when she died on 13th December 1810 and was buried in
Stonehouse Churchyard
Martin Collett [1N48] was baptised at
Stonehouse on 7th November 1813, where he later married Elizabeth
Taylor on 21st April 1840.
She was born in 1811 and her entry in the marriage register stated she
was ‘of Quedgeley’. In 1835 Martin
inherited the family business as a carpenter and wheelwright upon the death of
his father Aaron Collett. He was joint
executor of his father’s Will with his mother Sarah Collett. Six years later in 1841 Martin and Elizabeth
were living at Wheatenhurst when their ages were given as 25 and 30
respectively. Living with them was
Martin’s widowed mother Sarah Collett, who was70. According to the next census in 1851, Martin
Collett, aged 37, was an estate builder’s foreman living at Ham, to the south
of Berkeley. Living with him was his
wife Elizabeth who was 41, his son John Martin Collett who was five years old,
his mother Sarah Collett aged 80, and his niece Sarah James aged 12, who was
born in neighbouring Berkeley, the daughter of Martin’s older sister Martha
James nee Collett (above). Martin and
Elizabeth’s daughter Martha, who would have been six years of age at the time
of the census, was not listed with the family, nor has she been recorded
anywhere at any time thereafter, so it is assumed that she very likely suffered
an infant death. After a further ten
years, Martin, aged 47, and Elizabeth, aged 50, were living in the St John the
Baptist area of Gloucester in 1861, together with their son John M Collett who
was 15. During the next decade it would
appear that both Martin and Elizabeth passed away, since there was no record of
them within the census of 1871
1O91 – Martha Collett was born in 1844 at Stonehouse
1O92 – John Martin Collett was born in 1845 at Stonehouse
Harriett Collett [1N49] was
born at Minchinhampton during 1803, where she was baptised on 1st
January 1804, the eldest child of William Collett and Sarah Watts. Her parents are known to have lived at
Bownham Cottage in Minchinhampton, where Harriett may have been born
Ann Collett [1N50] was born at
Minchinhampton and was baptised there on 7th April 1805, the second
child of William and Sarah Collett. She
later married John Gardner at nearby Bisley on 10th July 1825
John Collett [1N51] was born at
Minchinhampton and it was there also that he was baptised on 12th
July 1807, the eldest son of William and Sarah Collett. It was also at Minchinhampton that he later
married Sarah
William Collett [1N52] was
baptised on 7th May 1809 at Minchinhampton and was buried at nearby
Woodchester on 1st September 1839 aged 30 years
Sarah Collett [1N53] was baptised on
21st June 1811 at Minchinhampton.
She was around 21 when she married James Midwinter on 24th
March 1832 at Kempsford, where their daughter Ann Collette Midwinter was
born and baptised on 26th March 1833
George Collett [1N54] was baptised at Minchinhampton
on 18th July 1813, the son of William Collett and Sarah Watts. Upon leaving school he followed in his
father’s footsteps by becoming a carpenter.
He later married (1) Jane Packer on 23rd December 1834 at the
parish church in nearby Leonard Stanley.
Jane was born at Aston Blank, where she was baptised on 13th
February 1814. Both George and Jane
signed the marriage register in their own hand, indicating a certain level of
education. The witness to the marriage
was Daniel Watts who may have been attached to the church as he also signed the
previous entry in the church register.
It is also possible that this same Daniel was the father of George’s
mother who was a witness at his parents’ wedding over thirty years earlier. See also Part 10 – Other Branch
It was very likely
George’s occupation as a carpenter that was the reason for him and his family
moving so many times during their life.
Initially the couple settled down for the first five years of their
married life in Jane’s home town of Leonard Stanley. While they were living there their first
three children were born, but sadly it was also there that their first-born son
also died three days after his birth.
Not long after that tragedy George and Jane, together with their two
daughters, left Leonard Stanley and moved the twelve miles north to
Leckhampton, just south of Cheltenham, where their next child was born. By the time of the first national census in
early June 1841, George and Jane were confirmed as residing at Leckhampton with
their three daughters. The census record
listed the family as George Collett, aged 28, who was a carpenter, his wife
Jane Collett, who was 27, and their daughters Sarah Collett who was five, Mary
Collett who was four, and Harriet Collett who was just one year old. Sometime during the next decade George and
Jane moved two more times, the first time to Morden, near Kingston-on-Thames,
where their second son was born, and then to Colnbrook to the east of Slough,
where the next three sons were born
The census of 1851
recorded the family living at Langley Marish near Colnbrook within the Eton
& Iver district of Buckinghamshire.
George Collett, whose occupation was that of a carpenter, gave his age
as 36, the same as wife Jane, and their children with them at that time were
Mary Collett who was 14, Harriet Collett who was 10, Charles Collett who was
six, and Oliver Collett who was only one year old. The couple’s eldest daughter Sarah would have
been 15 but, so far, no trace of her has been found after 1841 and no obvious
record of her death has been found. When
their son Oliver was almost ten years old, he passed away, although Jane did
presented George with four more children during the following decade, the last
of which was born at Langley Marish, also known simply as Langley. According to the next census in 1861 the
family was still living at Langley Marish, at Mill Street, and comprised George
Collett aged 47 and a carpenter who gave his place of birth as Minchinhampton,
Jane Collett aged 46 and from Cold Aston in Gloucestershire, and their three
sons Charles Collett aged 16 and from Marden in Wiltshire, Walter W Collett who
was eight, George Collett who was six, and their daughter Caroline J Collett
who was one year old, all three of them said to have been born at
Colnbrook. It may be safe to assume that
eldest surviving daughter Mary, like her sister Harriet, had already left the
family home to be married
Another move of home
seems to have taken place during the 1860s since, by the time of the 1871
Census the family was living at Colnbrook within the Stanwell registration
district. George and Jane were both
listed as being aged 57 and living there with them were their two sons Walter
Collett, aged 18, and George Collett, aged 16, and their daughter Caroline
Collett who was 11. Sometime during the
next few years Jane died leaving George a widower to care for his young
daughter. It seems highly likely that George
Collett may have met the widow Mrs Emma McCann through his son Charles George
Collett who, during the latter half of the 1860, moved to Ham in Surrey where
he was married and where he raised his family.
Living within the Kingston-on-Thames registration district in 1871,
which also included Ham just to the north of Kingston, was Emma McCann with her
three children, one of which Ann was born at Ham in 1861
Emma’s husband was
Herbert McCann who was a mariner, and it is assumed that his absence from the
Kingston census in 1871 was due to a fatal accident while at sea. Emma was born on the 10th March
1835, the eldest daughter of William and Ann Vincent of Chertsey, where Emma
Vincent was baptised on 15th April 1835. The Chertsey census in 1841 recorded her
family as William Vincent, who was 34, Ann Vincent, aged 35, Joseph Vincent who
was eight, Emma who was six, Ann Vincent who was four and Edmond Vincent who
was two years old. Emma Vincent married
Herbert McCann towards the end of the 1850s, although no record of the couple
and their children has been found in the next census of 1861. However, by 1871, Emma McCann was living at
Kingston-on-Thames with just her three children living there with her. Emma was 35, her eldest daughter, named as
Laura McCann rather than Louisa McCann, was 12, Annie McCann was nine, and
Herbert McCann was four years old. It is
also understood that Emma had another son, Edward McCann, who died while still
very young
How widower George
Collett met widow Emma McCann is not known precisely, but it is possible that
it was through George’s son Charles George Collett, as previously mentioned
above and discussed further below. What
is known is that George married (2) Emma McCann around 1876, when Emma brought
with her into the Collett family her young son Herbert McCann, who had adopted
the Collett surname by the day of the census in 1881. Also, by that time, Emma has presented George
with the first of their two children.
Therefore, the family recorded as residing at King John’s Palace in
Colnbrook in April 1881 was made up of George Collett, aged 66, a carpenter
from Minchinhampton, his wife Emma Collett, aged 46, who had been born at
nearby Chertsey, and their two sons Herbert Collett, who was 14 and born at
Kingston-on-Thames, who was described as a carpenter’s son, and Arthur Collett
who was three years old, who had been born at Colnbrook. It should be made clear that Herbert was not
described as George’s stepson
King John’s Palace was a large country cottage which
dates from the 13th Century, which today is a Grade II listed
building situated on the Bath Road in Colnbrook. It was never a palace and it is believed that
it was first addressed as King John’s Place.
Containing many wooden parts to the structure of the house, it seems very
likely that George Collett, as a carpenter, was employed there by the owner of
the property at that time, and that he and his family occupied a room or rooms
in the extremely large property. The
census in 1881 showed that the owner was very likely Captain Robert
Hetherington, late of the Third Somerset Regiment, who was born at
Colnbrook. Also living at the same
address as him and the Collett family were six other families whose members
included a gardener, a charwoman, two labourers from separate family groups,
and two men from two other families who were described as general dealers
At the time of the census
in 1881, Emma’s two daughters, Louisa and Anne, were both living and working in
Kingston-on-Thames. Louisa McCann, aged
22 and from London, was a dressmaker, who was lodging at the home of Samuel Lee
in East Road, while Anne McCann, aged 19 and from Ham in Surrey, was a
housemaid living at 1 Surbiton Hill Park, the home of property owner Jessy Ann
Walter. What is also curious about the
census in 1881, is that living with George’s married son Charles George Collett
at Ham was Julie Vincent who was 17 and from Ham. She very possibly related to Emma McCann nee
Vincent, providing yet another likely link between her and George Collett, as
discussed above. Within a year of the
census day in 1881 Emma gave birth to the couple’s last child and, indeed, she
may well have been already pregnant with the child on the actual day of the
census, her son Frank being born at King John’s Palace in Colnbrook during
1881/1882. However, according to the
next census in 1891 the Collett family had left Colnbrook, after living there
for around thirty years, and was recorded at Bromley in Kent. George Collett was 77, Emma Collett was 57,
Arthur Collett was 14 and Frank Collett was 10 years of age. By March 1901 the widow Emma Collett, aged 66
and born at Chertsey, was living at Bromley in Kent with her two sons by her
second husband George Collett. Arthur
Collett, aged 23, and Frank Collett, aged 18, were both confirmed as having
been born at Colnbrook in Middlesex.
Emma died during the first decade of the new century, and her two sons
both became married men
1O93 – Sarah Ann Collett was born in 1835 at
Leonard Stanley
1O94 – Mary Collett was born in 1837 at
Leonard Stanley
1O95 – John William Collett was born in 1839 at
Leonard Stanley
1O96 – Harriet Collett was born in 1840 at Leckhampton
1O97 – Charles George Collett was born in 1845 at Wick,
Wiltshire
1O98 – Oliver Collett was born in 1849 at Colnbrook,
Middlesex
1O99 – Walter William Collett was born in 1853 at Colnbrook,
Middlesex
1O100 – George Collett was born in 1857 at Colnbrook,
Middlesex
1O101 – Caroline Jane Collett was born in 1859 at Langley,
near Slough
1O102 – Herbert McCann was born in 1867 at Kingston-on-Thames
– adopted child
The
next two children certainly came from George’s second marriage to Emma McCann:
1O103 – Arthur Charles Collett was born in 1878 at Colnbrook,
Middlesex
1O104 – Frank Collett was born in 1881 at Colnbrook,
Middlesex
Joseph Collett [1N55] was baptised on
15th October 1815 at Minchinhampton and was buried at Woodchester on
29th April 1817, only a few months after his father William Collett
and his mother Sarah both passed away
William Collett [1N56] was
born at Leonard Stanley where he was baptised on 4th December 1808,
the eldest child of James Collett and his wife Hannah Land
Thomas Collett [1N57] was born at
Leonard Stanley on Wednesday 19th June 1811, and was baptised there
on 14th July 1811, the son of James and Hannah Collett. When he was around five years old his parents
took the family the short distance to live in Woodchester, just south of
Stroud, and it was there that Thomas later married Elizabeth Rogers on 1st
March 1835. Elizabeth had been born at
Thrupp near Stroud on Wednesday 27th June 1815 at twenty minutes
past three o’clock in the morning, the daughter of Samuel and Betty Rogers, and
was therefore just under twenty years of age on her wedding day. Once they were married the couple settled in
Woodchester. After six years of
marriage, Elizabeth had presented Thomas with two children, as listed living
with the couple at Horne Field in Woodchester in 1841. According to the census that year, Thomas
Collett had a rounded age of 25, when he was nearer 30, his wife Elizabeth was
20 - which was obviously incorrect, and their children were James Collett who
was four and Adelaide Collett who was three.
By the time of the census in 1851, Thomas Collett and his family were
living on Selsey Road in Woodchester, where he was 39 and a plumber from
Stanley. His wife Elizabeth Collett from
Stroud was 35 and a laundress, and their three children were James N Collett
who was 13 and a wool sorter, Adelaide Collett who was 12 and Henry Collett who
was nine years old. All three children
were confirmed as having been born at Woodchester. Also living at Selsey Road in Woodchester at
that time, was Thomas’ widowed mother and his youngest sister Susannah Collett
(below). It also came to light in 2013,
thanks to Jennie Cordner, that the actual time and date of birth was recorded
for each of the couple’s three children
Tragically, just over
three years later, the death of Thomas Collett was recorded at Stroud (Ref 6a
176) during the third quarter of 1854.
He was a victim of the cholera epidemic which affected that area of the
country at that time. No record of the
family has been found in the census of 1861, by which time son James may have
been another casualty of Cholera. Ten
years after that, in 1871, Elizabeth Collett, a widow aged 55 and a beer
seller, was living at Woodchester, most likely at Selsey Road where she was
also living in 1881. Living with her, in
1871, was her granddaughter Elizabeth H Collett, the eldest child of her
surviving son Henry, who was four years old and born at Newport in
Monmouthshire. Having lost her husband,
and with no other means of financial support, Elizabeth was forced to let rooms
at her home, as confirmed in the census of 1881. On that occasion widow Elizabeth Collett was
living at The Lodge in Selsey Road, Woodchester, while in the adjacent dwelling
was her married daughter Adelaide with her own family. The Lodge appears to be a very large dwelling
since another twenty-three people were also residing there. Elizabeth Collett, aged 65 and from Stroud,
was described as a retired landlady
1O105 – James Nathaniel Collett was born in 1837 at
Woodchester
1O106 – Adelaide Collett was born in 1838 at
Woodchester
1O107 – Henry Albert Collett was born in 1842 at
Woodchester
John Collett [1N58] was baptised on
29th May 1814 at Leonard Stanley, the child of James and Hannah
Collett. In June 1841 he was lodging at
Vigar Street in Eastington with the Scott family, where he had a rounded age of
25. Eastington lies midway between
Leonard Stanley and Frampton-on-Severn.
Less than three years later John Collett married Sarah Harrison on 16th
April 1844 at Frampton-on-Severn, where their son was born. Their wedding day was recorded at
Wheatenhurst (Ref. xi 51). Sarah was the
daughter of John and Lucinda Harrison and was baptised at Horsley on 4th
August 1816, when she was a few years old.
By the time she was 24, Sarah was living at Westbury-on-Severn in 1841,
where she may have met her future husband.
In 1851, John, Sarah and their son were lodgers at the Frampton-on-Severn
home of John and Mary Brooks. John
Collett was 36 and a mariner, Sarah Collett from Horsley was 37, and their son
Charles Collett was five years of age.
In error, both father and son were recorded as having been born at
Frampton, as they were in later census returns.
It was a similar situation ten years later when, once again, they were
still living in Frampton, at Park Corner, where John was 46, Sarah was 47 and
from Horsley and Charles from Frampton was 15, in a reverse situation with
widowed John Brooks being the lodger in the Collett household
Their son followed in his
father’s footsteps, by joining the navy, with the couple living on their own at
Frampton in 1871, when John Collett from Frampton-on-Severn was still a
bargeman at the age of 52 (sic) and his wife Sarah Collett was 57 and a
laundress who, on that occasion, gave her place of birth as Tortworth. Rather curiously, another census return for
John Collett from Frampton-on-Severn, was completed at Berkeley, to the south
of Frampton, in which he was described as being 52 and a seaman. It is therefore possible he was working on a
barge and away from home that day, with the Frampton census form completed by
Sarah. Just over three years after that
census day, the death of Sarah Collett was recorded at Wheatenhurst (Ref. 6a
209) during the four quarter of 1874, when she was 62 years old. According to the census conducted in 1881,
John Collett from Frampton-on-Severn was recorded as being a widower aged 61
(sic), who was a general labourer living at Frampton Street. Staying there with him, and described as
lodgers, were widow Ann Sutton, who was 59 and from Whitminster, and her
grandson Walter Sutton from Whitminster, who was 12 years of age. Why John continued to place himself as
younger than he actually was, is another mystery, however, on the recording of
his death at nearby Dursley (Ref. 6a 126) during the second quarter of 1886,
his age was more accurately recorded as being 73 years
1O108 – Charles Collett was born in 1846 at
Frampton-on-Severn
Elizabeth
Collett [1N59]
was baptised at Leonard Stanley on 20th March 1817, the eldest
daughter of James Collett and Hannah Land who had been born on 10th
February that year. She later married
her cousin Henry Collett (below) on 13th July 1840 at St Mary de
Lode Church in Gloucester. Details of the
family and the continuation of this line are provided in Part
6 - The New Zealand
Edwin Collett [1N60] was born at
Woodchester where he was baptised on 22nd August 1819 at
Woodchester, the son of James and Elizabeth Collett. He was also known as James Edwin Collett by
his descendants, although no actual official record of him using the name James
has been found. Before the family moved
to Woodchester in 1818, the previous four children of James Collett were
recorded with their mother being Hannah, who was Hannah Land, whereas on the
death of Edwin’s sister Elizabeth (above) in 1881, her mother was named as
Elizabeth Moss. Even more curious is the
fact that Edwin’s youngest unmarried sister Susannah (below) was living with her
elderly widowed mother Hannah in 1851.
So were Hannah and Elizabeth the same person and the only wife of James
Collett
It was also at
Woodchester that Edwin later married Martha Ann Baston from nearby
Rodborough. Once married the couple
initially settled in the small village of Amberley, which in those days very
likely had no church of its own, hence the reason why their first child was
baptised in nearby Woodchester. Edwin
was a coachman, but tragically by the time of the census in 1851 the couple’s
first child had died just three months earlier.
