PART EIGHTEEN

The Main Suffolk Line - 1360 to 1770

This is the first of four sections of Part 18 of the Collett family

Updated October 2023

In November 2012 a new Collett family line was produced, Part 63.

That focuses on the Collett-Stratfold-Collet Family of Buckinghamshire

which also contains references to The Hale in Wendover, as does Part 18.

The place of origin of that Collett family is Ivinghoe in Buckinghamshire.

As a result of the February 2014 update, the link between Parts 18 and 63 has been proved,

thanks to the extensive and detailed information received from Peter Proctor in Australia.

We now know that the original Colet family in Part 18 divided into two distinct branches;

one remaining in Wendover as Collet, the other settling in Suffolk as Collett.

Tragically, the Wendover Collet family eventually ran out of male heirs, resulting in the last Collet at The Hale,

Robert Collet [18L5], handing the estate to his cousin Robert Stratfold [63L2],

but on the condition that he change his name to Collet, which he did

~ ~ ~

This is the family line of Michael John Collett [18R155] of France,

which is depicted by the names in capital letters, and Liz Whittaker [18R14],

whose family line is depicted by the names underlined

It is also the line of Avryll Sixtus (see Ref. 18Q14) of New Zealand,

Rachael Ann Collett [18S76] of New Zealand (depicted in italic script),

Sheila Candace Austin nee Collett [18Q21] of Southwold in Suffolk,

Mary-Ann Dunn nee Collett [18S40] of Felsted in Essex,

Jane Clements [see 18Q159], and Gordon Alan Collett [18S95],

all of whom have kindly provided some family details over the past few years.

My thanks also go to the aforementioned Michael Collett and Liz Whittaker

for providing copies of some of the early Colet, Collett and Dameron Wills

It should be noted that the relationship of the opening generation is not proved

There are anomalies with a couple of the early generations in this line for which an explanation may be useful. If Robert Colet [18B1] was born in 1427 as detailed in a Collett genealogy at the British Library in London, his fifth son Henry Colet could not have been born around 1435. It is therefore possible that Robert, who is positively confirmed as the father of Sir Henry Colet [18C5], was actually the son of Richard Colet [18A1] who was born around 1380. This would also align more sensibly with Robert’s eldest son John Colet [18C1], who is known to have served an apprenticeship in 1435 and 1436, placing his date of birth around 1420. However, in the absence of any confirmed details, the original details have been retained here, but require further research to produce a more accurate account.

