PART ELEVEN

The Welford-on-Avon Line – 1870 to 2011

(including a branch line to Canada)

Updated May 2024

This is the second of two sections of this family line

11P12

Florence Gertrude Ann Hall Collett was born at Mickleton on 2^nd October 1873 simply as ‘girl’ because initially her parents could not agree on what to call her. However, that was later resolved and she was formally baptised at St Lawrence’s Church in Mickleton on 30^th November 1873. In 1881 she was seven years old and was living at The Milking Pail Inn at Mickleton with her parents. It is estimated that this photograph of Florence, kindly provided by Doreen North, was taken during the same year as the census, since she would appear to be around seven years of age. Around the spring of 1887 her family left Mickleton, when they moved to nearby Admington, where her father took up farming at Admington Grounds.

Having arrived in Admington in mid-term, Florence wrote on the front of her school book, Florence Gertrude Ann Hall Collett, Admington Grounds, Quinton, Stratford on Avon, Warwickshire - April 16^th 1887. It was during the following year that she took up the position of pupil teacher at Quinton Church of England School. That appointment happened towards the end of May in 1888 when she was still under 15 years old, judging by a written note in an exercise book. The same text book, held today by the Doreen North, contains some beautiful copperplate writing and includes the following words: May 28^th 1888 Florence Gertrude Ann Hall Collett began as a pupil teacher at Quinton Church of England School. Mr G. F. Clarke, School Master. Miss E. J. Coates, School Mistress. Salary first year £7 10 shillings.

This photograph, taken in 1890 outside Quinton School, features

Florence Gertrude Ann Hall Collett in the hat on the far left

Sadly, two years after she had started working at the school her mother died, following which her father remarried. So, by the time of the census in 1891, Florence was 17 and was living at Admington with her father William and her stepmother Ann, while still employed a pupil teacher at the nearby school in Quinton. It was not long after that when Florence left Quinton School on 25^th March 1894, after which she went to work in London. It was there that she met her future husband, and it was at Emanuel Church in Hampstead that she married John Carpenter Craven on 1^st January 1899. Later that same year she gave birth to the first of the couple’s two daughters. The witnesses at the wedding were Susan Craven, John’s sister, and Catherine Grace Charlotte Western, the daughter of Lieutenant Colonel William Western, a retired Army officer from India where Catherine had been born.

On the occasion of their marriage both Florence and John gave their address as 86 Agamemnon Road in Hampstead, and it was there that they lived until they moved out to Bushey in Hertfordshire sometime after 1911. John was a telegraphist in the Post Office and while they were in Hampstead their two daughters were born, Lorna Collett Craven who was born on 20^th October 1899, and Phyllis Collett Craven who was born on 3^rd July 1902. According to the census in 1901 the family living in Hampstead comprised John C Craven, aged 31 and from Caddington near Luton in Bedfordshire, a telegraphist with the General Post Office, his wife Florence G A H Craven, aged 28 and from Mickleton, and their daughter Lorna C Craven of Hampstead was one year old.

By the time of the next census in April 1911, the family was still at Hampstead where John Carpenter Craven was 41, Florence Gertrude Ann Hall Craven was 37, and their two daughters were Lorna Craven, aged 11, and Phyllis Craven who was eight. The photograph on the right was taken six years later during the Great War in 1917 and shows Lorna Craven (standing) in her Land Army Uniform, while seated on the left is her sister Phyllis and, on the right, her mother Florence. Photo courtesy of Doreen North

It was also during 1917 that John Craven died, so it is possible he had already passed away when the picture was taken, judging by the black armband worn by his daughter Lorna. It may have also been as a result of his death that the family made the move to Bushey & Oxhey area, where they lived at 20 Cross Road in Oxhey. After the Great War the couple’s eldest daughter Lorna is said to have been a pupil teacher at the school on the corner of Chalk Hill and Aldenham Road. Florence worked as a nurse, and was a keen cook, but sadly lost her sense of taste and smell after a pharmacist had let her sniff 8-80 ammonia for a challenge.

It was eleven years after the picture above was taken that Florence Gertrude Ann Hall Craven nee Collett died on 2^nd March 1928 in Willesden Hospital following a heart attack at home in Oxhey. Florence and her husband are buried together in the churchyard at Bushey. However, prior to her death she lived to see both of her daughters married. Lorna Collett Craven married Robert Benson North on 7^th April 1925 at Emmanuel Church in Hampstead, and her sister Phyllis Collett Craven married Walter Harrap at Watford during December 1927.

11P13

Edward Shirley Collett was one half of a set of twins, who was born on 4^th April 1877 to William Collett and Ann Hall. Sadly, both twins only survived for a few days and were buried at Mickleton church on 9^th April 1877.

11P14

Agnes Beatrice Collett was born at Mickleton on 4^th April 1877 with her twin brother Edward (above) but sadly died not long after, following which she and her brother were buried at Mickleton church on 9^th April 1877.

11P15

William Thomas Collett was born at Admington during the June quarter of 1891, following the marriage of his parents on 24^th March that same year. He was baptised at Quinton parish church on 28^th June 1891, the son of farmer William Collett and his second and much younger wife Ann who was the widow of William’s cousin Josiah Collett (Ref. 11O24). In the census of 1901, he was recorded as Thomas W Collett who was nine years old when he was living at Admington with his parents, and he was simply Thomas Collett, aged 19, after a further ten years later when he was still living there with his family in 1911. It was during the following year that his father passed away and his Will, made in 1902, referred to his son simply as Thomas. Perhaps because of the need to avoid any possible confusion with his father, William Thomas was known at Thomas during the early years of his life and it was only after the death of his father that he was known as William Collett.

During the First World War William was a private in the cavalry of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and the Public Records Office medal card confirms his service number as 21706. Before leaving for France William Thomas Collett married Mabel E Medcalf during 1915 with whom he had three sons. The youngest child was only nine years old when William Thomas Collett died at Pershore on 30^th May 1930 at the age of 38. The cause of death was recorded as septicaemia resulting from a shrapnel wound he received in France during 1918 which was aggravated on breaking his leg when his motorcycle collided with a car. It was at Bricklehampton near Pershore that he was buried on 3^rd June 1930.

Mabel Emily Collett nee Medcalf was residing at Hill Lane in Elmley Castle near Pershore when she died as a patient at Powick Hospital near Worcester on 19^th September 1963. Probate of the Will of widow Mabel Emily Collett was granted in London on 13^th November 1963 to her eldest son Richard Collett, an electricity board foreman. Her personal effects were valued at £454 4 Shillings and 4 Pence. The death of Mabel E Collet, at the age of 70, was recorded at Malvern register office (Ref. 9d 204).

#14

Although certainly not anything to do with this family, it is interesting to note that the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records include a Thomas William Collett who died in action on 16^th May 1915 with no age recorded. He was Private Thomas William Collett, service number 2030, of the 7^th Battalion The King’s Liverpool Regiment and was buried at Rue-des-Berceaux in Richebourg-L’Avoue in Pas de Calais. On his military record it mentions his legatee as Elizabeth, and it is now known that she was his mother, the former Elizabeth Sweetland.

New information, albeit from an unverified source, suggests that Thomas William Collett was born within the West Derby district of Merseyside during the last three months of 1887, the second child of Joseph Collett (b. 1851) and Elizabeth Sweetland (b. 1860). His siblings were Joseph R Collett (b. 1884), David Collett (1891-1936), Margaret Collett (1895-1981), Alice Jane Collett (b. 1900) and Charlotte Collett (1904-1972). Their parents were married in St Mary’s Church at Kirkdale, Liverpool, during 1880. At the time of the census in 1901 the family was residing at 16 Elm Street, in Bootle, while ten years later their home address was 114 Linacre Road, Litherland in the Sefton area of Liverpool.

#14

11Q15

Richard Collett

Born in 1916 at Admington

11Q16

Charles Collett

Born in 1919 at Pershore

11Q17

George Collett

Born in 1921 at Pershore

11P16

Ellen Jane Collett was born at Admington, the eldest child of Daniel Collett and Sarah Ann Bayliss. She was baptised as Ella Jane Collett at Quinton on 3^rd September 1865, although in the 1871 census for Admington she was simply named as Jane Collett who was five years old. It was however in the 1881 Census that she was listed as Ellen Jane Collett, aged 15, and at that time she was a servant domestic at the home of retired farmer Joseph Miles and his wife Sarah at 15 Guild Street in Old Stratford at Stratford-upon-Avon. Ten years later in 1891, Ellen J Collett was twenty-three and was living and working within the Leamington registration district of Warwickshire, where her younger brother Dan was also living and working.

11P17

William Henry Collett was born at Admington in 1868 and was baptised at Quinton on 13^th September 1868 the son of Daniel and Sarah Collett. In the census of 1871, he was living with his parents and older sister Jane (above), when he was recorded as being two years old. Ten years later William H Collett was 12 years old and was already working as an agricultural labourer, while living at Lower Admington with his parents and brother Dan (below). Sometime during the next decade, he sought work in Walsall, where he was living in 1891. However, for whatever reason, at that time he had referred to himself as Henry Collett aged 22 from Admington, perhaps in the same way his parents listed their daughter as Jane (above) twenty years earlier rather than Ellen Jane.

It was five years later that William Henry Collett married Ellen Beasley who was born at Quinton, the daughter of Edmund and Mary Beasley, the marriage being recorded at Shipston-on-Stour (Ref. 6d 1270) during the second quarter of that year. It was at Admington where all of their eight children were also born, although the census of 1901 had misinterpreted it as ‘Levinton’. It is curious that in the same census, farm labourer William was recorded as being 37, which may have been a misinterpretation of 32. Living with him at Admington was his wife Ellen and their first two children. They were Nellie D Collett who was four and George C Collett who was one-year-old. Also living with the family at Admington was William’s widowed mother Sarah A Collett who was 64 and born at Admington.

#14

Over the next eight years four more children were added to their family while they were still living in Admington. After the birth of the couple’s sixth child the family left Admington, most likely for work reasons, when they moved to Luddington, just south-west of Stratford-upon-Avon, where they were living in April 1911. At that time William Henry Collett of Admington was 43 and a stockman working on a farm, his wife Ellen Collett of Admington was 38, and all bar two of their children were still living with the couple. They were George Cyril who was 11, Charles Henry who was seven, both born at Admington, Ella May Collett who was four and born at Hansell Farm, and Albert Wilfred who was one year old and born at Luddington. Also living with the family in April that year was William’s widowed mother Sarah Ann Collett who was seventy-three and from Aston Magna. Daughter Nellie Dora Collett, aged 14 and from Admington, had already finished school and was a live-in general domestic servant at Boddington House in Luddington, the home of London widow Alice Symonds and her unmarried farm bailiff son Reginald Charles Symonds from Oxford. The couple’s absent daughter Sarah Jane Collett, was staying with her childless aunt and uncle Dan and Alice Collett at their home in Ross-on-Wye. Two more children were added to the family at Luddington in 1912 and 1916.

#14

Two years later, in September 1918, William and Ellen were still living at Luddington when they received the tragic news of the death of their son George Cyril Collett who was killed in action at Ypres during the Great War. Just after the Second World War William Henry and Ellen were residing at Forge Cottage in Ettington, five miles south-east of Stratford-upon-Avon, and it was there that Ellen died on 11^th February 1948. Her husband William Henry Collett was named as the administrator of her effects, which was completed at Birmingham on 1^st May 1948, her estate valued at £204 17 Shillings and 2 Pence. At that time in his life William Henry Collett was around eighty years old and was described as having no occupation.

William had survived for just under seven years when he died on 4^th January 1955 while he was still living at Forge Cottage in Ettington. His Will was subsequently proved at Stratford-upon-Avon on 24^th February 1955, when the executors to his estate of £1,069 7 Shillings and 8 Pence were named as retired farmer Frederick Elijah Neal and Charles Henry Collett, a storeman. It is possible that F E Neal was his son-in law, the husband of either Nellie or Ella.

11Q18

Nellie Dora Collett

Born in 1897 at Admington

11Q19

George Cyril Collett

Born in 1899 at Admington

11Q20

Sarah Jane Collett

Born in 1902 at Admington

#14

11Q21

Charles Henry Collett

Born in 1904 at Admington

11Q22

Ella May Collett

Born in 1906 at Admington

11Q23

Albert Wilfred Collett

Born in 1909 at Admington

11Q24

Florence A Collett

Born in 1912 at Luddington

#14

11Q25

Daisy Mabel Collett

Born in 1916 at Luddington

#14

11P18

Daniel Collett, who was known as Dan, was born at Lower Admington in 1874 and was baptised at Quinton, the son of Daniel Collett and Sarah Ann Bayliss. In the census of 1881 Dan Collett was six years old, when he was living with his family at Lower Admington. Upon leaving school Dan went to work in Leamington, where his sister Ellen Jane was living in 1891. Dan Collett was 16 in the Leamington census that year but he subsequently travelled to London where he was recorded in 1901 and where he was later married.

According to the census in March 1901, and just after the death of his father Daniel Collett, Daniel Collett junior, aged 26 and from Admington, was employed as a domestic footman while he was residing in the Kensington district of London. It was also at the same address in Kensington that he met his future wife who was also working in service as a domestic maid in 1901 when she was described as Alice Golder aged 24 from Blackmoor in Hampshire. It was just over three years later that Dan Collett married Alice Golder in London, the event recorded at the Strand register office (Ref. 1b 1137) during the second quarter of 1904. The witnesses were Henry Joseph Woods and Clara Ada Orme.

Sometime after they were married the pair of them left London and by the time of the census of 1911 the childless couple was residing in Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire. Dan Collett from Admington was 36 and his wife of six years was Alice Collett from Blackmoor who was 34. The same census return confirmed that during their six years of marriage they had produced no children. However, staying with them on that day was their niece Sarah Jane Collett, who was eight years old and from Admington, the daughter of Dan’s brother William Henry Collett (above).

#14

Dan Collett was living at ‘Rudhall’ on Brakendale Road in Camberley when he died on 11^th August 1936 as a patient at Frimley Hospital in Surrey. His death at the age of 61 was recorded at the Surrey North Western register office (Ref. 2a 337). Curiously it was at Oxford that his Will was proved on 18^th September 1936 when his widow Alice Collett was the sole executor of his personal effects valued at £568 6 Shillings and 10 Pence.

#14

11P19

Mary Ann Collett was born at Ilmington in 1861, the first-born child of John Collett from Admington and Harriet Cook Waters of Ilmington, who were only married on Christmas Day in 1860, her birth recorded at Shipston-on-Stour (Ref. 6d 40) during the second quarter of 1861. However, on the day of the Ilmington census of 1861, Harriet had already presented John with their baby daughter Mary Collett, who was only a few weeks old. Mary A Collett was 10 years old in the Admington census of 1871, when she was the eldest child living there with her family. Her place of birth was said to be Admington, where her parents settled almost immediately after she had been born at Ilmington. Tragically, just prior to the next census in 1881, the death of 19-year-old, Mary Ann Collett was recorded at Shipston-on-Stour (Ref. 6d 222) during the last month of 1880, following which she was buried in the grounds of St Swithun’s Church in Quinton on 11^th December 1880.

11P20

George Collett was born at Admington in 1863, the eldest son of John and Harriet Collett. It was his birth that was recorded at Shipston-on-Stour (Ref. 6d 143) during the second quarter of 1863, while it was four years later that he was baptised at St Withun’s Church in Quinton on 29^th September 1867, in a joint ceremony with his two younger sisters Emma and Kate. George was eight years of age in the Admington census of 1871, when his place of birth was incorrectly recorded as Shipston-on-Stour, when on ever other occasion in his life, it was confirmed as Admington. On leaving school, George did what the majority of young men did in a rural environment, when he began work as an agricultural labourer, and that was how he was described in 1881, when he was 18 and still living with his family at Lower Admington.

Just over six years later George Collett married Emma Prew at Stanway, the event recorded at Winchcombe (Ref. 6a 331) during the third quarter of 1887. The birth of Emma Prew was recorded at Evesham, after which she was baptised at Saintbury on 26^th November 1865, the daughter of Noah and Hannah Prew. Noah was born at Stanway and was a carter who travelled a lot, each of his children born at a different location. His daughter Emma was five in the Saintbury census of 1871, but by 1881, when Emma was 15 and still attending school, she and her family had settled in Stanway. It was there also, that the first child of George Collett and Emma Prew was born, Stanway being nine miles south-west of Saintbury. The child’s birth was recorded at Winchcombe although, on just one occasion, his place of birth was said to be Hornsleasow, near Moreton-in-Marsh. The Stanway census, conducted in 1891, recorded the family as George Collett, aged 28 and from Admington, who was an agricultural labourer, his wife Emma Collett from Saintbury who was 25, and their one-year-old son George Collett of Stanway. Lodging with the family was Emma’s older brother, George Prew from Laverton, who was 29 and another agricultural labourer.

Shortly after that census day, it would appear that the family of three moved thirteen miles north-east to the Gloucestershire county boundary with Warwickshire, where the couple’s next two children were born. It was at Hidcote Boyce where Ellen Collett was born and at Hidcote Bartrim where Florence Collett was born. Another family move took place after that and prior to 1897, which saw the family living at Blackwell, near Stretton-on-Fosse, on the west side of Fosse Way, not far from Tredington and only four miles east of the Hidcotes. It was at Blackwell, just north of Shipston-on-Stour, that the family was living in April 1901, it being at Shipston register office where the births of the children were recorded. George Collett of Admington was 38 and was working on a local farm as a shepherd, while his wife Emma of Saintbury was 35, and their children were George who was 11, Ellen who was eight, Florence Emily who was six, Walter Victor who was three, and baby Charlotte who was one year old.

Five years later, the couple were blessed by the arrival of their last child, who was also born while the family was still living at Blackwell. According to the census in 1911, the family was recorded as still living at Blackwell, and was made up of George, aged 48 and from Ilmington, who was employed as a shepherd on a farm, his wife Emma aged 45 and from Saintbury, and four of their six children. The two eldest daughters, who were 19 and 17 respectively, had already left the family home by then, and were recorded elsewhere living and working in Warwickshire.

Of the couple’s other four children, who were still living in the family home at Blackwell on that day, George Collett was 21, a farm labourer from Stanway, Walter Victor Collett was 13 and working as a plough boy, Charlotte Collett was 11, and Wilfred Collett was four years old. Rather curiously, the census of 1911 conflicts slightly with the details in the census of 1901, by stating that the three youngest children had been born at Tredington, rather than nearby in Blackwell. George and Emma Collett were still living at Blackwell in Warwickshire in July 1916, when they received the sad news of the death of their son Walter, who was killed in action during the Great War. It may have been around five years after that tragic event, and after son Wilfred had completed his schooling in Tredington, having walk there from Blackwell every day, that George and Emma left Blackwell and moved a short distance into a cottage at Stretton-on-Fosse. Accompanying them there, were two of the couple’s children, Charlotte who was known as Dot, and Wilfred who was known as Wilf.

It was at Stretton-on-Fosse where George passed away at the age of 64, his death recorded at nearby Shipston-on-Stour register office (Ref. 6d 84) during the second quarter of 1927. Exactly one year after being made a widow, Emma was still living in the cottage at Stretton where she died, although the death of Emma Collett was recorded at Warwick register office (Ref. 6d 56) during the second quarter of 1928 when she was 62 years old. It is understood, from a conversation between Bobbie Anderson – Wilf’s granddaughter, and her aunt, that George and Emma were both buried in an unmarked grave within the churchyard of St Peter’s Church in Stretton-on-Fosse. Our thanks go to the aforementioned Bobbie, who kindly supplied the family information for the August 2022 up date of this family line.

11Q26

George Collett

Born in 1889 at Stanway, Glos.

11Q27

Ellen Collett

Born in 1892 at Hidcote Boyce

11Q28

Florence Emily Collett

Born in 1894 at Hidcote Bartrim

11Q29

Walter Victor Collett

Born in 1897 at Blackwell, Warks.

11Q30

Charlotte Collett

Born in 1899 at Blackwell, Warks.

11Q31

Wilfred Collett

Born in 1907 at Blackwell, Warks.

11P21

Emma Collett was born at Admington in 1865 and was baptised at St Swithun’s Church in Quinton on 29^th September 1867 in a joint ceremony with her brother George and sister Kate. Emma’s birth was recorded at Shipston-on-Stour (Ref. 6d 100) during the second quarter of 1865. In 1871 she was five years old and later, in the 1881 Census, she was listed as being 15 years of age and was living with her family at Lower Admington. It was seven years after that when Emma Collett married John Newman, the event being recorded at Stratford-upon-Avon (Ref. 6d 901) during the second quarter of 1888. The two witnesses at the wedding ceremony were John Plant Stanley and Sarah Elizabeth Horsman.

#14

Over the next twelve years Emma presented John with four children while they were living in Stratford-upon-Avon, where John had been born. In March 1901, the family of six was living in a three-room dwelling at 4 Chapel Lane in Stratford from where John Newman was working as a brickyard labourer at the age of 45. His wife Emma Newman was 35 and from Admington and their four children were Gertrude Newman who was eleven, Ethel Newman who was nine, Gladys Newman who was four, and Percy Newman who was one year old. Visiting the family that day was Emma’s younger sister Annie Collett (below) who was 20 and from Admington.

#14

During the following year Emma gave birth to her last child by John Newman, who died not long after. Both of those events were confirmed in the census of 1911, by which time, her two eldest children had left the family home and were living and working in the Ladywood area of Birmingham at the home of licenced victualler John Garraghan and his wife Annie Collett, Emma’s youngest married sister. The census return for that year described Emma Newman as being 46 and a widow from Admington, who was working as a waitress to support her three youngest children. They were Gladys Newman aged 14, Percy Newman aged 11 and Doris Newman who was eight years old. On that occasion, the family was residing at 40 Rother Street in Stratford-upon-Avon. It was nine years later that Emma Newman died, her death at the age of 54 was recorded at Stratford register office (Ref. 6d 1002) during the first three months of 1920.

#14

11P22

Kate Collett was born at Admington in 1867, her birth recorded at Shipston-on-Stour (Ref. 6d 300) during the third quarter of the year. She was then was baptised at St Swithun’s Church in Quinton on 29^th September 1867 in a joint ceremony with her brother George and sister Emma. In 1781 she was three years of age and by the time of the 1881 Census she was 13 years old when she was living with her family at Lower Admington. It is possible that Kate became a nurse maid on completing her education, an occupation that identified her working at the home of Robert and Emma Peel at Vyse Street in Birmingham in 1891. Robert Peel was a manager for a diamond merchant, with Kate helping Emma Peel to care for their two young children. Seven and a half years later, the marriage of Kate Collett, daughter of John Collett, took place at Immanuel Church in Birmingham on 4^th September 1898, the groom being Alfred Smith, son of Henry Smith. Both Kate and Alfred were recorded as being 30 years of age.

It was at Holloway Head in Birmingham where the couple was living in 1901, Alfred was 34 and a furniture removal man, Kate was also 34, son Alfred was two, and daughter Florrie had only just been born. By 1911, Alfred and Kate had four children living with them at Birmingham, when warehouseman Alfred from Birmingham and Kate from Admington were both 42, while their four children were Alfred Clifford Smith who was 12, Florrie Smith who was ten, William Smith who was four, and Mabel Smith who was under one-year-old. All four of them had been born in Birmingham.

11P23

William Thomas Collett was born at Admington in 1870, his birth recorded at Shipston-on-Stour (Ref. 6d 190) during the first quarter of the year as simply William Collett. During the following two years, his parents added a second forename, resulting in him being baptised at St Swithun’s Church in Quinton on 31^st December 1871 as William Thomas Collett. He was another child of John Collett and Harriet Cook Waters, who was recorded as William Collett, aged one-year in the Admington census of 1871, before he was baptised. Thereafter, as far as can be as curtained, he was known as Thomas or Tom, and it was as Tom Collett from Admington that he was eleven years of age, when living at Lower Admington with his family in 1881. Ten years later, Thomas Collett from Admington was 21 and working as a general labourer, who was again listed with his family at Admington in the census of 1891.

It was just after the start of the new century that Thomas Collett married Selina Mary Ann Saunders Batchelor, the daughter of John and Mary Batchelor, who was born at Quinton near Admington in 1866. The couple’s marriage was recorded at Birmingham (Ref. 6d 99) during the first three months of 1900. The witnesses are the wedding ceremony were George Henry Cosnett and Myra Felton. Shortly after they were married, the couple settled in the Ladywood district of Birmingham, where Thomas’ brother John (below) was also living at that time, and where Thomas’ older married sister Kate Smith (above) was less than two miles away. By the time of the Birmingham census in the following year, Selina had presented Thomas with the first of their two daughters. The census return in March 1901, revealed that Thomas Collett from Admington was 31 and employed as a contractor’s carter, who was residing at a three-roomed dwelling on (Back) Ruston Street in Birmingham. His wife Selina Mary Ann Collett from Upper Quinton was 34, and their baby daughter Ethel Florence was five months old.

#14

The couple’s second daughter was born six years later, so the Birmingham family in April 1911 comprised Thomas Collett who was 41 and a carter, Selina Mary Ann who was 43, Ethel Florence who was 10, and Edna May Annie who was three years of age. Living with the family at 3 Vine Place, on Ruston Street in Ladywood, was 17-year-old George Walter Raymond Batchelor, a gardener from Broadway in Worcestershire who was Selina’s nephew. The census return that year confirmed the couple had been married for eleven years, during which time they had given birth to just the two children. Selina Mary Ann Collett nee Batchelor was 86 and a widow when she passed away in Birmingham, where her death was recorded (Ref. 9c 51) during the second quarter of 1954. The only death of a Thomas Collett of the right age, was recorded at East Preston on the south coast in Sussex, during 1915, at the age of 45. So, it is possible that he was somehow involved with the home defence in the First World War.

#14

The birth of the aforementioned George Walter Raymond Batchelor from Broadway was recorded at Evesham (Ref. 6c 323) during the third quarter of 1893, the second child of Richard and Elizabeth Batchelor, Richard being two years older than Selina, and therefore very likely they were siblings. In addition to this, Evelyn Bachelor who married Albert Wilfred Collett (11Q23) in 1932, may have been another member of the same family. What is known for sure is that George was killed on 22^nd March 1918, while serving on the frontline at Flanders as Private 9269 George Walter Raymond Batchelor with 11^th Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. His home address was recorded in his military records as Ardens Grafton in Warwickshire.

#14

11Q32

Ethel Florence Collett

Born in October 1900 at Ladywood

11Q33

Edna May Annie Collett

Born in 1907 at Ladywood

11P24

John Collett was born at Admington in 1873, a son of John Collett and Harriet Cook Waters, who was four years old when he was baptised at St Swithun’s Church in Quinton on 30^th December 1877. That was also the same day that his younger sister Eliza (below) was baptised with him in a joint ceremony. He was eight years old in the Lower Admington census of 1881, and was recorded as 18 years old and a general labourer working with his brother Thomas (above) in the next Admington census in 1891. On both occasions he was living with his family. Like many members of the Collett families of Admington, John later moved north to the Ladywood district of Birmingham. However, it was also during the late 1890s that he married Ann from Pebworth near Admington and, although it has not been discovered where it was that they were married, their first known child was born at Ladywood, the birth of Amy Collett recorded at Birmingham (Ref. 6d 38) during the third quarter of 1899. In all, Ann presented John with a total of five children, with two of them suffering infant/childhood deaths.

