PART
EIGHTEEN
The Main Suffolk
Line - 1770 to 1850
This
is the second of four sections of Part 18 of the Collett family
Updated November 2024
Anthony
Collett [18N1] was
born at Walton near Felixstowe in 1769, where he was baptised on 6th
April 1770, the eldest son of Anthony Collett and Catherine Trusson. He attended University College at Oxford
where he matriculated on 13th February 1787. The college records also confirmed that he
was the eldest son of Anthony Collett of Walton in Suffolk. It was there that he gained a Bachelor of
Arts degree on 17th December 1790, and a little later his Master of
Arts on 28th June 1793. He
was presented by Lord Huntingfield in 1800 and to Heveningham in Suffolk by the
Lord Chancellor in 1803, the latter making him the Rector of Heveningham. He married Anne Rachel Curtis before the turn
of the century and was later the incumbent at Heveningham Hall. In 1813 Anthony paid out £420 for a modest
two-up, two-down house in Ubbeston, about one mile from Heveningham, that was
built in 1776 by Robert Baldry. That
house later became The Old Rectory and is still in existence today with a stone
sill that records the year built and Baldry’s initials. Baldry died in 1806, but not before he had
rebuilt Heveningham Hall which was vacated by Anthony Collett in 1813
Anthony was a wealthy man, owning 600 acres of
land and a year after buying the modest two-up two-down property he extended
the building at the eastern end to accommodate his growing family. The family remained living in the house until
1826, when it was passed to eldest son Anthony.
It was around that time, that it would appear Anthony Collett senior and
his wife Anne left Ubbeston and moved, the ten miles east, to Aldringham near
Leiston. Their son Anthony did not stay
long living in the house at Ubbeston, but moved to Bury-St-Edmunds, at which
time the house was leased to local farmer Simon Smyth and his wife Phoebe and
their two teenage children. By 1841 the
house had been further extended at the back to accommodate two live-in servants. Three years prior to that date Anthony
Collett senior had died at Heveningham during February in 1838, and it was
there also that he was buried on 26th February 1838. The parish register record that he 68 and a
rector. An article in the Gentleman’s
Magazine reported his death as follows: February 27th at Leamington aged
67, the Reverend Anthony Collett of Kelsale House in Suffolk, an acting
magistrate of that county, Rector of Heveningham and perpetual curate of
Aldringham-with-Thorpe(ness) and Great Linsted
Anthony’s Will was proved on 22nd
May 1838 and was listed as the Will of ‘Reverend Anthony Collett, Rector, and
Clerk of Heveningham in Suffolk’.
Sometime following the death of her husband his widow moved to Bury-St-Edmunds,
where Anne Rachel Collett was living when she died in March 1849. However, she was buried with her husband at
Heveningham on 20th March 1849, aged 73. Her Will was proved on 2nd May
1849 and was recorded as the Will of ‘Anne Rachel Collett widow of
Heveningham’. Less than three years
before he died, on 22nd December 1835, the Reverend Anthony Collett,
magistrate, had tried unsuccessfully to persuade a mob of 200 rioters at
Bulcamp Workhouse near Blythburgh to disperse.
In the end he was forced to read them the Riot Act which was more
successful, although they threatened to return later. All of this was reported in a letter from
Harry White, Clerk to the Guardians of the Blything Poor Law Union, to the Poor
Law Commission, enclosing minutes of the meeting of the board of guardians of
the Blything Poor Law Union, and resolutions relating to mob control. The full story was told in Collett Newsletter
No. 64, available upon request
18O1 - Anthony Collett was born in 1800 at
Heveningham
18O2 - Anne Collett was born in 1802 at
Heveningham
18O3 - Catherine
Charlotte Collett
was born in 1805 at Heveningham
18O4 – William Collett was born in 1812 at
Heveningham
Thomas
Collett [18N2] was
born at Walton in 1771 and was baptised there on 7th July 1771, the
son of Anthony Collett and Catherine Trusson.
He married Margaret Bushell with whom he had five children. It is very likely that the children were all
born at Minster-in-Thanet to the west of Ramsgate in Kent, since it was there,
in the Church of St Mary, that they were all baptised within a few days of
their birth. Thomas Collett was known as
‘Thomas of Ringleton’ (Woodnesborough in Kent) and towards the end of
his life he lived at Woodnesborough near Sandwich in Kent, where he died in
1845 at the age of 73. His wife Margaret
died in 1838. Whilst Ringleton does not
appear to be a hamlet or a village settlement, it is most likely to be a
reference to Ringleton Farm at Woodnesborough, which was known to be farmed by
members of the Collett family
18O5 - Margaret Collett was born in 1804 at
Minister-in-Thanet
18O6 - Thomas Collett was born in 1805 at
Minister-in-Thanet
18O7 - George Collett was born in 1806 at
Minister-in-Thanet
18O8 - Mary Collett was born in 1808 at
Minister-in-Thanet
18O9 – Catherine
Collett
was born in 1810 at Minister-in-Thanet
Catherine
Collett [18N3[ was
born at Walton in 1773 and it was there that she was baptised on 16th
April 1773, the only daughter of Anthony Collett and Catherine Trusson. Catherine married Henry Pett Hannam of
Northbourne near Deal in Kent, at Walton on 20th September
1797. Once married Catherine and Henry
settled in Northbourne where their children were born. Only two are listed here, although there may
have been others. The couple’s eldest
daughter Catherine Ann Hannam was born on 12th December 1799
at Northbourne in Kent and was only 34 years old when she died on 21st
January 1834, while her mother Catherine Hannam nee Collett died twenty years
later on 5th December 1854.
The younger daughter Harriet Pett Hannam, who was born on 20th
July 1802 and also at Northbourne, married Anthony Collett [18O1]
Charles
Collett [18N4] was
born at Walton in 1774 where he was baptised on 3rd November 1774,
the son of Anthony Collett and Catherine Trusson. Charles married (1) Charlotte Lynch at
Walton-cum-Felixstowe in 1801. During
their short-married life Charlotte presented Charles with six children before
she died at the end of 1813, possibly during the birth of the sixth child. All of their children were born and baptised
at Walton in Felixstowe, where Charlotte Collett died on 27th
December 1813 and was buried on 1st January 1814 at the age of just
37. Within the Walton burial records is
the following poorly written entry: “Ch
Altar tomb palisaded Charlotte w of Cha Collett 27 Dec 1813 age 37, 3 of their
sons d. inf. Cha Collett 16 Aug 1842 age 67, Cath their 2nd dau w of
Hen.......”. Thereafter the handwriting is very difficult to read
It was during the year following the death of
his wife that Charles Collett married (2) Elizabeth Harmsworth at Walton in
1814. That second marriage produced a
sixth child for Charles, who was also baptised at Walton in Felixstowe. All of Charles’ children had been born at
Walton and, by June 1841, the remnants of family were living at the High Street
in Walton on the day of the census that year.
The five members of the family were recorded with rounded ages, with Charles
Collett being 65 and a farmer, his wife Elizabeth Collett being 60, their two
daughters Charlotte Collett and Elizabeth Collett being 30 and 25 respectively,
together with their son William Collett who was 20. All of them were confirmed as having been
born within the County of Suffolk. On
that day, Charles employed three female servant and one male servant. They were Elizabeth Self aged 30, Susan
Whitby aged 25, Mary who was 15, as was James Nice. Living next door, at Wadgate, was coast guard
James Hannah. Charles Collett died at Walton
on 16th August 1842 and was buried there on 24th August
1842 aged 67, when he was referred to as Charles Collett of Walton. It was nine years after the death of her
husband that Elizabeth Collett nee Harmsworth died at Bury-St-Edmunds during
the last week of September, following which she was buried at Stanningfield on
27th September 1851, aged 75.
Six months prior to her passing, Elizabeth Collett from Newbury was 74,
when she was living at Bury-St-Edmunds with her son William Collett who was the
Curate at Stanningfield, who conducted his mother’s funeral service
18O10 – Mary Lynch Collett was born in 1807 at Walton-cum-Felixstowe
18O11 – Catherine Collett was born in 1807 at
Walton-cum-Felixstowe
18O12 – Charlotte Collett was born in 1809 at
Walton-cum-Felixstowe
18O13 – Elizabeth Collett was born in 1810 at
Walton-cum-Felixstowe
18O14 – Charles Lynch Collett was born in 1811 at
Walton-cum-Felixstowe
18O15 – Charles Collett was born in 1813 at
Walton-cum-Felixstowe
The child of Charles Collett by his second wife
Elizabeth Harmsworth:
18O16 – William Collett was born in 1818 at
Walton-cum-Felixstowe
Cornelius
Collett [18N5] was
born at Walton in 1786 and was baptised there on 30th March 1787,
the son of Anthony Collett and Catherine Trusson. However, it would appear that he must have
suffered an infant death, since the next child born to Anthony and Catherine
was also given the name Cornelius.