18Y1	Unknown Colet parents
	18Z1		HENRY COLET					Born circa 1360
	18Z2		Thomas Colet					Date of birth unknown
18Z1	HENRY COLET was born around 1360, and was the brother of Thomas Colet the Rector of Little Kimble. He was mentioned in various Wills during the period 1418 to 1439, and was almost certainly the father of Richard Colet of Wendover and Matthew Colet of Kimble. It was around 1439, the seventh year of the reign of King Henry VI, that he died.
	18A1		RICHARD COLET					Born circa 1380
	18A2		Matthew Colet					Date of birth unknown
18Z2	Thomas Colet was the Rector of Little Kimble in Buckinghamshire in 1408 and he may have exchanged that for Barnsley in Gloucestershire. If so, he may well be the great-grandfather of Thomas Collett (Ref. 1D1) of Upper Slaughter - see Part One – The Main Gloucestershire Line. New information received in early 2017 from David and Robin Gee adds further weight to this theory by suggesting that the father of Thomas Collett was William Collett, the grandson of Thomas Colet, Rector of Little Kimble, by his son Thomas Colet.
18A1	RICHARD COLET was born around 1380 and was referred to as ‘Richard of The Hale’ at Wendover in Buckinghamshire. He was a tenant sheep farmer and wool trade and he died in 1461, leaving an only son.
	18B1		ROBERT COLET				Born circa 1400
18A2	Matthew Colet of Kymbell (Kimble), whose date of birth is not known, married Margaret of Kimble with whom he had several children before he died, which was just prior to 1451 the twenty-ninth year of the reign of King Henry VI. It is established that his children remained living within the Great Kimble and Great Hampden areas for several generations.
	18B2		John Colet					Date of birth unknown
	18B3		William Colet					Date of birth unknown
18B1	ROBERT COLET of Wendover in Buckinghamshire was originally thought to have been born around 1427, according to the British Library. That date also corresponds with the family record which states he was born in the fifth year of the reign of King Henry VI. However, it is more likely that he was born some years earlier, based on the fact his eldest son John Colet served an apprenticeship in 1435/36 and therefore could have been born around 1422. Robert was essentially a Londoner and a freeholder and a yeoman who had trading links with other members of the Colet, Coly and Collett family. It is known that he had cousins in Gloucestershire, Somerset, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. There was also a further Collett family in Kent that claimed to have links with ‘Robert of Wendover’.
	With the dissolution of the monasteries several members of the Colet family purchased abbey land for raising sheep to supply the wool markets. Robert Colet married Margaret in the reign of King Edward IV, and he died at Wendover in 1470 just before the eleventh year of the reign of King Edward IV. Margaret’s date of birth, like that of her husband, was given as 1427, but again that must be an error.
	The British Library has a manuscript book entitled 'Pedigrees of English Families’ dated by the BL to around 1630, which was written by Sir Henry St George, a Garter King of Arms in 1644. This contains a number of short pedigrees of minor branches of various families, one of which focuses on William (Willyam) Collett, the son of Robert Collett, esquire of Wendover. By the time it was written the surname was fully accepted in the more recent spelling, with two Ls and two Ts. The lineage also lists the sons of Robert Collett in order as Thomas, William, James and Henry, and is followed by a note that it was proved by the oaths of various persons in the Guild Hall, London.
	18C1		John Colet					Date of birth unknown (possibly 1423)
	18C2		THOMAS COLET					Date of birth unknown (possibly 1428)
	18C3		William Colet					Date of birth unknown (possibly 1430)
	18C4		James Colet					Date of birth unknown (possibly 1433)
	18C5		Henry Colet					Born circa 1435
18B2	John Colet, whose date of birth is not known, is known to have had a son named Thomas Colet.
	18C6		Thomas Colet					Date of birth unknown
18B3	William Colet was the Rector of Great Hampden in Buckinghamshire in 1486.
18C1	John Colet was a citizen and merchant of London, and mercer and dealer in fabrics and fine cloth. In 1435 and 1436 he was apprenticed to William Kirton, which may place his date of birth around 1420. He was later admitted into the Freedom of the Mercers’ Company of London in 1442 and was re-admitted again in 1450. He was married to Alice, whilst it is curious, he was not listed as a son of Robert Collett by Sir Henry St George in his 1630 book 'Pedigrees of English Families’. John Colet died in 1461 and was buried at St Alban’s Church in Wood Street, London. His Will made on 5^th May 1461 was proved on 27^th October 1461. (see Will in Legal Documents)
	In the Will, John bequeathed £100 to each of his children, with the total amount of £600 being placed in the care of the Chapel of the Guildhall until such time as it was needed to be used by them. The Will also confirmed that all of John’s land at Southwark was to pass to his eldest son Robert, but in default to each of his other children in order of their age. To his wife Alice, he bequeathed she receive a dower (dowry) of £200 and goods comprising all wearing clothes, rings, etc. The total sum paid out under the Will amounted to £1,032 13 Shillings and 4 Pence, an immense sum of money at that time.
	18D1		Robert Colet					Date of birth unknown (possibly 1450)
	18D2		John Colet					Date of birth unknown (possibly 1452)
	18D3		Jeffrey Colet					Born circa 1454
	18D4		Alice Colet					Born before 1461
	18D5		Agnes Colet					Born before 1461
	18D6		Johanna Colet					Born before 1461
18C2	THOMAS COLET was possibly born at Wendover around 1440, a son of Robert Colet, esquire of Wendover. Thomas was a sheep farmer and was married to Joan and it is well documented that he spent all his life in rural Buckinghamshire, most likely at Wendover, where all of his children were born. He was a legatee in the 1461 Will of his brother John (above) and was named in the 1492 Will of his eldest surviving son John. It was therefore after 1492 that Thomas Colet died, with one source indicating that he passed away later that same year.
	18D7		John Colet			Born circa 1458 at Wendover; infant death
	18D8		John Colet			Born circa 1460 at Wendover
	18D9		WILLIAM COLET			Born circa 1465 at Wendover
	18D10		Alice Colet			Born circa 1470 at Wendover
	18D11		Margaret Colet			Born circa 1472 at Wendover
18C3	William Colet was possibly born at Wendover around 1428, another son of Robert Colet, esquire of Wendover. His family line, proved by oaths at the Guild Hall in London, was documented by Sir Henry St George in 1630, a manuscript book, a copy of which is held at the British Library. That named just two children of William Collett and they were John Collett, and Nicholas Collett ‘who died young’.
	18D12		John Colet			Born circa 1455 in London
	18D13		Nicholas Colet			Born circa 1460 in London; infant death
18C5	Henry Colet was born at Wendover around 1435 and in some later records was referred to as Harry Colet, the youngest son of Robert Colet. Unlike his older brother Thomas Colet (above), Henry gave up life in rural Buckinghamshire when he set out for London. In 1457 he was admitted into the Freedom of the Mercers’ Company of London, following an apprenticeship with his older brother John Colet (above). In 1476 he became an alderman in the City of London, and a sheriff during the following year. He was knighted by King Henry the Seventh in 1487, following his involvement in the Battle of Bosworth Field on 22^nd August 1485. He became Lord Mayor of London on two occasions, the first time in 1486, and then again in 1495. He was also a merchant and sometime mayor of the Staple of Calais and of Westminster.
	Around 1466 he married Christian Knyvet the daughter of Sir John Knyvet and Alice Lynne of Ashwellthorpe, which is just south of Norwich. Twelve later Sir William Knyvet, who mortgaged and sold various estates, passed his lands at Thurning, on the boundary between Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire, to Sir Henry Colet of London, the sale confirmed by fine in 1478, the estate being described as the Manor of Thurning. Following that acquisition Sir Henry purchased other estates in Thurning. Upon his death in 1505, the manors and estates descended to his son and heir Dean John Colet, who died in 1519, and by his Will left his estate to his mother for her life, for division after her death. The Manor of Thurning, with other manors and lands purchased from Sir William Knyvet, was to pass to his mother's kinsman Edmund Knyvet, of Ashwellthorpe in Norfolk, a sergeant porter to Henry VIII. The Manor at Molesworth together with the Church at Thurning, purchased from Thomas Molesworth, and two messuages in Thurning, purchased from Thomas Henson, and another messuage purchased from Thomas Newman, were to go to Christopher Knyvet, the brother of Edmund Knyvet, with another brother, Anthony Knyvet, having the remainder of the estate.
	In addition to all of this Sir Henry acquired the Manor of The Hale in Wendover in 1503 upon the death of Sir John Verney, when it was identified as part of the honour of Barcamstede [Berkhamsted] in Buckinghamshire even though the Manor itself was in Wendover Forens. He then gave the property to the children of Thomas Colet (above), his late brother. He also built and lived in a house known as The Great Place, the grounds of which adjoined the churchyard in what is known today as Spring Garden Place, the actual site now being occupied by The Green Dragon Inn. Henry acquired an extensive estate in Stepney, where he was also the Lord of the Manor. From 1869 up to closure in 2003, Sir Henry was commemorated in Stepney by the naming of the public house ‘Colet Arms’ which stood on the corner of White Horse Road, and which today is a residential property. Henry’s vast estate was eventually passed to his eldest son John Colet upon his death, and was bequeathed by him in trust to the Mercers’ Company of London for the foundation of St Paul’s School. The school was later rebuilt at Hammersmith, although after the Second World War it moved across the River Thames to Barnes.
	Henry’s wife Christian died in 1523, while Henry died in 1505, and both were buried at St Dunstan’s Church in Stepney. Today, on the north side of the chancel is a large canopied tomb with the inscription “Here lyeth Sir Henry Collet Knight, twice Mayor of London, who died in the year of our Redemption 1510”. The year 1510 may be an error made at the time the tomb was created, since Henry’s Will was made on 27^th September 1505 and, following his death, was proved on 20^th October 1505. (see Will in Legal Documents). Also noticeable in the inscription is the fact that it has the sixteenth century Anglicised spelling of the surname, rather than the latinised spelling of Colet, as in Sir Henry’s motto colet dieum, "to look after and worship".
	What is of particular interest is the Will of his wife, Dame Christian Colet, which was made in 1522 and proved in 1523. In the document her surname was written with the ‘modern’ spelling using double ll and double tt, as are the references to her husband and his kinsman John Colet. (see Will in Legal Documents). Henry and Christian had twenty-two children, but only the four listed below survived for any length of time.
	18D14		John Colet					Born in 1467
	18D15		William Colet					Born in 1468
	18D16		Thomas Colet					Born circa 1470
	18D17		Richard Colet					Born in 1479
18C6	Thomas Colet, whose date of birth is not known, married Joan of Great Kimble in Buckinghamshire. It looks very much as though Joan may have suffered with the same ailment or illness that, in 1520, also took the lives of her son William Colet and her daughter Agnes Colet.
	18D18		Thomas Colet						Date of birth unknown
	18D19		William Colet						Died in 1520
	18D20		Agnes Colet						Died in 1520
	18D21		Elizabeth Colet						Died in 1525
18D1	Robert Colet, whose date of birth is not known (but who was possibly born around 1440), was a citizen and mercer of London and inherited property in Southwark from his father in 1461. He was admitted into the Freedom of the Mercers’ Company of London in 1473 and died sometime between then and 1505.
18D2	John Colet, whose date of birth is not known (but who was possibly born around 1444), was apprenticed to William Scowre in 1462 and 1463, and was admitted into the Freedom of the Mercers’ Company of London in 1476.
18D3	Jeffrey Colet was born in London around 1454 and was admitted into the Freedom of the Mercers’ Company of London in 1491. In some records his named was recorded as Geoffrey.
18D4	Alice Colet was born in London and before the death of her father in whose Will dated 1461, she was named. She later married William White who was a mercer of London.
18D5	Agnes Colet was born in London and before the death of her father in whose Will dated 1461, she was named. She later married gentleman Richard Bissett.
18D8	John Colet was born at The Hale in Wendover, one of the sons of Thomas and Joan Colet. Although his actual date of birth is not known, it is possible that he was born around 1460. What is known is that he was married to Katherine the daughter of Agnes, with whom he had a son, and died in 1492, following which he was buried at St Lawrence Church in Wendover. It is also established that during his short life he was known as a citizen and a mercer of London and Wendover. His father was mentioned in the 1492 Will of John Colet, confirming that Thomas Colet was still alive at that time, although it was shortly after that when he too died. The same Will also bequeathed The Hale Estate of John Colet to his father Thomas which suggests that John inherited The Hale from his mother and that it later belonged to his father only by the courtesy of Court.
	18E1		Robert Colet					Born circa 1485 at Wendover
18D9	WILLIAM COLET was born at The Hale in Wendover around 1465 and he married Katherine who died around 1543 and was buried that year at Wendover. William also died that same year and was buried with Katherine at Wendover. It was also at Wendover that all of their children were born. William was the only relative of his uncle Sir Henry Collett [18C5] to be specifically mentioned in his Will of 1505. In the document William and ‘other of my kin numbering ten’, were bequeathed £100 each to be paid at four pence per week. The names of William and his wife Katherine (deceased), together with their sons John and William, and all of John’s children, were listed in the Visitation of Suffolk in 1561. The first part, relating to William Collett the elder, read as follows:
	Collett of Grundisburgh
	[One shield] [Tricked] Sable on a chevron between three hinds statant Argent three annulets Sable in chief a crescent Or William Collett of Wendover in the County of Buckinghamshire married Katherine and by her had issue John Collett, son and heir, and William Collett, his second son.
	18E2		JOHN COLLETT					Born circa 1495 at Wendover
	18E3		William Collett					Born circa 1500 at Wendover
	18E4		Alice Collett					Date of birth unknown at Wendover
	18E5		Nicholas Collett					Date of birth unknown at Wendover
18D10	Alice Colet was born at The Hale in Wendover during 1470 and was baptised in Wendover that same year, the daughter of Thomas and Joan Collett. She was still alive when her father died in 1492.
18D11	Margaret Colet was born at The Hale in Wendover during 1472 and was still alive when her father died in 1492.
18D12	John Colet was born in London around 1460, the surviving son of William Colet. According to the 'Pedigrees of English Families by Sir Henry St George at the British Library, John was a citizen and a mercer of London who had eight children; Thomas, Willyam, Arthur, Mychael, Katherine, Margaret, Elizabeth and Anne.
	18E6		Thomas Collett					Date of birth unknown
	18E7		William Collett					Born circa 1490 in London
	18E8		Arthur Collett					Date of birth unknown
	18E9		Michael Collett					Date of birth unknown
	18E10		Katherine Collett					Date of birth unknown
	18E11		Margaret Collett					Date of birth unknown
	18E12		Elizabeth Collett					Date of birth unknown
	18E14		Anne Collett					Date of birth unknown
18D14	John Colet was born in London, possibly at the family home in Watling Street within the parish of St Antholin, during January 1467 after his father had left Wendover where he was born. John was one of only two children of Sir Henry Colet and Lady Christian Colet, out of a total of twenty-two, that survived beyond childhood. Having completed his early education in London, possibly at St Anthony’s, he graduated with a Master of Arts degree from Magdalen College in Oxford, where he read mathematics, and platonic and neo-platonic philosophy. He was appointed Dean Rector of Dennington in Suffolk in 1485 – insert below, and was also the Vicar of St Dunstan’s Church in Stepney. He travelled to Italy, returning in 1489 to be ordained as a priest and to become the first Greek teacher at Cambridge in 1490. Also in that year, on 2^nd October, he was appointed the Rector of Thurning in Huntingdonshire (near Little Gidding), a post he held until February 1494. Further trips to Italy and Paris were also undertaken in 1493.
	Despite his extensive excursions in Europe John always returning to Cambridge to teach others of what he had learned. In 1494 he was made Prebendary of York and St. Martin-le-Grand, and later the Chaplain of Hilberworth in Norfolk. While in Italy he studied the fathers, canon, and civil law, and the rudiments of Greek. During 1495 and 1496 he resided in Oxford, where he lectured on the New Testament. While he was in Italy, he became acquainted with the Dominican priest and leader of Florence, Girolamo Savonarola, who was known for his book-burning, the destruction of what he considered immoral art. For his views, Savonarola was executed in 1498, two years after John Colet had returned to England. Following his return, he was ordained a priest and became a lecturer at Oxford on the Epistle of St Paul in which he opposed the interpretations of the scholastic theologians. While at Oxford he was a colleague of both Sir Thomas More and Erasmus.
	In 1502 he was appointed Prebendary of Salisbury and then in 1505, he was made Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral and continued to deliver controversial lectures on the interpretations of scriptures, and to preach against ecclesiastical abuses. Charges of heresy were brought against John Colet, but Archbishop William Warham refused to support them, and as a result he survived the accusation. This drawing of John Colet, Dean of St Pauls, by the artist Hans Holbein is believed to have been commissioned by Sir Thomas More in 1532. Today the drawing is part of the Royal Collection at Windsor.
	John inherited his father’s wealth in 1508, following Sir Henry Colet’s death in 1505. In his father’s Will, John was referred to as ‘Mr John Colet, Doctor of Holy Divinity’. He was also the executor for the Will. Inheriting his father’s estate coincided with John being admitted into the Freedom of the Mercers’ Company of London in 1508, where his father’s money was placed in trust in order to protect it from being taken by King Henry VIII. From 1509 to 1512, using the fortune he had inherited from his father, he developed the St Paul’s School for Boys at the cathedral which had been established many years earlier and which still exists today.
	In 1512 he preached against the war with France and was accused of heresy by Richard Fitzjames, the Bishop of London. Two years later he made the pilgrimage to Canterbury and in 1515 he preached at the installation of Cardinal Wolsey. Together with Desederius Erasmus and Sir Thomas Moore, Dean John Colet was instrumental in bring about The Reformation in England, during the reign of King Henry VIII. He owned property in Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Norfolk and Huntingdon and died on 16^th September 1519 at Richmond, formerly Sheen in Surrey. He was buried on the south side of St Paul’s Cathedral, where a stone still bears his name.
	Nearly twenty years after he had passed away the name of Dean John Colet appeared in the Chancery Proceedings 1533-1538 (ref. C 1/848/28). “The wardens and commonalty of the Mercery of London v Ralph Kyngston, gentleman, and John Nasshe. Detention of deeds relating to land in Wendover acquired by Dean Colet for St. Paul's School. Buckingham”.
	Today in the church at Dennington in Suffolk, John’s name is included in a list of past clergymen from 1324 to 1966. His entry reads – 1485 John Collett D.D. (Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral: Founder of St Paul’s School) and, judging by the next entry on the list, it was a position that he held up until 1519.
	At the time of his death, he entrusted the Mercers’ Company to administer and fund St Paul’s School from an endowment of property, and the Company of Mercers has continued to discharge this duty to this day. His great friend Desederius Erasmus explained “And when Colet was asked the reason for so committing this trust to the Mercers’ Company he answered to this effect; that there was no absolute certainty in human affairs, but for his part he found less corruption in such a body of citizens than in any order or degree of mankind”.
	John Colet spent his entire personal fortune on establishing his school, and the foundation property originally included large areas of Stepney and Buckinghamshire, along with land in the City of London. The foundation he set up all those years ago, also established St Paul’s Girls’ School in 1904. In 1823 Samuel Knight, the Prebendary of Ely, was the author of “The Life of Dr John Colet Dean of St Paul’s in the reigns of King Henry VII and King Henry VIII and Founder of St Paul’s School”. One of the pages in the book sets out the family tree under the heading of The Pedigree of the Colets, as far as can be discovered by the deeds in the old family book.
	At the head of the family tree is Richard Colet, followed by his son Robert Colet and his wife Margaret, Robert being described as “of Wendover – Burrow (borough), from 5 to 24 Hen. VI, dead before 11 Ed. IV” Robert and Margaret are depicted as having three sons Thomas, John, and Henry, and these were listed as follows: “Thomas Colet of Wendover 9 to 12 Ed. IV”; “John Colet citizen and mercer of London, died before 11 Ed. IV”; and “Sir Henry Colet, knight, citizen, mercer, alderman, sheriff and Mayor of London, occurs from 12 Ed. IV to 18 Hen. VII”
	Thomas Colet is shown as having a son William, while John Colet had five children, and Henry Colet was shown with two, John and Richard, plus others unnamed. William Colet, the son of Thomas, of Wendover 20 Hen. VIII was married to Kateryne, and their son, John Colet, citizen and mercer of London 17 to 24 Hen. VIII, was married to Katherine the daughter of Thomas Whall of London, salter. The five children of John Colet were Robert Colet of London 14 Ed. IV, John, Jeffrey, Alice, and Ann. Of the two sons of Sir Henry Colet, only the first included any detail, and he was described as John Colet, Dean of St Paul’s.
	A footnote on the same page listed the following: Henry Colet, 5 Hen. V to 17 Hen. VI; Matthew Colet of Kymble, 24 Hen. VI who died before 29 Hen. VI, and left a widow Margaret; and John Colet of The Hale in Wendover, the son of Robert Colet of The Hale aforesaid, husbandman, deceased 32 Hen. VIII.
	The first page relating the life of Dean John Colet commenced as follows: “This excellent person was son and heir to Sir Henry Colet, Knight, the younger son of Robert Colet of Wendover near Aylesbury in the County of Buckinghamshire, Esquire, who was born in the county at the Manor of The Hale, near which place some of his name still continue.” (that was in 1823)
	“His father being bred a mercer at London, did by God’s blessing upon his industry arrive at great wealth and honour; retaining always the more eminent character of a wise and honest man; and his good qualities made him soon taken notice of, and judged very fit for one of the chief offices in the city, in a time of trouble and confusion.”
	Within the Dictionary of National Biography is the following information written about Dean John Colet: Colet’s last Will and Testament was written on 22^nd August 1518 in which there was no reference made to the Virgin Mary or to the saints, and no money was appointed for the masses for his soul. Most of his realty (property/estate) he had previously alienated within documents dated 8^th July 1511 and 10^th June 1514, which had been passed to the Mercers’ Company for the endowment of St Paul’s School
	That part of his realty that he retained, he bequeathed to his mother’s relative, Edmund Knyvet, sergeant-porter to Henry VIII, and to John Colet, son of his uncle William, and small money legacies and books were assigned to his friends, Doctor Aleyn, Doctor Morgan, Thomas Lupset his amanuensis (in his employ to take dictation and copy manuscripts) and William Garrard who, with his mother and Nicholas Curleus, was an executor.
	His great friend and colleague Desederius Erasmus was not mentioned, but during the years prior to his death Dean John Colet had paid him a pension. And it was Erasmus who described him as being “tall and comely”. Another separate paragraph within the Dictionary states that Colet’s numerous manuscript treatises were left by his will at the disposition of his executors. After many wanderings, some of these documents are now in St Paul’s School Library, while others are held at Cambridge. ‘The Life of Dr John Colet Dean of St Paul’s’ by Samuel Knight of Ely (on the right) was published in London during 1724.
	Footnote: During the 1950s a new school was established at Wendover and given the name John Colet School.
18D16	Thomas Colet was born around 1470 and he died in 1479, following which he was buried at New Buckenham Church near Attleborough in Norfolk.
18D17	Richard Colet was born in 1479 and, with his brother Dean John Colet (above), was one of only two children of Henry and Christian to survive beyond childhood from a total family of 22 children. In 1493 he was admitted to Lincoln’s Inn in London, and he died ten years later in 1503 at the age of 24. He was mentioned in several documents just prior to his death which reflect his importance in the affairs of the day. In 1500 Richard Colet was a gentleman usher supporting King Henry VII at his meeting with Archduke Philip of Austria. That same year, on 1^st May, a licence draw issued to alienate land at Little Missenden in Buckinghamshire to his father Henry Colet, knight, and Richard Colet, their heirs and assigns.
	Two years later he and his father were again named in a legal document dated 1^st March 1502. This stated “Pardon for £20, paid in the hanaper to Henry Colet, knight, and Richard Colet, gentleman, for acquiring Thomas Fenys, knight, Lord of Acre, the manor of Codeham in the County of Kent, without licence.” Hanaper is a reference to the Royal Treasury into which the clerk of the Hanaper received all monies due to the Crown for sealing charters, patents, writs etc.
18E1	Robert Colet of The Hale in Wendover was most likely born there around 1485. He died in 1541 and is known to have been married and had a son John Colet. Like his father John Colet, Robert was also known as a citizen and mercer of Wendover.
	18F1	John Colet							Possibly born circa 1510
18E2	JOHN COLLETT was born in Wendover around 1495 the eldest child of William and Katherine Colet. He married (1) Katherine Wall, the daughter of Sir Thomas Wall and Alice Langston. Sir Thomas Wall (Whall) was Salter of St Botolph’s in Bishopsgate in London and of Grundisburgh, and he left a house called Bastes at Grundisburgh to Katherine his eldest daughter. Through her marriage to John Collett, the house later passed to their eldest son Thomas Collett. This picture of the 16^th Century property was taken around the turn of the 21^st Century.
	On 17^th August 1531 Thomas Wall made his Will (eight years before his death) which read as follows: To my wife Alice the manors and lands in Suffolk, Essex, Kent & London. If she yearly during her life at her costs and charges do find an honest secular priest to sing and say divine service within the church of Grundisburgh for my soul, my father's, and mother's souls at yearly stipend of £6 paid quarterly. The remainder to John and Katherine Collett manors in Grundisburgh, Hasketon, Great Bealings, Culpho, Tuddenham and Playford. All of these are in Suffolk, in addition to which there was reference to The Sun (an inn perhaps) and shops at St Botolph in London, given for life.
	Upon his death in 1539 the following was stipulated: Thomas Wall, senior citizen and salter of London, 3^rd March 1539, buried in St. Botolph's, Billingsgate; to be conveyed to burial with 12 torches and 4 tapers borne by 16 poor men in their hands, the dirge to be sung by note and next day a solemn requiem to the fellowship of the salters to drink overnight and for their recreation next day if they come to mass and dirge three pounds.
	It is possible that Alice, the wife of Thomas Wall, died within the next five years, since in 1546 the following Chantry Certificate was lodged in London. Mr Thomas Wall gave unto John Collett and Katherine his wife, one tenement in Thames Street, called The Sonne and to William Saunderson and Jane his wife and to the longer liver of them and to their heirs and the longest liver of them upon condition that they of the profits of the same should pay yearly unto a priest six pounds to sing forever in the parish Church of Grundisburgh in the County of Suffolk and in default of keeping certain covenants the same priest to be found in the parish church of St Botolph nigh Billingsgate which priest hath not been found by the space of these two years and one quarter past.
	John Collett, a citizen and mercer of London, who died before 1555, was posthumously Granted Arms in 1561 – see below. Following his death, Katherine married William More of Sherfield-on-Loddon near Basingstoke in Hampshire. He was a relative of Sir Thomas More, and once married Katherine moved to live with him in Hampshire, where she died after 1558. The second part of the Visitation of Suffolk in 1561 relating to John Collett is of great significance as it confirmed the names of John’s children and the married names of his daughters. Missing from the list was his son Arthur Collett who had died in 1553. It read as follows:
	Collett of Grundisburgh
	[One shield] [Tricked] Sable on a chevron between three hinds statant Argent three annulets Sable in chief a crescent Or John Collett of London Mercer son and heir to William Collett married Katherine, daughter and heir to Thomas Wall of London Salter and by her had issue Thomas Collett son and heir, William Collett second son, Michael Collett third son, Alice married to Thomas Johnson of London, Katherine married to John Gambull, Elizabeth married to Hugh Throgmerton of Warwickshire.
	Prior to the death of Katherine More, formerly Collett, she was mentioned on two occasions in the records of the Chancery Proceedings for the period 1544 to 1551. The first of them (ref. C 1/1144/25-27) stated: “William MORE and Katherine his wife, late the wife of John Collett, citizen and mercer of London v William COLLETT, brother of the said John. Messuage and land in the borough, town and fields of Wendover, Buckingham. The second (ref. C 1/1245/78-80) read as follows: “William MORE and Katherine his wife, late the wife of John Collett, citizen and mercer of London v Thomas ALLEN, clerk, and Anne ALLEN, executors of Ralph Allen, knight, alderman of London. Messuage and land held of the King's Manor of Wendover, and dower in lands in the borough, ‘Forens’, and parish of Wendover bequeathed by the said Collett to his younger sons.
	18F2	THOMAS COLLETT							Born circa 1523 at Grundisburgh
	18F3	William Collett							Born circa 1525 at Grundisburgh
	18F4	Arthur Collett							Born circa 1526 at Grundisburgh
	18F5	Michael Collett							Born circa 1527 at Grundisburgh
	18F6	Alice Collett							Born circa 1529 at Grundisburgh
	18F7	Katherine Collett							Born circa 1531 at Grundisburgh
	18F8	Elizabeth Collett							Born circa 1533 at Grundisburgh
18E3	William Collett was born in Wendover around 1500 and he married Joan Beere, the daughter of William Beere and Elizabeth Felton. William was alive in 1543, as he was named as the sole executor in his mother’s Will which was proved at the Archdeaconry Court of Buckinghamshire. Also, between 1538 and 1544, the name of William Collett was mentioned in Chancery Proceedings (ref. C 1/1019/43) when “Nicholas KYPPYNG v William COLLET of Wendover, butcher, Debt for sheep, the officers of the liberty of Wendover being in alliance with the defendant, Buckingham”.
	He was also mentioned on two occasions in further Chancery Proceedings 1544-1561. It was during the period “22 April 1544 – 15 Feb 1547 (ref. C 1/1113/34-36) that William COLLETT, apprentice of London, son of John Collett of London, mercer v William COLLETT of Wendover, his uncle. Lands in the `Forens of Wendover’, Buckingham”. The second case was between his former sister-in-law and her husband (ref. C 1/1144/25-27) which stated: “William MORE and Katherine his wife, late the wife of John Collett, citizen and mercer of London v William COLLETT, brother of the said John. Messuage and land in the borough, town and fields of Wendover, Buckingham.
	William may also have been alive in 1561, three years after his former sister-in-law Katherine (above) had passed away, since he was listed in the Visitation of Suffolk that year, in which he was described as the second son of William Collett of Wendover. Other connections with the Felton family can be found at References 18F3 and 18G5.
18E4	Alice Collett was the daughter of William and Katherine Colet, was born in Wendover, and was still alive in 1543 when her mother died and left a Will in which she was mentioned.
18E5	Nicholas Collett was the third son of William and Katherine Colet who may have suffered a premature death. He was born at Wendover after 1500 but was not mentioned in his mother’s Will of 1543, perhaps an indication that he had died by then.
18E7	William Collett was born in London around 1490 and was one of the eight children of John Collett, a citizen of London. William also became a citizen of London, where he was a linen draper. His marriage produced two sons who were both named William, the first of them, William the elder, produced no issue.
	18F9	William Collett							Date of birth unknown in London
	18F10	William Collett							Date of birth unknown in London