It may have been that tragedy which resulted in the couple leaving
Amberley since, by the end of March 1851, Edwin Collett, aged 31, was living at
Selsey Road in Woodchester with his much younger wife Martha who was only
22. Living in the same street was his
mother Hannah Collett with his youngest sister Susannah (below), while in
another dwelling on the same road was the family of his older brother Thomas
(above). Six months later Martha gave birth
to a second son while the couple was still living in Woodchester. Six years later, Edwin, Martha, and their son
William, sailed out of Southampton bound for Brisbane in Australia and arrived
in Moreton Bay on the sailing ship ‘The Parsee' on 9th February 1857. The move
to a new life in the colony had been prompted by their cousins who had
already made the journey to Sydney.
Queensland only became a separate colony in 1859, two years after Edwin
and Martha had settled there. The sea
voyage in 1857 may not have been that comfortable for Martha who was pregnant
throughout the journey with the couple’s third child. Just over a month after they arrived Martha
gave birth to another son Wallace Edwin Collett who was born on 19th
March 1857. Four years later their
family was completed with the birth of a fourth son, James Fords Collett, who
was born at Cadargra in Queensland on 27th April 1861
New information and
photographs were kindly provided by Ross Windle in 2017, the great great
grandson of James Edwin Collett of Amberley, whose mother Lydia May Collett
(Ref. 1Q75) comes from Rosewood in Australia.
More information can be found at Ref. 1P116, when James’ great
granddaughter Edna Sunner was interviewed about her early ancestor’s arrival in
Queensland
Footnote 1: Amberley is a small community located in South East Queensland, south of Ipswich. The origin of the
suburb name is from Amberley in the United
Kingdom, and was previously
used by Edwin and Martha Collett for their residence in the 1850s, as it was
their hometown. Australia's biggest air
force base, the RAAF Amberley is situated there, and the Bureau of Meteorology has a weather observation station in Amberley. The Jeebropilly
coal mine is located just to the
west of Amberley.
Footnote 2: The following was submitted by George Hatchman, RAAF 23 Squadron Association Historian who, in 2019,
was striving to erect a plaque at RAAF Amberley to honour the early Collett
settlers. He writes, “Edwin & Martha
Collett arrived to take up settlement 3 miles west of Ipswich in the
'Jeebropilly' area in 1850. The
Collett’s originated from the village of Amberley in England and immigrated to
take up a land 'Selection' at 'Jeebropilly' on which they settled and farmed
and named "Amberley" after their UK origins. 'Jeebropilly', the indigenous name for 'Swamp
of the Sugar Glider', included the current area known as Amberley, and here,
back in 1938-40, at a selected site at the convergence of the Bremer River
& Warrill Creeks, the Australian Government gazetted 882 acres of land for
clearance as an Airfield which was subsequently named 'RAAF Amberley' after the
property of this founding pioneering family - as such, I feel that recognition
of this pioneering family is intrinsic to the history of RAAF Amberley.”
1O109 – William Henry
Collett
was born in 1849 at Amberley, Gloucestershire
1O110 – William Edward
Collett
was born in 1851 at Woodchester
1O111 – Wallace Edwin
Collett
was born in 1857 at Ipswich, Queensland
1O112 – James Fords
Collett
was born in 1861 at Cadargra, Queensland
Joseph Collett [1N61] was born at
Woodchester and was baptised there on 9th September 1823, another
son of James and Elizabeth Collett
Caroline Collett [1N62] was
born at Woodchester where she was also baptised on 1st October 1826,
the daughter of James and Elizabeth Collett
Susannah Collett [1N63] was
born at Woodchester where she was baptised on 15th February 1829,
when she was named as the child of James and Elizabeth Collett, rather than
James and Hannah Collett. It was also at
Selsey Road in Woodchester, within the Stroud & Rodborough registration
district, that she was living with her widowed mother Hannah Collett in
1851. Susanna Collett, aged 22, was a
servant, presumably looking after her elderly mother, who actually died less
than two years later. It was around
three years later, and just sixteen months after her mother had passed away,
that Susannah Collett married James Smart at Woodchester on 26th
March 1854
Ann Collett [1N64] was born at
Leonard Stanley, the first child of Thomas Collett and his wife Ann Antill, who
was baptised there on 30th May 1813
Mary Collett [1N65] was baptised on 2nd
April 1815 at Leonard Stanley. She
married Augustus Wilkins on 7th April 1842 at St Matthew's Church at
Stonehouse. Ten months prior to her
wedding day, Mary Collett, aged 25, when she was still living within the Stroud
& Stonehouse district of Gloucestershire
Charles Collett [1N66] was
baptised on 30th March 1817 at Leonard Stanley, a son of Thomas and
Ann Collett. While his family was living
at Haresfield, between Leonard Stanley and Gloucester, it was in June 1841 that
Charles, with a rounded age of 20, his sister Elizabeth and brother Edward
(below), were living at Coln St Aldwyns.
Just a few days later, Charles made a return visit to Haresfield when he
married Eliza Higgins who was born there around 1815, the daughter of Hester
Higgins. The wedding day was recorded at
Wheatenhurst (Ref. xi 625) during the second quarter of 1841, that is in the
month of June that year. Over the
following decade, Eliza gave birth to the couple’s first five of their seven
known children, all of them born at Coln St Aldwyns. According to the Coln census of 1851, Charles
Collett from Stanley was 34 and a carpenter employing two men, his wife Eliza
from Haresfield was 35 and their five children were Eliza Collett who was
eight, Charles Collett who was seven, Francis Collett who was five, Eleanor
Collett who was three and Aaron Collett who was one year old. One of the two men working with Charles was
apprentice George Greening from Fairford who was 16
By the time of the next
census in 1861 Charles Collett was listed as being 44 and Eliza was 45. Charles was a builder and wheelwright and he
and Eliza were still residing at Coln St Aldwyns where, living with them, were
their children Charles Collett aged 17, who was described as ‘afflicted from
birth’, Francis Collett aged 15, who was a carpenter, Eleanor Collett aged 13,
Aaron Thomas Collett aged 11, Raymond Collett who was seven and Victoria
Collett who was three years old.
Eleanor, Aaron and Raymond were listed as being scholars, as they were
still attending school. Ten years on and
the family at Coln St Aldwyns then comprised Charles Collett from Leonard
Stanley, who was 54 and a carpenter and a builder, Eliza Collett from
Haresfield who was 56, Eleanor Collett who was unmarried at 23, Aaron T Collett
who was 21 and Raymond J Collett who was 17, who were both carpenters, and Maud
V Collett who was 13. All of the children
were confirmed as having been born at Coln St Aldwyns. Living with the family was nephew Thomas
Higgins, aged 14, who was a carpenter born at Haresfield and the son of one of
Eliza’s brothers
What is of interest is
that, during 1869, Francis Collett, the absent son of Charles and Eliza, had
married Harriet Allen of Butleigh Wootton and, living with them at Coln St
Aldwyns in 1871, was a cousin Caroline Higgins, also of Butleigh Wootton. In 1851 Harriet Allen and her family were
staying with Thomas and Charlotte Higgins in Butleigh Wootton, Thomas being the
father of Harriet’s mother Jane Allen nee Higgins. According to the 1881 Census Charles Collett
was a carpenter employing 3 men and a boy.
His age was given as being 64 and his place of birth was again confirmed
as Leonard Stanley. Living with him at
Coln St Aldwyns was his wife Eliza who was 65, his unmarried daughter Eleanor
Collett aged 33 and his youngest son Raymond J Collett, who was 27 years old and
one of the three carpenters employed by his father. It was just over seven years after that
census day, that the death of Eliza Collett was recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a
223) during the last three months of 1888, when she was 74
In the following census
of 1891 widower Charles Collett was 74 and was still listed as a builder who
was still a resident in the village of Coln St Aldwyns. Living with him, and looking after him, was
his daughter Eleanor Collett who was 43 and described as his housekeeper. Also, living with them, and under training,
was Charles’ grandson George H Collett who was 14 and a carpenter’s apprentice
from Eastleach. The enumerator for the
Coln St Aldwyns census in 1891 was Charles’ son Raymond Collett, whilst the
aforementioned grandson George Harry Collett (Ref. 1P130) was the son of
Charles’ other son Aaron Thomas Collett who had died nine years earlier. Just a
few months later, the death of Charles Collett, aged 74, was recorded at
Northleach (Ref. 6a 207) during the third quarter of 1891
1O113 – Eliza Ann Collett was born in 1842 at
Coln St Aldwyns
1O114 – Charles Christopher Collett was born in 1844 at
Coln St Aldwyns
1O115 – Francis Collett was born in 1845 at
Coln St Aldwyns
1O116 – Eleanor Collett was born in 1848 at
Coln St Aldwyns
1O117 – Aaron Thomas Collett was born in 1850 at
Coln St Aldwyns
1O118 – Raymond John Collett was born in 1853 at
Coln St Aldwyns
1O119 – Victoria Maude Collett was born in 1856 at
Coln St Aldwyns
Henry
Collett [1N67]
was born at Leonard Stanley on 27th April 1818 and was baptised
there on 2nd August 1818, the second son of Thomas Collett and Ann
Antill. He later married his cousin
Elizabeth Collett (above) on 13th July 1840 at St Mary de Lode
Church in Gloucester. Details of the
family and the continuation of this line are provided in Part
6 - The New Zealand
Elizabeth Collett [1N68] was
baptised on 9th April 1820 at Leonard Stanley. For some reason, at the age of 20 years,
Elizabeth was living with her older brother Charles (above) at Coln St Aldwyns
on the day of the census in 1841, by which time her family had moved from
Leonard Stanley to Haresfield, midway between Leonard Stanley and
Gloucester. Ten years after that,
according to the census in 1851, she was 31 years of age and unmarried, when
she was living at the home of the Webster family of dressmakers at Ebley, near
Stroud, where she was described as an apprentice dressmaker
George
Collett [1N69]
was born in 1822 and was baptised on 26th April 1823 at Leonard
Stanley, the daughter of Thomas and Ann Collett. His family later moved to nearby Haresfield
where George was 18 years old and still living with his family in 1841. George Collett married Harriet Frape at
nearby Eastington in 1845, where Harriet had been born in 1821. The event was recorded at Gloucester (Ref. xi
441) during the third quarter of that year.
According to the census of 1851 the couple was living at Newtown in
Stonehouse within the Wheatenhurst & Frampton registration district of
Gloucestershire which may have been a temporary home as nearly all of their
children were born at Eastington. Living
there with them in 1851 was their son Thomas Collett from Eastington who was
five, while George Collett was 29 and a carpenter journeyman and his wife
Harriet was 30. Also living with the
young family on that day was Harriet’s mother Hannah Frape who was described as
being aged 73 and a widow and a laundress who was also born at Eastington
By the time of the birth
of the couple’s second child two years later George and Harriet were once again
residing in Eastington, less than two miles from Newtown. It was very likely George’s work as a
carpenter that resulted in the family moving around more than perhaps other
families would at that time. At the time of the
census of 1861 the family was residing in the New Town area of Eastington,
within the Wheatenhurst registration district.
The family on that occasion comprised George Collett from Stanley St
Leonards who was 38 and a carpenter and joiner, his wife Harriet who was 39 and
born at Eastington, plus their three children, Thomas Collett who was 15, James
H Collett who was seven and Sarah Collett who was two years old. The birth of Sarah Janet Collett was recorded
at Wheatenhurst (Ref. 6a 251) during the fourth quarter of 1858
However, during the months following the census
day in 1861, the family left Gloucestershire and moved north to Cheshire and it
was at Nantwich that George and Harriet’s fourth known child was born. That was confirmed by the census of 1871 when
the family was recorded as living within the Monks Coppenhall area of Crewe,
six miles north-east of Nantwich. George
was 48 and a carpenter, his wife Harriet was 50 and still with them were three
of their four known children. They were
James H Collett who was 17, Sarah J Collett who was 12 and Emma Collett who was
eight years old. The couple’s eldest
child, Thomas, was married and living in London by then. Ten years later in 1881 the family had moved
yet again and, on that occasion, they were living at 35 Oxford Road at
Altrincham in Cheshire. George Collett
was 58 and described as a joiner from Leonard Stanley, his wife Harriet was 60
and their daughter Sarah J Collett was 22, both of them confirmed as having
been born at Eastington. Their youngest daughter Emma Collett was living
and working in Nantwich at that time, while their second son James Collett was
lodging in Manchester, where he was working.
It was the same situation in 1891, with the three of them again living
at Oxford Road in Altrincham, by which time George Collett was a cabinet maker
and a carpenter. Harriet Collett was 69
and Sarah J Collett was unmarried at the age of 31
Within two months of the
1891 census, Harriet died at the age of 70 years, her death recorded at Bucklow
Rural District Council office (Ref. 8a 164) during the second quarter of
1891. It was at St Mary’s Church, in the
Bowdon area of Altrincham, that Harriet Collett was buried on 8th
May 1891. Almost nine years later and,
just one year prior to the next census of 1901, George Collett passed away and
was buried with his wife at St Mary’s Church, in Bowdon on 22nd June
1900. The death of George Collett was
recorded at the register office of Bucklow Rural District Council (Ref. 8a 143)
during second quarter of that year, when he was 77 years old. Following the death of her parents, their
daughter continued to live in the family home on Oxford Road where, in 1901,
she was recorded in error as being 37, instead of 41, when she was living on
her own means. When Sarah Janet Collett
died in 1923 she was buried with her parents at St Mary’s Church in Bowdon on
13th November 1923, when her age was correctly recorded as 65
1O120 – Thomas Collett was born in 1845 at
Eastington, Gloucestershire
1O121 – James Henry Collett was born in 1853 at
Eastington, Gloucestershire
1O122 – Sarah Janet Collett was born in 1858 at
Eastington, Gloucestershire
1O123 – Emma Collett was born in 1862 at
Nantwich, Cheshire
Edward Collett [1N70] was very likely
born in 1824 or 1825 and was baptised at Leonard Stanley on 16th
April 1826 and was the seventh children of Thomas Collett and Ann Antill. Shortly after he was born his family settled
in Haresfield to the north of Leonard Stanley and that move may have taken
place while he was still an infant, because he later stated that he had been
born at Haresfield, rather than at Leonard Stanley. Up until receipt of new information from
Kelvin Parker (see Ref. 1Q97) in Christchurch New Zealand during 2012
very little was known about Edward except that he married Sarah and that at the
time of the birth of their first child Edward and Sarah were living at Coln St
Aldwyns. Edward Collett, aged 16, was
living with his older brother Charles and his older sister Elizabeth at Coln St
Aldwyns in 1841, when the remainder of their family was still residing in
Haresfield. It was just over five years
later that the marriage of Edward Collett and (1) Sarah Kilby was recorded at
Northleach (Ref. xi 43) during the second quarter of 1847. By the time of the census in 1851 their
marriage had been blessed with the birth of two children. Edward Collett was 26, Sarah Collett was 25,
Henry Collett was three and Thomas Collett was just four months old and named
after his grandfather who was living close by at Coln St Aldwyns. Edward was a carpenter, whose place of birth
was recorded as Haresfield, Sarah had been born at nearby Quenington, Henry had
been born at Coln St Aldwyns, while Thomas had been born after the family
settled in Hatherop. And it was also at
Hatherop that the couple’s last child was born
That child, daughter
Lucy, was around nine months old when her mother suffered a premature death,
with the death of Sarah Collett death recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 322)
during the first three months of 1856.
because a few years later Edward Collett married (2) Mary Anne Bracknell on
27th July 1858 at St John’s Church in Kenilworth. The Warwickshire marriage record confirmed
that Edward was a widower and a carpenter living at Hatherop, whose father was
Thomas Collett. Mary Anne Bracknell was baptised at the
Parish Church of St Mary in Warwick on 29th January 1832, the
daughter of Daniel and Ann Bracknell.
Not long after they were married, Edward and Mary Anne left England when
they moved to Piltown in County Kilkenny in Ireland, where their son was born
during 1859. It must be assumed that the
whole family was still living in Ireland in 1861, since no record of any of
them has been found in Britain on that occasion. However, Edward’s two eldest sons did return
and by 1871 Reuben Henry was married and was living in Stratton St Margaret
near Swindon, while Thomas had joined the Royal Navy and later married a girl
from Kilkenny. It is not known precisely
what happened to Edward and Mary Anne after their son Edward William emigrated
to New Zealand in 1876. However, within
the Ireland Civil Registration Indexes 1845-1958 there is a record for
an Edward Collett who died at Carrick-On-Suir, the registration district for
Kilkenny, between July and September 1891 at the age of 67, which would place
him as being born around 1824. There is
a strong possibility that he was Edward Collett from Leonard Stanley
1O124 – Reuben Henry Collett was born in 1847 at
Coln St Aldwyns
1O125 – Thomas Collett was born in 1850 at
Hatherop
1O126 – Lucy Maria Collett was born in 1855 at
Hatherop
The following is the only child of Edward
Collett by his second wife Mary Anne Bracknell:
1O127 – Edward William Collett was born in 1859 at
Piltdown, Ireland
Thomas Collett [1N71] was born
in 1828 at Haresfield and was 13 years old in the Haresfield census of 1841,
when he was stilling living with his family and parents Thomas Collett and Ann
Antill. It was just two years after that
day when first, his mother died and was buried at St Peter’s Church in
Haresfield, and where Thomas was also buried one month later, on 8th
November 1843, the death of Thomas Collett recorded at Wheatenhurst (Ref. xi 4)
when he was 15 years old
Jane Collett [1N72] was born in 1830 at
Haresfield and was 11 years of age on the day of the Haresfield census in 1841,
the ninth of eleven children of Thomas Collett and Ann Antill and their
youngest daughter. By 1851, and
following the death of her mother, Jane Collett from Haresfield was 21,
unmarried, and a school mistress, who was a visitor at the Gloucester home of tailor
John Woodward and Sarah Woodward from Bath
Samuel Collett [1N73] was born on 1st
April 1832 at Haresfield near Gloucester, the tenth of eleven children of wheelwright Thomas
Collett of Leonard Stanley and his wife Ann Antill. It was a few years earlier that his parents
had taken the family from Leonard Stanley, the five miles north to Haresfield
just south of Gloucester, where Ann presented her husband with their last four children, Thomas,
Jane, Samuel and John. It was
also at Haresfield that the family was living when the first national census
was conducted in June 1841, when Samuel was nine years old. Two years later, Samuel’s mother died on 5th October
1843 and was buried at Haresfield on 11th October 1843 at the
age of 55. Upon leaving school Samuel
became a carpenter working with local farmers repairing drays and farm implements,
and repairing homes and furniture. He
charged half a crown for each day’s work and by the time he left England he was
charging Four Shillings per day. In
1850 he was working in the Fairford area of Gloucestershire. By the time of the next census in March 1851,
Samuel Collett, who was two days short of his nineteenth birthday, was no
longer living with his widowed father.