Curiously though, while there are two baptism records for Cornelius
Collett, both the sons of Anthony and Catherine, there is no burial record for
a Cornelius between the two dates.
Furthermore, upon the death of Cornelius Collett (below), his
date of birth was given as the date of the baptism of the first of the two
Cornelius. So was there only one of
them, and could he have been baptised twice, just two years apart. Alternatively, if there was only one, the
first ‘baptism date’ may have been his birth date
Cornelius
Collett [18N6] was
born at Walton shortly after the death of his brother of the same name in 1787,
and it was there also that he was baptised on 2nd March 1789, the
youngest and last child of Anthony Collett and Catherine Trusson. Cornelius Collett was around 35 years old
when he married Amelia Daniel on 14th May 1822, the wedding taking
place at Falkenham, in Suffolk, on Amelia’s twenty-eighth birthday. Amelia was the daughter of Robert Daniel and
his wife Alice Woodruffe, and was baptised at Falkenham near Felixstowe on 19th
May 1794. Following their marriage,
Cornelius and Amelia settled in Beverley, within the East Riding of Yorkshire,
just north of Kingston-upon-Hull.
However, it was at Amelia’s home town of Falkenham, that the couple’s
first child was baptised, with the parish register stating the child was of
Beverley. During his life, he was
referred to as ‘Cornelius Collett of Beverley’ in Yorkshire, and it was there
where three of the couple’s four sons were born. Cornelius Collett died at Beverley on 30th
March 1840 and was buried there on 6th April 1840. The Northern Star and Leeds General
Advertiser, published on 4th April 1840, included the following
death notice for him. "On Monday last at his house in
Beverley, Cornelius Collett, Esq. He was
born 30 March 1787 and died 30 March 1840, having just lived to complete his 53rd
year." It is very
interesting that the stated date of his birth was actually the baptism date for
his brother. See the notes above on this
subject
The first national census in June 1841 recorded
Amelia Collett, aged 45 and a widow, living at North Bar Street in Beverley
with just three of her four sons. Her
three sons were listed as Charles Collett and Samuel Collett, both aged 15, and
Daniel Collett who was 12. At that same
time, Amelia’s youngest son Trusson Collett, who was nine years old, was
staying with his uncle Charles Collett (above) at Woodbridge. Twenty years after the death of Cornelius
Collett, an item appeared in The Times newspaper on 7th September
1860. The article reported that “Trusson, youngest son of the late Cornelius
Collett Esquire of Beverley, had married Elizabeth Charlotte Collett”. There was also a similar notice published
in the Ipswich Journal on 8th September. According to the Beverley census conducted in
1851, widow Amelia Collett from Falkenham was 56 and an annuitant, employed two
female servants and one male servant, who had living with her at North Bar Street,
her son Trusson Collett who was 18, with no stated occupation
Sometime later, Amelia left Beverley when she
moved to London where, in 1861 she was living at Newton Street in Paddington at
the age of 66, when she was a fund holder.
On that day, she was staying at the home of her married son Giuseppe
Collett, formerly Trusson Collett, her youngest son. The other two residents were Elizabeth C
Collett, his wife, and his sister-in-law Catherine A Collett. Within the following decade she moved again,
that time to Spring Grove Road which runs between Heston and Isleworth, through
Hounslow in Middlesex, where she had been reunited with her unmarried son
Samuel. In the census of 1871, Amelia
Collett was 76 and a widow having an annuity, as had her eldest surviving son
Samuel. At the time of the death of
Amelia Collett nee Daniel on 3rd September 1880, at the age of 86,
she was recorded as being of Clare Lodge, Spring Grove in Isleworth. However, it was at Ramsey near Harwich in
Essex, where she was buried six days later on 9th September, where a
headstone for her mother’s Woodruffe family refers to her as “the relict of
Cornelius Collett of Beverley”
In addition to the burial of many members of
the Woodruffe family, Ramsey’s churchyard also contains a record of the burial
of William Woodthorpe, who died on 15th September 1806 at the age of
55. He was the husband of Judith Woodthorpe who died on 17th
April 1792 aged 38 years and the son-in-law of John Woodruffe (Judith’s father)
who died on 2nd April
1788 aged 65, whose wife was Judith Woodruffe who died on 11th March
1808 aged 80. Probate of the Wil of
Amelia Collett was proved at the Principal Registry in London on 11th
March 1881, when the two beneficiaries were her son Samuel Collett and Trusson
Collett. Why her other surviving son
Daniel was not mentioned is curious
18O17 – Charles Collett was born in 1823 at
Beverley, Yorkshire
18018 – Samuel Collett was born in 1824 at
Beverley, Yorkshire
18O19 – Daniel Collett was born in 1828 at
Beverley, Yorkshire
18O20 - Trusson Collett was born in 1831 at
Beverley, Yorkshire
Cornelius
Collett [18N7] was
born at Woodbridge in 1774, where he was baptised at St Mary’s Church on 20th
July 1774, the eldest son of Cornelius Collett and Susanna Page. Tragically, it was less than a week later
that baby Cornelius Collett was buried there on 25th July 1774
Susanna
Collett [18N8] was
born at Woodbridge around June 1775, and was baptised at St Mary’s Church on 2nd
July 1775, the eldest daughter of Cornelius Collett and Susanna Page. She later married attorney Rayner Cox, who
was born at Harwich where he was baptised at the Church of St Nicholas on 17th
October 1775, the son of Rayner and Sarah Cox. The couple’s wedding service was conducted at
St Mary’s Church in Woodbridge on 8th October 1799. Susanna Cox later died in Hertfordshire,
where she was buried
Cornelius
Collett [18N9] was
born at Woodbridge in 1776, where he was baptised at St Mary’s Church on 24th
August 1776, the second son of Cornelius Collett and Susanna Page. He was named after his older brother of the
same name, who had died just two years earlier.
By 1797 he was Lieutenant Cornelius Collett of the Royal Navy. Upon his death, he was buried at Woodbridge
Lucy
Collett [18N10] was
born at Woodbridge in 1777. It was also
there that she was baptised on 9th January 1778, the daughter of
Cornelius and Susanna Collett, although sadly she died not long after that
while still an infant
Elizabeth
Collett [18N11] was
born at Woodbridge, where she was baptised on 11th December 1778,
the daughter of Cornelius Collett and Susanna Page. She later married John Gurling (Girling) who
worked at The Customs House in London, and they had a son. The only other known fact about Elizabeth is
that she died at Ingatestone (Inggleston) in Essex, where she was buried. It may be of interest that William Collett [18L38]
married his second wife Mary Girling at Wilby in 1801. Whether she was related in some way to John
Girling is not known at this time
Mary
Collett [18N12] was
born at Woodbridge during July 1780, the youngest child of Cornelius Collett
and Susanna Page, and was baptised at St Mary’s Church in Woodbridge on 25th
July 1780. She was 21 when she married
William Whincosp at Woodbridge on 22nd March 1802. William Whincosp of Bridfield was a surgeon,
and all of their children, apart from the last one, were baptised as St Mary’s
Church in Woodbridge. They were Mary
Whincosp on 4th January 1803, Elizabeth Whincosp on 14th
January 1804, William Horatius Whincosp on 8th August 1806, Susanna
Whincosp on 4th August 1808, and Sarah Helen Whincosp on
1st September 1815, but at Melton in Suffolk, north-east of
Woodbridge. On some occasions, the
surname was written as Whincopp
Robert
Henry Collett [18N13]
was born in London on 9th April 1781 and was baptised at All Hallows
Church in Bread Street on 3rd may 1781, the eldest son of Robert
Collett and his wife Jane Brice. He was
educated at Fulham School in London by Mr Owen, and from there he entered
Trinity College in Cambridge on 4th July 1798 at the age of 18. The university records confirm he was the son
of Robert Collett of London, and that he was born in 1782. He matriculated in 1799 and obtained his BA
in 1803, followed three years later by his MA in 1806. He married Frances Meyler Smith, the daughter
of Henry and Frances Smith of Peckham House in Camberwell, Surrey, who was
baptised on 6th April 1786 at Hartburn in Northumberland. The marriage took place at St Giles Church in
Camberwell on 27th October 1809, following which the couple
initially lived at Little Ilford in Essex, where their first nine children were
born, before moving to Kent where their last two known children were born
It may also be of interest that Robert’s son
William Lloyd Collett married Frances Harriett Smith, the daughter of one Henry
Smith, who may well have been a relative of Robert’s wife. Frances Meyler Smith lived on for almost
another twenty years after his death, before she passed away at Tunbridge Wells
on 26th August 1857. Robert
Henry Collett died at Brighton on 22nd July 1838 and was buried
there on 28th July. His Will
was proved on 4th September 1838.
