PART EIGHTEEN

The Halesworth (Suffolk) Line

Updated March 2022

Originally, the initial details for Halesworth were included as two appendices in the

pre-2020 version of Part 18 – The Main Suffolk Line

Five known men with the surname Collett were living in Halesworth

during the first decade of the 19^th Century, possibly brothers

Those five Colletts were James, Charles, James, Thomas and Robert, all of whom were married men, with Charles Collett most likely being the father of the latter other three. From their provisional dates of birth, it would appear unlikely that James and Charles were brothers, unless their father took a second and younger wife. Alternatively, they may have been cousins. However, this new line of another Collett family of Suffolk starts with Reynold Collett, the great great grandfather of the first James Collett and, although the new information relating to Reynold, son John, and his son William, and his son William, comes from an unvalidated source, they have been included here in the hope that their details might be confirmed as some future time

Reynold Collett [18i1] was possibly born around 1610 and was the father of John Collett

John Collett [18j1] was born circa 1635 (not proved)

John Collett [18j1] may have been born around 1660, the son of Reynold Collett. John Collett subsequently married Margaret Barfoot

18k1 - William Collett was born circa 1685 (not proved)

William Collett [18k1] was probably born between 1680 and 1685, the son of William Collett and Margaret Barfoot. The later married of William Collett and Mary Sherning produced a son of the same name

18l1 - William Collett was born circa 1708 (not proved)

William Collett [18l1] was the son of William Collett and Mary Sherning and may have been born between 1705 and 1710. It was at Halesworth where William Collett married Mary Brooks on 24^th June 1731. It therefore seems strange that their son was born fourteen years after their wedding day, maybe an indication that he was a younger member of their family

18m1 - James Collett was born circa 1745 (not proved)

18m2 – Charles Collett was born circa 1755 (not proved)

James Collett [18m1] was born around 1745, according to his later death record, the son of William Collett and Mary Brooks. He was a breeches maker of Halesworth who married Ann Smith there, according to Boyd’s Marriage Index. Their marriage is believed to have given rise to a son John. In February 1783 James had an apprentice, John Chapman, working with him in Halesworth. James Collett died at Halesworth on 28^th November 1818, at the age of 73, and nineteen years after being widow, Ann Collett passed away at Halesworth on 24^th September 1837, when she was 86. The death of Ann Collett was recorded at Blything (Ref. xii 235) during the third quarter of 1837

18n 1 - John Collett was born circa 1778 at Halesworth (not proved)

Charles Collett [18m2] may have been born around 1755, that year determined from the census in 1841 and, if correct, his wife Mary was some years older than Charles. Charles was a miller and a baker of Halesworth and is mentioned in numerous records for the town. In January 1791, Charles Collett and Matthew Swan were working together in the milling business. Fifty years later, Charles’ granddaughter Frances Caroline Collett married William Swan at Halesworth. Nearly three years after that, on 7^th December 1794, when Charles Collett would have been around fifty years of age, he was described as a miller. Fourteen years later, Charles Collett, a baker, took on an apprentice on the 4^th September 1808. After another five years, when Charles Collett was approaching his seventieth birthday, he sold the windmill on Mill Hill in Halesworth on 13^th November 1813, while still continuing to help run the baker’s shop in the town. It may even have been his son Robert who took over the milling side of the family business, as he was described as a miller on the occasion of the birth of his second son in 1815. The next record was a notice of death published in The Ipswich Journal on Saturday 29^th August in 1818, which read “Saturday night died, at Halesworth, much respected, Mrs Collett, wife of Mr Charles Collett, confectioner, aged 74 years." Shortly after that, in September 1818, there appeared an advertisement for the sale of household furniture, stock, etc, of Charles Collett of Halesworth, due to his intention to decline business. Eventually, another advertisement published in 1833, announced that the Halesworth baker’s shop of Charles Collett was to be sold. Sometime between 1818 and 1833, Charles married (2) Mary, from nearby Sotterly, just eight miles north-east of Halesworth, who was living with him at New Court in Halesworth in 1841. Charles had a rounded age of 85, while Mary was recorded as being 69 years of age. Also living at New Court in Halesworth at the time of the census in 1841, and again 1851, was the family of William Collett (Ref. 18N26), an agricultural labourer, who was born at Fressingfield in 1793. Eighteen months later, the death of Charles Collett at Halesworth was recorded at Blything (Ref. xiii 280) during the last three months of 1842. By the time of the next census in 1851, his widow was residing at Chediston Street in Halesworth, where Mary Collett from Sotterly was 79 and a pauper. She was still living in Halesworth, when the death of Mary Collett was recorded at Blything (Ref. 4a 525) during the first three months of 1855

18n2 – James Collett was born circa 1780 at Halesworth

18n3 – Thomas Collett was born circa 1780 at Halesworth

18n4 – Robert Collett was born circa 1785 at Halesworth

James Collett [18n2], whose origins have not yet been determined, was a tailor at Halesworth who was married to Elizabeth, who may have been Elizabeth Reid from London. The Suffolk baptism records have been found for just three of the five children listed below. It is only the South London birth and baptism of the couple’s first two children that have not yet been located, before the family settled in Halesworth. By 1841, James Collett of Collett’s yard in Halesworth was a widower who had a rounded age of 60, when he had living with him two of his daughters, Matilda Collett aged 25, and Harriet Collett aged 20, all three of them recorded as born within the county of Suffolk. Staying with the family that day, was George Girdlestone who was five years of age and also born in Suffolk, the son of James’ eldest daughter, who was married nine years earlier. Living only two doors away from James Collett that day, and also in Collett’s yard, was his daughter Frances Collett who also had a rounded age of 20. Six years after that census day, the death of James Collett was recorded at Blything (Ref. xiii 323) during the first quarter of 1847. It is possible, although not proved, that his wife’s family came from Newington in Surrey, since it was there that an Elizabeth Collett of Paragon Row, Newington, was buried on 13^th January 1830 at the age of 40

It seems highly likely, but has not been proved, that James and Elizabeth also had a son at Newington in Surrey, before the family moved to Suffolk. His name has been included in the list of children below, while the details of his life have been inserted at the end of this file in Section Two – The Cabinet Maker

18o1 – Emma Collett was born in 1812 at Newington, Surrey

18o2 – Matilda Collett was born in 1814 at Newington, Surrey

George Thomas Collett who was born in 1816 at Newington, Surrey

18o3 – Harriet Jesse Collett was born in 1819 at Halesworth

18o4– Frances Caroline Collett was born in 1821 at Halesworth

18o5 – William Henry Collett was born in 1822 at Halesworth

Thomas Collett [18n3] may have been the brother of James Collett (above) and Robert Collett (below). All that is currently known about him, is that his wife was Elizabeth (Betsy), with whom he had at least three children, all of them born and baptised at Halesworth

18o6 – Marianne Collett was baptised on 29^th September 1813 at Halesworth

18o7 – Elizabeth (Betsy) Collett was baptised on 1^st September 1815 at Halesworth

18o8 – Edward Collett was baptised on 23^rd September 1819 at Halesworth

Robert Collett [18n4] was possibly born in 1785, the younger brother of James and Thomas (above), and the son of Charles Collett miller and baker of Halesworth. Robert married (1) Mary and, tragically, their second son, named jointly after Robert’s father and Robert’s older brother, was born and died in the same year at Halesworth. Although no birth or baptism record for the couple’s older son has so far been found, his year of birth has been determined from the later census records. Upon the baptism of the couple’s second son, Robert Collett’s occupation was recorded as being that of a miller, so maybe he had joined his father in the family bakery business. His mother died in 1818 and, although no record has been found to date, Robert’s wife also passed away and, by the time his surviving son had reached the age of 20 years, Robert Collett was remarried and living in Norwich. The property, in the St Augustine’s district of the city, comprised a shop and a house on Pitt Street, where Robert was recorded in the electoral rolls from 1833 through to 1847. On the day of the census in 1841, Robert Collett from Suffolk was incorrectly recorded as being younger than his wife (2) Hannah Collett from Norfolk, when they were living at Pitt Street Yard. After 1847, the couple left Pitt Street and by 1851 Robert was managing the post office for the Chamber of Commerce on the thoroughfare known at St John Madder Market. He was 66 and his place of birth was confirmed as Halesworth, when Hannah Collett from Little Melton, on the western edge of Norwich, was 58. Another move during the 1850s, saw the couple living at Dukes Palace in the St John Madder Market area of Norwich by 1861. Once again, their recorded ages were confusing, with Hannah being eight years older than Robert, who was then working as a baker. It was also at an inflated of 88 years, that the death of Hannah Collett was recorded at Norwich (Ref. 4b 93) during the first quarter of 1868.

18o9 – Robert George Collett was born in 1813 at Halesworth

18o10 – Charles Thomas Collett was baptised on 2^nd June 1815; died on 11^th June 1815

Emma Collett [18o1] was born at Newington within the London Borough of Southwark, the eldest child of James and Elizabeth Collett. It was on 2^nd February 1832 that she married Owen Girdlestone at Halesworth, where their first two children were born, before settling in nearby Fressingfield at New Bridge. By 1841, Emma had given birth to four children, although the couple’s eldest son was staying with Emma’s widowed father at Halesworth, George Harry Girdlestone being five years old having been born at Halesworth on 25^th May 1836. He may have been a poorly child, because his death was recorded at Blything early in 1851. The three children living with Emma and Owen in 1841 were Sarah aged nine, Owen who was three and James who was one year old. Following the loss of son George, and with son James away a boarding school, the Girdlestone family was residing at Chediston Road in Halesworth in 1851, where her unmarried sister Matilda (below) was also living. Owen was 40 and a master whitesmith from Halesworth, Emma from Newington – her stated place of birth in all the later census returns as well, was also 40, and their children were Sarah Ann aged 18 and Owen who was 13. Curiously, three different teenage children were living at Pound Street in Halesworth with Owen and Emma in 1861, and they were Harry Girdlestone 19, Matilda Girdlestone 16 and William Girdlestone 15, all born at Fressingfield before the move to Halesworth. Over the next three decades the couple lived alone at Pound Street, where first Emma died in 1893, followed six months later by Owen on 7^th February 1894. The Will of Owen Girdlestone was proved at Ipswich on 27^th February 1894, when the sole beneficiary was his eldest surviving son James Clark Girdlestone

Matilda Collett [18o2], whose date of birth has only been established from the census records, was born around 1814, and that may or may not have taken place at Halesworth, as stated in the census of 1861, while in 1851 and 1881 her place of birth was given as Newington, Surrey in South London. Matilda was 25 years old at the time of the census in 1841, when she was living at Collett’s Yard in Halesworth with her widowed father James and younger sister Harriet. Matilda never married and in 1851 she was 38 and head of the household when she still was living in Halesworth, but at Chediston Street, from where she was employed as a stay-maker. That was the first occasion when her place of birth was recorded as Newington in Surrey. By 1861 she was living at 39 Bridewell Lane in Bury-St-Edmunds, the home of her married brother William Henry Collett (below), where she was described as Matilda Collett aged 46 and a stay-maker from Halesworth. It seems likely that her brother assisted the census enumerator to complete the form perhaps, ignorant that his eldest sister had been born in South London. Ten years later in 1871, the census that year placed her once more living in Halesworth at the age of 56. According to the next census in 1881, Matilda Collett, aged 69 (sic), was again living at on Chediston Street in Halesworth. She was still working as a stay-maker when again, her place of birth was given as Newington in Surrey. Four years later, the death of Matilda Collett was recorded at Blything (Ref. 4a 515) during the quarter of 1885, when she was 72 years old

Harriet Jesse Collett [18o3] was born at Halesworth in 1819, where she was baptised on 21^st November 1819, the daughter of James and Elizabeth Collett. By 1841 she was living with her widowed father James and her eldest sister Matilda at Collett’s Yard in Halesworth. After a further ten years, Harriet Collett from Halesworth was a dressmaker who was a lodger with the Deane family at Quay Street in Halesworth, when her age was incorrectly recorded as 28 years

Frances Caroline Collett [18o4] was born at Halesworth in 1821 and was baptised there on 11^th February 1821, the daughter of James and Elizabeth Collett. In the census of 1841, she was living just two doors from her widowed father and her two of her three older sisters at Collett’s Yard in Halesworth, where she was a domestic servant at the home of the Chilvers family. It was as Frances Caroline Collett that her marriage to William Swan was recorded at Blything (Ref. xiii 605) during the third quarter of 1844. By the day of the census in 1851, Frances had presented William with five children, all born at Halesworth, where the family was still living in 1851. William Swan from Friston was 34 and a hairdresser, Frances C Swan from Halesworth was 30, William Swan junior was five, Sarah E Swan was four, Frederick R Swan was three, Fanny Swan was two and John Swan was approaching one year old. Assisting the family was domestic servant girl Mary Ann King who was 17, plus apprentice hairdresser Joseph Culham aged 14. Three more children were added to the family. and they were Edward James Swan, George C Swan and Charles E Swan. The family was again living in Halesworth in 1881, when only two children were still living with William and Frances, and they were unmarried daughter Sarah who was 30, and Charles who was 19. William Swan senior passed away during the following decade, leaving Frances Caroline Swan, nee Collett, who was 85 years old, when her death was recorded at Blything register office (Ref. 4a 608) during the fourth quarter of 1906

William Henry Collett [18o5] was born at Halesworth in 1822, where he was also baptised on 21^st October 1822, the only known son of James and Elizabeth Collett. He was originally believed to be the son of William Collett (Ref. 18N24) and his second wife Sarah Baldry, although that has now been disproved as a result of new information received from Liz Whittaker (Ref. 18R14) during 2011. In 1841, the census that June recorded William Collett, aged 18, living in Beccles, where he was working as a painter. It was eight years later, during the third quarter of 1949 that William Henry Collett married (1) Mary Ann Goddard, a widow, their wedding registered at Blything (Ref. xiii 611), a rural area of Suffolk that included the town of Halesworth. In 1841 Mary Goddard, aged 27, was living in the Thoroughfare in Halesworth with her husband, grocer John Goddard, and their eleven-months old son of the same name. The earlier marriage of Mary Ann Mendham and John Goddard was registered at Blything (Ref. xiii 549) during the first quarter of 1838. In addition, the records at Blything also include the deaths of three John Goddards; one in 1843, one in 1846, and again in 1847