It was also in Ladywood that the family of three was subsequently recorded living in 1901, near to where John’s brother Thomas (above) and married sister Kate (above), were also living at that time. John Collett, aged 27 and from Admington, was working as a coal carter and carrier, living with his wife and daughter at 151 St Vincent Street. His wife was listed as Annie Collett who was 25 and from Pebworth in Gloucestershire, while their daughter was Amy Collett who was one year old and born at Birmingham. Living with the family on that occasion was Albert Hughes aged 20 from Admington, who was also a contractor’s carter.

Two more children were added to the family over the next six years, by which time the family had settled in the Olton district of Solihull. The birth of the couple’s daughter Lily Collett was recorded at Solihull (Ref. 6d 653) during the third quarter in 1906. At the end of that decade, the April census in 1911 recorded the family still living in the Ladywood area of Birmingham. At that time John Collett from Admington was 37 when he was employed by a coal merchant as a coal caster. His wife of thirteen years, Ann Collett of Pebworth, was 35 and under the census form heading Personal Occupation was written the single word ‘school’. According to the census return, during their life together, Ann had given birth to five children with only three still living. They were Amy Collett, who was 11 and her place of birth was given as Ladywood, Lily Collett who was four and Robert Collett who was three years old, both of them were listed as having born at Olton (Solihull) in Warwickshire.

The death of John Collett was recorded at Birmingham North register office (Ref. 6d 434) during the second quarter of 1932, when he was 59 years of age and residing within the Birmingham North district of the city.

11Q34

Amy Collett

Born in 1899 at Ladywood

11Q35

Lily Collett

Born in 1906 at Olton, Solihull

11Q36

Robert Collett

Born in 1908 at Olton, Solihull

11P25

Mark Collett was born at Admington in 1875, his birth recorded at Shipston-on-Stour (Ref. 6d 320) during the second quarter of the year. It was the following year when he was baptised at St Swithun’s Church in Quinton on 18^th July 1876, another son of John and Harriet Collett. In the 1881 Census he was listed as being five years of age and living with her family at Lower Admington. Ten years later, Mark was 15 and still at school and still living with his family at Admington. At 24 years of age, Mark Collett from Admington was unmarried and was working as a general labourer while a lodger at the Whitchurch home of the Warrin family. Whitchurch may have been a reference to Whitchurch Farm at Wimpstone, just south of Stratford. However, within the next four years he met and married Annie Walker Bradshaw.

It was within the next four years that the wedding of Mark Collett and Annie Walker Bradshaw took place at Stratford-upon-Avon on 19^th December 1905 and was recorded there at the register office (Ref. 6d 302). At that time Mark’s occupation was stated as being that of a gas stoker. The marriage certificate also confirmed he was 29 and that his father was labourer John Collett. Annie’s age was confirmed as 27, and that she was the daughter of house painter John Bradshaw of Stratford and his wife Elizabeth from Acton in London. At the time of her birth in 1880, Annie was living with her family at 33 Birmingham Road in Stratford. At the turn of the century and prior to the marriage, Annie was working in Stratford as a general domestic servant.

Ten years later the couple had settled in Stratford-upon-Avon, where Mark of Admington was 33 and Annie of Stratford-upon-Avon was 30. With them were their two daughters Lillian, who was six, and Nellie who was two years old. The record also stated that the couple had been married for seven years. At that time in April 1911, the family was living at 6 Cherry Street in Stratford, from where Mark was working as a fellmonger’s labourer. A fellmonger is someone who removes the hair from animal hides in the preparation for tanning. They were two boarders staying with the Collett family on that occasion, one of whom was fellmonger Robert Gill, a married man from Bootle, while the other was seventy-year-old thatcher William Wyatt from Hoxcote.

Mark Collett died at The (Old) Thatch Tavern on Greenhill Street in Stratford-upon-Avon, his death recorded at Stratford register office (Ref. 9c 108) during the final quarter of 1950, when he was 75 years old. After six years as a widow, Annie Walker Collett, nee Bradshaw, died in Stratford Hospital, her death recorded at Stratford-upon-Avon register office (Ref. 9c 21) during the fourth quarter of 1956, at the age of 78.

11Q37

Lillian Maud Collett

Born in 1904 at Stratford-upon-Avon

11Q38

Nellie Collett

Born in 1908 at Stratford-upon-Avon

11P26

Eliza Collett was born at Admington in 1877, her birth recorded at Shipston-on-Stour (Ref. 6d 202) during the last three months of the year. Shortly after she was born, she was joined by her four-year-old brother John (above) who were baptised together at St Swithun’s Church in Quinton on 30^th December 1877. She was three years old in 1881 when living at Lower Admington with her family, and was 13 in 1891 when she was still living were her parents, John and Harriet Collett. No further record of Eliza has so far been found.

11P27

Annie Collett was born at Admington in September 1880 according to the Lower Admington census of 1881, in which she was listed as being seven months old. That was also confirmed by the recording of her birth at Shipston-on-Stour (Ref. 6d 362) during the third quarter of 1880, after which she was baptised at St Swithun’s Church in Quinton on 14^th November 1880. She was ten years of age in 1891, when Annie and her family were still living at Admington. At the age of twenty years, Annie was a visitor at 4 Chapel Lane in Stratford-upon-Avon, the home of her married older sister Emma Newman nee Collett (above), when her place of birth was confirmed as Admington in the census return for 1901. Four years after that, the marriage of Annie Collett and John Garraghan was recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 6d 266) during the first three months of 1905. Within the next three months their son James Garraghan was born on 19^th May 1905 and, much later, when he was seven years of age, he was baptised on 13^th December 1912, but as Jacob Garraghan, the son of John and Annie Collett Garraghan.

John Garraghan was two years younger than Annie, having been born at Wolverhampton St Peters during 1882, by whom she had just the one son. By April 1911, Annie Garraghan from Admington was 30 and was living within the Ladywood area of Birmingham with her husband John Garraghan aged 28, and their son James who was five years old. John was a licenced victualler within the brewery industry, who was assisted by his wife. Employed by the couple, at their drinking premises, were two of Annie’s nieces, Gertrude, and Ethel Newman, the two eldest child of Annie’s older sister Emma Newman, nee Collett (above). Gertrude was 22 and from Stratford-upon-Avon, as was Ethel who was 19. On 15^th April 1933, son James Patrick Garraghan, aged 27, married Inez Carpenter, aged 20, at the Immanuel Church in Birmingham, when the two fathers were named as John Garraghan and William Henry Carpenter.

11P28

James Collett was born at Admington in 1882, his birth recorded at Shipston-on-Stour (Ref. 6d 31) during the fourth quarter of that year. Upon being baptised, at the parish Church of St Swithun in Quinton on 16^th January 1883, his parents were confirmed as John and Harriet Collett. He was listed with his family in 1891, when he was eight years old, but ten years later he was a boarder at the home of the Trotman family on Shakespeare Street in Stratford-upon-Avon when he was 18 and a general labourer. After a further decade, he was listed in the census of 1911 as James Collett from Admington who was 28 and a labourer. By that time in his life, he was a married man with a daughter, who was staying in a boarding house at 6 Arden Terrace in Stratford-upon-Avon, the home of Helen Barnett, aged 41, the widow of Henry Barnett, the father of her daughter Doris Barnett who was 11. The census also confirmed that James had been married for seven years, the marriage having produced one child who was with him that day. His daughter Elsie May Collett was described as having been born in Stratford, who was six years old and attending school.

Where his wife was that day, if she was alive, has not been discovered. However, the marriage of James Collett was recorded at Stratford-on-Avon register office (Ref. 6d 363) during the third quarter of 1904. Also named were two possible brides; Mary Ashton Baker and Alice Mary Bishop, neither of whom have been identified in the census of 1911 or the earlier census of 1901. The birth of Elsie May Collett, the daughter of James Collett, was recorded at Stratford-upon-Avon register office (Ref. 6d 49) during the third quarter of 1904, the same quarter that James became a married man. This family still remains a mystery.

11Q39

Elsie May Collett

Born in 1904 at Stratford-upon-Avon

11P30

Ernest Collett was born at Barford near Stratford-upon-Avon in 1873 and was baptised there on 3^rd August 1873, the first of the eight children of Joseph Collett and Ann Neal. By the time he was seven years old the family had moved twice, the first time to Kenilworth around 1875 and the second to Leek Wootton before 1881. At the age of 17 he was the oldest of seven children still living with his parents who had then moved south-west to Worcestershire and the village of Charlton within the Evesham parish of Cropthorne, with the family settled at Yessell Lane.

No trace of Ernest has been found in the census of 1901, and that was because he was a member of the British Army, most likely taking an active part in South Africa for Boer War. However, by 1911, he was back living with his widowed mother at her house on Yessell Lane, when the census return confirmed he was unmarried at the age of 37 and had been born at Barford in Warwickshire. On that occasion, the census return that year described him as a former soldier and a sergeant with the Metropolitan Foot Police. Also still living there, were Ernest’s three younger siblings Mary, Albert, and Geoffrey (below).

It looks as though Ernest was probably an army reservist, who was then working in London, but visiting mother following the death of his father four years earlier. Just over two years later, he was discharged from military service on 26^th December 1913, following which he received a pension of twenty-one pence per day. His military records provided additional information, such as his service number 575, his next-of-kin as Ann Collett, his mother of Yessell Lane in Charlton, Evesham. The last entry suggests that he was at home from 11^th September 1914 until 26^th May 1916, the latter being the date of his finally discharge, when he was deemed to be no longer physically fit to serve. In total he served for twenty-one years, during which time he was in the East Indies, South Africa, Malta and Gibraltar. The medals he was awarded confirm that he saw action in the Boer War, hence his absence in the 1901. They were the Queen’s South Africa Medal and Clasp for the Battle of Modder River (1899) and the Good Conduct Medal (1911).

#14

11P31

Louisa Jane Collett was born at Barford in 1874 and was baptised there as just Louisa Collett on 27^th September 1874, the daughter of Joseph and Ann Collett. Her birth as Louisa Jane Collett was recorded at Warwick (Ref. 6c 537) during the third quarter of that same year. It was as Louisa J Collett, aged six years, that she was recorded in the census of 1881, by which time she and her family were living in Leek Wootton where her father was the manager of the Cooperative Stores on the High Street. However, she was not listed as living with her family after they moved to Charlton near Evesham around the middle of the 1880s, nor has any further record of her been found. Contrary to what was previously written here, the Louisa from Barford, who married Henry James Marshall at Worksop in 1895 and was living there with their family in 1901 and 1911, has now been revealed as Louisa Willis. She was born and baptised at Barford on 1^st November 1874, the daughter of Arthur and Elizabeth Willis.

11P32

George Robert Collett was born at Leamington in 1876 and was baptised at the Church of St John in Leamington Priors on 29^th October 1876, the son of Joseph and Ann Collett. Just after he was born his family moved to Kenilworth for a short while, before another moved took them to Leek Wootton where they were living in early 1881 and where George was listed in the census as being four years old. Ten years later in 1891, George was 14 and was living with his family at Yessell Lane in Charlton Entire, and it was very likely at Charlton that he later met his future wife. The marriage of George Robert Collett and Adeline Sophia Corbett was recorded at Pershore register office (Ref. 6c 627) during the second quarter of 1900. Adeline was born at Fladbury near Charlton in 1876 and, at the age of four years, she was living with her parents James and Jane Corbett at Doctors Barn in Fladbury. Fladbury and Charlton are adjacent villages that lie to the east of Pershore and north-west of Evesham.

#14

Less than a year later, the census return for 1901, included George R Collett of Leamington, aged 24, who was working as a labourer at a local market garden in Charlton Entire, close by where his parents were living at that time. With George was his new wife Adeline Collett who was 24 and from Fladbury. George’s father Joseph Collett was a market gardener at Charlton Entire so it would seem very likely that George was employed by his father in what may have been the family business. According to the census that took place at the end of March George and Adeline had not yet started a family. However, there were major changes for the family over the following years with first the birth of a son and then a move south to the Bristol area.

By April 1911 the family of three was living in the Long Ashton area to the immediate south-west of Bristol where George Robert Collett was 34, as was his wife Adeline Sophia Collett, while their only son was eight years old. Over fifty years later George Robert Collett was residing at 162 Lyndon Road in Solihull when he died on 11^th March 1966 at the age of 89, his death recorded at Solihull register office (Ref. 9c 1265). Probate was granted at Birmingham on 16^th May 1966 to his son Douglas George Ellis Collett who was a bricklayer, the personal effects of the deceased being valued at £626.

#14

George spent the last six years of his life as a widower following the death of his wife Adeline Sophia Collett nee Corbett on 11^th January 1960. Also at that time, the couple was living at 162 Lyndon Road in Solihull, as confirmed during the probate process. Her Will was proved at Birmingham on 25^th February 1960 and named her husband George Robert Collett, a retired gardener, as the sole executor of her personal effects worth £336 8 Shillings and 5 Pence.

#14

11Q40

Douglas Ellis George Collett

Born in 1902 at Charlton

11P33

Joseph Collett was born at Kenilworth in 1879, just prior to his family moving to Leek Wootton where they were living in 1881. The birth of Joseph Collett was recorded at Warwick (Ref. 6d 632) during the second quarter of 1879 following which he was baptised at Kenilworth on 8^th June 1879, the son of baker Joseph Collett and his wife Ann. In 1881 Joseph was one year old when he and his family was living and working at the Cooperative Store in the village of Leek Wootton, midway between Warwick and Kenilworth. According to the next census of 1891 Joseph was 12 and had already completed his schooling and was working as a plough boy. At that time, he and his family were living on Yessell Lane in the village of Charlton to the north-west of Evesham.

The marriage of Joseph Collett married Fanny Dyer took place just over nine years later and was recorded at Evesham register office (Ref. 6c 627) during the last quarter of 1900. Fanny was the daughter of agricultural labourer James Dyer of Evesham and his wife Sarah A Dyer of South Littleton, where Fanny had been born. In 1881 Fanny was one year old and was living with her family on Evesham Road in South Littleton, less than three miles from Evesham. The young couple’s marriage in 1900 was confirmed by the census in 1901 when both Joseph and Fanny were 21 years old and still living in Charlton within the parish of Cropthorne. Joseph’s occupation at that time was that of a carter working on a farm and, it is very likely that, his wife Fanny was already expecting their first child, which was born later that same year.

At that same in in March 1901, Fanny’s parents were living in the nearby village of Offenham, from where James Dyer was a labourer on a farm. That begs the question, were son-in-law and father-in-law working on the same farm and it was also to Offenham that Joseph and Fanny moved two years later, where they and their family were living in April 1911. By that time the marriage had produced three children for the couple, the first born at Charlton, with the second two children born after the family had settled in Offenham.

The census return that year recorded the family as residing at Knowledge Cottages in Offenham, just north-east of Evesham, where Joseph was 31 and a domestic groom and gardener from Kenilworth, while his wife of ten years, Fanny was also 31 and from South Littleton. Their three children were listed as Ernest Grosvenor Collett who was nine, Hilda Mary Collett who was six and Wilfred Arthur Collett who was five years old.

It may have been at the time of his retirement that Joseph and Fanny ended up leaving the English mainland and sailed across the Solent to live out their final years on the Isle of Wight. The death of Joseph Collett, at the age of 82, was recorded at the Isle of Wight register office (Ref. 6b 1083) during the first three months of 1962. Nine years later, the death of his widow Fanny Collett nee Dyer, was recorded there (Ref. 6b 2699) in the first months of 1971, when her date of birth was stated as being 13^th August 1879.

#14

11Q41

Ernest Grosvenor Collett

Born in 1902 at Charlton, Worcs.

11Q42

Hilda Mary Collett

Born in 1904 at Offenham, Worcs.

11Q43

Wilfred Arthur Collett

Born in 1906 at Offenham, Worcs.

11P34

Mary Collett was born at Leek Wootton in April 1881 with her birth recorded at Warwick (Ref. 6d 623) during the second quarter of that year. The census in 1881 was conducted on Sunday 3^rd April, around the time that Mary had been born and before she had been named by her parents. She was therefore simply referred to as ‘infant Collett un-named’. At the age of nearly two months, Mary Collett was baptised at Leek Wootton on 29^th May 1881 and confirmed as the daughter of Joseph and Ann Collett. Around five years later her father gave up being a grocer/baker, when he took the family to Charlton near Evesham, where he established a market garden.

On the day of the census in 1891, Mary Collett was 10 years old when she was living with her family at Yessell Lane in Charlton. Ten years later, at the age of 20, she was still living with her parents at Yessell Lane on The Green, where her father died in 1907. It is possible that Mary never married since, in 1911, she was still a spinster at the age of 30, when she was living at Yessell Lane, the home of her widowed mother Ann Collett who was 62. Also living there on that occasion were three of her siblings; her older brother Ernest (above), and younger brothers Albert and Geoffrey (below). Mary’s place of birth was confirmed as Leek Wootton and, with no occupation listed, it can perhaps be assumed that she was acting as housekeeper for her mother and her brothers.

11P35

Florence Collett was possibly born at Leek Wootton in 1884, while her birth was recorded at Evesham (Ref. 6c 357) during the first three months of the year. Florence was six years of age at the time of the census of 1891 when she was living with her family at Yessell Lane in Charlton. Upon finishing her schooling, Florence entered domestic service and was working at the Worcestershire Bengeworth home, on Elm Road, of corn seed merchant’s clerk Percy Wright and his wife Janet. On that census day in 1901, general domestic servant Florence Collett was 16, when her employer gave her place of birth as Broadway. After a further ten years, Florence Collett was 26, unmarried, and a cook, domestic servant, at a property in the Burnham area of Buckinghamshire. Within two years she had returned home, when the marriage of Florence Collett and Henry Rowe was recorded at Pershore register office (Ref. 6c 397) during the last quarter of 1913. The only child arising from a Rowe-Collett marriage was Ronald R Rowe, whose birth was recorded at Coventry register office (Ref. 6c 1260) during the first three months of 1923, when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett.

#16

11P36

Albert Collett was born at Yessell Lane, Charlton Entire in 1888, with his birth recorded at Pershore (Ref. 6c 313) during the third quarter of that year. He was the seventh of the eight children of Joseph Collett and Ann Neal. Albert was two years old when he and his family were living at Yessell Lane in Charlton in 1891, and perhaps it was there that he was born. Ten years later, when Albert was 12 years of age, the family was still residing in Charlton in 1901, and at Yessell Lane on The Green. Six years after that census day, Albert’s father died and, having already left school and worked with his father up until then, he took over the running of the family market gardening business. By April 1911, at the age of 22, and with his place of birth confirmed as Charlton, Albert was living there at Yessell Lane with his widowed mother. Also living there was his older brother Ernest (above) a policeman, his sister Mary (above), and his younger brother Geoffrey (below). Four years after losing his father, Albert Collett was still working with his brother Geoffrey on the family’s market garden business.

In the previous version of this family line, unfortunately, we had a case of the mis-identity of Gertrude Annie Dyer. Now, thanks to Richard Alan Collett (Ref. 11R16) her grandson, we have the correct details for the Gertrude who married Albert Collett. She was born on 12^th January 1898 at Stratford-on-Avon, and not in Cornwall in 1899, with her birth recorded at Stratford register office (Ref. 6d 713) as Gertrude Annie Bennett. Her mother was Susannah Bennett but her father's name is not known. Susannah later married Robert Dyer in 1900 who, subsequently, adopted Gertrude, hence the change of name from Bennett to Dyer. That situation was confirmed in the 1901 census when Gertrude A Bennett from Stratford-on-Avon was three years of age and living in the village of Atherstone-on-Stour. Head of the household was Robert Dyer aged 32 and a farm labourer, whose wife was Susan Dyer aged 20, Gertrude’s mother.

#16

Ten years later it was still as Gertrude Bennett that she was recorded with her mother and stepfather at Yessel Lane in the village of Charlton, north-west of Evesham, where her future husband Albert was also living with his family. By time she was 13, had left school, and was working as a domestic servant, and had three half-siblings. Robert Dyer was 42 and working for a market gardener, Susannah Dyer was 31, and their three children were Beatrice Dyer aged nine, Robert Dyer junior who was six and born after the family had settled in Charlton, and Kathleen Dyer who was three years of age. Also at that time, young Albert Collett had taken over his late father’s market gardening business, with whom Robert Dyer may well have been employed that year.

Three years later the country became involved in the First World War with Albert possibly playing an active part and delaying any chance of Albert and Gertrude getting together. Ater the war, the country was badly affected by the flu pandemic, delaying further any plans that they may have been making. In the end, the marriage of Albert Collett, aged 36, and Gertrude Annie Dyer, aged 26, was recorded at Pershore register office (Ref. 6c 251) during the first three months of 1925.

Over the next seven years, Gertrude gave birth to four children whose births were all recorded at Pershore register office, when their mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Dyer. Although the births were recorded at Pershore, the children may have been born at Charlton where Albert continued with the family market gardening business. The much later death of Albert Collett was recorded at Pershore register office (Ref. 9d 237) during the first three months of 1961, when he was 72 years old. His younger widow survived him by twenty years, with the death of Gertrude Annie Collett recorded at Birmingham register office (Vol. 32 138) towards the end of 1981.

11Q44

Geoffrey M Collett

Born in 1926 at Pershore, Worcs.

#16

11Q45

Kathleen M Collett

Born in 1927 at Pershore, Worcs.

#16

11Q46

William D Collett

Born in 1928 at Pershore, Worcs.

#16

11Q47

Richard D Collett

Born in 1932 at Pershore, Worcs.

#16

11P37

Geoffrey Collett was born at Yessell Lane, Charlton Entire in 1890, where he was not yet one year old at the time of the census of 1891. Ten years later at ten years of age, Geoffrey was still living at Charlton Entire with his market gardener father Joseph Collett and his mother. However, within the next few years his father died. According to the census of 1911, Geoffrey and his older brothers Ernest and Albert (above) were still living with their widowed mother at Yessell Lane in Charlton. Geoffrey, who was 20 and born at Charlton, and Albert, were both working as market gardeners, while their older sister Mary (above) was very likely the housekeeper.

11P39

Annie Maria Collett was born at Ellenhall, in Staffordshire, in 1870 with her birth recorded at Stafford (Ref. 6b 225) during the second quarter of the year and significantly after she had been baptised at St Mary’s Church in Ellenhall on 5^th March 1870. The church baptism record confirmed that she was the daughter of John and Elizabeth Collett, Annie being the first-born child of John Collett and Elizabeth Hammond, who was one year old and eleven years of age in the following two Ellenhall censuses of 1871 and 1881. One leaving school, Annie, and her sister Rosa (below) attended a draper’s training college in Cross Cheaping in the centre of Coventry, where they were both recorded in 1891, when they were draper’s assistants, under master draper William Ware from London. If it was William who aided the census enumerator to complete the census return, then it is his error that Annie M Collett from Staffordshire was recorded as being only 19, instead of 21.

Six and a half years later, when Annie was 27, she was married at St Mary’s Church in Ellenhall on 7^th September 1897 to Arthur Edward Turner, who was also 27, and from 92 Fylde Street in Boston, Lincolnshire. The father of Annie Marie was confirmed as John Collett, and Andrew’s father was stated as being James Turner. Upon being married, Andrew took his wife back to Boston, where their first child was born just prior to the census day in 1901. The completed census return placed the family of three residing at Granville Street in Boston. Arthur E Turner from Bath was 30 and an assistant superintendent working for an assurance company. His wife Annie M Turner from Ellenhall was 31 and their son George E Turner was under one year old, having been born in Boston.

One more child was added to the family at Boston, after the birth of which the family later moved 15 miles south to Spalding, where the four family members were recorded in the census of 1911. That day Arthur Edward Turner was 40 and a superintending agent acting on behalf of an assurance company. Annie Marie Turner from Ellenhall was 41, and the couple’s two children were listed a George Edward Turner aged ten, and Gwendoline Mary Turner who was seven, both of them born at Boston. Thirty-five years after that census day, the death of Annie Maria Turner was recorded at Cleethorpes in Lincolnshire, where she was buried on 1^st April 1946, at the age of 74.

11P40

Rosa Gertrude Collett was born in 1872 at Ellenhall, her birth was recorded at Stafford (Ref. 6b 326) during the third quarter of the year. It was at St Mary’s Church in Ellenhall where she was baptised on 29^th September 1872, another daughter of John and Elizabeth Collett. In the Ellenhall census of 1881, Rosa G Collett was eight years old and, after a further ten years, Rosa, and her older sister Annie (above) were undergoing training as drapers with master tailor William Ware from London at Cross Cheaping in Coventry in 1891, when she was said to be 17 years of age. On completing her training and coming out as a draper’s assistant, Rosa returned to Ellenhall, where she later married William Lawrence Hagley at St Mary’s Church on 10^th May 1899, the event recorded at Stafford register office (Ref. 6b 285). The church marriage register stated the William was 38 and from Clevedon in Somerset, the son of Edward Hagley, and that Rosa was 25 and the daughter of John Collett.

After the wedding ceremony, Rosa said goodbye to her Staffordshire family, when William returned to Somerset with his much younger bride. It seems highly likely that he and Rosa met as a result of their occupations, since William was also a draper. It was at Clevedon, where William was born, that the couple and their first child were living in 1901, on Queens Road. Draper William L Hagley was 38, Rosa G Hagley from Ellenhall was 26, when Edith E Hagley was under one year old and had been born at Clevedon. Employed by the family, was domestic servant Eva M R Plumley who was 15 and from Wraxall in Wiltshire. Three more children were born into the family during the following decade, with the family still living at Queens Road, the home name being Selwood House. William’s drapery business was so successful by 1911, that he needed to employ four female shop assistants, one domestic servant for the home, plus a nursemaid to help his wife with the care of their four children. That year William Lawrence Hagley was 48, Rosa Gertrude Hagley was 38, when their four children were Edith Elizabeth Hagley who was ten, Frances Marjorie Hagley who was nine, Edward John Hagley who was seven, and Mary Leah Hagley who was one year old.

11P41

John Harvey Collett was born at Ellenhall in Staffordshire early in 1874, the son of John Collett and Elizabeth Hammond, whose birth was recorded at Stafford (Ref. 6b 346) during the month of April 1874. Three weeks later, John Harvey Collett was baptised at St Mary’s Church in Ellenhall on Saturday 25^th April 1874. It was at Ellenhall that he was living with his family in 1881, when he was seven and, again in 1891, when he was 17. Just after the start of the new century, the marriage of John Harvey Collett and Alice Williams took place on 4^th June 1900 in the small village of Ellenhall, two miles south of Eccleshall and north-west of Stafford. John was recorded as being 26 years old and the son of John Collett, while Alice was 29 and the daughter of Samuel Williams, who had been born at Bromstead, midway between Ellenhall and Telford in Shropshire. On that day, the groom was a resident of Ellenhall, with Alice residing at Ellenhall Park. The event was record at Stafford register office (Ref. 6b 7) during the second quarter of that year when the witness was named as John Newby. Once married the couple settled in Kings Norton, south of Birmingham where, during the following year, their first child was born. According to the Kings Norton census of 1901 John, aged 27, was a general farm labourer, and Alice was 30. With them at that time, was their two-month-old son John C Collett who had been born at Kings Norton, while his parents were simply described as born in Staffordshire.

Over the following decade Alice presented John with a further four children. Shortly after the birth of their first child, John and Alice left Kings Norton and lived at Birlingham, a couple of miles south-west of Pershore, where the birth of their two Birlingham-born children was recorded. By 1908 the family was residing at Elmley Castle, south-east of Birlingham, where the couple’s fourth child was born, with his birth also recorded at Pershore. Three years later, the completed family was still living at Elmley Castle, although curiously, the birth of the couple’s fifth and last child was recorded at Kings Norton. The census conducted at the start of April in 1911, recorded the family as John Harvey Collett of Ellenhall who was 37 and a farm bailiff, his wife Alice from Bromstead in Shropshire who was 39, and their five children were John Charles Collett who was ten years old and born at Kings Norton, Rose Elizabeth Collett who was seven, Frank William Collett who was five, both of them born at nearby Birlingham, Bernard Stanley Collett who was two and born at Elmley Castle, and William Edward Collett who was just two months old and born at Kings Norton. Rather mysteriously, no record of the birth of William Edward Collett has been found anywhere in England at that time.