18F1	John Colet was born at The Hale in Wendover, the only known child of Robert Colet. He was possibly born around 1510 and he was later married to Joan. The couple took over residency of ‘The Manor of The Hale’ in Wendover following the death of his father in 1541. It was therefore at Wendover that all of his children were born. His Will was proved at the Archdeaconry Court of Buckinghamshire, a copy of which was placed in the manor chest. At the time of his death his wife Joan was still alive, as were all four of their children. It was John who changed the surname from Colet to Collet while, at an earlier time, the Grundisburgh branch of the family adopted the Collett spelling of the name.
	18G1	Henry Collet							Born circa 1532 at Wendover
	18G2	William Collet							Born circa 1534 at Wendover
	18G3	Elizabeth Collet							Born circa 1536 at Wendover
	18G4	Nicholas Collet							Born circa 1538 at Wendover
18F2	THOMAS COLLETT was born around 1523 and was named as the son and heir of John Collett of Grundisburgh in the second part of the Visitation of Suffolk in 1561. Some years prior to that, he is understood to have married Joan, that event taking place around the mid-1550s. He was referred to as Thomas of Grundisburgh, so it seems very likely that all of his children were born there, although there is a chance that Thomas’ first son may have been base-born and not the child of his wife Joan (see below). The short marriage produced three certain children for the couple, before Thomas Collett died in 1558. His Will was proved on 31^st October 1558.
	Within a year of the death of her husband, Joan also died and that happened during the first week of June 1559. Her Will made just prior to her death on 31^st May 1559 was proved on 12^th June, shortly after she was buried. The Will referred to son William and her daughters Katherine and Thomasin, who were named among the beneficiaries.
	Curiously in Joan’s Will, no reference was made to her husband’s eldest son John, even though he was the main beneficiary under the terms of his father’s Will in the previous year. It is also well established that he was still alive at that time, since he died at Westerfield forty years later in 1599. His absence from Joan’s Will may therefore indicate that John was not one of her children. However, it has been pointed out that a widow would often not provide for one of her children in her Will, if that child had already been adequately provided for under the terms of the Will of her late husband.
	Due to the early deaths of both parents, which happened while the children were still infants, Joan’s Will stipulated that her brother-in-law, William Collett (below), would be responsible for looking after her children. The Will also referred to the two daughters of the said William who, it was stated, would inherit the items bequeathed to Joan’s own two daughters in the event of their death prior to reaching the age of maturity- see Will in Legal Documents.
	It was originally believed that Thomas (of Grundisburgh) received a Grant of Arms prior to his death but this has not been verified and may be incorrect, since his brother William was granted arms in 1561. It therefore seems highly unlikely that the Heralds would have made two visits to Grundisburgh in such a short space of time.
	18G5		JOHN COLLETT					Born circa 1554 at Grundisburgh
	18G6		William Collett					Born circa 1555 at Grundisburgh
	18G7		Katherine Collett					Born circa 1556 at Grundisburgh
	18G8		Thomasin Collett					Born circa 1557 at Grundisburgh
18F3	William Collett was born around 1525 and was named as the second son of John Collett of Grundisburgh in the second part of the Visitation of Suffolk in 1561. He married Anne Symple on 4^th October 1550 at Grundisburgh in Suffolk, which is just north of Ipswich and west of Woodbridge. Anne was born at Hackney around 1530. A few years earlier the unmarried William was also mentioned in the Chancery Proceedings 1544-1561. It was during the period “22 April 1544 – 15 Feb 1547 (ref. C 1/1113/34-36) that William COLLETT, apprentice of London, son of John Collett of London, mercer v William COLLETT of Wendover, his uncle. As William Collett of Grundisburgh he received a Grant of Arms in 1561 – see below. The third part of the Visitation of Suffolk in 1561 related to William Collett and read as follows:
	Collett of Grundisburgh
	[One shield] [Tricked] Sable on a chevron between three hinds statant Argent three annulets Sable in chief a crescent Or William Collett of Gromesborough in the County of Suffolk gentleman married Anne Symple daughter to Symple of Hackney and by her hath issue William, son and heir, and William second son, Dorothy, and Alice. The herald’s visitation made no mention of the fact that William also had responsibility for the four children of his brother Thomas (above), into whose care they were given when they were orphaned in 1559.
	What is of interest here is that the later Grant of Arms to Anthony Collett [18H8] and Samuel Collett [18I9] in 1664 were almost identical to that of William. In the past there has been an assumption that John Collett [18G5], Anthony’s father, may have been the base-born son of William, rather than of Thomas (above). However, that theory seems to be disproved by Thomas’ Will of 1558, in which he named his eldest son as John, the main beneficiary to his estate.
	In an earlier version of this family line there was also an assumption that the first-born son of William and Anne Symple must have died as an infant, in order for the second born son to be given the same name. The Visitation of Suffolk in 1561 (above) clearly proved that not to be the case, as evidenced that William and Anne gave the name William to their first two sons, and both of them survived beyond their childhood.
	William Collett was a linen draper and a gentleman of Grundisburgh, where he died in 1569. Ten years prior to his death he was charged with bringing up his brother’s children under the terms of the Will of his sister-in-law Joan Collett (above) for which he received all the profits, commodities and revenues of her estate at Burgh and Hasketon – see Will in Legal Documents. Hasketon and Burgh (referred to as Burgh Cronisburgh) lie close to Grundisburgh.
	This presumably meant that William’s wife Anne was left with the responsible for the children until they reached the age of maturity. It is interesting to note that the age of the orphaned children of Thomas and Joan Collett was virtually the same as the age of her own children in each case. However, it is known that the widow Anne Collett was eventually married, for a second time, to Mr R Felton. He was very likely a relative of Elizabeth Felton whose daughter Joan Beere married William Collett the brother of her father-in-law. Other connections with the Felton family can be found at references 18E3 and 18G5.
	William was referred to as “friend William Collett of Wetheringsett” in the Will of John Dameron the father-in-law of William’s nephew John Collett [18G5], who married John Dameron’s daughter Joan. It is also believed that William, on taking over the care of the four orphaned children of his brother Thomas Collett (above) in the latter part of 1559, may have appropriated the inheritance of the eldest son John. That belief may be borne out by the fact that John Collett was penniless when he married Joan Dameron.
	18G9		William Collett					Born circa 1552 at Grundisburgh
	18G10		William Collett					Born circa 1553 at Grundisburgh
	18G11		Dorothy Collett					Born circa 1555 at Grundisburgh
	18G12		Alice Collett					Born in 1556 at Grundisburgh
18F4	Arthur Collett was born around 1526, but only survived for 27 years, when he died in 1553. His brother Michael Collett (below) was a witness at the signing of Arthur’s Will.
18F5	Michael Collett was born around 1527 and he died after the Visitation of Suffolk in 1561, in which he was named as a son of John Collett of Grundisburgh. Michael was also a witness to the making of the Will of his brother Arthur Collett (above) just prior to his death in 1553.
18F6	Alice Collett was born around 1529 and she married later Thomas Johnson of London. Alice died sometime after 1561, since she was listed under her married name, as the daughter of John Collett of Grundisburgh, in the Visitation of Suffolk in 1561.
18F7	Katherine Collett was born around 1531 and she later married John Gambull. Katherine died sometime after 1561, since she too was listed under her married name, in the Visitation of Suffolk in 1561.
18F8	Elizabeth Collett was born around 1533 and she married Hugh Throgmorton of Warwickshire. As with her two sisters (above), Elizabeth also died after 1561, since she was also listed in the Visitation of Suffolk in 1561 under her married name.
18F10	William Collett, the younger, whose date of birth is not known, was born in London, the second son of that name of William Collett, a citizen of London and a linen draper. William had eight children according to 'Pedigrees of English Families’ by Sir Henry St George, with the first three, all named William, not surviving to adulthood.
	18G13		William Collett	Infant death possibly in London
	18G14		William Collett	Infant death possibly in London
	18G15		William Collett	Possibly born in London
	18G16		Nathaniel Collett	Possibly born in London
	18G17		John Collett	Possibly born in London
	18G18		Henry Collett	Possibly born in London
	18G19		Lastly Collett	Possibly born in London
	18G20		Joan Collett	Possibly bapt 25.12.1551 at St Michael Cornhill
18G1	Henry Collet was the eldest child of John and Joan Collet who was born at The Hale in Wendover, possibly around 1532. He was certainly alive in 1541 when his father died, as he and his three siblings (below) and their mother were named in his Will. Henry later married Agnes of Welford in Northamptonshire and they had seven children at The Hale whose years of birth below are only estimates. He was a Yeoman of The Hale in Wendover which, as the eldest son, he took over from his father upon his death, and it was there that he lived until he died in 1589. His Will was proved at Canterbury on 9^th June 1589. His wife survived him by almost twenty-seven years when the Will of widow Agnes Collet of The Haile (sic) was proved at the Archdeaconry Court in Buckinghamshire during 1616. That document referred to her son John and the children of three of her four daughters.
	18H1		John Collet					Born circa 1566 at Wendover
	18H2		Henry Collet					Born circa 1568 at Wendover
	18H3		Michael Collet					Born circa 1570 at Wendover
	18H4		Isobel Collet					Born circa 1572 at Wendover
	18H5		Mary Collet					Born circa 1574 at Wendover
	18H6		a daughter Collet					Born circa 1576 at Wendover
	18H7		a daughter Collet					Born circa 1578 at Wendover
18G2	William Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover around 1534 and was alive in 1541 when his father John Collet died that year.
18G3	Elizabeth Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover around 1536 and was alive in 1541 when her father John Collet died that year. It is also established that she was later married to become Elizabeth Playter.
18G4	Nicholas Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover around 1538 and was alive in 1541 when his father John Collet died that year.
18G5	JOHN COLLETT was born at Grundisburgh around 1554 and may have been the base-born so of Thomas Collett. Upon the death of his father in 1558, John received an inheritance through the Will. However, it is believed that when, upon the death of his mother in 1559, John was taken into the family of his uncle William Collett [18F3], that the young John had his inheritance taken from him by his ‘wicked uncle’. As a result, John Collett was penniless when he married Joan Dameron in November 1577 at Westerfield near Ipswich. It is a known fact that Joan did marry a John Collett, but it has yet to be proved that the John in question was this particular one. The Will of John Dameron (see below) is perhaps an indication that it could be.
	Joan was baptised at Westerfield on 25^th April 1557 and was the daughter of Lord of the Manor of Westerfield, John Dameron and his wife Margaret Felton. John Dameron died on 1^st March 1597 and his sole heir was his daughter Joan, who was referred to as Johanna. However, through her father’s Will, Joan’s mother Margaret inherited the Manor House at Westerfield under the terms of the 1596 Will of her husband John Dameron to whom it had been previously bequeathed by her husband’s father William Dameron, who had purchased it from Anthony Bedingfield in 1552. The said John Dameron and his brother George Dameron were the named executors of their father’s Will which was made in 1558. see Will in Legal Documents
	John Dameron’s Will of 1^st February 1596 also made his wife Margaret responsible for bringing up the children of his daughter Joan and her husband John Collett. Their children named in the Will were Anthony Collett, John, Dameron Collett, Martha Collett, Abigail Collett, Philologus Collett and Edith (Edny) Collett. Margaret Dameron was also charged with ensuring that they, and their mother Joan Collett nee Dameron the testator’s daughter, had sufficient meat, drink, clothes and lodgings.
	Sadly, Joan Dameron was mentally defective from birth and her father, having no sons of his own, wanted her to be married so that her children could inherit the Dameron estate. In his Will, John Dameron made reference to his friend William Collett of Wetheringsett, the foster-father of his future son-in-law John Collett.
	John Dameron’s Will also made allowance that, upon the death of his wife, the Manor House of Westerfield should pass to his daughter’s eldest son Anthony Collett upon reaching the age of twenty-one, and to the heirs of his body. Failing these, the remainder to go to Philologus Collett, his brother, Dameron Collett, and Martha Collett, sister of the said Anthony.
	The mental state of Joan, and her competency to manage her father’s estate, was raised by Chancery in court on 5^th March 1601 in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. A brief summary of the court proceedings, together with the Return of the Inquest at Ipswich on 10^th June that year, can be found under ‘1601 Chancery File for Joan Dameron’ in Legal Documents. What was interesting in that document was the reference to the cottage and lands at Westerfield called Keelings. In later generations of this family, Keeling was used as a Christian name on two occasions.
	An earlier version of this family line gave the name of John Dameron’s wife as Margaret Phesse. However, it now seems very likely that his wife was in fact Margaret Felton, as indicated by the Feltham family history records in which all of the children of John and Margaret are listed. There is also the possibility that John Dameron had first married Margaret Phesse who died shortly after, allowing him to then marry Margaret Felton. Other connections with the Felton family can be found at references 18E3 and 18F3.
	John Collett died at Westerfield on 24^th March 1600, where he was buried that same day. His Will made on 4^th March 1599 was proved on 5^th June 1600. Only three of John’s eight children were beneficiaries under the terms of his Will, along with his wife, and they were his daughters Dameron and Edith, and son John - see Will in Legal Documents. John’s wife Joan Collett nee Dameron died in 1613 and was buried on 13^th February 1613. Both John and Joan were buried at Westerfield, where all of their children were also born and baptised.
	18H8		Anthony Collett					Born in 1578 at Westerfield
	18H9		John Dameron Collett					Born in 1579 at Westerfield
	18H10		Dameron Collett					Born in 1581 at Westerfield
	18H11		Martha Collett					Born in 1582 at Westerfield
	18H12		Abigail Collett					Born in 1584 at Westerfield
	18H13		PHILOLOGUS COLLETT					Born in 1586 at Westerfield
	18H14		John Collett					Born in 1588 at Westerfield
	18H15		Edith Collett					Born in 1589 at Westerfield
18G6	William Collett was born at Grundisburgh around 1555. By the middle of 1559 he was an orphan and the 1559 Will of his mother Joan Collett stated that he and his two named sisters (below) should be brought up by their uncle William Collett [18F3]. The Will also made provision for him to inherit four houses on reaching the age of twenty-one, together with two bedsteads and two great chests from the chapel chamber - see Will in Legal Documents. Whilst it is established that his older brother John Collett (above) was alive up until 1599, no such records exist for William, or his sisters Katherine Collett and Thomasin Collett (below).
	With no burial records having been found for any of the three siblings, it may be worth noting that in the period up to 1566 sweating sickness was rife and, as a result, the population of the country fell by six percent. In addition to that, there was a flu epidemic around that time which killed more than one in twenty of the population. Furthermore, in some towns, for example at Loughborough in Leicestershire, there was a reluctance to bury plague victims in the churchyard, and because of that many burials were unregistered.
18G7	Katherine Collett was born at Grundisburgh around 1556. As with her brother William (above) and sister Thomasin (below), Katherine was made an orphan in June 1559, when she was placed in the care of her uncle William Collett. Under the terms of the Will of her mother, Katherine inherited one cow, a set of three plates, dishes, cups, saucers and a charger, the best bed and covers, the greatest chest, and some jewellery - see Will in Legal Documents.
18G8	Thomasin Collett was born at Grundisburgh around 1557, but was an orphan by the time she was two years old. Following the death of her mother in June 1559, she and her brother William and her sister Katherine (above) were placed in the care of their uncle William Collett. Under the terms of the Will of her mother, Thomasin inherited one cow, a set of three plates, dishes, cups, saucers and a charger, the next best bed and covers, and a gold and ruby ring - see Will in Legal Documents.
18G9	William Collett, who may have been Matthew William Collett, was born around 1552 and was the eldest son of William Collett of Grundisburgh and his wife Anne Symple. He was later married to Anne with whom he was known to have had four daughters and a son, and all of them were born at Grundisburgh. It seems rather strange that, while his two sisters were beneficiaries in the Will of his aunt Joan Collett [18F2], William was not. His exclusion from the Will as the eldest son may be for the same reason that her own first-born son was also excluded from her Will.
	18H16		John Collett				Born circa 1573 at Grundisburgh
	18H17		Alice Collett				Born on 20.11.1574 at Grundisburgh
	18H18		Marie Collett				Baptised on 16.02.1576 at Grundisburgh
	18H19		Cecily Collett				Baptised on 28.08.1579 at Grundisburgh
	18H20		Elizabeth Collett				Baptised on 07.09.1583 at Grundisburgh
18G10	William Collett was born around 1553 and was the second son of William Collett and Anne Symple to be named William. It is known that he was married, and that the marriage produced issue, about whom nothing is known.
18G11	Dorothy Collett was born at Grundisburgh around 1555 and was mentioned in the Will of her aunt Joan Collett [18F2] who died in June 1559. Just as it did for her younger sister Alice (below), the Will made provision for Dorothy to inherit the items originally left to Joan’s youngest daughter in the event of her not surviving beyond childhood. In addition to that, Dorothy was bequeathed one weaning calf (see Will in Legal Documents). It is understood that Dorothy was married in 1575.
18G12	Alice Collett was born at Grundisburgh on 17^th November 1556, where she was baptised on 30^th November 1556 the daughter of William and Anne Collett. Alice and her older sister Dorothy (above) were named in the 1559 Will of their aunt Joan Collett [18F2]. The Will made provision for Alice to inherit the items originally left to Joan’s oldest daughter in the event of her not surviving beyond childhood. In addition, Alice was bequeathed one weaning calf (see Will in Legal Documents). Sometime after 1576 Alice married George Payne of Rushmere St Andrew near Ipswich. Shortly after they were married Alice gave birth to a son Nicholas Payne who later married Cecily Collett [18H19] the daughter of Alice’s brother William (above).
18H1	John Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover around 1566, the eldest child of Henry and Agnes Collet. He attained full age in 1587 when he was mentioned in the Manorial Court of the Manor of The Hale on 27^th April 1587. He was also listed in his father’s Will of 1589. John was sworn of the homage of the Manor of The Hale in 1593, 1601 and again in 1620. On 4^th April 1615 an indenture was made between Henry Baldwin and John Collet a yeoman of the hamlet of Hale in the village of Wendover with regard to land at Halton near Wendover. Although no record of his marriage, his death, or the baptism of his children has been found, it is established from the 1616 Will of his mother Agnes that his marriage produced six children as all of them and John Collet were mentioned therein. It is also known that John was still alive in 1620, as confirmed above.
	18I1		John Collet					Born circa 1599 at Wendover
	18I2		Joseph Collet					Born circa 1601 at Wendover
	18I3		Joan Collet					Born circa 1603 at Wendover
	18I4		Martha Collet					Born circa 1605 at Wendover
	18I5		Elizabeth Collet					Born circa 1607 at Wendover
	18I6		Rebecca Collet					Born circa 1609 at Wendover
18H2	Henry Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover around 1568, the son of Henry and Agnes Collet. All that is currently known about him is that he was still alive when his father died in 1589.
18H3	Michael Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover around 1570, the third son of Henry and Agnes Collet. He had not reached his twenty-first birthday when he was named in his father’s Will of 1589.
18H4	Isobel Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover around 1572, one of the four daughters of Henry and Agnes Collet. She was later married when she became Isobel Randall and had two children John Randall and Ellen Randall who were named in the 1616 Will of Isobel’s mother Agnes Collet.
18H5	Mary Collet, whose date of birth again is not known but may have been born around 1574, was yet another unnamed daughter of Henry and Agnes Collett. She later married Richard White on 22^nd June 1612 at St Mary’s in Wendover with whom she had a daughter Mary White who was born prior to the death of her grandmother, as she was named in the 1616 Will of Agnes Collet.
18H6	A Collet daughter was born at The Hale in Wendover around 1576, one of the four daughters of Henry and Agnes Collet. She was later married to William Arnott and was named in the 1616 Will of Mary’s mother Agnes Collet.
18H7	A Collet daughter, whose date of birth may have been around 1578, was another daughter of Henry and Agnes Collet. It is understood that she later married and, as Mrs Duncombe, she had a daughter Agnes Duncombe who was named after her grandmother in whose Will of 1616 she was listed.
18H8	Anthony Collett was born at Westerfield in 1578, the eldest child of John Collett and Joan Dameron. His father died in March 1600, but Anthony was not even mentioned in the Will, nor was he instructed as the executor, a duty that was given to his sister Dameron Collett (below). The reason for that might have something to do with his inheritance from his grandfather, described below. Shortly after reaching his twenty-first birthday, and probably following the death of his father in 1600, Anthony inherited the Manor House at Westerfield from his grandfather John Dameron which had been left in trust with his grandmother.
	He married Elizabeth Jesmond on 10^th November 1601 at St Peter Mancroft in Norwich, where the couple’s first two sons were baptised. Elizabeth was born around 1570 and was the daughter of John Jesmond of Norwich. It is under understood that the couple also had a daughter, but no details are available at this time.
	Anthony was the first Collett to become Lord of the Manor at Westerfield when he inherited the Manor House, pictured here in more recent times. He died on 11^th August 1640 and was buried at Westerfield on 14^th August 1640, at which time the Manor House passed to his only surviving son Anthony. As Anthony Collett of Westerfield, he was given Grant of Arms by the College of Arms in London, which was also given in 1664 to Anthony’s surviving son and his nephew Samuel Collett [18I9], the son of his brother Philologus Collett.
	The Harleian Society’s published details of the Arms read as follows: “COLLETT, Anthony, of Westerfield, Suffolk, and to Samuel son of Philologus, second brother of Anthony and deceased 14 Aug 1644. Harl. MS. 1105, fo.38 and 39b; Crispe’s Frag. Gen., i., 57; Bysshe’s Grants, 32, by Bysshe, clar. (as Collett).”
	The Arms was also documented within Burke’s General Armoury as follows: “Collett (Westerfield, county of Suffolk, granted). Sable on a chevron engrailed between three hinds trippant Argent as many annulets of the first. Crest; A hind’s head couped Argent gorged with a collar engrailed Sable (another) a hind statant Argent”
	18I7		John Collett					Baptised on 26.04.1603 at Norwich
	18I8		Peter Collett					Baptised on 06.01.1604 at Norwich
	18I9		Anthony Collett					Baptised on 04.12.1614 at Westerfield
18H9	John Dameron Collett was born at Westerfield on 22^nd October 1579, and it was there also that he was baptised on 2^nd November 1579, the second child of John Collett and Joan Dameron. He died at Ipswich on 27^th October 1582 at the age of three, and was buried the same day at Westerfield.
18H10	Dameron Collett was born circa 1581 at Westerfield where she married Edward Mann on 25^th April 1600 (or 1609). Edward was the son of Robert and Mary Mann and was baptised at Westerfield on 15^th June 1572. Dameron Mann died in 1627 and was buried on 15^th June 1627, while Edward died in 1635 and was buried on 27^th March 1635. Both were buried at Westerfield, where all of their nine children were born and baptised. Just a month before she was married her father died, and when his Will was proved in June 1600, Dameron Collett was one of only three of her father’s eight children to benefit from his estate. Even at the tender age of just less than twenty years, and despite having one older brother, Anthony, alive at that time, it was Dameron who was made the executor of her father’s Will. See Will in Legal Documents
18H11	Martha Collett was born at Westerfield and baptised there on 10^th November 1582. She was 17 years old when her father died, but was not mentioned in his Will. She later married Samuel Jellow of Bury St Edmunds at Westerfield on 7^th May 1612. One of their children, Martha Jellow, married Edward Dikes, later written as Dykes, who was the seventh great grandfather of Colin Dykes who, in 2020, kindly provided some new information regarding the Collett family in Part 13 – The Stroud to South Africa and New Zealand Line, on the maternal side of his family. On the paternal side of his family, it is interesting that Philip Dykes, Colin’s great great grandfather emigrated to South Africa. He was from Braiseworth, a small village just south-west of the market town of Eye in Suffolk, and he left England for the Colony of Natal around 1849-50, as part of the Byrne Settler scheme. However, many years later, during 2000, Colin and his wife left South Africa, when they decided to emigrate to England.
18H12	Abigail Collett was born at Westerfield where she was baptised on 1^st December 1584, the daughter of John Collett and Joan Dameron, although another source says the month was November. It is also known that she later married Miles Edgar at Westerfield during 1605 and, perhaps it was through that association that, twelve years later, Abigail’s brother Philologus Collett (below) married Dorcas Edgar, the sister of Miles Edgar. It would appear from the records that Abigail was not married to Miles for very long, since he later married Dorothy Richmond, who was the daughter of Robert Richmond, of Hedenhall Hall in Norfolk, and his wife Katherine Prettyman. At some time in his life Miles Edgar of Cranley Hall in Eye was the Principal Burgess of Eye.
18H13	PHILOLOGUS COLLETT was baptised at Westerfield on 30^th October 1586, the son of John and Joan Collett. The name Philologus means ‘lover of words’. He was 13 years old when his father died but, strangely, Philologus was not mentioned in his Will. He married his much younger sister-in-law Dorcas Edgar on 6^th August 1617 at Dennington, near Framlingham in Suffolk. Dorcas was the daughter of Henry Edgar, the Churchwarden of Dennington, and his wife Bridget Docker. Dorcas was baptised at Uggeshall on 27^th February 1598, and her older brother Miles Edgar married Philologus’ sister Abigail (above) when she was only seven years old. All of the children of Philologus and Dorcas were born and baptised at Westerfield.
	Philologus Collett was named in the Chancery court proceedings of 10^th June 1601 relating to the mental state of his mother Joan Collett nee Dameron and her competency to manage the estate inherited from her father (see Legal Documents). Dorcas Collett nee Edgar died in 1641 and was buried at Westerfield on 25^th September 1641, the burial record confirming that she was the wife of Philologus Collet (sic). It was also there that Philologus Collett was buried five and a half years later on 7^th March 1647, which was curiously the same date that his Will was also proved, the Will having been made on 7^th November 1646. Fifteen years after his death, at the time of the death of his eldest daughter Bridget Collett in 1662, she was described as the daughter of Philologus Collett, a woollen draper.
	18I10		Bridget Collett				Born in 1618 at Westerfield
	18I11		Dorcas Collett				Born in 1622 at Westerfield
	18I12		Philologus Collett				Born in 1625 at Westerfield
	18I13		John Collett				Born in 1627 at Westerfield
	18I14		Benjamin Collett				Born in 1629 at Westerfield
	18I15		Samuel Collett				Born in 1631 at Westerfield
	18I16		Mary Collett				Born in 1633 at Westerfield
	18I17		John Collett				Born in 1634 at Westerfield
	18I18		Philologus Collett				Born in 1636 at Westerfield
	18I19		HENRY COLLETT				Born in 1638 at Westerfield
	18I20		Martha Collett				Born in 1641 at Westerfield
18H14	John Collett was born at Westerfield on 23^rd April 1588 and was baptised there on 25^th April 1588, the youngest son of John Collett and Joan Dameron. He was only twelve years old when his father died in March 1600 and he was only one of three of the eight children to be mentioned in the Will. see Will in Legal Document
	For the continuation of this family see Part 72 – The Buckinghamshire High Wycombe Line
18H15	Edith Collett was born Westerfield where she was baptised on 2^nd March 1589, the youngest of the eight known children of John Collett and Joan Dameron. Edith, together with her mother, sister Dameron Collett, and brother John Collett (both above), were the only members of the family named in the Will of John Collett who died in March 1600.
18H16	John Collett was born at Grundisburgh around 1573, the son of William Collett. He later married Joan at nearby Westerfield.
18H18	Marie Collett was baptised on 16^th February 1576 at Grundisburgh, the daughter of William Collett. She married George Gurney on 15^th January 1601 at Wetheringsett near Mendlesham.
18H19	Cecily Collett was baptised at Grundisburgh on 28^th August 1579, the daughter of William Collett. She later married her cousin Nicholas Payne of Rushmere St Andrew. Nicholas was the son of George Payne and Alice Collett [18G12].
18I1	John Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover, possibly around 1599 and it is known he was certainly alive in 1616 as he was named in his grandmother’s Will that year. He was very likely the eldest of the six children of John Collet and his unnamed wife. John Collet of The Hale married Mary Pedder at St Mary’s Church in Wendover on 31^st May 1627, their marriage producing seven known children. John Collet was sworn of the homage of the Manor of The Hale in 1649 and again in 1651, and received mercers’ grants in 1655 but died within the next seven years. Like her husband, Mary Collet nee Pedder also died sometime prior to 1662.
	18J1		John Collet							Born in 1628 at Wendover
	18J2		Mary Collet							Born in 1629 at Wendover
	18J3		Anne Collet							Born in 1631 at Wendover
	18J4		Hester Collet							Born in 1634 at Wendover
	18J5		Rebecca Collet							Born in 1636 at Wendover
	18J6		Joseph Collet							Born circa 1638 at Wendover
	18J7		Edmund Collet							Born circa 1640 at Wendover
18I2	Joseph Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover around 1601, another son of John Collet who was mentioned in the 1616 Will of his grandmother Agnes Collet. He was later a yeoman of Whitchurch, near Aylesbury, and he married Amy Wills at Aston Clinton on 1^st February 1625 with whom he had five daughters. Joseph Collet died in 1679 and his Will was proved on 21^st February that year at the Archdeaconry Court in Buckinghamshire. His wife Amy Collet nee Willis died shortly after and her Will was also proved there on 17^th May 1680. Joseph’s Will was made in 1678 and named his wife Amy and his son-in-law Edward Hall, who were also appointed as the joint executors, while his own children were not named. In addition to a stone slab in the floor of the south aisle in the church at Whitchurch which bears the name of Joseph Collet, his name is also inscribed around the base of the font as the Churchwarden in 1661.
	It was the Will of Amy Collet nee Wills her grandsons were named as Thomas Piddington, John and Joseph and Thomas Simon, while her granddaughters were Elizabeth Simon, Rebecca Hall and Martha Harding. The Will also confirmed that her daughter Martha (Collet) was the wife of Daniel Harding, and that Edward Hall and John Simon, the appointed executors, were the husbands of two other daughters. With no mention of a fifth son-in-law, it is possible one of her daughters did not reach full age. The order of the five children listed below is based on the order in which they were married, their year of birth being an estimated date.
	Following his death Joseph Collett was buried at Whitchurch on 9^th February 1679, while his daughter Mary Collet was buried there on 27^th March 1680 and less than one month later his wife Amy was buried there on 22^nd April 1680 perhaps the pair of them suffering from the same illness.
	18J8	a Collet daughter married Edward Hall								Born circa 1627 at Whitchurch
	18J9	Elizabeth Collet								Born circa 1630 at Whitchurch
	18J10	Rebecca Collet								Born circa 1634 at Whitchurch