It was also at that same address that William and his wife Mary were living in 1851, when his occupation was that of a coach painter and a grocer, indicating that he had taken on his wife’s late husband’s business. The census return listed the family as William H Collett, aged 29 and from Halesworth, Mary Collett, aged 35, sons-in-law (stepsons) John Goddard, aged nine years, and William Goddard, aged eight, daughter-in-law (stepdaughter) Fanny Goddard, who was seven, and William’s own son and namesake, William H Collett who was just one month old. Two more children were born into the family while they were still living at the Thoroughfare in Halesworth, although they both died during 1854. Sometime after their double-loss, the family left Halesworth, when they moved south to Bury-St-Edmunds, where they were recorded in 1861 as residing at 39 Bridewell Lane in the Parish of St Mary, Bury-St-Edmunds. For some reason, from that time onwards, William and Mary appear to have given their age as being younger than their actually years. By that time the family comprised William H Collett, a painter aged 34 (rather than 38), Mary Collett, aged 41 (rather than 43), son William H Collett who was 10, and daughter Alice Collett who was three years old. Also living with the family was Fanny Goddard, aged 18, who was described as the daughter of William Collett, and Matilda Collett who was listed as the sister of the head of the household William. She was 46 and a stay-maker from Halesworth

Three years later Fanny Goddard married Ebenezer Bates and during the following two years she gave birth to a daughter Elizabeth Bates, who was born in London. At the time of the Bury census in 1871, Elizabeth Bates, granddaughter, aged five years was living with William and his family at 6 Sparhawk Street in Bury-St-Edmunds. The census in 1871 confirmed that William was 45 (rather than 48), his wife Mary was 53 (her correct age), and their daughter Alice was 13 (her correct age again). The only other person with the Collett name living within the same registration area of Bury-St-Edmunds was Thomas Collett who was 16, while no trace has been found of their son William who would have been around 20 years of age. Almost immediately after that census day in 1871, that Mary Ann Collett died at the age of 53, her death registered at Blything (Ref. 4a 473) at the end of March 1871. Just over eight years later, William Henry Collett, a widower, married (2) Mary Ann Borley, the event registered at Bury-St-Edmunds (Ref. 4a 819) during the second quarter of 1879. That second marriage produced a final son for William when he was in his late fifties, Mary Ann Borley being much younger than William, having been born in the first half of 1838, her birth registered at Suffolk Stow (Ref. xii 414) during the second quarter of that year

According to the next census in 1881, William and his much younger new wife were still living at 6 Sparhawk Street in Bury-St-Edmunds. William H Collett, aged 54 (rather than 58) and from Halesworth, was a master painter employing one man and a boy. His wife Mary Ann Collett, aged 42, came from Beyton near Bury-St-Edmunds, while their son was one-year-old Albert G Collett, who had been born at Bury. Living with William and Mary Ann and their only known child was school girl Jane Borley who was ten years old and described as daughter-in-law to head of the house William. However, she was actually William’s stepdaughter and the base-born child of Mary Ann Borley. At the time of the earlier census in 1871 Mary Ann Borley was not married, but was living with her married brother William Borley and his family in Bury-St-Edmunds. Shortly after the census day that year Mary Ann gave birth to her daughter Jane Emma Borley, her birth registered at Bury-St-Edmunds (Ref. 4a 477) during the third quarter of 1871. By the time of the census in 1891 William Henry Collett, a painter and house decorator, was 63 (rather than 68) and was still living at 6 Sparhawk Street in Bury-St-Edmunds with his wife Mary Ann Collett who was 52. Also still living with the couple was their son Albert George Collett, who was 10, and Jane Emma Borley, aged 19 and a dressmaker, William’s stepdaughter. Mary Ann Collett nee Borley was 61 when she died, with her death recorded at Bury-St-Edmunds register office (Ref. 4a 476) during last three months of 1900, William Henry Collett having died two years earlier at the age of 72, when his death was also recorded at Bury-St-Edmunds (Ref. 4a 413) during the second quarter of 1898. Two years before that, Jane Emma Borley had been married in Bury-St-Edmunds during 1896, her birth recorded at Bury-St-Edmunds (Ref. 4a 477) during the third quarter of 1871

18p1 – William Henry Collett was born in 1851 at Halesworth

18p2 – Alice Collett was born in 1852 at Halesworth

18p3 – Alice Mary Collett was born in 1854 at Halesworth

18p4 – Alice Kate Collett was born in 1857 at Bury-St-Edmunds

18p5 – Albert George Collett was born in 1880 at Bury-St-Edmunds

Robert George Collett [18o9] was born in 1813 at Halesworth, the son of miller Robert Collett and his first wife Mary. He was in his mid-thirties when, under his full name, his marriage to Harriet Hunn was registered at Ipswich (Ref. xii 478) during the first three months of 1847. Harriet was baptised at Acle parish church in Norfolk on 22^nd October 1915 and was the daughter of thatcher Jacob and Amy Hunn of Acle. Twelve months after their wedding day, the couple’s first-born child arrived, the birth registered at Norwich, where Robert’s father and stepmother had been living since 1833. On the day of the baptism of the couple’s two eldest children in April 1850, the family was living at White Friars Street in Norwich. One year later, according to the census in 1851, the new family was living at Cowgate in Norwich, just north of the river, with Robert’s father living nearby, but to the south of the river. Robert Collett from Halesworth was 38 and a licenced victualler, his wife Harriet from Acle, to the west of Norwich, was 34, and their two children were George Collett who was three and Harriet Collett who was one year old. Helping the couple was servant Sarah Ives who was 17. At the joint baptism of the two children in April 1850, the parents were confirmed as Robert George Collett, a publican, and his wife Harriet Collett

As far as can be determined, just one more child was added to the family six years later, the baptism record at the Church of St Martin-at-Palace stating the father was a baker in Norwich. Soon after the birth of his last child at Cowgate, Robert ceased to be a baker, when he took over an ale house in Cowgate. However, by 1861, Robert was still managing an ale house, but at St Martin-at-Palace Plain in Norwich, where five people were boarding with the family on the premises. Victualler Robert G Collett from Halesworth was 47, Harriet was 44, George Robert was 12, Harriet Eliza was 11 and Charles Joseph was three years of age. Two years after that day, the Norwich electoral roll identified Robert George Collett as the publican at an ale house on White Friars Street, just round the corner from Palace Plain

It was during the 1860s that Robert gave up serving ale, and took a desk job as a clerk, which was how he was described in the Norwich census of 1871, when he and his family were residing at Balaclava Terrace in the St Helens area of the city. They had moved to that address during the previous year, and remained living there until 1873. By 1871, the two eldest children had left the family home, leaving Robert G Collett who was 58, Harriet Collett who was 56, and Charles J Collett who was 13. On that occasion the place of birth of the couple’s youngest son was said to be Surlingham, a few miles south-east of Norwich. Further family moves followed, with Robert and Harriet being recorded at Bridge Street in 1875, at Flowers Court on Wensum Street in 1876 and 1877, and at Elm Hill off Wensum Street by 1881. On the day of the census in 1881, Harriet and son Charles were visiting the London home of the couple’s eldest son George, while Robert was a boarder at the Norwich Elm Hill home of Rebecca Longfield

It may have been his landlady who assisted the census enumerator to complete the census return, as it contained some incorrect information. That was, that George Collett from Halesworth was 62 and an insurance agent, when in fact Robert would have been 68. The big question is, had the couple separated by that time in their lives since, nine years later, when Robert George Collett was 77 years old, his death was recorded in Hampshire at Alverstoke (Ref. 2b 409) during the first quarter of 1890. As a consequence of his passing, Harriet Collett was described as a widow in the census the following year when, at the age of 75, she was living with her married eldest son at 569 Holloway Road in the Islington area of London. Three and a half years later, the death of Harriet Collett, aged 79, was recorded at St George Hanover Square register office (Ref. 1a 270) during the last three months of 1894

18p6 - George Robert Collett was born in 1848 at Norwich

18p7 – Harriet Eliza Collett was born in 1850 at Norwich

18p8 – Charles Joseph Collett was born in 1857 at Norwich

William Henry Collett [18p1] was born in 1851 at the Thoroughfare in Halesworth, the eldest of the five children of William Henry Collett and Mary Goddard, his birth registered at Blything (Ref. xiii 441) during the month of February that year, being one month old in the census of 1851. It was as William H Collett that he was 10 years of age in the census of 1861, by which time he and his family was residing at 39 Bridewell Lane in the St Mary area of Bury-St-Edmunds. What happened to him after that day has still to be determined, as no obvious record of him has been found 1861

Alice Collett [18p2] was born at the Thoroughfare in Halesworth on 4^th May 1852, with her birth registered at Blything (Ref. 4a 654) during the second quarter of the year. Just over eighteen months later, the death of Alice Collett was recorded at Blything (Ref. 4a 451) during the first three months of 1854. She was the first of three daughters of William and Mary Collett to be given the name Alice

Alice Mary Collett [18p3] was born at the Thoroughfare in Halesworth on 20^th August 1854, the second daughter of William Henry Collett, whose earlier daughter of the same forename had died earlier that same year. Like her two older siblings, her birth was also registered at Blything (Ref. 4a 581) during the third quarter of the year. She only survived for a few short months, when the death of Alice Mary Collett was recorded at Blything (Ref. 4a 435) during the last three months of the same year 1854. It may have been the result of losing two daughters within the same twelve-month period, that prompted William and Mary to move to Bury-St-Edmunds

Alice Kate Collett [18p4] was born in 1857 at Bury-St-Edmunds, where her birth was recorded (Ref. 4a 410) during the fourth quarter of that year. She was the fourth child of William Henry Collett and Mary Goddard, and the third one to be given the name Alice. It is possible that she was born at 39 Bridewell Lane in Bury-St-Edmunds, where three-year-old Alice Collett was living with her family in 1861. Ten years later, Alice Collett was again living with her parents, but at 6 Sparhawk Street in Bury-St-Edmunds, when she was 13 years of age. On both occasions, the census return stated she had been born at Bury-St-Edmunds. Within just a few days of the census day in 1871, Alice’s mother died and, after eight years as a widower, her father was remarried to a much younger woman. It is not known whether it was before or after his second wedding day that Alice left 6 Sparhawk Street, where her father and her stepmother were living in 1881. By that time in her life, Alice K Collett from Bury-St-Edmunds was 22 and living and working within the London Borough of Lambeth, where her occupation was that of an assistant draper, one of four such female posts, alongside three apprentice drapers – one of them a male, all at the establishment where they were employed on Wandsworth Road in South Lambert, which may have been a factory or a large draper’s shop

Eight years after that day, the marriage of Alice Kate Collett and Edward Conbeer, following the reading of banns, was conducted in London on 17^th March 1889 at St Mary’s Church in St Marylebone, the event recorded at Marylebone (Ref. 1a 824). Alice was recorded as being 30 years of age, a spinster and a draper’s assistant living at 7 Nutford Place, Marylebone, the daughter of William Henry Collett a house decorator. Edward was 29 years old, a bachelor, a cooper, residing at 7 Homer Street in Marylebone, and the son of farmer Robert Conbeer. Once again, on the day of the census in 1891, Alice did not inform the census enumerator of her accurate age, when she was recorded as 28 instead of 33, having no occupation, while her husband Edward was 31 and employed as a cooper and a carpenter from Morchard Bishop in Devon, north-west of Exeter. That day the childless couple was living at 92 Seymore Place in Marylebone. They were still living at Seymore Place, but at 103 by 1901, when Edward Conbeer was working as a builder aged 41, who was also an employer, and Alice Conbeer was 43, when boarding there with them was the White family. Thomas White was a house decorator at 27, his wife Lydia was also 27, and their daughter Gladys was two years old. The last member of the household was 38-year-old visit Martha Cheater from Hampshire who was single and a draper’s assistant, most likely a friend of Alice from her working days

Two and a half years after that census day, the death of Alice Kate Conbeer was recorded at Marylebone register office (Ref. 1a 374) during the last three months of 1903, when she was described as being 44 years of age, rather than 46. Her passing left Edward as a widower for the next thirty-six years, being 79 years old when he died in 1939, with his death recorded at Paddington register office (Ref. 1a 92) during the last quarter of that year. Edward was a patient at Paddington Hospital where he died and where the last rites were performed by the Reverend Mortimer, after which he was buried on Tuesday 19^th December 1939

Albert George Collett [18p5] was born at 6 Sparhawk Street in Bury-St-Edmunds on 9^th June 1880, where his birth was recorded (Ref. 4a 591) during the third quarter of the year. He was one year old in the census of 1881 when he was living with his elderly father William Henry Collett and his second wife, the much younger Mary Ann Borley at 6 Sparhawk Street in Bury-St-Edmunds. Also living there was his half-sister Jane Emma Borley, aged ten and the base-born daughter of Mary Ann Borley. Albert and his family were still living at the same address ten years later, according to the census in 1891, when he was recorded as being ten years old, when his father was 63 and his mother was 52. Once again, living with the three of them was Jane Emma Borley aged 19. Following the death of his father at Bury-St-Edmunds in 1898 at the age of 72, and then the death of his mother there during 1900, Albert moved into London to seek work. According to the census conducted in 1901, it was at 68 Falkland Road in St Pancras that Albert Collett, aged 20 and from Bury-St-Edmunds, was living as a servant at the home of the Frost family, when his occupation was that of a baker’s assistant

It was during the first quarter of 1911, when the marriage of Albert George Collett and Rose Maria Messenger was recorded at Edmonton register office (Ref. 3a 605). The couple was married after the reading of banns at St Ann’s Church in Tottenham on 1^st January 1911, when Albert was a bachelor aged 29, a baker residing at 80 Beechfield Road in Tottenham, the son of sign-writer William Henry Collett, deceased. His bride was 28 and a spinster, also living at 80 Beechfield Road and the daughter of Thomas Messenger, a decorator. The birth of Rose Maria at 9 Hedgers Grove on 18^th February 1882 was registered at Hackney (Ref. 1b 606), after which she was baptised at St Augustine’s Church on 14^th May 1882 with her brother Thomas George Message, two of the children of shopkeeper Thomas Messenger and his wife Emily Mary of 9 Hedgers Grove in Walthamstow, just east of Hackney. A few weeks after their wedding day the newly-wed couple was living at 252 Hermitage Road, just opposite Finsbury Park, within Tottenham/Stoke Newington district of Middlesex in the census of 1911. Albert Collett from Bury-St-Edmunds was 29 years old and a barrowman working in the bakery business, presumably selling door-to-door or to local shops. Why he said he was 29, when he was 31, and said he had been married one year, instead of three months, is not known. His wife Rose Collett from nearby Hackney was also 29 but had no stated occupation, the same as on their wedding record