It would appear that much later in their lives, John and his wife returned to Staffordshire since, at the time of the death of their son John Charles Collett in 1941, it was recorded that his parents were John Harvey and Alice Collett of Mount Pleasant Farm at Ellenhall in Staffordshire. Upon the death of John and Alice their names were added to the Collett family memorial stone at Ellenhall, which also included the names of four of their children John, Rose, Frank and Bernard, plus the spouses of the last three, and a granddaughter – Rose’s daughter. Alice Collett nee Williams died at Ellenhall on 8^th July 1961 at the age of 89 and, nine years later, at the age of 95, John Harvey Collett passed away on 2^nd January 1980.

#14

11Q48

John Charles Collett

Born in 1901 at Kings Norton

11Q49

Rose Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1903 at Birlingham, nr Pershore

11Q50

Frank William Collett

Born in 1906 at Birlingham, nr Pershore

11Q51

Bernard Stanley Collett

Born in 1908 at Elmley Castle, Pershore

11Q52

William Edward Collett

Born in 1911 at Kings Norton

11P42

Francis Edwin Collett was born at Ellenhall in 1875, his birth recorded at Stafford (Ref. 6b 307) during the second quarter of the year. He was baptised at St Mary’s Church in Ellenhall on 4^th July 1875, another son of John Collett and Elizabeth Hammond. As Francis E Collett, he was five years of age in the Ellenhall census of 1881, when living there with his large family, where his was still living in 1891 aged 15. By 1901 he was 25 and unmarried, when he was still living with his parents at Ellenhall, where he was a blacksmith like his father John. At the end of the decade Francis Edwin Collett married Mary Elizabeth Lakin, the wedding recorded at Stafford register office (Ref. 6b 9) during the second quarter of 1910, in front of witnesses Ernest Silvester, Walter Rose and Alice Smith. In the census the following year, Francis Edwin Collett from Ellenhall was 36 and a dairy farmer, when he was still living at Ellenhall with his much younger wife Mary Lizzie Collett who was 23 and from Eccleshall.

#14

Despite the different in their ages, their marriage produced five children during their first ten years together. All five of them were born at Ellenhall, with their births recorded at Stafford register office, when their mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Lakin. Tragically, it was Francis’ much younger wife who passed away first, when the death of Mary L Collett nee Lakin was recorded at Stafford register office (Ref. 9b 503) during the first quarter of 1954, when she was 65. Francis Edwin Collett survived as a widower for exactly five years, when his death was also recorded at Stafford (Ref. 9b 38) during the first three months of 1959, at the age of 83.

11Q53

Elizabeth R Collett

Born in 1913 at Ellenhall

11Q54

Doris A Collett

Born in 1915 at Ellenhall

11Q55

John E Collett

Born in 1917 at Ellenhall

11Q56

Edna M Collett

Born in 1920 at Ellenhall

11Q57

Ruby G Collett

Born in 1921 at Ellenhall

11P43

Fanny Elizabeth Collett was born at Ellenhall in 1878, her birth recorded at Stafford (Ref. 6b 67) during the third quarter of the year. It was at St Mary’s Church in Ellenhall where she was baptised on 29^th September 1878, another daughter of John and Elizabeth Collett. As Fanny E Collett, she was two years old and 12 years of age in the next two Ellenhall census returns in 1881 and 1891. In 1901 she was referred to as Elizabeth Collett who was 23, unmarried with no occupation, who was still living with her parents at Ellenhall. Ten years later she was once again referred to as Elizabeth Collett of Ellenhall, by which time she was 32 and acting as the housekeeper for her widowed father John Collett, while still living with him at Ellenhall.

11P45

George Collett was born at Birmingham in 1882, the second child and eldest surviving son of Robert Collett of Admington and his wife Agnes Catherine Connolly from Manchester. The family was living at 63 Sanderson Street in Harpurhey, North Manchester, in 1891 when George was eight years old. With the death of his father towards the end of the century, George was no longer living with his widowed mother at 39 Lilley Street in Newton Heath, North Manchester in 1901, nor was he with his family at 21 Bradburn Street, Cheetham Hill in Manchester in 1911. However, the reason for his absence may be because he was in Ireland where he certainly was in 1914 at the start of the Great War. And it was at Dublin that George Collett, a Roman Catholic with hazel eyes and black hair, the son of Agnes Collett of 21 Bradburn Street, Cheetham in Manchester joined the 54^th Brigade as a Gunner No 91163. On enlistment he was a labourer born in Birmingham and at the time of his discharge, when he was pronouncing as medically unfit for further service, his address was in Belfast. It is interesting that after 1911 his much younger brother Edmund joined him in Dublin, where he to enlisted with the army in 1914.

#14

11P46

Robert Henry Collett was born at Birmingham in 1883, the third child of Robert and Agnes Collett. Just after he was born, he and his parents, together with his older brother George, moved Manchester where they made their home in the Newton Heath area of North Manchester. For whatever reason, when he was seven years old Robert was admitted to hospital in the Prestwich & Newton Heath area of North Manchester, and it was there that he was recorded in the census on 1891 under his full name, and with an additional note that he had been born in Birmingham, and that he was attending school. According to the same census, his sister Agnes, aged two years, was also in the same hospital at that time, albeit in a different ward.

Towards the end of the old century Robert’s father died in 1898, so by the time of the next census in 1901 Robert H Collett was the oldest of three working children in the family who were supporting their widowed mother. Robert was 17 and his place of birth was once again confirmed as Birmingham. At that time in his life, he was working at a warehouse where he was a maker-up. Ten years later, in April 1911, Robert Henry Collett from Birmingham, was 27 and was married to Mary who was 23. Presumably because they had not long been married, they had no children at that time, when they were living in the Prestwich area of North Manchester, not far from the rest of Robert’s family. However, on the day of the census Mary was only a few weeks away from giving birth to the first of the couple’s two sons.

British Army records indicate that Robert Henry Collett, Private 23111, served with the Manchester Regiment with whom he enlisted on 27^th November 1915. The records also show that in 1916 he was married with two children and that he was aged 31 years and 10 months. His occupation on joining was that of a Wholesale Provision Merchant. He had auburn hair and grey eyes. That same year his wife Mary Collett nee Lewis was living at 9 Edmunds in Monsall with her two sons (the first forename of her eldest son is illegible) but ends with Henry Collett born in May 1911, while the second was Frederick Collett who was born in March 1913. Robert Henry Collett served in France in 1917 and 1918 and was granted leave to return home to England from 22^nd October 1918 until 15^th November 1918, following which he was demobilised in 1919. It was after the Second World war that Robert Henry Collett died at the age of 63, his death recorded at Manchester register office (Ref. 10e 411) during the last quarter of 1947.

#14

11Q58

Henry Collett

Born in 1911 at Prestwich, Lancs

#14

11Q59

Frederick Collett

Born in 1913 at Prestwich. Lancs

#14

11P47

Frederick Collett was born in Manchester in 1885 and was the fourth son of Robert and Agnes Collett. He was five years old and living with his family at 63 Sanderson Street in Harpurhey, North Manchester in 1891 and was 15 in 1901, by which time his father had died and he and his widowed mother, and the rest of the family were residing at 39 Lilley Street in Newton Heath, North Manchester. In the census of 1911 two men who had been born at Manchester with the name Fred Collett were listed; one in Jersey who was 24, and one serving overseas with the military who was 23.

Certainly, it is now established that Frederick Collett served with the King’s Own Royal Lancashire Regiment, as did his younger brother Edmund Collett (below), with whom he was Lance Corporal F Collett, service number 8668. All of his six brothers also took part in the war, and it was Frederick who was the first of three of them to lose their life fighting for King and Country. Frederick Collett was killed in action on 20^th February 1915 and his name appears on the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres. His brother Frank died in 1917, his brother Edmund died in 1918, and his brother Leo was serious injured, but survived.

#14

His military service history includes the following details. The 1914-15 Star shows the rank of Lance Corporal, while the BWM/VM shows his rank as Private. He served with 2^nd Battalion of the King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment) and was part of 83^rd Brigade, 28^th Division. He was recorded as ‘died of his wounds’ and ‘killed in the line’ and the battalion war diary shows they were in the line from early February 1915 in the Zillebeke / Zwarteleen (Hill 60) area. The front line was constantly being overrun and retaken, plus a mine was detonated by the Germans on the 17^th February. Between 11^th.and 17^th February the battalion suffered 109 casualties, plus 140 hospitalised with frostbite. Frederick Collett has no known grave but is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial Leper simply as F Collett. It was only on 16^th January 1915 that he arrived at Le Havre in France from the Division’s base in Winchester. The medals of the brothers Frederick and Edmund Collett are now in the ownership of Ian McCallum.

#15

11P48

Frank Collett was born in Manchester on 25^th February 1887, the son of Robert and Agnes Collett. He was four years old in 1891 and was living at 63 Sanderson Street in Harpurhey, North Manchester with his family and was 15 in 1901 by which time his father had died and Frank, already working as a commercial clerk, was living with his widowed mother at 39 Lilley Street in Newton Heath, North Manchester. By the time of the next census in 1911 the family home was at 21 Bradburn Street, Cheetham Hill in Manchester, although Frank and his brother Robert (above) were no longer living there and instead were living nearby within the same registration district. Frank Collett was 24 and a boot repairer from Manchester when he was a boarder at 36 Merryfield Street in Cheetham, Manchester, the home of William Featherstone.

Two years after Frank Collett sailed to Canada and it was while he was still living there that the First World War started. One year after his brother Frederick (above) was killed in action, Frank enlisted with the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force on 4^th February 1916. On his attestation paper he was described as Frank Collett of 1519 Fifth Street West in Calgary, the son of Mrs Agnes Collett of 21 Bradburn Street in Manchester, and that he had been living in Canada for two years. His occupation was that of a shoemaker, although he stated that he had already served five months with the 103^rd Calgary Regiment. Following his induction, Frank was assigned to the 5^th Canadian Infantry, service number 808414.

As F Collett, Private 808414, the son of the late Robert and Agnes Catherine Collett of 21 Bradburn Street in Cheetham, Manchester, he was killed in action on 3^rd June 1917 when he was serving with Alberta Regiment of the Canadian Infantry. His younger brother Edmund Collett (below) was killed fifteen months later while serving with the King’s Own Lancashire Regiment. His grave is one of the many in the La Chaudiere Military Cemetery at Vimy. While his family details are correct, there is a query that in his military record it states he was 27 when he died, rather than 30.

11P49

Agnes Collett was born in Manchester during 1888 the eldest daughter and sixth child of Robert and Agnes Collett. In 1891, when her family was residing at 63 Sanderson Street in Harpurhey, North Manchester, Agnes Collett was two years old and a patient at a hospital within the Prestwich & Newton Heath area of North Manchester where two of her brothers were also receiving treatment. Ten years later Agnes was 12 when she and her widowed mother and her family were recorded at 39 Lilley Street in Newton Heath, North Manchester. After a further ten years Agnes, aged 22, was still living with her mother but by then they were living at 21 Bradburn Street, Cheetham Hill in Manchester.

Over the next few years Agnes was married and in a letter that she wrote in 1918 she simply signed her name as Mrs Mack. At that time in her life her home address was 36 Alma Street off Collyhurst Road in Manchester. The letter hand stamped by the Infantry Record Office in Hamilton, Scotland, on 6^th March 1918 was a request for reimbursement of travel cost incurred by Agnes and her mother in visiting her brother Leo Collett (below) in Brockenhurst Hospital after receiving a telegram from the War Office stating that Sergeant L Collett, 13503, of the Kings Own Scottish Borders, was seriously ill. The letter goes on to say the £2 16 Shillings and 10½ Pence had to be borrowed as Agnes’ husband was away on active service, and that her mother was a widow and that all seven of her sons are in the army, two of them killed. They were Frederick (above) in 1915 and Frank (above) in 1917, while later in 1918 her brother Edmund (below) also lost his life.

#14

11P50

Leo Collett was born at Miles Platting in Manchester around June in 1890, the son of Robert and Agnes Collett who was nine months old in the census of 1891 when he and his family were living at 63 Sanderson Street in Harpurhey, North Manchester. He was 10 years old by the time of the next census in March 1901, by which time his father had died and he and his widowed mother and the family were residing at 39 Lilley Street in Newton Heath, North Manchester. Another moved took place during the early years of the new century, following which the Leo Collett, then 20 years of age, was still living with his mother but at 21 Bradburn Street, Cheetham Hill in Manchester.

At the outbreak of the First World War, he enlisted with the British Army and at the age of 24 Leo Collett was assigned to the Kings Own Scottish Borders with the service number 13503. His next-of-kin was named as his widowed mother Agnes Collett, while his place of birth was recorded as Miles Platting in Manchester. His address on enlistment was 21 Bradburn Street, Cheetham Hill in Manchester – the home of his mother, and during his service he was injured in the abdomen in a premature explosion. However, that happened after Leo Collett had married Amy Lucy Brewer, the event recorded at Guildford register office (Ref. 2a 282) during the last quarter of 1917. Only a few months later Leo was seriously injured in the abdomen caused by a premature explosion and he ended up in Brockenhurst Hospital in Hampshire where he was visited by his mother and married sister Agnes (above) who travelled down from Manchester on 27^th February 1918. As a result of his injuries, he was discharged from service. Leo and Amy were married for forty-nine years when Leo Collett died at 25 Hampden Grove in Timperley, Cheshire, on 8^th December 1956. His Will was proved at Manchester on 4^th January 1957 when probate was granted to his widow Amy Lucy Collett for his personal estate of £1,808 16 Shillings and 10 Pence.

#14

11P51

Marie Theresa Collett was born at Miles Platting with her birth recorded in Manchester (Ref. 8d 316) during the second quarter of 1892. She was named as Maria T Collett, aged eight years in the census of 1901, when she was living with her widowed mother and her family at 39 Lilley Street in Newton Heath, North Manchester. It was during the following year that the death of Maria Theresa Collett was recorded at Prestwich register office (Ref. 8d 272) during the third quarter of 1902.

#14

11P52

Edmund Collett was born at Miles Platting in Manchester during 1894, the son of Robert and Agnes Collett. By 1901 Edmund was six years old and living with his widowed mother at 39 Lilley Street in Newton Heath, North Manchester and in 1911 at the age of 16 he was still one of the children living with his mother, who by then had taken the family to 21 Bradburn Street, Cheetham Hill in Manchester. During the years after 1911 Edmund sailed to Ireland where he was reunited with his older brother George (above). It may even have been that they enlisted in the army together at the start of the First World War. Edmund Collett from Manchester was a private, service number 35594, with the 9^th Battalion of the King’s Own Royal Lancashire Regiment, and was tragically he was killed in action at Salonika on 19^th September 1918.

#14

His military service history includes the following details. Born in Manchester and enlisted in Dublin. He served with 9^th (Service) Battalion of the King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment) and was part of 65^th Brigade, 22^nd Division. He was killed in action during the failed frontally assault on 'Pip Ridge' during the battle of Doiran over 18^th and 19^th September 1918. As a result, the 9^th Battalion suffered 233 casualties and, one of them, Edmund Collett was buried in the Doiran Military Cemetery Greece. The War Diary for 19^th September 1918 relates the story of the failed attack from ‘Jackson Ravine’ on Pip Ridge (233 Bn. Casualties). The medals of the brothers Edmund and Frederick Collett are now in the ownership of Ian MacCallum.

#15

11P53

Wilfred Collett was born at Miles Platting in Manchester during1895, the youngest child of Robert Collett of Admington and his wife Agnes Catherine Connolly from Manchester. It was at 39 Lilley Street in Newton Heath, North Manchester, that he was living with his widowed mother in 1901, following the earlier death of his father. He was five years old at that time and by the time he was 15 in 1911 he and his mother and three of his siblings were residing at 21 Bradburn Street, Cheetham Hill in Manchester. Four years later he tried to enlist with the army and his initial entry records contained the following information. That he was born at Miles Platting, was working as a tailor, had blue eyes, fair hair, and a distinguishing mark – a broken nose. However, he was discharged, it being stated that he physically unfit, having flat feet and defective septum (nose) which he fell on three years previously and for which he had undergone two operations. With the passing of the years, and no end in sight to the war, it was in 1918 that Wilfred Collett of 21 Bradburn Street, Cheetham in Manchester, at the age of 22, was accepted into the Royal Defence Corp, service number 77818, and saw action in France.

#14

11P55

Alice Marie Collett was born at Stoke-on-Trent in 1873, the eldest surviving child of Walter Collett and Eliza Jane Green her older brother having died at Stoke during the previous year not long after he was born there. Alice Collett was around six years old when her mother died, following which her father took Alice and her two your siblings to stay with her paternal grandfather at The Swan Inn at Eccleshall where she was living in 1881 at the age of eight years. It was very likely around nine years later that she married John T Spilsbury with whom she had two children prior to the end of the century, the first born at Stoke with the second at Hanley

It was at 91 Back Street in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, where the family was living in March 1901. John Spilsbury was 28 and a potter’s jiggerer from Burslem, his wife Alice was also 28 and from Stoke-on-Trent, as was their daughter Eliza Spilsbury who was nine, while daughter Annie Spilsbury was three and born at Hanley. Ten years later the family was still living in the Hanley area of Stoke but by then the eldest daughter had left home. John Thomas Spilsbury was 38, Alice Marie Spilsbury was 39, and Annie Spilsbury was 13.

#14

11P56

Walter Collett was born at Stoke-on-Trent in 1875. Tragically his mother died when he was only four years old so forcing his father Walter senior to take him and his two surviving siblings to live with young Walter’s grandfather George who was the publican of The Swan Inn at nearby Eccleshall. The Eccleshall census of 1881 confirmed that Walter was six and that he had been born at Stoke-on-Trent, and that he was living with his blacksmith father Walter at The Swan in Small Lane. Living with them was his sisters Alice and Gertrude, the family already having lost eldest son John to infant death.

Further tragedy struck the family in 1890 when, at the age of fifteen, Walter’s father died leaving him and his two sisters as orphans. By the time of the census the following year, Walter was recorded at Bull Street in Stratford-on-Avon, the home of butcher Thomas Bryan aged 37 and his wife Emily Ann Bryan aged 34, formerly Emily Ann Green, the sister of Walter’s late mother. Completing the Bryan family was eight-year-old Alice Bryan of Stratford-on-Avon. Walter Collett was 15 years of age from Staffordshire, who was working as a grocer’s assistant and nephew of Emily Bryan. However, just over three years later Walter Collett married Martha Field, the event recorded at Nuneaton (Ref. 6d 820) during the last three months of 1894 when the witnesses were John Samuel Smith and Emma Moreton. Martha was born in Birmingham during 1876 and she presented Walter with a daughter before the end of the century, although further children may have also been born into the family after that time. The child was born at Nuneaton and by the time of the census in 1901 the family of three was recorded within the Attleborough area immediately south of Nuneaton. Walter Collett was 25 and was employed as a coalminer and fitter, his wife Martha Collett was 24 and their daughter Gertrude May Collett was three years old.

#14

On the day of the census in 1901 Martha was expecting the birth of the couple’s second child who was born six months later at Attleborough, while the next two children were born after the family had settled in the village of Bulkington just two miles south of Attleborough and Nuneaton. The parish records for the baptism of all three birth children confirmed the parents as Walter Collett, a collier, and his wife Martha. What happened to Walter and his family after that is not known, since no record of any member of the family has been identified within the census of 1911. One record for a Walter Collett, a farmer, has been found in 1912 when he and his family sailed from Liverpool on 3^rd May on board the Empress of Ireland bound for Quebec. Walter was 38, his wife was 36, and their three children were eight, six and four years old, a boy and two girls.

#14

11Q60

Gertrude May Collett

Born in 1897 at Nuneaton

11Q61

Cissy Dorothy Collett

Born in 1901 at Attleborough

#14

11Q62

Lilian Doris Collett

Born in 1903 at Bulkington

#14

11Q63

Walter Frederick Edmund Collett

Born in 1905 at Bulkington

#14

11P57

Gertrude Collett was born at Stoke-on-Trent during the last quarter of 1879. She was the youngest child of Walter Collett and his wife Eliza Jane Green and it was just after she was born that her mother died. Following that tragedy, Gertrude’s father took his young family to live with his father at The Swan Inn on Small Lane in Eccleshall. It was after the family had settled there that the death of Gertrude Collett, aged seven years, was recorded at Stoke-on-Trent (Ref. 6b 158) during the last three months of 1885. Further tragedy struck the family a few years later when Gertrude’s father died in 1890.

11P58

Ellen Collett, who was also known as Nelly, was born at Burslem in 1875, the eldest child of Mark and Sarah Collett, and was five years old in the Eccleshall census of 1881. Up until the spring of 2013, no record of her had been found within the next census conducted during 1891. Once her whereabouts was determined by Paul Boreham it was very obvious why it had been so difficult to identify her, as she was recorded in error as Ellen Gollect. By that time in her life Ellen from Burslem was 15, had completed her schooling, and had left home to take up employment as a domestic servant. She was working at the home of farmer Alfred Lockett and his wife Ann on their farmer at Aspley, just one mile west of Slindon where her family was living in 1891, one of five servants employed by the Lockett family.

It was seven years later that she married Harry Pearce at St James Church in Cotes Heath in Staffordshire, the event being recorded during the final quarter of 1898. Just over two years later, according to the census in 1901, Ellen and Harry were living at the home of Harry’s widowed mother who still had two of Harry’s younger brothers living with her at Hopton north-east of the town of Stafford. Mary Pearce was 65, John Pearce was 25 and Robert Pearce was 22. Harry Pearce from Stafford like his brothers, was a farmer of 31, his wife Ellen from Burslem was 25, while their first child was named as Nellie Pearce and she was one-year-old and had been born at Church Eaton in Staffordshire. The photograph on the right was taken around 1905 and shows Ellen Pearce nee Collett with her daughter Nelly.

#11

Six more children were added to their family over the following two decades, although sadly, one of them did not survive. By the time of the census in April 1911, the family had settled in the town of Rugeley where Ellen’s younger married sister Ada was also living at that time. Harry was 41 and a pits banksman at a nearby colliery, Ellen was 36, Nelly was 11, Robert Pearce was eight, Albert Pearce was seven, Annie Elizabeth Pearce was eleven months old, and Charles Pearce was only seven days old. One further child was born into the family and that was Ernest Pearce whose birth at Rugeley was recorded at Stafford register office (Ref. 6b 33) during the third quarter of 1916, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett.

It is established that around the end of the first decade of the new century Ellen was exchanging letters with her two brothers who had already settled in Canada. The first of them from Albert, who was tragically killed in 1910, addressed her as Nelly Pearce. The second of them was from Charles Collett who wrote to her in 1912 when he referred to her as Nell. The letters also confirmed that her husband was Harry Pearce and that her sister Ada (below) was married to George Rowley.

#11

In 1923 Ellen’s brother Thomas (below) emigrated to Canada to be reunited with his brother Charles. A letter written by Thomas that year described Ellen as Mrs E Pierce who lived at Purshell near Eccleshall. Of additional interest is Ellen’s granddaughter Rose Pearce, the daughter of her youngest child Ernest, who is currently compiling the family history. Within this Rose confirms that in their old age during the early 1950s Harry and Ellen were living in Rose’s family home at Wood Farm, Broad Lane in Essington, Staffordshire. It was there also that Ellen Pearce nee Collett and her husband died when Rose Pearce was around five years of age.

11P59

Thomas Collett was born at Burslem on 14^th May 1877, the eldest son of Mark Collett of Chipping Norton in Gloucestershire and Sarah Williams of Slindon in Staffordshire. In 1881 Thomas was three years old when he was living with his family in Eccleshall at a time in his life when his father’s occupation was that of a blacksmith. During the next decade Thomas and his family settled in Slindon, and it was then that his father became a farmer.

Ten years later in 1891, Thomas Collett, aged 13 and from Burslem, was still living on the farm in Slindon with his parents, as he was after another ten years when he was twenty-three in March 1901. On that occasion he was described as a farmer’s son, and it seems very likely that his parents’ farm was Manor House Farm in Mill Meece, less than half a mile from Slindon. Not long after 1901, Thomas married Dinah Davies who was born at Hanley in Stoke-on-Trent during 1877. Dinah was the sixth of seven children of coalminer William Davies and his wife Elizabeth and she was living in Eccleshall just a few miles from Thomas in Slindon in 1901 when she was 23.

Although all of the UK census records in 1881, 1901 and 1911 stated that Dinah Davies was born in Hanley, it would appear that she was born at nearby Burslem on 24^th April 1877. Both Burslem and Hanley are neighbouring towns on the northern outskirts of Stoke-on-Trent.

Once married, Thomas and Dinah initially settled within the Boothen district of Stoke-on-Trent where their first child was born and where Dinah’s sister Phoebe Davies lived with her husband James Allsop. Sometime after the birth Thomas and Dinah moved to 8 South Terrace in Stoke-on-Trent where their daughter was born. The child’s birth certificate in 1907 confirmed that the father of Millicent Collett was Thomas Collett a farmer. Written on the reverse of the certificate was the address “Manor House Farm, Mill Meece, Eccleshall”, this being near Slindon where Thomas’ parents lived.

However, by April 1911, Thomas and his family were living in the village of Slindon, close to where his parents were still living in Mill Meece. Thomas and his wife Dinah were both 33, Thomas being a farmer from Burslem, while Dinah’s place of birth was once again confirmed as Hanley. Their two children at that time were Charlie Collett, who was five, and Millicent Collett who was four, both born at Stoke-on-Trent. Supporting the family of Thomas Collett in April 1911 was Frederick Corden who was 17 and from Longdon, who was employed as a servant on the farm. In addition to which, Robert Bailey, a metal-smith and married man from London, was visiting the Collett family at that time.

In 1916 Thomas’ father passed away, and one year later his mother died in Stafford Mental Hospital. It was the 1917 Will of Sarah Collett, widow of Mill Meece, that bequeathed her estate of £1,598 1 Shilling and 3 Pence to her son Thomas Collett, farmer. He then worked Manor Hill Farm with his family until 1921 when Mr T Collett purchased Broom’s Farm in Slindon. The farm comprised 35.462 acres which was bought at 3pm on Saturday 19^th February 1921 for £1,950. According to the details in Jane Benton’s book ‘St. Chad’s Slindon, the first fifty years’, the property was purchased by auction from the Reverend F J Salt. Just two years after buying the farm, Thomas and his family sailed to Canada, although it is determined from later records that the property at Slindon remained within the ownership of the Collett family.

Thomas settled in Guelph in Ontario, Canada in 1923, and initially lodged with Dinah’s sister Phoebe Allsop nee Davies at 109 Clark Street in the town, from where he worked as a watchman at the Page-Hersey plant and it was from there that he retired when the business closed down. Today Clark Street has been renamed and is Ferguson Street. By the end of 1923 they had their own house nearby at 26 Johnston Street (the house has since been renumbered as 86) where they lived until 1926. From 1927 to 1932 the family home was at 39 Queen Street, after which they moved again, that time to 4 Victoria Street. It was not until after all of their children had left the family home in 1934, that Thomas and Dinah took up residence at 19 Toronto Street.