In the Will, he was referred to as ‘Reverend Robert Collett, Clerk of
Westerham’. In addition to the
previously listed seven children, it is now known that Robert and Frances had
another daughter who died at Torquay on 16th October 1848 at the age
of 18, and she was their nineth child Jessie Collett. The later Letters of Administration of
Frances Meylor Collett were signed on 25th June 1858, when her
personal effects were valued at under £8,000 when the Principal Registry
granted to the Reverend William Lloyd Collett of Shepherd’s Bush, a clerk (in
Holy Orders) one of the children of the deceased, he having been first
sworn
18O21 – Frances Jane Collett was born in 1811 at
Little Ilford, Essex
18O22 – Mary Ann Collett was born in 1812 at
Little Ilford, Essex
18O23 – Robert Henry Collett was born in 1814 at
Little Ilford, Essex
18O24 – Caroline Collett was born in 1815 at
Little Ilford, Essex
18O25 – Helen Maria Collett was born in 1817 at
Little Ilford, Essex
18O26 – William Lloyd Collett was born in 1818 at
Little Ilford, Essex
18O27 – Henry Gerard Collett was born in 1823 at
Little Ilford, Essex
18O28 – Christopher Theophilus Collett was born in 1825 at
Little Ilford, Essex
18O29 – Jessie Collett was born in 1827 at
Little Ilford, Essex
18O30 – Philip Morden Collett was born in 1829 at Speldhurst,
Kent
18O31 – John James Collett was born in 1832 at Westerham,
Kent
William
Brice Collett [18N14]
was born in London on 27th May 1785 where he was baptised on 29th
June 1785 at St Pancras Church in Soper Lane, the second of two children of
Robert Collett and Jane Brice. Nothing
else is known about William, except that he was still a bachelor when he died
on 19th September 1808 at the age of 23. He was subsequently buried at Bow Church in
London on 24th September 1808, where his father, who had died
sixteen years later, was a merchant
Anna
Collett [18N15] was
born at Swanton Morley in 1785 and it was there in All Saints Church that she
was baptised on 29th April 1785, the same day she was born, the
eldest child of William Collett, Curate of Swanton Morley, and his wife Anna
Carthew. Anna was only twenty-one when
she died at Swanton Morley on 16th November 1806 and was buried on
21st November in the family grave at All Saints Church, her father
conducting the burial ceremony, as he had done the previous year for Anna’s
sister Charlotte (below)
Charlotte
Collett [18N16] was
born at Swanton Morley in 1787, where she was baptised on 28th
January 1787, the second daughter of William and Anna Collett. She was only 18 years old when she died on 27th
February 1805 and was buried in the family grave at All Saints Church on 5th
March. A memorial tribute to her father
within the church also includes the names of Charlotte and her sister Anna (above),
who died during the following year
Sophia
Collett [18N17] was
born at Swanton Morley on 17th February 1788, the third child of
William Collett and Anna Carthew, and was baptised at All Saints Church on that
same day. One year before she was
married, Sophia Collett was a beneficiary under the terms of the 1815 Will of
her brother-in-law Thomas Leventhorpe, the husband of her younger sister
Frances Elizabeth Collett (below). Sophia was then married by licence to the much
older John Deacon on 12th October 1816 at Swanton Morley, when John
was described as an Esquire from the Parish of St Peter Cogn Hill in London, a
widower. Sophia was a spinster ‘of the
parish’ and the service was conducted by Vicar Morden Carthew, standing in for
her father William Collett, Rector of Swanton Morden, who had taken charge of
the marriages in the parish register.
The situation was the same at the wedding of Sophia’s sister Frances
Elizabeth (below). Both Sophia
and John signed the register in their own hand, while the two witnesses were
Frances Elizabeth Collett and William Collett junior, Sophia’s sister and
brother
John Deacon was a banker of London and of
Mapledon Park in Kent, and their marriage produced at least nine children. By the time of the June census in 1841, six
of their nine known children were living with the couple in the Marylebone
Rectory registration district of London, while the three absent children were
very likely attending a boarding school elsewhere, since they were back living
with the family ten years later. The
1841 Census listed the family as John Deacon who was 65, Sophia Deacon who was
50, their daughters Mary Deacon and Sarah Deacon, who both had a rounded
age of 20, Helen Deacon who was 14, Harriet Deacon who was 10, Lucy
Deacon who was nine, and Catherine Deacon who was eight years
old. Ten years after that the family was
once again recorded at Marylebone Rectory when it was comprised John Deacon who
was 78, his wife Sophia who was 60, Mary who was 29, Sophia Deacon who
was 27, Honora Deacon who was 26, John Deacon who was 25, Ellen
(Helen) who was 23, Harriet who was 20, Lucy who was 19 and Catherine who was
18. Missing from this list of children
is William Samuel Deacon, who was named as Sophia’s son (with John Deacon), two
of the three executors of her 1869 Will
Sometime after 1851 the family left London,
when they retired to the south coast and Hasting. It was also during that decade that John
Deacon died at the age of 71, and was buried on 10th December 1851
at St Luke’s Church in Chelsea. Nine
years after being made a widow Sophia Deacon was 73 when she was residing
within the St Mary-in-the-Castle district of Hastings in 1861 with just three
of her unmarried daughters. They were
Mary Deacon who was 42, Sophia Deacon who was 39, and Ellen B Deacon who was
34. Sophia Deacon nee Collett died eight
years later on 16th July 1869 at Mabledon (in the Parish of Tonbridge)
in Kent. Her Will was proved at the
Principal Registry on 19th August 1869 by the oaths of John Deacon
Esquire and William Samuel Deacon Esquire, both of 20 Birchin Lane in London,
her sons, and George Campion Courthorpe of Whiligh in Sussex, the three
executors of the Will, assessed as being valued under £140,000
It is now established that Sophia’s daughter
Sarah Deacon married the Reverend George Whitmore of Shropshire. He was the younger son of the senior branch
of the Whitmore family of Apley Park in Shropshire. The Apley Whitmore family was related to the
Wolryche Whitmore family at Dudmaston Hall in Shropshire, as well as the
Whitmore family of Lower Slaughter in Gloucestershire, which included two
General George Whitmores, one of whom allegedly married Sarah Collett, the
younger sister of Sophia Collett, which has now been disproved by Margaret
Davison, a current day descendant of the Whitmore family. Sarah Deacon and George Whitmore had several
children, including Geraldine Ellen Georgina Whitmore, their youngest daughter. She married Percy Robert Kenyon-Slaney of La
Florida, Rosario, Argentina, the son of Colonel Kenyon-Slaney of Hatton Grange
in Shropshire, at St. Peter’s Church, Eaton Square, Belgravia, London in 1895
Mary
Collett [18N18]
was born at Swanton Morley on 27th February 1789 and was baptised
there on 1st March 1789, the fourth daughter of William and Anna
Collett. It was also at Swanton Morley
on 29th July 1811 that Mary married Thomas Leventhorpe of St Pancras
London and Exmouth. Thomas had been
baptised at St Mary’s Church, Whitechapel, Stepney in London on 14th
June 1776, the son of Samuel and Elizabeth Leventhorpe. Their marriage only survived for four short
years, when first Thomas passed away, followed by Mary who died on 23rd
September 1819. However, they did have
three children; Mary Anna Leventhorpe baptised at St Pancras Old Church
on 15th August 1813, Thomas William Leventhorpe who was born
on 28th March 1814 and baptised at St Georges Bloomsbury on 15th
November 1814, and another son who was born on 15th May 1815 and
baptised on 29th February 1816 also at St Georges Bloomsbury. The Will of Thomas Leventhorpe of Aldgate in
the City of London, together with two Codicils, was proved in London on 1st
May 1815, the Codicils proved on 31st August and 16th
November that same year. His wife Mary
Leventhorpe was mentioned in all three documents, with the first Codicil
leaving a bequeath to Mary’s mother Anna Collett
Frances
Elizabeth Collett [18N19] was born at Swanton Morley on 14th April 1792,
where she was baptised on the following day 15th April, the fifth
child of William and Anna Collett. She was
later married by licence to the Reverend John Preston Reynolds of Thetford, the
son of Francis Riddell Reynolds of Great Yarmouth, who was born there on 27th
October 1794 and baptised on the very next day. The entry in the church register for Swanton
Morley, for their wedding on 6th October 1818, described John as a
bachelor from the Parish of Dereham, while Frances was ‘a spinster of this
parish’. They both signed the register
in their own hand, when the witnesses were three members of the Reynolds
family, Anne Elizabeth Reynolds, Mary Ann Reynolds, and Phyllis Preston
Reynolds, John’s sister. The fourth
witness was Frances’ married and widowed sister Mary Leventhorpe (above)
who died during the following year. Whilst
their marriage ceremony was conducted by Vicar Morden Carthew, all of the other
marriages around that time were conducted by William Collett, the Rector of
Swanton Morley, who was Frances’ father
It was John’s sister Phyllis Preston Reynolds
who married Frances’ brother William Collett (below). John Preston Reynolds was educated at Caius
College in Cambridge and later took on Necton Parish in Norfolk, where he
served from 1845 to 1861 and where he died on 22nd May 1861 at the
age of 66. And it was at Necton where he
was buried on 29th May. His
Will, valued under £20,000, was proved at the Principal Registry by William
Collett Reynolds of Great Yarmouth, and Jacob Reynolds of Liverpool, his
sons and executors of the Will. His wife
Frances Elizabeth Reynolds nee Collett passed away four years later when
residing in the hamlet of Thorpe St Andrew, just east of Norwich, when she was
73, and was buried at Necton with her husband on 7th July 1865. The Will of Frances Elizabeth Reynolds was
estimated to be worth less than £1,500 and was proved at Norwich on 5th
August by the oath of sole executor Theophila Reynolds her daughter and
spinster of Thorpe, following her death on 1st July 1865
Their marriage produced ten children, possibly
all born at Little Munden in Hertfordshire, where their father may have been
attached to All Saints Church in that village.