One possible reason for saying they had been married from one year, may have been because Rose was already showing signs that she was with-child. If so, she may have miscarried, since the first of the couple’s five children was born two years later. Their last two children were twins, with the births of all five children recorded at Edmonton register office when, in each case, the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Messenger. According to the 1939 Register, there were still seven members of the family living at 273 Nightingale Road in Edmonton, where 59-year-old Albert G Collett was a carpenter and labourer, working at Frimley Bread Bakery, when his wife Rose M Collett was 57. Three of their children were still living with them, and they were the twins Reginald G Collett and Irene T Collett, they date of birth being 23^rd July 1920, while the third child was the couple’s married daughter Winifred B Helling, born on 12^th June 1918, together with her husband Charles Helling born on 22^nd September 1917. It was nearly twenty years later that the death of Albert George Collett was recorded at Westminster register office (Ref. 5c 469) during the first three months of 1958 when he was 77 years old. His Will was proved at London on 5^th June 1958 which confirmed the details of his passing as follows. It was at Westminster Hospital where he died on 25^th March 1958, his home address was 273 Nightingale Road in Edmonton, Middlesex, the value of his personal effects was £905, and Rose Maria Collett was the sole executor of his estate. His widow survived for another thirteen years when she died on 16^th March 1971, the death of Rose Maria (Marie) Collett was recorded at Enfield register office (Ref. 5b 503) when she was 88 years old. Her Will was proved at London on 11^th June 1971 in the sum of £5,067, the legal paperwork also confirming that she died at home, at 273 Nightingale Road in Edmonton

18q1 – Violet Rose Collett was born in 1913 at Edmonton, Middlesex

18q2 – Clarence Albert Collett was born in 1916 at Edmonton, Middlesex

18q3 – Winifred Bessie Collett was born in 1918 at Edmonton, Middlesex

18q4 – Irene T Collett (twin) was born in 1920 at Edmonton, Middlesex

18q5 – Reginald George Collett (twin) was born in 1920 at Edmonton, Middlesex

George Robert Collett [18p6] was born in 1848 at Norwich where his birth was recorded (Ref. xiii 290) during the second quarter of that year under the name George Robert Collett. He may have been born at White Friars Street, where he and his parents were living at the time of the birth of his sister Harriet (below). On being baptised at Norwich on 21^st April 1850, in a joint ceremony with his younger sister Harriet, his name was recorded as Robert George Collett, the son of Robert George and Harriet Collett. However, that was obviously an error since, on every other occasion, he was correctly named as George, as in the census of 1851 when he was three years of age and living at Cowgate in Norwich with his family. By 1861, George Robert Collett was 12 years old and with his family was St Martin-at-Palace Plain in Norwich, although ten years later he had left the family home in Norwich, when he was living and working in the Shoreditch area of London. Unmarried George Collett from Norwich was 22 and carriage trimmer and a lodger in that part of Middlesex. George Robert Collett was still a single man in 1881 who was recorded in the census that year at Long Acre in St Martin-in-the Fields, Middlesex London, when he was 32 and carriage builder’s assistant. Staying with him that day was his mother Harriet and his younger brother Charles Joseph Collett. It was two years later, that the marriage of George Robert Collett and Elizabeth Tookey Baker was recorded at Bishop Stortford (Ref. 3a 465) during the third quarter of 1883. Elizabeth was 36 and a widow, formerly Elizabeth Tookey Reavell from Guilden Morden in Cambridgeshire, where she was born in 1846, while her birth was recorded at nearby Royston in Hertfordshire (Ref. vi 602) during the last quarter of that year. In 1881 Elizabeth T Baker was already a widow, when she was working as a draper’s assistant at Potters Street in Bishop Stortford. The earlier marriage of Elizabeth Tookey Reavell and John Alexander Henry Baker had been recorded at Hendon during the third quarter of 1875

Elizabeth also had a daughter from her first marriage who, on the day of the census in 1881, was described as a visitor at the Guilden Morden, High Street home of Elizabeth’s older married sister Mary Murfitt of Guilden Morden, the child being Gertrude Elizabeth Baker who was four years of age and born in London. The marriage of George and Elizabeth produced six children for the couple although, tragically, only two of whom survived beyond infancy and they were daughters Ethel and Gwendoline, who were both born at Holloway in London, their births recorded at Islington in Middlesex. In fact, Elizabeth presented George with all six children prior to the day of the census in 1891, including a set of twin girls, four of whom were living with the couple at 569 Holloway Road in West Upper Holloway, where they had all been born. Also living with the family was George’s mother Harriet Collett from Norfolk who was 75, and his stepdaughter Gertrude E Baker aged 14 and a draper’s assistant, who had been born at 7 Sevington Street in Maida Vale, just north of Paddington, in 1876. The remainder of the household was made up of George R Collett from Norfolk who was 42 and a master draper and a carriage builder’s manager, Elizabeth Collett from Cambridge who was 44, Ethel G Collett who was five, Dorothy M Collett who was two, and twins Gladys W Collett and Gwendoline P Collett who were only a few weeks old. Sadly, within the next six months, Gladys suffered an infant death, while daughter Dorothy had a premature death six years later, by which time the family was living in the Shepherds Bush and Hammersmith area of West London.

It was there also, that the family was living at 25 Ellingham Road, midway between Goldhawk Road and Uxbridge Road, in Shepherds Bush. The census return in 1901 recorded the family as George Robert Collett aged 52 and a commercial clerk, Elizabeth Tookey Collett aged 54 and from Guilden Morden, Ethel Georgina Collett from Holloway was 15 and a probationer at a boarding school, Gwendoline Phyllis Collett from Holloway was 10, and Gertrude Elizabeth Baker from Paddington was 24 and working as a shorthand typist and a clerk. Curiously, ten years later in 1911, George’s stated occupation, in the census that year, was back to what it had been twenty years earlier, that of a carriage builder’s manager. Also, by that time in his life, he and his complete family was residing at 106 Esmond Road, in the Parish of Acton, within the Brentford area of Middlesex. George Collett from Norwich was 62, his wife Elizabeth Collett was 64, stepdaughter Elizabeth Baker was 34 and a shorthand typist with a local newspaper, Ethel Collett was 24 and Gwendoline Collett was 20 years of age

During the three years after that census day, it would appear that George’s health began to fail, eventually leading to him being placed in the St John’s Nursing Home at Merton in Surrey, where he died on 3^rd February 1914, with the death of George Robert Collett recorded at Croydon register (Ref. 2a 520) during the first quarter of 1914. His Will was proved at London on 16^th March 1914, the sole executor being his widow Elizabeth Tookey Collett of 106 Esmond Road in Bedford Park, his personal effects recorded as £125. After a further fifteen year, Elizabeth Tookey Collett was still living in the Brentford area of north London, where her death was recorded (Ref. 3a 458) during the first three months of 1929 when she was 82 years old. Her estate was valued at £99 10 Shillings and her Will was proved at London on 10^th April 1929, the sole executor names as Charles Ernest Owen Carter, a barrister. The documentation also confirmed that Elizabeth Tookey Collett of 106 Esmond Road, Bedford Park, Acton, where she died on 4^th March 1929

18q6 - Ethel Mary Collett was born in 1884 at Holloway

18q7 - Ethel Georgina Collett was born in 1885 at Holloway

18q8 – George Collett was born in 1887 at Holloway

18q9 - Dorothy Mary Collett was born in 1888 at Holloway

18q10 - Gladys Winifred Collett (twin) was born in 1891 at Holloway

18q11 - Gwendoline Phyllis Collett (twin) was born in 1891 at Holloway

Harriet Eliza Collett [18p7] was born in 1850 at White Friars Street in Norwich and was baptised on the same day has her older brother Robert (above), that being 21^st April 1850, when they were confirmed as the children of Robert George Collett and his wife Harriet. The record of the baptism also confirmed that the family was living at White Friars Street in Norwich, but not long after that, the family move to Cowgate in Norwich, where Harriet’s father was a baker until just after 1857. After being one year old in 1851, and being 11 years of age in 1861, when living with her parents in Norwich, by 1871 Harriet Collett from Norwich was 21 and a draper’s assistant living and working at Preston in Lancashire. Twenty years later, her older brother George (above) had the occupation of a master draper, while he was living in the Holloway area of London. It was also to London that Harriet travelled just after 1871 and where her marriage to Thomas Shortt was recorded at Islington (Ref. 1b 461) during the second quarter of 1874. The couple was married by Registrar’s Certificate at the Islington Parish Church on 4^th April 1874, when both the bride and groom were of full age. Thomas was a bachelor and a government clerk, residing at 171 Holloway Road, the son of Thomas Shortt, a commission agent. Spinster Harriet Eliza Collett of 153 Queens Road in Bayswater, the daughter of Roger George Collett, a baker. The signing of the marriage record is very interesting as there were three witnesses, and all of them members of the Collett family. They were Charles Collett, Elizabeth Collett, and George Robert Collett, the two men being her brothers, but is not clear who Elizabeth was.

Thomas Shortt was born at Frithelstock in Devon, the first-born child of Thomas and Elizabeth Shortt, where they were living in 1851, following the registering of his birth at Plymouth (Ref. ix 392) during the third quarter of 1846. Over the remainder of the decade after their wedding day, Harriet gave birth to three children, as confirmed by the London census in 1881, the first two births recorded at Islington in 1875 and 1876, the third at Strand in 1879. The family of five was residing at Union Grove in Clapham, where Thomas Shortt from Plymouth was 33 and a clerk with the Civil Service, Harriet E Shortt from Norwich was 31, Thomas Shortt junior was six and born at Islington, George Ambrose Shortt was four and born at Holloway and Charles Ralph Shortt was one year old and born at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Strand, Middlesex. Tragically for the family, Thomas Shortt died less than four years later, at the age of 38, his death recorded at Wandsworth (Ref. 1d 368) during the first quarter of 1885. The Will of Thomas Shortt the younger, formerly of 93 Long Acre in Middlesex, but late of 3 Christ Church Villas in Clapham, where he died on 28^th February 1885, was proved at the Principal Registry by George Robert Collett of 569 Holloway Road, Middlesex, a draper and sole executor

Four years after he died, Harriet Eliza Shortt married (2) Percy George Case, by licence, their wedding day recorded at Islington (Ref. 1b 339) during the first three months of 1889. Her new husband was fifteen years younger than Harriet, his birth registered at Dorchester (Ref. 5a 339) during the second quarter of 1869. The parish register recorded that widow Harriet was 35, when she was actually 39, residing at 57 Moray Road in Islington, the daughter of Robert George Collett, a master mariner. Percy, of the same address, was only 20 years of age and working as a clerk, the son of Robert Case, a clerk. By the day of the census in 1891, the family was living at 5 Dagmar Road in Hornsey, within the London Borough of Haringey, when a new child had been added to the family. Head of the household was 22-year-old Percy G Case who was a bank clerk, Harriet E Case who was 41 and from Norwich, Thomas Shortt was 16 and a scholar, as was Ralph C Shortt who was 11, and Vera Mary Case who was one year old

It was also at 5 Dagmar Road in Hornsey, that the Case family was again living in 1901, when Percy was 32 and a bank clerk, Harriet was 51, and Vera was 11. Still living with the family were Harriet’s two sons Thomas Shortt aged 26 and working as stockbroker and agent outside the stock-exchange and having his own account, and Ralph who was 21 and an apprentice locomotive engineer, both of the described as stepsons of Percy Case. During the following decade the family left Dagmar Road, when they moved north to Oakdene, a nine-roomed dwelling at New Southgate in Friern Barnet, where they were recorded in 1911. Percy George Case was still a bank clerk, aged 42, Harriet Eliza Case was 61, bachelor Thomas Shortt was 36 and a manufacturing milliner, and Vera Mary Case was 21 with no occupation. The later death of Harriet Eliza Case was recorded at Barnet register office (Ref. 3a 469) during the last quarter of 1928. Within six months, Percy married Alice B Potter, the event recorded at Kingston-on-Thames register office (Ref. 2a 865) during the first quarter of 1929 who were living at 15 Riverside Close, Kingston in 1939

Charles Joseph Collett [18p8] was born at Surlingham on 23^rd August 1857, when his family was living at Cowgate in Norwich, with his birth recorded at Henstead (Ref. 4b 175) during the third quarter of the year, the last child of Robert George Collett and Harriet Hunn. It was at the Church of St Martin-at-Palace in Norwich that he was baptised on 1^st November 1857, when his father’s occupation was recorded as that of a baker, living in the St Swithins Parish of Norwich. It was within four of the later census records, that the place of his birth was confirmed as Surlingham, six miles south-east of Norwich. He was three years old in 1861 and was 13 in 1871, on both census days he was living with his family in Norwich. In 1881, Charles Joseph Collett had accompanied his mother on a visit to the London home of his older brother George Robert Collett at Long Acre, St Martin-in-the-Fields. Charles from Surlingham was 23 and a hairdresser. Four years later, the marriage of Charles Joseph Collett and Elizabeth Ladly was recorded at West Ham (Ref. 4a 47) during the first three months of 1885. Their wedding service was conducted at St Mary-the-Virgin in Leyton, East London, on 8^th March 1885, when Charles was 26 and the son of Robert George Collett. Elizabeth was the daughter of Bartholomew and Maria Ladly of Norwich and gave birth to a daughter during the following year

In 1890, Charles Joseph Collett was paying 10 Shillings a week to rent unfurnished ground floor rooms, front and back, at 63 High Street in St Johns Wood, from landlord Thiele Hugo of 62 High Street. The following year Charles and Elizabeth were recorded together, living at Stanstead Road in Forest Hill, Lewisham in 1891. Charles J Collett from Surlingham was 32 and a hairdresser’s apprentice, while his wife Elizabeth Collett was also 32 and born at Norwich. On that census day, Elizabeth had just given birth to the couple’s second child, who was born at Forest Hill prior to the family moving to Egham in Surrey. That move took place after 1894, when the electoral roll that year identified Charles Joseph Collett as the tenant of W D Jordan at 93 Stanstead Road in Forest Hill, where the family had two unfurnished first floor rooms. Charles J Collett from Surlingham was 43 and a hairdresser, assisted by eighteen-year-old Edgar Odam from Plymouth. Elizabeth was 42 and son Charles was 10 years of age. Charles and Elizabeth continued to be mobile, with their next home being at Hadleigh in Essex. His occupation was again that of a hairdresser in 1911, at the age of 53, when once again he gave his birthplace as Surlingham, when Elizabeth was 52

According to the 1939 Register it was just Charles and Elizabeth who were living at 4 Woodfield Road in Southend-on-Sea, by which time Charles J Collett was a retired hairdresser at the age of 82, whose date of birth was confirmed as written above. Elizabeth was keeping house, when her date of birth was recorded as 29^th March 1859. Just over two years later, the death of Charles Joseph Collett was recorded at Southend-on-Sea register office (Ref. 4a 1268) during the first quarter of 1942 when he was 84. Six years after losing her husband, the death of Elizabeth Collett from Norwich was recorded at the Essex Rochford register office (Ref. 4a 558) during the second quarter of 1948, at the age of 89