It is known that Thomas was still living at Guelph in early 1949, since his Department of Labour (Ontario) Stationary Engineer's Certificate, Fourth Class, was dated 3^rd January 1949. It was also at Guelph that he and Dinah lived, until they made a return to England. That happened during July 1954, and once back in Staffordshire they initially stayed with Dinah’s younger brother Thomas at Blurton, just south of Stoke-on-Trent. Shortly after, the couple bought a cottage nearby, the address being, The Cottage, Little Hartwell, Hartwell, near Stone in Staffordshire.

It was at Little Hartwell that Thomas Collett passed away not long after, when he died on 15^th August 1956 at the age of 79. During the summer of the following year Dinah’s son Thomas Collett came over England and took Dinah back to Canada with him. Once there, she lived the remainder of her life at the home of her daughter Millicent, in Kirkland Lake in Ontario, and it was there that she died just over five years later on Thursday 21^st September 1961.

This photograph of Thomas and Dinah was provided by Paul Boreham.

Following her passing, Dinah was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Guelph, Ontario, three stones from the grave of young Nancy Edna Collett (11R20) her granddaughter and, where later, her son Charles and his wife Edna were also buried. When Dinah’s daughter Millicent Sylvester died in 1975, her ashes were brought down to Guelph from Kirkland and buried at Dinah’s grave.

With reference to the aforementioned Broom’s Farm at Slindon, Thomas and Dinah did return to the farm in late 1946 until the summer of 1947 to stay with their friends, the Glovers. The Glover family had either bought the farm from Thomas in 1923 or had rented it from him until such time as they were able to purchase it. Their stay at the farm was confirmed by the UK National Registration Identity Card of 1947, which stated the full postal address for Thomas Collett as The Broom’s Farm, Slindon, Stafford. Descendants of the Glover family were still living on the farm in 2010.

11Q64

Charles Collett

Born in 1905 at Stoke-on-Trent

11Q65

Millicent Collett

Born in 1907 at Stoke-on-Trent

11Q66

Thomas Collett

Born in 1912 at Slindon

11P60

Ada Collett was born at Burslem in 1878 but, by 1881 when she was two years old, she and her family had moved south of Stoke-on-Trent to settle in the Eccleshall area. Ten years later at the age of twelve she was living in the village of Slindon, by which time her father’s occupation had changed from blacksmith to farmer. A few years after 1891 Ada’s father acquired Manor House Farm in Mill Meece and it was there that she was living with her parents when she was unmarried at the age of twenty-two in March 1901.

It was during the following year that Ada married George Rowley as confirmed by the genealogy charts kindly provided by Joan Fay Robertson nee Collett of Penticton in Canada, latterly Prince George in British Columbia. The wedding was recorded during the third quarter of 1902 and the photograph here captured that moment. Once married the couple initially lived in Slindon where their first child was born. All of this was confirmed in the census of 1911 when Ada and George Rowley were residing at Rugeley where her sister Ellen Pearce and her large family were living. That year the family was recorded as follows. George Rowley was 32 and had been married to Ada Rowley, who was 31, for eight years, while their two children were Leonard Rowley who was seven and from Slindon, and Harold Rowley who was only two weeks old who had been born after the family settled in Rugeley.

#11

Between Leonard and Harold Ada had given birth to two other children who sadly did not survive. What subsequently happened to Ada and her family still needs to be discovered, as there appears to be no photographs or other documents relating to them after 1911. However, a death index indicates that Ada Rowley died during the 1950s and this may be the former Ada Collett.

11P61

Albert Collett was born on 22^nd June 1881, the son of Mark Collett and Sarah Williams. Curiously his three older siblings were all born at Burslem but, by April 1881, Albert’s family was living at Eccleshall where his father was a blacksmith. According to the census returns in 1891 and 1901, Albert Collett was also born at Burslem, which raises the question, why did the family return to the town after such a short while at Eccleshall, and particularly since it is established that they were living at Slindon five years later.

Photograph of Albert’s family in 1906

Slindon was also mentioned as his place of birth later in his life, in 1910 when it was written on his death certificate, by his brother Charles (below) who was born there.

That may indicate that it was just his mother who returned to Burslem for the birth, perhaps while staying with relatives. After spending a few years living in the Eccleshall area, Albert’s father became a farmer when the family moved to Slindon to the north of Eccleshall, where they were living in 1891 when Albert Collett from Burslem was nine years old. It was at Manor House Farm in Mill Meece that Albert Collett, aged 19 and from Burslem, was living with his family in March 1901. For his occupation at that time, he was simply described as a farmer’s son.

Just over four months after the census day that year, Albert married Sarah Jane Fox, in haste, at Wolstanton in Staffordshire on 18^th August 1901 since, two months, later their first child was born. During the four years following their wedding, the marriage produced two sons for the couple while they were living in the Stoke-on-Trent area. Both children may have been born at Wolstanton in Stoke, with the second of the two children being baptised at Stone.

Sarah Jane Fox was born in 1880 at Cresswell in Staffordshire, the third daughter of farm labourer Edward Fox and his wife Elizabeth. By the time of the census in 1881, Sarah and her family were living at Meaford Farm in the town of Stone, to the south of Stoke-on-Trent, when Sarah was just one year old. And it was at Stone that she was living when she married Albert Collett.

In March 1909 Albert, on his own, sailed out of Liverpool bound for Halifax to seek a new life in Canada. Upon his arrival he settled in a hamlet just outside Niagara Falls. In April the following year his brother Charles (below) joined him there, although Charles actually lived in the city of Niagara Falls itself. Albert then secured employment with the Ontario Power Company, which was building a hydro-pipeline adjacent to the famous Niagara Falls, on the Canadian side. On 3^rd August 1910 Albert Collett was involved in an accident in which he and two other workers died by electrocution while working in the pipeline.

The inquest into their deaths and reported in a Niagara newspaper concluded that, “The men came to their death of being electrocuted in the pipe of the Ontario Power Company by a steel form coming into contact with, and hitting a live wire of 220 voltage, while the men were pushing the said form onto a truck through the pipe line”.

Albert’s brother Charles took care of the funeral arrangements, he being the only Collett relative present in Canada at that time. Albert’s widow, Sarah Jane, together with her two sons, Albert and Francis, sailed out of Liverpool bound for Canada, and disembarked at Halifax on 29^th March 1911, from where they made their way to Niagara Falls. And it was there that they lodged for a short time, with Sarah working as a laundress, as confirmed by the 1911 census for Canada.

#11

Sarah Jane Collett received a settlement from the Ontario Power Company of around $1,500, according to a letter written by Charles Collett. Following the settlement, Sarah and her two children headed to western Canada, where the two boys were eventually married and had several children of their own. Sarah Jane Collett was later married for a second, and a third time, before she died in British Columbia in 1970. According to her granddaughter Joan Fay Robertson nee Collett, the daughter of Francis Ernest Collett, Sarah was a feisty lady.

11Q67

Albert Edward Collett

Born in 1901 at Wolstanton

11Q68

Francis Ernest Collett

Born in 1905 at Wolstanton

11P62

Charles Collett was born at Slindon in 1886, and was the youngest son of farmer Mark Collett of Chipping Norton and his wife Sarah, who was also born in Slindon. It was also at Slindon that Charles was living with his family in 1891 when he was four years old.

During the next two or three years, Charles’ father became the farmer at Manor House Farm in Mill Meece where the family was living in March 1901. At that time Charles was 14 and was recorded in the census return as simply a farmer’s son.

This photograph of Charles Collett was kindly provided by Paul Boreham

Shortly after that, Charles moved to Warrington in Lancashire where he worked as an attendant at Winwick County Asylum, according to letters he wrote home to his brother Thomas Collett (above). During the first few months of 1910 Charles was persuaded to join his brother Albert (above) in Canada, Albert having already moved there in search of work and a new life during the previous year. The Virginian was the ship on which he sailed to Canada, arriving there on 8^th April 1910, and it was the ship’s passenger list that also confirmed that he had been employed as an attendant at an asylum for the past five years. Once in Canada, Charles became a resident of Niagara Falls, close to where his brother was living in a hamlet on the outskirts of the city.

It was at 182 Bridge Street in Niagara that Charles lived, and from where he worked as a labourer. He had many adventures in the new country, as indicated in his letters to his family in England. Following the tragic death in August 1910 of his brother Albert, Charles moved across the border in May 1911 to live in Niagara Falls in the United States of America. A letter written by him at that time gave his address as c/o De Veaux College, Niagara Falls, New York, USA, where he was a student.

It was also around that same time that Charles’ sister-in-law, Sarah Jane Collett, the widow of his brother Albert, and her two young sons had arrived in Canada. The early 1900’s were the boom years in Canada, when the settlers were heading west to buy land. Both Albert’s widow and Charles got caught up in the search to purchase land and, by August of 1912, Charles was at Edmonton in Alberta with no fixed address. He had informed his family that he had every intention of moving to British Columbia where he hoped to purchase some land, but that never happened before his life was dramatically cut short.

New information received from Paul Boreham indicates that Charles continued to remain in Edmonton and wrote a letter home to his sister Nell in England during August 1912. The following year the local newspaper in Edmonton dated 17^th March 1913 reported that “Charles Collett, a roomer at the [not readable] House and a steel worker who was recently working on the new Revillon Building died yesterday at the Misericordia Hospital. He was 26 years of age.” The name of the hospital, his age at the time of his death and the date of his death, albeit ten days difference, coincides closely with the document issued by the police department many years later and included below.

The report issued by the Edmonton Police Department in 1960 and addressed to Charles’ niece Millicent Collett states that “Charles Collett, 26 years, died in Misericordia Hospital, on 26^th of March in 1913, from Meningitis, place of burial unknown.” However, the cemetery ledger from the Edmonton Cemetery confirms that he was buried there, grave location Section C, Block 33, Plot 20, on 19^th March following his death on 16^th March 1913, as indicated by the newspaper article reproduced above.

11P63

Annie Elizabeth Collett was born in 1894, the youngest child of farmer Mark Collett and his wife Sarah. According to the census in 1901 when Annie was six years old, she and her family were living at Manor House Farm in Mill Meece near Slindon, and her place of birth was given as Mill Meece. Ten years later in April 1911 and as Annie Elizabeth Collett, aged 16, she was still living in the Slindon area but not with any member of her family, although her parents and her brother Thomas were living nearby.

11P64

HENRY GEORGE COLLETT, who was known as George, was born at 8 Cornwallis Street in Stoke-on-Trent on 23^rd July 1884, the eldest child of Henry George Collett and his wife Alice Salt. By the time of the census of 1891, he and his family were living at 37 Brooke Street in Stoke where George was six years old. During the next ten years the family moved to Burslem where in March 1901 they were residing at 33 St Paul’s Street in Dale Hall when Henry G Collett was 16.

As Henry George Collett he was still living at Burslem with his family in April 1911 when he was 27 years old and was still a bachelor at that time. However, sixteen months later he became a married man. It was at St Paul’s Church at Dale Hall in Burslem that George married Hannah Slater on 8^th August 1912. Hannah Slater was born at Burslem on 8^th August 1889 and was the daughter of William Slater and Annie Jane Teece, and she and her parents were living in Maddock Street in Burslem at the time of the census in 1901.

Once they were married, George and Hannah initially settled in Wolstanton where their two children were born. At that time in his life George was employed by Ford & Sons of Burslem which was a company involved in the manufacture of earthenware products. With Hannah due to give birth to their second child, George enlisted with the Territorial Force at Wolstanton on 24^th May 1915. It would appear that it was during the following year that he was called up for service and at which time he left Fords. The Medal Index Record states that his qualification date was 27^th July 1915, when he was 31 years of age, married, with one child and one on the way.

This photograph of the complete family was kindly provided by Bob Collett (Ref. 11R34), and was very likely taken during the latter months of 1916.

Two postcards addressed to George in the summer of 1916 confirmed that he was based at the YMCA in Station Road in Aldershot on 25^th June, while his wife was living at 7 Tellwright Street, off Hamil Road in Burslem.

The second postcard in July, referred to him as Driver H G Collett with the Royal Engineers based at 3B Block T.D.R.E. Stanhope Lines Camp in Aldershot. Seven months later, in a letter to Hannah dated 29^th January 1917, George informed his wife that he had arrived in France and that he had now been transferred to the 1^st Buckinghamshire Battalion of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry as Private 5256. Just over two weeks later, according to British Army Records for the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry at Aylesbury, it was on 15^th February 1917 that George was ready for field duty when he joined B Company of the 1^st/1^st Buckinghamshire Battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry as 267061 Private Henry George Collett, where he remained for the rest of his military career.

It would appear that he was involved in some military action soon after his arrival in France, during which he sustained an injury. As a result of his injuries, on 24^th March 1917 he was admitted into the hospital at Rouen before a period of convalescence back in England, travelling back to Blighty on the hospital ship The Gloucester Castle which left the Port of Le Harve on 30^th March. The vessel left France for Southampton with 399 casualties on board, of which 300 were stretcher patients. Sometime after ten o’clock in the evening, when the ship was mid-Channel, it was torpedoed by the U Boat UB32. Thankfully, during the evacuation only three lives were lost.

By the time he was fit enough to leave Southampton for Le Harve on 23^rd July 1917 Hannah was residing at 88 Watlands View within the Porthill area of Wolstanton. After arriving at Le Harve he returned to No 55 Infantry Base Depot at Rouen, where he stayed until mid-August. Towards the end of that month, he attended a musketry course at Mondicourt but reported sick on 25^th to 27^th August, after which he rejoined B Company at School Camp located between Watou and St Jan-ter-Biezen on 30^th August.

It was from Belgium that George sent his last letter to his wife, which was dated 29^th September, in which he said he had been moved up to the front line and was under artillery fire with ‘Fritz dropping bombs all around them’. The fighting intensified over the next week and it was on 8^th October 1917, four hundred yards east of Winchester Farm near Poelcapelle, that he was seriously injured while fighting in a frontline trench, appropriately known as ‘Cemetery Trench’.

The injuries he sustained were shrapnel wounds to his head and legs, and a fracture of his femur. It was during the following day, on the ninth of October, that Henry George Collett sadly died of his injuries at Westvleteren in Belgium, following which he was buried at the Dozinghem Military Cemetery adjacent to the Casualty Clearing Station where he had spent his last hours.

Poelcapelle (today Poelkapelle) lies five miles north-east of Ypres and was a strongly fortified German position which the British Army struggled to take during the Third Battle of Ypres. It was eventually taken by the 10^th Essex and 8^th Norfolk infantry regiments on 22^nd October 1917. A more detailed account of his short life in the army is documented in “A Soldier’s Life in WW1” as supplied by his grandson Bob Collett (Ref. 11R34). The name of Henry George Collett appears in the Book of Remembrance at St Andrew’s Church in Porthill, Wolstanton.

At the time of his death George’s wife Hannah was still living at 86 Watlands View in Porthill, next door to where her parents were living at that time. And it was there that she received letters of condolence from The King, the Secretary of State for War, and the War Office, in addition to which she received a letter from the nurse who had tended to him, and a note from the Padre to say that he had prayed with him and that he had died peacefully.

Upon receiving the tragic news Hannah became quite ill and was unable to look after her two children for a while. She was later forced to seek work and moved to a farm at Woore on the Staffordshire county boundary with Shropshire, where she was employed as a housekeeper. At the time that happened Hannah was accompanied by her son, while her daughter had gone to live with her Collett grandparents at 34 Ellgreave Street in Burslem, where she remained until she reached adulthood. Hannah and her son later moved to Sandbach in Cheshire during 1928, and it was there, twenty-two years later, that Hannah Collett nee Slater died on 8^th March 1950 and was buried at Sandbach Cemetery.

11Q69

Alice-Lyn Collett

Born in 1914 at Wolstanton

11Q70

HENRY GEORGE COLLETT

Born in 1915 at Wolstanton

11P65

Gertrude Collett was born at 8 Cornwallis Street in Stoke-on-Trent in 1886. Around 1889 the family left Stoke-on-Trent and moved to Brook Street in Burslem where they were living in 1891 and where Gertrude was five years old. Ten years later she was 15 and had left home and was living at Tunstall just north of Newcastle-under-Lyme where she was employed as a domestic servant. Gertrude was still not married after a further ten years when she was 26 and was living in Wolstanton in April 1911. Interestingly, it was at Wolstanton that Gertrude’s youngest brother had been born just over ten years earlier, so there may have had a family connection that caused her to be there.

11P66

Alice Collett was born at Stoke-on-Trent in 1888 when her parents were living at 8 Cornwallis Street. Not long after she was born the family moved to Burslem where they were living at Brook Street in April 1891. By the time Alice was 12, she and her family had moved away from Brook Street when they were living at St Paul’s Street in Burslem, and ten years later they were still there when Alice was 22.

11P67

Ada Collett was born at Burslem in 1890 and that may have taken place at Brook Street in the town where the family was recorded as living in the census of 1891 when Ada was still under one year old. In 1901 when Ada was 10, she and her family had left Brook Street and were living in St Paul’s Street in Burslem. And ten years further on she was 20 and was still living at Burslem with her family. Sadly, Ada Collett died at Burslem during 1912 when she was only 21 years old.

#11

11P68

Edgar Thomas Collett was born at Brook Street in Burslem on 19^th February 1893. By March 1901 the family had moved again, that time to St Paul’s Street where Edgar was seven years old. And he was still living at his parent’s house in Burslem in 1911 when he was 18.

He joined the British Army in 1912 and his address at that time was 34 Ellgreave Street in Burslem, the home of his parents. His regimental service number was 153948 with the Army Service Corps, Motor Transport Division. The same military record confirmed that he left the army on 23^rd December 1919. It was less than three years later that Edgar Thomas Collett married Eliza Orgill who was born on 23^rd February 1894. Their marriage was recorded at Stoke-on-Trent register office (Ref. 6b 429) during the third quarter 1922 and produced two daughters for the couple. Upon the death of his younger brother Sidney Charles Collett (below) it was Edgar who was named as an executor of his Will, at which time in his life Edgar was working as a labourer.

#14

Edgar and Eliza were married for forty-seven years and lived all that time at Stoke-on-Trent where Edgar Thomas Collett died at the age of 76, his death recorded there (Ref. 9b 1023) during the third quarter of 1969. Eliza lived the life of a widow for the next twenty years, and it was at Stoke-on-Trent where she died at the age of 95, her death recorded there (Ref. 30 1190) during the third quarter of 1989.

#14

11Q71

Betty Collett

Born in 1927 at Stoke-on-Trent

#14

11Q72

Margaret Collett

Born in 1931 at Stoke-on-Trent

#14

11P69

Cecil John Collett was born at Burslem in 1896 and it was there at St Paul’s Street that he was living with his family in 1901 when he was four years old. And it was in the Burslem census of 1911 that he was recorded as Cecil John Collett aged 14. Cecil was a butcher by trade and worked at an abattoir in Tunstall, just north of Burslem and Stoke-on-Trent. During his life he also worked at Burslem market, at Price's Butchers in Dale Hall in Stoke-on-Trent, and at Fenton’s Butchers in Stoke-on-Trent.

#10

He married Beatrice Dora Teggin who was born at Burslem in 1901, the daughter of Edward John Teggin of Burslem and his wife Fanny. The census of 1911 recorded her as simply Beatrice Teggin aged ten years, living at Wolstanton with her parents and her sister Gertrude May Teggin who was eight years old. The marriage produced two sons for Cecil and Beatrice, and they were Henry Edward Collett and Leonard who sadly died when he was 12 years old.

#10

Cecil and Beatrice lived at 8 Lansdell Avenue in Wolstanton, and later for many years at 13 Pilsbury Street in Wolstanton, between Burslem and Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire. Beatrice Collett nee Teggin passed away on 12^th January 1965 and as followed just over a year later by her husband, when Cecil John Collett died on 1^st March 1966. Both of them were buried in Newcastle-under-Lyme Cemetery. Ten years earlier Cecil John Collett, a butcher, was named as one of the two executors of the Will of his youngest brother Sidney Charles Collett in 1956.

#10

#14

11Q73

Henry Edward Collett

Born in 1920 at Wolstanton

#10

11Q74

Leonard Collett

Died at the age of 12 years

#10

11P70

Sidney Charles Collett was very likely born at St Paul’s Street in Burslem in 1899 where he was living with his family in 1901. Ten years later he was listed as Sydney Charles Collett, who was 12 and was still living with his parents in Burslem. It was at 34 Ellgreave Street in Burslem that he was living with his parents from 1912 and it was at that same address where he was living on 23^rd March 1956 when he passed away. His Will was proved in London on 7^th May that year when the joint executors of his personal effects valued at £1,454 16 Shillings and 9 Pence were named as his brother Edgar Thomas Collett, a labourer, and Cecil John Collett, a butcher.

#14

11P71

John Manners Collett was born at Mickleton in 1883, the eldest of the two known sons of Charles Collett and Jane Manners. His birth was recorded at Shipston-on-Stour Ref. 6d 681) during the second quarter of that year. John M Collett was seven years old in the Mickleton census of 1891 and, after a further decade, he had left school and was working as a market gardener at Mickleton where he was 17 years old in the census of 1901. By that time his brother Arthur (below) had also completed his education when he too was a market gardener, which interesting because by 1911 their mother was credited with having a market garden with a smallholding in Mickleton. That was following the death of the boys’ father there in 1907. The 1911 census for Mickleton recorded John M Collett still unmarried at the age of 27, when he and his younger were helping their widowed mother manage the market gardening business.

#14

It was towards the end of that same year when John M Collett married Alice M Joynes, the wedding recorded at Shipston-on-Stour (Ref. 6d 1515) during the last three months of 1911. The witnesses at the event were Edgar Keeley and Edith Davis. During the next four years Alice presented John with a daughter and in 1915 he enlisted with Labour Corps at the age of 32 years and 7 months. His occupation at that time was still that of a market gardener, while his wife was confirmed as Alice Mary Collett nee Joynes and their daughter was named as Constance May Collett whose date and place of birth was 29^th November 1912 at Mickleton. His military records states that his service number was 29040 and that he was at home from 6^th June 1916 until 6^th September 1918, presumably due to an injury, since he was discharged on the grounds that he was no longer fit for service.

#14

John and Alice were still living in Mickleton in 1956, and it was there in the family home at Bearcroft Gardens in the town that John Manners Collett died on 23^rd June 1956. His Will was proved at Oxford on 10^th October 1956 when it was his widow Alice Mary Collett who was granted administration of his estate of £1,489 11 Shillings and 7 Pence.

#14

11Q75

Constance May Collett

Born on 29.11.1912 at Mickleton

#14

11P72

Arthur Collett was born at Mickleton on 7^th February 1885, the younger of the two sons of boot and shoe maker Charles Collett and his wife Jane Manners who later had a market garden and a smallholding. His birth was registered at Shipston-on-Stour (Ref. 6d 678) during the first quarter of the year. He was six years of age in 1891 and was 16 years old in 1901, when he was working alongside his older brother John (above) as a market gardener at Mickleton. After his father died in 1907, it was in his widowed mother’s market garden business that he and brother were employed in 1911 when Arthur was 26. Just under eight years later, perhaps after serving King & Country during the Great War, the marriage of Arthur Collett and Gladys E J Haine was recorded at Shipston-on-Stour register office (Ref. 6d 1293) during the first three months of 1919.

Nine months after their wedding day, Gladys gave birth to a son whose birth was also recorded at Shipston-on-Stour (Ref. 6d 2134), when the child’s mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Haine. One source suggests that he was born in the hamlet of Little Wolford to the south of Shipston on 9^th December 1919, and that he passed away on 22^nd April 1930 at Upton-on-Severn in Worcestershire. Interesting, his death was recorded at Worcestershire register office (Ref. 6d 117) where the death of his elderly paternal grandmother Jane Collett, nee Manners, was also recorded in 1932. Which raises the question, was Arthur’s mother living with his family in her twilight years. It still must be proved that Arthur Collett, who was born in 1885, died in 1947 at the age of 61, with his death recorded at Cheltenham register office (Ref. 7b 407) during the first quarter of 1947.

11Q76

Thomas R Collett

Born in 1919 at Mickleton; died 1930

#14

11P73

Arthur Collett was born at Edgbaston in Birmingham in 1879 and was baptised on 22^nd June 1879, the eldest child of Alfred Collett and Caroline Gray. By the time of the census in 1881 he was two years old when he was living his parents at Ada Terrace in Osler Street in Birmingham. Ten years later the family was still living within the Edgbaston area where Arthur Collett was 12 years old. On leaving school he initially worked as a domestic groom before joining the British Army. In the census of 1901 Arthur Collett, aged 21 (sic), was still living with his family at 53 Hyde Road in Birmingham. However, it was during the next decade that he became a soldier and in 1911 he was described as being 32 and a member of the King’s Military based at Elham in Kent.

11P74

Ada May Collett was born at Ada Terrace in Osler Street within the Edgbaston district of Birmingham during 1882, the daughter of Alfred and Caroline Collett. The whole family was still living there in 1891 when Ada M Collett was nine years old. It was also as Ada M Collett that she was living at 53 Hyde Road in Birmingham with her family in March 1901. At that time in her life Ada was 18 and was employed as a warehouse girl, most likely in the same warehouse where her father was a general packer. Ada May Collett married Samuel James Cook and in April 1911 they were living at 222 Park Road in the Warley area of Birmingham, where they had living with them Ada’s parents Alfred and Caroline. Samuel Cook was 28 as was Ada May. Samuel James Cook of 53 Pargeter Road in Bearbrook, Smethwick, died on 3^rd July 1950 while at 1 Western Road in Birmingham. Administration was granted to Ada May Cook, his widow for his personal effects amounting to £441 16 Shillings and 2 Pence.

#14

11P75

Lucy Hannah Collett was the base-born daughter of Louisa Jane Collett and was born at Admington on 20^th November 1875, and was baptised at Quinton on 19^th March 1876.

During the early part of her life, she lived with, and was looked after, by her grandmother Caroline Collett (Ref. 11N12), until the time she was married.

In the 1881 Census she was five years old and was living with her grandmother at Lower Admington and ten years later, at the age of 15, she was still in the care of Caroline who was then 64. During her early twenties unmarried Lucy gave birth to two base-born children. By the time of the 1901 Census, Lucy was still living with her grandmother Caroline Collett but now at nearby Ilmington where she was working as a charwoman. Also living with them in Ilmington at that time was her daughter Mabel Collett who was five and born at Admington, and her son William Collett who was two years old and born at Ilmington.

It was on 30^th April 1904 that Lucy married Richard William Aston at the parish church of St Mary the Virgin in Ilmington. The witnesses were Lucy’s aunt Zillah Aston nee Collett and her uncle Josiah Collett.

The marriage produced a further nine children for Lucy.

Richard William Aston was born at Ilmington on 18^th December 1870 and was the son of William Aston and Amy Mary Johnson, both of Ilmington. Shortly after they were married the couple was living at Ilmington where their first 5 children were born. The sixth child was born at Stratford-upon-Avon with the remaining three children being born after the family had moved to 55 Clinton Lane in Kenilworth.

At the time of the census of 1911 the whole of the family was living at Kenilworth and comprised Richard (William) Aston who was 41, his wife Lucy (Hannah) Aston of Admington who was 35, and their four children. They were Mary (Dora) Aston who was six, Richard (Alfred) Aston who was four, Amy (Louisa) Aston who was three, and Ivy (Winifred Myrtle) Aston who was one year old.

Of these only Richard Aston senior, Mary Aston, and Richard Aston junior were recorded as having been born at Ilmington. The names in brackets were not included in the census. Also listed with the family at Kenilworth were Lucy’s two previous children, they being Mabel Collett, aged 15 and from Admington, and William Collett who was 12 and from Ilmington. Richard was a labourer and died in 1947 at the age of 77 and was buried at Kenilworth. Lucy died in 1956 at Leamington Spa at 80 years of age and was she was also buried at Kenilworth.