Instead he was a lodger at the home of labourer John Smith and his wife
Eliza in the village of Coln St Aldwyns, just two miles north of Fairford. The census that year confirmed that Samuel was
a carpenter who was 20 years old (sic), who had been born at Haresfield. Less than half a mile from Col St Aldwyns is
the village of Quenington where, on that same occasion, Samuel’s future bride
to be, Elizabeth Gardner, aged 26 and a dressmaker, was still living with her
elderly parents, where she had also been born
Like many couples living
in Gloucestershire around that time, the place to be married, according to
local historians, was St Mary’s Church in Cheltenham, and it was there that the
marriage of Samuel Collett and (1) Elizabeth Gardner took place on 20th
September 1851, and was recorded (Ref. xi 226) during the third quarter of
1851. The details recorded there are as
follows - Parish of Cheltenham [St Marys] 1851, Register 6, Entry 457, Samuel
Collett, carpenter, father Thomas Collett and mother Ann, married Elizabeth
Gardner, father John Gardner cordwainer (shoemaker) and mother Elizabeth, while
the couple gave their address as 15 Montpellier Street in Cheltenham. Once married the couple returned to Quenington where their first three children were
born and baptised at the Church of St Swithuns.
In 1858 Samuel and Elizabeth had assisted passage, when they sailed to
Christchurch in New Zealand on board the barque ship ‘Indiana’ built in New
York during 1852. Travelling with them
were their three Gloucestershire born children who were recorded on the
passenger list as the twins Ernest Collett and Amanda Collett, both five years
old, and their younger brother George Collett who was three
Also, on board the ‘Indiana’ was Joseph Bates
with his family, which is significant because when Samuel’s nephew, Edward
William Collett (Ref. 1O127), emigrated to New Zealand eighteen years later on
his own, it would appear he knew exactly where he was going and the work he
would be doing. That situation had
obviously been prepared in advance for him by his uncle, Samuel, who would have
had common interests with Joseph Bates, both of them being carpenters and
likely working alongside each other on building houses, churches, etc. Samuel
kept a diary in which he recorded the following details of their sea
journey. Monday 2nd August 1858 went on board the ‘Indiana’ bound for New Zealand, moved
out of the docks on Wednesday to Gravesend and stayed until the Thursday
afternoon and went onto Sheerness and started on the Friday morning, 6th
August. On Sunday 8th there
was a female child born and on Friday met with a vessel in distress. Supplied her with provisions and proceeded
south to Spain. On Friday 20th sailed passed the Island of
Madeira. On Sunday 22nd the
new baby was christened Indiana McKirdy, named aptly after the ship and its
captain. The voyage met fair winds and
arrived at Lyttelton in New Zealand on 23rd November 1858
Samuel Collett, occupation carpenter, was
recorded as being eligible to serve as a militia man with the Christchurch
District Militia for the year ending 31st March 1861, as was
labourer Francis Collett (Ref. 1N30) of Charles Street in Kaiapoi. The address given for Samuel Collett on that
occasion was Lower Avon North in Christchurch.
One further child, Thomas John Collett, was
added to his family, once they were settled within the Canterbury district of
Christchurch, not far from the port of Lyttelton but, tragically, he died when
he was around four months old. His death
was followed six years later by the passing of Samuel’s wife Elizabeth Collett,
who died on 7th March 1866 at the age of 40. Elizabeth and baby Thomas John Collett were buried in the grounds of
Holy Trinity Church in Avonside, Christchurch
Samuel maintained a
record of his early life in his diary, where he recorded the following notes up
until the death of his wife. Upon
arrival in New Zealand, he charged 10 Shillings per day for his services, a substantial
uplift over his recent charge rate in England.
Potatoes cost 4 Shillings/cwt, pork and beef were 6 pence/pound, wheat 5
Shillings/bushel, milk 2d a pint, and bread 11d a loaf. He started working in Christchurch for a Mr
Inwood, but within the year was self-employed.
At first the family rented a house from Mr Dudley, where the family
lived until April 1862. Samuel did a lot
of work for Mr Dudley, while Elizabeth did dressmaking and other jobs for Mrs
Dudley. The rent was always a contra
account in favour of the Colletts, even though the cost of making a dress in
those days varied from 3 Shillings to 7 Shillings per garment, and children’s
stilts were 5 Shillings a pair. Over the
next few years Samuel built houses for several of the early Christchurch
settlers, including Messrs J Palmer, A Heron, C Greenstreet, Pitt, Laine, F E
Wright, de Troy, F E Stewart, P Kerr, Adley of the Oxley Hotel, Cowlishaw, P
Cunningham, Hitchens, Ringwood and Mr Murphy.
In 1869 he started to do a lot of work for Mr W D Wood at the Riccarton
Mill, including the building a bake-house in Armagh Street for the sum of One
Hundred and Thirteen Pounds. The
following year he spent at Lyttelton building a store for Messrs Wood and
Cunningham. By now Samuel had three
employees, one being John Cuff, who travelled on the ‘Indiana’ with him. They were paid Ten Shillings each per day,
while the rail fare of Two Shillings and Six Pence for the return ticket to
Lyttelton proved costly
Over the years, Samuel had
undertaken repair work for the Avonside Church, certainly as early as 1864, as
he sent an account for Two Pounds Twelve Shillings and Six Pence to ‘Stay and
brace the Belfry’, a temporary structure which housed one of the bells brought
out from England by The Pilgrims. Samuel
was a good churchman paying Two Pounds a year for his church sittings, so it
was logical further work from the Anglicans would come his way. The last recorded work he did on the Church
was in 1876 when he built the vestry side of the chancel. As with most churches in Christchurch, severe
damage occurred during the earthquakes in 2011.
Two years after the death of Elizabeth, his first wife, widower
Samuel Collett married (2) Esther Leonard on 12th September 1868, with whom he had a
further two daughters, both of whom were born while the couple were still
living in Christchurch. Life was
hard in that era and a further family tragedy happened in 1878, when Samuel’s youngest surviving
son George William Collett died at the age of 23, the cause of his premature death being peritonitis. By then, George William was a married man
with two children of his own. His son
George William Collett junior subsequently raised by his grandparents Samuel
and Esther Collett, while his daughter Amanda Elizabeth Collett was raised single-handedly
by her mother
South of Christchurch is the town
of Waimate, a rich farming area where, on 12th November 1878, five
sawmills were operating. On that day,
with a strong north-westerly wind and tinder dry conditions, a fire quickly
spread, and forest, farms and houses were burnt to the ground. Waimate went into a decline with high
unemployment and people left the district.
Samuel Collett, a building contractor, could see the possibilities and
took his family to live there later that same year. His early work was involved with repairing a
cookhouse for Mr M Studholme, and building a grain store for Mr H Watts at
Studholm Junction, while in the following year another store was built for Mr
Frank Slee. A hotel followed in 1883 for
Mr Sherwin, and in 1887 a five-roomed house was built for Mr Chiverton for the
sum of 125 Pounds and 16 Shillings. His
versatility as a builder is demonstrated in one account in 1885 for the Rev C
Coats, which includes the words ‘to new casements for the Maori Church,
repairing the walls, stopping nail holes and easing ventilators’ for which he
was paid One Pound 10 Shillings. As the
local Maoris did not use the church, the Reverend Coats had it moved to the
back of the vicarage where it was used as a study and a schoolroom. Samuel also did work for the Catholic Church,
Dooleys Hotel and Waimate Hospital. He
built coffins and even conducted funerals.
In 1888, he set up his own undertaking company, cleverly sited opposite
the hospital and, up until he handed over the business to his grandson George
William Collett upon his retirement in 1899, he had conducted 367 funerals. In addition, to all of this, Samuel Collett
was a town councillor for the twenty years from 1880 to 1900
Samuel Collett was also involved in the
business of W. R. Collett & Bros, Wine & Spirit Company, which
manufactured aerated waters and cordials and was situated in the High Street at
Waimate. The company was established in
1897, but had ceased manufacturing soft drinks by about 1903. During his time as
a councillor, he served on the Licensing Board, while both he and Esther grew
flowers which they exhibited at the local shows. Tragedy again struck on 16th June
1896 when a fire totally destroyed a house he owned in Christchurch. That was rented out and was used as a lodging
place which, thankfully was insured. It
was three years later that Samuel, at the age of 67, finally stopped working, when his grandson George William Collett took
over all of Samuel’s business interests.
Samuel Collett died at Waimate on 12th July 1914 when he was
82, his wife Esther Collett nee Leonard having died two years earlier on 29th January 1912,
at the age of 69. Both of them were buried in the Catholic section at the Waimate
Cemetery in New Zealand. An
obituary published in the local newspaper on 14th July 1914 stated
that “An old resident died on Sunday in
the person of Mr Samuel Collett. He had
entered his eighty-third year and had lived in Waimate for 36 years”
Hori Coutts Collett (1906-2001), the great
grandson of Samuel Collett, via his son of George Collett and his grandson George William
Collett, lived most of his
life in Christchurch, and it was Hori at the age of 93, who wrote his
family’s life story in the book “The History of Two Families”
1O128 – Ernest Collett was born in 1852 at
Quenington, Gloucestershire
1O129– Amanda Elizabeth Collett was born in 1852 at
Quenington, Gloucestershire
1O130 – George Collett was born in 1855 at Quenington,
Gloucestershire
1O131 – Thomas John Collett was born in 1859 at
Christchurch, New Zealand
The following are the two
children from Samuel’s second marriage to Esther Leonard:
1O132 – Edith Amy Eleanor Collett was born in 1872 at
Christchurch, New Zealand
1O133 – Alice Mabel Matilda Collett was born in 1873 at
Christchurch, New Zealand
John Collett [1N74] was born at
Haresfield in 1833, and was the youngest child of Thomas Collett and Ann
Antill. In the first census in June 1841
John was eight years old and was living with his family at Haresfield. Two years later his mother died in 1843 and
was buried at Haresfield. In 1851 John
was 17 and was the only child of the family still living at Haresfield with his
widowed father. It was four years later that the marriage of John Collett and
Jane Partridge from Kingswood near Bristol, was recorded at Stroud (Ref. 6a
479) during the third quarter of 1855.
While born at Kingswood, Jane was baptised at Leonard Stanley on 5th
June 1834, the daughter of John and Mary Partridge. Once married John and Jane initially settled
in Kings Stanley near Stroud, where the first of their six children were
born. Some years after that, but before
the census in April 1861, the family of three moved north to Birmingham where
their remaining children were born. The
census that year recorded the family living at Bell Barn Road within the Parish
of St Thomas in Birmingham where John Collett was 28 and a carpenter from
Haresfield, his wife Jane Collett was 27 and from Kingswood, and their son
Charles H Collett was four years old and born at Kings Stanley. Four further children were added to the
Birmingham family over the next decade, so by 1871 the family living at York
Road in Birmingham St Thomas comprised carpenter John Collett and his wife Jane
who were both 37, together with their five children Charles H Collett, aged 14,
Amy A Collett who was nine, Hubert (Herbert) C Collett who was six, Florence J
Collett who was four and John H Collett who was one year old
The couple’s last child
was born later that same year while John and Jane were still living in the St
Thomas district of Birmingham. However,
it was sometime during the following ten years that family made the move south
to Kings Norton in Worcestershire. That
move was confirmed in the census of 1881 when the family was living at 59
Clevedon Road in Kings Norton. John Collett,
aged 47, from Haresfield was a builder by then, employing four men and one
boy. His wife Jane from Kingswood in
Gloucester was also 47. All six of their
children were still living with the couple and they were, Charles Collett of
Kings Stanley who was 24, Amy G Collett who was 19, Hubert (Herbert) E Collett
who was 16, Florence J Collett who was 14, John H Collett who was 11 and Ernest
A Collett who was nine years old
Ten years later, the
family was still living in Kings Norton, but at Priory Road. The census in 1891 listed the family as John
Collett who was 59 and a builder, his wife Jane Collett who was 57, and their
eldest son Charles H Collett who was 34, all three of them simply recorded as
having been born in Gloucestershire. The
couple’s younger children were Florence J Collett who was 24, John H Collett
who was 21 and Arthur E Collett who was 19.
After a further seven years, the death of John Collett was recorded at
Kings Norton (Ref. 6c 253) during the second quarter of 1898, when he was 65
years old. Having lost her husband, Jane
Collett from Kingswood in Gloucestershire was 67 in 1901 when she was living on
her own means at Sandford Road in Kings Norton.
Living there with her at that time were her two unmarried Birmingham
born daughters Amy G Collett who was 39 and Florence J Collett who was 34,
neither of them having an occupation.
Completing the household was Jane’s older married sister Emma Groves who
was 75 and also from Kingswood, who passed away shortly thereafter. Jane was still living at Kings Norton with
her two daughters for company, ten years later in 1911, when she was 77
1O134 – Charles Hook Collett was born in 1856 at
Kings Stanley
1O135 – Amy Georgina Collett was born in 1861 at
Birmingham
1O136 – Hubert Edward Collett was born in 1864 at
Birmingham
1O137 – Florence Jane Collett was born in 1866 at
Birmingham
1O138 – John Howard Collett was born in 1869 at
Birmingham
1O139 – Arthur Ernest Collett was born in 1871 at
Birmingham
James Collett [1N75] was born at Leonard
Stanley in 1824, where he was baptised on 17th February 1828, the
eldest child of Charles Collett and his wife Sarah Edmunds. In the Leonard Stanley census of 1841, within
the Stroud & Stonehouse registration district, James was 16 and was still
living there with his family. It is
established that James’ father and some of his brothers sailed to Canada during
the second half of 1841 but, so far, no record of James has been found within
the passenger lists, so what happened to him has still to be determined. However, he too travelled to Canada and
settle on Prince Edward Island, where his three children by his wife Henrietta
were born and baptised. All three
children were born at Summerside, while the two eldest children were later
baptised on the same day in a joint ceremony at Crapaud in Queens County, using
just their first christian names, in addition to which no baptism record has
been found for son James. It is also
established that the children of James’ brother Charles John Collett (below) were
also born within the Summerside area of the island
1O140 – Sarah Jane Collett was born in 1853 at
Summerside, Prince Edward Island
1O141 – William Charles Collett was born in 1855 at
Summerside, Prince Edward Island
1O142 – James Artemas Collett was born in 1859 at
Summerside, Prince Edward Island
Aaron Lot Collett [1N76] was
born at Leonard Stanley in 1828, and was baptised there on 21st May
1829, the son of Charles and Sarah Collett.
It was simply as Aaron Collett, aged 12, that he was recorded in the
census of 1841, when he was still living in Leonard Stanley with his
family. Later that same year Aaron and
some of his brothers sailed to Canada with their father Charles, where they
settled on Prince Edward Island. During
the mid-1850s when Aaron was around 26 or 27, he married (1) Eliza, and
together they had four known children, two sons and two daughters, before Eliza
passed away during the 1870. The birth of
the couple’s first child took place at Westmorland Settlement and, at the
subsequent baptism the child’s parents were confirmed as Aaron and Eliza. Three further children were added to their
family during the same decade, but it was after the birth of his youngest son
that Eliza must have died. In 1861 Aaron
Collett and his family were residing at Lot 29 in the Queens district of Prince
Edward Island
According to the Canadian
census of 1881 Aaron Collett, aged 51 and from England, was a widower and a farmer
still living and working on Lot 29 in the Queens district of Prince Edward
Island. His eldest son William H
Collett, aged 23, was helping his father on the farm, while the two daughters
Louisa A Collett, aged 21, and Lisca Collett, aged 17, had no stated occupation
so were probably keeping house for the family.
Aaron’s youngest son James C Collett was still attending school at the
age of 13, and all four children were confirmed as having been born on Prince
Edward Island. Aaron was still living in
the same district ten years later, when he was recorded as being 62 years of
age, while within the next census conducted on 31st March 1901 he
was listed as a Canadian nationalised citizen from England. By that time in his life he was 70 and had
living with him his second wife Annie who was 51 and born on Prince Edward
Island whom he married after 1891
1O143 – William Henry Collett was born in 1857 at
Prince Edward Island
1O144 – Louisa A Collett was born in 1859 at
Prince Edward Island
1O145 – Lisca Collett was born in 1863 at
Prince Edward Island
1O146 – James Charles Collett was born in 1867
at Prince Edward Island
Charles John Collett [1N77] was
born at Leonard Stanley in 1829, and it was there also that he was baptised on
20th February 1831, another son of wheelwright Charles Collett and
his wife Sarah. Charles Collett was 11
years old in the Leonard Stanley census of 1841 when he was still living there
with his family. Later that same year
Charles, together with his father and his brothers Aaron (above), and Anthony
(below), sailed to Canada, where they arrived at Prince Edward Island towards
the end of that year. The original plan
may have been for the rest of the family to join them there, once they were
settled. In the event it would appear
that Charles’ mother remained in England, since she was still living at Ebley
in Stonehouse in 1851. Upon the death of
his father, either during the last two months of 1861 or the first five months
of 1862, Charles junior inherited one flock bed and five pounds, for his role
as joint executor of the Will, plus one sixth of his father estate comprising
the land at Summerside that his father had purchased in June 1855 which was
valued at £285, after deduction of debtors’ bills and funeral expenses – see
Will in Legal Documents
Around ten years later Charles, who was very
likely a shipbuilder and ship owner, married (1) Annie McLeod on Prince Edward
Island and they had five children before Annie, who was born in Scotland during
1836, died on 13th February 1871 at Crapaud on Prince Edward
Island. She was only 35 and it was
stated that she had died ‘after much suffering’ following the birth of her last
child exactly one month earlier. The
first two children were baptised at Richmond near Summerside, while the
remainder were baptised at Summerside itself.