18q12 - Catherine Ella Collett was born in 1886 at Ipswich, Suffolk

18q13 - Charles Cyril Collett was born in 1891 at Forest Hill, Lewisham

Violet Rose Collett [18q1] was born on 5^th March 1913, the eldest of the five children of Albert George Collett and Rose M Messenger, her birth recorded at Edmonton register office (Ref. 3a 1061) during the second quarter of that year. She was twenty-four years of age when the marriage of Violet R Collett and Arthur Henry Messenger was recorded at the Essex East Ham register office (Ref. 4a 375) during the last three months of 1937. Arthur had been born on 25^th December 1910 at 11 South Road, Erith in Kent, and was baptised at Christ Church in Erith on 27^th January 1911, the son of Thomas George and Ethel Messenger. There is every possibility that he may have been related in some way to Violet’s mother. Around two years after Arthur and Violet we married, Arthur ended up in hospital, which was where he was recorded in the 1939 Register. That confirmed he was born on Christmas Day in 1910, that he was a patient at the London Chest Hospital on Bonner Road in Bethnal Green, when his occupation was that of a woodworker in furniture. At that time, Violet Messenger aged 26 was the fifth member of the household at 24 Napier Road, Wall End in East Ham, the home of the Bennett family, from where she employed as a crystalliser in a sweet factory. Four years later, Violet gave birth to the couple’s only child, with the birth of Brian A Messenger recorded at East Ham register office (Ref. 4a 179) during the first quarter of 1945. He only survived for thirty months, when the death of Brian A Messenger was recorded at Southwark register office (Ref. 5d 387) during third quarter of 1947. Violet lived a very long life and was 97 when she died in the Edmonton area of London on 22^nd October 2010, but curiously she was recorded as Violet Rosina Messenger. It was at Enfield in North London, twelve years earlier, that Violet was made a widow on the death of Arthur Henry Messenger during February 1998 when he was 87

Clarence Albert Collett [18q2] was born in 1916, his birth recorded at Edmonton register office (Ref. 3a 1013) during the second quarter of the year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed at Messenger. Tragically, he was around six months old when the death of Clarence A Collett was recorded at Holborn register office (Ref. 1b 677) during the last quarter of that same year

Winifred Bessie Collett [18q3] was born on 12^th June 1918, with her birth also recorded at Edmonton register office (Ref. 3a 734) during the first quarter of the year. She was twenty-one years old when her marriage to Charles Helling was recorded at Edmonton register office (Ref. 3a 2591) during the second quarter of 1939. Later that same year the couple was staying at the home of Winifred’s parents at 273 Nightingale Road in Edmonton, as confirmed in the 1939 Register. Winifred B Helling was 21 and employed as a machinist in a shoe factory, while her husband Charles Helling, who had been born on 22^nd September 1917, was working as a wood machinist classified as a heavy worker. Six years into their marriage, Winifred presented Charles with a daughter, the birth of Barbara J Helling recorded at Edmonton register office (Ref. 3a 1389) during the first quarter of 1946, when her mother’s maiden-name was Collett. Tragically, the baby was around eighteen months old when Winifred died, perhaps even during the birth of a second child. The death of Winifred Helling was recorded at Edmonton register office (Ref. 5e 310) during the third quarter of 1947, when she was only 29. Charles never remarried and died at the age of 79, his death was recorded at Hackney register office at the start of 1997

Irene T Collett [18q4] was the twin sister of Reginald G Collett (below) and was born in 1920, with her birth recorded just before that of her brother at Edmonton register office (Ref. 3a 1083) during the third quarter of that year. It was in the middle of the Second World War, that the marriage of Irene T Collett and Leslie F Jordan was recorded at Edmonton register office (Ref. 3a 2162) during the first three months of 1942

Reginald George Collett [18q5] was born on 24^th June 1920 was the younger twin brother of Irene T Collett (above), whose birth was recorded at Edmonton register office (Ref. 3a 1083) during the third quarter of the year, the last child of Albert George Collett and Rose M Messenger. Just after WW2, the marriage of Reginald G Collett and Annie E Feasey was recorded at Lewisham register office (Ref. 1d 1432) during the first quarter of 1946. Annie’s birth was recorded at Eton register office (Ref. 3a 1441) during the last quarter of 1922. Their marriage produced three children for Reg and Annie, the births of which were also recorded at Lewisham, when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Feasey. At the end of his life, Reginald George Collett was residing in the Enfield area of North London, where his death was recorded during the month of June in 1996, when he was 75

18r1 - Raymond D Collett was born in 1950 at Edmonton, Middlesex

18r2 - Christopher Collett was born in 1955 at Edmonton, Middlesex

18r3 - Pauline Collett was born in 1957 at Edmonton, Middlesex

Ethel Mary Collett [18q6] was born in 1884 at 569 Holloway Road in Holloway, London, the first of the six children of George Robert Collett from Norwich and Elizabeth Tookey Baker, nee Reavell from Guilden Morden, Cambridgeshire. Her birth was recorded at Islington (Ref. 1b 355) during the first three months of the year, and jut over nine months after her parents’ wedding. She was one year old, when her death was also recorded at Islington (Ref. 1b 221) during the second quarter of 1885

Ethel Georgina Collett [18q7] was born on 13^th June 1885 at 569 Holloway Road in Holloway, while it was at Islington where her birth was recorded (Ref. 1b 209) during the third quarter of that years and around three months after her older sister (above) suffered an infant death. It was at 569 Holloway Road that Ethel G Collett was living with her family in 1891 at the age of five years. She was 15 years of age by 1901, when Ethel, her parents, and her younger sister Gwendoline (below), were recorded at 25 Ellington Road in Shepherds Bush. She had left school by then and was described as a probationer at a boarding school. After a further decade, Ethel was 24 when, once again, she was living with her family, but at Acton near Brentford in Middlesex, from where she was employed as an assistant teacher. The marriage of Ethel Georgina Collett and Frederick Henry Johnson was recorded at Brentford register office (Ref. 3a 566) during the second quarter of 1919, and resulted in the birth of twin sons, their births recorded at Fulham register office (Ref. 1a 584), when their mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett. In the 1939 Register the four members of the family were living at 20 Ridding Lane in the London Borough of Ealing. Frederick H Johnson was a retired hat manufacturer who date of birth was 6^th March 1864, and his wife Ethel was 54 and a school-teacher employed by the London City Council, her date of birth as written above. Regarding the two children recorded with them, the details for the older child had been redacted, while the other was named as Christopher Morris Johnson whose date of birth was 23^rd February 1923. At 16 years of age, he was working as a salesman for a produce merchant. Just over a year later the death of Frederick Henry Johnson was recorded at Brentford register office (Ref. 3a 459) during the first three months of 1941, when he was 77. The family home was still 20 Ridding Lane, but it was at 30 Twickenham Road in Isleworth that he died on 6^th March 1941. It was towards the end of 1964 when Ethel Georgina Johnson died at the age of 79, her death recorded at Holborn register office in London (Ref. 5c 907). Her Will was proved at Peterborough on 20^th January 1965 to her two sons, Richard Frederick Johnson, a technical representative, and Christopher Morris Johnson, an area sales manager. Her estate was valued at £1,161 and it was at The Homoeopathic Hospital on Great Ormond Street, Holborn in London that she died on 15^th November 1964, although her home address was recorded as 5 Elm Park Road in Pinner in London

George Collett [18q8] was born in 1887 at 569 Holloway Road, the only son of George and Elizabeth Collett. The birth of George Collett junior was recorded at Islington (Ref. 1b 251) during the third quarter of that year. Sadly, it was during the same quarter of 1887 that the death of baby George Collett was recorded at Islington (Ref. 1b 182)

Dorothy Mary Collett [18q9] was born in 1888 at 569 Holloway Road and her birth was recorded at Islington (Ref. 1b 248) during the last three months of the year. She was two years old in the census of 1891, when living with her family at 569 Holloway Road. It was just less than six years later that Dorothy Mary Collett died, when death recorded at Fulham (Ref. 1a 148) during the first three months of 1897

Gladys Winifred Collett [18q10] was born on 19^th December 1890, the older twin sister of Gwendoline (below) as her birth was recorded at Islington (Ref. 1b 221) during the first quarter of 1891. She was born at 569 Holloway Road, where her family was living in 1891, when she was just a few weeks old. Her death was the second tragedy to hit the family, with her death recorded at Islington (Ref. 1a 139) during the summer that same year

Gwendoline Phyllis Collett [18q11] was born on 19^th December 1890, the twin sister of Gladys (above) and was born at the family home at 569 Holloway Road in Holloway, the second of only two surviving children of George and Elizabeth Collett. Her birth was recorded at Islington (Ref. 1b 221) in the first quarter of 1891. Gwendoline and three of her four older siblings were living with their parents at 569 Holloway Road in 1891. By 1901 she was 10 years old and was living at 25 Ellington Road in Shepherds Bush with her parents and older surviving sister Ethel. On leaving school in the middle of the following decade, Gwendoline entered higher education, as confirmed by the census in 1911, when she was recorded as a collegiate student at the age of 20. That year she and her family were living in the Acton parish of Middlesex. She may have completed her college course shortly after that, and two years later the married of Gwendoline Phyllis Collett and Charles Ernest Owen Carter was recorded at Brentford register office (Ref. 3a 402) during the third quarter of 1913. Their marriage produced at least two children. Laurence Reavell Carter was born in 1914 (Reavell being his maternal grandmother’s maiden-name), his birth recorded at Brentford (Ref. 3a 401) during the third quarter of the year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett. Dorion May Carter was born in 1916, her birth also recorded at Brentford (Ref. 3a 383) during the second quarter of the year, when her mother’s maiden-name was also confirmed as Collett.

The four members of the family were still living together in 1939 at 59 Victoria Drive, West Hill in Wandsworth, close to Wimbledon Common. Such was the status of the family, that they were able to employ eldest spinster Ada Tucker as a cook. The date of birth of Charles E O Carter was recorded in the 1939 Register as 31^st January 1887, who was Director of Homesteads Limited, Estate Development & Farming. His wife Gwendoline P Carter was another director of the same company, when their two children were Laurence R Carter who was born on 27^th August 1914, a salesman with Roneo Ltd, and Dorion M Carter who was born on 20^th March 1916, a voluntary charity worker. The three senior members of the family had already enlisted in the war effort, with Charles being an unpaid ARP Warden (who had served with the military 1916-19), his wife was an unpaid ARP Telephonist, and their son was already a member of the RAF Volunteer Reserve. Just prior to that, when Dorion was 22 years old, she and her family were residing at 59 Victoria Drive in West Hill within the London Borough of Wandsworth. She later married Geoffrey William Hall in Surrey, near the end of 1945, with whom she had two children. Anthony J Hall was born in 1951, and Philip V Hall was born in 1954, with both births recorded at Wandsworth register office. Dorion was 88 when her death was recorded at Kingston-upon-Thames in 2004

Forty-two years earlier, the death of Gwendoline Phyllis Carter was recorded at Wandsworth register office (Ref. 5d 780) during the second quarter of 1962, at the age of 71. Administration of her personal effects, valued at £11,883 5 Shillings 8 Pence was granted in London on 14^th August 1962 to Laurence Reavell Carter, company director, and Dorion Mai Hall, a married woman. The document also confirmed that Gwendoline of 37 Inner Park Road, Wimbledon Park, London, died on 30^th May 1962 at The Priory Nursery Home in Roehampton, London. Six years after her passing, the death of her husband was also recorded at Wandsworth (Ref. 5e 602) during the final quarter of 1968, when he was 81 years old. Charles Ernest Owen Carter was also living at 37 Inner Park Road when he died on 4^th October 1968, his Will proved at London on 13^th November 1968 for £123,309

Catherine Ella Collett [18q12] was born in 1886 at Ipswich, Suffolk, the eldest of the two children of Charles Joseph Collett and Elizabeth Ladly. Her birth was recorded at Ipswich (Ref. 4a 819) during the third quarter of that year. As simply Catherine Collett, aged four years, she was living with her family at Stanstead Road in Forest Hill in 1891, having been living prior to that at 63 High Street in St Johns Wood. On 11^th November 1896 Catherine Ella Collett was admitted to Brookwood Asylum in Woking in Surrey aged ten years, where she was still a patient nearly two years later on 27^th October 1898. Sadly, she was classified as an “idiot” whose treatment was being charged to Windsor Borough Council, when her home address was recorded as St Jude’s Road, Englefield Green. Two years later, Catherine Collett from Ipswich was 15, when she was a patient in the Hammersmith Children’s Hospital for the infirmed and incurable. After a further ten years, and as Ella Collett aged 25 and from Ipswich, she was an inmate at Nazareth House in Hammersmith run by the Poor Sisters (nuns) of Nazareth. During those years that she had been in care, her parents were living in Benfleet in Surrey and Hadleigh in Essex. The later death of Catherine Ella Collett was recorded at Hammersmith register office (Ref. 1a 226) during the third quarter of 1937, when she was 51 years old

Charles Cyril Collett [18q13] was born on 21^st June 1891 at Stanstead Road in Forest Hill, within the London Borough of Lewisham, the only son of Charles Joseph Collett and his wife Elizabeth Ladly, both of them from Norwich. His birth was recorded at Lewisham (Ref. 1d 1222) during the first three months of 1891, but was not listed with his parent in the March census that year. He was 10 years old in the census of 1901, by which time he and his parents were recorded at Egham in Surrey. Charles took up the same occupation as his father and, in 1911, as a boarder at the Benfleet Surrey home of Stanley Rossiter from Wales, Charles Cyril Collett from Forest Hill was 19 and a hairdresser. After another two years the marriage of Charles Cyril Collett and Margaret Daisy Day was recorded at Chertsey register office (Ref. 2a 102) during the first quarter of 1913 and a produced a daughter and a son. The birth of Catherine Margaret Collett was recorded at the Suffolk Blything register office (Ref. 4a 1547) during the third quarter of 1917, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Day. The later birth of Bernard Cyril Collett was recorded at Amersham register office in Buckinghamshire. Nineteen years later, according to the 1939 Register, all four members of the family were residing at 87 Marguerita Drive in Southend-on-Sea. Charles C Collett was 48 and a master hairdresser, when his wife was recorded as Daisy M Collett whose date of birth was 22^nd December 1895. Their daughter Catherine was 22 and a dressmaker, while son Bernard C Collett was a clerical student aged 19. Eleven years afterwards, the death of Charles Cyril Collett was recorded at the Essex Rochford register office (Ref. 4a 648) during the last quarter of 1950, at the age of 59. Daisy continued to live in Southend where both of her children also passed away in old-age, while it was there, during the last three months of 1968 that the death of Daisy Margaret Collett was recorded (Ref. 4a 1052) when she was 74. Her daughter never married, and was living at Southend-on-Sea when she died in April 1997 at the age of 79

18r4 - Catherine Margaret Collett was born on 30^th June 1917 in Suffolk

18r5 – Bernard Cyril Collett was born in 1920 in Buckinghamshire

Raymond D Collett [18r1] was born in 1950 and his birth was recorded at Lewisham register office (Ref. 5a 57) during the fourth quarter of that year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Feasey. He was nearly twenty-two when he married Lesley J Terry, their wedding day recorded at Lewisham (Ref. 5d 559) during the third quarter of 1972. Lesley’s birth was recorded at Bromley register office (Ref. 5b 144) during the first quarter of 1954