The first child John Collett Reynolds was born a year after
Frances and John were married, during October 1819, while another son William
Collett Reynolds was born at Little Munden in 1826. Both those two sons attended the King Edward
Grammar School in Bury-St-Edmunds between 1831 and 1839. The other children were: Frances Mary Reynolds
(born 1820), Charlotte Reynolds (born 1823), Anna Reynolds (born
1825), Theophila Reynolds (born 1828), Jacob Reynolds (born
1830), Thomas Reynolds (born 1831), Francis Samuel Reynolds (born
1834), and Edward Henry Reynolds (born 1837)
It may also be of interest that, in 1814, John
Collett Reynolds of Little Witchingham, north of Norwich, and James Collett
Reynolds of Rumburgh near Bungay in Suffolk were farmers of 74 acres and 112
acres respectively. It was from the
family of the Reverend John Preston Reynolds and his wife Frances Elizabeth
Collett that today we have the family of their great granddaughter Gillian
Shackleton Hawley, who has been instrumental in putting together details for
this section of The Suffolk Line. In
2012 Gillian was living on the Writtlemarsh estate at Blackheath in London, the
area formerly being the site of the home of Sir John Morden, which is situated
next to Morden College where William Collett (below) was the
chaplain. And it was from Gillian’s
‘Yorkshire Shackleton Family’ that the explorer Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton
(1874-1922) was descended
Sarah Collett [18N20] was born at Swanton
Morley in 1794 who, prior to 2021, was not confirmed as another daughter of
William and Anna Collett. Now, thanks to
Roger Collett, it is known that ‘sisters-in-law’ Sarah Collett and her older
sister Sophia Collett (above) and their mother Anna Collett,
‘mother-in-law’, were beneficiaries under the terms of the first of two
Codicils to the Will of Thomas Leventhorpe proved on August 1815. Thomas was the husband of Frances Elizabeth
Collett (above)
William
Collett [18N21] was
born at Swanton Morley on 17th August 1796 and was baptised that
same day at All Saints Church in Swanton Morley, the youngest child and only
son of William Collett and Anna Carthew.
His early education was conducted at North Walsham School, Hingham
School, and Fransham School where he matriculated in 1815. He entered Trinity College in Cambridge on 18th
November 1814 but after just over a year he migrated to Sidney Sussex College
on 23rd February 1816. He
gained a BA in 1819, and achieved an MA in 1825, by which time he was a married
man with two children. The university records
confirm that he was the son of William Collett, Rector of Swanton Morley. He married (1) Phillis Preston Reynolds, the
daughter of Francis Riddell Reynolds of Great Yarmouth, and the sister of the
Reverend John Preston Reynolds who married William’s sister Frances Elizabeth
Collett (above). The wedding took
place at St Nicholas’ Church in Great Yarmouth on 24th October 1820,
after which the couple settled in Bramerton, five miles to the east of Norwich,
where their first five children were born.
By the time of the birth of their sixth and last child William and Phillis
were living in Thetford. Tragically, it
was over a year after the birth of their sixth child that Phillis Preston
Collett nee Reynolds died on 4th June 1831, at the age of 29, and
was buried at Great Yarmouth on 10th June 1831, Phillis having been
born on 28th October 1801 and baptised the following day
Upon receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in
1819 he was ordained as a deacon in Norwich on 12th December that
year, and less than a year later, he was made a priest on 15th
October 1820. From 1821 to 1836 he was
Vicar (and patron) of Surlingham St Saviour with St Mary in Norwich, which
overlapped with him being curate of St Mary’s Church in Thetford from 1828 to
1862. He was also the curate at Thetford
Hospital for a while. Four years after
the death of his wife, William married (2) Ellen Clarke Bidwell on 2nd
June 1835. Ellen was the daughter of
Leonard Shelford Bidwell and Sarah Clarke and was born on 18th
December 1809 and was privately baptised four days later on 22nd
December at Thetford. William’s second
marriage to Ellen, who was thirteen years younger than her husband, added
another seven children to his family and all of them were born at
Thetford. It was during that time in his
life that William was the Rector of Bressingham, to the east of Thetford, from
1836 to 1841. Following his time as the
Rector of Thetford from 1841 to 1861 he spent the period from 1862 to 1865 as
the Chaplain of Morden College at Blackheath in South-East London, which was
founded by Sir John Morden in 1700. The
method by which he achieved that position was by submitting a family tree which
confirmed his connection to Elizabeth Morden, the first of four wives of the
Reverend Thomas Carthew of Woodbridge Abbey, who was William’s maternal
grandmother, being the mother of William’s mother Anna Carthew
It was Elizabeth Morden's uncle, Sir William
Morden, who inherited the Harbord family estate, at which time he was obliged
to change his name to Harbord, following which the Harbords became Lord
Suffield of Gunton Hall at Aylsham in Norfolk.
It was therefore fitting that one of his brother’s great grandchildren
(William Collett) became the Chaplain at Morden College. Upon his retirement as the outgoing chaplain,
the position was filled by his distant cousin the Rev. Hon. John Harbord who
held it from 1865 to 1892. Such was the
high regard for the Morden name, that William’s son Charles Preston Collett
gave his daughter Margaret the second name of Morden, as did William’s cousin,
Robert Henry Collett (above), who named his son Philip Morden
Collett. All of this information has been kindly provided by Gillian Shackleton
Hawley, the great granddaughter of the Reverend John Preston Reynolds and
Frances Collett (above)
The first national census to be held in the
United Kingdom on 6th June 1841 used rounded ages for adults, while
children’s ages generally reflected their actual age. On that day in 1841, William Collett and his
family were living at Bungay Road in Thetford, where William’s rounded age was
40, when he was a clergyman. His wife
Ellen Collett was 30, and the children living with the couple at that time were
Anna Collett who was 15, rather than 19, Sophia Collett who was 13, Lucy
Collett who was 11, Henry Collett who was five, Edward Collett who was three,
and baby Mary Collett who was eight months old.
Just seventeen months earlier William and Ellen suffered the loss of
their daughter Ellen who was only a few months old. The next census in 1851 for Thetford provided
a better indication of their actual ages.
In that, William was 54 and Ellen was 41. The same children as in 1841, with the
exception of their son Henry, were still living with the couple, but with the
addition of two extra children. The
children were Anna, aged 29, Sophia 22, Lucy 21, Edward 13, Mary 10, Ellen who
was eight, and Laura who was six years old.
As ten years earlier William and Ellen had again suffered the infant death
of one of their children, in this case it was their youngest and last child
Alfred
By 1861 only five of William’s six daughters
were still living with him and Ellen at The Rectory in Thetford. The census revealed that William was 64,
Ellen was 51, Anna was 39, Lucy was 31, Mary was 20, Ellen was 18, and Laura
was 16. Just four and a half years
later, while William and Ellen were enjoying a holidaying at Whitby on the
North Yorkshire coast, William died on 11th September 1865 at the
age of 70, the same age that his father had died exactly forty years
earlier. The Will of the Reverend William
Collett, formerly of Thetford and late of Morden College, who died at Whitby, was
proved at the Principal Registry on 24th October 1865 by the oaths
of the Reverend William Reynolds Collett of Hethersett in Norfolk, a clerk (in
Holy Orders), and Edward Collett of Gosmore Lodge, Surbiton in Surrey,
Esquire, his sons and two executors. The
estimated value of the Will was said to be under £3,000
During his time as the Vicar of St Mary’s
Church in Thetford, he officiated at the baptism of two-year-old George
Blackwell Collett on 22nd January 1860 who was born in Thetford
during the summer of 1857. He was the
only child of George Collett from Oaksey in Wiltshire and his wife Emma Hammond
from London, whose family details can be found in Part 78 – The Collett
Families of Oaksey & Poole Keynes in Wiltshire
In the north-east corner of the churchyard of
All Saints Church at Swanton Morley, near Dereham in Norfolk, is the Collett
family tomb wherein lie William’s father and mother, and his two eldest sisters
Anna and Charlotte. Whilst weathered
after all these years, the inscription on the gravestone includes the following
reference to William Collett, the only son of William Collett, Rector of
Swanton Morley, and his wife Anna Carthew.