Following her death Charles married (2) Margaret although sadly they had
only been married for less than a year when Charles died at Summerside on 12th
February 1872. His death certificate
stated that he was 41 and that he was buried that same day in the churchyard of
St John’s Anglican Church in Crapaud, just north of Victoria, with his first
wife Annie. The Will of Charles Collet of Victoria in Queens County was made on 13th
January 1872 and was proved one month later on 14th February, two
days after he passed away. The document
named his wife as Margaret and listed his children curiously in the following
order: Harriet Peters Collet; Sarah Jane Collet; Charles Frederick Collet;
Eliza Caroline Collet; and James Beaufort Collet – see Will in Legal Documents
By the time of the Canadian census of 1881
Charles and Annie’s eldest son Charles Collett, aged 12, was living on Lot 29
in the Queens district of Prince Edward Island, the same address as his two
uncles, Aaron Collett and Anthony Collett, who were also living on Lot 29 on
that occasion. Charles’ eldest daughter
Sarah Jane was also recorded in the census that year at the home of the McKinon
family, when she was 19. No record of
the couple’s other three children has been found in the census of 1881, even
though they were all still alive long after that time. Eliza would have been 16, and Harriet would
have been 14, with James being around ten years old
1O147 – Sarah Jane Collett was born in 1862 at
Prince Edward Island
1O148 – Eliza Caroline Collett was born in 1864 at
Prince Edward Island
1O149 – Harriet Peters Collett was born in 1866 at
Prince Edward Island
1O150 – Charles Frederick Collett was born in 1869 at
Prince Edward Island
1O151 – James Beaufort Collett was born in 1870 at
Prince Edward Island
William Collett [1N78] was baptised on
10th June 1832 at Leonard Stanley, one of the nine known children of
Charles Collett and his wife Sarah Edmunds.
Tragically he was just two years old when he died and was buried at
Leonard Stanley on 26th July 1834
Anthony Collett [1N79] was
born at Leonard Stanley in 1832, where he was baptised on 29th
December 1833, the fifth son of Charles and Sarah Collett. Anthony was eight years old in 1841, when he
was still living with his family at Leonard Stanley. His name was on the passenger list of the
ship that sailed from England to Canada in the second half of 1841, when he
accompanied his father and his two older brothers Aaron and Charles to Prince
Edward Island. It would appear that
Anthony was in his mid-twenties when he married Mary on Prince Edward Island,
and judging by the name of their first child, Mary may have been Mary
Lowther. Whilst there is nearly a
ten-year gap between the birth of the couple’s first child and their subsequent
twins, only one other Collett baptism record has been found amongst the Prince
Edward Island records during those years and that was the baptism of Charles
William Collett at Richmond, just west of Summerside. He was baptised on 10th May 1860,
when he was named as the son of Mary Collett (below) and not the wife of Anthony
Collett
By the time of the
Canadian census in 1881 the family of four was living at Lot 29 in the Queens
district of Prince Edward Island where Anthony’s brother Aaron (above) was also
living, as well as two children from the family of their deceased brother
Charles. Anthony Collett from England,
was 47 and was a miller, his wife Mary who was born at Prince Edward Island was
also 47, while their two children were both 14 and were attending the local
school in Queens. By that time their
eldest daughter, who would have been 24, was very likely married
1O152 – Hannah Lowther Collett was born in 1857 at
Prince Edward Island
1O153 – William Collett was born in 1866 at
Prince Edward Island
1O154 – Elizabeth Collett was born in 1866 at
Prince Edward Island
Sarah Elizabeth Collett [1N80] was
born at Leonard Stanley in 1834 and, as the first daughter of Charles and Sarah
Collett she was named after her mother.
It was also at Leonard Stanley that she was baptised on 27th
September 1835 and, in the census of 1841, she was recorded just as Sarah
Collett aged six years. It seems likely
that she later joined her father in Canada, where she eventually married to
become Sarah Goldsmith, which was how she was named in her father’s Will of
1861 when she received one sixth of his estate.
Over the next few years Sarah’s husband died, following which she
married (2) the much younger Charles Benjamin Doyle at Amherst in Nova Scotia
on 13th August 1866. Sarah
Elizabeth Goldsmith, a widow of 30, was the daughter of Charles Collett and
Sarah E (Edmunds). Charles Benjamin
Doyle was only 23, the son of Luke and Mary Doyle. By the time of the census in 1891 Charles B
Doyle, aged 45, and his wife Sarah were residing at Cumberland in Nova Scotia
Anne Collett [1N81] was born at
Leonard Stanley in 1836, where she was baptised on 11th June 1837,
and where she was recorded as Ann Collett, aged four years, living with her
family in 1841. Thereafter it is unclear
what happen to Anne and the rest of her family, with no record having so far
been found in any later census, except for her mother Sarah, who was living
alone in Leonard Stanley in 1851.
However, at the time her father made his Will at Summerside on Prince
Edward Island in Canada in October 1861 Anne was referred to as daughter Ann
Beers, who received one sixth of his estate
Miriam Collett [1N82] was born at
Leonard Stanley in 1840, and was baptised there on 4th October 1840,
the daughter of Charles and Sarah Collett.
Earlier information may have suggested that her name was Mary, Maria, or
even Ann, but it was as Miriam Collett that she was recorded in the census of
1841, when she was under one year old and living with her family at Leonard
Stanley. Like the other members of her
family, it would appear that she later settled at Summerside on Prince Edward
Island where she was later married to become Miriam Gould, as named by her
father in his Will of 1861 when she received one flock bed and a pair of
blankets, plus one sixth of the value of his estate. Ten years after the death of her father,
Miriam Gould from England was 32, when she and her husband were living at
Amherst in Cumberland, Nova Scotia, where her older married sister Sarah Doyle
was living in 1891
Mary Matilda Collett [1N83] was
born at Leonard Stanley after the census day on the sixth of June in 1841, but
was baptised there on 1st November 1841, the youngest child of
Charles Collett and his first wife Sarah Edmunds. Most of her family, but excluding her mother,
emigrated to Canada around the time she was born, following which they settled
on Prince Edward Island where Mary may have later joined them if she did not
travel there at the same time. It was on
Prince Edward Island that Mary Collett gave birth to a base-born child when she
was around 19 years of age, the child being named after her own father. By the end of the following year Mary had
married and it was as Mary Chaswell that she was named as one of the six
children of Charles Collett of Summerside in his Will of 1861, in which she
received one sixth of his estate
According to the
Summerside census in 1881 Mary and her large family were recorded under the
surname of Croswell. Mary M Croswell
from England was 39, her husband Henry was 51 and their nine children were
William Charles Croswell (formerly Collett) who was 21, Minnie L Croswell
who was 18, Ann N Croswell who was 20, Sarah E Croswell who was
17, Mary A Croswell who was 15, Amelia M Croswell who was 12, Alberta
Croswell who was four, Susan E Croswell who was two and James A
Croswell who was one year old. Every
member of the household, except Mary Matilda, had been born on Prince Edward
Island
1O155 – Charles William Collett was born in 1860 at
Prince Edward Island
Susannah Collett [1N84] was
born at Lot 29, Upper Westmorland on Prince Edward Island during 1847, and was
baptised there on 19th September 1847, the daughter of Charles
Collett and the second lady in his life, who may have been his second wife,
although no details of her are currently known.
Her father died when she was only fourteen years old, when she was named
as a beneficiary under the terms of his Will of 1861 through which she received
one feather bed and a pair of blankets, plus one sixth of the value of his
estate
Frederick Collett [1O1] was
born at Whelford in 1843 and was the eldest child of William Collett and Maria
Clargo. Frederick was baptised later
that year at the parish church in Kempsford on 1st October
1843. Following the death of his twin
brothers and the birth of his sister Mary Jane (below), Frederick’s family
moved to Highworth near Swindon in Wiltshire where they were residing in
1851. The census that year recorded
Frederick Collett as being seven years old, the eldest of the two surviving
children. He was still living there with
his larger family in 1861 when he was 17.
It was at St Michael’s Church in Highworth where Frederick Collett
married (2) Emma Herbert on 8th August 1869. Frederick was 27 and confirmed as the son of
William Collett, while Emma was 21 and the daughter of William Herbert. On the day of the census in 1871, the newly
married couple was residing at a dwelling on Faringdon Road in Highworth, right
next door a beer-house. Frederick
Collett from Whelford was 28 and a labourer, and his wife Emma Collett aged 22,
was from Highworth. Tragically, it was
towards the end of that year that Emma Collett died at Highworth on 4th
December 1871, where she was buried two days late. Her death was recorded at Highworth (Ref. 5a
2), when she was only 23. It is very
likely that she died during the birth of her potential first child, who also
did not survive
Four years later, the
marriage of Frederick Collett and (2) Harriet Austin was recorded at Highworth
(Ref. 5a 5), the event taking place there on 13th March 1875. Frederick was 30 years of age and the son of
William Collett and Harriet was 20, the daughter of James Austin. That marriage for Frederick produced one
known child. Perhaps living next door to
the beer-house from before 1871 through to the late 1870s may have presented
Frederick with a new job opportunity since, by 1881, his occupation was that of
a brewery labourer. The census that year
recorded the family of three at Westrop in Highworth as Frederick Collett who
was 38 and from Kempsford, Harriet Collett who was 27 and from Highworth, as
was their son Frederick Collett who was two years of age. Also, on that same day, other members of
Frederick’s family were residing in Highworth, namely (a) Timothy Collett (Ref.
1N25) from Kempsford with his wife Elizabeth and their two Highworth born
children Albert and Annie, and (b) Timothy’s married sister Ruth Addis nee
Collett (Ref. 1N26) with her husband William, her daughter Elizabeth Collett
and niece Harriet Collett, the daughter of the aforementioned Timothy Collett
Six years later, the
death of Frederick Collett was recorded at Highworth (Ref. 5a 4) when he was
45. Following his passing on 6th
June 1887, he was buried at Highworth five days after on 11th
June. After three years as a widow,
Harriet Collett, the daughter of James Austin, married Charles Warren at
Highworth on 30th August 1890.
Harriet was 34, while Charles was only 24 and the son of Charles Warren
senior. According to the next census,
six months later, Charles and Harriet Warren were residing at Westrop in
Highworth, where Charles was 24 and an agricultural labourer, Harriet was 35,
and living with them was Frederick Collett who was 12 years of age. Over the following decade Harriet presented
Charles with three children, the family still recorded at Westrop in 1901. Charles from Lechlade was 34, Harriet was 46,
Oliver Warren was seven, Jesse Warren was four and Frank Warren was three years
old. By that time Harriet’s son Frederick
was serving with the Royal Navy. In 1911
the family was living at Bailey’s Piece in Highworth, when Charles was 44,
Harriet was 55, Ernest was 17, George was 14 and Frank was 13. Two years later the death of Harriet Warren
was recorded at Swindon register office (Ref. 5a 5) when she was 58. She died at Highworth on 5th May 1913
and was buried there five days after on 10th May
1P1 – Frederick Collett was born in 1878 at
Highworth
Joseph Collett [1O2] was born at
Whelford in 1846 and was the twin brother of Ralph Collett (below). The twins were baptised in a joint ceremony at
Kempsford on 14th June 1846, when their parents were confirmed as
William and Maria Collett. Tragically
neither of them survived and, by 1851, the family was living in Highworth,
without either of the two boys
Ralph Collett [1O3] was the twin
brother of Joseph (above) and was baptised in a joint ceremony at Kempsford on
14th June 1846, the two sons of William and Maria Collett. It would appear that both Ralph and his twin
brother died shortly after they were baptised since neither of them was living
with the family in 1851 or at any time thereafter
Mary Jane Collett [1O4] was
born at Whelford in 1848, her birth recorded at Cirencester (Ref. xi 244)
during the fourth quarter of the year.
She was baptised at Kempsford on 18th January 1849, the
daughter of William and Maria Collett.
Not long after she was baptised her family moved to Highworth where they
were living in 1851, when Mary was two years old, and again in 1861 when, as
Mary Jane Collett she was 13. It is
expected that she was married by the time of the census in 1871, because she
was no living with her parents in Highworth
Ann Collett [1O5] was born at
Highworth in 1853 and was living there with her parents in 1861 when she was
recorded as Ann Collett who was seven years old. No record of her has been found after that
time so it is assumed that since she was not living with her family at
Highworth in 1861 that she had suffered a childhood death
Thomas Collett [1O6] was born at
Highworth in 1857 where he was baptised on 23rd December 1857, the
son of William and Maria Collett. Thomas
was three years old in the Highworth census of 1861 and was 14 in the following
Highworth census on 1871. It was just
over six years later that he married (1) Sarah Ann Comley on 14th
October 1878. She was born in 1860 at
Clanfield, north of Faringdon in Berkshire, and was already anticipating the
birth of their first of their four children, all of whom were born at
Highworth. In 1881 Thomas Collett stated
he was 21 and a labourer of Highworth who was married to Sarah who was 20 years
old and from Clanfield. Living with them
at 21 Eastrop Cottage in Highworth was their daughter Annie aged one year and
born at Highworth. As there was no
record of the couple’s eldest daughter in the census, it must be assumed she
had suffered an infant death, even though no record of her death or burial has
been unearthed. A major tragedy occurred
for the family just after 1st January 1855, when Sarah gave birth to
her fifth child, but died during the ordeal, the child also not being born
alive. It was on 4th January
1855 that Sarah Ann Collett died at only 24 years of age, her death recorded at
Highworth (Ref. 5a 8) and three days later Sarah was buried in the churchyard
at Highworth
With two young children to
care for, it was just over four months after being widowed, that Thomas Collett
married (2) Dorcas Cockhead on 12th May 1885. Dorcas was born in 1868 at Bishopstone in
Wiltshire and was the daughter of Charles and Sarah Cockhead. At the time of their marriage, Dorcas already
had a daughter Clara Tryphena Cockhead, who was born earlier that year at
Stratton St Margaret. All of the
subsequent children of Thomas and Dorcas Collett were also born at Highworth. According to the next census in 1891, the new
family was residing at The Gardens in Highworth, where Thomas Collett was 33
and working as farm servant and his wife Dorcas Collett was only 23. Living with the couple that day was Clara T
Cockhead who was five, plus the children from Thomas’ first marriage. They were Edith A Collett who was 12 and
Harriet E Collett who was eight years of age.
Completing the family group were the four children arising from Thomas’
second wife Dorcas, William T Collett who was five, Ada E Collett who was
three, Florence R Collett who was two and Ernest F Collett who was not yet one
year old
Five more children were
added to the family at Highworth between 1891 and 1901, although son Ernest
died eighteen months after the census day in 1891. By the time of the latter, the family was
still living at Highworth and comprised Thomas who was 43 and an ordinary
agricultural labourer, Dorcas who was 33 and from Bishopstone, plus the
following children, Annie Collett aged 21, Ellen Collett aged 19 (aka Harriet Ellen), William aged 15 who
was working alongside his father, Ada Collett who was 13, Florence Collett who
was 12, Mary Collett who was nine (aka
Dorcas Mary), Eva E Collett who was seven, Louisa Collett who was five,
Matilda Collett who was two and baby Bernard Collett who was not yet one year
old. Every member of the household,
except Dorcas, had been born at Highworth, while staying with the family was
the niece of Thomas Collett, May Higgs who was four years of age and born at
Stratton-St-Margaret
The family was enlarged
with the birth of another four children during the first decade of the new
century which, by April 1911, was still residing in Highworth. Thomas Collett from Highworth was 54 and
employed as a cowman working on a farm, and Dorcas Collett from Bishopstone was
44 and employed as a mat finisher at a nearby mat factory. Staying with the couple was Thomas’
mother-in-law, Sarah Cockhead who was 75 and also born at Bishopstone in
Wiltshire. Also living with Thomas and
Dorcas were six of their seven youngest children. They were Louisa Naomi Collett aged 14,
Matilda Ruth Collett aged 12, Alice Belinda Collett who was nine, Gladys Elsie
Collett who was seven, Beatrice Maria Collett who was five and Victor Jesse
Collett who was two years of age. By
then the couple’s son, Bernard Collett, had been kicked by a horse and had died
from his injuries. Thomas and Dorcas’
daughter, Alice Belinda Collett, was responsible for relating a fascinating
insight into the life of a young country girl, which is reproduced in part, at
the end of the third section of this family line, after the individual entry
for Alice Belinda Collett. In that, she
refers to her mother (Dorcas) leaving Thomas to ‘go off with another man’ and
taking with her the two youngest children, Ria (aka Beatrice Maria Collett) and Jess (aka Victor Jesse Bernard Collett)
1P2 – Edith Emily Collett was born in 1879 at
Highworth
1P3 – Annie Edith Collett was born in 1879 at
Highworth
1P4 – Harriet Ellen Collett was born in 1882 at
Highworth
1P5 – Sarah Ann Collett was born in 1884 at
Highworth
The following are the
children from Thomas’ second marriage to Dorcas Cockhead:
1P6 – William Thomas Collett was born in 1886 at
Highworth
1P7 – Ada Emily Collett was born in 1887 at
Highworth
1P8 – Florence Rose Collett was born in 1889 at
Highworth
1P9 – Ernest Frank Collett was born in 1890 at
Highworth
1P10 – Dorcas Mary Collett was born in 1892 at
Highworth
1P11 – Eva Ethel Collett was born in 1894 at
Highworth
1P12 – Louisa Naomi Collett was born in 1896 at
Highworth
1P13 – Matilda Ruth Collett was born in 1898 at
Highworth
1P14 – Bernard Charles Collett was born in 1900 at
Highworth
1P15 – Alice Belinda Collett was born in 1902 at
Highworth
1P16 – Gladys Elsie Collett was born in 1903 at
Highworth
1P17 – Beatrice Maria Collett was born in 1905 at
Highworth
1P18 – Victor Jesse Bernard Collett was born in 1908 at
Highworth
William Collett [1O7] was born at
Highworth in 1860 but was baptised there after the census in 1861, in which he
was under one year old. The baptism
record at Highworth confirmed he was the son of William and Maria Collett and
that he was baptised there on 16th February 1862. Curiously William was not living with his
family on the day of the next census in 1871 when he would have been around 10
or 11 years of age. However, according to
the census in 1881, when he was 21, William had already left the family home in
Highworth for a new life in Kent, where he was living and working a 78 Hills
Yard in Sevenoaks, the home of grocer Thomas Hill who was employing William as
a servant and grocer’s assistant. By the
turn of the century William had returned to Wiltshire and was back living in
Highworth, where he was working with his brother Frederick as a brewer’s cellar
man at the age of 38 years
Arthur Collett [1O8] was born at
Highworth in 1862, the youngest son of William and Maria Collett. He was eight years old in the Highworth
census of 1871, when he was living there with his family. However, it is unclear at this time as to
what exactly happened to him after 1871 when it is known that his mother died
and his widowed father was still living in Highworth, but with just Arthur’s
sister Maria (below) for company
Maria Collett [1O9] was born at
Highworth in 1867, the last child born to William Collett and Maria Clargo,
whose birth was recorded at Highworth (Ref. 5a 8) during the third quarter of
that year. Maria was baptised at
Highworth on 20th September 1867 and was three years old in 1871
when she was one of only three children still living at Highworth with her
parents. During the next decade her
mother passed away so, by the time of the census in 1881, Maria Collett, aged
14, was the only child living with her widowed father William Collett who was
still living in Highworth, but at 3 Wrag Cottage in the town. After a further six years, the marriage of
Maria Collett and Charles Pipkin was recorded at Highworth (Ref. 5a 53) during
the third quarter of 1887. Within the next four
years, Maria gave birth to her first two child, while the couple was living at
Shrivenham Road in Highworth, where they were residing in 1891. Charles Pipkin was 27 and a farm labourer, Maria
Pipkin was 24, and their two children were George Pipkin who was two and
William Pipkin who was one year old.