Christopher Collett [18r2] was born in 1955, the second of the three children of Reginald G Collett and Annie E Feasey. The birth of Christopher Collett was also recorded at Lewisham register office (Ref. 5d 106) during the second quarter of the year. Just like his older brother Raymond (above), Christopher was also around twenty-one years of age when he married Josephine Wright, the event recorded at Lewisham (Ref. 14 0446) during the second quarter of 1976. Four years later the couple was blessed with the birth of a daughter in the summer of 1980

18s1 – Jodie Collett was born in 1980 at Edmonton

Pauline Collett [18r3] was born in 1958, the last child of Reginald and Annie Collett. Her birth was recorded at Lewisham register office (Ref. 5d 11) during the first three months of 1957, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Feasey. Her later marriage to Michael D Hogben, was also recorded at Lewisham register office (Ref. 14 0574) during the third quarter of 1976

Bernard Cyril Collett [18r5] was born on 2^nd June 1920 in Buckinghamshire, with his birth recorded at Amersham register office (Ref. 3a 1840) during the third quarter of 1920, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Day. He was the younger of the two children of Charles Cyril Collett and Margaret Daisy Day who, in 1939 was a clerical student living with his family at 87 Marguerita Drive in Southend-on-Sea. Just over three years later Bernard Cyril Collett married Dorothy M Owens with their wedding recorded at the Essex South-Western register office (Ref. 4a 441) during the first three months of 1943. Bernard was 86 when he died at Southend, where the death of Bernard Cyril Collett was recorded during the month of August 2006

Jodie Collett [18s1] was born in 1980 at Edmonton in London, the only child of Christopher Collett and Josephine Wright. Her birth was recorded at Lewisham register office (Ref. 14 1015) during the third quarter of 1980. She was twenty-five when her marriage to John Downs was recorded at Kent registry office during the month of July in 2005

Collett Tradesmen of Halesworth Not Born There

Of additional interest, while focusing on the town of Halesworth, are James Collett, a butcher, and George Collett, a cabinet maker, who were both listed in the Halesworth Directory of 1844

Section One – The butcher

James Collett was born at Putney in London on 17^th January 1807 and was baptised there on 22^nd February 1807, the son of James and Elizabeth Collett. The only other Collett family living in the Putney area at that time, was that of George Collett, son of Henry and Sarah, and Arabella Lawman who were married in 1803, five of their six children born at Putney between 1806 and 1815. That family can be found in the appendix at the end of the second section of Part 43 – The Staffordshire Line to Kentucky and Michigan. This raised the question, were James and George related, either as brothers or as cousins. It would appear that James’ work took him from London to Suffolk where he married Mary Stammers on 20^th November 1833 at Sternfield, one mile south of Saxmundham, thirteen miles south from Halesworth. Mary Stammers was born at Bruisyard near Framlingham in 1812 and was baptised at nearby Brundish on 6^th March 1814, the daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Stammers. No record of any children has been found and by 1841, the childless couple was living at Chediston Street in Halesworth, where James Collett had a rounded age of 30, when he was 34, and his wife Mary Collett had a round age of 25.

The couple was again residing at Chediston Road in Halesworth in 1851, when James Collett from Putney was 44 and a master butcher, and when his wife Mary from Bruisyard was 39. It was virtually the same situation in 1861, with James being 53 and Mary being 49, when James was still a butcher at Chediston Road in Halesworth. Ten years later, the pair of them were still living in Halesworth in 1871, by which time James Collett from Putney was 63 and a pork butcher, while Mary Collett was 57, who said her place of birth was Deben or Debenham, both to the west of Brundish. Nine years later, James Collett died at Halesworth, with his death recorded at Blything (Ref. 4a 460) during the second quarter of 1880, when he was 73. After a further eighteen years, the death of Mary Collett was also recorded at Blything (Ref. 4a 632) during the first quarter of 1898, at the age of 86. One year after losing her husband, widow Mary Collett from Bruisyard was continuing to reside at Chediston Street in Halesworth where, as head of the household, she was described as a butcher at the age of 69, who had living there with her, her nephew Walter Tibnam and his wife Mary Tibnam. Walter was 29 and from Stratford St Andrew near Saxmundham, and was managing Collett’s Butcher Shop for Mary. No trace of Mary Collett has been found anywhere within the next census of 1891

Section Two – The Cabinet Maker

George Thomas Collett was born at Newington in Surrey around 1815, and may have been the son of James and Elizabeth Collett who are known to have moved to Halesworth around 1816 with two confirmed daughters, both born at Newington during the preceding years. It was certainly at Halesworth that George Thomas Collett married the young widow Maria Cornwell Rounce King, who already had a five-year-old daughter from her first marriage. Maria was from Dickleburgh in Norfolk and was married to George during the first three months of 1838 (Ref. xiii 531). Just prior to the Halesworth census of 1841, Maria presented George with their only known child, a daughter Ann, whose birth at Halesworth was recorded at Blything (Ref. xiii 341) during the last three months of 1840. Therefore, in June 1841, the family of four was recorded at George Collett aged 26, Maria Collett aged 30, Ann Collett aged seven months, and Betsy King who was eight years of age. The Halesworth Directory of 1844 listed George Collett as a cabinet maker, which was confirmed within the Halesworth census of 1851. On that day, George T Collett was 36 and a journeyman cabinet maker from Newington in Surrey, his wife Maria Collett from Dickleburgh was 42, and the two girls were named as Betsy Collett (formerly King) who was 18 and from Cookley, who was working as an assistant in a shop, and Ann Collett of Halesworth who was 10 years of age

By 1861, the family business was doing very well, enabling George to employ two men and two boys that year. The family was recorded at the ‘Thoroughfare’ in Halesworth on that occasion, where cabinet maker George Collett from Newington was 46, Maria Collett was 52, and their daughter Ann Collett was 20 and employed as a shop maid. Daughter Ann was probably married during the next decade, since she was not living with her parents in 1871, when George was still working as a cabinet maker at the age of 56 and Maria was 62. Staying with the couple that day, was Maria Godbold from Beccles who was 18 and their niece, who was working with her uncle as a cabinet makers assistant. She had been baptised at Beccles in Suffolk on 20^th June 1852, the youngest daughter of William and Mary Ann Godbold, who were living at Blyburgate, in Beccles, in 1861. George Collett from Newington in Surrey was 67 in the Halesworth census conducted in 1881, when he was again continuing his work as a cabinet maker. Maria Collett was 72 who had a servant girl, Harriet Burgess helping out the elderly couple, who had living with them their grandson George A Gooding from Beccles, who 11 years old. Four years later Maria Collett died at Halesworth, with her death at the age of 76, recorded at Blything (Ref. 4a 506) during the last quarter of 1885. Just over three years after the loss of his wife, the death of George Collett at Halesworth was also recorded at Blything (Ref. 4a 521) during the first quarter of 1889, when he was 74 years old

Betsy Collett (formerly King) was born in 1832 at Cookley

Ann Collett was born in 1840 at Halesworth

APPENDIX

William Collett [18An1] would appear to have been baptised at Broadway on 6^th August 1815, the eldest child son of William Collett and Sarah Lane, who were married at Broadway on 6^th October 1813. In his later life, William claimed that he had been born at Hanbury, north of Broadway, in the Bromsgrove area of Worcestershire. The later marriage of William Collett and Caroline Baynham was recorded at Worcestershire Stourbridge (Ref. xxiii 567) and was conducted at St Mary’s Church in Kingswinford on 8^th November 1840. Caroline was born on 23^rd March 1821 and was baptised at Park Lane Chapel in Cradley, four miles from Stourbridge, on 2^nd March 1823, the daughter of William and Martha Baynham. On the day of the census in the first week of June, the following year, Caroline had already given birth to the couple’s first child, two months earlier, which indicates that Caroline was already with-child on the couple’s wedding day. The family of three, comprising William Collett aged 27, Caroline Collett aged 20, and Thomas Collett who was only a few months old, was living at Coalbourn Brook in the Staffordshire Parish of Old Swinford, near Stourbridge, the home of Caroline’s father William Baynham, who was 59

Ten years later, William Baynham and his wife Martha were living at Amblecote, just north of Stourbridge, where William was a shoe maker. Less than three years later, Caroline’s mother Martha died at Amblecote early in 1854. During the remainder of 1840s, Caroline presented William with another four children, the fourth of them born after the family had settled in Belbroughton, midway between Stourbridge and Bromsgrove, where they were living in 1851. The census that year identified William Collett from Hanbury, south of Bromsgrove, as being 38 and a farm bailiff, having 136 acres and employing five labourers. His wife Caroline Collett was 29 and from Old Swinford, while the couple’s first four children were recorded as having been born at Kingswinford. They were Thomas who was ten, William who was eight, Jane who was six, and Harriet who was four. Completing the family was Albert, who was eight months old, but who died during the summer of 1852, at the age of two years

Just a few months before the death of young Albert, Caroline presented William with another daughter Sarah, and she was following two years later by the birth of another son who was given the name Albert John. At some point later, towards the end of the 1850s, William’s work as a farm bailiff saw the family travel less than three miles south of Belbroughton, to Bournheath, an area on the west side of Catshill, where the enlarged family was residing in 1861 and where the couple’s last two children (twins) were born near the end of that year. On the census day that year, the family of bailiff William Collett, aged 46 and from Hanbury, was listed in the census return as Caroline Collett who was 40 and from Old Swinford, Sarah Collett who was nine, Albert Collett who was seven, Henry Collett who was four and Charles Collett who was two years old. All four children’s place of birth was confirmed as Belbroughton. Sometime after the birth of the twins, at the end of 1861, William’s work again resulted in another move for the family, on that occasion to Amblecote, just north of Stourbridge, where Caroline’s mother had died in 1854. And it was at Amblecote that William and the family were living in 1871

William was still a farm bailiff at Amblecote, where Caroline was working with her husband and their eldest son Thomas, as a dairy woman. William was 56, Caroline was 50 and Thomas was a cowman at the age of 25. Apart from Thomas, it was only the couple’s four youngest children who were still living at the family home by then, and they were Henry who was 14, Charles who was 11, and twins Joseph and Mary, both of whom were nine years of age. All four children had been born at Belbroughton. Just over a year prior to the next census in 1881, the death of William Collett aged 65, was recorded at Stourbridge (Ref. 6a 113) during the first quarter of 1880. Administration of his personal estate, valued at under £200, was granted at Lichfield on 15^th September 1880 to Caroline Collett of Amblecote, widow and relict. The documentation confirmed that William Collett late of Amblecote near Brierley Hill in Staffordshire, a farm bailiff who died there on 11^th January 1880

Just over a year later, the Bromsgrove census in 1881 recorded Caroline Collett from Oldswinford as a widow aged 60, when she was a farmer of seventeen acres being assisted by her eldest son Thomas, who was married by then, even though he was incorrectly recorded as being single. Living with them at Stourbridge Road, was Thomas’ wife Sarah Collett who was described as the daughter-in-law of Caroline Collett aged 45 and born at Powick, south-west of Worcester, a farmer’s wife. The only other child of the late William Collett and his wife Caroline, who was still living with her, was Joseph Collett who was 19 and a farmer’s son and, completing the household, was Caroline’s ‘nephew’ Ernest Booton from (Kings Norton) Birmingham who was two years old, but was actually Caroline’s grandson, the youngest son of her daughter Harriet Booton, nee Collett. Ernest was also described as the adopted son of Thomas and Sarah Collett. With her advancing years, Caroline eventually retired from farming and subsequently travelled to the City of Worcester to live with her married daughter Mary Robinson and her policeman husband Richard. Interestingly, on that same day, both Harriet Booton and Caroline Collett were living at their home on 1 Dutton Road in South Claines near Worcester, when Caroline was 70 years of age. Around two-and-a-half years later, Caroline Collett passed away with her death recorded at Worcester (Ref. 6c 174) during the third quarter of 1893, when she was 72 years old

18Ao1 – Thomas Collett was in 1841 at Kingswinford

18Ao2 - William Collett was born 1842 at Kingswinford

18Ao3 – Jane Collett was born in 1844 at Kingswinford

18Ao4 – Harriet Collett was born in 1847 at Kingswinford

18Ao5 – Albert Collett was born in 1850 at Belbroughton

18Ao6 – Sarah Collett was born in 1852 at Belbroughton

18Ao7 – Albert John Collett was born in 1854 at Belbroughton

18Ao8 – Henry Collett was born in 1856 at Belbroughton

18Ao9 – Charles Collett was born in 1859 at Belbroughton

18Ao10 – Joseph Collett (twin) was born in 1861 at Belbroughton

18Ao11 – Mary Collett (twin) was born in 1861 at Belbroughton

Thomas Collett [18Ao1] was born on 7^th April 1841 at Kingswinford, his birth recorded at Stourbridge (Ref. xviii 458) during the second quarter of that year. Three weeks after, he was baptised at St Mary’s Church in Kingswinford on 29^th April 1841, the eldest child of William Collett of Hanbury in Worcestershire and Caroline Baynham of Old Swinford, Stourbridge. That day was only around six months after his parents were married during the last three months of 1840. Therefore, Thomas was only two or three months old on the day of the census in 1841. The majority of his siblings were born at Kingswinford, while by 1850 the family was living at Belbroughton where, in 1851, Thomas Collett from Kingswinford was ten years old and attending the village school. After a further ten years, and upon leaving school, Thomas Collett entered into domestic service and secured the position as a footman at the Lower Swinford home of J P Piernay, a merchant in the iron trade, which is where Thomas was recorded on the day of the census in 1861. It would appear that he eventually rejoined his family, which had moved from Belbroughton, north to Amblecote near Stourbridge, where he was 19 and working on his father’s farm as a cowman in 1871. The next important date in the life of Thomas Collett was near the end of that same year when he married Sarah Caswell during the last three months of 1871, the event recorded at Dudley (Ref. 6c 84). Sarah Caswell was the daughter of William and Mary Anne Collett, and was baptised at St Peter’s Church in Powick (Worcestershire) on 16^th February 1834. The following significant day in the life of Thomas Collett was the death of his father in 1880, when Thomas and his mother took over the management of the family’s farm