	18J11	Mary Collet								Died in March 1680 at Whitchurch
	18J12	Martha Collet								Born circa 1645 at Whitchurch
18I3	Joan Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover around 1603 the eldest daughter of John Collet who was mentioned in the 1616 Will of her grandmother Agnes Collet. It was eight years later that she married John Dudley at St Mary’s Church in Wendover on 20^th April 1624.
18I4	Martha Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover around 1605 another daughter of John Collet and his unnamed wife. Like her three sisters below Martha was also one of the many grandchildren referred to the 1616 Will of Agnes Collet.
18I5	Elizabeth Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover around 1607 and was mentioned in the 1616 Will of Agnes Collet, her grandmother.
18I6	Rebecca Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover around 1609, one of the six children of John Collet. All that is currently known about Rebecca is that she was alive in 1616 as her named was included in her grandmother’s Will that year.
18I7	John Collett was baptised at St Peter Mancroft in Norwich on 26^th April 1603, the son of Anthony Collett and Elizabeth Jesmond. All that is known about John is that he died while in Ireland, and that his passing happened prior to the death of his father in August 1640; also, that he had no issue.
18I9	Anthony Collett was baptised at Westerfield on 4^th December 1614. Following the death of his father Anthony Collett on 11^th August 1640, Anthony inherited Westerfield Manor. That would have been around the time he married Elizabeth Manning, the daughter of William Manning of Knodishall. There was apparently a dispute concerning the estate left by Anthony’s father. Amongst the Exchequer Depositions of 1641 there are particulars of “an action taken by Lionel Cooke against the bailiffs of Ipswich, as to whether the capital messuage in Westerfield, lately belonging to Anthony Collett deceased, was within the liberty of Ipswich or not”.
	Four years after his father’s death Anthony received a Grant of Arms during the Suffolk Visitation of 1664. Anthony Collett died in 1677 and was buried at Westerfield on 14^th February 1677. His Will of 11^th February 1677 was proved on 7^th May 1678, at which time Westerfield Manor was then passed onto his only son Cornelius. Following the death of her husband, Anthony’s widow Elizabeth Collett married Bence Dowsing, gent of Alderton. However, that marriage only lasted for a short while, when she died during 1681. It is of interest that in the July of the previous year Elizabeth’s son Cornelius married Elizabeth Dowsing, the daughter of Bence Dowsing and his second wife.
	The Will of Elizabeth Collett was written on 7^th February 1681, and was proved at Ipswich on 21^st October 1682, in which she was described as ‘the daughter of William Manning of Knodishall’. Anthony and Elizabeth are believed to have had a seventh child and sixth daughter, Keturah Collett, about whom nothing is known at this time.
	18J13		Elizabeth Collett							Born circa 1640 at Westerfield
	18J14		Cornelius Collett							Born circa 1642 at Westerfield
	18J15		Anne Collett							Born circa 1644 at Westerfield
	18J16		Mary Collett							Born circa 1646 at Westerfield
	18J17		Rebecca Collett							Born circa 1649 at Westerfield
	18J18		Candace Collett							Born circa 1652 at Westerfield
18I10	Bridget Collett was born at Westerfield in 1618, but was baptised at Dennington on 8^th December 1619, the eldest child of Philologus Collett and Dorcas Edgar. She never married and was buried at St Saviour’s Church in Southwark in London, following her death on 23^rd September 1662, when she was described as the daughter of Philologus Collett a woollen draper. She was credited with establishing a school at Westerfield. The Will of Bridget Collett, made on the day she died, is available to view, but is very difficult to read. The Will was proved on 9^th July 1663, in which the main subject matter is that the bulk of her estate, including the rents from various cottages in Suffolk, be used to establish the first school at Westerfield for the poor children of the village.
	Bridget’s estate must have been considerable, and wisely invested over three centuries, since it was still benefiting the local community in Westerfield towards the end of the twentieth century. The son of the vicar received £300 from the fund towards the cost of the books for his course of studies.
18I11	Dorcas Collett was born at Westerfield on 5^th November 1622, the daughter of Philologus and Dorcas Collett. She later married Henry Spenny in 1662 and died sometime thereafter.
18I12	Philologus Collett was born at Westerfield on 2^nd March 1625 where he was baptised on 2^nd November 1625, the eldest son of Philologus and Dorcas Collett. And it was also at Westerfield where he died and where he was buried at the age of nine years on 5^th August 1634, when he was described as the son of Philologus Collet (sic).
18I13	John Collett was born at Westerfield on 10^th December 1627, but tragically died that same day and was buried there, when he was recorded as John the son of Philologus Collet (sic).
18I14	Benjamin Collett was born at Westerfield around 1629 and was named in the Will of his father Philologus Collett who died in 1647. So, from that document we know that Benjamin Collett was still alive at nearly twenty years of age.
18I15	Samuel Collett was born at Westerfield on 12^th April 1631, the son of Philologus Collett and Dorcas Edgar. He married Elizabeth Fox on 3nd June 1669 at Dallinghoo just north of Woodbridge in Suffolk. Elizabeth was born at Dallinghoo around 1647. She was the daughter of William and Catherine Fox of Hollesley, and the sister of Martha Fox who married Cornelius Collett [18J14]. All of their children listed below were born at Westerfield, but it seems there were many more who did not survive.
	At some time during his life, Samuel was responsible for the building of Westerfield Hall, pictured here. He received a Grant of Arms during the Suffolk Visitation in 1664, all as described under his uncle’s name Anthony Collett [18H8]. Samuel Collett died on 24^th April 1681 and was buried at Westerfield on 8^th May 1681. His Will of 21^st April 1681 was proved on 21^st November 1681 in which there was a reference to ‘the eldest son of brother Henry Collett’
	That Henry was possibly being Henry Collett [18J22], if he was alive in 1681 or, if not, it may have been a reference to his younger brother John Collett [18J24]. The reference above, to there being more than the three children listed below, results from the memorial stone in Westerfield Church for their son Samuel who died in 1710, the inscription on which includes a statement concerning the prior passing of his four brothers and four sisters, but without any names.
	18J19		Samuel Collett					Born in 1671 at Westerfield
	18J20		Elizabeth Collett					Born circa 1675 at Westerfield
	18J21		Mary Collett					Baptised on 10.04.1681 at Westerfield
18I16	Mary Collett was born at Westerfield around 1633, and was the daughter of Philologus and Dorcas Collett. Her omission from her father’s Will of 1647 suggests that she had died sometime during the intervening years.
18I17	John Collett was born at Westerfield on 25^th November 1634, the son of Philologus and Dorcas Collett. It is established that he was married to Elizabeth Baldock at St Marys Church in Tubbenham, near Mildenhall in Suffolk, and that the marriage took place during September 1666. It is also known that he was alive at the time his older brother Samuel made his Will in 1681, since John was mentioned therein. It was in fact two years later, that John Collett, the son of Philologus, died on 3^rd August 1683. It is understood the marriage of John and Elizabeth did produce a number of children for the couple but, to date, no details are known.
18I18	Philologus Collett was born at Westerfield on 19^th May 1636, the son of Philologus and Dorcas Collett. He was their second child to be given his father’s name, following the death of his older brother, of the same name, who died at Westerfield in 1634.
18I19	HENRY COLLETT was born at Westerfield on 22^nd April 1638, the son of Philologus and Dorcas Collett. He married Ann Bishop on 24^th October 1667 at Rishangles south of Eye in Suffolk. Ann was baptised on 29^th July 1628 at Thorndon, the next village to Rishangles, and was the daughter of John and Anna Bishop (Byshope).
	Henry and Ann are known to have had children, and in particular an older son, since the Will of Henry’s brother Samuel Collett (above) makes reference to the eldest son of Henry. In searching for him, one unconfirmed source declares that Henry Collett was born at Eye, where he was baptised on the same date as his sister Katherine, and that he was the son of Henry Collett of Westerfield. Henry Collett died around 1679 at Eye near Diss in Norfolk, where his daughter Katherine and son John are certainly known to have been born.
	18J22		Henry Collett					Baptised on 25.09.1668 at Eye
	18J23		Katherine Collett					Baptised on 25.09.1668 at Eye
	18J24		JOHN COLLETT					Baptised on 20.09.1670 at Eye
18I20	Martha Collett was born at Westerfield around 1641, where she was baptised in 1644, although no record of the event has been found to confirm the event. She was the daughter of Philologus Collett and Dorcas Edgar, and what is known for sure is that Martha was a named daughter in her father’s Will of 1647.
18J1	John Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover around 1628 and was baptised at Wendover on 8^th June 1628 when his father was named as John Collet. He was the eldest of the six children of John Collet and Mary Pedder. It was at St Mary’s Church in Hemel Hempstead that he married Ellen Halsey of Great Gaddesden on 4^th April 1654, their marriage providing them with six children. Four years later he was sworn of the homage of the Manor of The Hale in 1658 and again ten years later in 1668. John Collett, a yeoman of The Hale, died during 1679 and was buried at St Mary’s Church in Wendover on 10^th June 1679.
	Apart from his wife Ellen, the other members of his family named in the Will of John Collet of Wendover were his second son Thomas (the first child of that name having suffered an infant death), his third son William, Mary his eldest daughter, Elizabeth his youngest daughter and his eldest son John. The Will was made on 10^th May 1679 and was witnessed by his sister Rebecca (below), in which his wife Ellen and his son John were appointed as joint executors of his estate. It was four months later that the Will of John Collet of Wendover was proved at Canterbury on 10^th September 1679, while his widow Ellen Collet nee Halsey was still alive in 1715 when her aforementioned daughter Rebecca Collet passed away.
	18K1	Thomas Collet						Born in 1657 at Wendover
	18K2	Mary Collet						Born in 1658 at Wendover
	18K3	Elizabeth Collet						Born in 1660 at Wendover
	18K4	John Collet						Born in 1662 at Wendover
	18K5	Thomas Collet						Born in 1665 at Wendover
	18K6	William Collet						Born in 1670 at Wendover
18J2	Mary Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover around 1629 and was baptised at St Mary’s Church on 4^th February 1629, the daughter of John and Mary Collet. She married Richard Kent at St Mary Magdalen Church on Old Fish Street in London on 25^th March 1662. By that time Mary Collet of St Margaret’s Westminster was a spinster of 34 whose parents were not alive, while Richard Kent of St Martin’s-in-the-Field was a gentleman and a bachelor of 30. Their marriage produced just one known child, their daughter Sarah Kent who was a beneficiary under the terms of the 1715 Will of her aunt Rebecca Collet (below).
18J3	Anne Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover around 1631 and was baptised at St Mary’s Church on 11^th March 1631, another daughter of John and Mary Collet.
18J4	Hester Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover around 1634 and was baptised at St Mary’s Church on 30^th July 1634, the daughter of John Collet. During her life she was married to become Hester Goddard who was still alive in 1715 when her sister Rebecca passed away, as she was named as Esther Goddard, sister.
18J5	Rebecca Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover around 1636 and was baptised at St Mary’s Church on 11^th September 1636, the daughter of John and Mary Collet. She never married and died during 1715, her Will being proved that year at the Archdeaconry Court of Buckinghamshire when she was described as Rebecca Collet spinster of The Hale. She was buried at St Mary’s Church on 12^th December 1715.
18J6	Joseph Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover around 1638, the son of John and Mary Collet. He was later known as Joseph Collet of Berkhamsted St Peter in Hertfordshire and was alive in 1715 when his sister Rebecca (above) died, as both Joseph and his son William were named in her Will. He appears to have married later in his life when he wed (1) Mary who gave him a son William in 1694, just prior to her death on 12^th October 1695 at Berkhamsted. Administration of her estate was granted to Joseph Collet her husband on 27^th January 1696. Seven years later Joseph married (2) Sarah Goslin at St Dunstan’s in Stepney, London, on 28^th April 1703 who presented him with three further children before she died in 1714 following which she was buried at St Peter’s Church on 21^st October 1714, where the baptism of her three children also took place.
	18K7	William Collet						Born in 1694 at Berkhamsted
	The following are the children from Joseph’s second marriage to Sarah Goslin:
	18K8	Joseph Collet						Born in 1703 at Berkhamsted
	18K9	John Collet						Born in 1705 at Berkhamsted
	18K10	James Collet						Born in 1709 at Berkhamsted
18J7	Edmund Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover around 1640, possibly the youngest child of John Collet and Mary Pedder. From 1648 to 1655 the Court of the Mercer’s Company paid £10 annually to his father John Collet of The Hale for his schooling. He attended Christ Church College in Oxford from 1656 to 1660 where he obtained as Bachelor of Arts Degree on 28^th February 1660. He married Mary, the name given to their only known child. Edmund Collet died during 1726, the same year his Will was proved at Canterbury. Administration of his estate was granted to Mary Wordsworth, the wife of Charles Wordsworth and the daughter of Edmund Collet late of St Botolph’s Aldergate in London.
	18K11	Mary Collet						Born in 1694 at Berkhamsted
18J9	Elizabeth Collet was born at Whitchurch around 1630, the daughter of Joseph Collet and Amy Wills. It was also at Whitchurch on 7^th December 1655 that she married John Simon of Northmarston when her father Joseph was a witness. Their marriage produced four children who were all named in her mother’s Will of 1680. They were John Simon, Joseph Simon, Thomas Simon and Elizabeth Simon. No mention of their mother was made in the Will, although her husband John Simon was named as son-in-law and was one of the two appointed executors of the Will.
18J10	Rebecca Collet was born at Whitchurch around 1634 another daughter of Joseph and Amy Collet. Rebecca married Thomas Piddington of Bierton at Whitchurch on 20^th June 1658. By the time of the death of her mother Rebecca and Thomas may have not longer been alive, since it was their son Thomas Piddington who was named in the Will of Amy Collet as her grandson.
18J12	Martha Collet was born at Whitchurch around 1645, possibly the youngest of the five daughters of Joseph Collet and Amy Wills. She married Daniel Harding at Whitchurch on 13^th July 1667 with whom she gave birth to a daughter Martha. At the time of the death of her mother Amy in 1680 Martha, Daniel and their daughter were all still alive and were named in her Will.
18J13	Elizabeth Collett may have been born just after her parents, Anthony Collett and Elizabeth Manning, were married around 1640. She was born at Westerfield, and it was there also that she married Mr Everitt of Worlingworth, north-west of Framlingham.
18J14	Cornelius Collett was born at Westerfield around 1642 and he married (1) Martha Fox at Hollesley by licence on 21^st June 1675, with whom he had a daughter who was born at Hollesley. Martha was born around 1652 and was the sister of Elizabeth Fox who married Samuel Collett [18I9], and the daughter of William and Catherine Fox of Hollesley. Martha died in 1679 and was buried on 5^th December 1679 at Hollesley, east of Ipswich and north of Felixstowe. Cornelius was then married by licence to (2) Elizabeth Dowsing on 28^th July 1680 at Grundisburgh, by whom he had a further four children, all born at Westerfield. Elizabeth was the daughter of Bence Dowsing and Elizabeth Trusson of Alderton. Their marriage took place within a year or so of Cornelius’ mother’s Elizabeth Collett marrying Elizabeth’s father Bence Dowsing, and one year before the passing of his mother.
	Cornelius, Lord of the Manor of Westerfield, died sometime after the conception of the couple’s last child in 1685, but prior to 3^rd June 1688 when his Will was proved. In that document he was referred to as ‘Cornelius Collett gent of Westerfield and Hollesley’. The administration of his estate was granted to his widow Elizabeth, through which process Westerfield Manor was passed onto his eldest Cornelius. Six years after Elizabeth had married Cornelius, her grandfather Thomas Trusson died and his Will of 1686 listed ‘Elizabeth, the wife of Cornelius Collett’ as one of the beneficiaries. It is also interesting that the couple’s youngest son Anthony produced a grandson who went on to marry a Catherine Trusson.
	18K12	Deborah Collett						Born in 1676 at Hollesley
	The following are the children from Cornelius’ second marriage to Elizabeth Dowsing:
	18K13	Elizabeth Collett						Born in 1681 at Westerfield
	18K14	Mary Collett						Born in 1683 at Westerfield
	18K15	Cornelius Collett						Born in 1685 at Westerfield
	18K16	Anthony Collett						Born in 1686 at Westerfield
18J15	Anne Collett, whose date of birth may have been around 1644, was born at Westerfield where she married John Langley of Ipswich.
18J16	Mary Collett was born at Westerfield in 1646 and it was there also that she married Thomas Browning of Copdock, near Ipswich, in 1668.
18J17	Rebecca Collett, whose date of birth was very likely around 1649, was born at Westerfield where she married John Revett of Bramfield on 28^th December 1669.
18J18	Candace Collett, whose date of birth was very likely around 1652, was born at Westerfield, the youngest known child of Anthony Collett and Elizabeth Manning. It was also at Westerfield that she married John Hasell of Akenham, by licence, on 1^st February 1675.
18J19	Samuel Collett was born in 1671 and was the only surviving son of Samuel Collett and Elizabeth Fox. When he was still in his late teenage years, and being the only surviving male adult member of the Collett family at that time, Westerfield Manor was conveyed to him as part of the settlement of the estate of his cousin Cornelius Collett (above) in 1688. Under the terms of the 1688 Will, the manor house was to have been inherited by Cornelius’ eldest son who, at the time of his death, was only three years old, so the property was conveyed to Samuel as a trustee.
	A few years later Samuel Collett married Hannah Hammond, the daughter of William Hammond, gent of Ufford, and his wife Hannah Villiers of Ufford, where Hannah was baptised on 8^th April 1667. The marriage is known to have produced ten children for Samuel and Hannah, and all of them born and baptised at Westerfield. However, the couple’s last child was born just after Samuel had passed away, since he was referred to in the Westerfield parish register as the son of Samuel deceased and Hannah.
	Samuel Collett died on 1^st April 1710, following which he was buried at Westerfield 5^th April 1710. The Will of Samuel Collett was proved five years after his death, on 5^th July 1715. The memorial stone in Westerfield Church bears the name of Samuel Collett, and also refers to his four brothers and four sisters who did not survive beyond childhood, although no names for the eight siblings are provided. It was at Ufford, where she was born, that his widow Hannah Collett nee Villiers was buried on 20^th March 1753 at the age of 86.
	18K17		Samuel Collett				Born in 1693 at Westerfield
	18K18		William Collett				Born in 1695 at Westerfield
	18K19		Hannah Collett				Born in 1697 at Westerfield
	18K20		John Collett				Born in 1699 at Westerfield
	18K21		Ketturah Collett				Born in 1700 at Westerfield
	18K22		Richard Collett				Born in 1701 at Westerfield
	18K23		Henry Collett				Baptised on 30.06.1706 at Westerfield
	18K24		Hannah Collett				Baptised on 07.08.1707 at Westerfield
	18K25		Elizabeth Collett				Baptised on 22.10.1708 at Westerfield
	18K26		Cornelius Collett				Born in 1710 at Westerfield
18J20	Elizabeth Collett was born at Westerfield around 1675. She died at Tattingstone south of Ipswich around 1741, but was buried at Westerfield.
18J23	Katherine Collett was baptised at Eye in Suffolk on 25^th August 1668, the daughter of Henry Collett and Anne Bishop.
18J24	JOHN COLLETT was born at Eye where he was baptised 20^th September 1670, the son of Henry Collett and Anne Bishop. It was also at Eye that John married Anne around 1693, and where all of their children were born and baptised. John Collett was an established member of the community in Eye, where he held the position of councilman. He was still living at Eye when he died, following which he was buried there on 18^th July 1721, when his name was recorded as John Collet (sic). His wife Anne survived him by nearly nineteen years when she too died at Eye, where she was buried on 13^th January 1740.
	18K27		Henry Collett				Born in 1694 at Eye
	18K28		John Collett				Born in 1696 at Eye
	18K29		Ann Collett				Born in 1697 at Eye
	18K30		Samuel Collett				Born in 1700 at Eye
	18K31		Rebecca Collett				Born in 1701 at Eye
	18K32		Cornelius Collett				Born in 1702 at Eye
	18K33		Robert Collett				Born in 1704 at Eye
	18K34		PHILOLOGUS COLLETT				Born in 1707 at Eye
	18K35		William Collett				Born in 1710 at Eye
	18K36		Charles Collett				Born in 1712 at Eye
	18K37		Francis Collett				Born in 1715 at Eye
	18K38		Elizabeth Collett				Born in 1717 at Eye
18K1	Thomas Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover in 1657, the first of the six children of John Collet and Ellen Halsey. Tragically he did not survive and died shortly after he was born. The record of his baptism at Wendover on 10^th July 1657 confirmed he was the son of John Collet.
18K2	Mary Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover in 1658 and was baptised at St Mary’s Church on 16^th July 1658, the daughter of John Collet. It would appear that she never married and died during the first month of 1735 and was buried at St Mary’s Church on 30^th January 1735. Administration of her personal effects was granted to Robert Kipping on 14^th May 1737 at the Archdeaconry Court of Buckinghamshire. Robert Kipping (Ref. 63J3) who was born in 1691 and who died in 1746 was also the first guardian of Robert Collet (Ref. 63L2) who was born in 1726 and who died in 1750 leaving no heir, and therefore the last Collet of the Manor of The Hale of Wendover.
18K3	Elizabeth Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover in 1660 and was baptised at St Mary’s Church on 15^th July 1660, the daughter of John Collet. She never married and died during 1724, when she was buried at St Mary’s Church in Wendover on 20^th March 1724. In her Will dated 25^th April 1723 she was described as a spinster of The Hale even though she was referred to as ‘Old Mrs Collet’ in the burial record. The Will was proved at the Archdeaconry Court of Buckinghamshire on 17^th June 1724.
18K4	John Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover in 1662 and was baptised at St Mary’s Church in Wendover on 18^th April 1662, the son of John Collet. It was in 1682 when he was sworn of the homage of The Manor of The Hale but, only seven years later, he died in Ireland, where he was buried in 1689. It is possible that he was in Ireland with the English Army to quell the Jacobite Rebellion which took place that same year. However, it appears he was married and already had a daughter by that time. Curiously though, the child’s baptism was delayed, perhaps while she and her mother made arrangements to return to Wendover, where John’s daughter was baptised on 13^th August 1701.
	18L1		Martha Collet					Baptised 13.08.1701 at Wendover
18K5	Thomas Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover in 1665, the fifth child of John Collet who was baptised at St Mary’s Church on 3^rd October 1665. Like his brother John (above), Thomas Collet, an apprentice, was only twenty years of age when he suffered a premature death in 1685. With the death of the two eldest brothers the Manor of The Hale was passed to their brother William (below). Thomas was buried on 2^nd February 1685 when he was described as of St Mildred’s, Poultry in London, a haberdasher’s apprentice.
18K6	William Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover in 1670, the last child of John Collet and Ellen Halsey, and was baptised at St Mary’s Church on 14^th November 1670. It was in 1692 that he was first sworn of the Manor of The Hale, which happened again in 1732. Between those two dates he married the much younger Elizabeth Kipping (Ref. 63J2) of Wendover with whom he had four sons, although only one survived to adulthood. Elizabeth was born in 1689 and was baptised at Wendover on 19^th May that year, the daughter of John Kipping (Ref. 63I1). Two of her siblings were also involved with the Collet family and they were her older sister Hannah Kipping (Ref. 63J1) who married Richard Stratfold (see Section Two of Part 63 – The Stratfold-Collet Family of Wendover), and her younger brother Robert Kipping (Ref. 63J3) who was the first guardian of Robert Collet, Elizabeth’s youngest son.
	William Collett of The Hale died during the last few days of 1735 and was buried at St Mary’s Church on 29^th December 1735. His Will was proved on 7^th January 1736 at the Archdeaconry Court of Buckinghamshire. Sadly, his wife Elizabeth Collet nee Kipping had already passed away by then in 1728, when she may have died giving birth to a fifth child who also did not survive. A copy of William’s Will, made in 1732, is held at the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies: Colet Estate, together with that of Hannah Kipping which was made in 1708.
	18L2		William Collet					Born 1716 at Wendover
	18L3		John Collet					Born 1717 at Wendover
	18L4		Thomas Collet					Born 1722 at Wendover
	18L5		Robert Collet					Born 1726 at Wendover
18K7	William Collet was born at Berkhamsted in 1694 and was baptised at St Peter’s Church in Great Berkhamsted on 26^th October 1694, the only child of Joseph Collet by his first wife Mary who died during the following year. In 1715 his occupation was that of a draper, according to the Will of his aunt Rebecca Collet [18J5]. He married Mary Woodbridge around 1745, although they were only married for thirteen years when William died in 1758. Eight years earlier he had contested the 1750 Will of Robert Collet [18L5], the last Collet of The Hale, when the estate was bequeathed to his cousin Robert Stratfold [63L2], on that occasion William was referred to as the ‘heir at law’ of Robert Collet whereas Robert Stratfold was only his ‘cousin by marriage’.
	In actual fact William Collet, the son of Joseph Collet of Berkhamsted and the second cousin of Robert Collet of The Hale, was the rightful heir to the Manor of The Hale Estate and as a result he endeavoured to contest the succession of Robert Stratford right up to his death. The suit was indexed in the Chancery Proceedings 1714-1758 Collet v Stratfold. The plaintiff was William Collet of Berkhamsted St Peter, gentleman. The Bill of Complaint was sworn on 9^th November 1754
18K8	Joseph Collet was born at Berkhamsted in 1703 and was baptised at St Peter’s Church in Great Berkhamsted on 6^th October 1703, the eldest of the three children of Sarah Goslin, the second wife of Joseph Collet. Although no details are known regarding his wife, Joseph had a son who died only fifteen years after his father. At the time of his death in 1750 his Will referred to him as Joseph Collet in Wingrave, which is a village near Aylesbury.
	18L6		John Collet					Date of birth unknown; died 1765
18K9	John Collet was born at Berkhamsted in 1707 and was baptised at St Peter’s Church in Great Berkhamsted on 5^th April 1707, the son of Joseph and Sarah Collet.
18K10	James Collet was born at Berkhamsted on 10^th September 1709 and was baptised at St Peter’s Church in Great Berkhamsted one week later on 18^th September 1709, the last child of Joseph Collet and Sarah Goslin whose mother died when James was only five years old.
18K11	Mary Collet was born in 1694 the daughter of Edmund and Mary Collet. Mary later married Charles Wordsworth and their son Richard was a pupil at St Paul’s School in London. Richard Wordsworth was also known as Richard Colet and he died in 1763 when administration of his personal effects was processed at Canterbury. Upon the death of Mary’s father in 1729 the Will of Edmund Collet of St Botolph’s Aldergate in London granted administration of his estate to his daughter Mary Wordsworth. Richard Wordsworth, aka Richard Colet, was a Steward of the Feast at St Paul’s School in 1717 and was a subscriber to Doctor Samuel Knight’s ‘Life of Dr John Colet’. At the time of his death his mother Mary was still alive, when administration of his estate was granted to his mother Mary Wordsworth of the Ann & Mary Transport Ship.
18K12	Deborah Collett was baptised at Hollesley near Ipswich on 1^st August 1676, the only daughter of Cornelius Collett and Martha Fox. Her mother died when Martha was only two years old, possibly during the birth of a second child, who also did not survive.
18K13	Elizabeth Collett was baptised at Westerfield on 24^th June 1681, the eldest of the four known children of Cornelius Collett and his second wife Elizabeth Dowsing.
18K14	Mary Collett was baptised at Westerfield on 24^th June 1683, and was the daughter of Cornelius Collett and Elizabeth Dowsing. She later married Richard Woodthorpe, gentleman of Trimley, and later generations of the Collett family used Woodthorpe as a Christian name.
18K15	Cornelius Collett was baptised at Westerfield on 12^th May 1685, the son of Cornelius Collett and Elizabeth Dowsing. Upon the death of his father in 1688, Westerfield Manor passed from Cornelius to his three years old son Cornelius. However, because of his age, the manor house was conveyed in trust to Samuel Collett [18J19], the son of Samuel Collett and Elizabeth Fox. Cornelius married (1) Margaret Crisp on 16^th October 1718 at Melton near Woodbridge in Suffolk. Margaret died less than two years after their wedding day and just one year after the baptism of the couple’s second son at Melton. She was buried at Westerfield on 22^nd February 1721. It would appear that Cornelius then took a second wife, although no details are known.
	Cornelius, Lord of the Manor of Westerfield, also died at Melton, but was buried at Westerfield on 30^th April 1742, when his surname was recorded as Collet. His Will of 23^rd July 1741 was proved on 30^th May 1742. In his Will the manor house at Westerfield was referred to as being inherited by his eldest son Cornelius (below). It is very likely that their first two sons were born at Melton, where they are known to have been baptised, in addition to which their father was referred to as Cornelius Collett of Melton. However, a few years later the family was once again living in Westerfield, and it was there that a further son was born to Cornelius and his second wife.
	18L7		Cornelius Collett					Born in 1719 at Melton
	18L8		Anthony Collett					Born in 1720 at Melton
	The following child is the only known son of Cornelius Collett by his second wife Elizabeth
	18L9		Henry Collett					Born in 1725 at Westerfield
18K16	Anthony Collett was baptised at Westerfield on 25^th April 1686, the youngest child of Cornelius Collett and Elizabeth Dowsing.
18K17	Samuel Collett was born at Westerfield in 1693, the eldest child of Samuel Collett of Westerfield and Hannah Hammond of Ufford. When he was in his mid-thirties, Samuel was married by licence to the widow Mary Clark of Theberton, the marriage taking place on 25^th November 1727 at Theberton in Suffolk, just north of Leiston. The marriage resulted in the birth of two children for Samuel and Mary, and both of them were born at Theberton, where sadly the first child was buried one month after the baptism of the second child. Samuel and Mary were living at Westerfield when Samuel died in 1760, following which he was buried there on 5^th April 1760.
	18L10		Samuel Collett					Baptised on 12.10.1731 at Theberton
	18L11		Mary Collett					Baptised on 15.03.1732 at Theberton
18K18	William Collett was born at Westerfield in 1695 and it was there that he was baptised on 13^th February 1695, the son of Samuel Collett and Hannah Hammond. Very little else is known about William except that in 1738 it would appear that he was the Clerk of the Peace at the Open Sessions in Ipswich. A licence for religious worship at the Quay Meeting House in Woodbridge granted to Daniel Ralph and dated 15^th April 1738 was printed in a local newspaper. This read as follows, with the original spelling:
	‘These are to certifye to whom it may concern that the dwellyng house of Daniel Ralph, in Woodbridge, in the County of Suffolk, is designed to be used as a place of religious worship for His Majesty's Protestant Subjects dissenting from the Church of England as witness my hand this Fifteenth day of April, in the Eleventh Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Second, by the Grace of God of Great Brittain, France and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith and so forth in the year of our Lord 1738
	On the reverse of the original certificate was the statement “This is a true Copy of the Originale delivered to Mr. Wm Collett, Clerk of ye Peace, in ye Open Sessions at Ipswich, the day and year within mentioned by me. Stephen Abbote, of Woodbridge”
	It is interesting to note that a relative of William Collett also held the post of Clerk of the Peace from around 1750 to 1802 when he died, and that was Henry Collett [18L9].
	Of further interest is the fact that amongst the 31 students with the Collett name listed in the Cambridge Alumni, there is a John Collett born around 1738 who was the son of William Collett of Woodbridge. No other William having any association with Woodbridge has been found so, for that reason, this William has been credited with a son John in the absence of any better information. However, in addition to this, the IGI does provide details of the baptism of John Collett at St Mary’s Church in Woodbridge on 4^th January 1738, who was the son of William and Frances Collett.