Living with the family, and described as the father-in-law of Charles
Pipkin, was Maria’s widowed father William Collett who was 70 years old. Five more children were added to their family
during the next decade, including twins, all born at Highworth, where the
family was again living in 1901. Just
one more child was born into the family which, by that time in 1908, was living
in North Savernake, near Malborough where Charles was a carter on a farm in
1911
Elizabeth Collett [1O10] was
born at Berkeley in Gloucestershire towards the end of 1859, following the
wedding of her parents at Bristol in April that same year, with her birth
recorded at Thornbury (Ref. 6a 76) during the first three months of 1860. It was also at Berkeley that she was baptised
on 1st April 1860, the eldest child of Joseph Collett and his wife
Piety Chappell. It should be noted that
it was under the name of George Collett that her father married Piety Chappell,
and again at her baptism her parents were recorded as George and Piety. Why Joseph called himself George in those
official records is not known, whereas in the census returns he did use his
correct name of Joseph. During the next year,
Elizabeth’s sister Mary (below) was born at Bowcott, Wotton-under-Edge and, by
the time of the census on the seventh of April in 1861, the family was recorded
in the town of Wotton-under-Edge, when Elizabeth Collett was one year old. It was around six years later that her
parents took the family to live at nearby Dursley, before they eventually
settled in the village of Uley, two miles east of Dursley. But it was at Dursley that she was living
with her family in 1871 when she was recorded as Elizth Collett aged 11 and
from Berkeley. Elizabeth Collett, aged 21
and from Wick Berkeley, was how she was described in the Uley census of 1881,
when she was the eldest child of the eight children living at Rockstowe in Uley
with her parents. She was not credited
with having an occupation, so was most likely helping her mother with her
younger siblings. After a further ten
years, Elizabeth Collett was 31 and one of three servants at the home of Thomas
Vizard and his widowed sister Mary Little on Water Street in Dursley
Mary Collett [1O11 was born in 1861, at
Bowcott in Wotton-under-Edge, just prior to the census day that year, her birth
recorded at nearby Dursley (Ref. 6a 39) during the second quarter of the year.
It was also at Wotton-under-Edge where Mary Collett was only a few weeks old,
when she was living with her parents and her older sister Elizabeth (above) in
1861. After six years or so in Wotton,
the family moved to Dursley, where two of Mary’s siblings were born, before
they finally settled in nearby Uley. The
Dursley census of 1871 recorded Mary Collett as being ten years old. On leaving school during the next few years,
Mary sought work in domestic service and, by 1881, she was employed as a
parlour maid at a private hotel at London Wall in the St Mary Aldermanbury
district of London. The hotel was
managed by Frederick Rayment and his wife, while parlour maid Mary Collett was
recorded as being 20 years of age and from Wotton-under-Edge
Sarah Ann Collett [1O12] was
born at Wotton-under-Edge in 1862, her birth recorded at Dursley (Ref. 6a 119)
during the second quarter of 1862. She
was five years old when her family moved north from Wotton to the town of
Dursley, where they were living in 1871.
The census that year included Sarah as S A Collett who was eight years
old. Within the next few months, the
family moved again, that time to the village of Uley just east of Dursley,
where Sarah’s family was still living in 1881.
However, by that time Sarah Ann Collett, aged 18 and from Dursley, was
working as a nursemaid at the home of Arthur and Octavia Hayward at Elm Lodge,
Southlands Road in Bromley, Kent. It
seems a long way from Bromley in Kent to Birmingham, but it was there during
the last three months of 1882, that the death of a Sarah Ann Collett was
recorded (Ref. 6d 65) when she was 20 years of age
John Collett [1O13] was born at
Wotton-under-Edge during 1863, the eldest son and fourth child of Joseph
Collett and his wife Piety Chappell. By
1871 he and his family were living in Dursley when John Collett was seven years
old. On finishing his education John
became a policeman and in 1881 he was described as a police officer while he
was in lodgings at Oldland Common in Bitten, Somerset, midway between Bath and
Bristol. He was curiously described as
John Collett from Bow Heh in Gloucestershire and was 19, rather than 17. Although a lodger, he was also head of the
householder, which very likely indicates the property in which he was lodging
was a police house or police station.
There was one other resident, and that was George Hayward aged 19 from
Kempsford. Rather curiously no record
of John has been found within the census of 1891, but was during the first half of the 1890s that John married Elizabeth who
was born at Coleford in the Forest of Dean area of Gloucestershire. It was also there that the couple’s second
child was born, with the first having been born across the River Severn at
Berkeley, where John eldest sister had been born in 1859. The census in 1901 placed John and Elizabeth
with their first three children living at Tortworth, near Wotton-under-Edge, to
the east of the River Severn. Although
it was at Wotton-under-Edge that John had been born, in the census return that
year, his place of birth was recorded as Dursley, to where his family had moved
when he was around four years old. John
Collett, aged 37, was working as a watchman and lodge keeper, while his wife
Elizabeth from Coleford was 38
The couple’s three
children on that occasion were their son Frederick J J Collett who was five,
who had been born at Berkeley, their son William H Collett who was four, who
had been born at Coleford, and their daughter Alice M Collett who was three
years old and born after the family had settled in Tortworth. The family continued to live at Tortworth for
at least another four years, since it was while they were still living there
that Elizabeth presented John with their fourth and last children. Following completion of their family, John’s
work required the family to leave Tortworth and to return to Coleford within
the parish of West Dean, where they were living in April 1911. By that time in their life, John Collett from
Uley was 47 and a sub-postmaster working
for the General Post Office, his wife Elizabeth Collett from Christchurch (nr
Coleford) was 48, and their children were confirmed as Frederick J J Collett
aged 15 and employed as a carpenter, William H Collett who was 14 and still at
school, as were Alice Maud Collett who was 13 and Charles Ernest Collett who
was six years old. By the summer of 1917
John and Elizabeth had returned to Gloucestershire and were living at
the Post Office in Christchurch, near Coleford in the Forest of Dean, when they
received the tragic news that their eldest son Frederick had been killed during
the fighting at the Ypres Salient. Only
the birth of the couple’s second child has not been located, with the births of
the other three children all recorded at Thornbury register office, Alice Maud
Collett (Ref. 6a 212) during the second quarter of 1898
1P19 – Frederick John James Collett was born in 1895 at
Berkeley, Gloucestershire
1P20 – William H Collett was born in 1896 at
Coleford, Gloucestershire
1P21 – Alice Maud Collett was born in 1897 at
Tortworth, Gloucestershire
1P22 – Charles Ernest Collett was born in 1904 at
Tortworth, Gloucestershire
Eliza Collett [1O14] was born at
Wotton-under-Edge in 1866, and shortly thereafter her birth was recorded at
Dursley (Ref. 6a 318) during the second quarter of the year. It was also at Dursley that the family was
living in 1871, when Eliza was five years old in 1871. Another move later that year saw the family
living in nearby Uley, where scholar Eliza of Wotton-under-Edge was 15 in the
census return for 1881. At the end of
the next decade Eliza Collett, aged 26 and a domestic servant and a parlour
maid, had already left the family home in Uley, but was living and working
close by within the same census registration district, at Uley Green, the home
of the large and affluent family of Arthur and Catherine Baines. Just over four years after that day, the
marriage of Eliza Collett and Robert Nelmes was recorded at Dursley (Ref. 6a
187) during the third quarter of 1895.
However, on the day of the census in 1901, Robert Nelmes from Highfield
in Gloucestershire was 35 with no occupation, when he was a patient at an
institution in the hamlet of Wotton Ville, within the St Mary de Lode district
of Gloucester City. No record for his wife
has been found
George Collett [1O15] was born at
Dursley at the end of 1868, with his birth recorded there (Ref. 6a 222) during
the first quarter of 1869. He was
another son of Joseph Collett and Piety Chappell and was two years old in 1871
when he was still living at Dursley with his family. When he was around three years old his
parents took the family to live at nearby Uley, and it was there in Rockstowe
that George Collett was 12 and still attending school in 1881. By the time he was 22, George Collett from
Dursley in Gloucestershire was the only Collett living and working in the
Uttoxeter area of Staffordshire, where he was a gardener and a lodger with the
Whitehall family of Blounts Green in Uttoxeter.
Soon after that he returned to his family in Uley, perhaps because he
was ill or had been injured in an accident, and it was there that he died, his
death recorded at Dursley (Ref. 6a 170) during the second quarter of 1892
Rosa Emma Collett [1O16] was
born at Dursley on 13th January 1871 and was three months old in the
Dursley census of 1871 when she was listed with her family simply as R E
Collett. Shortly after that her family
moved to Uley, where Rosa was baptised in a joint ceremony with her brother
Albert (below) on 13th July 1873, the daughter of George (Joseph)
and Piety Collett. In 1881 she was
recorded as Rosie Collett, age 10, who was at school in Uley while living with
her family at Rockstowe. Ten years later
the census in 1891 listed Rose E Collett, aged 20, as the oldest of the four
children still living at the family home in Uley. She was still unmarried in April 1901, when
the census that month recorded that she was living in Stafford, which raises
the question, had she moved north to that county to be with her George (above)
She was still unmarried
in April 1901, when the census that month recorded that she was living in
Stafford, which raises the question, had she moved north to that county to be
with her George (above)? However,
according to the census that year Rosa E Collett, from Bowcott (?) in
Gloucestershire was living in the village of Oaken near Codsall where she was
working as a domestic housemaid at the age of 30. After a further ten years spinster Rosa Emma
Collett, who was 40 and from Dursley, was once again living within the county
of Gloucestershire, in the city of Gloucester itself. No other Collett was living with her at that
time. Around the time of the Second World War
unmarried Rosa Emma Collett was residing at 31 Staunton Road in Coleford, on
the edge of the Forest of Dean, and it was there that she died on 21st
September 1947, following which she was buried at Coleford with her brother
Albert Collet (below) who had died two years earlier. Her Will was proved in Gloucester on 20th
April 1948 when the executor of her estate of £502 was named as Charles Ernest
Collett, a motor engineer. Charles was
the son of Rosa’s older brother John Collett (above)
Albert Collett [1O17] was born at Uley
on 8th May 1873, and was baptised there in a joint ceremony with his
older sister Rosa (above) on 13th July 1873, the son of George
(Joseph) and Piety Collett. The census
in 1881 confirmed that he was seven years old and living with his family at
Rockstowe in Uley. It seems very odd
that no record of Albert has been found in any census after 1881, particularly
since it is known that he died and was buried at Coleford during 1945 where his
unmarried sister Rosa Emma Collett (above) lived at 31 Staunton Road in Coleford,
where she he passed away two years later.
New information unearthed in 2012 reveals that he married Elizabeth
Cullis at Coleford on 20th September 1902, and that shortly after
that Elizabeth presented Albert with a daughter Isabel. The occupation of Albert Collett was that of
a police inspector, similar to his older brother John (above) who was a
policeman
1P23 – Isabel Ellen Collett was born in 1906 at
Coleford
Florence Louisa Collett [1O19] was
born at Uley in 1877, the youngest daughter of Joseph and Piety Collett. Her birth, under her full name, was recorded
at Dursley (Ref. 6a 170) during the third quarter of the year. At the time of the census in 1881, Florence
was three years old and living with her family at Rockstowe in Uley. Ten years later, it was as Florence L
Collett, aged 13, that she was still living with her parents at Uley. It was again as Florence L Collett that she
was one of only two children still living with her parents at Uley in 1901,
when she was 23 with no defined occupation.
Following the deaths of both of her parents during the first ten years
of the new century, Florence Collett, aged 33 and born at Uley, was still
living there in April 1911, when she was a cook, one of two domestic servants
employed by India-born couple Walter and Annie Phillips and their two children,
Walter being a colonel with the India Army.
Two years later, the marriage of Florence L Collett and John Roberts was
recorded at Chipping Sodbury register office (Ref. 6a 53) during the last quarter
of 1913. It was many years after, that
the death of Florence L Roberts was recorded at the Forest of Dean register
office (Ref. 7b 90) during second quarter of 1960, at the age of 82. For the last fourteen years of her life, Florence
was a widow, following the death of John Roberts recorded at the Forest of Dean
(Ref. 6a 143) during the last three months of 1945, when he was 60 years old
Arthur Henry Collett [1O20] was
born at Uley during late 1880 or early in 1881, the youngest and last child
born to Joseph Collett and his Piety Chappell.
His birth was recorded at nearby Dursley (Ref. 6a 214) during the first
three months of 1881. It was simply as
Arthur Collett that he was listed with his family at Rockstowe in Uley when he
was only a few months old. More
information about him was given in the Uley census of 1891 when he was named as
Arthur H Collett who was 10 years old.
On leaving school in Uley, Arthur was employed as a general agricultural
labourer, as confirmed in the Uley census of 1901 when Arthur H Collett, aged
20, and his sister Florence (above), were the only children still living with
their parents at the family home. Possibly after the
death of both of his parents, within the next two years, Arthur appears to have
left Uley and travelled north to Tewkesbury, where he met and married Emily who
was born there in 1881. The marriage of
Arthur Henry Collett and Emily Elizabeth King was
recorded at Tewkesbury register office (Ref. 6a 1027) during the last quarter
of 1904. It was also in Tewkesbury that
they initially settled, where their three known children were born, before the
family moved to nearby Ashchurch, where they were living in 1911. On the occasion of the census that year the
family was made up of Arthur Henry Collett, from Uley who was 30 and employed
by the Great Western Railway Company as a porter shunter, his wife Emily
Elizabeth Collett was 29 and from Tewkesbury, and their three Tewkesbury born
children. They were Arthur Charles
Collett who was five, Christabel Beatrice Collett who was four, and Alfred
Gilbert Collett who was two years old
1P24 – Arthur Charles Collett was born in 1905 at
Tewkesbury
1P25 – Christabel Beatrice Collett was born in 1907 at
Tewkesbury
1P26 – Alfred Gilbert Collett was born in 1909 at
Tewkesbury
Albert Collett [1O22] was born at Hartlepool
in 1872, where his birth was recorded (Ref. 10a 198) during the fourth quarter
of that year. It was also at Hartlepool
where he was baptised on 11th December 1872, the second of the five
children of Cornelius and Catherine Collett.
It was at 31 Corporation Road in Throston, a district of Hartlepool,
where Albert Collett who was eight years old in 1881. Following the death of his father at
Hartlepool in 1883 and then his youngest brother Walter in 1885, Albert
emigrated to Australia in 1888 on board a vessel bound for Melbourne. The passenger list included just Albert
Collett aged 16, whose occupation was that of an engineer. It was also in Australia that he died in 1968
1P27 – Arthur Dudley Collett was born in Australia
John
Collett [1O27] was
born at Harbury in 1850, and it was there that he was baptised on 1st
September 1850, the eldest son and second child of Henry Collett and Eliza
Boffin. His birth was recorded at
Southam (Ref. xvi 528) during the third quarter of that year and he was the
eldest surviving child of Henry and Eliza after the death of his older sister
Mary. Her death may have been the reason
why no record of John and his parents has been found within the census of 1851
that is, despite the birth of John’s sister Elizabeth (below) taking place at
Harbury during the following year.
Sometime after her birth in 1852 and John’s brother Thomas in 1856, the
family moved from Warwickshire to Staffordshire, where there were to around
1860, before a further move to Leicestershire.
In 1861 the family was living at Bond Street in Hinckley, where John Collett
from Harbury was 10 years old. On that
same day John’s father was staying at The Cock Inn at nearby Burbage, most
likely for work purposes
During the following year, the family was in
Blaby but, over the next few years, the whole family travelled north to
Lancashire, where they were living in 1871 at Farnworth near Widnes. John had already left the family home by
then, when he was living in the North Yorkshire town of Marske-by-the-Sea, just south of Redcar and not far from Skelton, where
his widowed mother was living in 1881, 1891 and 1901. At that time in his life, he was employed as
a labourer. Despite becoming a married
man at Guisborough (Ref. 9d 655) during the first quarter of 1875, when he
married Eliza Stephenson, he was widowed shortly after the birth of his only
child, when the death of Eliza Collett was recorded at Guisborough (Ref. 9d
306) during the last three months of 1876, at the age of 19. The birth of their
son was recorded at Guisborough (Ref. 9d 538) during the second quarter of
1876, and his death was recorded there during the same three-month period (Ref.