11Q77

Mabel Emily Collett

Born in 1896 at Admington

11Q78

William Collett

Born in 1898 at Ilmington

11Q79

Dora Mary Aston

Born on 20.11.1905 at Ilmington

11Q80

Richard Alfred Aston

Born in 1906 at Ilmington

11Q81

Amy Louisa Aston

Born in 1908 at Ilmington

11Q82

Ivy Winifred Myrtle Aston

Born in 1909 at Ilmington

11Q83

Harriett Olive Aston

Born on 22.09.1911 at Ilmington

11Q84

Daisy Alice Irene Aston

Born in 1913 at Stratford-on-Avon

11Q85

Leslie Aston

Born on 20.11.1915 at Kenilworth

11Q86

Zillah Agnes Lillian Aston

Born in 1918 at Kenilworth

11Q87

Dennis Reginald Jack Aston

Born in 1921 at Kenilworth

11Q1

Theda M Collett was born at Farmington in New York State during 1880, the eldest of three known daughters of Alfred Collett and his wife Jennie F Pratt who were only married on 24^th September 1879. With no record of her or her mother in June 1880, which would have been around that time that she was born, and with the census in 1890 having been lost or destroyed, the first record of Theda M Collett was in 1892 when she was 12 years old and living at Farmington with her parents and her younger sister Clara (below).

It was eight years later that Theda Collett married Charles Frederick Walker. The wedding took place prior to the day of the census in 1900 since, in that, they were recorded as being married for less than one year, when they were living in the household of Edward Carson, a farmer. Charles F Walker was 25 and a farm worker and a servant in the Farmington home of the Carson family, where his wife Theda M Walker was a domestic servant at the age of 20. Before they were married Charles was understood to have taken part in the Spanish American War which lasted for ten weeks during 1898. He served with Troop A of the 1^st Regiment of the Ohio Cavalry and, although it is not known if he saw any action, he was regarded as a ‘veteran’.

By the time of the next census in 1910 the couple had four children and had moved to California and were residing at a place called Hemet, Riverside. Charles was 33 and Theda was 30, and the children with them on that occasion were Nathan R Walker who was nine, Henry A Walker who was six, Cora R Walker who was three, and Harold C Walker who was twenty months old. It is not clear why they were there, but during the next decade the family returned to Farmington, where they were living in 1920. Charles Walker was then a farmer and he and Theda had seven children with the addition of Mary Walker who was nine, Richard A Walker who was four and a half, and Charles E Walker who was 30 months old. Tragically their ‘missing’ daughter Rose Walker had died during 1919 aged just two months.

During their life together, Theda presented Charles with a total of nine children, the last one being born around 1921, as confirmed by the details in the census of 1930 when the family was still living at Farmington. The census return that year revealed that it was just the three youngest surviving children who were still living at the family home with Charles, aged 53, and Theda who was 50. They were Richard A Walker, aged 14, Charles E Walker, aged 12, and Francis A Walker who was nine years of age. It was just six years later that Theda M Walker nee Collett died on 1^st February 1936, while her husband Charles lived to be 85, when he died in 1961. They were both buried in South Farmington Cemetery. Following the death of Theda, Charles was married for a second time to Edna Frances Shields, and after she died in 1955, he then married Julia who was still alive when he died in 1861.

The children of Theda and Charles were:

Nathan Redfield Walker, who was born on 21^st May 1902, who later married Ruth Rynearson and they had two children Nathan Redfield Walker (born in 1923) and Joyce Walker (born in 1927), and in 1930 they were living at Arcadia in Orange County, New York State.

Henry Anson Walker, who was born on 1^st March 1903 who died in 1922 when his clothes caught fire while he was filling up his motorcycle.

Cora Walker, who was born on 21^st January 1908, and who later married Charles Butler.

Harold C ‘Cap’ Walker, who was born on 18^th July 1909, who married Lucy Whittaker (a third Cousin) in 1927 and they had two children Barbara Ruth Walker (born in 1932) and Francis Harold Walker (born in 1936. Cap died on 30^th November 1980 aged 72 and Lucy passed away during 1999.

Mary E Walker, who was born 20^th November 1911, who married Floyd C Romeiser and they had three children Elaine Romeiser (born in 1937), Nancy Romeiser (born in 1939), and Bernard Romeiser (born in 1944). Floyd Romeiser died in 1966 and his wife Mary in 1969, following which they were both buried in South Farmington Cemetery.

Richard A ‘Dutch’ Walker, who was born on 17^th July 1915 married Pearl May Pooley in 1936 and died in 1959. They had two daughters, Donna Walker and Dawn Walker. Following Pearl’s death in 1988 she was with her husband Richard in South Farmington Cemetery.

Charles ‘Silver’ Walker, who was born on 26^th July 1917, who married Betty Dattyn.

Rose Walker, who was born and died in 1919, and Francis A Walker who was born in 1921, who died in 1930 from a fractured skull after being kicked in the head by a horse.

11Q2

Clara Jeffrey Collett was born at Farmington in New York State during November 1889, the second of the three known children of Alfred Collett and his wife Jennie Pratt. In 1892 Clara J Collett was two years old when she was living at Farmington with her family. She was still living there in 1900, when she was 11, and again in 1910 when her age was incorrectly recorded as 30 instead of 20. Clara was 26 when she married Carl Everett Allyn of Macedon on 2^nd December 1915 at the Baptist Parsonage in Shortsville, about ten miles to the east of Farmington and, after their honeymoon the newly-wed couple returned to live at the home of Clara’s father. An announcement in the Shortsville Enterprise on 2^nd December 1915 read as follows:

“Marriage of Carl Everett Allyn of Macedon and Miss Clara Jeffrey Collett daughter of Mr and Mrs Fred Collett of Farmington was solemnised in the Baptist parsonage on Wednesday afternoon at 3 o’clock. Ceremony performed by Rev W D St John. Bridal couple attended by A M Baker and B A Baker. After a short wedding trip Mr and Mrs Allyn will reside at the home of the bride’s parents. Hearty congratulations.”

Carl Allyn was a farmer and the couple lived at Macedon in Wayne County of New York State. Their only child, their daughter Evelyn C Allyn, was born during 1916. The Wayne County census of 1920 listed the family as Carl E Allyn, aged 38, his wife Clara J Allyn, who was 30, and their daughter Evelyn C Allyn who was three years and seven months old. By 1930 the family of three was living at Macedon in Wayne County, where Carl was 49, Clara was 40, Evelyn was 13, and lodging with them was Clara P Bumpus who was 55 and possibly the daughter of Charles Bumpus who was living with Clara Collett’s family in 1900. After a further ten years it was just the three of them still residing in Macedon, when Carl was 59, Clara was 50, and Evelyn was 24, shortly before she was married to Arthur Petty of Farmington.

11Q4

Richard S Collett was born at Farmington on 18^th September 1903, the eldest of the three children of Sidney Collett and Harriet Chilson. He lived much of his early life on the family’s farm at Farmington, where in 1910 he was recorded as Richard S Collett who was curiously only five years old. In the Farmington census in 1915 he was simply recorded as Richard Collett, aged 11, but once again he was Richard S Collett in 1920 when he was 16. On that occasion he was still living with his parents at Farmington, and had already left school and was employed on a work-train for the steam railroad.

The census of 1925 also confirmed that Richard S Collett, at the age of 21, was still living at Farmington with his parents but it was just after the census day that year that he married Ethel. Within the next five years Ethel presented Richard with two children, the family of four living at Farmington in 1930. Richard S Collett and his wife Ethel N Collett were both 26, while their two children were Richard F Collett, who was five, and Jay T Collett who was two years old. No further children were added to their family which was still residing in Farmington in 1940 when Richard and Ethel were 36, and their two sons were Richard F Collett, aged 16, and Guy G Collett who was 12. Richard Collett was still living in New York State when he died during October 1967 at the age of 64.

11R1

Richard F Collett

Born in 1925 at Farmington

11R2

Guy T Collett

Born in 1928 at Farmington

11Q5

Helen Emogene Collett was born at Farmington in Ontario County during 1907, the only daughter of Sidney and Harriet (Hattie) Collett. She was three years old in 1910, was eight years old in 1915, and was 13 by 1920 when, on each occasion, she was still living with her family on their farm at Farmington. It was on 8^th April 1925 that Helen married William Ray Kipp, the son of E G Kipp and Luella Henry. William was 19 and Helen was 18, the daughter of Sidney Collett and Harriet Chilson. By the time of the next census in 1930, Helen and William were living at Geneva in Ontario County in New York State with their first two children. William Kipp was 24, Helen E Collett was 23, Jeanette I Kipp was three and William Alton Kipp was just one year old. The couple’s third child was born during the following year.

Ten years later all three of Helen’s children were staying with her parents at Farmington. They were Jeannette Kipp, who was 13 and born in 1927, Alton Kipp, who was 11 and born in 1929, and Francis Kipp, who was nine years old and born at Geneva in Ontario County during 1931. It is possible that the reason for her children to be living with their grandparents was that it followed the death of Helen’s husband.

Upon the death of her father in 1947, Helen Kipp and her children lived at the Collett farm in Farmington with her widowed mother until 1955, when the farm was eventually sold out of the family. It is also established that Helen’s eldest son, William Alton Kipp, who was known as Bill, was living with his grandmother Harriet (Hattie) Collett just prior to her death in 1979.

11Q6

Lloyd Lester Collett was born at Farmington in Ontario County on 14^th February 1911, the youngest of the three children of Sidney Collett and his wife Harriet (Hattie) Chilson. By the time of his birth both of his Collett grandparents had died, and his father had inherited the Collett farm at Farmington. According to the Farmington census in 1915 Loyde Collett was four years old. In 1920 and 1925 he was recorded as Loyde L Collett who was eight years old and 14 years of age respectively, when he and his family were still living at Farmington. However, ten years later in 1930 Loyde L Collett was the only child still living there with his parents at the age of 19.

It was around six years later that Lloyd Collett married the much younger Blanche, and between 1937 and 1940 their marriage produced three children. The children were all born at Farmington, where the family was living at the time of the census in 1940. For the first time the head of the household was named as Lloyd Collett, who was 29. His wife Blanche was still only 20, while their three children were Lloyd Collett, who was three, Evelyn Collett, who was two, and James Collett who was only a few months old. It was once again as Loyde Collett that his death was recorded at Shortsville in Ontario County in New York State during September 1986 when he was 75.

11R3

Lloyd Lester Collett

Born in 1937 at Farmington

11R4

Evelyn Collett

Born in 1938 at Farmington

11R5

James Collett

Born in 1939 at Farmington

11Q7

Francis James P Collett was born at Torquay in 1885, the only known son of Francis Richard Edward Hall Collett and his wife Jane Treeby Paige. During his early life he was known as Frankie, and not long after he was born his parents left Devon and moved to London. At the time of the census in 1891 Frank Collett was five years old, when he was living with his mother at 58 Colmer Road in the Streatham area of south London, while his father was a servant working nearby at Streatham Lodge.

No record of Frank has been identified in the census of 1901 when he would have been 15, but in 1905 he married Gertrude Emily Green at West Ham. Gertrude was born at Watford around 1885 and once they were married the couple settled in Plaistow, in the East Ham area of London, where their first child was born. The couple’s second and last known child was born two years after the census in 1911 and died that same year. The birth George F Collett was recorded at West Ham register office (Ref. 4a 240) during the first three months of 1913, while his death was also recorded there (Ref. 4a 95) during the third quarter of that year.

#14

On that occasion Frank Collett from Torquay was 25 and his occupation was that of a dairyman. It would appear to be his own business, for which he employed two dairy rounds-men, William Bunting 25, and Louis Dunkley 17. Frank’s wife Gertrude from Watford, who was also 25, was described as helping her husband with the family business. At that time in their lives the couple were living at 104 Howard’s Road in Plaistow with their daughter Florence Collett who was one year old.

Gertrude Emily Green, who was five years old in the Watford census of 1891, was the eldest child of George William Green and his wife Sarah who, sometime after the census day, moved from Watford to the West Ham area of London. In 1901 George W Green, aged 37 and from Buckinghamshire, was a dairyman and a cow keeper, his wife Sarah was 34, and their daughter Gertrude was 15. It is therefore most likely that Frank Collett was taken into the Green family business when he married Gertrude, since George William Green and his wife Sarah were also living in the Plaistow area of London in 1911, not far away from their daughter and her family.

Nothing else is known about the family after 1911 except it is established that Francis James P Collett died when he was 61 while he was living in the West Ham area of London in 1946, and that his wife Gertrude Emily Collett nee Green died six years after, at the age of 66.

11R6

Florence Gertrude M Collett

Born in 1910 at Plaistow, East Ham

11R7

George F Collett

Born in 1913 at Plaistow, East Ham

11Q8

Shirley Evans Collett was born at Woodford near Thrapston in Northamptonshire during 1896, the only child of James Collett and his wife Sarah Evans. He was four years old at the time of the census in 1901, by which time he and his parents were living in the Hitcham St Mary district of Burnham near Slough. Ten years later the family was living at Cedar Lodge in the Dropmore area of Burnham when male Shirley was 14.

All that is known about Shirley Evans Collett is that he married Phyllis Eileen O’Sullivan in 1922 at Amersham in Buckinghamshire, and that Phyllis died in 1978, with Shirley passing away the following year in 1979, both when they were living in the Cambridge area. It is not known whether or not they ever had any children. New information discovered in mid-2014 reveals that Shirley’s father James Collett was still living at Cedar Lodge in 1932, although it was at Admington, Shipston-on-Stour in Warwickshire that he died in July that year, when his son Shirley Evans Collett was granted administration of his father’s estate. At that time in his life Shirley was described as a railway employee.

#14

11Q9

Frederick William Collett was born at Walsall in 1895, the eldest child of Albert Frederick William Collett and his wife Eliza Atkins. He would have been about four years old when he and his sister Florence moved with their parents to Admington Grounds Farm and around seven when they moved to Mickleton where he would have attended the local school. He probably left there at around the age of twelve and in 1911, when he was fifteen years old, was working as a gardener in a private garden.

#12

He married Winifred A M Payne in 1917 and they had two daughters, Winifred P Joan Collett and Kathleen M Collett. When his father died in 1938 Frederick was named as one of the executors, along with his cousin Francis James Paige Collett. His address at that time was given as 29, Huntingdon Road within the Earlsdon district of Coventry. He may have worked for Hotchkiss et Cie, the Coventry branch of the English run Paris based arms company. The Coventry factory made over 40,000 weapons before making engines for BSA, Gilchrist, Morris and others. Alternatively, he may have worked for Rudge Whitworth Cycles, a British bicycle and motorcycle manufacturer, based in Coventry

#12

Frederick William Collett is understood to have died during 1954 at the age of 58. Twenty years later, in a letter written by his daughter Joan on 28^th April 1974 to Jack Bennett, there was reference to death of his wife Florence Bennett nee Collett – her aunt, during November of the previous year. Also from that letter, we know that Joan’s mother, Winifred Collett nee Payne, was in hospital at the time it was written.

#12

11R8

Winifred P Joan Collett

Born after 1918 at Coventry

#12

11R9

Kathleen M Collett

Born after 1918 at Coventry

#12

Prior to the issue of the June 2012 edition of this family line it was recorded here that Frederick William Collett may have married Doris Spinks during 1922. That event very likely took place at Walsall, where they lived, and where their two daughters and a son were born. The details of this family have been retained here for the moment in the hope that their correct positioning within the Collett family may be determined at a later date.

11R10

Joyce E Collett

Born in 1923 at Walsall

11R11

Jean L Collett

Born in 1927 at Walsall

11R12

Derek H Collett

Born in 1931 at Walsall

In addition to this, the sister of this Frederick William Collett was coincidentally another Ethel Collett - not to be confused with Ethel May Collett (Ref. 11Q11) below – and previously it was stated here that she married Norman V Bridge at Walsall in 1919. It was also at Walsall that their son Norman W Bridge was born in 1920. So once again the information has been retained here to hopefully later find the correct Collett family for siblings Frederick and Ethel Collett.

11Q10

Florence Gertrude Collett was born at Walsall on 26^th June 1899, the eldest daughter of Albert Frederick William Collett and Eliza Atkins. Her birth was registered on 5^th August 1898, when she was named after her paternal aunt, Florence Gertrude Ann Hall Collett. Sometime between 1898 and 1901 the family moved to Admington in Gloucestershire and their address in the census of 1901 was simply ‘Farmhouse’, which was actually a reference to Admington Grounds Farm. Her father [referred to as Frederick] was described as a farmer, while Florence was just two years old. The family continued to live at Admington until at least 1903.

#12

It was during that year when Florence’s sister Ethel was born at Admington, but shortly after the family moved to Mickleton where they were living in 1905 when another sister, Sarah Ann, was added to the family. By the time of the census in 1911 the family was recorded as living in ‘Private House’ in Mickleton, when Florence, aged 11, and her sisters Ethel and Annie were all attending school. A school certificate dated 1911 seems to indicate that Florence left school later that same year, by which time she was twelve.

#12

It would appear that she entered into domestic service, and by October 1918 she and her sister Ethel were mentioned in two letters written to them by their mother when they were probably employed by a lady in Orton. In 1919 Florence’s mother died and, as the eldest daughter, Florence was expected to return home to look after family, especially her youngest brother Arthur who was just three years old. Apparently, she wanted to continue raising him after her marriage in 1924 but her father, quite rightly, refused and it was her sister Sarah Ann who took over her role.

#12

It was on 24^th December 1924 in the Parish Church of St Swithun in Quinton that Florence married Jack Bennett. Florence was 26 and Jack was 25, while the witnesses were Ethel May Collett and her future husband William Charles Bailey. Jack’s occupation was that of a gardener. After they were married the couple lived with Florence’s father, Fred Collett, in Admington. Jack was employed by Major Johnston at Hidcote Gardens which is now in the hands of the National Trust. On 22^nd July 1925 Florence presented Jack with a son, George Rowland Bennett, and just two days later Jack received a letter from Mr Ben Chandler, an American, offering him the post of gardener and handyman at Hidcote House in Hidcote Boyce, where a dwelling, Hidcote House Cottage, was available to him and his family as part of the job.

#12

Two years later, on 20^th May 1927, their daughter Dorothy Hilda Bennett was born at Hidcote House Cottage, and their family was then complete. While they were still living there, they received many visits from family members such as Flo’s favourite brothers, Arthur and Henry, and her sister Ethel and her children Barbara and Betty Bailey. They were still living there twenty years later when, during the Second World War, in addition to his job at Hidcote House, Jack also had to work at the Lockheed Brake factory established at the back of Cutt’s Garage.

#12

However, life changed for the family in 1946, when Ben Chandler decided to leave Hidcote House. Not only did Jack lose his job, but also the home that came with it. At that time their son (Rowland) was away from home serving in the Royal Navy and in Bermuda. A letter from him made reference to his father seeking advice from a solicitor and it may have been a result of that meeting that Jack and Florence were living in temporary council accommodation in Mickleton by 15^th November. Their new home was an ex-army Nissen hut behind the King’s Arms Pub, for which they paid rent of 9 Shillings each week. Also, around that time, Flo had been admitted to hospital in Cheltenham. She must have been ill for some time and was diagnosed with a thyroid problem which required an operation. Life in the hut cannot have been pleasant after Hidcote House Cottage, but to make matters worse they were to face one of the worst winters on record.

#12

On 15 March 1948 they moved into No 5, The Bungalows, off Cedar Road in Mickleton, paying rent of 13 Shillings and 6 Pence per week. Their accommodation on that occasion was one of the ‘supposedly temporary’ prefabricated buildings [prefabs] that were erected in large numbers after the war to cope with the severe housing crisis. They were initially very popular because of their modern conveniences, which included fitted cupboards, integrated stoves and fridges, and separate bathroom and WC. All very much a luxury, considering that many people at that time were still using an outside toilet and had no bathroom at all.

#12

Jack Bennett found employment as a painter and decorator with Jim Moss, a Mickleton builder. Eighteen months later, when his son married, Jack’s occupation was recorded as a painter. In 1959, when his daughter Dorothy married, his occupation was given as a civil servant. True, he was a government employee, but rather than a bowler-hatted office worker which that term rather implies, he actually worked at the sewage plant on the Army Camp at Long Marston, Warwickshire, where he remained until the day he retired.

#12

It was around 1970 that their so-called temporary prefab bungalow was demolished, following which they were given alternative brand-new council accommodation, when they moved to 41 Cedar Road. Some three years later Florence Gertrude Bennett nee Collett died on 14^th November 1973. She had been unwell and was admitted to Stratford-upon-Avon Hospital, where she was for about a week before going to stay at the home of her daughter Dorothy at Wykum in Mickleton, where she passed away a couple of days later. According to the death certificate she died from a cerebral haemorrhage. She was 75 years old and had outlived all her Collett brothers and sisters, something she hated. Following her death, she was buried in the churchyard at Mickleton.

#12

George Rowland Bennett married Kathleen Jane Court on 1^st October 1949 at the parish church of St Lawrence in Weston Subedge, with whom he had two daughters. Linda Jane Bennett was born at Mickleton on 14^th June 1950, and Shirley Ruth Bennett was born on 24^th June 1955. And it was Linda Phelpstead, nee Bennett, who was living in Mickleton during 2012 who so generously provided all of the details and photographs of her immediate Collett family which have been used in the June 2012 version of this family line. Dorothy Hilda Bennett later married Percy Frederick Lynes in the parish Church of St Lawrence, in Mickleton on 4^th April 1959, and they had no children.

#12

11Q11

Ethel May Collett was born at Mickleton during the third quarter of 1902, the daughter of Albert and Eliza Collett. On leaving school she took up work in domestic service and may well have worked alongside her sister Florence (above). It was in December 1924 that Ethel and her future husband Bill were named as the two witnesses at Florence’s wedding In Quinton. This photograph was taken on that happy occasion. The marriage of Ethel May Collett and William Charles Bailey from Broadway took place during the second quarter of 1925 at Evesham. They had three children, and all of them were born at Broadway.

#12

They were Barbara Brenda Bailey, Betty Bailey, and William Bailey. Ethel May Bailey nee Collett died on 25^th December 1958 at 1 Lime Tree Avenue in Broadway at the age of 56, and was buried in the churchyard of St Michael and All Angels Church in Broadway.

#12

11Q12

Sarah Ann Collett was born at Mickleton on 20^th November 1904, the third daughter of Albert and Eliza Collett. Although recorded as Annie in the Mickleton census of 1911, she was also known as Nan, and it is understood that she never used her first name. Following the death of her mother in 1919, Annie’s eldest sister Florence (above) returned to Mickleton to look after the family, but after she was married at the end of 1924, Annie took over the role of housekeeper for her father and the carer of her youngest brother Arthur (below). She married Charles Clifford at Stratford-upon-Avon on 26^th December 1936 at St Swithun’s Church in Quinton. Charles was a stonemason from Ilmington and in attendance on their wedding day was bridesmaid was Joan Collett (niece) and best man Arthur Collett, the bride’s brother.

#12

The wedding reception was held at the Club Room in Ilmington, following which the couple lived at Upper Green in Ilmington. The marriage produced three children for Annie and Charles while they were living within in the Shipston-on-Stour district. They were Wendy E Clifford, who was born in 1938, Anne Clifford, who was born in 1942, and Arthur Charles Clifford who was born in 1944. Sarah Ann Clifford nee Collett died on 25^th September 1972 at the Ellen Badger Hospital in Shipston-on-Stour when she was 67. A funeral service was held at St Mary’s Church in Ilmington, and was followed by cremation at Oakley Wood in Wellesbourne. Charles Clifford died on 9^th March 1973, also at the Ellen Badger Hospital.

#12

#11

#12

11Q13

Henry James Collett was born at Mickleton on 19^th April 1907 and his birth was registered one month later by his mother Eliza on 22^nd May. By the time of the Mickleton census in 1911 he was three years old when he was still living there with his family in a private house. Upon completing his schooling in Mickleton Henry became a blacksmith’s apprentice. He was twenty-three years of age when he was married by banns to Leah Coxon in the parish Church of St Peter & St Paul in the Aston district of Birmingham on 7^th June 1930. Leah was 21 and was the daughter of engine driver Henry Coxon. Henry’s address at that time was 162 Vicarage Road in Aston, while the witnesses were Arthur Ernest Duggen and Ivy Chiles.

#12

The couple were unable to have children of their own, so they adopted two girls, Wendy and Zena Anita, who may have been sisters since as they both had beautiful auburn hair. Sometime later the family left Birmingham and returned to Henry’s Gloucestershire roots. That move was confirmed in letters written during 1946 and 1949 when Henry’s sister Florence was in hospital on both occasions. By that time in their lives Henry and Leah were living at 2, The Banks in Broad Campden from where Henry worked at the smithy in Westington, just south of Chipping Campden.

#12

Henry James Collett died during 1950 while he was a patient at Stratford-upon-Avon Hospital. He was only 42 years old. Following the death of her husband Leah moved to Alderney in the Channel Islands, where she worked as a housekeeper for the next ten years or so. It is understood that her adopted daughter Zena went with her, with Wendy continuing with her education in Broad Campden and staying with her aunt Florence Bennett nee Collett during term-time. Leah Collett nee Coxon later re-married and was living at 10 Blackwell Road in Tredington, Warwickshire on the occasion of the marriage of her daughter Zena.

#12

11Q14

Arthur George Collett was born at Mickleton in 1916, the last child of Albert William Frederick Collett and his wife Eliza Atkins. The birth was registered at Shipston-on-Stour during the second quarter of that year, but when he was only three years old his mother tragically died. As a result of their loss, the Arthur’s father asked his eldest daughter to return home to act as housekeeper for himself and his young family. This Florence did until she was married in December 1924, when her younger sister Annie (Sarah Ann) took on the role. According to the story told within the family by Florence’s daughter Dorothy, it is very clear that Florence wanted to take him with her when she and her new husband moved to Hidcote. However, it was her father that refused the request, and it was at that point that Annie took over as his housekeeper.

#11

#12

Arthur served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War, just prior to which he married Phyllis M Hughes in the parish Church of St Swithun in Quinton on 29^th May 1939. His niece, Dorothy Bennett, then aged 11 years, was one of the three bridesmaids. It is believed that Phyllis’s family ran the Post Office in Quinton, since that was where the couple lived immediately after the wedding. Shortly after they were married Phyllis contracted tuberculosis, receiving treatment at Hatton Sanitorium at Hertford Hill, just outside Warwick. She made a full recovery and lived until around 2004, but sadly the marriage did not produce any children.

#12

Arthur George Collett died suddenly on 25^th May 1949, following a cricket match. His nephew George Rowland Bennett reported that during the game he had been hit on the chest by a cricket ball. He was only 33 years old and his funeral took place during the following week at the parish church in Lower Quinton, followed by burial in the churchyard there. His widow Phyllis, who was still relatively young to lose her husband, never re-married.

#12

During his short life Arthur was an electrician by trade and his funeral notice included information that a wreath had been sent from the Electrician’s Trades Union, Stratford Branch. A letter of condolence from a well-wisher sent to his sister Florence, who was too ill to attend his funeral, stated that he ‘fixed electric at home for me and for our W.I. Room’. However, reports both of his death and funeral, concentrated more on his sporting activities and the active part that he had played in village life. He served on the Parish Council and the Playing Fields Committee, was Honorary Secretary of the British Legion branch, and was a goalkeeper with the Quinton football team, as well as being a member of the village cricket team.