	A further search through the IGI has revealed at least another three children born to William and Frances who were also baptised at St Mary’s Church in Woodbridge, and they were all born before their son John. In addition to all of this a certain James Collett, a resident of Woodbridge St Mary at the time of his death in 1820, was buried there on 14^th May 1820 at the age of 78, when he was described as a Chelsea Pensioner. William’s wife Frances appears to have died shortly after the birth of the couple’s last child, since it was also at Woodbridge St Mary that gentleman and widower William Collett died during the first five weeks of 1747, following which he was buried in St Mary’s Church on 9^th February 1747.
	18L12		Frances Collett					Born 1727 at Woodbridge
	18L13		William Collett					Born 1730 at Woodbridge
	18L14		Samuel Collett					Born 1736 at Woodbridge
	18L15		John Collett					Born 1737 at Woodbridge
	18L16		James Collett – not confirmed					Born 1741 at Woodbridge
18K19	Hannah Collett was born at Westerfield in 1697 where she was baptised on 28^th October 1697, the daughter of Samuel Collett and Hannah Hammond. Tragically she survived for less than two years, when Hannah died and was buried at Westerfield on 7^th June 1699, where she was described as the daughter of Samuel and Hannah Collet (sic).
18K20	John Collett was born at Westerfield during 1699, where he was baptised on 7^th June 1699 the son of Samuel and Hannah Collett. Following the burial of his mother at Ufford in 1753, gentleman John Collett was also buried there on 11^th September 1763.
18K21	Ketturah Collett was born at Westerfield during 1700, the daughter of Samuel and Hannah Collett, and was baptised there on 22^nd December 1700. It is also known that she was still alive at the time of the death of her father in 1710, and it was on 11^th May 1735 that ‘Keturah Collett’ was buried at Ufford.
18K22	Richard Collett was born at Westerfield in 1701, and it was there that he was baptised on 8^th March 1701, the son of Samuel and Hannah Collett. He married Elizabeth Wenham of Ufford by licence at Swilland, to the north of Ipswich, on 24^th July 1724. The couple initially settled at Cransford, near Framlingham, where their first child was born, before moving to Yoxford, where their next six children were born.
	Over the first eleven years their marriage produced a total of eight children for the couple, including two sets of twins, although the family also suffered the tragedy of three infant deaths. However, just after the birth of the seventh child, Richard Collett died at the age of 34, following which his widow married Samuel Dennington of Ufford by licence at Westerfield on 14^th November 1735. This last statement may not now be true, because records exist that indicate Richard Collett, aged 75, died at Halesworth in 1777, following which he was buried at Ufford on 11^th May 1777. His widow Elizabeth Collett, aged 81, and also residing in Halesworth at the time of her death at the end of the following year, was buried at Ufford on 9^th December 1778.
	18L17		Hannah Collett		Baptised on 13.11.1724 at Cransford
	18L18		Elizabeth Collett twin		Born in 1726 at Yoxford
	18L19		Richard Collett twin		Born in 1726 at Yoxford
	18L20		Randolph Collett twin		Baptised on 04.10.1728 at Yoxford
	18L21		John Collett twin		Baptised on 04.10.1728 at Yoxford
	18L22		Rebecca Collett		Born in 1730 at Yoxford
	18L23		Millicent Collett		Born in 1733 at Yoxford
	18L24		Jane Collett		Baptised on 26.03.1735 at Theberton
18K26	Cornelius Collett was born at Westerfield in 1710 where he was baptised on 19^th July 1710, the youngest of the ten children of Samuel Collett and Hannah Hammond. Sadly, his father had died just over three months prior to the birth on 1^st April that year, and further tragedy hit the family when Cornelius only survived for a few months, when he died at Westerfield and was buried there on 9^th November 1710.
18K27	Henry Collett was born at Eye in 1694, where he was baptised on 23^rd August 1694, the eldest child of John and Anne Collett of Eye.
18K28	John Collett was born at Eye in 1696 and was baptised there on 15^th October 1696, the second child of John and Anne Collett. It was also at Eye that he married (1) Mary around 1717 and with whom he had eight children before she died at Eye in 1731, where she was buried on 21^st September 1731, when she was described as the wife of John Collet (sic). The couple’s first child was born at Rishangles, although shortly after that the family settled in the town of Eye, where Mary’s next seven children were born prior to her passing. The children were also baptised at Eye, and the last three were apparently baptised many years after the death of their mother.
	Following the death of his first wife, John Collett then married (2) Elizabeth around 1732, and the only children they apparently had, was a set of twins. Elizabeth Collett was buried on 13^th January 1740, although no date is known for the passing of her husband.
	18L25		John Collett					Born in 1718 at Rishangles
	18L26		Francis Collett					Born in 1720 at Eye
	18L27		Mary Collett					Born in 1722 at Eye
	18L28		Katherine Collett					Born in 1724 at Eye
	18L29		Elizabeth Collett					Born in 1726 at Eye
	18L30		Mary Collett					Born in 1728 at Eye
	18L31		Ketturah Collett					Born in 1730 at Eye
	18L32		Rebecca Collett					Born in 1731 at Eye
	The two twin children of John and Elizabeth Collett were:
	18L33		Mary Collett					Born in 1734 at Eye
	18L34		Joseph Collett					Born in 1734 at Eye
18K29	Ann Collett was born at Eye in 1697, and it was there that she was baptised on 7^th March 1697. It was also there that she was buried on 17^th January 1712, around the time she was nearly 15 years old.
18K30	Samuel Collett was born at Eye on 6^th December 1700, where he was baptised on 26^th December 1700, the son of John and Anne Collett. Samuel was nearly 24 years old when he married Susan Martha Nicholls at Eye on 6^th October 1724. Once they were married, the couple settled in Wilby, where all of their children were born and baptised. Samuel Collett was a tanner at Wilby, where he died in 1776 but was buried at Eye on 28^th January 1776, leaving a Will he had made on 5^th March 1772. Sometime after the death of her husband, Susan moved to nearby Stradbroke. She was born in 1699 and died at Stradbroke six years after her husband in 1782.
	18L35		Martha Collett				Born in 1725 at Wilby
	18L36		Ann Collett				Born in 1727 at Wilby
	18L37		Samuel Collett				Born in 1730 at Wilby
	18L38		Elizabeth Collett				Born in 1732 at Wilby
	18L39		Samuel Collett				Born in 1734 at Wilby
	18L40		Susan Collett				Born in 1736 at Wilby
	18L41		John Collett				Born in 1738 at Wilby
18K31	Rebecca Collett was born at Eye in 1701 and was baptised there on 30^th April 1702, the daughter of John and Anne Collett.
18K32	Cornelius Collett was born at Eye in 1702 and it was there that he was baptised on 1^st January 1703, the son of John and Anne Collett.
18K33	Robert Collett was born at Eye in 1704 where he was baptised on 22^nd February 1705, the son of John and Anne Collett. Robert was around 28 years old when he died at Eye, where he was buried on 2^nd February 1733, although the parish register recorded his surname as Collet.
18K34	PHILOLOGUS COLLETT was born at Eye in 1706, and baptised there on 1^st March 1707, the son of John and Anne Collett. He later became a farmer at Wilby, where he married Ann Feaveryeare on 6^th October 1730. Ann was baptised at Wilby on 10^th April 1710, and was the daughter of James Feaveryeare and Ann Gilbert. And it was at Wilby that their three sons were born. In 1768 Philologus Collett of Wilby was required to pay £50 to the churchwardens of the parish on behalf of his son William as a condition of the bastardy bond for the unborn child of Sarah Dale. The document is also interesting for the way in which Philologus wrote his name simply as Phill Collett. Ann Collett nee Feaveryeare died at Wilby, where she was buried on 10^th August 1789, while no record of her husband passing has been found.
	18L42		Samuel Collett				Born in 1731 at Wilby
	18L43		Philologus Collett				Born in 1738 at Wilby
	18L44		WILLIAM COLLETT				Born in 1749 at Wilby
18K35	William Collett was born at Eye in 1710, where he was baptised on 14^th October 1710, the son of John and Anne Collett. William was 29 years old when he died, after which he was buried at Eye on 16^th December 1739.
18K36	Charles Collett was born at Eye in 1712 and it was there that he was baptised on 22^nd March 1712, the son of John and Anne Collett.
18K37	Francis Collett was born at Eye in 1715 and was baptised there on 1^st April 1715, the youngest son of John and Anne Collett. Tragically he only survived for just over one year and was buried at Eye on 9^th June 1716.
18K38	Elizabeth Collett was born at Eye in 1717 where she was baptised on 19^th August 1717, the youngest and last child of John and Anne Collett.
18L2	William Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover in 1716, the eldest of the four sons of William Collet and Elizabeth Kipping. It was as Wm Collet that he was baptised at St Mary’s Church in Wendover on 22^nd April 1716, the son of Wm and Elizth Collet. William was only eighteen years old when he died, one year before his father, and was buried at St Mary’s on 3^rd December 1734.
18L3	John Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover in 1717, the son of William and Elizabeth Collet. He was baptised at St Mary’s Church in Wendover on 10^th November 1717, but died shortly after and was buried there on 21^st November 1717.
18L4	Thomas Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover in 1722, the son of William and Elizabeth Collet, while it was during 1723 that he died.
18L5	Robert Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover in 1726, the youngest of the four sons of William Collet and Elizabeth Kipping. He was only two years old when his mother died while, by the time he was born, two of his three older brothers had also passed away. He was baptised at Wendover on 27^th May 1727 when his parents were confirmed as William and Elizabeth Collet. Robert was educated at Trinity College in Oxford where he matriculated on 3^rd November 1743 at the age of 17. The university records refer to Robert Collett as the son of William Collett of The Hale in Wendover.
	He was sworn of homage of the Manor of The Hale at a Manorial Court held on 16^th September 1748, the last Collet of the Manor of The Hale in Wendover. It was during that period of history when Hale House was burnt down and it was Robert who rebuilt it in 1748, his initials R C being etched on the front of the house. Robert was a forward thinking young man who, at the time he was rebuilding The Hale, also made his Will during 1748. Furthermore, the following year, Robert arranged for William Belford to carry out a full survey of the estate at The Hale, Wendover, the result of which was the production of a new map of the estate, including field names, acreage, etc, a copy of which is held at the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies: Colet Estate (Ref. D108/39). Sadly, the very next year, Robert was unmarried and was only twenty-four when he died in 1750. Four years earlier the legal guardian of Robert Collet, Robert Kipping – his mother’s younger brother, had died and at that time Robert Collet, the sole heir of William Collet, had not reached the age of majority.
	His Will was proved at Canterbury in 1750 and bequeathed the family estate to his cousin Robert Stratfold (Ref. 63K1) on condition that he change his name to Robert Collet. “I Robert Collet, gentleman of The Hale in the Parish of Wendover, give and devise unto my cousin Robert Stratfold [written as Stretfold] the elder, all and every manors, messuages, cottages, lands, tenements, tithes, hereditaments and estate whatsoever lying in the several parishes of Wendover, Weston Turville, Ellesborough, and Aston Clinton or elsewhere in the County of Bucks.” Thus, the estate was left in trust for Robert Stratfold (Ref. 63L2), the infant son of his cousin Robert Stratfold the elder who was only three years old at the time of the death of his uncle. The Will continued “the said Robert Stratfold the son, to procure an Act of Parliament for changing his name to Collet when of age or sooner; also, that he and his heirs shall hereafter use the name and arms of my family”.
	The untimely death of unmarried Robert Collet brought to an end the direct succession to The Hale Estate and, although there were others of the name living, the estate was bequeathed to one who had no blood-kinship to the Collet stock.
	At this point, the History of The Hale in Wendover is continued in Part 63 – The Stratfold-Collet Family of Wendover starting at Ref. 63K1
18L7	Cornelius Collett was baptised at Melton on 27^th August 1719, the son of Cornelius and Margaret Crisp. Upon the death of his father in 1742, Cornelius inherited Westerfield Manor and became Lord of the Manor. It was during the following year that he was married. He married (1) Jane Wade on 2^nd March 1743 at Rendlesham, next to Eyke and just east of Woodbridge. Jane died after only nine years of the marriage, but not before presenting Cornelius with three sons who were born at Westerfield. However, the youngest of the three sons died a month after he was born and, whilst the other two did reach adulthood, they both died before the passing of their father.
	Jane Collett was buried at Westerfield on 20^th January 1753, leaving her husband with his two eldest sons. It is understood, although not confirmed, that Cornelius was married again shortly after the death of Jane, but that his second wife did not survive for long, as he was married for a third time shortly thereafter. His second, or more likely his third wife, was Anne and the only records so far found to confirm this are the baptism and the burial records at Melton for their daughter Margaret Collett in 1762 when she was listed as ‘the daughter of Cornelius Collett, gentleman, and his wife Ann’.
	Many years later, and three years after the death of his second son John Bloomfield Collett, Cornelius was married for a fourth time, by licence, to the much younger (4) Margaret Driver on 19^th September 1769 at Westerfield. She was the daughter of Thomas and Rebecca Driver and was born around 1742 and was baptised at Little Bealings on 23^rd December 1742. Margaret presented Cornelius with a daughter during the following year, and by that in his life Cornelius’ remaining eldest son had been married for five years.
	The marriage of Cornelius and Margaret endured for just over twenty years, but sadly sometime during those two decades, Cornelius’ only surviving son passed away. So, by the time he was nearing the end of his life, he had no son to whom he could pass on Westerfield Manor. Cornelius Collett died at Westerfield on 10^th February 1790 and was buried there on 13^th February 1790, aged 71. His Will made on 27^th March 1789, to which there was a codicil dated 7^th September 1789, was proved on 18^th February 1790.
	Under the terms of the Will of Cornelius Collett, it was his daughter Margaret, and the heirs of her body, who were to receive all his real and personal estate. In the event that she did not survive or have issue, the estate would pass in default jointly to his nephew Cornelius Collett [18M8], a merchant banker of Woodbridge and William Goodwin of Earl Soham, in trust for sale and the proceeds to be divided amongst the children of his late brother Anthony (below).
	Cornelius’ widow, and fourth wife, Margaret Collett, died near thirty years after her husband, when she passed away on 3^rd September 1819 and was buried at Westerfield on 10^th September 1819. The Will of Margaret Collett ‘widow of Westerfield’ was proved on 3^rd November 1819.
	18M1		Cornelius Wade Collett				Born in 1744 at Melton
	18M2		John Blomfield Collett				Born in 1745 at Westerfield
	18M3		Milleson Collett				Born in 1747 at Westerfield
	The following is the only child of Cornelius Collett and his wife third (?) wife Anne:
	18M4		Margaret Collett				Born in 1762 at Melton
	The following is the only child of Cornelius Collett and his fourth (?) wife Margaret Driver:
	18M5		Margaret Collett				Born in 1770 at Westerfield
18L8	Anthony Collett was born at Melton on 10^th February 1720 and was baptised there on 18^th February 1720, when his parents were confirmed as Cornelius and Margaret Collett. It was at Wantisden near Woodbridge and Melton, that he married Mary May on 9^th February 1743. She was born at Melton on 18^th February 1721, the daughter of Mary and Robert May of Westwood Lodge, Sutton and of Eyke, the High Sheriff of Suffolk in 1758. And it was at Eyke, that Anthony Collett Esquire, Lord of the Manor of Eyke, died on 27^th February 1785 at the age of 64 and was buried there on 4^th March 1785. His Will, made on 14^th June 1783, was proved on 30^th April 1785. Another reference to Anthony was that he was Squire of the Manor of Orford, south of Aldeburgh.
	All of the children of Anthony and Mary were born at Eyke, although the only ones named in Anthony’s Will, with his wife Mary, were his sons Anthony, William, Nathaniel, Woodthorpe and Samuel, and his daughter Elizabeth. (see Will in Legal Documents). The Will indicated that Anthony was the owner of extensive lands and property within the County of Suffolk, including Walton, Trimley Saint Martin and Trimley Saint Mary, all near Felixstowe, Eyke, Melton and Bromeswell near Woodbridge, Capel Saint Andrews and Shottisham, and Knodishall and Gromford near Aldeburgh.
	Mary Collett nee May died fourteen years after her husband, and was also buried at Eyke on 2^nd December 1799 following her death on 25^th November 1799, when she was aged 77. A marble memorial stone set in the floor of All Saints Church in Eyke reads as follows: ‘In a vault beneath this stone are deposited the remains of Anthony Collett Esq, late of this parish who died Feb 27^th 1785 aged 64 years and also the remains of Mary his wife (late May spinster) who died Nov 25^th 1799 aged 77 years’.
	The name of Anthony’s and Mary’s son Woodthorpe Collett and later generations of his family, was derived from the earlier link between the Collett and Woodthorpe families, when Anthony’s aunt Mary Collett [18K14] married Richard Woodthorpe of Trimley.
	During the summer of 2013 Mark Perry made contact regarding the fact that during the 1960s his father Stephen Perry had inherited a number of antiques and interesting Victorian items from John Colet Collett [18P50] known to his father as ‘Uncle Jack Collett'. One of the items had obviously been handed down through many generations and this was a fragile leather wallet with the gold lettering ‘Anthony Collett Eyke Suffolk 1760’, the former property of this Anthony Collett when he was forty years old, perhaps even a birthday present from his wife.
	18M6		Anthony Collett					Born in 1744 at Eyke
	18M7		Mary Collett					Born in 1746 at Eyke
	18M8		Cornelius Collett					Born in 1747 at Eyke
	18M9		Robert Collett					Born in 1749 at Eyke
	18M10		John Collett					Born in 1750 at Eyke
	18M11		Margaret Collett					Born in 1752 at Eyke
	18M12		Samuel Collett					Born in 1753; infant death at Eyke
	18M13		Elizabeth Collett					Born in 1754 at Eyke
	18M14		William Collett					Born in 1756 at Eyke
	18M15		Nathaniel Collett					Born in 1757 at Eyke
	18M16		Anne Collett					Born in 1759 at Eyke
	18M17		Woodthorpe Collett					Born in 1761 at Eyke
	18M18		Samuel Collett					Born in 1764 at Eyke
18L9	Henry Collett was born at Westerfield in 1725, the son of Cornelius Collett and his second wife Elizabeth. He became Clerk of the Peace for the County of Suffolk, a position that he held for over fifty years. Henry died on 16^th July 1802 at the age of 78 and the records show that he died at Westerfield, although he never held the manor there, which had been inherited by his older brother Cornelius. Henry Collett married Rebecca Clark on 5^th September 1750, and it was at Westerfield that he died and was buried on 16^th July 1802 at the age of 77. His widow Rebecca Collett nee Clark was at Bath in Somerset when she died during the following year, when she too was buried at Westerfield on 17^th November 1803 at the age of 80.
18L10	Samuel Collett was born at Theberton in Suffolk in the first six months of 1731, and it was there also that he was baptised on 12^th October 1731, the first of two children of Samuel Collett and his wife Mary Clark. Exactly six months after his baptism ceremony, he was buried at Theberton on 12^th April 1732.
18L12	Frances Collett was born at Woodbridge in 1727, and was baptised at the Church of St Mary in Woodbridge on 17^th June 1727, the daughter of William Collett and his wife Frances. Tragically it was there also that she was buried later that same year on 10^th November 1727, when her family was confirmed as residing at Woodbridge St Mary.
18L13	William Collett was born at Woodbridge in 1730, where he was baptised on 24^th December 1730, the son of William and Frances Collett.
18L14	Samuel Collett was born at Woodbridge during 1736 or slightly earlier, and was baptised at St Mary’s Church on 27^th October 1837, the son of William and Frances Collett.
18L15	John Collett was born at Woodbridge in late 1737 and was baptised there at St Mary’s Church on 4^th January 1738. It was on 5^th July 1756 that John Collett, the son of William Collett of Woodbridge in Suffolk, was admitted into Trinity College in Cambridge at the age of 17. Prior to that time, John was educated at Bury School in Bury St Edmunds by Mr Garnham, from where he matriculated in 1756. Five years after joining Trinity College he was awarded a Bachelor of Art degree in 1761, and was ordained as a priest at Norwich on 28^th October 1762.
18L18	Elizabeth Collett was a twin with her brother Richard (below) and was baptised at Yoxford on 2^nd December 1726, the second daughter of Richard Collett and his wife Elizabeth Wenham. Sadly, both Elizabeth and her twin brother only survived for a short while, when they died at Yoxford, where there were buried on 14^th December 1726.
18L19	Richard Collett was the twin brother of Elizabeth (above) who was baptised at Yoxford on 2^nd December 1726, and was buried there on 14^th December 1726. Both he and his twin sister were recorded in the burial record as Collet.
18L22	Rebecca Collett was born at Yoxford around 1730 and was the daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Collett. It was also at Yoxford that she was buried on 17^th June 1731.
18L23	Millicent Collett was born at Yoxford where she was baptised on 2^nd June 1733, the daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Collett. It was also at Yoxford that she was buried on 21^st October 1733.
18L25	John Collett was born at Rishangles, where he was baptised on 8^th February 1718, the eldest child of John and Mary Collett.
18L26	Francis Collett was the son of John and Mary Collett and was born after the couple settled at Eye, where it is thought he was born around 1720. The only other fact known about Francis Collett is that he died at Eye, where he was buried on 7^th June 1776.
18L27	Mary Collett was the eldest daughter of John Collett and his first wife Mary, and she was baptised at Eye on 27^th February 1722. Tragically she died at Eye thirty months later and was buried there on 1^st September 1724.
18L28	Katherine Collett was born at Eye where she was baptised on 11^th November 1724, the eldest surviving daughter of John and Mary Collett.
18L29	Elizabeth Collett was born at Eye and it was there that she was baptised on 10^th March 1726, the daughter of John and Mary Collett.
18L30	Mary Collett was born at Eye and her baptism entry in the parish records state that her parents were John and Elizabeth Collett. However, Mary was born around 1728 and was the daughter of John Collett and his first wife Mary, who died when Mary was around three years old. Why her baptism was delayed, like that of her sisters Ketturah and Rebecca (below) is not known, but all three sisters were baptised in a joint ceremony at Eye on the same day in 1737. That took place there thirty months after the baptism of the twins of John Collett and his second wife Elizabeth.
	Therefore Mary Collett, who was born in 1828, was baptised at Eye, in the present of her father John Collett, and his second wife Elizabeth, on 20^th April 1737 together with her sisters Ketturah and Rebecca. It is also understood that Mary Collett died at Eye where she was buried on 24^th July 1791.
18L31	Ketturah Collett was born at Eye around 1730 and was the daughter of John Collett and his first wife Mary. Within a year or so of her birth, her mother died while possibly giving birth to the last child of the family. Following the death of her mother, her father remarried and it was only after the christening of the next two children, a set of twins, that the baptism of Ketturah, her older sister Mary, and her younger sister Rebecca, was considered. It was in that way that Ketturah and her two sisters were baptised at Eye on 20^th April 1737. Ketturah was around forty years of age when she was married by licence to James Ball at Halesworth on 2^nd August 1771.
18L32	Rebecca Collett was the last child born at Eye to John Collett and his first wife Mary who died in 1731, the same year that Rebecca was born. Whether because she was blamed for causing the death of her mother, her widowed father delayed the child’s baptism for some reason, until she was around six years old. Also having delayed baptisms were Rebecca’s two immediately older sisters Mary and Ketturah (above). It was only after their father remarried, and then only following the baptism of a set of twins from that second marriage, that John Collett arranged for the three sisters to be baptised at Eye on the same day, on 20^th April 1737. In so doing, the sisters’ parents were named as John and Elizabeth Collett. Rebecca married John Herbert at Diss in Norfolk on 23^rd November 1760, and their likely son was Henry Monkton Herbert who was born in 1772.
18L33	Mary Collett was one half of a set of twins born at Eye in 1734 to John Collett and his second wife Elizabeth. Mary was baptised at Eye on 25^th October 1734 in a joint ceremony with her twin brother Joseph (below). Sadly, she did not reach two years of age, when she died during 1736.
18L34	Joseph Collett was born at Eye, the twin brother of Mary Collett (above). He was baptised in a joint ceremony with his twin sister, which took place at Eye on 25^th October 1734. However, just over a fortnight later, Joseph Collett died at Eye where he was buried on 10^th November 1734.
18L35	Martha Collett was born at Wilby during 1725, and it was there that she was baptised on 10^th April 1726, the first child of Samuel Collett and Susan Martha Nicholls. She was around 25 years old when she married Henry Cornish at Worlingworth on 20^th September 1750. The marriage is known to have produced children for Martha and Henry.
18L36	Ann Collett was born at Wilby in 1727 where she was baptised on 29^th August 1727, the daughter of Samuel and Susan Collett. Although she was the second daughter of the family, it was Ann who was the first one to be married. It was around her twentieth birthday that she married the slightly older James Rumsey who was born in 1723. The wedding took place at Ubbeston, five miles east of Wilby on 4^th November 1747.
18L37	Samuel Collett was born at Wilby in 1730 and baptised there on 10^th November 1730, the first-born son of Samuel and Susan Collett. Tragically he was only four years old when he died at Wilby, where he was buried on 17^th September 1735.
18L38	Elizabeth Collett was born at Wilby during 1732 and was baptised there on 5^th September 1733, the daughter of Samuel and Susan Collett.
18L39	Samuel Collett was born at Wilby in 1734, where he was baptised on 30^th December 1734. He was the eldest surviving son of Samuel Collett and Susan Martha Nicholls, having been named after his deceased old brother who died earlier that same year. Samuel Collett married Lucy Cowper by licence at Dennington on 9^th October 1753. Lucy was baptised on 2^nd April 1731 at Bredfield, just north of Woodbridge, the daughter of Thomas and Lucy Cowper.
	Apart from their first child, who was born at Bredfield, all of the remainder of the children of Samuel and Lucy were born at Stradbroke. It was also at Stradbroke that Samuel Collett died during 1783 and where he was buried as Samuel Collet (sic) on 6^th May 1783, when he was laid to rest with the majority of his children who had been buried there over the previous twenty years. Also within the Stradbroke burial records is an unnamed entry for 22^nd April 1780, and it is conceivable that this might relate to Samuel’s wife Lucy.
	18M19		Samuel Collett				Baptised on 26.11.1753 at Bredfield
	18M20		Anne Collett				Baptised on 20.05.1755 at Stradbroke
	18M21		Catherine Collett				Baptised on 05.01.1757 at Stradbroke
	18M22		William Collett				Born in 1759 at Stradbroke
	18M23		Charles Collett				Born in 1760 at Stradbroke
	18M24		John Collett				Born in 1762 at Stradbroke
	18M25		Richard Collett				Baptised on 16.02.1763 at Stradbroke
	18M26		John Collett				Born in 1765 at Stradbroke
	18M27		Lucy Collett				Born in 1766 at Stradbroke
	18M28		Elizabeth Collett				Born in 1767 at Stradbroke
	18M29		Martha Collett				Born in 1769 at Stradbroke
	18M30		Philologus Collett				Born in 1770 at Stradbroke
	18M31		Anthony Collett				Born in 1771 at Stradbroke
18L40	Susan Collett was born at Wilby in 1736 and was baptised there on 16^th June 1736, the youngest daughter of Samuel Collett and Susan Martha Nicholls. She was still living at Wilby when she married William Chenery at St Mary’s Church on 23^rd August 1763.
18L41	John Collett was the last child of Samuel Collett and Susan Martha Nicholls, and was born at Wilby in 1738, where he was baptised on 11^th January 1739.
18L42	Samuel Collett was born at Wilby, where he was baptised on 29^th July 1731, the eldest child of Philologus Collett and Ann Feaveryeare. It was also at Wilby that he was buried on 17^th September 1735, following his death at the age of four years.
18L43	Philologus Collett was born at Wilby and was baptised there on 15^th August 1738, the eldest surviving child of Philologus Collett and Ann Feaveryeare. He was later married by licence to Rebecca Tovell at Huntingfield on 7^th March 1758. Once married, the couple settled in Wilby, where their three known children were born.
	18M32		Anne Collett					Baptised on 04.05.1760 at Wilby
	18M33		Philologus Collett					Baptised on 12.01.1761 at Wilby
	18M34		Rebecca Collett					Baptised on 22.02.1764 at Wilby
18L44	WILLIAM COLLETT was baptised at Wilby on 29^th June 1749. During his early life William worked as a labourer for his father Philologus Collett, and a few years before he was first married, he fathered a base-born child. In the bastardy bond for the unborn child of Sarah Dale prepared by the churchwardens of Wilby and made on 22^nd May 1768 in the eighth year of the reign of King George III, Philologus was required to pay £50 on behalf of his nineteen years old son William. Whilst his father signed the document as ‘Phill Collett’, the document also revealed that William could not write, thus marking him as the first in this Collett line unable to do so for at least 300 years.
	Three years later William married (1) Hannah Mills on 3^rd December 1771 at Heveningham, east of Halesworth in Suffolk. Hannah was born in 1750 and, during the next twelve years, she presented William with five children while the couple were living at Wilby. It was also at Wilby that Hannah died and was buried on 11^th March 1798.
	William then married (2) Mary Girling on 24^th November 1803 at Wilby. She was born in 1744 and was buried at Wilby on 29^th March 1834. She survived her husband by eleven years, William having died at Wilby, where he was buried on 6^th February 1823. The above reference to the village of Heveningham is the earliest so far found in connection with the Collett family. However, a letter written on 2^nd August 1732 by Sam Manning, a dissenting teacher at Halstead in Essex, to J Morley Esquire of Halstead makes reference to a Collett - see copy of the letter reproduced below.
	Sir, the narrative which I give you in relation to witchcraft and which you are pleased to lay your commands upon me to repeat, is as follows. There was one Master Collett, a smith by trade, of Heveringham in the County of Suffolk, formerly servant in Sir John Duke’s family in Benhall in Suffolk who as twas customary with him, assisting the maid to churn, and not being able to make the butter come, threw a hot iron into the churn, under the notion of witchcraft in the case. Upon which a poor labourer then employed in carrying of dung in the yard, cried out in a terrible manner.
	“They have killed me, they have killed me” keeping his hand upon his back intimating where the pain was, and died upon the spot. Mr Collett, with the rest of the servants then present, took off the poor man’s clothes and found to their great surprise the mark of the iron that was heated and thrown into the churn, deeply impressed upon his back. This account I had from Mr Collett’s own mouth who, being a man of unblemished character, I verily believe to be matter of fact.
	I am Sir, your obliged humble servant, Sam Manning
	18M35		Hannah Collett					Born in 1772 at Wilby
	18M36		William Collett					Born in 1775 at Wilby
	18M37		Ann Collett					Born in 1777 at Wilby
	18M38		Elizabeth Collett					Born in 1779 at Wilby
	18M39		JOHN COLLETT					Born in 1783 at Wilby
	FOOTNOTE: On another internet website the father of John Collett [18M39] a tailor born in 1783, is said to be James Collett who died at Halesworth on 28^th November 1818 aged 73, placing his year of birth as 1745. He was a breeches maker of Halesworth and his wife was Ann Smith who died at Halesworth on 24^th September 1837 aged 86), while they were married at Halesworth (Boyd’s Marriage Index). In February 1783 James had an apprentice, John Chapman, working with him in Halesworth. James was the son of William Collett and Mary Brooks who were married at Halesworth on 24^th June 1731, the grandson of William Collett and Mary Sheming (Sherning), and the great grandson of John Collett and Margaret Barfoot, with the latter’s father being named as Reynold Collett.
	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 on 1844. Further work therefore needs to be done on this.