“Also of their son The Revd. WILLIAM COLLETT, formerly of Thetford
Norfolk, And afterwards Chaplain of Morden College, Blackheath, who died
Sept. 11th 1866 in the 70th year of his age, And was laid
to rest in Charlton Cemetery, Kent
In a letter dated 21st February 1873
sent from the Great Stukeley Vicarage by Eliza Ebden, the daughter of Elizabeth
Collett [18M13] and her husband John Ebden, to her sons Frank and Edward Ebden,
she referred to an earlier exchange of correspondence in which a Mr Collett was
mentioned. She wrote “the Mr Collett you
enquired about, who seems to be in the Civil Service, your father thinks is a
son of the later William Collett of Thetford who died and was found at Whitby,
the place they (he and his wife) were
sojourning at for the sea air.” That was
indeed a reference to this William Collett and his second wife Ellen Bidwell,
while the unnamed son mentioned in the letter, was very likely a reference to
Edward Collett, who was in the Civil Service.
By the time of the census in 1871, William’s his widow, Ellen C Collett
aged 61 and from Thetford, was living in the London area of
Kingston-upon-Thames with her three youngest children, Mary Collett who was 30,
Ellen A Collett who was 28, and Laura Collett who was 26. Ellen’s eldest son Henry was in India by
then, and her other son Edward Collett was living at Winchester in
Hampshire. Obviously upon the death of
her husband Ellen and her family had to relinquish their occupation of The
Rectory at Thetford
As regards the earlier children of William
Collett, from his first marriage, his married son William Reynolds Collett was
living at Humbleyard near Norwich in 1871, where two of his sisters Sophia
Norgate and Lucy Collett were also living, while his brother, bachelor Charles
Preston Collett, was living in the Westminster district of London. According to the next census in 1881 Ellen C
Collett of Thetford, a widow at 71, was living at Trafford House in Ewell Road
at Kingston-upon-Thames with just two of her five children. They were bachelor son Edward Collett who was
43, and unmarried daughter Ellen Collett who was 38, both of them from
Thetford. The family was still living at
Trafford House in Kingston-upon-Thames ten years later when Ellen was 81 and
living on her own means. Still living
with her was her son Edward 53, and daughters Mary 50 and Ellen 48. Upon the death of their mother, her three
unmarried children left Kingston and moved into London, where they settled in
the Kensington area of the city. Ellen
Clarke Collett, a widow of Trafford House, Ewell Road, Surbiton in Surrey, died
on 19th January 1892, following which her Will was proved in London
on 18th February that same year, which named her son Edward Collett,
Esquire, as the sole executor of her estate valued at £7,488 2 Shillings and 4
Pence
18O32 – Anna Collett was born in 1822 at
Bramerton, Norfolk
18O33 – William Reynolds Collett was born in 1823 at
Bramerton, Norfolk
18O34 – John Collett was born in 1824 at
Bramerton, Norfolk
18O35 – Charles Preston Collett was born in 1826 at
Bramerton
18O36 – Sophia Collett was born in 1828 at
Bramerton
18O37 – Lucy Frances Collett was born in 1830 at
Thetford
The children of William Collett by his second
wife Ellen Clarke Bidwell
18O38 – Henry Collett was born in 1836 at
Thetford
18O39 – Edward Collett was born in 1837 at
Thetford
18O40 – Ellen Collett was born in 1839 at
Thetford
18O41 – Mary Collett was born in 1840 at
Thetford
18O42 – Ellen Anna Collett was born in 1842 at
Thetford
18O43 – Laura Collett was born in 1844 at
Thetford
18O44 – Alfred Collett was born in 1848 at
Thetford
Woodthorpe
Collett [18N22]
was born at Grundisburgh in Suffolk in 1795 and was the son of Woodthorpe
Collett and his first wife Charlotte Spurling, who were married at Burgh near
Woodbridge in July 1794. Sadly, his
mother died during the following year, giving birth to his sister Charlotte (below). Woodthorpe attended Woodbridge free school
where he was a boarder on 4th February 1807 when he was described as
Woodthorpe Collett of Clopton, a village one mile north of Grundisburgh. He was educated at Katherine Hall in
Cambridge (St Catherine’s College today), which he entered on 27th
March 1817, after he matriculated at Easter that same year. His admissions record confirmed that he was
the son of Woodthorpe Collett, and the grandson of Anthony Collett, Lord of the
Manor of Eyke in Suffolk. He was awarded
a BA in 1821 and on 17th June 1821 he was ordain Deacon of Buckden Parish
Church, just south of Huntingdon. The
following year he accepted the position of stipendiary curate offered by George
Pelham, the Bishop of Lincoln, which resulted in a move to Hainton, fifteen
miles north-east of Lincoln, where he took up the post on 20th April
1824. It was while he was living at
Hainton that he met his future wife, the daughter of the Reverend Samuel
Pyemont and Susanna Pyemont.
Subsequently, Woodthorpe Collett and Elizabeth Pyemont, of Linwood, were
married there on 2nd February 1826, when Elizabeth’s father very
likely conducted their wedding service.
Elizabeth was born at Linwood, where she was baptised on 20th
May 1795, with the couple’s first child born at Linwood, near the end of that
same year, and baptised at nearby Market Rasen in March 1827
He was awarded his Master of Arts degree in
1827 and that same year, on 18th October, he was working for John
Kaye, the new Bishop of Lincoln, and had the use of a house at Wickenby, where
he continued his work as stipendiary curate.
Wickenby lies between Lincoln and Hainton. However, it would appear that the family only
stayed at Wickenby for a short while since, by the time of the birth of the
couple’s second child, Woodthorpe and Elizabeth were living in Suffolk. And it was there, over the following years at
Little Glemham, Sweffling, and Woodbridge, that all of their remaining children
were born, all of which are situated within the area of the Plomesgate Hundred,
around Ipswich. The move to Suffolk was
prompted by the offer of the position of Curate at Blaxhall, the next village
to the east of Little Glemham while, it was during 1836 that, he became
Headmaster of Woodbridge Grammar School, a post that he held until 27th
December 1841. By the time of June
census in 1841, Woodthorpe and his family were still involved with the school,
their residence described as being a school on Seckford Street. He and his wife were both recorded with a
rounded age of 40, while their eight children were listed as John Collett 13,
Henry Collett 12, Charles Collett 10, Elizabeth Collett who was nine, Catherine
Collett who was eight, Robert Collett who was seven, Bertha Collett who was
five, and William Collett who was two years old. Completing the household were two of
Elizabeth’s sisters, Annis Pyemont who was 45 and Letitia Pyemont who was 35,
and three domestic servants. The
couple’s missing eldest son Woodthorpe, who was 14, was attending boarding
school at Lower Brook Street in Ipswich managed by the Ebden family
During 1842 Woodthorpe was appointed Principal
of King’s College School at Nassau in the New Providence of Bahamas, and the
following year he was made Rector of Normanton in Lincolnshire, a position he
held from 1843 to 1854. Sometime during
the next few years, he and his family moved into the village of Hasketon, near
Woodbridge, where they were living at the time of the census in 1851. By that time the family comprised Woodthorpe
from Clopton, who was 55 and the Rector of Normanton, his wife Elizabeth was
also 55 and from Linwood, and just four of their nine children. They were Charles who was 20, Elizabeth who
was 18, Catherine who was 16 and Robert who was 15. Youngest son William, aged 12, was attending
the same boarding school at Lower Brook Street in within the St Mary Quay area
of Ipswich, where his older brother Woodthorpe was being educated in 1841. While the couple’s other son Henry, aged 21,
was attending Trinity Hall College in Cambridge. Their absent daughter Bertha Emily Collett
from Woodbridge was 13 and was receiving her education with the Sanderson
family at their home in Ipswich St Matthew, while it is known that their son
John was away working on the steam ships, and that he perhaps never returned to
England. Also living at the same address
in 1851, were two Linwood born sisters of Elizabeth’s family, they being
Keeling Pyemont who was 60 and Letitia Pyemont who was 49. In addition to them, the family employed two
servants, who would have assisted Elizabeth with the schooling of five male
pupils aged eleven years. Interestingly,
widow Letitia Pyemont aged 81, was the head of the household in 1881 when she
had living with her, at 27 Park Terrace on Fonnereau Road in Ipswich St
Margaret, her niece Bertha Emily Wright, nee Collett, the married daughter of
Elizabeth Collett, nee Pyemont
One year earlier, at the time of the entry to
Trinity Hall College of his son Henry Pyemont Collett in July 1850, Woodthorpe
Collett was described in the college records as being the Clerk of Hasketon
near Woodbridge in Suffolk. It was not
long after 1851 that Woodthorpe secured a new position at Brightwell to the
east of Ipswich, which resulted in another move for him and his family. From 1854 to 1868 Woodthorpe was the Reverend
Woodthorpe Collett of Brightwell and of Kesgrave, the former being confirmed at
the marriage of his eldest daughter Elizabeth Charlotte Collett on 5th
June 1860. In addition to that,
Woodthorpe’s son, the Reverend H P Collett, assisted the Reverend James Collett
Ebden (see Ref. 18M13) during the wedding ceremony of his sister at Brightwell
Church. According to the census in 1861
for the parish of Foxhall within the Woodbridge & Colneis registration
district, Woodthorpe Collett from Clopton was 65 and a Perpetual Curate of
Foxhill, his wife Elizabeth was 66 and, still living with the couple, were just
three of their unmarried children. They
were Henry Pyemont Collett who was 32, Bertha Emily Collett who was 24, who had
returned to the family after her absence in 1851, and William Michael Collett
who was 23. On that day, the family
employed three domestic servants, when only one eight-year-old male pupil was
still residing there. The couple’s
eldest son, Woodthorpe S Collett, aged 34, single, and born at Market Rasen,
was a patient in a hospital in Harpenden
The Reverend Woodthorpe Collett of Brightwell
in Suffolk was named as one of the executors at the proving of the Will of his
unmarried sister Charlotte Collett (below) in Ipswich on the 18th
November 1867, following her death a month earlier at the age of 71
It was just over two years later that the
Reverend Woodthorpe Collett died on 9th June 1869 during a visit to
London, when he was staying at 11 Bulstrode Street, Cavendish Square, Middlesex. His death was recorded (Ref. 1a 327) at
Marylebone, at a time in his life when he and his family were living at
Foxhall, just east of Brightwell, where he was buried on 14th June
1869 aged 73. An article in the East
Suffolk Gazette on 19th June 1869 reported that the Reverend
Woodthorpe Collett, the incumbent of Brightwell-cum-Kesgrave, had died in his
seventy-fourth year, thus placing his year of birth as the aforementioned
1796. In a letter written on 16th
June 1869 by Eliza Ebden, nee Wylde, wife of James Collett Ebden (above),
to her youngest son Edward in India, she says “You
will have heard of Mr Collett’s death.