9d 313). What happened to John
after 1871 is not known, and the same applies to his younger brother Thomas
(below), since no trace of either of them has been found anyway in Great
Britain thereafter
1P28 – John Child Collett was born in 1876 at Guisborough;
died there 1876
Elizabeth
Collett [1O28] was
born at Harbury in 1852, the only surviving daughter of Henry and Eliza
Collett, whose birth was recorded at Southam (Ref. 6d 492) during the last
three months of the year. It was also at
Harbury Church that she was baptised on 10th January 1853. She was eight years old in 1861, when she was
living with her family at Bond Street in Hinckley, Leicestershire. As the only surviving daughter of Henry and
Eliza, she was married at Warrington (Ref. 8c 178) during the last three months
of 1870 to William Simmons Tuckett.
William had been born in Devon and in 1871, he and Elizabeth were living
in Widnes, from where William, aged 26, was working as a railway excavator,
while his wife, from Harbury, was 20 years of age. Elizabeth was already with-child on that
census and, over the following three years, she presented William with two
children. Tragically she died giving
birth to her second child, her death recorded at Guisborough (Ref. 9d 295)
during the second quarter of 1874 when she was only 22
What happened to her husband after that sad
event is currently not known, but his two children, Annie and Richard were
living with Elizabeth’s mother Eliza Collett at her home at 12 Catherine Street
in Skelton, Guisborough, Yorkshire in 1881.
They were Annie Simmons who was nine and born at Farnworth in
Lancashire, and Richard Simmons who was seven and born at Brotton near
Skelton. Ten years later, in 1891,
Richard Simmons was working as an ironstone miner, living at Liverton Terrace
in Liverton, Guisborough. He later
married the widow Ada Bowes, who already had a daughter from her first
marriage. That fact was confirmed in the
census of 1901, when Richards Simmons, aged 27, from Brotton was living at
Danby in the North Riding of Yorkshire, where his occupation was that of a
stonemason. Living with him was his wife
Ada Simmons, aged 28 from Lastingham in North Yorkshire, and their three children,
Henry Simmons aged four years, John Simmons aged two, and George W Simmons who
was under one year. Completing the
household was Ada’s daughter Margaret J Bowes, who was 10 years old and
described as Richard’s stepdaughter. The
death of Richard J Simmons was recorded at Rotherham register office in 1924,
when he was 49 years old
Thomas
Henry Collett [1O29] was
born in 1856, his birth recorded at Penkridge in Staffordshire (Ref. 6b 376)
during the second quarter of that year.
However, it was at Norton Canes, two miles south of Cannock, where he
was baptised on 6th July 1856, the son of Henry and Eliza
Collett. It was almost exactly one year
later that Thomas Henry Collett died and was buried at All Saints Church in
Bloxwich, just south of Norton Canes, on 16th July 1857, when he was
one year old. As a result of his death,
the next child born to Henry and Eliza was also given the name Henry, in honour
of their lost child
Thomas
Collett [1O30] was
born at Brereton, very near Rugeley, in Staffordshire in 1859, his birth
recorded at Lichfield (Ref. 6b 350) during the first quarter of that year. It was at St Michael’s Church in Brereton
that he was baptised on 31st July 1859, the son of Henry and Eliza
Collett. Thomas was two years old in
1861 but, by that time, he and his family were living at Bond Street in
Hinckley, although they were not there for very long as the family moved to
Blaby near Leicester, before later heading for Wigan in Lancashire. In 1871 Thomas’ parents were living at
Whitfield’s Entry in the hamlet of Farnworth, north of Widnes, where his mother
appeared to be running a boarding house, while his father worked on the
railway. The only siblings living with
Thomas at that time were his two younger brothers Joseph and Henry (below),
following the earlier deaths of his eldest sister Mary and late brother Thomas,
after whom he was named, and the marriage of his other sister Elizabeth
(above). By that time in his life, and
at only 12 years of age, Thomas Collett from Rugeley had already left school
and was working as a railway labourer with his father. What happened to Thomas Collett after 1871
has not been determined because, just like his older brother John (above),
there seems to be no record of them in any later census return
Joseph
Collett [1O31] was
born in 1862 at Blaby, near Leicester, with his birth recorded at Blaby (Ref.
7a 43) during the third quarter of the year.
He was the third surviving son of Henry and Eliza Collett. From Leicester, his family moved north to
Lancashire where they initially settled in Wigan, before arriving at
Widnes. It was just north of the latter,
at Whitfield’s Entry in Farnworth, that he was living with his family when he
was nine years old. It may have been
following the death of his father, that his mother left Lancashire, when she
settled at Skelton in the North Riding of Yorkshire, where she lived for the
remainder of her life. According to the
census in 1881, Joseph and his widowed mother were living at 12 Catherine
Street in Skelton, to the east of Guisborough, with Joseph’s younger brother
Henry (below). Joseph Collett was 18,
his place of birth was confirmed as Blaby and, at that time, his occupation was
that of an ironstone miner. No further
record of Joseph, or his two older brothers John and Thomas, have been
discovered after 1881
Henry
George Collett [1O32] was born at Wigan in 1867 after his father made the move to
Lancashire in the 1860s. He was the
youngest child of Henry Collett and Eliza Boffin but, unlike most of his older siblings,
no baptism has been found. Within a year
or two of being born, his parents moved to Widnes and, in 1881, the family was
living at Whitfield’s Entry in the hamlet of Farnworth, when Henry was three
years old. It was the next census in
1881 that confirmed his place of birth as Wigan. By that time, his father had died and Henry
George Collett was 13, when he was living at 12 Catherine Street in Skelton,
near Guisborough in Yorkshire, with his widowed mother and his older brother
Joseph (above). He had already left
school by then and had started his working life as a labourer. Although his mother was still living at
Skelton twenty years later, no record of Henry George Collett has been located
in the census returns for 1891, 1901, or 1911, perhaps suggesting that he may
have moved aboard, possibly with his brother John, Thomas and Joseph
Edith Collett [1O33] was born in India
in 1877. She married Frederick Harrison
towards the end of the nineteenth century when in her early twenties. By March 1901 Edith and her husband were
living in the Barnes area of London where Edith was 24 and born in India, while
Frederick, aged 29, was a carpet warehouseman who had been born at Dover in
Kent. Frederick was the son of Harry D
Harrison who was the Deputy Principal at the India Office of the Bank of
England who was born at Blackheath in Kent but who also lived at Barnes. It is understood that the marriage of Edith
and Frederick did not produce any children for the couple. In May 1917 it fell to Edith to inform the
Derby registrar of the death of her father Frederick Collett, and her address
at that time was 12 Hillersdon Avenue in Barnes. The obituary in the Derby Daily Telegraph
included an error when it made reference to the presence of son-in-law and daughter
Mr and Mrs Fred Harris rather than Harrison and unlike others named in the
article, there were no nephews or nieces included with Edith and Frederick
Jessie Collett [1O34] was born in India
in 1878 and was the daughter of Frederick Collett and Rosanne Rose. By 1911 it would appear, although not proved,
that Jessie was acting as housekeeper for her father Frederick on the island of
Jersey where he was the caretaker at Mont Orgueil Castle. However, there is a caveat to this, in that she
was listed as Frederick’s niece Jessie Maria Collett aged 31, a single lady
from Kempsford, where Frederick was baptised.
Also living with them was another ‘niece’ who may have been Maud Collett
(below) who was also a daughter of Frederick Collett. By the
time of the death of her father in 1917, Jessie was married and had emigrated
to Australia. It is understood that like
her sister Edith (above) she too had a childless married
Frederick Collett [1O35] was
born in 1880 after his parents returned to England from India during the
previous year. He was one half of a set
of twins but did not survive and was missing from the family when his father
was posted to Gibraltar in August 1880
Rosy Collett [1O36] was one half of a
set of twins who were born in England in 1880.
Sadly, her twin brother Frederick (above), and her only male sibling,
died shortly after the birth. It is known that she
married and that may have happened before 31st March 1901, as there is
no suitable Rosy Collett in the census that took place on that day. It is also known that the marriage produced
three children for Rosy and her husband, they being Lurleine,
Gertrude Collett [1O37] was
born in Gibraltar in 1881. At the age of
nineteen she was the only one of nine daughters still living with her widowed
father in 1901. Her father Frederick was
the warder of Mont Orgueil Castle in Jersey and at that time he and his
daughter Gertrude were living in the St Martin’s district of the island. Gertrude later married William Bull with whom
she had five children. Before they were
married, William was listed in the 1901 Census as an able seaman with the Royal
Navy based at Hampshire. His age was
given as 22 and his place of birth was stated as being Birmingham. The couple’s five children were William
Bull who died when he was five, Frederick Bull, Edward Bull, Ernest
Bull and Barbara Bull. And it
was Barbara’s married daughter
Cornelius Collett [1O43] was
born at Hampton Hill in the parish of Highworth on 2nd July
1864. He was the first-born children of
Job Collett and Susannah Gibbs and was baptised at Highworth on 4th
September 1864. In the Highworth census
of 1871 Cornelius was seven years old and was living at Hampton Hill with his
parents and younger sister Mary (below), although his whereabouts ten years has
not been discovered. During the 1880s
his family left Highworth and moved to Whelford where his father had been born,
but according to the census of 1891 Cornelius had stayed on at Highworth where
he was still living and working at the age of 27. Again, no record has been found that reveals
where he was in March 1901, but by April 1911 and, following the death of his
father, Cornelius Collett was 46 when he was living at Whelford with his
widowed mother Susannah who was 68, and his much younger sister Olive Collett
who was 22
Mary Jane Collett [1O44] was
born at Hampton Hill on 18th September 1867 and was baptised at
Highworth on 11th October 1867.
At the age of four she was listed in the Highworth census of 1871 as Mary J Collett
when living at Hampton Hill with her parents and older brother Cornelius
(above). No further record for Mary Jane
Collett has been found in any subsequent census returns although, in 1881 a
Jane Collett, aged 15 and from Highworth, was employed as a domestic servant at
1 Victoria Street in Swindon, the home of the Horsell family
Rose Collett [1O45] was born at
Hampton Hill on 21st September 1871 and was nine years old in the
census of 1881 when she was living with her family at Hampton Hill in
Highworth. By the time she was 19 Rose
had already left the family home in Highworth.
In the mid-1890s she married Joseph Mulcock who was born at Quenington
in Gloucestershire with whom she had six children prior to 1911. By March 1901, the family was living at
Crudwell where Joseph was 28 and a domestic groom, while his wife Rose was 29,
and their first child Dora Mulcock was two years old and had been born at
Kempsford. During the next ten years a
further five children were added to the family which, by April 1911, had moved
to Bristol. Joseph Mulcock was 38, Rose
Mulcock 39, and their six children were Dora Mulcock who was 12, Reginald
Mulcock who was 10, Rose Mulcock who was eight, Violet Mulcock
who was seven, Albert Mulcock who was four, and Francis Mulcock
who was two years old
Winifred Collett [1O46] was
born at Hampton Hill on 31st May 1874 and was baptised at Highworth
on 25th June 1874, the daughter of Job and Susannah Collett. Apart from the census return for 1881, in which
Winifred was six years old and living with her family at Hampton Hill, no other
records after this time have so far been found for her
Bertha Annie Collett [1O47] was
born at Hampton Hill on 29th June 1876 and was baptised at Highworth
on 21st July 1876. She was
five years old in 1881 when she was listed as Berthelay Collett, but was
referred to as Bertha Collett in the census of 1891 when she was 14 years old
and living with her parents at Whelford.
Around the time of reaching adulthood, she left the Kempsford area and
made her way to London where, in 1901, she was living in Lewisham at the age of
24, where she was employed as a domestic servant. It is understood that by the time of the census
of 1911 that she was married and was recorded as Bertha Annie Davies, aged 34
and from Hampton in Highworth. At that
time, she was living at Newtown in Montgomeryshire and her husband may well
have been Samuel Davies who was 44
Ada Collett [1O48] was born at
Hampton Hill on 19th April 1880, was baptised at Highworth on 14th
May 1880 and was eleven months old at the time of the Highworth census of
1881. During the next few years her
parents left the Highworth area and moved the short distance to Whelford, where
they were living in 1891 when was Ada Collett aged 10 years. It seems very likely according to the census of
1911 that Ada married William Henry Bulpit and by that time the childless
couple were living within the Cricklade registration district, where Ada Annie
Bulpit of Hampton was 30, and her husband was 29
Olive Collett [1O49] was born at
Whelford on 8th August 1888 after her parents had moved there from
Hampton Hill in Highworth. In 1891 Olive
was two years old and was living with her parents and her two older sisters
Bertha and Ada (above) at Whelford. Sometime during the
next decade Olive’s father died and, by March 1901, Olive was the only child
still living at Whelford with her widowed mother Susannah. Olive was still at school and was 12 years
old, while her mother was then the bread-winner and had taken up work as an
agricultural labourer at the age of 58.
Ten years later Olive Collett was 22 and was still living with her
mother at Whelford but, by that time, they had been joined by Olive’s much
older brother Cornelius who was 46.
Thanks to new information gratefully received from Rod Murray of South
Australia, it is established that Olive did eventually marry seven years later
and towards the end of the Great War.
The wedding took place at Cirencester on 22nd April 1918 when
she married Joseph Moulding. The
marriage produced five daughters for Olive and Joseph and they were, Joyce
Victoria Moulding (born on 10th January 1921), Olive Winifred
Moulding (born on 22nd September 1923), Peggy Irene Moulding
(born on 19th April 1925), Kathleen Rosemary Moulding (born
on 5th May 1930), and Nancy Ruth Moulding (born on 4th
September 1933). The five daughters in
turn presented the world with a further thirty-two children, one of whom was
the mother-in-law of Rod Murray, Olive Moulding nee Collett, she being his
wife’s grandmother
James Collett [1O50] was born at
Highworth, where he was baptised on 17th June 1866, the only child
of Timothy Collett from Kempsford and Elizabeth Smith of Highworth. His birth was also recorded at Highworth
(Ref. 5a 2) during the second quarter of 1866.
It was also during that same quarter that the death of James Collett was
recorded at Highworth (Ref. 5a 5), following which he was buried at Highworth
on 27th June 1866 when he was only three months old
Albert Ernest Collett [1O51] was
born at Highworth in 1875 and was the eldest son of Timothy Collett by his
second wife Elizabeth Adams. His birth
was recorded at Highworth (Ref. 5a 7) during the first quarter of 1875. The names of his parents were also confirmed
on the day he was baptised at Highworth on 19th February 1875 and he
was living with them at the age of six years in the Highworth census of
1881. After completing his education,
Albert Collett aged 16 was working with his father as an agricultural labourer
at Hampton Turville Farm in Highworth.
Tragically, it was just three years later that he died, perhaps though
illness or an accident at work. The
death of Albert Collett took place on 14th March 1894, after which
he was buried at Highworth on 17th March 1894, at the age of
nineteen
Annie Elizabeth Collett [1O52] was
born at Highworth in 1877, where her birth was recorded (Ref. 5a 9) during the
second quarter of the year. Annie was
four years old in the 1881 Census when she was living with her parents Timothy
and Elizabeth Collett at Westrop in Highworth.
It was at Hampton Turville (Highworth) that Annie was 13 in 1891 when
she was again living with her family. On
leaving school, and just after the turn of the century, Annie Collett was still
unmarried when she was living at Hampton, by which time she was 23 and working
as a domestic cook at the home of the Elwell family. Two years later, and for the first time in
her life, she was named as Annie Elizabeth Collett when she married Thomas
George Allsopp at Swindon in the summer of 1903 (Ref. 5a 38). Thomas was the son of Charles and Mary
Allsopp. It would appear that their
marriage produced no children for Thomas and Annie, with the childless couple
living in Swindon on the day of the census in 1911. Thomas George Allsop was 34 and from Stanton
St Quintin near Chippenham and his wife Annie Elizabeth Allsop from Highworth
was 33. Staying with the couple that day
was Annie’s younger sister Alice Collett who was 29 and described as the
sister-in-law of Thomas Allsopp. Thomas
and Annie lived all their life together in Swindon, where the death of Thomas G
Allsopp was recorded (Ref. 7c 783) during the first three months of 1947, when
he was 71
Harriet Collett [1O53] was
born at Highworth during the month of May in 1880, her birth recorded at
Highworth (Ref. 5a 8) during the second quarter of the year. At the age of ten months, Harriet Collett was
staying with her married aunt Ruth Addis, the sister of Harriet’s father
Timothy. Also living at Westrop in
Highworth in 1881 was Ruth’s base-born daughter Elizabeth Collett aged 13 and
already working as an agricultural labourer.
Harriet never did return to live with her own parents and in 1891 she
was 11 years old and staying with her aunt Ann Turner and her two brothers
William and Richard Turner at ‘The Gardens’ in Highworth
Alice Collett [1O54] was born at Highworth
in 1881, the youngest of the four children of Timothy Collett and his second
wife Elizabeth Adams. Like all of her
older siblings, the birth of Alice Collett was recorded at Highworth (Ref. 5a
3) during the third quarter of 1881. She
was one of just three children living with their parents at Hampton Turville
Farm in 1891 when Alice was nine years old.
After a further ten years, Alice Collett from Highworth was an unmarried
domestic cook/servant aged 21, living and working at Church Road in the Wanborough
district of Swindon, the home of Henry and Elizabeth King. Alice was still not married by the time of
the census in 1911 when, at the age of 29, she was living with her married
sister Annie Elizabeth Allsopp nee Collett (above) in Swindon, from where she
was working as a shop assistant
Elizabeth Collett [1O55] was
the base-born daughter of Ruth Collett and was been in 1868 at Highworth
shortly after her mother had left Whelford.