Cornelius Wade Collett [18M1] was born in 1744, one year after his parents, Cornelius Collett and Jane Wade, were married at Rendlesham. He was baptised at Melton, where his father had been baptised twenty-five years earlier, the ceremony taking place of 24^th March 1744. Cornelius was 21 years of age when he married Elizabeth Randall by licence at Orford on 6^th May 1765. However, it was after only two years together that Cornelius Collett died and was buried at Orford, south of Aldeburgh, on 3^rd July 1767. It was always known that he died before his father, who passed away in 1790 since, had he been alive at that time, he would have inherited Westerfield Manor

John Blomfield Collett [18M2] was born at Westerfield during 1745 where he was baptised on 9^th March 1745, the second son of Cornelius and Jane Collett. He was around 21 years old when he died and was buried at Westerfield on 21^st November 1766

Milleson Collett [18M3] was born at Westerfield in 1747, and was baptised there on 11^th September 1747, the youngest of the three sons of Cornelius Collett and Jane Wade. Tragically it was only six weeks later that he was buried at Westerfield on 16^th October 1747

Margaret Collett [18M4] was born at Melton in 1762 where she was baptised on 30^th January 1762, the only known child of Cornelius Collett and his third wife Anne. She only survived for another five days when she was buried at Melton on 4^th February 1762, when she was named as the daughter of gentleman Cornelius Collett and his wife Ann