That situation was confirmed in the census of 1881 when Thomas Collett from Kingswinford was 39 and described as ‘a farmer-with-the-mother’ of 17 acres at Stourbridge Road in the Bromsgrove area of Worcestershire. Sharing the role of farmer with him, was his mother Caroline. Curiously, Thomas was recorded as a single man, presumably an enumerator error since, living with Thomas and his mother was his wife Sarah Collett from Powick who was 45 and a farmer’s wife and the daughter-in-law of head of the household Caroline. In addition to the three of them, Thomas’ youngest brother Joseph Collett (below) a farmer’s son, was recorded living with them, as was Ernest Booton from Birmingham who was two years old and incorrectly described as the nephew of Thomas’ mother when he was actually her grandson. He was Thomas’ nephew, the youngest child of his married sister Harriet Booton (below). Harriet was made a widow shortly thereafter, when Ernest became the adopted son of Thomas and Sarah Collett. During the following decade, Thomas’ mother gave up the farm, while Thomas, Sarah and their adopted son continued to live on Stourbridge Road in Bromsgrove. The three of them was again residing there in 1891, when Thomas Collett was 49 and employed as a groom and a gardener, Sarah Collett was 55, and Ernest Booton from Kings Norton (Birmingham) was 12 years of age. On that census day, Ernest’s widowed mother Harriet Booton was living with Thomas’ youngest married sister Mary Robinson, nee Collett (below), where Thomas’ elderly mother was living out her last days

After a further ten years it was just Thomas and Sarah who were still living in Bromsgrove, but at Shupcote Terrace, when gardener Thomas from Wordsley, immediately south of Kingswinford, was 59, and Sarah from Powick was 64. It was just over six years later, that the death of Sarah Collett was recorded at Bromsgrove register office (Ref. 6c 197) during the fourth quarter of 1907, when she was 72. Following his loss, Thomas moved in with his married sister Mary Robinson who, by then had left Worcester and was residing at Wollescote, just east of Stourbridge and less than a mile south of Lye, where Mary’s policeman husband had been born. The Wollescote census in 1911, described brother-in-law Thomas Collett as being a widower and an unemployed gardener aged 69, who had been born at Wordsley. Thomas survived for another six years, when his death was recorded at Stourbridge register office (Ref. 6c 21) during the second quarter of 1917, by which time he was 76

William Collett [18Ao2] was born at Kingswinford in Worcestershire, according to later census records, although his birth was actually recorded at Dudley (Blackheath) in Staffordshire (Ref. xviii 273) during the last quarter of 1842. It was also in that same area of Staffordshire that the baptism of William Collett was conducted at Rowley Regis on 4^th December 1842, the second son of William and Caroline Collett. It may be that, immediately after he was born and baptised, his parents settled in Kingswinford. By the time he was six years of age, he and his family were living at Belbroughton in Worcestershire where, in 1851, William Collett from Kingswinford was eight years old. After completing his education in Belbroughton, where his family was still living in 1861, William was 18 and working as a porter at the Stourbridge, High Street home of Arthur P Morris, a chemist, and his family. His place of birth on that occasion was recorded as Blackheath (Dudley). The subsequent marriage of William Collett and Annie Scott, by the reading of banns, was recorded at Liverpool West Derby (Ref. 8b 674) during the last quarter of 1870. Their wedding took place at the Church of St Michael Toxteth, in the Parish of Walton-on-the-Hill, on 4^th October 1870. William was 27, a bachelor and a gardener, living at Menzies Street in Toxteth, the son of William Collett, a farmer. Annie was 23, a spinster having no occupation, living at Aigburth Road, near Sefton Park, Liverpool, the daughter William Scott, a traveller. One of the witnesses was Sarah Collett, William’s younger sister (below). Just under one year later the birth of the first of their five children was also recorded there, although two of the fi who was live suffered infant deaths. Just six months prior to the birth of their first child, the couple was living in the Allerton district of south Liverpool, where William Collett from Worcestershire was 29 and employed as a gardener, and his wife Annie Collett was 23 and from Sutton Manor, just south of St Helens in Lancashire

Anne Scott had been born at New Street in Sutton on 25^th December 1846 and was baptised on 26^th September 1847 at Burtonwood, four miles east of Sutton, the second child and eldest daughter of William Scott from Scotland and his wife Mary from Ince in Lancashire. According to the next census in 1881, the completed Collett family was residing at Calderstones Road, adjacent to Calderstones Park in Allerton, from where William Collett was a domestic gardener aged 38 and from the City of Worcester, Annie Collett from St Helens was 33, and their three surviving children were recorded at William H Collett who was nine, Caroline M Collett who was six, and Annie Collett who was two years of age. The three children were said to have been born at Wavertree, just north of Allerton, still within the Liverpool area of Lancashire. For some reason, during the following decade, William and Annie took their two daughters south to live in Suffolk, where the four of them were living in 1891. By that time, their son had followed in his father’s footsteps by taking up work as a gardener, when he was working in Stretton-on-Foss, Leicestershire, that day. On that occasion in his life William Collett was employed as a head gardener at the age of 48. Annie D Collett was 44, Caroline Collett was 16 and Annie Collett was 12, when the family was recorded at Orford Road in Sudbourne, a few miles north west of Orford Ness

William continued to work in the Aldeburgh area of Suffolk but did not have wife Annie with him in 1901. On that census day, William Collett from Staffordshire was 57 and a gardener, not domestic, when he was staying at the home of his married son William H Collett and his year family in Aldeburgh. On the other hand, Annie Collett from Sutton was 53, with no occupation, who was living at Toxteth Park in Liverpool with her widowed younger sister Grace Ogilvie, nee Scott, also from Sutton, and her four Ogilvie children. Annie did return to William and they appear to spent their last years together in the Woodbridge area of Suffolk midway between Aldeburgh and Ipswich, since it was at Woodbridge register office (Ref. 4a 637) that the death of Annie Collett was recorded during the first three months of 1904. Seven years later, widower William Collett from Blackheath in Staffordshire was a resident in the village of Rendham, west of Saxmundham, when he was 68 and a domestic gardener. The only person living there with him was his housekeeper Naomi Cook, from nearby Bruisyard, who was 73. Five years after that year, the death of William Collett was recorded at Plomesgate register office (Ref. 4a 1262) during the last three months of 1916, when he was 74 years of age. His Will was proved in Suffolk on 22^nd March 1917, when the date he died was confirmed as 5^th December 1916, and that the sole beneficiary was his son William Henry Collett who, himself, passed away five years after losing his father

18Ap1- William Henry Collett was born in 1871 at Allerton, Liverpool

18Ap2- Caroline Mary Collett was born in 1875 at Allerton, Liverpool

18Ap3- John Collett was born in 1877 at Allerton, Liverpool

18Ap4- Annie Collett was born in 1879 at Allerton, Liverpool

18Ap5- Elizabeth Kate Collett was born in 1880 at Allerton, Liverpool

Jane Collett [18Ao3] was born in 1844 at Kingswinford, her birth recorded at Dudley (Ref. xviii 275) during the last quarter of 1844, following which she was baptised at Rowley Regis on 17^th November 1844, the third child and eldest daughter of William and Caroline Collett. She was six years old in 1851, when living with her family at Belbroughton. Although not located in 1861, it was nine years later that the marriage of Jane Collett and Thomas Vicarage was recorded at Stourbridge (Ref. 6c 171) during the first quarter of 1870. Just over one year later, Jane had already given birth to a daughter, Mary Jane Vicarage who had been born at Bromsgrove, where the family was living in 1871. Thomas Vicarage from Chaddesley Corbett in Worcestershire was 26 and a carpenter, his wife Jane from Rowley Regis was 26, and their daughter was only a few months old. Staying with the young family that day, was Thomas’ older brother William who was 28 and also born at Chaddesley. At the start of the next decade, the Bromsgrove census in 1881 placed the family living at Stoney Hill, where Thomas Vicarage was 36 and a carpenter from Chaddesley Corbett. His wife Jane from Rowley Regis was also 36, and her two children were Mary Jane Vicarage aged ten, and Elizabeth Maria Vicarage who was three years old, both born at Bromsgrove. The birth of both daughters was registered at Bromsgrove. Ten years later, it was the same situation with the family still living at Stoney Hill, except with the couple’s eldest daughter having left home. Thomas was 45 and a wheelwright, Jane was 45, and Elizabeth was 13 and at school. By 1901 it was just the 56-year-old couple who were still living at 11 Stoney Hill in Bromsgrove, when Thomas was again a carpenter. The dwelling had five rooms and the couple was again living there in 1911. The completed census return that year provided the information that the 66-year-old couple had been married for forty-one years, during which time Jane had given birth to two children, both of whom were still alive. On that day, Thomas was employed by a railway company as a railway-wagon repairer. Returning to live with her parents was unmarried daughter Elizabeth Vicarage aged 33

Thomas Vicarage was 71 years old when he died, his death recorded at Bromsgrove register office (Ref. 6c 261) during the fourth quarter of 1916. The Will of Thomas Vicarage was proved at Worcester on 1^st February 1917 to Jane Vicarage, widow, for his estate of £291 14 Shilling 10 Pence. He and Jane were again residing at 11 Stoney Hill, where Thomas died on 18^th December 1916. Ten years later, the death of widow Jane Vicarage was recorded at Bromsgrove register office (Ref. 6c 339) during the first three months of 1927, when she was 82 years old. Her Will was subsequently proved at Worcester on 30^th March 1827, following her passing on 28^th February, the joint beneficiaries being Elizabeth Maria Gibbs, her daughter, and Albert William Gibbs, her son-in-law. The marriage of Elizabeth and Albert was recorded at Bromsgrove register office (Ref. 6c 332) during the last quarter of 1920. They were married for twenty-five years, when the death of Elizabeth Maria Gibbs was recorded at Upton register office (Ref. 6c 180) near the end of 1945. Jane and Thomas’ first-born daughter, Mary Jane Vicarage, had married William Craddock many years earlier than their youngest daughter, with Mary’s wedding recorded at Bromsgrove register office (Ref. 6c 951) during the third quarter of 1894. Mary was 85 when she died, her passing recorded at Birmingham (Ref. 9c 369) during the third quarter of 1955

Harriet Collett [18Ao4] was born in 1847 at Kingswinford, with her birth recorded at Stourbridge (Ref. xviii 508) during the first quarter of the year. It was at St Mary’s Chapelry in Kingswinford that she was baptised on 21^st February 1847, another daughter of William and Caroline Collett. When she was two years of age, her father’s work as a farm bailiff took the family south to Belbroughton, near Bromsgrove, where Harriet was four years old in the census in 1851. At the age of 14, Harriet Collett was a servant and a nurse at Hugh Street in Bromsgrove, the home of grocer Joseph Greening and his large family, when her place of birth was recorded as Wordsley. After a further eight years, the marriage of Harriet Collett and William Booton was recorded at Stourbridge (Ref. 6c 163) during the second quarter of 1869. A year after their wedding day, Harriet gave birth to a son Arthur William Booton at Erdington who was eleven months old of the day of the census in 1871, when the family was living on Sandwell Road in Handsworth, where William was a head gardener aged 23, and his wife Harriet was 24 and once again said she had been born at Wordsley. Two more children were added to the family, their second child born at Kings Heath, the third as Edgbaston. They and their older sibling were recorded with their mother in 1881 at 2 Hawthorn Terrace, Park Street in Edgbaston, where married Harriet Booton was working as a laundress, Arthur William Booton was ten, Alice Booton was nine, and Walter Booton was four years old. Harriet’s latest addition to her family was Kings North born Ernest Booton (aged two years) who was staying with his maternal grandmother and widow Caroline Collett, and was adopted by Harriet’s brother Thomas (above), with whom Ernest was living in 1891. At that same time Harriet Booton was a widow when she was living with her younger married sister Mary Robinson, nee Collett (below) and her policeman husband Richard Robinson, Harriet being his sister-in-law who was 44, from Wordsley, and a domestic servant cook. Also staying with the Robinson family at 1 Dutton Street in South Claines near Worcester was widow Caroline Collett, the mother of both Harriet Booton and Mary Robinson. Harriet Booton was 48 years of age when she died, after which her death was recorded at Worcester register office (Ref. 6c 156) during the second quarter of 1895

Albert Collett [18Ao5] was born at Belbroughton in 1850, his birth recorded at Bromsgrove (Ref. xviii 216) during the third quarter of 1850. Shortly after being born, baby Albert Collett was baptised at nearby Catshill on 28^th July 1850, another son of William and Caroline Collett. It seems likely his baptism was a rushed affair, with Albert being a poorly child and, whilst he was eight months old in the Belbroughton census of 1851, his death was recorded at Bromsgrove (Ref. 6c 186) during the third quarter of the following year, when he was two years of age

Sarah Collett [18Ao6] was born in 1852 at Belbroughton, when her birth was recorded at Bromsgrove (Ref. 6c 350) during the second quarter of the year. Around the time that her two-year-old brother Albert (above) died, the baptism of Sarah Collett took place at Belbroughton on 25^th July 1852, when she was confirmed as the daughter of William and Caroline Collett. By the time Sarah was nine years of age, she and her family were residing at Bournheath, near Catshill and, upon leaving school she worked as a domestic servant in Bromsgrove, where Sarah Collett from Belbroughton was 19 in 1871. It was four years after that, when Sarah was 23, that she married labourer Thomas Collins of Chaddesley Corbett, the son of John and Elizabeth Collins, where they were married on 26^th April 1875, the wedding recorded at Kidderminster (Ref. 6c 308). Thomas had been baptised at Chaddesley Corbett on 22^nd May 1850, the son of John and Elizabeth Collins. They made their home at Barrow Hill in Chaddesley Corbett, where their five children were born, with their births all recorded at Kidderminster (where the death of Lizzie was recorded at the age of 15), three of whom were living there with them in 1881. They were Henry Collins aged three years, Lizzie Collins who was two, and Edwin Collins who was under one year old. At least two more children were added to the family at Barrow Hill of the next decade and a half, which by 1891 comprised Thomas and Sarah, 40 and 38, Henry 13, Lizzie 12, Edwin 10 and Ada Collins who was two years of age. The couple’s last child was Thomas Collins, who was born three years later, one of only three children still living at Chaddesley Corbett in 1901. By then Thomas Collins was 50, Sarah Collins was 48, Henry Collins was 23, Ada Collins was 12 and Thomas Collins was seven years old. Sarah was the only member of the household not born there when, in every census return, her place of birth was always confirmed as Belbroughton. After a further ten years, all of the couple’s children had left the family home in Chaddesley Corbett except Thomas who was 17 in 1911. It was just after the start of 1931 when Thomas Collins died at the age of 79, his death recorded at Kidderminster register office (Ref. 6c 132). Around eighteen months after being widowed, the death of Sarah Collins was recorded at Bromsgrove register office (Ref. 6c 197) during the third quarter of 1932.