In early April 1871 Elizabeth was three years old and was living with
her mother Ruth Collett at the home of her grandfather James Collett and his
second wife Susannah who had also moved to Highworth around the same time. Ten years later in 1881, Elizabeth Collett,
aged 13, was working as an agricultural labourer while living with her mother,
who had since married William Addis
Sarah Isabella Collett [1O63] was
born at Coln St Aldwyns in 1829 where she was baptised on 13th April
1829, the first child born to Francis Collett by his wife Sarah King. By 1838 Sarah and her family were living in
Northleach, and by June 1841 they were recorded in the census that year
residing in the town of Cirencester, where Sarah Collett was 12. After a further ten years Sarah was not
living with her family in Castle Ward in Cirencester in 1851 since by then she
had already emigrated to New Zealand as a servant employed by the Reverend
Thomas Jackson. It was on board the
sailing ship ‘Castle Eden’ that Sarah sailed out of Gravesend on 28th
September 1850, stopping at Plymouth on 3rd October, before
eventually arriving at Lyttelton in New Zealand on 7th February
1851. The passenger list confirmed that
she was 21 years of age, that her occupation was that of servant, and that she
travelled in steerage. Her employer, the
Rev Jackson was expected to be the first Bishop of Canterbury within the Church
of England settlement, under the leadership of John Robert Godley. It is understood that Sarah had received
assisted passage, which was funded by the Canterbury Association. The Rev Jackson did not last long in the new
world, and quickly returned to England via Wellington
Four years after arriving in New Zealand Sarah
was nursemaid to the young children of Sir Thomas Tancred, the eighth baronet,
and his wife Lady Tancred, who arrived in the country onboard the ‘Hampshire’
during May 1855. It is rumoured that
Sarah Isabella Collett was more than likely the first Collett to settle in
Canterbury, and she was followed there by her father Francis, with her brother
Henry in 1852, and by her mother Sarah with her sister Anne and her brother
William in 1859, by which time sister Anne was married to Isaac Bryan. It was on 23rd February 1854 at St
Michael’s Church that Sarah married (1) Henry William Roil, of the French
family de la Roile, who was born at Alton in Hampshire on 9th March
1821, the son of Thomas Roil and Sarah Sewery.
In 1845 Henry was a farmer in Waimea East now renamed as Richmond in
Nelson. The following advertisement in
the Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle could be about Henry prior to his
move south. It was dated 23rd
March 1850 and read as follows: “To be
Let or Sold, the fifty-acre section, No.71, Waimea East, adjoining Mr Saxton`s
farm, distant five miles from Nelson, with a fine stream of water running on
one side; at present occupied by Mr Roil.
For terms of sale or lease apply to B. Walmsley, Motueka. If not sold,
can be leased from Lady Day next. The above is one of the best Sections in the
district.” At the time when Henry had
married Sarah, he was the licensee of the Sawyer`s Arms Hotel in Papanui, which
was destroyed by fire in 1898, although by that time the owner was a Mr Cooper
Over eight years, Sarah presented Henry with
six children at Christchurch and they were Sarah Ann Roil (15th
February 1855 – 30th May 1944), Francis [Frank] Roil
(1856-1915), William Roil (1858 - 1885), James Roil (1860 -
1903), and twins Henry Thomas Roil and Eliza Louisa Roil who were
born on 21st June 1862. Henry
died on 4th July 1943, while Eliza died in 1946. The last two children, the twins, were born
after their father Henry had died as a result of the injuries he sustained in
an accident while driving a bullock dray, so they never knew their father. At the time of the incident the calf of his
leg was torn away, following which tetanus set in, and he died a few weeks
later on 27th May 1862, and was buried three days later at St Pauls
in Papanui. The twins were born one
month after that day
It was also in 1861 that Sarah’s mother died,
after which her widowed father Francis lived with her and her family for many
years, until he died peacefully in his sleep in 1884. Around ten years earlier widow Sarah Roil
married (2) James Barker, who was born at Somerset in England during 1817, and
who died at Christchurch in 1895. The
marriage produced one son for the couple, Arthur Robert Barker, who was born in
1875 and who died in 1922, who Miriam May Campbell in 1896. Sarah also opened a small general store in
Oxford, which survived for only two years.
She then became a midwife and travelled as far as Christchurch for
work. Sarah Isabella Barker, formerly
Roil nee Collett, died at Christchurch, Canterbury NZ, on 24th
December 1910, and was buried at Barbados Street Cemetery in Christchurch,
where he parents were buried. It is
believed that Sarah’s sons were not best pleased with her second marriage, and
while Francis Roil continued to live in Christchurch until his death in 1914,
he did not visit his mother, William died as a young man near Masterton in the
Wairarapa and James moved north, married and came to an early end in a fishing
boat accident outside Thames in New Zealand. One of James' little sons also
died and his widow took the other with her when she went to Australia. That
left the twins, Thomas and Louisa, and when he was 14 years old Thomas also
went to Australia
Sarah’s son Arthur Robert Barker was a New
Zealand Champion cyclist, and a pin-up boy, who owned a bicycle shop on
Edgeware Road in Christchurch up until his death in 1922. Many years later, the name of the cycle shop
on Edgeware Road was Hobday Cycles from where, in 1957, twelve-year-old Kelvin
Parker (see Ref. 1Q97) was given a newly refurbished bike by his
grandmother Gertrude Louise Collett nee Brittenden (Ref. 1P149). It is therefore possible that the Hobdays who
managed the shop were related to Betty Florence Hobday, the granddaughter of
William Henry Collett (Ref. 1P32) who was the cousin of Arthur Robert
Barker. Rob, as he was known by family,
was born when his half-sister Louisa Bryan was about 12 or 13 years old and she
knew him better than her full brothers except Tom. Rob grew up into a likeable and unusually
athletic child and, at the Anniversary Day sports event in December 1890, he
finished first in the 16-and-under cycle race when he completed the one-mile
course in 4 minutes 12 seconds on a penny-farthing bike, which won him 30
shillings. Three years later Rob made
his mark at the North Otago meeting in Oamaru on the modern type of two-wheeler
racing cycle and became a nationally known figure. The year 1895 was less successful for Rob,
but that was the year his father died and the next year, when Rob went on his
travels north, so did his mother, as it gave her the opportunity to visit
relatives. At Palmerston North in 1896,
after competing in Oamaru, Christchurch and Fielding, Joey Barker, as he was
affectionately known by his fellow competitors, entered the national
championships of the League of New Zealand Wheelmen, when he carried off every
event except one, the half-mile, in which he finished second to his
Christchurch rival Tom Clarkson
On the track in 1897 Rob held the New Zealand
records for distances of a quarter, half and one mile, and he became something
of a cult hero as fans could buy photoshots of him on his cycle, or being paced
by three cyclists on a triple tandem. “He is a racer from his toes to the tip of
his curly head” wrote The New Zealand Cyclist in April 1897. While he was still at his peak racing he
worked as a representative in the bike shop of Morrow, Bassett & Co. and
later had his own cycle shop in Edgeware Road.
The esteem to which he was held was apparent when, in a court case in
Christchurch involving the stabbing of a horse in 1902, Arthur Robert Barker
was called upon to give evidence as to the amount of time it would take to
cycle a given distance on the cycle of the accused
Anne Collett [1O64] was born at Coln
St Aldwyns in 1832 and it was there also that she was baptised on 20th
June 1832, the daughter of Francis and Sarah Collett. After a short period living in Northleach,
the family moved to Cirencester where in 1841 ‘Ann’ Collett was nine years
old. Where she was in 1851 is not known,
since she was no longer living in Cirencester with her family. During the previous year her older sister
Sarah (above) had emigrated to New Zealand, where Anne eventually went, but
only after she had become a married lady.
She
married Isaac Bryan of Cheltenham, the son of shoemaker George Bryan and his
wife Sarah Mace who was born at Daglingworth in 1832. Rumour has it that they were married a few
days after emigrating, which might indicate that they were actually married
onboard the ‘Clontarf’ in 1858 on their voyage to a new life in New Zealand,
where they arrived at Lyttelton in 1859.
Isaac Bryan was felling a tree when a branch came away and struck him in
the chest. He walked home and a doctor
was called. No outward sign of injury
was found, but early next morning he became delirious and died. Anne Bryan nee Collett died during 1897 and
was buried at Reefton Old Cemetery on 5th November 1897. Annie, as she was known, was a milliner and a
straw-bonnet maker, who was well-read and generally considered a learned woman
Isaac Bryan had died many years earlier in
1886, while their marriage had produced nine children when the family was
living at Christchurch. They were Sarah
Ann Bryan (1859-1924), George Francis Bryan (1861-1925), Isaac
Bryan (1863-1939), Ruth Anna King Bryan (1865-1947), Emily Mace
Bryan (1867-1946), Alfred William Bryan (1869-1889), Alice Sparks
Bryan (1871-1964), Ellen Electra Bryan (1873-1936), and Edith
Elizabeth Bryan (1875-1947)
Henry Cornelius Collett [1O65] was
born at Coln St Aldwyns in 1834 and was baptised there on 5th
February 1835, the first son of Francis and Sarah Collett. Shortly after he was born his parents took
the family to live for a while in Northleach before they settled in
Cirencester, where they were living in June 1841 when Henry was six years
old. It was within the Castle Ward of
Cirencester that Henry Collett, aged 16 and from Coln St Aldwyns, was still
living with his family in 1851. However,
twelve months later Henry, who was a carpenter by then, left England on 26th
March 1852 on the sailing ship ‘Samarang’ with his
father bound for New Zealand, where they arrived on 31st July that
year. It was not for another seven years
that Henry’s mother made the same voyage, when she was accompanied by Henry’s
married sister Anne Bryan (above) and her husband, and his youngest brother
William (below), who arrived in Lyttelton on board the ship ‘Clontarf in early
1859. What happened to Henry after 1859
is not known at this time
Azaria Francis Collett [1O66] was
born at Northleach in 1838, but was baptised at Coln St Aldwyns on 29th
July 1838, the son of Francis and Sarah Collett. Not long after he was baptised his family
moved south to Cirencester, and it was there that Azaria Collett was two years
of age. However, it was as Francis
Collett, aged 12 and from Northleach, that he was recorded with his family in
Cirencester in 1851
Elizabeth Mary Collett [1O67] was
born at Cirencester in 1841 but after the sixth of June that year. It was on 19th September 1841 that
she was baptised at Coln St Aldwyns the youngest of the three daughters of
Francis and Sarah Collett. Tragically
she was just over four years old when she died at Cirencester on 24th
January 1846
William Giles Collett [1O68] was
born at Cirencester in 1848, although like all of his older siblings, he too
was taken back to Coln St Aldwyns, where he was baptised on 22nd
October 1848, the last child of Francis Collett and Sarah King. William was listed with his family in the
Castle Ward district of Cirencester under his full name of William Giles
Collett when he was two years old in 1851, which also confirmed he had been
born at Cirencester. One year after the
census day William’s
father and older brother Henry formed an advance party for the family to
eventually emigrate to New Zealand.
However, it was seven years after they had arrived in that country when
William and his mother, together with his married sister Anne and her husband,
left England onboard the ‘Clontarf’ in 1858 when William was only 10 years
old. It was some years later that
William Giles Collett married the younger Janet McLean on 1st July
1873
Contrary to what was written here previously,
that Janet was the daughter of James McLean and his first wife Catherine
Sutherland, it would now appear that she was the daughter of Peter McLean by an
unnamed mother when she was born at Dunedin on 16th January
1857. Another Peter McLean was born at
Dunedin in 1854 and he was the son of James and Catherine McLean who had
arrived in Dunedin from the Isle of Wight in England on the sailing ship
‘Phoebe Dunbar’ in 1850. Accompanying
the couple on their sea voyage were their two daughters. So that raises the question, was Peter McLean
the brother of James McLean, making his son Peter the cousin of Jane. Or was Jane later adopted and brought up by
James and Catherine as their own child?
In addition to all of that, Janet (Jessie) Collett, the second daughter
of William Giles Collett and his wife Janet McLean, married Harold Percy Charles McLean who was born at
Kaituna in New Zealand on 16th September 1885, he being the son of Peter
McLean and Kate O’Dell
Sadly, it would appear, the marriage of farmer
William Giles Collett and Janet McLean was not the great success that might
have been expected. By the time of the
birth of the couple’s ninth child the father’s named was noted as being ‘not
recorded’. Such were the couple’s
marital problems, that in early 1902 Janet deserted William when she went to
live with a friend in Wellington and, a little while later, she was admitted
into a lunatic asylum. William subsequently
sought a divorce, with the following being published in the Marlborough Express
on 22nd July 1914.
“IN THE
SUPREME COURT OF NEW ZEALAND, HAMILTON DISTRICT, IN DIVORCE - To Janet Collett,
late of Koromiko, in the Provincial District of Marlborough and Dominion of New
Zealand, wife of William Giles Collett, of Te Kuiti, in the Provincial District
of Auckland and Dominion aforesaid, Farmer.
Whereas William Giles Collett aforesaid, claiming to have been lawfully
married to you, the said Janet Collett, then Janet McLean, in Kaituna Valley,
in the said Provincial District of Marlborough, on the first day of July, one
thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, has lodged his petition in the
Hamilton Registry of this Honorable Court praying that his said marriage with
you be dissolved for that you did on the fourth day of January, one thousand
nine hundred and two, wilfully desert the said William Giles Collett at
Wellington without just cause, and that for five years and upwards from the
said fourth day of January, one thousand nine hundred and two, down to the
present time have continued to desert him, the said Petitioner, without just
cause
Now
therefore take notice that unless within 28 days after the date of this
advertisement you file an answer to the Petition of the said William Giles
Collett, the said Court will proceed to have the said charge proved and to
pronounce sentence therein notwithstanding your absence. And further take notice that before filing
the said answer you must enter an appearance in person or by your solicitor at
the Registry of the said Court at Hamilton, and that if you do not enter such
an appearance you will not be allowed to address the Court either in person or
by counsel at any stage of the proceedings.
A copy of the Petition and Citation may be had on application to the
Supreme Court Office at Hamilton. Dated
at Hamilton this sixth day of June, one thousand nine hundred and
fourteen. H. J. DIXON, Deputy
Registrar. The Citation was extracted by
George Panton Finlay, of Te Kuiti, Solicitor, for the Petitioner, whose address
for service is at the office of Erima Harvey Northcroft, Esquire, Solicitor, in
Victoria Street, Hamilton. Would any
friend or friends of the respondent above-named to whose notice this advertisement
may come kindly forward same on to her or draw her attention to same
immediately.”
It was during 1936, in New Zealand, that
William Giles Collett passed away at the age of 88. It may be significant that within the book
‘The Roots of Clover’ by Elsie Locke, the granddaughter of Annie Bryan nee
Collett (Ref. 1O64), it is written that Bill (William Giles) Collett and his
wife Janet MacLean had twelve children rather than just the nine listed
below. An abridged version of the book
was reproduced in six monthly instalments in the Collett Newsletter from August
2014 to January 2015
1P29 – Emily Collett was born in 1874 in
New Zealand
1P30 – Janet (Jessie) Collett was born in 1876 in
New Zealand
1P31 – William Henry Collett was born in 1879 in
New Zealand
1P32 – Francis Albert Collett was born in 1881 in
New Zealand
1P33 – Florence Albenia Collett was born in 1884 in
New Zealand
1P34 – Sarah Catherine Collett was born in 1886 in
New Zealand
1P35 – Mary Rebecca Collett was born in 1888 in
New Zealand
1P36 – Alice Collett was born in 1891 in
New Zealand
1P37 – Ivy Winifred Collett was born in 1898 in
New Zealand
Martha Collett [1O69] was the twin
sister of Mary Collett, who may not have survived. The sisters were the first two children of
James Collett and Sarah Maizey and were baptised in a joint ceremony at
Siddington 12th June 1829.
Her parents later moved to Bristol, where her sister Jane (below) was
born, before settling in Somerset. In
the Somerset census of 1841, Martha Collett was 12 years of age when she and
her family were residing at Turnpike Gate in Bathford, one mile east of
Swainswick near Bath. Although, not one
member of her family has been accounted for in 1851, they were living in Swainswick
in 1861. However, by that time, the
marriage of Martha Collett and Henry Churchill had been recorded at Bath (Ref.
5c 1284) seven years earlier, during the fourth quarter of 1853. Their children were born and baptised at
Swainswick and were Emma Churchill, baptised on 4th February
1855, Jane Churchill, baptised there on 1st March 1857 and George
Churchill, baptised on 5th January 1862
In the census of 1861, the four members of the
Churchill family were living in Swainswick Street in Swainswick, in a dwelling
adjacent to that of Martha’s Collett family.
Martha Churchill from Siddington was 31 and working as a laundress. Her husband Henry was 35 and from
Mangotsfield in Gloucestershire, whose occupation was that of an agricultural
labourer. Their daughters were confirmed
as Emma Churchill who was six, and Jane Churchill who was four years old. Completing the household was servant Harriet
Pill who was 15. Curiously, ten years
later, the family still living in Swainswick comprised Henry Churchill who was
45, Martha who was 31 and son George who was nine years old. Of the two absent daughters, Jane Churchill
was 14 and was a domestic servant at the Walcot home of elderly Catherine
Harris of Bath, while missing Emma was again living with her parents in
1881. The Swainswick census that year
recorded the family as Henry Churchill who was 55, Martha Churchill who was 51
and Emma Churchill who was 26 and still employed as a domestic servant. The George Churchill who was staying with the
family was day, was Henry’s father who was 85, who died later that same year
Jane Collett [1O71] was born in 1835
at Marshfield, near Bristol, another daughter of James and Sarah Collett. Although she was said to be seven years old
in the Bathwick census of 1841, when living at Turnpike Gate, no record of Jane
and her family has been found in 1851.
However, in 1861 it was at Swainswick Street in Swainswick that the
family had settled, where Jane Collett from Marshfield was 26 and a laundress
working with her mother. By 1871, at the
age of 35, Jane was working with her sister Sarah (below) as a laundress, while
the two girls were still living at Swainswick with their widowed father James
Collett after the death of their mother five years earlier. Ten years later, unmarried Jane Collett aged
46 and from Marshfield was still working as a laundress, when she was again
living at Swainswick with her elderly father in 1881. Her father died three years later and in
1891, when unmarried Jane Collett was 56, she was living at Bailbrook in
Swainswick where she was continuing to work as a laundress. Also that year, she was taking in boarders to
supplement her income. Apart from two of
those boarders, the only other person living at the address was Jane’s niece
Alice Lucas, aged 19 and from Bath, who was a laundress’ assistant working with
her aunt. She was the daughter of Jane’s
younger sister Sarah (below). When Alice Lucas left
the home of her aunt, mostly likely to become a married woman, her two younger
brothers Albert and Charles moved in with Jane.