#12

11Q15

Richard Collett was born on 29^th December 1915, possibly at Admington, where his father William Thomas Collett was born. His birth was recorded at Shipston-on-Stour register office (Ref. 6b 1496) during the first three months of 1916, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Medcalfe rather than Medcalf. His father died at Pershore in 1930 and at the time of the death of his mother in 1963 Richard Collett was an electricity board foreman. Probate of her Will, valued at £454 4 Shillings and 4 Pence, was granted in London to Richard Collett as sole executor. The death of Richard Collett was recorded at Pershore (Ref. 11b 5231 Entry 80) during the second quarter of 1993 when he was 77.

#14

11Q16

Charles Collett was born in 1919 at Pershore where his birth was recorded during the last three months of that year (Ref. 6c 329), the second son of William Thomas Collett and Mabel Emily Medcalf.

#14

11Q17

George Collett was born at Pershore in 1921, the third of the three sons of William Thomas Collett and Mabel Emily Medcalf. The child’s birth was recorded at Pershore register office (Ref. 8c 355) during the third quarter of 1921. George was only nine years old when his father suffered a premature death at Pershore in 1930 when he only thirty-eight.

#14

11Q18

Nellie Dora Collett was born at Admington in 1897, and was baptised at the Parish Church in Quinton on 11^th April 1897, the eldest child of William Henry Collett and Ellen Beasley who were only married during the previous year. As Nellie D Collett, she was four years old in 1901 and was 14 in 1911. By then, with her family residing in Luddington to the south-west of Stratford-upon-Avon, Nellie Dora Collett from Admington, had already left school and was employed as a general domestic servant at Boddington House in Luddington, the home of Bloomsbury, London, widow Alice Symonds aged 53 and her unmarried farm bailiff son Reginald Charles Symonds from Oxford who was 26. Her birth was recorded using her full name at Shipston-on-Stour (Ref. 6d 689) during the second quarter of 1897. She later married Frank Thorne and died in Birmingham during 1985.

#14

11Q19

George Cyril Collett was born at Admington in 1899, and was baptised at Quinton on 17^th September 1899, the eldest son of William and Ellen Collett, whose birth was recorded at Shipston-on-Stour register office (Ref. 6d 730). In 1901 George and his family were still living in Admington when he was just one year old. However, towards the end of the decade, his family left Admington and moved to Luddington, near Stratford-upon-Avon, where George Cyril was eleven years of age. At the outbreak of the First World War George was fifteen years old and, as soon as he was able, he joined the Royal Irish Rifles as Rifleman Collett 52510. Sadly, towards the very end of the war he died whilst at Ypres on 2^nd September 1918 at the age of nineteen. The name of George Cyril Collett appears on Panel 9 of the Ploegsteert Memorial near Ieper. At the time of his death, he was unmarried and his next-of-kin was given as his father W H Collett of Luddington near Stratford-upon-Avon.

11Q20

Sarah Jane Collett was born at Admington on 2^nd January 1902, the daughter of William and Ellen Collett, who was baptised at Quinton on 2^nd February 1902. Whether for reasons of over-crowding in her parents’ home, Sarah J Collett from Admington was staying with her father’s younger brother Daniel Collett and his wife Alice at their home in Ross-on-Wye. Sarah’s parents by that time, were living in Luddington near Stratford-upon-Avon. It was in 1934 that she married to become Sarah Jane Petts, the event recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 6d 1291) during the last three months of that year. Sarah Jane Petts was 70 when she died in 1972, her death recorded at Stratford-upon-Avon register office (Ref. 9c 2817) during the last quarter of the year.

#14

11Q21

Charles Henry Collett was born at Admington on 18^th April 1904, the son of William Henry Collett and his wife Ellen, his birth recorded at Shipston-on-Stour register office (Ref. 6d 736). He was seven years old in 1911, by which time he was recorded with his family at Luddington. It was during the second quarter of 1932 that he married May Bayliss, their wedding recorded at Stratford-upon-Avon register office (Ref. 6d 1553). Not much more about him is known at this time except that (a) he was named as one of the executors of his father’s Will at Stratford-upon-Avon in February 1955, when his occupation was that of a storeman, and (b) Charles Henry Collett was 77 when he died in 1982, his death recorded at Stratford register office (Ref. 31 0463) during the first three months of that year.

#14

11Q22

Ella May Collett was born at Admington in 1906, the daughter of William and Ellen Collett. By the time of the census in 1911, Ella May was four years old when she and her family were living in the village of Luddington, when her place of birth was recorded as Hansell Farm. It was much later in her life that she married Harry W Collis, the event recorded at Surrey North Western register office (Ref. 2a 699) during the first three months of 1943. The only other known fact is that Ella May Collis died during 1995.

#14

11Q23

Albert Wilfred Collett was born at Admington in 1909, the youngest son of William and Ellen Collett. Not long after he was born his parents left Admington and settled in Luddington near Stratford-upon-Avon where he was one year old in 1911. During the final three months of 1932 Alfred W Collett married Evelyn Bachelor when the event was recorded at Stratford register office (Ref. 6d 1861). Once married the couple eventually emigrated to Australia where Albert Wilfred Collett died. Evelyn Bachelor may have been related to Selina Mary Ann Saunders Batchelor, the daughter of John and Mary Batchelor and George Walter Raymond Batchelor, a gardener from Broadway in Worcestershire, who was living with Selina Collett (Ref. 11P23) in 1911.

#14

11Q24

Florence A Collett was born at Luddington in 1912, the daughter of William and Ellen Collett. Florence was only eleven years old when she died, her death recorded at Stratford-upon-Avon register office (Ref. 6d 1081) during the first three months of 1924.

#14

11Q25

Daisy Mabel Collett was born at Luddington on 24^th April 1916 the eighth and last child of William Henry Collett and Ellen Beasley. She married James William Keyte during the first quarter of 1940 when the marriage was recorded at Stratford-upon-Avon register office (Ref. 6d 2793). Daisy Mabel Keyte was 84 when she passed away during August 2000, her death recorded at Cambridge register office (Vol. d54c 54).

#14

11Q26

George Collett was born at Stanway in 1889, his birth recorded at Winchcombe (Ref. 6a 194) during the last three months of that year. He was the first child of George Collett and Emma Prew and, in the Stanway census of 1891, George was one year old when he was living there with his parents. After a couple of family moves during the 1890s, by the time of the census of 1901, George and his family were living at Blackwell, near Tredington and north of Shipston-on-Stour. However, George’s place of birth was said to be Hornsleasow (which is near Moreton-in-Marsh) rather than Stanway. George was eleven years old at that time and he was again living with his family at Blackwell in 1911. By then, George Collett was 21 and was employed as a farm labourer, while he was still living with his family at Blackwell, near Tredington in Warwickshire. His place of birth at that time was more accurately provided as being Stanway.

Just over four years after, the marriage of George Collett and Kate Rose was recorded at Shipston-on-Stour register office (Ref. 6d 114) during the fourth quarter of 1915. No record of any children has been found, and it is possible George left shortly after to serve King and Country. However, perhaps on his return, the death of George Collett was recorded at Stratford-on-Avon register office (Ref. 6d 78) towards the end of 1918, when he was only 29 years old. Katie Rose was born at Shipston-on-Stour on 19^th April 1893, where she was baptised on 28^th May 1893, the eldest child of Henry and Rhoda Rose of Telegraph Street in Shipston. Kate Collett died five years after George, maybe both of them suffering from the flu pandemic, when she passed away at Stratford on 12^th June 1924, her Will proved on 17^th July 1924, the sole beneficiary being her father, Henry Rose.

11Q27

Ellen Collett was born at Hidcote Boyce in 1892, her birth recorded at Shipston-on-Stour (Ref. 6d 296) during the last three months of that year, the eldest daughter of George and Emma Collett. Within a year or so, her family had moved the very short distance to neighbouring Hidcote Bartrim, where her sister Florence (below) was born. Not long after that the family moved again, that time, to Blackwell within the parish of Tredington, where they were living in 1901. In the census that year Ellen was eight years old and was living with her mother and her shepherd father, and her other siblings. During the following ten years the family expanded to eight (six children and their parents) when they were continuing to live at Blackwell. Whether because of the overcrowding, or simply because she was the oldest daughter, Ellen eventually left the family home in Blackwell and went to live and work in Stratford-upon-Avon. And it was there that she was recorded in the census of 1911 at the age of 19, when Ellen Collett from Hidcote Boyce was the only general domestic servant at the home of two elderly ladies, Hannah Reading who was 63, and Emma Ann Jessop who was 68.

11Q28

Florence Emily Collett was born at Hidcote Bartrim on 5^th November 1894, with her birth recorded at nearby Shipston-on-Stour register office (Ref. 6d 102) during the first three months of 1895. Their time there was limited and, shortly after she was born, the family moved to Blackwell, close to the Roman Road that is Fosse Way and just west of Tredington. By 1901, Florence was six years old when she and her family were residing in the hamlet on Blackwell, where they were still living in 1911. However, Florence, just like her older sister Ellen (above), had already left home by then and was living and working in Warwick at the age of 17. Florence Emily Collett from Hidcote was the servant at the home of Percy and Frances Bailey. Four years later, the marriage of Florence E Collett and George T Ash was recorded at Warwick register office (Ref. 6d 89) during the third quarter of 1915.

Florence was already with-child on their wedding day, with the birth of their first child Georgina E Ash recorded at Shipston-on-Avon (Ref. 6d 101) at the end of 1915, the child likely to have been born at Florence’s parents’ home in Blackwell. The births of all the couple’s later children were recorded at Warwick register office, and in every case, the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett. They were all born after the First World War, which raises the question, did George see active service during the campaign. The first of the second batch of children was Kathleen A Ash in 1919, Thomas V Ash in 1922, Florence E Ash in 1924, John W Ash in 1927, Audrey M Ash in 1928, Dorothy M Ash in 1929, and Walter G Ash in 1930. Florence Emily Ash was 89 years old, when her death was recorded at the Warwick & Leamington register office (Vol. 31) in April 1984.

11Q29

Walter Victor Collett was born in the hamlet of Blackwell in 1897, his birth recorded at Shipston-on-Stour register office (Ref. 6d 323) during the second quarter of that year. It was at the parish church in Tredington that Walter Victor Collett was baptised on 25^th July 1897, another child of George and Emma Collett. According to the census in 1901, Walter Victor was three years old when he and his family were living at Blackwell near Tredington, where the family was still living in 1911. By then, Walter had finish school and was working as a plough boy on a farm at the age of 13, who may have been working with his father who was a shepherd on a farm. At the outbreak of war, Walter enrolled with the 10^th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment and became Private 15221 Walter Victor Collett. Tragically, he was killed in action on 23^rd July 1916 during the First Battle of the Somme, and his name appears on the Thievpal Memorial. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry reads as follows: ‘Walter Victor Collett, the son of George and Emma Collett of Blackwell in Warwickshire, died on 23^rd July 1916, aged 19’.

11Q30

Charlotte Collett was born on 23^rd July 1899 at Blackwell with her birth recorded at Shipston-on-Stour register office (Ref. 6d 297) during the third quarter of the year. A little while later she was baptised at Tredington on 8^th October 1899, the penultimate child of George and Emma Collett. She was one year one in the Blackwell census of 1901, and was 11 in 1911, when Charlotte and her family were still living in Blackwell, near Tredington, as they were again in 1916. Some years later, Charlotte who was known as Dot, and her younger brother Wilfred (below), moved with their parents to a cottage in Stretton-on-Fosse sometime after 1916.

Charlotte was still living with her family in Stretton where she married Harry Carter, their wedding recorded at Shipston-on-Stour (Ref. 6d 92) during the second of 1925. They initially set up home in Stretton, but later on moved to Shipston-on-Stour. Charlotte presented Harry with three children; Henry W Carter who was born in 1926, Christine I Carter who was born in 1931, and Evelyn H Carter who was born in 1932. All three births were recorded at Shipston-on-Stour, with their mother’s maiden-name confirmed as Collett in each case. The death of Charlotte Carter was recorded at South Warwickshire register office (Vol. 31) during the summer of 1989 at the age of 90. Six years earlier the death of Harry Carter was also recorded at the Warwickshire register office (Vol. 34 0055) in 1983, when his date of birth was recorded as 24^th August 1900.

11Q31

Wilfred Collett was born at Blackwell in Warwickshire on 7^th March 1907 and was baptised at nearby Tredington on 19^th May 1907, the last child of George Collett and Emma Prew, who was known as Wilf. His birth, like those of his older siblings, was also recorded at Shipston-on-Stour register office (Ref. 6d 355) during the first quarter of 1907. He was four years old in the Blackwell census of 1911, where he was still living with his family in 1916 when they received notification from the War Office that his older brother Walter (above) had been killed in action during the first three weeks of the First Battle of the Somme. It seems likely that, perhaps around 1921/22, after Wilf had finished attending the school in Tredington, to and from where he walked every day, he joined his sister Charlotte (above) when their parents left Blackwell and moved to a cottage in Stretton-on-Fosse.

Wilf remained in Stretton throughout his adult life, although he often worked away from home. It was in 1929 when he married Barbara Remington, almost the-girl-next-door. Like Wilf, she too was an incomer to the village when, as a child, she and her mother moved to Stretton. Barbara was born in 1911, and initial moved from Birmingham to Upper Ditchford, south-west of Stretton, in 1917, before settling in Stretton. Barbara Gertrude Denton Remington was born on 25^th April 1911, and was baptised in Birmingham on May 1911, the first-born child of Leslie Remington and Susannah Maria Simpson. Her birth as Barbara G D Remington was recorded at Solihull register office (Ref. 6d 1194).

After they were married, Wilfred and Barbara set up home in Stretton, and had Wilf’s mother-in-law living with them. They continued to live in the village, where they brought up their two daughters: Barbara Ellen Joy Collett – known as Joy and the mother of Bobbie Anderson, and Brenda Susan Collett. Wilfred had a variety of occupations throughout his working life, including as an AA motorbike patrolman, a heavy haulage driver, working with steam driven vehicles, and as a market gardener. He was an excellent mechanic, who enjoyed passing on his skills, and a prolific vegetable gardener and a scrumpy cider-maker. Wilfred was unable to serve King & Country in the Second World War as he had lost some lung capacity as a young man.

Latterly, Wilfred’s health deteriorated and he had heart problems which eventually led to emergency open heart surgery at the John Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford during the month of July in 1982. Sadly, he did not regain consciousness after that surgery, and he died on 2^nd August 1982. It was for that reason that his death was recorded at Oxford register office (Vol. 20 146) when he was 75 years old. Barbara Collett remained in Stretton after Wilfred’s death, until her own death in 2003. Their ashes were interred together, along with those of Susannah Remington, in the Churchyard of St Peter’s Church in Stretton-on-Fosse. There is a memorial stone slab marking their grave.

So, at the time of his death, Wilfred was a much loved, and proud, grandfather to five adult grandchildren. Between them, those five went on to have ten children, four girls and six boys, all now adults who, so far, have produced a further six children, three girls and three boys. Thus, Wilfred Collett’s genetic legacy continues.

11R13

Barbara Ellen Joy Collett

Born in 1930 at Stretton-on-Fosse

11R14

Brenda Susan Collett

Born in 1933 at Stretton-on-Fosse

11Q36

Robert Collett was born at Olton in Solihull on 24^th February 1908, the only known son of John and Ann Collett, whose birth was recorded later on at Solihull register office (Ref. 6d 640) during the second quarter of 1908. He was three years old in the Olton (Solihull) census of 1911, and the only other known fact about him relates to his death which was recorded at Birmingham (Ref. 32 1556) during the last three months of 1987.

11Q40

Douglas Ellis George Collett was born at Charlton near Evesham on 9^th August 1902, the only child of George Robert Collett and Adeline Sophia Corbett. Sometime after he was born, his parents move to the Bristol area and in 1911 they were residing at Long Ashton immediately south-west of Bristol where Douglas was eight years old. The only other details currently known about Douglas are that he was working as a bricklayer in 1966 when he was named as the sole executor of his father’s Will, and that he died at the age of 76, his death recorded at Solihull register office (Ref. 34 0079) during the last three months of 1978.

#14

11Q41

Ernest Grosvenor Collett was born at Charlton near Evesham in 1902, the eldest child of Joseph Collett and Fanny Dyer, his birth recorded at Pershore in Worcestershire (Ref. 6c 345) during the first quarter of 1902. Shortly after he was born the family settled in Offenham to the north and east of Evesham where the family was living in 1911 at Knowledge Cottages when Ernest was nine years old. Tragically before his eighteen birthday he died, perhaps as a victim of the flu pandemic which swept across the country, his death recorded at Evesham register office (Ref. 6c 225) during the first three months of 1920.

#14

11Q43

Wilfred Arthur Collett was born at Offenham, just north-east of Evesham, and that may have been at the end of 1905 or at the start of 1906, since it was during the first quarter of 1906 that his birth was recorded at Evesham register office (Ref. 6c 251). It was at Oppenham that he was living with his family in 1911, at the age of five years, the youngest of the three children of Joseph and Fanny Collett. He later married Doris Evelyn, although no positive record of the wedding as ben found. Wilfred Arthur Collett was only 27 years of age when he died on 6^th October 1933 at Birlingham in Worcestershire. His Will was proved at Birmingham on 20^th November 1933, the main beneficiary being his widow Doris Evelyn Collett.

11Q44

Geoffrey M Collett was born near the end of 1925, the eldest child of Alfred Collett and Gertrude Annie Dyer. Although he made have been born at Charlton, his birth was recorded at Pershore register office (Ref. 6c 257) during the first quarter of the following year. It was during the third quarter of 1949 that the marriage of Geoffrey M Collett and Ruth L Miller was recorded at Evesham register office (Ref. 9d 357). It was during 2014 when Geoffrey M Collett passed away at the age of 89. The couple’s eldest son, Michael J Collett was born in 1951, his birth recorded at Evesham register office (Ref. 9d 133) during the first three months of the year. Richard Alan Collett was born in 1953 and his birth was also recorded at Evesham register office (Ref. 9d 138) during the second quarter of that year. The birth record for both sons confirmed their mother’s maiden-name was Miller.

#16

11R15

Michael J Collett

Born in 1951 at Evesham

11R16

Richard Alan Collett

Born in 1953 at Evesham

11Q45

Kathleen M Collett was born in 1927, possibly at Charlton, with her birth recorded at Pershore register office (Ref. 6c 251) during the first quarter of that year. The marriage of Kathleen M Collett and Albert E Deeks was recorded at Pershore register office (Ref. 9d 461) during the first quarter of 1950. Albert Ernest Deeks was born on 27^th April 1919. Kathleen presented Albert with four children, all the births recorded at Birmingham register office, when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett. They were Sally A Deeks in 1954, Roger E Deeks in 1955, Arthur R Deeks in 1958, and Mary J Deeks in 1960. The death of Albert Ernest Deeks was recorded at Birmingham register office during November 1990, and twenty-four years after being widowed, Kathleen M Deeks died in 2014.

#16

11Q46

William D Collett was born in 1928, with his birth recorded at Pershore register office (Ref. 6c 234) during the fourth quarter of the year. He was twenty-three when he married Doreen B Taylor, the event recorded at Evesham register office (Ref. 9d 291) during the first three months of 1952. The births of their two children were recorded at Swindon register office, when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Taylor. The youngest child was just one year old when the premature death of William D Collett, at the age of only 31, was recorded at Cheltenham register office (Ref. 7b 79) during the third quarter of 1960.

#16

11R17

Edward G Collett

Born in 1957 at Swindon

11R18

Celia J Collett

Born in 1959 at Swindon

11Q47

Richard D Collett was born in 1932, the birth recorded at Pershore register office (Ref. 6c 241) during the last quarter of the year. He was married towards the end of 1958, with the marriage of Richard D Collett and Maisie Boyle recorded at Evesham register office (Ref. 9d 229) during the last three months of that year. Amanda Collett was born in 1961 and was the only known child of Richard and Maisie, whose birth was recorded at Evesham register office (Ref. 9d 140) during the final quarter of that year. The record also confirmed that her mother’s maiden-name was Boyle.

#16

11R19

Amanda Collett

Born in 1961 at Evesham

11Q48

John Charles Collett was born at Kings Norton on 9^th February 1901 and was two months old at the time of the census on 31^st March 1901. His birth was recorded at Kings Norton register office (Ref. 6c 143). On that occasion he and his parents, John Harvey Collett and Alice Williams, were living at Kings Norton, where his father was a farm labourer. Not long after that census day, the young family settled in Birlingham, near Pershore, where the next two children were added to the family. After their addition to the family, John’s father took up the position of farm bailiff at nearby Elmley Castle, where the family was living in 1911. The census return completed that year, recorded John Charles Collett, aged ten years and from Kings Norton, living at Elmley Castle with his parents and four younger siblings. It is not known if he had any involvement towards the end of the First World War but, with the start of the Second World War in 1939, John became a War Reserve Police Officer. Around that time, he was living at 22 Beamish Road in Wandsworth, although it seems unlikely that he was married by then. The reason for this assumption is that on 19^th April 1941 at the age of 40 John Charles Collett was killed during the London Blitz and his next-of-kin were named as his parents John Harvey and Alice Collett of Mount Pleasant Farm in Ellenhall. John Charles Collett died at the Castle Hotel on Putney Bridge in Wandsworth and was buried at Wandsworth Metropolitan Cemetery.

11Q49

Rose Elizabeth Collett was the only daughter and second child of John and Alice Collett, whose birth was recorded at Pershore register office (Ref. 6c 239) during the last quarter of 1903. She was born at nearby Birlingham, where her brother Frank (below) was also born, after which the family settled in Elmley Castle, just south of Birlingham. The Elmley Castle census in 1911 listed Rose Elizabeth Collett, aged seven and from Birlingham, living there with her parents and her four brothers. It is established that Rose Elizabeth Collett married Rowland Cantrill of Hyde Lea and, that on 9^th May 1930, their daughter Margaret Alice Cantrill was born. Sadly, she only 22 years of age, when she died on 30^th July 1952. Her name appears on a family memorial stone at Ellenhall, together with the names of her father and her mother. Rowland Cantrill died on 4^th May 1969 at the age of 69, and his widow Rose Elizabeth Cantrill nee Collett passed away on 14^th February 1999, when she was 95.

#14

11Q50

Frank William Collett was born at Birlingham, another son of John and Alice Collett, her birth recorded at Pershore register office (Ref. 6c 83) during the second quarter of 1906. When he was nearly two years old, his family moved the short distance south to Elmley Castle where, in 1911, Frank William Collett from Birlingham was five years of age. The later marriage of Frank W Collett and (1) Edna M Fletcher was recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 6d 121) during the first three months of 1940. One year later, the birth of their only child, Audrey, was recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 6d 7) during the first quarter of 1941, after which she was baptised at Birmingham on 23^rd April 1941. The baptism entry confirmed she was the daughter of Frank William Collett and Edna Mabel Collett, and that she was born on 21^st March 1941. Upon the death of Gertrude Agnes Fletcher on 25^th November 1948, the two beneficiaries under the terms of her Will, proved at Birmingham on 2^nd April 1949 were Edna Mabel Collett and Frank William Collett. Two years later Frank William Collett married (1) Edith Elsie Harper, their wedding recorded at Stafford register office (Ref. 9b 111) during the second quarter of 1951. Frank William Collett was 57 when he died on 25^th February 1964, his passing recorded at Stafford register office (Ref. 9b 4). Many years later, when Edith Elsie Collett was 79, she died in Staffordshire on 4^th December 1991. Following both their deaths, their names were added to the family memorial at Ellenhall.

#14

11R20

Aubrey Jean Collett

Born in 1941 at Birmingham

11Q51

Bernard Stanley Collett was born at Elmley Castle on 23^rd October 1908, with his birth, like those of his two older siblings (above), also recorded at Pershore register office (Ref. 9c 204) during the last three months of that year. He was two years old on the day of the census in 1911, when he and his family were still living at Elmley Castle. Bernard Stanley Collett was 63 years of age when he died on 5^th May 1972, and his name also appears on the Collett family memorial stone at Ellenhall in Staffordshire. It was also at Stafford register office that his passing was recorded (Ref. 9b 43). Nothing further is currently known about him, or his life, between 1911 and 1972.

#14

11Q53

Elizabeth R Collett was born at Ellenhall in 1913, with her birth recorded at Stafford register office (Ref. 6b 129) during the second quarter of the year, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Lakin. She was the first-born child of Francis Edwin Collett and Mary Lizzie Lakin.

11Q54

Doris A Collett was born at Ellenhall in 1915, another daughter of Francis and Mary Collett, whose birth was recorded at Stafford register office (Ref. 6b 133) during the last three months of the year.

11Q55

John E Collett was born at Ellenhall in 1917, the only son of Francis and Mary Collett, in their five of five children. The birth of John E Collett was recorded at Stafford register office (Ref. 6b 142) during the final quarter of that year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Lakin.

11Q56

Edna M Collett may have been born at the end of 1919 or early in 1920 at Ellenhall. Consequently, her birth was recorded at Stafford register office (Ref. 6b 12) at the start of 1920, with her mother’s maiden-name confirmed as Lakin.

11Q57

Ruby G Collett was born at Ellenhall in 1921, the last child of Francis Edwin Collett and Mary Ann Lakin. Her birth, like those of her four older siblings, was also recorded at Stafford register office (Ref. 6b 8) during the third quarter of the year, which once again, confirmed the mother’s maiden-name was Lakin.

11Q61

Cissy Dorothy Collett was born at Attleborough, Nuneaton in 1901 and was baptised at the parish church of Nuneaton & Attleborough on 11^th August 1901, the second child of Walter and Martha Collett.

#14

11Q62

Lilian Doris Collett was born at Bulkington, to the south of Attleborough, in 1903 and was baptised at Bulkington on 17^th May 1903, the daughter of Walter and Martha Collett.

#14

11Q63

Walter Frederick Edmund Collett was born at Bulkington on 4^th April 1905, the only known son of Walter and Martha Collett who was baptised at there on 23^rd April 1905. Although nothing more is known about him at this time, it is established that as Walter Frederick E Collett he died in 1970 at the age of 65. His death was recorded at Lichfield register office (Ref. 9b 672) during the fourth quarter of that year.

#14

11Q64

Charles Collett, who was also known as Charlie, was born at Boothen a district of Stoke-on-Trent on 19^th March 1906. He was the eldest of the three children of farmer Thomas Collett and his wife Dinah Davies. Not long after he was born his parents moved to Slindon, to the north of Eccleshall, where they were living in 1911, when Charlie was five years old. Ten years later Charles’ father purchased Broom’s Farm in Slindon, where the family spent the next two years, before eventually emigrating to Canada in May 1923. This photograph of Charles was provided by Paul Boreham.

It was in the town of Guelph in Ontario, where the family settled, and where Dinah’s sister Phoebe Allsop nee Davies had resided with her family since 1920. After initially working as a farm hand, Charles started work in the upholstery trade in 1926 at the factory of Armstrong Furniture in Guelph, where he worked until the depression in 1934 when the factory closed. In 1934 he left his parent’s home at 4 Victoria Street in Guelph and moved to the booming gold mining town of Kirkland Lake in northern Ontario, where his sister Millicent (below) and husband Charles Sylvester were living at that time. By that time in his life, Charles had been dating Edna Lillian Middleton in Guelph for the past five years, so it was his moving to Kirkland Lake that helped the couple to decide to get married and start their life together there. They were married in Guelph on 27^th October 1934, following which they took a train north to their new home, which Charlie and his brother-in-law had built.