Margaret Collett [18M5] was born at Westerfield in 1770 and was baptised there on 19^th October 1770, the only child of Cornelius Collett and his fourth wife Margaret Driver. Margaret was 19 years old when her father died, by which time she was the only surviving child of Cornelius Collett, his three sons from a previous marriage having already passed away. Under the terms of her father’s Will of 1789, Margaret and the heirs of her body were to receive all his real and personal estate and in default of these to his nephew and merchant banker Cornelius Collett (below) of Woodbridge and to William Goodwin of Earl Soham, in trust for sale and to divide the proceeds amongst the children of his late brother Anthony, the father of the aforementioned Cornelius. During the following year, on 6^th April 1790 at Westerfield, Margaret Collett married the Reverend John Davis Plestow clerk of St Mary le Tower in Ipswich, a fellow of St John’s College Oxford, who later became Rector of Harkstead in Suffolk. Their marriage produced four children, one of whom was Catherine Margaret Plestow, who was baptised on 2^nd September 1791, and another was Elizabeth Plestow who was born on 17^th October 1792, and baptised on 23^rd December 1792. The other two children were a son and a daughter

Anthony Collett [18M6] was born at Eyke on 1^st December 1744, and was baptised there on 27^th January 1745, the eldest child of Anthony Collett and Mary May. He married Catherine Trusson of Kelsale, near Saxmundham, who was the daughter of Gabriel Trusson of Kelsale, who was the High Sheriff of Suffolk in 1766, and his wife Catherine Bence. Catherine Trusson was baptised at Kelsale on 14^th February 1749, so it was one week after her twentieth birthday when she married Anthony Collett at Kelsale on 21^st February 1769. Once married the couple settled in the town of Walton, next to the port of Felixstowe, and it was while they were living there that all of their known children were born and where they were baptised. As the eldest son of Anthony Collett of Eyke, Anthony was a major beneficiary under the terms of his father’s Will of 1783 in which he was referred to nine times. The Will was proved in 1785. (see Will in Legal Documents)

Anthony’s and Catherine’s eldest son Anthony Collett was educated at University College in Oxford and a note in the 1787-1793 University College Oxford records described the student’s father as ‘Anthony Collett of Walton in Suffolk’. It would also appear that Anthony and Catherine lived all of their married life together at Walton, since it was there that Anthony Collett, Esquire, died on 31^st July 1804 and was buried at Walton on 4^th August 1804, at the age of 59. He was followed by his wife who died fifteen years later, when she was buried there on 20^th June 1819, aged 69. At the time of her death, she was described as ‘Catherine widow of Kelsale’ and her Will was proved on 20^th July 1819. The couple’s burial records at Walton read as follows: “Anth Collett late of this par 31 Jul 1804 aged 59, Cath his w only dau of Gabriel Trusson esq of Kelsale in this co. & Cath his w dau of Rev Tho Bence R. of Kelsale 20 Jun 1819 aged 69”. This is the second mention of the name Trusson in this family line (see Ref. 18J2). The Trusson family had a long association with the Colletts. In his Will of 1686, Thomas Trusson of Alderton makes reference to Elizabeth Collett, the wife of Cornelius Collett [18J2]. See also [18O22], [18O51], [18P5], [18Q2], [18R5] and [18S2], for other connections with the Trusson name

18N1 – Anthony Collett was born in 1769 at Walton

18N2 – Thomas Collett was born in 1771 at Walton

18N3 – Catherine Collett was born in 1773 at Walton

18N4 – Charles Collett was born in 1774 at Walton

18N5 – Cornelius Collett was born in 1786 at Walton

18N6 – Cornelius Collett was born in 1789 at Walton

Mary Collett [18M7] was born at Eyke during September 1746, where she was baptised on 8^th October 1746, the eldest daughter of Anthony Collett and Mary May. Thanks to the new information received from Roger Collett in 2021 it is now confirmed that the banns of marriage for spinster Mary Collett and widower William Wallis Mason were read at Westcote on Sunday 21^st and 28^th April 1782, and again on 5^th May 1782. Westcote lies midway between Stow-on-the-Wold in Gloucestershire and Burford in Oxfordshire. This information overrides the details provided by Doreen Howes in 2012, which suggested that Mary and William had four children prior to 1782, they now known to be the children from William’s earlier married. The marriage of Mary and William in 1782 may also be the reason why Mary was not named in her father’s Will which was made in June 1783. Other information received from Avryll Sixtus in April 2013 confirmed the following details of the earlier marriage of William Wallis Mason and his first wife. William was baptised at St Philip’s Church in Birmingham on 17^th August 1742, the eldest son of John Wallis Mason and Sarah Richardson and it was on 29^th January 1774 that he was married

The baptisms of the four children of William Wallis Mason and his (first) wife Mary were conducted at St Philip’s Church in Birmingham, and they confirm the children were Mary Mason who was baptised on 24^th May 1775, William Wallis Mason who was baptised on 25^th October 1776, Elizabeth Mason who was baptised on 28^th November 1777, who died on 3^rd February 1778, and Charles Mason who was baptised on 3^rd October 1778, who died on 30^th November 1778, although an alternative source suggests that he died on the same day that he was baptised. Their eldest daughter Mary Mason married Lawrence Douglas at Birmingham on 16^th July 1798 and, for some reason, she was excluded from her father’s Will when he died in 1805. William Wallis Mason junior was the only child referred to in the Will of William Wallis Mason senior following his death in 1805. It was jeweller, businessman and merchant William Wallis Mason, born in 1776, who later married Mary Ward at St Peter’s Cathedral in Sheffield on 5^th July 1805. Mary was the daughter of Joseph Ward and Sarah Aslin, and over twelve years she presented her husband with six children born at Leek Wootton, Beverley and East Barnet. They were William Wallis Mason (born in 1806), Mary Mason (born in 1808), Sarah Collett Mason (born in 1810), Henry Ward Mason (born in 1812), Charlotte Mason, and Eliza Ann Mason (born in 1818). It was their eldest son William Wallis Mason, who had his own pharmacy business in Manchester who married Mary Anne Poole in 1834, and it was their son James Collett Mason (born in 1853) who married Jessie Susette Collett [18P38] in Argentina during 1887

William Wallis Mason (born in 1776) was living at Chorlton in Manchester at the time of the census in 1841 when he and Mary had two domestic servants and it was there that he died at the end of 1849, with his widow Mary surviving him by nine years. The Will of William Wallis Mason was written in 1809 at Beverley in Yorkshire, in which his brother-in-law Thomas Asline Ward was one of the executors. Following the death of Mary Mason nee Collett on 5^th May 1782, William Wallis Mason married Elizabeth Oliver on 13^th February 1784 with whom he had a further nine children. By marrying Elizabeth Oliver, William obtained land in Worcestershire as the result of a marriage settlement, also made during September 1782 between himself and the previous owner of the land, that being Elizabeth’s father. Copies of the confirming document are held within Birmingham City Archives. The land in question was partly made up of land originally forming Malvern Priory Demesne and lying to the south of the Priory, hence the name ‘Southfields’

As regards the children of William Wallis Mason and his second wife Elizabeth, the parish registers for St Philip’s Church in Birmingham [now Birmingham Cathedral] contain the baptism records for their nine children who were born between 1783 and 1798, two of whom died in infancy. The nine children were Sarah Mason (born in 1784), James Mason (born in 1785), Oliver Mason (born in 1787), Philip Mason (born in 1788), Charles Mason (born in 1790), Samuel Mason (born in 1791), George Mason (1794-1795), Mary Mason (born in 1796), and Frederick Mason (1798-1800). It would appear that only three of the seven surviving children were still living in 1842, and they were James Mason and Oliver Mason and their sister Mary Palmer who had married the Reverend Edward Palmer in 1833. However, by the time the land at Malvern was put up for sale in 1846 only Oliver Mason and his sister Mary were still alive

Cornelius Collett [18M8] was baptised at Eyke on 27^th March 1748, the son of Anthony Collett and Mary May. Like many of his siblings, Cornelius was not referred to in his father’s Will of June 1783, although that may have been due the arrangement between Cornelius’ father Anthony and his brother Cornelius Collett [18L1], Lord of the Manor at Westerfield, whose Will six years later would benefit Cornelius and his surviving siblings, as detailed below. Under the terms his uncle’s Will of 1789, his only surviving child, his daughter Margaret and her children were to receive all his real and personal estate and in default of these to his nephew and merchant banker Cornelius Collett of Woodbridge and to William Goodwin of Earl Soham, in trust for sale and to divide the proceeds amongst the children of his late brother Anthony, that is Cornelius and his siblings. From 1794 Cornelius Collett was a Quartermaster with the a Troop of Suffolk Yeomanry

It was therefore sometime after that when Westerfield Manor was later sold to farmer Edward Edgar and his wife Barbara. By 1820 the manor house was held by Mileson Edgar of Red House Park. Ten years later it passed to his son Reverend Mileson Gery Edgar and, on his death in 1853, the manor was inherited by his nephew Captain Mileson Edgar of Red House Park. It is of particular interest that Captain Mileson Edgar was the son of the Reverend Edward Raikes Edgar and his wife Mary Lynch Collett, the daughter of Charles Collett [18N4] and Charlotte Lynch

Cornelius Collett is known to have married Susanna Page who was born at Clapton around 1740, with whom he had five children. Susanna Collett died at Woodbridge on 30^th January 1818, and was buried at Eyke on 6^th February 1818, aged 77. Following her husband’s death at Eyke ten years later on 20^th November 1828, Cornelius’ Will was proved on 17^th December 1828. In his Will he was referred to as ‘Cornelius Collett, banker of Woodbridge in Suffolk’, although it was at Eyke that he was buried with his wife on 23^rd November 1828 at the age of 80. It may be of interest that in Woodbridge today, there is a thoroughfare with the name ‘Collett Walk’. It might therefore be assumed that this was named as a tribute to Cornelius Collett

18N7 – Cornelius Collett was born in 1774 at Woodbridge

18N8 – Susanna Collett was born in 1775 at Woodbridge

18N9 – Cornelius Collett was born in 1776 at Woodbridge

18N10 – Lucy Collett was born in 1777 at Woodbridge

18N11 – Elizabeth Collett was born in 1778 at Woodbridge

18N12 – Mary Collett was born in 1780 at Woodbridge

Robert Collett [18M9] was born at Eyke on 10^th September 1749, where he was baptised on 18^th September 1749, the son of Anthony Collett and Mary May. He married Jane Brice of Southampton on 1^st February 1780 at St Michael’s Church in Southampton. Jane was the daughter of William and Mary Brice who was baptised at Southampton on 7^th December 1752. Robert Collett, Esquire, Merchant of London, residing at St Georges Bloomsbury, died there on 28^th July 1824, aged 77, and was buried within the parish of St Marylebone on 5^th August 1824. His widow Jane Collett died nine years after in 1833. Robert was yet another child of Anthony Collett not to be mentioned in his Will of June 1783

18N13 – Robert Henry Collett was born in 1781 at London

18N14 – William Brice Collett was born in 1785 at London

John Collett [18M10] was born at Eyke in 1750, where he was baptised on 22^nd October 1750, the son of Anthony Collett and Mary May. Tragically, when he was twenty-eight years old, he drowned off the coast of Ireland in 1778

Margaret Collett [18M11] was born at Eyke in 1752, and was baptised there on 15^th March 1752, the daughter of Anthony Collett and Mary May. Like some of her other siblings, Margaret was not mentioned in her father Anthony’s Will of 1783, which may indicate that she was already financially stable by then, as a result of her two marriages. There is some confusion about the two marriages of Margaret Collett, although it is known that she married (1) Thomas Ward of Dedham and (2) John Russell of Woodbridge, but not necessarily in that order. The marriage to Thomas Ward took place at Eyke on 7^th June 1776. Margaret died at Grundisburgh on 16^th February 1812, where she was also buried

Elizabeth Collett [18M13] was born at Eyke on 8^th March 1754 and was baptised there on 16^th May 1754, the daughter of Anthony Collett and Mary May. She was not a direct beneficiary under the terms of her father’s Will of 1783, although one thousand pounds was bequeathed to any future lawful issue that she might ever have that survived beyond the age of twenty-one. Eight years after the death of her father Anthony, Elizabeth Collett married John Ebden on 29^th October 1793 at Woodbridge. John was born at Sisland in Norfolk on 21^st January 1750 and was baptised that same day, the youngest of the seven children of William Ebden and Honour (Honoria) Bardwell. It was also at Sisland that he was baptised privately on 2^nd February 1751, and again publicly on 21^st February 1751. The marriage to Elizabeth Collett was the second for John, he having previously married Sarah Norman on 7^th January 1783. Sarah, who was baptised on 14^th June 1752 at St Cross South Elmham, died at Loddon in Norfolk on 10^th January 1793. That first marriage for John resulted in five children, with his second marriage to Elizabeth producing a further three children, all eight having been born at Loddon. Following the death of Elizabeth Ebden in 1842, the following obituary was published in the Ipswich Journal on Saturday 30^th April 1842. “23^rd inst., in the 88^th year of her age, much regretted, Elizabeth, widow of John Ebden, Esq, of Haughley in the county, and mother of the Rev J C Ebden of this town. She was daughter of the late Anthony Collett, Esq. of Eyke, and the last survivor of his numerous family”

As a young man John Ebden was a surgeon in the North American colonies before serving with the British Army in the American War of Independence, during which he was captured. However, he was released on parole to continue his work as a surgeon. After 4^th July 1776 John returned to England and took up the position of Surgeon to His Majesty’s Hospital for Sick and Wounded Soldiers at Plymouth. With his brother Thomas, Surgeon of Loddon, he later instituted "a convenient house at Loddon for the receipt of lunatic patients, whose occasional confinement will be softened by every care and attention that humanity can dictate". That was Loddon House, on Beccles Road in Loddon, which was built in 1716. However, it was only in 1827 that it was licenced as an asylum ‘for 25 lunatics’ and that only lasted until 1845 when it was eventually closed down

The eldest of Elizabeth’s and John’s three children was James Collett Ebden who was born at Loddon on 16^th August 1794. On 2^nd September 1828 he married Elizabeth Wylde (1802-1880) at St Michael’s Church, Millbrook in Bedfordshire. She was the daughter of Elizabeth Powney and Captain Sydenham Teast Wylde adjutant of the Somerset Yeomanry who was killed aged 24 when he was thrown from his horse while riding home from camp. James Collett Ebden was educated at Stowmarket and became an Anglican Deacon in 1817 and a Priest in 1818. He is known to have been the tutor to two of the Duke of Wellington’s great nephews and was the headmaster at Ipswich Grammar School from 1832 to 1843. The Reverend James Collett Ebden died at Great Stukeley near Huntingdon on 15^th February 1884, and his Will made on 4^th November 1880, was proved on 15^th July 1884. Tragically his son, Samuel Collett Ebden, who was born at Ipswich on 19^th February 1837, died on 3^rd February 1849 at St Giles in Northampton as a result of earlier injuries sustained when he fell from an upstairs window of his father’s home at The Vicarage in Great Stukeley. James Collett Ebden was 89 when he died. He was a Fellow of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, but migrated to Trinity Hall as Fellow and Tutor. He and Elizabeth had ten children, poor Samuel was the sixth, more importantly the third was Richard Powney Ebden, CB, Chief Clerk of the Colonial Office, the seventh was Francis Thomas Ebden, Indian Army Colonel and the ninth Edward James Ebden, ICS Commissioner, Bombay Presidency

His wife Elizabeth Wylde (1802-1880) kept a diary in which she made the following entries in 1867.