She was 66 in 1901 and still making a living as a laundress when she was
recorded at Upper Swainswick in that year’s census. Albert Lucas was 26 and Charles Lucas was 19,
both of them employed as farm labourers
Charles Collett [1O72] was
born at Bathford, three miles east of Bath, where his birth was recorded (Ref.
xi 32) during the fourth quarter of 1840 and most likely at Turnpike Gate on
the Bradford Road, where he and his family were living in 1841. No member of the family has been identified
in the census of 1851 although, by 1861, Charles Collett from Bathford was 20
years of age and an unmarried agricultural labourer who was in lodgings at
Smiths Lane in Swainswick. And it was
also at Swainswick that his family was also living that day. Three years later, Charles Collett married
Elizabeth Sainsbury, the event recorded at Bath (Ref. 5c 3) during the second
quarter of 1864. Over the next seven
years, Elizabeth gave birth to three children, the first of them born when the
couple was still living in Swainswick, the next two born in the city of Bath
itself. However, on the day of the
census in 1871, the family was living within the Bath suburb of Walcot, just
north of the city centre. Charles
Collett of Bathford was 31 and a labourer, his wife Elizabeth was 25 and born
in Bath, and their three children were recorded as Jane Collett who was five,
James Collett who was three and Henry Collett who was one year old. Lodging with the family was Mark Shearn from
Weston-Super-Mare who was 45
In 1881 the enlarged family was living at
Cornwall Terrace in Walcot, where Charles was incorrectly recorded as being 36
years of age, when he was a mason’s labourer from Bathford. Elizabeth was 34 and the couple’s four
youngest children were listed as James Collett who was 13, Henry Collett who
was 12, Martha Collett who was nine and Fanny Collett who was seven years old. After a further ten years, Charles and
Elizabeth were residing on Sydenham Road in Bath, south-west of the city
centre, with just their youngest son.
Charles was 50 years old and employed as a bricklayer’s labourer,
Elizabeth was 45 and Henry was 21
1P38 – Sarah Jane Collett was born in 1865 at
Swainswick, Somerset
1P39 – James Collett was born in 1867 at
Bath, Somerset
1P40 – Henry George Collett was born in 1869 at
Bath, Somerset
1P41 – Mary Elizabeth Martha Collett was born in 1872 at
Bath, Somerset
1P42 – Fanny Collett was born in 1874 at
Bath, Somerset
Eliza Collett [1O73] was born at
Swainswick in Somerset in 1848, her birth recorded at Bath (Ref. xi 11) during
the third quarter of that year. It was
at Swainswick that she was baptised on 22nd October 1848, another
daughter of James Collett and Sarah Maizey.
Where she and her family were in 1851 is still not known while, ten
years later, they were again recorded as living in Swainswick, when Eliza was
12 years old. After a further nine
years, the marriage of Eliza Collett and George Rawlings was recorded at Bath
(Ref. 5c 1065) during the last three months of 1870. George was born in 1847, the son of James and
Ann Rawlings. A few months after being
married, George Rawlings, aged 23 and from Cold Ashton in Gloucestershire (just
north of Swainswick), was employed as a coachman who, with his wife Eliza
Rawlings from Swainswick, who was also 23, was lodging at the Clifton Bristol
home of Hannah Awlkin. Perhaps towards the end
of 1871, George’s work as a coachman took the couple north to Derbyshire where,
during the first quarter of 1872, their only child was born. The birth of Elizabeth Amy Rawlings
was recorded at Derby (Ref. 7b 472) although, rather curiously, no record of
the child or her parents has been identified anywhere in the country in
1881. It was also during their period of
absence that George Rawlings must have died or been killed, since Eliza was
described as a widow in the following census of 1891
That year, mother and daughter were working
together as matron and assistant matron at a Deaf and Dumb Home on Walcot
Parade in Bath. Eliza Rawlings was 42
and Elizabeth A Rawlings from Derby was 19.
Six and a half years later the marriage of Elizabeth Amy Rawlings and
Lionel Joseph P Smith was recorded at Bath (Ref. 5c 1107) during the last three
months of 1897. Eliza was again the
matron at the Deaf and Dumb Home on Walcot Parade in Bath on the day of the
census in 1901, when she was 52. In
addition to the many inmates that she was caring for, her married daughter
Elizabeth Smith, aged 29 and from Derby, was visiting her mother and had with
her, her son George L P Smith who was under one year old and born at Shepherds
Bush. Young George L P Smith was robbed
of his grandmother a few months later, when the death of Eliza Rawlings was
recorded at Bath register office (Ref. 5c 335) during the third quarter of 1901
Sarah Collett [1O74] was born at
Swainswick in 1851, her birth recorded at Bath (Ref. xi 12) during the final
quarter of that year. She was baptised
at Swainswick on 29th January 1852, the daughter of James and Sarah
Collett. She was nine year of age in the
Swainswick census of 1861 and was the last child born to James Collett, and his
wife Sarah who died in 1866. As a result
of that sad loss for the family, Sarah Collett from Swainswick was 19 years old
and one of two daughters still living with their widowed father James at
Swainswick, when she was a working as a laundress in 1871. It was also during the third quarter of that
same year when Sarah Collett married George Lucas, their wedding day recorded
at Bath (Ref. 5c 983). Over the
following years Sarah presented George with at least eight children, as
confirmed by the subsequent census returns.
Gloucester
Road in Swainswick was where the family was living in 1881, when George was 31
and a general labourer and Sarah was 30 and a laundress, in addition to caring
for her four children. They were Cecilia
A Lucas who was nine, Albert E Lucas who was five, Maud A Lucas
who three and Arthur G Lucas who was not yet one year old. Every member of the household had been born
at Swainswick. After a further ten years
the family was still living in Swainswick, but at Woodlands. George was still working as a general
labourer, Sarah was 40, Maud was 13, Arthur was 11, and the couple’s three
recent arrivals were Charles Lucas who was seven, Frank Lucas who
was five and Mabel Lucas who was three years of age. That year, the couple’s eldest daughter
(Cecilia) Alice Lucas was 19 and an assistant laundress working with her aunt
Jane Collett (above) at Bailbrook in
Swainswick. Just one more child
was added to the family which was still residing in Swainswick in 1901. George Lucas was 51, laundress Sarah Lucas
was 50, Frank Lucas was 15, Mabel Lucas was 13 and Lily Lucas was nine
years old. That same day, two of the
couple’s son were staying with their aunt Jane Collett at Upper Swainswick from
where they were both employed as farm labourers. Albert Lucas was 26, and Charles Lucas was 19
William
Collett [1O75]
was born at Painswick and was baptised there on 25th January 1829,
the eldest child of Henry Collett and Elizabeth Mills. He was 12 years old at the time of the 1841
Census and 22 in 1851, on both occasions he and his family were living at
Cirencester, and for the latter event his place of birth was stated as being
Painswick and his occupation that of an agricultural labourer. Two years later, during the summer of 1853,
the marriage of William Collett and Jane Pinegar was recorded at Gloucester
(Ref. 6a 36) during the third quarter of that year. Jane was born at Somerford Keynes in
1827. By the time of the census in 1861
William and Jane had three children, when the family living within the South
Hamlet district of Gloucester, where William from Whiteshill was 32 and a
carter, Jane from Somerford was 33, and their children were George Collett, who
was six, Elizabeth Collett, who was four, and Mary J Collett who was just one
year old. Over the next ten years just
one more child was added to the family which, in 1871, comprised William
Collett who was 42 and a drayman, Jane Collett who was 44, George Collett who
was 16, Elizabeth Collett who was 14, Mary J Collett who was 11 and William H
Collett who was eight years old. Even
though William’s baptism took place at Painswick, he stated that he had been
born in Cirencester, when he was 52 and a plate layer on the day of the census
in 1881. The information may have been
offered to the census enumerator simply because he and his family had lived for
many years at Cirencester. On that
occasion the family was living at 33 Barlow Street in Gloucester, where Jane
Collett was 54, and the couple’s children were listed as unmarried George
Collett aged 26, Elizabeth Collett aged 24, Mary J Collett aged 21 and William
H Collett who was 18. All of the
children had been born at Gloucester.
Living with the family at that time was ‘niece’ Laura Collett who was
nine years old and from Cheltenham and her brother, and ‘nephew’ to head of the
household, Joseph G Collett also of Cheltenham who was seven years old
Ten years later, according to the census of
1891, William Collett was 61 and a carman and his wife Jane was 64, when they were
still living in Gloucester at 33 Barlow Street in the Barton St Marys district
of the city. Living with William and
Jane on that occasion was their son George Collett, plus the aforementioned
Laura and Joseph. George was described
as being 36 and a widower, while Laura Collett was 19 and a laundress, who was
described as ‘daughter’, with Joseph Collett described as ‘son’, who was 17 and
a wagon fitter with the GWR, when previously and ten years later they were
referred to ‘niece’ and ‘nephew’. All of
the members of the household were described as having been born at Gloucester
on that occasion, even though in 1901 the record for Joseph Collett once again
gave his place of birth as being Cheltenham.
The couple’s other son William Henry Collett was married by 1891 and was
expecting the birth a daughter of his own, as confirmed by the census of
1901. However, only months earlier, the
death of William Collett was recorded at Gloucester register office (Ref. 6a 82)
during the last three months of 1900, at the age of 72. At the end of March in 1901, his widow Jane
Collett was described as head of the household at the age of 75, when she was
residing at Havelock Terrace on Park Road in the South
Hamlet district of Gloucester.
Living there with her was her eldest child George Collett from
Gloucester who was 46 and a railway porter and her nephew Joseph G Collett who
was 27 and a railway labourer who was also born in Gloucester. For completeness, and in view of the
conflicting relationships given to Laura Collett and Joseph Collett of
Cheltenham (in 1881) and Gloucester (in 1891 and 1901), both have been included
here as the two youngest children of William and Jane Collett, in the absence
of better information. Just under two
years after that day, the death of Jane Collett was recorded at Gloucester
register office (Ref. 6a 19) during the first three months of 1903, when she
was 76 years old
1P43 – George Collett was born in 1854 at
Gloucester
1P44 – Elizabeth Collett was born in 1856 at
Gloucester
1P45 – Mary Jane Collett was born in 1859 at
Gloucester
1P46 – William Henry Collett was born in 1861 at
Gloucester
1P47 – Laura Collett was born in 1863 at
Gloucester
1P48 – Joseph G Collett was born in 1871 at
Gloucester
Sarah Collett [1O76] was born at
Painswick, where she was baptised on 7th August 1831. In the census records of 1841, 1851 and 1861,
Sarah was aged 10, 20 and 30 respectively and was living at Cirencester with
her father Henry Collett on each occasion.
It is not clear whether she ever married, although Sarah may well have
given birth to a base-born daughter, who was taken in to the family of her
brother George (below), with whom she was living at Llanelly in 1861. The census day that year, recorded Elizabeth
Collett from Cirencester aged eight years, when living with her uncle
George. The birth of Elizabeth Collett
was recorded at Cirencester (Ref. 6a 17) during the second quarter of 1854,
perhaps having been born at the end of 1853, and by 1871, Elizabeth from
Gloucestershire was a servant at the Penallt (Monmouthshire) home of Prichard
family, midway between Newport and Gloucester
1P49 – Elizabeth Collett was born in 1853 at
Cirencester
George Collett [1O77] was born at
Painswick and was baptised there on 3rd March 1833. He was eight years old and 18 in the
Cirencester census returns for 1841 and 1851, but during the next few years he travelled to South
Wales where he took up work as a coal miner.
It was on 11th October 1856 when he married (1) Rachel
Edmunds, the event recorded at Crickhowell (Ref. 11b 269) during the final
three months of that year. Rachel was
the daughter of James and Esther Edmunds and was slightly older than George,
having been born at Llanelly around 1830.
Once married the couple settled in Llanelly where they raised their
three known children. By the time of the
census in 1861, Rachel had given birth to the first two children, both named
after her recently deceased parents. The
census that year recorded the couple as George Collett, age 27 and from Stroud,
and his wife Rachel who was 30. Their
children at that time were Esther who was two and James who was just one year
old, both born at Llanelly like their mother, although in the later census
return their place of birth was stated as being Clydach. Staying with the family at Cuckoo’s Nest in
Llanelly that day was Rachel’s eldest brother John Edmunds, a collier of 27,
plus two members of the Collett family.
The first of them was George’s younger James Collett from Stroud who was
19 and a coal miner, while the other was Elizabeth Collett aged eight years and
from Cirencester who was described at the niece of George Collett, making her
the base-born child of one of his older, unmarried, sister Sarah Collett
(above)
One more child was added to the family during
the following two years, while they were still living at Cuckoo’s Nest, where
the family was still living in 1871. The
census that year revealed the family as George Collett who was 36, his wife
Rachel who was 38, and their three children Esther Collett who was 13, James
Collett who was 11 and Harriett Collett who was eight years old. Ten years later in the census of 1881. George, a coal miner aged 47, said he was
born at Cirencester, where it is knowing he lived as a child. His wife was confirmed again as Rachel who
was 50 and born at Clydach. The children
living with them on that occasion at the Railway Inn at Clydach, near Llanelly,
were their daughter Esther who was 22 and a dressmaker, and their son James who
was 21 and a coal miner, both of them having been born at Clydach. Also living with the family was George’s
nephew and coal miner, Willoughby Joachim, who was 15 and born at Chillingham
in Gloucestershire. Their missing
daughter Harriet Collett, who was 18, would appear to have been working as an
inn keeper at nearby 27 New Market Inn in Brecknock St John Evangelist,
although she was described as being the sister of inn keeper Elizabeth Collett
of Cirencester who was 36. Elizabeth
(Ref. 1N15) was in fact the youngest child of William Collett and Hannah Dixon,
so Harriet could not have been her sister
Sadly, their daughter Esther died in 1885 and
by the time of the next census in 1891, George Collett from Cirencester was 56,
while his wife Rachel was 58. During the
next ten years it would appear that Rachel passed away, following which George
married (2) Mary Ann Pritchard, a widow with a grown-up son. According to the next census in 1901 George
Collett, at the age of 65, was still employed as a coal miner hewer. He was residing at a dwelling referred to as
Slopes Houses in Llanelly with his second wife Mary Ann Collett who was
58. The only other person living at that
address was George’s stepson John Pritchard, aged 21, who was also a coal miner
and a hewer. All three members of the
household were recorded as having been born at Llanelly. Curiously no member of the family has been
located in the census of 1911, not even John Pritchard. It may be of interest that in March 1901,
there was another Collett family living in the Slopes Houses in Llanelly and
just one door from George and Mary Ann Collett.
That was the family of widowed John Collett (Ref. 31O25) from South
Wraxall in Wiltshire - see Part 31 – The New Wiltshire and Somerset Line
for details of his separate Collett family
1P50 – Esther Collett was born in 1858 at Clydach, Llanelly
1P51 - James Collett was born in 1860 at Clydach, Llanelly
1P52 - Harriet Collett was born in 1862 at Clydach, Llanelly
Edwin
Collett [1O78]
was born at Painswick where he was baptised
on 22nd February 1835. He was
recorded as being aged six years and 15 in the 1841 and 1851 census returns for
Cirencester. For the later censuses of
1861 and 1871 Edwin was listed as 24 and 35 when he was living with the
Cirencester & Fairford area. It
still has to be determined what happened to Edwin and whether he was ever
married or not
Henry Collett [1O79] was born on 7th
June 1838 and was baptised on 24th June 1838 at Painswick. He was aged three years and 12 years in the
respective Cirencester censuses of 1841 and 1851. He later married Elizabeth Roberts on 6th
April 1858 at Brynmawr near Crickhowell in South Wales. Elizabeth was the daughter of Peter Roberts
and was baptised at Abergavenny on 3rd January 1836. It may have been his job as a coal miner that
eventually led him to emigrate to Australia, which he did two years after he
was married. Henry Collett died at Victoria
in Australia on 11th April 18, his wife having passed away
twenty-eight years earlier on 20th April 1890. Details of the family and the continuation of this
line are provided in Part 8 - The Australia Line, commencing with
Ref. 8O1. This is the family line of
cousins Don Collett (Ref. 8R30) and Ann Roslyn Preston (Ref. 8S20)
Harriett Collett [1O80] was
born at Stroud where she was baptised on 24th June 1840. Shortly after she was born the family moved
to live at Cirencester and she was one year old and 10 years old in the
Cirencester censuses of 1841 and 1851. No record of Harriett
has so far been found in the 1861 Census, but it seems likely that she married
Charles Ralph around the end of the 1860s.
By early April 1871 she and Charles, aged 29, were living in the
Rodborough district of Stroud with their first-born son Walter Ralph who
was one year old. The 1881 Census still
listed the couple as living at Stroud where the family had increased by a
further three children. The family
comprised Harriett, aged 40 and a tailoress, sons Walter 11 and James 10, and
daughters Eleanor, who was nine, and Caroline, who was seven, all of them born
at Stroud. There was no record of her
husband Charles at that time, but both he and Harriett appeared in the 1891
Census. However, by the turn of the
century Harriett was a 60 years old widow living on her own means and still
residing living in Stroud
James Collett [1O81] was born at Stroud
near the end of 1842, the youngest son of Henry and Elizabeth Collett, whose
birth was recorded at Cirencester (Ref. xi 27) during the first three months of
1843. He was only seven years old when
his mother died in 1850 and, one year later, he was eight years old in the
census is 1851, when he was living in Cirencester with his widowed father and
the rest of the family. During the next
decade his father re-married and that action may have been the reason why James
joined his brother George (above) in South Wales, to take up work as a coal
miner in Llanelly. At the time of the
census in 1861 James Collett from Stroud was 19 and a coal miner living at the
Llanelly home of his brother George and his with Rachel. What happened to James after that it not
known, while it is possible that he left England to be reunited with his older brother
Henry Collett (above) who had already emigrated to Australia in 1860