Once settled into their new home, Charlie set about establishing a small upholstery shop at the back of their house, where he applied the knowledge he had gained during the eight years he had worked for Armstrong Furniture. Just over a year after they were married, Edna presented Charles with the first of their children, when Gwendolyn was born at 13 Premier Avenue in Kirkland Lake. When the Second World War broke out 1939, the price of gold plummeted and everyone in Kirkland Lake started to leave during the following year, including Charlie and Edna, with their daughter and Gwen. Later that same year the couple’s second child Nancy was born after the family had returned to Guelph.

By 1942 Charles and Edna had bought a house at 390 Delhi Street, next to the Homewood Sanatorium, but five years later in 1947 they moved into their second home in Guelph, at 41 Yorkshire Street. During the middle of May in 1950 Edna gave birth to twins, Catherine and Dennis. Whilst living at Guelph, Charlie held several factory jobs, plus working at the Ontario Reformatory in the tailor shop, and opening his own upholstery shop once again in the 1960s. He eventually completed his working life in the early 1970s when he was employed as a watchman, like his father Thomas had done. Edna was a long-time employee of the Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise, and during 1964 she and Charles, together with the twins, moved to their last home at 13 Robertson Drive in Guelph.

Charlie retired round about 1973 and spent the last decade of his life square-dancing, upholstering furniture for family and friends, and travelling. In 1976 he returned to England with his brother-in-law Charles Sylvester (below) when they visited his old hometown of Slindon. While there, he wrote home and said “We spent a day on the old farm we used to own and that was a very interesting day.... Everywhere I go I meet somebody that either knows us or of us”

Charles Collett died at Guelph in Ontario on 3^rd December 1982 at the age of 76, the cause of death being a stroke. His widow Edna survived for a further twenty years, when she passed away at Guelph on 23^rd August 2003. Both of them were buried at Woodlawn Century in Guelph, close to where Charles’ mother was buried.

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Gwendolyn Gertrude Collett

Born in 1935 at Kirkland Lake

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Nancy Edna Collett

Born in 1940 at Guelph

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Catherine Joyce Collett twin

Born in 1950 at Guelph

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Dennis Peter Collett twin

Born in 1950 at Guelph

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Millicent Collett was born at 8 South Terrace in Stoke-on-Trent on 21^st March 1907, the only daughter of farmer Thomas Collett and Dinah Davies. Almost a month later on 17^th April 1907, she was baptised at the District Church of All Saints in Stoke. A few years after she was born her family moved to Slindon to the north of Eccleshall, where they were recorded as living in April 1911 when Millicent was four years old. Ten years later her father purchase Broom’s Farm in Slindon, but two years after that the family sailed to Canada.

Millicent was 16 when she arrived at Guelph in Ontario. Her first job was at Courtold’s Spinning Mills, which was the “Guelph Carpet and Worsted Spinning Mills”, where she worked with one of her young cousins. She then attended Gregg College in Toronto before becoming a married lady. Many years after she had worked at Courtold’s Spinning Mill, the story that Milly told to her daughter Linda, was that she and her cousin remembered that they, as the youngest employees at the mill, were not allowed to open their own pay envelopes, but that they were instructed to take them home, to be handed to their parents, but that they (Milly and her cousin) often peeked to see what they had earned.

Once in Canada, she and her family lodged with her mother’s married sister Phoebe Allsop nee Davies at 109 Clark Street in Guelph, Ontario, which today is Ferguson Street. By the end of 1923 they had their own house nearby at 26 Johnston Street (later 86 Johnston Street), where they lived until 1926. In 1927 they moved to 39 Queen Street where they spent the next five years. It was around that time that Millicent (Milly) married Charles Maddock Sylvester during August 1931, as pictured here, thanks to Paul Boreham who supplied the photograph. The couple then lived at 131 Carter Avenue in Kirkland Lake for their entire lives, where their two children were born.

They were (1) William Sylvester, who was known as Bill, who was born in July 1932, and (2) Linda Sylvester who was born during December in 1946. Bill later married and had three children, Sally Victoria (Vicki) Sylvester, Ann Louise Sylvester (who was adopted), and Daniel Richard Sylvester, while Linda’s marriage produced two children for her and her husband, Jennifer Burns and Duncan Burns.

Milly’s parents returned to England in 1954, but following the death of her father in 1956, her mother returned to Canada in 1957 to live with Millicent and Charlie at Kirkland Lake in Ontario. Millicent Sylvester nee Collett died at Kirkland Lake on 23^rd May 1975. It was Millicent’s grandson, the aforementioned Richard Sylvester, who kindly provided all of the earlier initial details of the family of Thomas Collett (1877 to 1956). Following her cremation, Millicent’s ashes were taken from Kirkland to Woodland Cemetery in Guelph where they were buried at her mother Dinah’s grave. When Milly’s husband Charles died fourteen years later in 1989, his ashes were also buried beside Milly’s at Guelph.

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Thomas Collett was born at Slindon on 5^th June 1912, the youngest of the three children of Thomas Collett and Dinah Davies. He grew up in Slindon, north of Eccleshall, where his father purchased Broom’s Farm in 1921. In May of 1923 the family emigrated to Canada, settling in the small city of Guelph, Ontario, to the northwest of Toronto. Thomas then lived at three different addresses in Guelph with his parents, they being 109 Clark Street, 26 Johnson Street, and 39 Queens Street.

Photograph of Thomas and his wife Rosina, courtesy of Paul Boreham

By 1935 he had moved out of his parent’s home to start his own life. After briefly living in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, with his sister Millicent and her husband Charles (with his brother Charles nearby), he settled in Waterloo, Ontario, just west of Guelph, where he married Floretta Rosina Adams on 9^th August 1940.

Once they were married, the couple took up residence at 77 Seagram Drive and remained there for the duration of their lives, and where their two children were born. Thomas worked in Waterloo at a plant called Bower Industries for many years, making items such as twine and rope. In his later years he worked in the janitorial department at the University of Waterloo, which was nearby their home on Seagram Drive. Tom, as he was known, loved restoring old cars, his last being an old Studebaker. He was a member of the charitable organisation called the Foresters.

Thomas Collett died on 24^th January 1975 at the age of 62, while his wife Rosina lived another nineteen years in their home with their daughter Sharon, prior to her passing on 21^st January 1994. Thomas, his wife Rosina, and their daughter Sharon, are all buried in Memory Gardens in Breslau, between Guelph and Waterloo.

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John Thomas Collett

Born in 1943 at Waterloo, Ontario

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Sharon Jeanette Collett

Born in 1947 at Waterloo, Ontario

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Albert Edward Collett, who was known as Bert, was born at Wolstanton in Stoke-on-Trent on 15^th October 1901, the eldest of two sons of Albert Collett and Sarah Jane Fox. In March 1909 Albert’s father sailed to Canada ahead of the family, but was tragically killed there in August 1910 while at work building a hydro pipeline adjacent to the famous Niagara Falls.

Photograph courtesy of Joan Robertson nee Collett

It was in 1911 that Albert, together with his widowed mother Sarah, and brother Francis (below), arrived in Niagara Falls where his father had died and was buried. After a while living there, the family of three moved to western Canada. The photograph of Bert Collett above, was taken in the homestead garden at Brightsands in Saskatchewan in the 1920s, and standing with him in the fuller picture is his brother Frank (below).

Albert Edward Collett married (1) Marjorie Almas at Viscount in Saskatchewan, Western Canada on 1^st July 1920 and the marriage produced five children, Doris, Helen, Frances, Earl, and Charles, all of whom were born at Saskatoon in Saskatchewan. Following the death of Marjorie at Oliver, BC on 30^th July 1935 and her burial at Penticton, Albert married (2) Hilma Huhtaniemi with whom he had a further son George. At some later time in his life Albert married (3) Jessica Wright. During his life Albert was a fisherman and a carpenter, and it was at Campbell River in British Columbia that he was living when he died on 24^th April 1969, following which he was buried at Willow Point.

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Doris Kathleen Collett

Born in 1921 at Saskatoon

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Helen Millicent Collett

Born in 1924 at Saskatoon

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Frances May Collett

Born in 1925 at Saskatoon

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Earl Albert Collett

Born in 1926 at Saskatoon

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Charles Edward Collett

Born in 1928 at Saskatoon

The following child is the son of Albert and his second wife Hilma Huhtaniemi:

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George Arthur Collett

Born in 1937 at Rossland, BC

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Francis Ernest Collett was born at Stoke-on-Trent on 10^th August 1905, although it was at Stone, to the south of Stoke-on-Trent, that he was baptised on 1^st October 1905. It was as Frank that he was later known in his life. Following the death of his father in Canada in 1910, Francis’ mother sailed from Liverpool across the Atlantic Ocean, arriving at Halifax on 29^th March 1911, taking with her Francis and his brother Albert (above). Once there, the family initially settled in Niagara Falls, before heading to western Canada. Francis Ernest Collett married Mabel Margaret Frederica Jean Redstone at Penticton in British Columbia on 20^th November 1930. Peggy, as she was known, presented Frank with three children over the following seven years, and they were Dale, Roy, and Joan. Both of Francis’ two sons Dale and Roy married and had Collett children of their own.

Frank served with the Canadian Army, as seen by the photo above, which was kindly provided by his daughter Joan. Another photo from Joan shows the six medals that he was awarded for his part in the Second World War. The three campaign medals in bronze indicate that he saw active service in France, Germany, and Italy, while the three silver medals are the Defence Medal, 1939-45 War Medal, and the Canadian Army Star which has a clasp. Frank spent five years of his life in Europe from 1940 to 1945 and was a tank Sargent involved in most major conflicts from Italy to Holland. He returned to Canada in September 1945. The famous photograph entitled “Wait for Me, Daddy” was taken by Claude P. Dettloff on 1^st October 1940, and features The British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own Rifles) marching down Eighth Street at the Columbia Street intersection in New Westminster, British Columbia. The photo shows young Warren "Whitey" Bernard who ran away from his mother, towards his father, Private Jack Bernard. Standing behind Jack, in the long line of uniformed soldiers was Frank Collett. The picture was widely used in the sale of war bonds.

Apart from his time in the army, Francis was also a carpenter, and in his later life he and Peggy (pictured here) lived at Willow Point on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Peggy was born at New Jerusalem on 24^th December 1909, the daughter of Thomas Redstone. She was a fruit packer and was later employed by the Oliver [BC] Newspaper. Peggy died at Campbell River on 2^nd May 1988, followed two months after by Francis Ernest Collett who died at home on 11^th July 1988. Both of them were buried at Willow Point close to where they lived, and where a Collett Family plaque has been erected.

#11

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Dale Francis Collett

Born in 1932 at Oliver, B C, Canada

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Roy Albert Collett

Born in 1934 at Pentiction, B C

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Joan Fay Collett

Born in 1937 at Rossland, B C

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Alice-Lyn Collett, who was referred to as Lyn, was born at Wolstanton on 26^th September 1914, the only daughter of Henry George Collett and his wife Hannah Slater. She and her brother Henry (below) and her mother were living at Watlands View in Porthill in Newcastle-under-Lyme, when they received the tragic news of the death of her father. That devastating news forced her mother to leave Newcastle and to seek work at Woore on the Staffordshire and Shropshire county boundary, to where her mother and her brother moved, while Lyn went to live with her grandparents Henry George Collett and his wife Alice at 34 Ellgreave Street in Burslem. Many years later, after the Second World War when Lyn was in her early thirties, she married Graham Martin in Germany, but sadly the couple were divorced during the 1960s. Twenty years later, after many years of companionship with Bob Burns, Lyn eventually changed her name by deed poll to Lyn Alice Burns. And it was as Lyn Alice Burns that she died in Ashford General Hospital in Sandbach on 5^th January 2002, with her ashes being buried in the Collett family grave at Sandbach Cemetery.

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HENRY GEORGE COLLETT, who was referred to as George, was born at Wolstanton on 2^nd August 1915, the only son of Henry George Collett and his wife Hannah Slater. Two years after he was born his mother took the sad news that George’s father had been killed whiling fighting for King and Country on the Belgium frontline. At that time the family was living at Watlands View in Porthill in Newcastle-under-Lyme. Not long after, George’s mother was forced to seek work and, together with George, she moved to the village of Woore in North Shropshire. In 1928 George and his mother moved again, that time to Sandbach in Cheshire. Ten year later George married Clarice Mason on 24^th December 1938 at Sandbach. Clarice was born there on 13^th July 1916 and was the eldest daughter of Sidney and Harriet Ethel Mason of Park Lane in Sandbach. The couple then appear to have lived all of their lives together at Sandbach. And it was there that their two sons were born in Sandbach Nursing Home.

During his working life George was employed by John Henry Jennings & Son of Sandbach as a coachbuilder working on commercial vehicles. In 1946 he left Jennings and took up a job with Rolls Royce at nearby Crewe where he was involved in building motor cars. It was while at Rolls Royce that he earned the reputation of being a very highly skilled craftsman, and that eventually led to him being appointed to the position of Quality Investigator. He worked at Rolls Royce for thirty-three years until he retired in 1979. Henry George Collett suddenly died at home in Sandbach on 16^th September 1992, at the age of 77 and was followed twelve years later by his wife Clarice who died on 3^rd May 2004, aged 88. Both are buried in the family grave at Sandbach Cemetery.

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ROBERT GEORGE COLLETT

Born in 1945 at Sandbach

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John Reginald Collett

Born in 1953 at Sandbach

#1#5

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Henry Edward Collett, who was known as Harry, was born at Wolstanton on 16^th March 1920, the eldest and only surviving son of Cecil John Collett and Beatrice Dora Teggin. It was when Henry was twenty-two years old that he married Joyce Baker at Wolstanton on 29^th November 1942. Joyce was the daughter of Harold Baker and his wife Annie Howard. The marriage resulted in the birth of two children, the first just over a year after the couple were married, with the second child born many years later. Henry Edward Collett was only forty-seven years old when he passed away on 24^th March 1967, just prior to his son’s fourth birthday, and just over a year after his own father had died. Joyce Collett nee Baker died less than three years later on 1^st January 1970, and was buried with her husband in the Newcastle-under-Lyme Cemetery, where Henry’s parents had been buried during the few years before their passing.

#10

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Celia Collett

Born in 1944 at Wolstanton

#10

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Paul Edward Collett

Born in 1963 at Wolstanton

#10

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Mabel Emily Collett was born at Admington on 29^th February 1896 and was the base-born daughter of Lucy Hannah Collett. For the first eight years of her life, she lived with her mother at the home of her great-grandmother Caroline Collett in Ilmington.

When her mother married Richard Aston in 1904 Mabel and her brother William Collett were taken into their new family.

By the time of the census of 1911 Mabel was 15 and she and her brother were living with their mother Lucy and the Aston family at their home in Kenilworth. She married Edward Israel Hancox on 18^th June 1918 at the Church of St Mary the Virgin in her own village of Ilmington. That was after Edward had served with the British Army during the First World War.

Edward was born on 6^th March 1896 at 9 Prospect Row in Stratford-upon-Avon and was the son of George Hancox and Rose Gillett. Once married, Mabel and Edward initially settled at 53 Shakespeare Street in Stratford-upon-Avon where their first three children were born. In 1926 the family moved into a council house, that being 50 Clarence Road in Stratford-upon-Avon where the remaining children were born and where Mabel and Edward spent the rest of their lives.

Strangely number 50 Clarence Road was one of only four houses in the street, as a result of which, around 1948, the houses were renumbered and No. 50 became No. 3 Clarence Road. During his life Edward was a labourer for the company Kendells and a sergeant in the Warwickshire Fusiliers. Mabel passed away on 10^th February 1966 from septicaemia in Stratford Hospital while Edward died just over a year later on 8^th April 1967 also in Stratford Hospital. Both died while still being the occupants of 3 Clarence Road in Stratford-upon-Avon and both were buried in the town’s cemetery.

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Jocelyn Margaret Hancox

Born in 1920 at Stratford-upon-Avon

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Patricia Eileen Hancox

Born in 1921 at Stratford-upon-Avon

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Desmond George Hancox

Born in 1923 at Stratford-upon-Avon

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Phillip Graham Hancox

Born in 1926 at Stratford-upon-Avon

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Dawn Mary Hancox

Born in 1928 at Stratford-upon-Avon

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Francis Roy Hancox

Born in 1933 at Stratford-upon-Avon

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Anthony Hancox

Born in 1936 at Stratford-upon-Avon

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Paul Hancox

Born in 1943 at Stratford-upon-Avon

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William Collett was born at Ilmington on 4^th June 1898 and was the base-born son of Lucy Hannah Collett. In his early years, he and his base-born sister Mabel (above) lived with their mother Lucy Hannah Collett at the Ilmington home of her grandmother Caroline Collett.

That was confirmed in the census of 1901 when Lucy was still living with her grandmother at nearby Ilmington with William who was two and his sister Mabel. In April 1904 William’s mother married Richard Aston and by 1911 the family was living at Kenilworth, and included William who was 12 and his sister Mabel. It was at Atcham register office in Shropshire where the marriage of William Collett and Gladys M Hughes was recorded (Ref. 6a 67) during the fourth quarter of 1924. Gladys was born at Shrewsbury in 1900, a daughter of George and Alice Hughes. The marriage produced a son for the couple, who lived at 26 Chestnut Avenue in Kenilworth and it was there that Gladys died in 1952. During his life William was an insurance agent and a lay preacher with the Baptist church. He died at Kenilworth in 1968 and it was there that he was buried.

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David J Collett

Born in 1928 at Stratford-upon-Avon

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Amy Louisa Aston was born on 8^th February 1908 and was three years old at the time of the Kenilworth census of 1911. It is known that she later married Mr Reynolds.

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Ivy Winifred Myrtle Aston was born on 6^th October 1909 and was one year old in the Kenilworth census of 1911. She later married Graham Brett at Chatham in Kent during December 1943. Graham was born at Marylebone in the City of London on 20^th October 1913 and saw active service with the British Army during the Second World War from 1940 to 1946. Graham died at Carshalton in Surrey on 1^st April 1966. The four children of Ivy and Graham are: Anita Ruth Brett (see below); Keith Graham Brett born on 13^th April 1948; Maureen June Brett born on 13^th June 1950; and Ian Stuart Brett who was born on 4^th August 1952.

The couple’s first-born child, Anita, was born at the St Helier Hospital in Carshalton, Surrey on 1^st November 1946. She was a hairdresser by profession and spent three success years at college. She married Brian Jeffery on 29^th March 1969 in St Barnabas Church at Sutton in Surrey. Brian was born at Swansea on 2^nd March 1950. His occupation is that of a self-employed musician and teacher of private music lessons and he plays keyboard, piano and organ. Shortly after they were married Anita and Brian moved to live just north of Rugby and their two daughters were born at the Harborough Magna Hospital in the village of the same name. The two daughters were (1) Kerridwen Ann Jeffery who was born on 1^st August 1970, who later married Jason Leonard Niner, and (2) Marianne Nicola Jeffery who was born on 5^th June 1972, and she first married Gary Wilkins and later, when she married for a second time, she became Marianne Nicola Swift.

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Daisy Alice Irene Aston was born in October to December quarter of 1913. She later married and became Daisy Rowberry, the same as her sister Zillah (below). Whether the two husbands were brothers, cousins or the same person is not known at this time.

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Zillah Agnes Lillian Aston was born at Kenilworth in Warwickshire during 1918 and she later married to become Zillah Rowberry. Her husband may have been her brother-in-law or related in some other way to the husband of her sister Daisy (above).

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Dennis Reginald Jack Aston was born at Kenilworth on 18^th March 1921, the son of Lucy Hannah Collett and Richard William Aston. He was nearly forty years old when he married Cecilia Arundel at Alcester (Ref. 9c 19) during the third quarter of 1960. There were married for just over twenty years when Dennis Reginald J Aston at the age of 61, his death recorded at Stratford-on-Avon (Vol. 31 0444) during the month of March in 1982.

#14

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Lloyd Lester Collett was born at Farmington in Ontario County on 20^th November 1936, the son of Lloyd Lester Collett and his wife Blanche. All that is currently known about him is that he married Donna J Goff who was born on 5^th March 1936, and that they were married on 25^th March 1955, around the time that the Collett farm at Farmington was sold out of the Collett family following the death of his grandfather Sidney Collett in 1947. Many members of the Collett family were buried at South Farmington Cemetery, where there is also a single commemorative stone for Lloyd L Collett junior and his wife Donna J Goff who were still alive in 2010 – see below. The inscription on the stone indicates that the couple were married on 25^th March 1955 and that they were born on 20^th November 1936, and 5^th March 1936 respectively.

It was the website www.veromi.com that in 2010 listed Lloyd L Collett and his wife Donna as being 74. The same website also has links for the couple with other Colletts, who are likely to be their children. And they were namely Amy C Collett (Vandermeere) of Farmington, aged 40, her husband Stephen R Vandermeere, 41 of Farmington., Steven T Collett aged 54 of Canandaigua NY, Karen L Collett aged 51 of Manchester NY, Todd M Collett aged 46 of Clifton Springs NY, Jason Lyle Collett aged 36 of Canandaigua NY, and Sara S Collett

11S1

Steven T Collett

Born in 1956 of Canandaigua

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Karen L Collett

Born in 1959 of Manchester

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Todd M Collett

Born in 1964 of Clifton Springs

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Amy C Collett

Born in 1970 of Farmington

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Jason Lyle Collett

Born in 1974 of Canandaigua

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Barbara Ellen Joy Collett was born at Stretton-on-Fosse on 16^th April 1930, the first of the two daughters of Wilfred Collett and Barbara Gertrude Denton Remington. She was known as Joy, and she married Michael Pipe in 1952. They lived in Stretton and raised their three children there, two girls and a boy, and one of the girls was Bobbie Anderson, nee Pipe. Joy Pipe, nee Collett, died suddenly in May 2014.

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Brenda Susan Collett was born at Stretton-on-Fosse on 5^th September 1933, the younger daughter of Wilfred and Barbara Collett. Brenda married Dexter Ladbrooke in 1959. They moved to Stratford-upon-Avon, where they had two children, a boy and a girl, moving thereafter to Leicestershire, and then to Coventry. Brenda Ladbrooke, nee Collett, is now 89 years old and lives in Kenilworth, and is looking forward to seeing the new information regarding her father, included in the August 2022 version of this family, all thanks to her niece Bobbie Anderson.

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Gwendolyn Gertrude Collett, known as Gwen, was born at 13 Premier Avenue, Kirkland Lake in northern Ontario on 7^th October 1935, the eldest child of Charles Collett and Edna Lillian Middleton. She spent the first five years of her life in Kirkland Lake, before the family moved to Guelph in 1940, where her parents had previously lived. In 1951, after finishing high school to Grade 10, she worked at Bell Canada in downtown Guelph, a “number please” girl at the switchboards.

Gwen later met Norman Harold Boreham, from Arkell, and they were married on 20^th June 1953, and the marriage produced four children for the couple. Since 1964 the family have lived at Arkell in Ontario, a small hamlet southeast of Guelph, where Norm’s father gave them a small plot of land from his dairy farm for them live on. Gwen worked for Zehrs Markets, as a grocery clerk for twenty-eight years, before retiring in 1995, while her husband worked at the University of Guelph Research Station near Arkell, from where he retiring in 1993.

It is thanks to the generosity of Paul Christopher Boreham, who was born at Guelph on 17^th September 1966, ably assisted by his mother, Gwen Boreham nee Collett, that a major update of this family line was completed in December 2010, which was later updated in August 2013.

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Nancy Edna Collett was born at Guelph in Ontario on 31^st December 1940. She grew up in Guelph and, after she finished high school to Grade 10, she began her working life in a dentist’s office in downtown Guelph.

This photograph of Nancy was provided by Paul Boreham

On Sunday 17^th February 1957, she and three friends went to a neighbouring town for an afternoon of bowling.

Tragically, on the return journey, the car hit an icy patch and struck an oncoming car, resulting in the death of Nancy and the driver. Nancy had only just turned 16. Future generations of the family, from her sister Gwen (above) used the name Nancy in remembrance of her. Following that dreadful accident, Nancy Edna Collett was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Guelph, where she was later joined by her grandmother Dinah Collett nee Davies and her son Charles Collett and his wife Edna. It was also in the same cemetery that the ashes of Millicent Sylvester nee Collett and her husband Charles were later buried.

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Catherine Joyce Collett was the non-identical twin sister of Dennis Peter Collett (below), the pair of them being born at Guelph on 14^th May 1950, the Charles and Edna Collett. The twins were an unexpected addition to the family, but Charles and Edna quickly adapted, thanks to help from everyone, including a donated double-buggy for strolling. Cathy, as Catherine was better known, grew up in Guelph with her family and, after graduating high school at Grade 13, she went to McMaster and Carleton Universities in Ontario, earning a Master of Social Work degree in the early 1980s. She was a social worker in Ottawa and retired in 2011.

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Dennis Peter Collett was one half of a set of twins born at Guelph on 14^th May 1950 to Charles Collett and Edna Lillian Middleton, his sister being Cathy (above). Dennis grew up in Guelph while living there with his family at 41 Yorkshire Street, and then later at 13 Robertson Drive. After graduating from high school in Guelph at Grade 13, Dennis has worked and lived in Guelph and the surrounding area, but has never married.

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John Thomas Collett was born at 77 Seagram Drive in Waterloo, Ontario on 25^th January 1943, the only son of Tom Collett and Rosina Adams. He grew up in Waterloo, and later married Margaret Ann Klein on 4^th January 1966 with whom he had three children. John and Margaret moved to Ariss, Ontario, northwest of Guelph, after they were married, and it is there where the couple still live today. John Thomas Collett died of lung cancer on 2^nd April 2013 when he was 70 years old. This is John and his family with his daughter Kimberley on the left behind his wife Margaret.

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Kimberley Ann Collett

Born in 1967

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Tracy Lynn Collett

Born in 1970

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Shawn Paul Collett

Born in 1973

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Sharon Jeanette Collett was born at 77 Seagram Drive in Waterloo, Ontario on 18^th November 1947, the only daughter of Tom and Rosina Collett. It was at Seagram Drive that she lived until she married during the 1960s, but it was quickly annulled. Sharon had a serious medical problem (epilepsy) and lived with her parents for her remaining years.

After her mother died in 1994, Sharon lived alone at 77 Seagram Drive, until her death on 29^th November 2001.

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Doris Kathleen Collett was born at Saskatoon in Saskatchewan on 7^th December 1921, the eldest of the five children of Albert Edward Collett and his first wife Marjorie Almas. She later married Elmer Knight and they had three children, Dorina Knight, Brian Knight, and Bruce Knight. Doris Kathleen Knight passed away at Chemainus in British Columbia on 3^rd May 2014, at the age of 92.

#11

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Helen Millicent Collett was born at Saskatoon on 7^th March 1924, the daughter of Albert and Marjorie Collett. She married Ed Behrens and died on 22^nd July 1996.

#11

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Frances May Collett was born at Saskatoon on 13^th May 1925, the third daughter of Albert and Marjorie Collett. She later married George Miller with whom she had six children. They were Heather Miller, Karen Miller, Marjorie Miller, David Miller, James Miller, and Jock Miller. Frances May Miller nee Collett died at Chinook Hospice in Calgary on 31^st January 2011.

#11

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Earl Albert Collett was born at Saskatoon on 2^nd December 1926, the eldest son of Albert and Marjorie Collett. He married Bernice Soare and their marriage resulted in the birth of four children, all born in British Columbia, while their fifth was adopted when still an infant.

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Sharon Collett

Born in 1948 in BC Canada

#11

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Gail Collett

Born in 1950 in BC Canada

#11

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Gary Collett

Born in 1954 in BC Canada

#11

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Lee-Anna Collett

Born in 1964/5 adopted at 8 months

#11

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D’Arcy Gary Collett

Born in 1972 at New Westminster BC

#11

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Charles Edward Collett was born at Saskatoon on 21^st November 1928, the youngest of the two sons of Albert Edward Collett and his first wife Marjorie Almas. By the time he was twenty years of age he was a soldier with the Canadian Army when tragically he died during 1948.