Albert John Collett [18Ao7] was born near the end of 1854 at Belbroughton and was named after his late brother. The forename John may have been added later, as his birth was recorded at Bromsgrove (Ref. 6c 375) simply as Albert Collett, during the first quarter of 1855. His baptism was delayed by two years, and eventually took place in a joint ceremony with his younger brother Henry (below) at Belbroughton on 15^th March 1857, when he was named as Albert John Collett, the son of William and Caroline Collett. It was also as just Albert Collett aged seven years, that he was living with his family at Bournheath, near Catshill, a short distance south from Belbroughton. However, by the time the census was conducted in 1871, Albert J Collett from Belbroughton was 16 and a coachman’s assistant, who was a lodger at the Birmingham Lady Wood home of the Clements family. Whilst no record of him has been found in Britain in 1881, by 1891 he was still a bachelor at the age of 38, when he was the butler of retired Colonel John E Kyrle of the Army, who was Justice of the Peace and Magistrate for the County of Hereford, at his Herefordshire home in Much Marcle. Albert J Collett from Belbroughton, was the most senior of the eleven servants employed within the household. The death of Albert John Collett, at the age of 37, was recorded at Worcester register office (Ref. 6c 188) during the second quarter of 1893

Henry Collett [18Ao8] was born at Belbroughton, either near the end of 1856 or early in 1857, with his birth recorded at Bromsgrove (Ref. 6c 392) during the first three months of the 1857. He was baptised with his older brother Albert (above) at Belbroughton on 15^th March 1857, another son of William and Caroline Collett. Apart from living with his family at Bournheath, just south of Belbroughton, in 1861 when he was four years old, and again in 1871 at Amblecote, near Stourbridge, when he was 14 and a horse-driver, Henry would appear to be a man of mystery after those two occasions in his life. He was later employed as a servant, domestic gardener in 1881, when he described as being 24, single, and a border at a property on Morville Street in the Lady Wood district of Birmingham. After that day, no further record of him has been discovered in Britain

Charles Collett [18Ao9] was born in 1859 at Belbroughton, another son of William and Caroline Collett, his birth recorded at Bromsgrove (Ref. 3c 361) during the third quarter of that year. His baptism, like those of his younger siblings, was conducted at Belbroughton on 18^th September 1859. Sometime around the time he was born, his family moved to Bournheath, just south of Belbroughton, where they were living in 1861 which, also had been where Charles was born. On that census day, Charles was two years old, while ten years later, when Charles Collett from Belbroughton was 11 years old, he was still living with his family, which had moved to Amblecote near Stourbridge prior to 1871. It is perhaps curious that, while Charles’ brother Henry (above) has not been found in 1891, it is Charles who has not been found in 1881, nor has his marriage to Sarah Ann been identified. What is established, is that on 19^th September 1889, the marriage of Charles Collett and Sarah Ann Johnson took place at Hatton village church, four miles west of the City of Warwick. The marriage was recorded at Warwick register office (Ref. 6d 825) when Charles described as the son of William Collett and Sarah Ann was the daughter of Nathaniel Johnson. She was baptised at Rowington, north-west of Warwick, on 4^th December 1859, the child of Nathaniel and Maria Johnson. Eighteen months after their wedding day, the couple was residing in the Oxfordshire village of Hambledon, midway between Henley and Marlow, both on the River Thames. The census return that year, recorded the childless couple at ‘Wooley’ in Hambledon, where Charles Collett from Worcestershire was a butler and domestic servant aged 31, as was his wife Sarah Ann, from Warwickshire. Ten years after that, the couple was still in domestic service, but at Wem Mansion in Wales, at the home of Constance Gervais from Manchester, when Charles Collett from Bromsgrove was 41 and a domestic butler, and Sarah Ann Collett from Darkswell was also 41 and a domestic cook. They were the two most senior members of the ten staff employed there. By the time of the next census in 1911 they were jointly running a boarding house, where 51-year-old Charles Collett from Belbroughton was described as a lodging house keeper, and Sarah Ann Collett was 51 and from Darkswell in Warwickshire. When Charles died, either at the end of 1923 or the beginning of 1924, the informant of his passing at Kidderminster register office (Ref. 6c 98) gave his age as being 66. That would not have been his wife, whose death was recorded just a few months earlier at Lambeth register office in London (Ref. 1d 267) during the fourth quarter of 1923 when Sarah Ann Collett was 64

Joseph Collett [18Ao10] was born at Belbroughton in 1861, whose birth was recorded at Bromsgrove (Ref. 6c 363) prior to that of his twin sister (below), during the fourth quarter of the year. Joseph and Mary were baptised together in a joint ceremony at Belbroughton on 20^th October 1861, when they were confirmed as the children of William and Caroline Collett. While he was still a youngest, his family left Belbroughton and moved north to Amblecote near Stourbridge, where Joseph from Belbroughton was nine years of age. After another family move, the Collett family was residing in Bromsgrove in 1881, when Joseph was 19 and a farmer’s son, the farmer being his mother and his eldest brother, following the death of Joseph’s father during the previous year. Just over a year later, on 23^rd June 1882, Joseph Collett was taken into hospital in Worcester when the admission recorded stated that he was a pauper. And it was there that he remained until he passed away. That situation was also confirmed by the census return for 1891, in which he was described as Joseph Collett a single man at the age of 29, a patient in the County & City Hospital of Worcester at Powick within the Upton-on-Severn registration district of the county. It was there also that he died on 25^th March 1898 following which his death was recorded at Upton-on-Severn register office (Ref. 6c 181) during the second quarter of 1898 when he was 36 years old

Mary Collett [18Ao11] was the twin sister of Joseph (above) who was born at Belbroughton in 1861, her birth recorded at Bromsgrove (Ref. 6c 363) immediately after that of her twin brother, during the last three months of that year. She and her brother were baptised on 20^th October 1861 at Belbroughton, when their parents were confirmed as William and Caroline Collett. Mary was nine years of age in 1871, although by that time, she and her family were living at Amblecote near Stourbridge. Ten years later, Mary Collett from Belbroughton was 19 and a housemaid, living and working at a school for young ladies on New Road in Bromsgrove. Three years after that census day, on 5^th May 1884 Mary Collett married Richard Robinson at Catshill – two miles north of Bromsgrove, the event recorded at Bromsgrove (Ref. 6c 562) during the second quarter of 1884. Richard was the son of Henry and Jemima Robinson and was baptised at Lye on 19^th May 1859. Richard was a police constable who fathered at least three children with Mary, two of them living with the couple in 1891 at 1 Dutton Street in South Claines near Worcester. Richard Robinson was 31, Mary Robinson was 29, and their two children were Albert Edward Robinson who was five years of age and born at Stourbridge, while Edith May Robinson was just one year old and had been born in Worcester. Staying with the family that day, was Richard’s mother-in-law Caroline Collett and her widowed daughter Harriet Booton, nee Collett (above) who was 44 and a domestic servant cook, and sister-in-law of Richard Robinson

According to the next census in 1901, Richard and Mary, and their three youngest children, were living in Wollescote, close to Stourbridge and Richard’s place of birth Lye. Richard from Lye was 41, Mary from Belbroughton was 39, Albert was 15 and born at Stourbridge, while Edith and William Henry Robinson, aged eleven and eight, were both born in the City of Worcester. The family was again living at Wollescote in 1911, by which time Richard was a coal miner and coal hewer at the age of 51. Also, at that time in her life, his wife Mary Robinson was 49 and running a shop and outdoor beerhouse. The couple’s two unmarried sons Alfred, who was 25, and William, who was 18, were respectively described as a brickyard labourer and an unemployed domestic gardener. Staying the family at Wollescote was Mary’s eldest brother Thomas Collett, who had been widowed a few years earlier. Wollescote also appears to be the last home for the family since in early 1920, the death of Richard Robinson was recorded at Stourbridge register office (Ref. 6c 27) during the first quarter of that year, when he was 60 years old. Sixteen years after being widowed, the death of Mary Robinson, nee Collett, was also recorded at Stourbridge (Ref. 6c 66) during the first three months of 1936, at the age of 75

William Henry Collett [18Ap1] was born within the Allerton and Wavertree area of south-east Liverpool during 1871, the son of William Collett from Worcestershire and Annie Scott from and St Helens in Lancashire. His birth was recorded at Liverpool West Derby (Ref. 8b 520) during the third quarter of 1871. He was baptised at Anne’s Church in Aigburth on 6^th August 1871, when he and his family were living in Allerton, when his father William was working as a gardener. It was at Calderstones Road in Allerton, on the north side of Calderstones Park, that William H Collett from Wavertree was nine years old and living there with his parents and younger sisters Caroline and Annie Collett in 1881. By 1891, his family had left Lancashire and was recorded at Orford Road in Sudbourne, midway between Aldeburgh and Orford, in Suffolk, where William’s father was a head gardener. On that same census day, William Collett from Lancashire was 20 and an under gardener who was staying at lodging house on Station Road in the small Leicestershire village of Streeton-under-Foss. The marriage of William Henry Collett and Rose Eleanor Sawer was recorded at the Suffolk Plomesgate register office (Ref. 4a 1146a) during the first three months of 1899. Rose was born at Snape near Aldeburgh in 1874, with her birth recorded at Plomesgate (Ref. 4a 677) during the last three months of that year, the last child born to Jonathan and Catherine Sawer. In 1901, the young family was living at Aldeburgh, where William H Collett from Allerton was 28 and a domestic gardener, Rose E Collett from Snape was 26, and their first-born child William S Collett was one year old

Living with the family at that time, was William’s father and namesake who was 57 and had been born in Staffordshire. They had a total of eight children, with the birth of the first two and the penultimate two all recorded at Plomesgate in Suffolk, the third and eighth child’s births recorded at Blything in Suffolk, and the fourth and fifth born in Bedfordshire and Devon, a reflection of William’s occupation as a journeyman gardener. By 1911, William and Rose had completed their grand tour of the west country and had returned to Snape, where William Henry Collett from Allerton was 38 and a domestic gardener. Rose Eleanor Collett from Snape was 36, and on that day the couple’s eldest son was being educated in Yorkshire. The other five children were recorded as Charles Jonathan, Ralph Scott, Grace Mary, Arthur John and Cecil George. Within the next eighteen months Rose gave birth to a son who died shortly after. The birth of Alec B Collett was recorded at Plomesgate register office (Ref. 4a 2011) during the second quarter of 1912 when the mother’s maiden-name was Sawer. It was within the next quarter of 1912, and at Plomesgate, that the death of Alec B Collett was recorded (Ref. 4a 933). Just over a year later, the last child was added to the family, with the birth of Muriel Anne at Blything. Over the following years, the family moved a few miles north towards Blythburgh, near Southwold, and it was there that both William and then Rose died. The death of William H Collett was recorded at Blything register office (Ref. 4a 1591) during the first quarter of 1922 when he was said to be 49 instead of 50, while the death of his widow, Rose E Collett, was also recorded at Blything register office (Ref. 4a 999) during the second quarter of 1926, when she was 51 years old. Five years prior to his passing, William H Collett was the main beneficiary in his father’s Will proved in Suffolk in 1917

18Aq1 - William Sydney Collett was born in 1899 at Aldeburgh

18Aq2 - Charles Jonathan Collett was born in 1901 at Aldeburgh

18Aq3 - Ralph Scott Collett was born in 1904 at Sibton, Suffolk

18Aq4 - Grace Mary Collett was born in 1905 at Bedford

18Aq5 - Arthur John Collett was born in 1907 at Huntsham, Devon

18Aq6 - Cecil George Collett was born in 1909 at Snape, Suffolk

18Aq7 – Alec B Collett was born in 1912 at Snape, Suffolk; infant death

18Aq8 – Muriel Anne Collett was born in 1913 at Sibton, Suffolk

[18Ap2] Caroline Mary Collett was born on 19^th December 1874 at Allerton in Liverpool, her birth recorded at West Derby (Ref. 8b 595) during the first quarter of 1875, the second child and eldest daughter of William and Annie Collett. She was six years old in the Allerton census of 1881, when her place of birth was said to be Wavertree, a village in the West Derby area of in Liverpool. At that time, Caroline M Collett was with her family at Calderstones Road in Allerton but, in the years after that day the family moved to Suffolk, where they were living in 1891. It was at Orford Road in Sudbourne, that they were recorded that year, when Caroline Mary Collett was 16 and from Lancashire. It was only a short distance from south Suffolk into London, where Carrie M Collett from Liverpool was 25 years old in 1901, when she was a draper’s assistant and a servant in the St Marylebone district of London. No record of her has been found in 1911, but it is known that she never married and was living at Ealing, North London in the 1939 Register. Caroline M Collett was 64 and a costumier living with spinster Florence Rawlings a lady who was living on private means, who was six years old than Caroline. Twelve years later, the death of Caroline Mary Collett was recorded at Willesden register office (Ref. 5f 242) during the fourth quarter of 1951 when she was 76. The notice of her death read as follows. Caroline Mary Collett otherwise Caroline May Collett of 26 West Heath Drive, Golders Green, London, a spinster, died on 30^th November 1951 at The General Hospital, Harlesden Road, London, with her Will proved in London on 29^th February 1952 to Lloyds Bank Limited for £8,322 2 Shillings 10 Pence

[18Ap3] John Collett was born at the end of 1877 at Allerton, with his birth recorded at West Derby, Liverpool (Ref. 8b 298) during the first quarter of 1878 year. Tragically, was around nine months old when his death was recorded at West Derby (Ref. 8b 228) during the third quarter of 1878

[18Ap4] Annie Collett was born at Allerton in 1879 and her birth was also recorded at West Derby (Ref. 8b 635) during the first three months of 1879. Annie was two years of age in 1881, when she and her family were residing at Calderstones Road in Allerton. By the time she was 12 years old, Annie Collett and her parents William and Annie were living at Orford Road in Sudbourne, Suffolk in 1891. Although no record of Annie has been positively identified in 1901, it is known she became a nurse and, according to the following census in 1911, Annie Collett from Liverpool was 32 and unmarried, a nursing sister at the Royal Navy Hospital in East Stonehouse in Plymouth, Devon. Nineteen years later the death of Annie Collett was recorded at the London Finsbury register office (Ref. 1b 597) during the last three months of 1930 when she was 50 years of age. Administration, with a Will, of her personal estate of £4,709 10 Shillings 8 Pence was granted at London on 1^st December to Caroline Mary Collett, a spinster (above). The death notice stated that Annie Collett, spinster of 6 Russell Road in Kensington, Middlesex died at St Mark’s Hospital on City Road in Middlesex on 6^th October 1930

[18Ap5] Elizabeth Kate Collett was born at Allerton in 1880, the last-born child of William Collett and Annie Scott. Her birth was recorded at West Derby (Ref. 8b 319) during the third quarter of that year, where her death was also recorded that same quarter of the same year (Ref. 8b 344)

William Sydney Collett [18Aq1] was born at Aldeburgh on 2^nd December 1899, his birth recorded at nearby Plomesgate (Ref. 4a 1074) during the first three months of 1900. He was one year old in the Aldeburgh census of 1901, where he was living with his parents William and Rose Collett, their first-born child. Also living there with the family, was William’s grandfather, another William Collett, but from Staffordshire, whereas the place of birth of William’s father, was Allerton in Lancashire. Whilst his parents, and five younger siblings, were still living in Aldeburgh in 1911, William was absent on the day of the census, because he was attending school in Yorkshire. As Sydney William Collett from Aldeburgh, who was 11 years old, he was the eldest of ten children being schooled by Annie Price at her premises in Low Harrogate. It is curious, because the property was described as an orphanage and the children were all recorded as inmates