After undergoing the severe operation for lithotomy in London, and was
doing well, when 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 [his eldest son] 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 [35] by no means youthful now, your father is using every effort
in the letter writing to promote their interests in Lincolnshire, her native
county”
Her perception of him having no
Will was correct, since the Letter of Administration was completed at Ipswich
on 10th July 1869, which was granted to Elizabeth Collett of
Brightwell, widow and relict of the deceased Reverend Woodthorpe Collett, when
his estate was valued at under £600. So, by the time of the
census in 1871, Elizabeth Collett was 75 and head of the household, a
clergyman’s widow living at White House Road in Trimley St Mary within the
sub-district of Woodbridge known as Colneis, which lies between the Rivers
Orwell and Deben. Living there with her
were three of her unmarried children, together with two of her grand-child
through her youngest daughter Bertha, who was married in Shanghai six years
earlier. They were Woodthorpe S Collett
who was 44, Catherine A Collett who was 37, William M Collett who was 32,
Bertha L P Wright who was four, and William A C Wright who was one year old. It was three years after that when Elizabeth
Collett nee Pyemont died at Ipswich St Clement on 15th March 1874,
following which she was buried at Brightwell on 20th March 1874,
aged 78. Administration of the personal
effects of widow Elizabeth Collett of 10 Adelphi Place in Ipswich, valued at
under £100, was granted at Ipswich on 30th March 1874 to the
Reverend William Michael Collett of Oxford, a clerk (in Holy Orders),
her son and one of her next-of-kin
18O45 – Woodthorpe Schofield Collett was born in 1826 at
Market Rasen, Lincolnshire
18O46 – John Anthony Collett was born in 1828 at
Little Glemham
18O47 – Henry Pyemont Collett was born in 1829 at
Little Glemham
18O48 – Charles Keeling Collett was born in 1831 at
Little Glemham
18O49 – Elizabeth Charlotte Collett was born in 1832 at
Sweffling
18O50 – Catherine Ann Collett was born in 1834 at
Sweffling
18O51 – Robert Ebden Collett was born in 1835 at
Woodbridge
18O52 – Bertha Emily Collett was born in 1837 at Woodbridge
18O53 – William Michael Collett was born in 1839 at Woodbridge
Charlotte
Collett [18N23] was
born at Grundisburgh in 1797, the second child and only daughter of Woodthorpe
Collett and Charlotte Spurling, her mother tragically dying either during or
shortly after she was born. Charlotte
Collett was living at Berner Street in the St Matthews district of Ipswich in
1841, 1851, and again 1861 when she was 65 and her place of birth was Clopton
near Grundisburgh. It was there also
where she died six years later on 26th October 1867, although she
was then buried at Grundisburgh on 1st November 1867. The Will of Charlotte Collett, spinster of
Ipswich, was proved at Ipswich on 18th November 1867 by the oath of
the Reverend Woodthorpe Collett of Brightwell in Suffolk, a clerk (in Holy
Orders) her brother and one of the executors. The death of Charlotte Collett, aged 71, was
recorded at Ipswich (Ref. 4a 347)
Letitia
Mary Collett [18N24] was
born after 1798, the year in which her father, Woodthorpe Collett, married his
second wife Letitia Skinner. Letitia was
very likely born at Grundisburgh and was in her early thirties when she married
Thomas Read at Wetheringsett in Suffolk on 13th January 1834. Thomas had been baptised at Helpringham in
Lincolnshire on 12th June 1791, the son of Henry and Mary Read. Baptism records for five children have been
discovered and they were Thomas Read (born 1835), Henry Read (born
1837), Charlotte Matilda Letitia Read (born 1840), Anne Maria Lines
Read (born 1842), and William Collett Read (born 1845). The death of Letitia Mary Read was recorded
at Woodbridge, Suffolk (Ref. xii 323) during the last three months of 1850. Many years after losing his widow, when
Thomas was 92 years old, he died at Grundisburgh on 28th December
1883, following which his Will was proved at the Principal Registry on 25th
January 1884. His estate was valued at
£153 13 Shillings and 7 Pence when the Will of Thomas Read formerly of Melton
and lately of Grundisburgh was proved by William Collett Read of Grundisburgh
farmer and son, and Thomas Manby farmer, and Charlotte Matilda Letitia Waspe
(wife of Frederick Waspe) daughter, both of Pettistree Suffolk, the three
executors. The death of Thomas Read was
recorded at Woodbridge (Ref. 4a 451) during the first quarter of 1884
James
Collett [18N25] was
born in 1805, the son of Samuel Collett and Sarah Day. In 1830 James married Sophia Ebden of Barton
Bendish, the seventh child of Thomas Ebden and Mary Grimmer, who was baptised
on 12th July 1799. Thomas was
the brother of the James’ uncle John Ebden who had married Elizabeth Collett [18M13]. The marriage of James and Sophia produced two
children before great tragedy struck the family in 1836 when, first Sophia died
during the month of January, and was followed later in the year by James, both
of them passing away while the family was living at Loddon in Norfolk. What happened to their two young children, at
that time, has not been determined
18O54 - Fanny Collett was born in 1832 at
Loddon, Norfolk
18O55 - Ebden Collett was born in 1834 at
Loddon, Norfolk
William
Collett [18N26] was born at
Fressingfield in 1793 and was baptised there on 20th October 1793,
the eldest child of William Collett and his second wife Ann Flint. His early adult life appears to be shrouded
in mystery but, recent discoveries in 2011, have determined that he was married
three times, rather than just twice, as previously stated here. However, it is still not known who his first
wife was, except that when he married (2) Sarah Balary on 8th
November 1817 at Cookley to the west of Halesworth, he was only 24 but already
a widower. It is also unclear as to how
long he was married to Sarah, although it is now established that all of his
children were the result of his third marriage.
What is known is that twenty years later, when he was 44, he married the
much younger (3) Mary Ann Dye on 19th December 1837 at Poringland. Mary Dye was baptised at Newton Flotman near
Norwich on 20th September 1818, the daughter of John and Mary
Dye. The couple’s marriage certificate
revealed that they were both residents of Poringland Magna, that Mary was a
spinster whose occupation was that of a servant and, whose father was John Dye,
a butcher, while William was recorded as a widower who was also a labourer, as
had been his father William Collett before him, who was confirmed as his father
in the marriage register. It would also
appear that shortly after they were married, Mary Ann presented William with a
son followed by a daughter, and very shortly thereafter the couple left
Poringland and headed south across the county boundary into Suffolk, where the
remainder of their children were born
Upon leaving Poringland, William and Mary Ann,
together with their infant son William, settled in the village of Henstead,
near Kessingland, and it was there that the child’s birth was registered during
the first quarter of 1838. That confirms
Mary Ann was with-child at the time of her wedding, just four months earlier,
so perhaps the move to Suffolk was forced upon the couple to overcome any
embarrassment. Over the next two years
the couple’s second child was born while the family was still living at Henstead,
although by the time of the June census in 1841 the family was living at New
Court in Halesworth. William Collett was
48, his wife Mary Collett was 25, and their two children were William Collett
who was three, and Honor Collett who was one year old. It would therefore appear that the family had
moved to Halesworth shortly after daughter Honor had been born at
Henstead. And it was at Halesworth where
all of the remaining children of William and Mary Ann were born, and where the
couple spent the rest of their lives together
Five more children were born over the following
ten years, although the family suffered the tragic loss of their son Daniel at the age of just three
months, followed by the loss of their first daughter Honor eight
years later. By 1851, the family was
still living at 189 New Court in Halesworth when it comprised agricultural
labourer William, aged 57, his wife Mary Ann, aged 33, plus their five surviving
children. They were, William Collett,
aged 13, Maria Collett who was seven, Eliza Collett who was four, Fanny Collett
who was two, and John who was not yet one year old. Towards the end of the next decade William
and his family must have fallen on hard times because, on the day of the census
in 1861, he was recorded as living in the Blything Union Workhouse at
Bulcamp-with-Blythburgh in Suffolk.