#11

11R32

George Arthur Collett was born at Rossland in British Columbia on 21^st November 1937, the only son of Albert Edward Collett, known as Bert, and his second wife Hilma Huhtaniemi. George later married Frances Soderholm on 19^th May 1962 and they had two daughters. In 2020, George and Frances were residing in Prince George in British Columbia. For a photograph of George Arthur Collett at the Collett Reunion in 2010 go to Appendix Two.

#11

11S14

Wendy Kristine Collett

Born in 1964 at Dawson Creek, BC

#11

11S15

Joyce Leila Collett

Born in 1966 at Prince George, BC

#11

11R33

Dale Francis Collett was born at Oliver in British Columbia, Canada on 1^st May 1932, the child son of Frank and Mabel (Peggy) Redstone. It is known from Dale’s sister Joan (below) that he married Evelyn (Lynn) Bailey and that they had five children. Dale was a carpenter, a fire-fighter, and a maintenance man in Oliver. Evelyn Collett was born on 17^th January 1933 and passed away on 15^th April 2017 at Kamloops in British Columba. This photo of Dale was taken in 2018 on his 86^th birthday. Another photograph of him, at the 2010 Collett Reunion, can be found in Appendix Two.

This photograph of Dale (far left) was taken in 1968 at Kamloops, BC, on the site of the building of the family home.

It shows his family from left to right as:

Dale Francis, Daniel Ronald, Alan Dale, Edward Francis, James Gerald, Jeffrey Lee, and Dale’s wife Evelyn Maie.

At the time the details were received in February 2021, two of the family are not long alive, James Gerald and Evelyn Maie Collett.

11S16

Daniel Ronald Collett

Born in 1954 at Oliver, BC

#11

11S17

Alan Dale Collett

Born in 1955 at Oliver, BC

#11

11S18

Edward Francis Collett

Born in 1957 at Chilliwack, BC

#11

11S19

James Gerald Collett

Born in 1960 New Westminster

#11

11S20

Jeffrey Lee Collett

Born in 1961 at Chilliwack, BC

#11

11R34

Roy Albert Collett was born at Penticton in British Columbia, Canada on 17^th July 1934, the second of the three children of Frank and Peggy Collett. He served with the Canadian Air Force and was a teacher and an exchange teacher. He played the piano, clarinet and base fiddle, and he married Ann Rose in Winnipeg, Manitoba on 20^th September 1955, and they had four children. Roy Albert Collett died on 11^th October 1993 while attending Kelowna Hospital, the cause of death being a melanoma, and was buried at Willow Point.

This photograph of Roy was provided by his sister Joan (below).

11S21

Terri Diane Collett

Born in 1957 at Winnipeg, Mb.

#11

11S22

Sandra Dawn Collett

Born in 1958 at Winnipeg, Mb.

#11

11S23

Brenda Jean Collett

Born in 1960 at Edmonton, Alb.

#11

11S24

Douglas Wayne Collett

Born in 1962 at Edmonton, Alb.

#11

11R35

Joan Fay Collett was born at Rossland in British Columbia, Canada on 20^th September 1937, the youngest of the three children of Francis (Frank) Ernest Collett and Mabel Margaret (Peggy) Frederica Jean Redstone. She was married to (2) Ian Robertson, having previously been married to (1) Walter Heinrich with whom she had four children at Chilliwack, although tragically, two of them died shortly after they were born.

The four children were Wayne Brian Heinrich (27.03.1959-06.04.1959), Dawn Fay Heinrich (see below), Susan Diane Heinrich (born 23.08.1961), and Sheryl Ann Heinrich (24.05.1964-1964).

During her life Joan has worked as a hairdresser, a book-keeper, and has been the owner of a sports shop. Joan was also involved with a number of Collett Reunions between 1995 and 2010, and generously provided a compact disk containing many pictures taken at those events, which also included a family tree of her family, which has been used extensively for the December 2011 update of this family line. See Appendix Two for a snapshot taken at the August 2010 Collett Reunion, with everyone dressed in their commemorative Collett crested T-shirts, together with one of Ian Robertson with three members of the Collett family in the process of making breakfast pancakes.

#11

Joan and Ian were living at Penticton in British Columbia where Ian passed away on 13^th January 2013, following which there was a special family celebration of his life. In April 2015 Joan travelled to England and paid a visit to the home of her great grandfather Mark Collett at Manor House Farm near Slindon in Staffordshire. In 2017 Joan left Penticton, when she moved to Prince George, in British Columbia, to be nearer to her family. Sadly, it was there, eight years after being widowed, that Joan died on 12^th January 2021 surrounded by her loving family. Her obituary (below) was kindly sent in by her older brother Dale Collett, which was written by Joan’s daughter Susan.

#11

“Joan Fay Robertson (nee Collett) passed away peacefully at home in Prince George, BC in the evening of January 12, 2021 surrounded by her loving family. Born in Rossland, BC she took her first breath on September 20, 1937 the only daughter of 3 children. Joan was preceded in death by her devoted husband Ian Robertson, and brother Roy Collett. She is survived by her adoring big brother Dale Collett, daughters Connie Lacelle, Dawn MacKenzie, Susan Heinrich, and son Darryl Heinrich. Aunty Joan is survived and cherished, by various nieces and nephews, and was known as GG by her multiple, treasured, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Joan’s unconditional love for her family came above all else, a value she instilled in all around her, supporting her family through many passions and difficult times in their lives. She was the bright light in the room with her radiant smile and easy laugh. Her charming personality and caring manner won over almost everyone she met resulting in lasting friendships everywhere she went. Every bit a lady, it didn’t stop her from conquering the ziplines and aerial adventure course at WildPlay at the age of 77 and joining a gym in Penticton. She took pride in being in shape. She even rode motorcycles for a while in her younger years. Joan loved board games of any kind that involved interacting with family members or friends, but she loved Jokers and Rummikub the best. Smart as a whip, she wasn’t easy to beat, but somehow, if you lost to her, you really didn’t mind. The hole left by her absence is impossible to fill.”

In 2020, Joan's two daughters, Dawn and Susan, were living in Prince George, British Columbia. Dawn Fay Heinrich was born on 14^th February 1960 and married (2) Richard MacKenzie on 5^th August 1995, Dawn having two daughters from her previous marriage, who also resides at Prince George. The first of those two children is Ana Karina Fay Heinrich, who was born in 1979, who married James Paterson. Their two children are India Paterson who was born on 1^st January 2005, and Gabriel Paterson who was born on 2^nd January 2004. Dawn’s second Teresa Jean Richards who born on 24^th September 1982, and she married Bryan Whyte on 25^th March 2017. Today, they have three children living with them, and they are Oliver Court Whyte - from Bryan's first marriage, born on 18^th October 2010, Alexander Liam Whyte born on 12^th October 2016, and Emily Isabelle Whyte who was born on 19^th September 2018.

#11

11R36

ROBERT GEORGE COLLETT, referred to as both Robert and Bob, was born at Sandbach on 3^rd February 1945, the eldest of the two son of Henry George Collett and his wife Clarice Mason. On leaving school at the age of fifteen, Robert started his working life by joining his father working at Rolls Royce where he was an apprentice fitter and turner. He later progressed to become a jig and tool draughtsman, and that was followed by Robert holding the position of production engineer.

He married Anne Shirley Hewitt on 3^rd August 1968 at St Mary’s Church in Wistaston. Anne was the youngest daughter of John Percy and Harriet Hewitt and was born at Whitchurch in Shropshire on 6^th December 1942. Anne was a costing clerk with McQuorcoudale Printers in Crewe at the time of her marriage to Robert. Once they were married, Robert and Anne first settled in the village of Shavington just outside Crewe before they moved to Wistaston in 1975.

The first of the couple’s two sons was born at Barony Hospital in Nantwich, while their second son was born at Leighton Hospital in Crewe. After thirty-nine years continuous service with Rolls Royce Motor Cars, Robert took the opportunity of early retirement. As experienced by many ‘retired people’, life is still very busy for Robert and there are times that he wishes there was an extra day in each week to fulfil all his current activities.

Special thanks go to Robert since it was he who provided the vast majority of the details that have enabled the June 2009 update of this family line to take place.

11S25

Andrew Paul Collett

Born in 1972 at Nantwich

11S26

Mark Robert Collett

Born in 1975 at Crewe

11R37

John Reginald Collett was born at Sandbach on 5^th January 1953. He married Yvonne June Toft on 18^th August 1973 at St Mary’s Church in Sandbach. Yvonne was born at St Asaph (Llanelwy) in North Wales on 1^st June 1954. The marriage produced two daughters for John and Yvonne, both having been born at Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire.

11S27

Tracey Jane Collett

Born in 1976 at Newcastle-under-Lyme

11S28

Emma Louise Collett

Born in 1979 at Newcastle-under-Lyme

11R38

Celia Collett was born at Wolstanton on 13^th March 1944, the daughter of Henry Edward Collett and his wife Joyce Baker. It was on her twenty-first birthday, on 13^th March 1965, Celia married Gordon Woodcock, and they had a daughter, Alison Jane, who was born on 12^th March 1967. The child’s maternal grandfather died when she was just twelve days old, and just three years after that her maternal grandmother also passed away. Alison Jane Woodcock later married Geoffrey Wilkinson on 2^nd June 2001 and they have a son, Samuel Wilkinson who was born on 8^th March 2004.

#10

11R39

Paul Edward Collett was born at Wolstanton on 18^th April 1963, the son of Henry Edward Collett and his wife Joyce Baker. Tragically he was just approaching his fourth birthday old when his father died, and was under seven years old when his mother died on the first day of 1970. Twenty years later Paul Edward Collett married Linda Jane Nixon on 26^th May 1990, and they have two children, Hannah and William. It is thanks to Paul and his wife Linda that this family line has been extended from Paul’s grandfather Cecil John Collett.

#10

11S29

Hannah Rose Collett

Born on 15.11.1993 at Wolstanton

#10

11S30

William Edward Collett

Born on 30.08.2001 at Wolstanton

#10

11R40

Jocelyn Margaret Hancox was born on 16^th March 1920 at 53 Shakespeare Street in Stratford-upon-Avon. She later married Ralph Botes.

11R41

Patricia Eileen Hancox was born on 21^st October 1921 at 53 Shakespeare Street in Stratford-upon-Avon. She later married John Aitken.

11R42

Desmond George Hancox was born at 53 Shakespeare Street in Stratford-upon-Avon on 26^th April 1923. During his life he had two partners, served six years in the Royal Air Force, and was a mine deputy. It was in September 2007 that Desmond, who was living in Australia from 1951, kindly provided detailed information relating to the Aston and Hancox families.

11R43

Phillip Graham Hancox was born on 6^th September 1926 at 50 Clarence Road in Stratford-upon-Avon. He was a foundry worker and served six years with the Royal Navy onboard HMS Spanker. He was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident on 21^st September 1961 and was buried at Stratford-upon-Avon.

11R44

Dawn Mary Hancox was born at 50 Clarence Road in Stratford-upon-Avon on 18^th July 1928. She married Dennis Wood on 24^th February 1947 with whom she had four birth children and one adopted child. Just like Dawn herself, the couple’s first child was also born at 50 Clarence Road in Stratford-upon-Avon, the home of Dawn’s parents which was renumbered ‘Number 3’ during the following year. Just three years later saw the arrival of Dawn’s and Dennis’ second child who was born while the couple were living at Cirencester. Less than two years later, when the family was living at Christian Malford near Chippenham, their third child was born. Sometime later, Dawn and Dennis adopted Gina and moved to Moreton-in-Marsh where their last child was born. Some years later the couple made the relatively short move to Chipping Norton and 90 Cornish Road. Dawn Wood passed away during April 2020.

Their five children were: Christopher Wood born on 6^th October 1947 at Stratford-upon-Avon; Donovan Wood born on 22^nd April 1951 at Cirencester; Richard Wood born on 14^th November 1952 at Christian Malford, and adopted child Gina Arnold who was born on 10^th January 1953, who later became Gina Howe. The couple’s later addition to the family was Sharon Wood who was born at Moreton-in-Marsh on 29^th January 1964. She married (1) David Cox, from whom she was later divorced and then married (2) Alan Bark, with whom she had two sons, James Bark who was born on 13^th July 1992, and Samuel Bark who was born on 24^th July 1994

11R45

Francis Roy Hancox was born at 50 Clarence Road in Stratford-upon-Avon on 2^nd March 1933 and in his later life he became a plumber.

11R46

Anthony Hancox was born at 50 Clarence Road in Stratford-upon-Avon on 7^th April 1936. During his working life he was a carpenter and later he was a coalminer.

11R47

Paul Hancox was born at 50 Clarence Road in Stratford-upon-Avon on 18^th September 1943 and like his older brother Anthony (above) he too became a coalminer.

11R48

David J Collett was born at 50 Clarence Road in Stratford-upon-Avon on 13^th November 1928, the only child of William Collett and Gladys Hughes, whose birth was recorded at Warwick register office (Ref. 6d 97). He was married and then divorced, his two children arising from a second marriage. Following the divorce, David J Collett married (2) Gwendoline (Gwen) Edith Newey, the event recorded at Warwick register office (Ref. 9c 119) during the third quarter of 1954. Gwen was born at Warwick on 9^th November 1931, and she died in 2006, her death recorded at the Warwickshire South register office in the month of May that year.

11S31

Lynn Edith Collett

Born in 1955 at Warwick

11S32

Christopher David Collett

Born in 1960 at Warwick

11S6

Kimberley Ann Collett was born at Ariss in Ontario during 1967, the eldest child of John Thomas Collett and Margaret Ann Klein. She later married Art Dube in 1994 and today they live at Kitchener in Ontario with their two daughters Madison Dube and Rheanna Dube.

11S7

Tracy Lynn Collett was born at Ariss in Ontario in 1970, the second daughter of John Thomas Collett and Margaret Ann Klein. She married Simon Parkin in 1998 and they live at Markham in Ontario with their three children, daughter Cali Parkin, and sons Luke Parkin and Cooper Parkin.

11S8

Shawn Paul Collett was born at Ariss in Ontario during 1973, the only son and youngest of the three children of Thomas and Margaret Collett. In 2013 Shawn was living and working in Toronto.

11S9

Sharon Collett, was born in British Columbia, Canada in 1948, the eldest child of Earl Albert Collett and his wife Bernice Soare. Sharon later married David Young and they have five children. Darren Young was born in 1972, Tia Young was born in 1974, Tyson Young was born in 1976, Chrystal Young was born in 1982 and Shareena Young was born in 1984.

#11

11S10

Gail Collett was born in British Columbia on 8^th May 1950, the second child of Earl and Bernice Collett. All that is currently known about Gail is that she is married to Ralph Taylor, with whom she had a son James Taylor who was born in 1987. She also had two earlier children from a previous marriage, Brandee Babcock who was born on 14^th October 1982, and Sherie Babcock who was born on 9^th May 1984.

#11

11S11

Gary Collett was born in British Columbia on 14^th April 1954, the eldest of the two sons of Earl Albert Collett and Bernice Soare. Gary, who set up the company Collett Construction, married Denise Westley and they have a son and two daughters.

#11

11T1

Jason David Earl Collett

Born in 1975 in Canada

#11

11T2

Sunshine Collett

Born in 1977 in Canada

#11

11T3

Amber Collett

Born in 1981 in Canada

#11

11S13

D’Arcy Gary Collett, who is known as Darcy, was born in New Westminster, British Columbia on 2^nd April 1972, the youngest child of Earl and Bernice Collett. It was at Rock Creek in British Columbia that he married Lori Paul on 2^nd July 1990 and with whom he has two children. It was Lori Collett who kindly provided the new details for her husband’s family in 2017.

#11

11T4

Logan Tyson Collett

Born on 16.01.1997 at Surrey, BC

#11

11T5

Autumn Alexis Collett

Born on 13.05.2002 at Surrey, BC

#11

11S14

Wendy Kristine Collett was born at Dawson Creek in British Columbia on 6^th August 1964, the eldest of the two daughters of George Arthur Collett and his wife Frances Soderholm. Wendy later married Frederick Henry Crossland, known as Fred, on 29^th June 1991, and they live at Charlie Lake, B.C, near Fort St John, where their eldest daughter lives. Their three children are: Mitchell Dexter Crossland who born on 12^th June 1992 and resides in Taylor, B.C; Laura Anne Crossland who was born on 9^th June 1995: and Sylvia Hailey Crossland who was born on 4^th November 1997 and lives in Edmonton, Alberta. With the failing health of Wendy’s ‘aunt Joan Robertson nee Collett’ (Ref. 11R35), it was to Wendy that Joan turned, to ask her if she would take over maintenance of the family history records, which Joan had done magnificently over a great many years.

#11

11S15

Joyce Leila Collett was born at Prince George in British Columbia on 5^th July 1966, the youngest daughter of George and Frances Collett. Joyce married (1) Michael Pitts and their marriage produced two daughters Jolene Joyce Pitts and Shawna Michelle Pitts, before Joyce and Michael were divorced. In 2020, Joyce and her fiancé Moe Roberts were living in Whitehorse, Yukon, close to the boundary with British Columbia. Also at that time, Jolene was living at Fort St John, B.C, having been born on 30^th December 1993, while sister Shawna, who was born on 15^th June 1995, is living at Fort Nelson, B.C.

#11

11S16

Daniel Ronald Collett was born at Oliver in British Columbia, Canada on 2^nd November 1954, the eldest of the five sons of Dale Francis Collett and his wife Evelyn (Lyn) Bailey. He married Marina Page and during his working life he was a teacher and a carpenter.

#11

11S17

Alan Dale Collett was born at Oliver, B C, on 2^nd November 1955, the son of Dale and Lyn Collett. He was a big machine operator, and appears to have been married three times. They were Beverley Hawes, Diane Johnson - with whom he had a son Jeffrey Collett, and Shirley Kooistra whom he married on 31^st May 2008 at Kamloops, BC.

#11

11S18

Edward Francis Collett was born at Chilliwack in British Columbia on 23^rd December 1957, another son of Dale and Lyn Collett. Edward owned his own grape vineyard and was married twice. His was first married to (1) Wendy Meyland, and they had a daughter Danielle Marie, and a few years later he married (2) Victoria (Vicki) Leadbetter with whom he had a second daughter Amanda Victoria.

#11

11T6

Danielle Marie Collett

Born on 01.04.1980 at Kamloops, BC

#11

11T7

Amanda Victoria Collett

Born on 08.08.1988 at Kamloops, BC

#11

11S19

James Gerald Collett was born at New Westminster in British Columbia on 18^th May 1960, the son of Dale and Lyn Collett. He married Bonnie Kruchelnicki and they had two children just prior to his tragic death in a car accident on 27^th March 1983 at Kamloops, following which he was buried at Willow Point where a bench has affixed to it a Collett Family plaque. His occupation during his short life had been that of an oil worker.

#11

11T8

Tyler Collett

Born on 14.08.1981 at Fort St John

#11

11T9

Kristen Collett

Born on 29.12.1982 at Fort St John

#11

11S20

Jeffrey Lee Collett was born at Chilliwack, BC on 25^th June 1961, the youngest of the five sons of Dale Francis Collett and his wife Evelyn Bailey. On completing his education Jeff, as he is known, became a contractor and during the past five years he has been married twice. His wives were Claire Hanaghan and Lynette Groff. A photograph of Jeff can be found in Appendix Two, taken at the 2010 Collett Reunion.

#11

11S21

Terri Diane Collett was born at Winnipeg in Manitoba on 3^rd September 1957, the eldest of the four children of Roy Albert Collett and his wife Ann Rose. It was at Peachland in British Columbia that Terri Diane Collett married Paul Rypkema on 2^nd October 1993, and with whom she had three children, all born at Vancouver. Thea Rose Collett was born on 30^th July 1995, but tragically died four months later on 13^th December 1995. The next child was born on 13^th June 1996 and was named in the memory of her late sister as Amilee Thea Rypkema. And Evan David Collett Rypkema was born on 9^th September 2001. Terri’s husband, Paul Rypkema, sadly passed away during 2018.

#11

11S22

Sandra Dawn Collett was born at Winnipeg on 4^th September 1958, the second child of Roy and Ann Collett. She married Buddy MacLeod in Vancouver of 6^th September 1986, and they had two children Wendy Marie MacLeod who was born at Winnipeg on 7^th April 1987, and James William Murdoch MacLeod who was born on 13^th June 1988 at Burnaby, BC, before the couple separated in 2011.

#11

11S23

Brenda Jean Collett was born at Edmonton in Alberta on 19^th October 1960, the daughter of Roy and Ann Collett. She works as a Customer Service Rep in the Parts Department of Propac dealing with unassembled furniture. With her partner Len Bruce she has a son who is a computer technician employed at ‘Back in Motion’.

#11

11T10

Cory Albert Collett

Born on 15.10.1984 at Richmond, BC

#11

11S24

Douglas Wayne Collett was born at Edmonton on 23^rd April 1962, the last child of Roy Albert Collett and Ann Rose. It was in Vancouver on 29^th November 1986 that Doug married Annette Jensen, with whom he has two children.

#11

11T11

Dillon Wesley Jensen Collett

Born on 21.06.1991 at Richmond, BC

#11

11T12

Nichelle Elyse Jensen Collett

Born on 25.08.1993 at Richmond, BC

#11

11S25

Andrew Paul Collett was born at Nantwich on 5^th March 1972, the eldest of the two sons of Robert George Collett and his wife Anne Shirley Hewitt. All that is currently known about him is that he married Helen.

#11

11S26

Mark Robert Collett was born at Crewe on 14^th October 1975, and was the youngest son of Robert George Collett and his wife Anne Shirley Hewitt.

11S27

Tracey Jane Collett was born at Newcastle-under-Lyme on 11^th March 1976, the eldest of the two daughters of John Reginald Collett and his wife Yvonne June Toft.

11S28

Emma Louise Collett was born at Newcastle-under-Lyme on 13^th May 1979, the youngest of the two daughters of John Reginald Collett and his wife Yvonne June Toft.

11S31

Lynn Edith Collett was born in 1955, her birth recorded at Warwick register office (Ref. 9c 7) during the third quarter of the year, the eldest of the two children of David John Collett and Gwendoline Edith Newey, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Newey. It was at Sandwell in Staffordshire where Lynn E Collett married Derrick J Horton towards the end of 1985.

11S32

Christopher David Collett was born in 1960, with his birth also recorded at Coventry register office (Ref. 9c 66) during the last quarter of that year, and when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Newey.

11T1

Jason David Earl Collett was born in Canada on 11^th December 1975, the son and eldest child of Gary Collett and his wife Denise Westley. Although no other details are currently available, it is established that Jason was married and had two children, as listed below. Tragically, on 16^th September 2014, Jason, who had been at work operating a crane during the day, had volunteered for an evening shift at the local recovery centre and while he was asleep in his bed later that same night, he was stabbed by one of the inmates and died.

#11

The 25-year-old man had been sober for over a year and was shortly due to move out of the centre. He had left the house earlier in the evening, but later returned very drunk and, following the incident, the centre staff were able to get him to confess to the crime.

#11

A memorial service was held at the Serbian Cultural Center in Burnaby on the afternoon of 4^th October, which his obituary read as follows: “Jason was a wonderful son, brother, uncle, father and grandson whose life was tragically and senselessly taken from us far too early. Although Jason had times in his life when he struggled with addictions it was those very struggles that led him to start a new chapter in his life through the Last Door Recovery Center in New Westminster. With hard work and determination, over the last 20 years, he was able to rebuild a life that he lived to the fullest through his recovery and the recovery of others. Jason worked part-time as an addiction support work and was attending university on his way to becoming an addictions counsellor. He was a valued part of the community volunteering at the Last Door as well as a member of Surrey Search and Rescue Society, exuding love and kindness for everyone he touched; making hard and lasting friendships and developing deeply felt relationships with his second family at the Door. He was a man of many talents – a tree climber, an arborist, crane rigger, big game guide and musician who enjoyed hunting, fishing and kayaking and his newly acquired love for Harleys. All those who knew and love him are deeply grieved at his passing.

Jason is survived by his sons Dustin (and Germaine) and Hunter, his parents Gary and Denise, his sisters Sunshine (and Josh) and Amber (and Jason), his nieces and nephews Baylee, Rylan, Destiny and Sentaya and many other extended family members.

#11

11U1

Dustin Collett

Born on 21.06.1995 in Canada

#11

11U2

Hunter Collett

Born on 09.12.2007 in Canada

#11

11T2

Sunshine Collett was born in Canada on 8^th February 1977, the daughter of Gary and Denise Collett. She married Josh Young and they have two children, Baylee Young and Rylan Young.

#11

11T3

Amber Gail Collett was born in Canada on 21^st July 1981, the last of the three children of Gary and Denise Collett. Amber later married Jason Hirvi at Prince George in British Columbia on 8^th January 2005, with whom she had two children. Both daughters were born while the couple was living at Prince George, the first is Destiny Marie Hirvi who was born on 15^th September 2000, and the second is Sentaya Marie Hirvi who was born on 9^th June 2005.

#11

11T6

Danielle Marie Collett was born at Kamloops in British Columbia in Canada on 1^st April 1980, the only child of Edward Francis Collett by his first wife Wendy Meyland. At some period in her life, Danielle worked in a day-care home, and also in the world of real estate, as a realtor. She married Greg Strom and they had two sons Carson Strom and Jack Strom.

#11

11T8

Tyler Collett was born at Fort St John in British Columbia on 14^th August 1981, and was not two years old when his father James Gerald Collett died at Kamloops in March 1983, leaving his mother Bonnie with two very young children in Tyler and his three-months old sister Kristen. Tyler followed in his father’s footsteps by working in the oil business, when he was employed as a pipeline foreman. He married Tamara Hill who was born at Kamloops in 1983 and they have a son who was born at Kamloops in November 2010.

#11

11U3

Holden Reid Collett

Born on 24.11.2010 at Kamloops, BC

#11

APPENDIX ONE

In 1851, a so far unidentified Elizabeth Collett, aged 19 and from Ilmington, was working as a kitchen maid at Admington Hall (pictured here), the home of Corbett H Corbett and his wife Louisa H Corbett.

He was Corbett Holland Corbett Esquire, aged 55 and from Wickhamford near Evesham, who was a County Magistrate. Who Elizabeth Collett was, has still to be determined.

Ten years later another member of the Collett family was in service with Corbett H Corbett at Cheltenham, and that was George Collett (Ref. 11O6) of Admington, who was his coachman in 1861. Curiously George had a younger sister Elizabeth Collett (Ref. 11O8) also from Admington, but she was 17 and was in service with a solicitor in Old Stratford in 1851, where her older sister Eliza Collett (Ref. 11O5) was the housekeeper.

APPENDIX TWO

August 2010 Collett Reunion, Canada

Back row from left: Jamie, Doug, Paul, Annette, Nichelle, Evan, Sue, Wendy, Teresa, and James.

Middle row: Wendy, Brenda, Corey, Brian, Doreen, Dale, India, Gabriel, Ana, Laura, George, and Joan

Front row from left: Amilee, Sandra, Terri, Lenard, Trissa, Lyn, Wendy, and Frances

The Breakfast Pancake Making Team

Jeffrey Lee Collett (Ref. 11S20), and his father Dale Francis Collett (Ref. 11R33)

Ian Robertson (Ref. 11R35), and George Arthur Collett (Ref. 11R32)