Eighteen years later, when William Sydney Collett was 29 years of age, he married Violet Lucy Cotton, the event recorded at Blything register office, near Westleton, (Ref. 4a 3215) during the third quarter of 1929. Violet Lucy Cotton had been born at Yoxford in 1905, a daughter of Ezra and Annie Cotton of Yoxford. A few months prior to their wedding day, the marriage of Violet Lucy Cotton’s younger sister, Winifred Clara Cotton of Yoxford, and William’s younger brother Charles Jonathan Collett (below), was also recorded at Blything soon after the start of 1929. During the following year, the electoral roll for Chatteris include William Sydney and Violet Lucy Collett residing at 29 High Street. Chatteris lies midway between Cambridge and Wisbech, and it was there also, that the couple was again living in 1935. It was during the years that they were living that their two children were born, with their births recorded at North Witchford register office, when their mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Cotton. The 1939 Register recorded William and Violet living at 1 Adams Road, in the St Faith’s & Aylsham district of Norfolk, where William S Collett was working as an AA Road Patrol Man at the age of 39, while Violet’s date of birth was written as 17^th August 1905, who was described as undertaking unpaid domestic duties. It was during the last months of 1976 when the death of William Sydney Collett was recorded at the Norwich Outer register office (Ref. 10 2088) at the age of 76. When his widow died fifteen years after, her date of birth was revealed as 17^th August 1905, making her 86 years old when her death was recorded at Norwich during April 1992. It was while she was a patient at St Andrew’s Hospital in Norwich that she died on 5^th April 1992, following which her Will was proved at Ipswich on 16^th July 1992 which did not exceed £125,000

18Ar1 – Peter William E Collett was born in 1931 at Chatteris, Cambridgeshire

18Ar2 - Gillian Mary Collett was born in 1935 at Chatteris, Cambridgeshire

Charles Jonathan Collett [18Aq2] was born at Aldeburgh on 25^th September 1901, the second son of William Henry Collett and Rose Eleanor Sawer. His birth was recorded at Plomesgate (Ref. 4a 1089) during the final three months of the year. According to the census in 1911, Charles Jonathan Collett from Aldeburgh was nine years of age, when he and his family were living in Snape near Aldeburgh after living in Bedfordshire and Devon in the intervening years. Charles was nearly twenty-eight years old, when his marriage to Winifred Clara Cotton of Yoxford, aged 21, was recorded at Blything register office (Ref. 4a 1829) during the first three months of 1929. Winifred had been born on 12^th April 1907, with her birth recorded at Blything register office (Ref. 4a 1123). A few months later, that same year, Winifred’s slightly older sister Violet Lucy Cotton, married Charles’ older brother William Sydney Collett (above), which was also recorded at Blything, Winifred and Violet being the daughters of Ezra and Annie Cotton of Yoxford. It is established that William and Violet settled in Cambridgeshire, where their two children were born, while Charles and Winifred remained in the Blything area of Suffolk where their two daughters were born, and where their mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Cotton

The 1939 Register placed Charles and Winifred living with daughters at a property named “Shean”, the first dwelling on Saxmundham Road, next to Brook Street in Yoxford, within the Blyth area of Suffolk. Charles J Collett was 38 and a haulage contractor and motor engineer, his wife Winifred was 32, their eldest daughter Sheila was nine years of age and at school. The details for their younger daughter Jean had been redacted and officially closed, for the reason that she was still alive when the document was made available to view by the general public. The later death of Charles J Collett was curiously recorded at Dartford register office in Kent (Ref. 5b 445) during the third quarter of 1963 at the age of 62. That was curious because, at that time in his life, his home address was 174 Barrack Road in Christchurch, Hampshire, in addition to which it was when Charles was at The Cottage Hospital in Lyme Regis, Dorset, where he died on 19^th August 1963. His Will was proved a year later at Winchester on 17^th August 1964 to Winifred Clara Collett widow, when his estate was valued at £27,921. Winifred Clara Collett was 78 and living within the Deben area of Suffolk when she died, her death recorded there (Ref. 10 2399) during the month of June in 1985. Her personal effects did not exceed £40,000 when she died at home at ‘Sans Souci’ Leiston Road in Yoxford, on 4^th June 1985, her Will proved at Ipswich in 11^th September

18Ar3 - Sheila W Collett was born in 1930 at Blything, Suffolk

18Ar4 - Jean M Collett was born in 1932 at Blything, Suffolk

Ralph Scott Collett [18Aq3] was born on 16^th November 1904 at Sibton in Suffolk, his birth recorded at Blything register office (Ref. 4a 1099), another son of William and Rose Collett. His second forename came from his grandmother’s maiden-name and was handed down to his own son. Under his full name, he was six years old in 1911, when he and his family were residing in Snape near Aldeburgh, Ralph’s place of birth was confirmed as Sibton. Ralph was thirty years old when his marriage to Nellie Ethel Meehan was recorded at Lothingland register office (Ref. 4a 3758) during the third quarter of 1935, Nellie having been born on 28^th August 1910. Their marriage provided the couple with two children, their births recorded at Blything register office, when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Meehan. It was early in 1973, when the death of Ralph S Collett was recorded at Ipswich register office (Ref. 4b 2975) when he was 68 years old. The birth of their daughter was recorded at Blyth (Ref. 4a 1495) during the fourth quarter of 1937, while no record of her being married has been found. The 1939 Register identified Ralph living at Alma Cottage on Brook Street in Yoxford, just round the corner from his older brother Charles (above) and his family. It is highly likely that Ralph was working for his haulage contractor brother as a travelling transport driver at the age of 34. His wife Nellie was 29, while the details for their daughter Glennys had been redacted. Ralph Scott Collett was still living in Yoxford, at The Nook, when he died on 15^th February 1973, with his Will proved at London on 11^th May 1973 and worth £7,416. Nellie Ethel Collett was 93 when she passed away, her death recorded at Waveney register office in November 2003

18Ar5 - Glennys W Collett was born in 1937 at Blyth, Suffolk

18Ar6 - Nigel Scott Collett was born in 1943 at Blyth, Suffolk

Grace Mary Collett [18Aq4] was born on 10^th December 1905 at Bedford, where her birth was recorded (Ref. 3b 282) during the first quarter of the following year. Grace was the only daughter of William Henry Collett and Rose Eleanor Sawer amongst five brothers. Not long after she was born, the family made the long journey to Tiverton in Devon, where her younger brother was born, before the family travel back to Suffolk and Snape, where her youngest three siblings were born. In the Snape census of 1911, Grace Mary Collett from Bedford was five years of age. It was during the first three months of 1927 that the married of Grace Mary Collett and Frank Harold Banks was recorded at Croydon register office (Ref. 2a 503) in Surrey. Their marriage, after the reading of banns, was conducted at St Mark’s Church in Woodcote, Purley in Surrey on 28^th February 1927. Grace Mary Collett was 21, a spinster with no occupation was living at “Chosiea” Furze Lane in Purley, the daughter of gardener William Henry Collett, deceased. Frank Harold Banks was 26, a bachelor and a chauffeur residing at Cowslip Vale, Upper Woodcote Village in Purley, the son of soldier Frank Harold Banks, deceased. Frank junior was born on 22^nd April 1902, as confirmed in the 1939 Register, when his occupation was that of a textile factory workshop foreman. His wife Grace was 33 and their son Peter Frank Banks was 11 years of age and at school who had been born on 3^rd December 1927 at Croydon, when the three of them were living at 5 Sunley Road in Wandsworth.

Twenty years later, the couple was still living in the Wandsworth area of London, where the death of Frank Harold Banks was recorded (Ref. 5d 606) during the second quarter of 1960, when he was 58. After nearly thirty years as a widow, the death of Grace Mary Banks was recorded at Watford register office during the month of December 1989 when she was 84 years old. Their son was 79 when Peter Franks Banks passed away at Hatfield in Hertfordshire during January 2006

Arthur John Collett [18Aq5] was born on 15^th February 1907 at Huntsham, with his birth recorded at Tiverton in Devon (Ref. 5b 379) during the second quarter of the year. During the next year, his family made a return trip to Suffolk and Snape where his mother was born and raise. It was also at Snape that he and his family were living in 1911, when Arthur John Collett from Huntsham in Devon was four years old. At the age of 17 years, Arthur John Collett sailed from England, arriving at Queensland in Australia onboard the ship ‘Hobsons Bay’ on 10^th September 1923. It was also in Australia, four years after his arrival there, that Arthur John Collett married Ivy Morton, their wedding recorded at Wickham in New South Wales during 1927. Rather curiously, when he enlisted with the Royal Australian Air Force in Sydney, he gave the name of his next-of-kin as Vera Collett, so maybe she was his second wife. The others enlistment details were correct, when it was recorded at Arthur John Collett was born in Devon, England, on 15^th February 1907. He was discharged from duty during 1948

Cecil George Collett [18Aq6] was born in 1909 at Snape, near Aldeburgh, whose birth was recorded at Plomesgate (Ref. 4a 1062) during the first three months of the year. It was also at Snape that his mother was born and where the family was living in 1911, when Cecil George Collett was two years of age. He must have eventually followed his brother Arthur to Australia and, it was there, on 6^th December 1930 at St Peter’s Church in East Sydney that he married Irene Cooper. Their wedding certificate stated that Cecil was a bachelor and storekeeper from Darlinghurst, a suburb in East Sydney, born at Snape in England and the son of William Henry Collett and Rose Ellen, both deceased. Irene was the daughter of carpenter Charles Cooper and Margaret Johnson, born at Durham in England, a spinster residing at 204 Liverpool Street in Darlinghurst. The young couple were both 21 years of age, Cecil a storekeeper and Irene a waitress

Muriel Anne Collett [18Aq8] was born on 29^th September 1913 at Sibton in Suffolk, her birth recorded at Blything register office (Ref. 4a 2044) during the last three months of the year, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Sawer. She was the eighth and last child of William Henry Collett and Rose Eleanor Sawer. In the 1939 Register Muriel A Collett was 26 and a parlour name at Hillcourt, Pytches Road, in Woodbridge, Suffolk, the home of elderly couple Harold and Frances Taylor, a ship owner, retired and incapacitated. It was nearly five years later that the marriage of Muriel Anne Collett and Baden Powell Benson was recorded at Bath register office (Ref. 5c 1223) during the third quarter of 1944. The birth of Baden Powell Benson on 26^th February 1900 was recorded at Cockermouth register office in Cumbria (Ref. 10b 666) during the first three months of 1900. It would appear that the couple continued to reside in the Bath area of the country, with the death of Baden Powell Benson recorded there (Ref. 22 0256) during the first quarter of 1977. Muriel Anne Benson survived her husband by twenty-seven years when she was still in Somerset, her death also recorded at Bath register office during the month of July in 1994 when she was 80 years old

Peter William E Collett [18Ar1] was born in 1931 at 29 High Street in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, with his birth recorded at North Witchford register office (Ref. 3b 694) during the third quarter of that year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Cotton. He was the first of the two children of William Sydney Collett and Violet Lucy Cotton. He was twenty-two years of age when the marriage of Peter W E Collett and Jean Frances Dorling was recorded at Bath register office (Ref. 7c 76) during the last three months of 1953. Jean had been born on 18^th December 1930, with her birth recorded at the East Sussex Hailsham register office (Ref. 2b 132). She was living in West Sussex when she died at Chichester on 26^th November 2017. However, long before then, Jean presented Peter with three children when the couple was living within the Portsmouth/Gosport area of Hampshire, when their mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Dorling

18As1 – Wendy Jean Collett was born in 1954 at Portsmouth (Ref. 6b 653 Q2)

18As2 – Christopher Peter Collett was born in 1955 at Gosport (Ref. 6b 300 Q3)

18As3 – Nicola Mary Collett was born in 1956 at Gosport (Ref. 6b 341 Q3)

18As4 – Simon J Collett was born in 1959 at Gosport (Ref. 6b 376 Q4)

Gillian Mary Collett [18Ar2] was born in 1935 at 29 High Street in Chatteris, the second child of William and Violet Collett, her birth also recorded at North Witchford (Ref. 3b 613) during the fourth quarter of 1935, with Cotton being confirmed as her mother’s maiden-name. During the third quarter of 1963, when Gillian was 27 years of age, she married Michael C Stowers, their wedding recorded at the Norwich Outer register office (Ref. 4b 2038). Michael’s birth was recorded at Norwich register office (Ref. 4b 169) during the first quarter of 1939. The couple only had one child, with the birth of Nicola Jane Stowers also recorded at Norwich register office (Ref. 4b 3271) in the second quarter of 1969, when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett. Gillian Mary Stowers was 72 when she died at Norwich, where her death was recorded as 14^th May 2008

Sheila W Collett [18Ar3] was born on 20^th February 1930, the eldest of the two daughters of Charles Jonathan Collett and Winifred Clara Cotton. Her birth was recorded at Blything register office (Ref. 4a 1789), when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Cotton. She later married Michael J Burgess at Christchurch, Hampshire, the event recorded at Christchurch register office (Ref. 6b 414) during the second quarter of 1953.

Jean M Collett [18Ar4] was born in 1932, her birth recorded at Blything register office (Ref. 4a 1599) during the first three months of that year, when their mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Cotton

Nigel Scott Collett [18Ar6] was born in 1943 during the second quarter of that year, his birth recorded at Blyth register office (Ref. 4a 1805), the younger of the two children of Ralph Scott Collett and Nellie Ethel Meehan. He was around forty years old when he married Valerie A Haynes, their wedding recorded at Blyth register office (Ref. 4a 2683) during the second quarter of 1972. Perhaps because of his age, no children have been found for Nigel and Valerie

Christopher Peter Collett [18As2] was born in 1955 at Gosport where his birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 300) during the third quarter of that year. His mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Dorling, being the eldest son of Peter William E Collett and Jean Frances Dorling. It was during the first three months of 1980 that the marriage of Christopher Peter Collett and Ann Ward was recorded at Chesterfield register office (Ref. 4 0142). Just like her husband, Ann was also born in 1955, but with her birth recorded at Chesterfield (Ref. 3a 153) during the quarter of that year.

Nicola Mary Collett [18As3] was born on 25^th June 1956 at Gosport, the third of the four children of Peter and Jean Collett. Her birth was recorded at Gosport register office (Ref. 6b 341), also during the third quarter of the year. At the age of twenty-nine, Nicola Mary Collett and Charles E Burton were married in West Sussex, their wedding day recorded at Worthing register office during the month of July 1985. Sadly, Nicola was only 45 when she died, her premature death recorded at the West Sussex Chichester register office in July 2001