February 6^th: Mr Collett and Miss Grant arrived in the afternoon. Mr Collett leaves tomorrow. Miss Grant is to stay for a fortnight

February 28^th: Miss Grant took leave of us today and started out for Ipswich & Brightwell by the Midland Counties train to Cambridge from Godmanchester station. Very sorry to part with her

Then, in letters to her youngest son Edward in India, she writes on 6^th June 1869, you will have heard of Mr Collett’s death. After undergoing the severe operation for lithotomy in London, and was doing well, a sharp attack of asthma on that weakness caused him to sink. Your father buried him at Brightwell at the earliest request of the family. It was a trying business for him, he having known him so many years. There was no Will to be found, and poor Mrs Collett and Kate find themselves left wholly unprovided for. If Woodthorpe is allowed by the Lunacy Commission to remain with his mother and sister, that would help them a little. but not sufficiently without aid from the County Clergy Charity. Mrs Collett being 73 years of age & Kate by no means youthful now, your father is using every effort in the letter writing to promote their interests in Lincolnshire, her native county. This is a reference to Woodthorpe Collett [18N22], his wife and his unmarried daughter Catherine, being Kate

Exactly three years after the birth of their son James, Elizabeth gave birth to a daughter Juliet Ebden, who was baptised at Loddon on 13^th August 1897, when her parents were confirmed as John Ebden and Elizabeth Collett Ebden. Later in their life, Elizabeth and John Ebden and their family moved to Haughley, just north-west of Stowmarket, where they lived at Fir Tree House. And it was there that John died on 4^th September 1834 followed by Elizabeth on 23^rd April 1842, both of them being buried at Haughley in Suffolk. John Ebden’s Will was made less than a week before his death and was dated 29^th August 1834, and was proved on 26^th September 1834

John’s brother and fellow surgeon Thomas Ebden is of interest for other reasons. He was born at Cringleford on 5^th September 1743 and was baptised there six days later at St Peters Church on 11^th September. He married (1) Sarah Norman’s sister, but she died without issue. Thomas then married (2) Mary Grimmer in 1785, the marriage producing eight children for the couple, although their first two sons died in infancy. Thomas Ebden was buried at St Andrews Church in Barton Bendish on 4^th December 1808 and his Will, made on 3^rd June 1802 was proved at Norwich on 24^th May 1810. His seventh child was Sophia Ebden who was born at Barton Bendish on 12^th July 1799. She married James Collett [18N25] in 1830, but tragically died in January 1836 although not before presenting James with a daughter Fanny Collett, and a son Ebden Collett. James Collett was a nephew of Elizabeth Collett, he being the son of her brother Samuel Collett (below)

All of the original information relating to the Ebden family has been kindly supplied by Edward Anthony Maitland Ebden who was born at Kensington in London on 20^th December 1955. He was a son of William Maitland Ebden who died of a stroke on 27^th May 2021 at Maidstone Hospital at the age of 97, who was very proud of his Collett forebears. Sadly, Edward’s older brother William Nicholas Collett Ebden died in San Diego on 14^th August 1973, three months before his twentieth birthday, following which he was buried at Eynsford in Kent. During the years since the receipt of that initial information from Edward, other snippets of information have been gratefully received from Bill Ebden, Jack Ebden, and Edward Ebden himself

William Collett [18M14] was baptised at Eyke on 30^th November 1756, the son of Anthony Collett and Mary May. He was educated at Merton College in Oxford where he matriculated on 6^th February 1783 aged 26. The college record confirmed that he was the son of Anthony Collett of Eyke. William was one of the three major beneficiaries in the 1783 Will of his father who died in 1785, the other two being his mother Mary and his eldest brother Anthony (above). During the year following his matriculation, William Collett married Anna Carthew of Woodbridge on 13^th July 1784. She was the daughter of the Reverend Thomas Carthew, of Woodbridge Abbey, and his wife Elizabeth Morden, the first of his four wives. Elizabeth was the daughter of the Rev Thomas Morden, who was the brother of Sir William Morden Harbord, and it was the Morden family connection that later helped secure the post of Chaplain at Morden College in Blackheath for the only son of William Collett, his namesake William Collett. The six known children of William and Anna Collett were all born and baptised at All Saints Church in Swanton Morley (near Dereham in Norfolk). In 1788, for the baptism of daughter Sophia, and again the following year for daughter Mary, William was referred to as a clerk (a clerk in Holy Orders). On the occasion of the marriage of his daughter Frances in 1818, her wedding ceremony was conducted by Morden Carthew, where all of the other marriages around that time were conducted by Frances’ father William Collett the Rector

It was less than seven later that William Collett, Rector of Swanton Morley, died on 20^th September 1825 at the age of 69. Anna died at Clapham in Surrey on 27^th December 1830 aged 70, where she was buried on 31^st December 1830. The order of the birth of their children below is an approximate assumption based purely on the dates that they were married, since the exact dates that they were born have not been established at this time. Today, in All Saints Church in Swanton Morley there is a large marble memorial plaque over the doorway to the Vestry to William Collett and his family. This says:

“Sacred to the Memory of The Rev. William Collett who died September 20^th 1825 in the 70^th year of his age. During a period of more than 41 years he resided and officiated as the Minister of this Parish with Worthing, having been appointed Curate in 1784 and Rector in 1808. Charlotte Collett died Feb 27^th 1805 aged 18 years. Anna Collett died Nov 16^th 1806 aged 21 years. Anna his widow, daughter of Rev Thomas Carthew of Woodbridge Abbey Suffolk- Died 24^th Dec 1830 aged 70 years. She was buried with her husband and their above-named children in the vault at the NE corner of the Church yard

Previously, it had not been confirmed that William and Anna had daughter Sarah Collett, but that has now been confirmed through the 1815 Will of their son-in-law Thomas Leventhorpe, the husband of their daughter Frances Elizabeth. As well as Sarah, daughter Sophia, and their mother Anna were beneficiaries. Sarah Collett was originally believed to have married General George Whitmore, although that has now been disapproved thanks to new details received from Margaret Davison. What is interesting in the details provided by Margaret is that William and Anna’s daughter Sophia had a daughter Sarah who did marry a member of the Whitmore family

18N15 – Anna Collett was born in 1785 at Swanton Morley

18N16 – Charlotte Collett was born in 1787 at Swanton Morley

18N17 – Sophia Collett was born in 1788 at Swanton Morley

18N18 – Mary Collett was born in 1789 at Swanton Morley

18N19 – Frances Elizabeth Collett was born in 1792 at Swanton Morley

18N20 – Sarah Collett was born in 1794 at Swanton Morley

18N21 – William Collett was born in 1796 at Swanton Morley

Nathaniel Collett [18M15] was born at Eyke during August 1757, where he was baptised on 20^th August 1757, the son of Anthony Collett and Mary May. Whilst he was not a direct beneficiary under the terms of his father’s Will, one thousand pounds was bequeathed to any future lawful issue that he might ever have, that survived beyond the age of twenty-one

Anne Collett [18M16] was baptised at Eyke on 27^th July 1759, the youngest daughter of Anthony Collett and Mary May. It was also at Eyke that Anne later married surgeon William Jones of Woodbridge on 22^nd September 1793. Anne was yet another sibling who was not mentioned in the Will of her father, which was written in 1783

Woodthorpe Collett [18M17] was born at Eyke where he was baptised on 16^th December 1762, the son of Anthony Collett and Mary May. Just like his brother Nathaniel (above), Woodthorpe was also mentioned in his father’s Will as receiving one thousand pounds towards payment of any future lawful issue that he might ever have, should he survive beyond the age of twenty-one. He was married twice during his life, the first time to (1) Charlotte Spurling, the daughter of John Spurling, Esquire of Grundisburgh, whom he married at Burgh during July 1794, and with whom he had two children before Charlotte’s untimely death at Grundisburgh on 12^th December 1796, following which she was buried there on 19^th December 1796. Eighteen months later, on 24^th July 1798, Woodthorpe married (2) Letitia Skinner, the daughter of Francis Skinner of Ipswich, and that marriage produced a second daughter for Woodthorpe. Woodthorpe Collett was 71 when he died at Clopton, near Grundisburgh, on 23^rd December 1833, following which he was buried at Grundisburgh on 29^th December 1833. His wife Letitia Collett had already died at Clopton by then, she having passed away on 10^th May 1830, and it was recorded that Letitia Collett, aged 69, at Grundisburgh on 15^th May 1830

18N22 – Woodthorpe Collett was born in 1795 at Grundisburgh

18N23 – Charlotte Collett was born in 1796 at Grundisburgh

18N24 – Letitia Mary Collett was born in 1798 at Grundisburgh

Samuel Collett [18M18] was born at Eyke, and it was there that he was baptised on 10^th April 1764, the youngest child of Anthony Collett and Mary May. He was just approaching 21 years of age when his father died in 1785. In his father’s Will, Samuel was named as the youngest son, but was not a major beneficiary although, like his two brothers Nathaniel and Woodthorpe (above), one thousand pounds was bequeathed to him for any future lawful issue that he might ever have, if he survived beyond the age of twenty-one. Samuel was nearly 30 on 12^th September 1793 when he married Sarah Day, the daughter of John Day of St John’s, although there is speculation that Sarah may have been his second wife. It was nearly twelve years after they were married that Sarah presented Samuel with their only known child. Samuel Collett of Foxhall died on 17^th March 1825 at the age of 60, following which he was buried in the churchyard at Blyford, midway between Halesworth and Southwold. His widow survived him by almost twenty years, during which time she had left Blyford to settle in Hethersett, near Norwich, where Sarah Collett died on 18^th October 1844, at the age of 73

18N25 – James Collett was born in 1805

William Collett [18M22] was born at Stradbroke where he was baptised on 5^th February 1759, the eldest son of Samuel Collett and Lucy Cowper. New information kindly provided by Liz Whittaker in April 2010 revealed that William first married (1) Ann Wood on 14^th September 1784, but with no issue. According to the Suffolk Register of Marriages, Ann Wood was a widow. The records also show that, as Anna Tharlow, she married John Wood at Fressingfield on 7^th February 1780. It was more recent information, provided by Robert Porter that indicated Ann Wood was formerly Anna Tharlow. This new information also stated that she died at Fressingfield, where she was buried on 15^th June 1786, less than two years after she had married William Collett. Following the death of his first wife, William would have been around 32 when he married (2) Ann Flint at Fressingfield on 10^th October 1791. The record of that marriage included the letter W after his name, confirming his status as a widower. Ann was much younger than William, having been born around at 1770.

All of William’s and Ann’s first seven children were born while the family was living at Fressingfield in Suffolk, which lies just four miles south of county boundary with Norfolk, while no baptism record for their eighth child has yet been found. Ann Collett died at Fressingfield, where she was buried on 21^st May 1837, aged 71. Seven months later William Collett was described as the father of the groom and a labourer on the marriage certificate for his eldest son and widower William Collett, on the occasion of his second marriage to Mary Ann Dye at Poringland Magna, which lies just five miles south of Norwich, in December 1837. According to the census in June 1841, and following the death of his wife, William was living at Barlow Green in Stradbroke with the family of John and Phillace (Phyllis) Sayer when he had a rounded age of 85 and was still apparently working as an agricultural labourer. The maiden-name of Phyllis Sayer was Collett, so she was more than like the youngest child of William Collett and Ann Flint. However, less than five months later Phyllis Sayer nee Collett died at Stradbroke and it may have been from that time that William lived in the workhouse. What is known for sure is that William Collett died at the age of 88 on 3^rd April 1846 at Union House in Shipmeadow near Beccles in Suffolk. The cause of death was simply given as ‘old age’, while the informant was the Master of the Union House. And it was also at Shipmeadow that he was buried on 7^th April 1846

18N26 – William Collett was born in 1793 at Fressingfield

18N27 – Henry Collett was born in 1795 at Fressingfield

18N28 – Charles Collett was born in 1799 at Fressingfield

18N29 – Samuel Collett was born in 1801 at Fressingfield

18N30 – Benjamin Collett was born in 1803 at Fressingfield

18N31 – John Collett was born in 1805 at Fressingfield

18N32 – Lucy Collett was born in 1807 at Fressingfield

18N33 – Phyllis Collett was born in 1810 at Fressingfield

Charles Collett [18M23] was baptised at Stradbroke on 28^th November 1760, the son of Samuel and Lucy Collett. It seems highly likely that he was the Charles Collett who married Ann Taylor at Halesworth on 30^th March 1786

John Collett [18M24] was born at Stradbroke, where he was baptised on 20^th January 1762, the son of Samuel and Lucy Collett. Sadly, just three months later he died and was buried there on 17^th April 1762, when he was described as John Collett, infant

John Collett [18M26] was baptised at Stradbroke on 16^th March 1765, and was the youngest surviving son of Samuel Collett and Lucy Cowper. He married Elizabeth Thurlow who was baptised in 1763 at Wingfield, where the couple’s first child was born, before the family settled in Saxmundham where their remaining children were all born. It is possible, although not proved, that Elizabeth Thurlow may have been a sister or some other relative of Anna Tharlow, the first wife of John’s older brother William Collett (above). Tragedy struck the young family in 1803, when John Collett was killed at Saxmundham after falling from a tree on 7^th January 1803, although his age was stated as being 35, when actually he was around 38. In 1841 there were two widows by the name of Elizabeth Collett still living in Saxmundham, one was 70 and the other was 82, one of which was undoubtedly the widow of John Collett. It has now been confirmed that John and Elizabeth did have more children than was originally thought, and that it was their two youngest sons, Charles and William who were born at Saxmundham, who feature in Part 30 – The Suffolk & Norfolk Line

18N34 - John Collett was born in 1785 at Wingfield

18N35 - Ann Collett was born in 1791 at Saxmundham

18N36 - Hannah Collett was born in 1793 at Saxmundham

18N37 - Charles Collett was born in 1795 at Saxmundham

18N38 - William Collett was born in 1798 at Saxmundham

Lucy Collett [18M27] was born at Stradbroke where she was baptised on 2^nd May 1766, the daughter of Samuel and Lucy Collett. It was also at Stradbroke that she was buried on 16^th December 1781, when she was recorded as Lucy Collet aged 15

Elizabeth Collett [18M28] was born at Stradbroke and was baptised there on 13^th August 1767, the daughter of Samuel and Lucy Collett. Around three months later she died and was buried at Stradbroke on 26^th November 1767, when her surname was spelt using a single t

Martha Collett [18M29] was born at Stradbroke where she was baptised on 13^th August 1769. Curiously upon her death she was the only child in the tragic family of Samuel and Lucy Collett whose name was correctly spelt within the parish register when she was buried at Stradbroke on 1^st July 1770

Philologus Collett [18M30] was born at Stradbroke and it was there that he was baptised on 23^rd October 1770, the son of Samuel and Lucy Collett. Sadly, he was ten years old when he was buried at Stradbroke on 16^th November 1780, as confirmed by the parish register under the name of Collett

Anthony Collett [18M31] was born at Stradbroke where he was baptised on 28^th October 1771, the last child of Samuel Collett and his wife Lucy Cowper. He never reached his fourth birthday since he died during February 1775 and was buried at Stradbroke on 21^st February 1775 as Anthony Collet, infant

Hannah Collett [18M35] was born at Wilby where she was baptised on 20^th September 1772, the eldest child of William Collett and his first wife Hannah Mills. Hannah never married, although she gave birth to a base-born son who was also baptised at Wilby when Hannah was 20 years old. It is possible the child was already a couple of years old by then according to one unconfirmed source. Tragically, it was only nine years later that she died at Wilby, where the parish register recorded the burial of Hannah Collett on 17^th July 1801 at the age of 27 (sic)

18N39 – William Collett was born in 1792 at Wilby

William Collett [18M36] was born at Wilby where he was baptised on 5^th June 1775, the second son of William Collett and Hannah Mills. It was also at Wilby that William married Dinah Lockwood on 23^rd December 1798. Dinah was baptised at Wilby on 4^th August 1776, the daughter of Evans Lockwood and Jemima Rumsey. She was also the sister of Evans Lockwood who married William’s sister Ann Collett (below). All of the children of William Collett and Dinah Lockwood were born and baptised at Wilby. William and Dinah were residing in Wilby in 1841 when they were both 65, although Dinah’s age was incorrectly recorded as 55. Living there with them was their unmarried son John Collett, who was 25. William Collett died during the next decade, since his widow was still living at Wilby on the day of the census in 1851, but at Cole Street the home of her married daughter Dinah Allum, where Dinah Collett aged 77 was described as a pauper. It was during 1855 when Dinah Collett nee Lockwood passed away at the age of 81

18N40 – Jemima Collett (twin) was born in 1800 at Wilby

18N41 – Dinah Collett (twin) was born in 1800 at Wilby

18N42 – Mary Ann Collett was born in 1802 at Wilby

18N43 – Dinah Collett was born in 1804 at Wilby

18N44 – Jemima Collett was born in 1807 at Wilby

18N45 – William Collett was born in 1809 at Wilby

18N46 – John Collett was born in 1814 at Wilby

18N47 – James Collett was born in 1817 at Wilby

Ann Collett [18M37] was born at Wilby and was baptised there on 30^th March 1777. Three years after her brother William (above) had married Dinah Lockwood, Ann Collett married her brother Evans Lockwood at Wilby on 9^th November 1801. Evans was the son of Evans Lockwood and Jemima Rumsey, and was baptised at Wilby on 16^th October 1763. Evans Lockwood was elected the Clerk of Wilby Parish Council on 15^th February 1796. Both Ann and Evans were buried at Wilby, Ann on 26^th May 1842, and Evans on 7^th May 1844. It is likely that the couple had more than the one child mentioned here, but that child, Hezekiah Lockwood who was born at Wilby in 1806, is specifically referred to because he later married his cousin Ann Collett, the eldest daughter of John Collett (below)

Elizabeth Collett [18M38] was born at Wilby in 1779, and it was there that she was baptised on 27^th July 1800, the daughter of William Collett and his first wife Hannah Mills

JOHN COLLETT [18M39] was born at Wilby where he was baptised on 26^th January 1783, the youngest son of William Collett and Hannah Mills. He was a tailor in Brundish and he married Susan Watling on 15^th September 1803 at Tannington near Framlingham. Susan was born in 1769 and was the daughter of George Watling and Susan Jessop. All of their children were born and baptised at Wilby, except their eldest daughter Ann Collett who was born at Wetheringsett. Susan Collett nee Watling was buried at Wilby on 5^th August 1838, so by the time of the census in 1841 widow John Collett was 55, and had living with him at Wilby his daughters Frances, aged 25, and Hannah, aged 20. After a further ten years John was still residing in Wilby at the age of 65, with just his daughter Fanny Collett, aged 35, for company. It was five years later that John Collett died at Wilby, where he was buried on 30^th April 1856

18N48 – Ann Collett was born in 1804 at Wetheringsett

18N49 – Robert Collett was born in 1806 at Wilby

18N50 – Harriet Collett was born in 1808 at Wilby

18N51 – Frances Collett was born in 1810 at Wilby

18N52 – Charity Collett (twin) was born in 1813 at Wilby

18N53 – Susan Collett (twin) was born in 1813 at Wilby

18N54 – Hannah Collett was born in 1815 at Wilby

APPENDIX ONE

At an earlier time, in the 1500s, there were members of the Collett family living around Blythburgh, Westleton and Dunwich. Brief details are known for likely brothers Robert of Westleton, William of Blythburgh and Thomas of Westleton, plus their four married sisters, from the information provided in the Wills of Robert Collett in 1559 and William Collett in 1568. The two Wills also have a common link with Robert Coppin of Dunwich being the supervisor for both documents. The father of this family was William Collett [18d1] and his son Robert Collett [18e1], who died in 1559, was married to Beatrix, while the wife of William Collett [18e2] was Agnes. The children of William and Agnes were Erasmus Collett [18f1], Agnes Collett [18f2] and Rachel Collett [18f3], and they were all under adult age at the time of the death of their father in 1568. It is also known that Agnes gave birth to the couple’s fourth children [18f4] after he died. Thomas Collett [18e3] of Westleton was married and had a son William Collett [18f5], and possibly another son Matthew Collett [18f6]

APPENDIX TWO

Moving forward two hundred years, the next mention of Westleton comes in 1771 when Elizabeth Collett [18m1] married (1) George Howlett of Westleton at Dunwich on 10^th Jun 1771 (transcribed from Westleton Fiche No. 5 of 18). Ten years later George Howlett died at Westleton on 12^th March 1781 and was buried at St. Peter's Anglican Church (National Burial Index for England and Wales), following which his widow Elizabeth Howlett nee Collett marries (2) William Briggs at St Peter’s Church in Dunwich on 4^th February 1783. William Briggs was a widower who had been born in 1757. That second marriage for Elizabeth produced four children, the first two baptised at Westleton, the next two at Dunwich. They were James Briggs 1783, Jonas Briggs 1785, Mary Briggs 1790, and Benjamin Briggs 1791. A current day descendent of this Elizabeth Collett is Pat d'Easum in Western Canada, who also kindly provided the details below

The National Archives (Ref. #6 1205-1900) Dunwich Town Records includes, under the sub-section Sacrament Certificates, the incomplete details of the baptism records for five William Colletts as followed. William Collett [18l1] of Dunwich – 27^th October 1716 (EE6/1144/175/13), William Collett [18l2] of Dunwich - 24^th December 1718 (EE6/1144/175/18), William Collett [18l3] of Dunwich - 18^th October year not clear (EE6/1144/175/20), and William Collett [18l4] of Dunwich – 30^th July again year not clear (EE6/1144/175/39). It is therefore possible that a surviving William Collett may have been the father of Elizabeth (above)

Another of the Dunwich Town Records (EE6/1144/185/36) dated 21^st February 1764 also provides the name of James Collett [18m2], who was very likely related in some way to both Elizabeth and William. It reads: “Notice to quit property late Sir Jacob Garod Downing now belonging to Lady Downing. Contents served by Lady Downing, dated 16^th August 1764 on” - and there then is a list of 13 names of which at number 12 is the name James Collett. The words then continue: “Robinson Property which you held or occupied at his death as Tenants to him by Parol agreement and not under any Demise, on lease from said Sir Jacob Garod.”

The last of the Collett references noted within the Dunwich Town Records may well refer to this same James Collett as it was recorded that same year (EE6/1144/36 – 1764). “Examination of Collett, Moore, Hobart, Bayspole and Foster, sons of freemen who were unable to have the Freedom of the Borough unless they gave each a bond. After Michaelmas 1764 freedom could be obtained without giving bond