William was described as an inmate and agricultural labourer and a
married man from Fressingfield who was 67 who had living there with him his two
sons John Collett who was eleven, and Charles Collett who was eight, both of
whom had been born at Halesworth. It is
thanks to Liz Whittaker, and Roger Collett, that the three of them have been
identified, where they have not been located up until 2013, because they were
simply listed as W C, J C and C C
At that same time in 1861, his wife was still a
resident of Halesworth, where she was employed as a charwoman. On that occasion though she was not living at
New Court, where the family had been living at the time the two previous
censuses. Instead, Mary Collett from
Newton in Norfolk was 42 when she was living at Barrack Yard on Mill Hill
Street in Halesworth with her daughters Eliza Collett aged 13, and Fanny
Collett 11, and her youngest son Frederick who was five. It therefore seems very likely that the
accommodation where Mary Ann was living and working, was not of a sufficient
size to accommodate the whole family.
Living apart from both family groups was daughter Maria Collett who was
18 and living-in and working at a private school in Halesworth. Ten years later Mary Ann Collett was still
living at Barrack Yard where she died during the last few days of 1870 with her
husband at her bedside, following which she was buried at Halesworth on 4th
January 1871. Her death was recorded at
Blything (Ref. 4a 473), at the age of 53, after her burial. Just three months later William Collett, aged
77, was listed as a widower in the census that year. According to the census return he was once
again living at New Court, at number 112, in Halesworth, from where he was
still working as a labourer. Sharing the
accommodation with William were his two youngest children, his sons Charles
Collett, aged 17, and Frederick Collett who was 15. By that time William’s eldest daughter Maria
had been married for five years, while daughters Eliza and Fanny were still
spinsters living and working away from home in London and Woodbridge
respectively. Also living at the same
address with the three men in 1871 was spinster and domestic cook Susan Dye,
who was 53 and the younger sister of the late Mary Ann Collett. William survived for a further six years,
when he died during November 1877 while living at Barrack Yard in
Halesworth. It was therefore at
Halesworth that labourer William Collett was buried on 14th November
1877, at the age of 85, with his death recorded at Blything (Ref. 4a 427)
18O56 – William Collett was born in 1838 at
Poringland
18O57 - Honor Collett was born in 1840 at Poringland
18O58 - Daniel Collett was born in 1842 at
Halesworth
18O59 - Maria Collett was born in 1843 at
Halesworth
18O60 - Susanna Eliza Collett was born in 1846 at
Halesworth
18O61 - Fanny Collett was born in 1848 at
Halesworth
18O62 - John Collett was born in 1851 at
Halesworth
18O63 - Charles Collett was born in 1853 at
Halesworth
18O64 - Frederick William Collett was born in 1855 at
Halesworth
Henry
Collett [18N27] was
born at Fressingfield in early 1795 and it was there that he was baptised on 26th
April 1795, the son child of William Collett and Ann Flint. On 5th March 1821 Henry married
Elizabeth Colls at Rushall in Norfolk, to the west of Harleston, where
Elizabeth was born in 1796 and was baptised on 19th January 1797,
the daughter of Christopher Colls and Mary Goldspink. On the couple’s marriage certificate,
Elizabeth was described as being of Great Glemham, near Framlingham, where the
couple initially settled, but where something must have happened to cause them
to be evicted just over two months after they were married. An entry in the great Glemham Parish Records
dated 16th May 1821 referred to a Removal Order on Henry Collett
labourer and Elizabeth his wife, back to Mettingham. By the time of the census in 1841, Henry
Collett, aged 45, and his wife Elizabeth, aged 44, were still living in
Mettingham with just four of their nine children. All of their children were born at
Mettingham, where three of them also died while still very young. They were the couple’s two eldest daughters
and their third son. In addition to
these losses, their two ‘missing’ eldest sons had already left the family home
prior to the census day in June 1841.
The remaining four children were Mary Ann Collett who was 12, Susan
Collett who was 10, Robert Collett who was nine, and five-year-old Christopher
Collett
Ten years later in 1851, the family was
residing at Mill Hill in Mettingham, when agricultural labourer Henry Collett
from Fressingfield was 55, Elizabeth Collett from Rushall in Norfolk was 54,
and their three children were Susan Collett aged 20 and a silk winder, Robert
Collett who was 19 and an agricultural labourer, and Christopher Collett who
was 15, another ag lab. All three
children were confirmed as having been born at Mettingham. Just over three and a half years after the
census day in 1851, Henry Collett died at Mettingham, where he was buried at
All Saints Church on 24th December 1854, aged 59. The death of Henry Collett was recorded at
Wangford (Ref. 4a 447). His widow
Elizabeth only survived him by fourteen months, when she was also buried at
Mettingham on 24th February 1856, her death also recorded at
Wangford (Ref. 4a 445)
18O65 – William Collett was born in 1822 at
Mettingham
18O66 – Henry Collett was born in 1824 at
Mettingham
18O67 – Maria Elizabeth Collett was born in 1825 at
Mettingham
18O68 – Samuel John Collett was born in 1826 at
Mettingham
18O69 – Rachel Collett was born in 1827 at
Mettingham
18O70 – Mary Ann Collett was born in 1828 at
Mettingham
18O71 – Susan Collett was born in 1830 at
Mettingham
18O72 – Robert Collett was born in 1831 at
Mettingham
18O73 – Christopher Collett was born in 1836 at
Mettingham
Charles
Collett [18N28] was
born at Fressingfield in 1798 and was baptised there on 6th January
1799, the son of William and Ann Collett.
No other information has been discovered regarding Charles, who was not
listed in any of the national census records.
That was because he died in 1839, when Charles Collett from Stoke Holy
Cross, south of Norwich, was buried at Hedenham in Norfolk on 23rd
August 1839 at the age of 42
Samuel
Collett [18N29] was
born in late 1800 or early 1801 at Fressingfield, where he was baptised on 12th
April 1801, the son of William and Ann Collett.
He later married Marianne Read at Earsham near Bungay on 31st
October 1826. Marianne (Mary Ann) was
older than Samuel by ten years and that may have been the reason why the only
child attributed to the couple was their son Charles who was born at Earsham
during the year after they were married.
Their son’s baptism record confirmed the parents as Samuel and Marianne
Collett. At the time of the 1841 Census,
the family of three was still living at Earsham, near Bungay, where Samuel
Collett was 40 and an agricultural labourer, his wife Mary Ann Collett was 50,
and son Charles Collett was 13. Staying
with the family on that occasion was Samuel’s widowed father, 73-year-old agricultural labourer
William Collett. Charles was the only one
of the four of them to have been born within the county of Norfolk. Following the departure of their son some
years later, Samuel and Mary Ann were living alone in Earsham in 1851, where
Samuel was 50 and a labourer, while his wife Mary was 60. Ten years later, according to the census in
1861, Samuel Collett, aged 60, was a patient being cared for at Norwich General
Hospital, while at that same time his wife Mary Ann, at 72, was still at their
home in Earsham, within the Depwade & Harleston registration district. Samuel obviously recovered from his injury or
illness, and it was his wife who passed away during the following years. In 1871, as widower Samuel Collett aged 70,
he was once again recorded as residing at Earsham. Samuel Collett was recorded in error as being
75 when he died at Earsham, where he was buried on 30th April 1878. Upon recording his death at Depwade (Ref. 4b
134), he was correctly given the age of 78
18O74 – Charles Collett was born in 1828 at Earsham near
Bungay, Norfolk
Benjamin
Collett [18N30] was
born at Fressingfield in 1802 and was baptised there on 8th May
1803, the son of William and Ann Collett.
He lived all his life at Fressingfield, where he worked as a labourer,
and it was there that he was twice married, and there also that all his
children were born. He married (1)
Bertha Philpot, who was born in 1803, when they were both 21, and the wedding
took place on 26th February 1824 in the parish church of St Peter
& St Paul in Fressingfield. It was
later that same year that the first of the couple’s seven known children was
born. That may have taken place at
Fressingfield, although the baptism of Benjamin Anthony Collett, the son of
Benjamin and Bessiah (?) Collett, took place at nearby Cratfield, just seven
months after they were married. Upon
presenting Benjamin with their seventh child, it would appear that Bertha died,
either during the birth, or shortly thereafter.
The parish records confirmed that Bertha Collett nee Philpot was buried
on 24th April 1834 at the age of 30.
Five years later Benjamin Collett married (2) Sarah Vincent at
Fressingfield on 21st May 1839, their wedding recorded at Hoxne
(Ref. xiii 577). Sarah was baptised at
Fressingfield on 16th August 1807, the daughter of labourer David
Vincent and Lydia Bloyce, and added a further three children to Benjamin’s
family. It would also appear that
Benjamin’s sons John and Charles had also died during that time, since both of
them were missing from the 1841 Census, with Benjamin then naming a subsequent
son Charles, from his second marriage to Sarah
According to the Fressingfield census of 1841,
when the family was living at New Street, Benjamin’s rounded age was 35 and
Sarah’s was 30, when Benjamin Collett was working as an agricultural labourer. The children living with the couple were
Benjamin Collett who was 17, William Collett who was 15, Keziah Collett who was
eight, Elizabeth Collett who was seven, Isaac Collett who was six, all from the
first marriage, together with half-brothers Charles Collett who was two years
old, and baby George Collett who was just three months old, both from the
second marriage. A few years later Sarah
presented Benjamin with their last child, daughter Sarah. By the time of the census in 1851,
agricultural labourer Benjamin was 48, his wife Sarah was 43, and the three of
their four children still living with them were Charles Collett who was 11,
George Collett who was 10, and daughter Sarah A Collett who was seven years
old. At that time the family was living
in New Street in Fressingfield and had living there with them Mary Munn who was
79. Also living nearby in New Street was
Benjamin’s eldest son from his first marriage; Benjamin Collett junior, who was
married with his own family by that time, and his youngest son from his first
marriage Isaac Collett who was 15
Benjamin’s eldest daughter Keziah, from his
first marriage, was 18 at that time and was living and working in the South
Ockendon & Orsett area of Essex, whilst the other two children from his
first marriage, William and Elizabeth, have not yet been located in the census
returns of 1851. Over the next ten years
the family members grew up and all of them had left their parent’s home in
Fressingfield prior to 1861. The census
that year confirmed that agricultural labourer Benjamin Collett was 61, and
that Sarah was 56, when they were staying at the Fressingfield home of their
recently married son George and his wife Harriet. Benjamin survived for only another nine
months, before he died at the start of 1862 and was buried at St Peter’s &
St Paul’s Church at Fressingfield on 22nd January 1862 aged 59. The cause of death was phthisis, a form of
tuberculosis commonly referred to as the cobbler’s illness. The death of Benjamin Collett was recorded at
Hoxne (Ref. 4a 341). Tragically, later
that same year, Benjamin’s eldest son Benjamin died of the same wasting disease
at the age of 38. Following the death of
her husband, his widow Sarah married widower James Wright who was a labourer
and the son of thatcher Jonathan Wright.
Their wedding was recorded at Hoxne (Ref. 4a 771) during the second
quarter of 1863, while the very next entry for Hoxne was that of the marriage
of Susan Collett [18O106] and Amos Sharman, also during the second quarter of that
year. The later death of Sarah Wright
was also recorded at Hoxne register office (Ref. 4a 381) during the third
quarter of 1894 at the age of 87
18O75 - Benjamin Anthony Collett was born in 1824 at
Fressingfield
18O76 - William Collett was born in 1826 at
Fressingfield
18O77 - John Collett was born in 1828 at
Fressingfield
18O78 - Charles Collett was born in 1829 at
Fressingfield
18O79 - Keziah Collett was born in 1832 at
Fressingfield
18O80 - Elizabeth Collett was born in 1833 at
Fressingfield
18O81 - Isaac Collett was born in 1834 at
Fressingfield
The children of Benjamin Collett by his second
wife Sarah Vincent:
18O82 – Charles Collett was born in 1839 at
Fressingfield
18O83 – George Collett was born in 1841 at
Fressingfield
18O84 - Sarah Ann Collett was born in 1843 at
Fressingfield
John Collett [18N31] was born at
Fressingfield during 1805 and was baptised there on 29th September
1805, the youngest son of William Collett and Ann Flint. John was around 20 years old when he married
Catherine Baldwin at Ilketshall St Andrew in 1825. Catherine was the daughter of John Baldwin
and Catherine Freeman and was born at St James South Elmham, where she was
baptised on 9th October 1803, St James South Elmham being around
four miles north-east of Fressingfield.
It may be of interest to note that the parishes of Ilketshall St Andrew,
Ilketshall St John, and Ilketshall St Lawrence cover an area south-east of
Bungay and to the east of the Roman Road known as Stone Street (A144) from
Halesworth to Bungay. The three parish
churches of St Andrew, St Lawrence, and St John the Baptist, lie within one
kilometre of the centre of the village of Ilketshall St Andrew, while today the
village of Ilketshall St John has become part of Ilketshall St Andrew, with
Ilketshall St Lawrence just a couple of miles to the south
The marriage of John Collett of Fressingfield
and Catherine Baldwin of St James South Elmham is known to have produced five
children for the couple and, although there are six children listed below, it
is the first children Sarah who requires further validation. It is likely that all six children were born
at Ilketshall St Andrew, even though son Charles said he was born at nearby
Ilketshall St Lawrence in a later census return. Certainly, at the time of the registration of
birth of their son William at Ilketshall St Andrew in 1838, John Collett, an
agricultural labourer, was named as the father, while the boy’s mother was
recorded as Catherine Collett, formerly Baldwin. The complete family, excluding Sarah, was living
at Ilketshall St Andrew within the Wangford & Beccles registration district
of Suffolk in June 1841. According to
the census that month, the family comprised
Ten years later in 1851, the family was still
living in Ilketshall St Andrew, on the Great Common, when it was made up of
John Collett who was 45 and a farm labourer from Fressingfield, Catherine
Collett who was 46 and from St James, and four of their five previously listed
children. They were Charles Collett from
St Lawrence who was 19, Lucy Collett from St Andrew who was 16, as was William
Collett who was 11, and as was Robert Collett who was 10 years old. Every member of the household was described
as a farm labourer. The couple’s absence
eldest son John Collett had joined the army nearly five years earlier, and was
very likely serving in India by that time.
One by one, the other children eventually left the family home and, in the
census of 1861, John Collett was recorded as living in a dwelling on the west
side of Great Common in Ilketshall St Andrew with just two of his children for
company. John was 55 and from
Fressingfield, his daughter Lucy Collett was 24, and his son William was 22,
both of Ilketshall St Andrew. All three members
of the family were described as hay trussers.
On that same census day in 1861, Catherine Collett, aged 56 and a
labourer’s wife from St James (South Elmham), was recorded as a visitor at the
Broad Street home in Bungay of widower Nathan Rumsby aged 31, a father of four
young children, and a fitter at Smith’s shop.
His housekeeper was Catherine’s eldest unmarried daughter Sarah Collett from
Ilketshall St Andrew who was 34, her mother calling in to see her daughter that
day.
By 1871 Catherine was once again living at
Ilketshall St Andrew with her husband, where John Collett was 65 and his wife
Catherine was 67, and by which time none of their children were still living
were them. Staying with them at that
time was their grandson Harry Gowing, the eldest child of their daughter Lucy
Gowing nee Collett. Ten years later the census of 1881 recorded that the couple
was living at Great Common in Ilketshall St Andrew, where John was employed on
the land as a hay cutter, a change from his earlier occupation as a
husbandman. His place of birth was
confirmed as Fressingfield and his age on that occasion was given as being 76,
while his wife was 77 and her birthplace was confirmed as St James South
Elmham. Just over six years later, the
death of John Collett was recorded at Blything (Ref. 4a 470) during the third
quarter of 1887, when he was said to be 80 years of age. However, on being buried with his wife at Ilketshall
St Andrew on 4th September 1887, his age was more accurately recorded
as 84. It was four years earlier that
Catherine Collett had passed away at Ilketshall St Andrew, with her death recorded
at Wangford (Ref. 4a 516) during the second quarter of 1883 when she was 79, as
confirmed by the burial record at Ilketshall St Andrew where she was laid to
rest on 2nd May 1883
18O85 – Sarah Collett was born in 1826 at
Ilketshall St Andrew
18O86 – John Collett was born in 1829 at
Ilketshall St Andrew
18O87 – Charles Collett was born in 1831 at
Ilketshall St Lawrence
18O88 – Lucy Collett was born in 1835 at
Ilketshall St Andrew
18O89 – William Collett was born in 1838 at
Ilketshall St Andrew
18O90 – Robert Collett was born in 1840 at
Ilketshall St Andrew
Lucy
Collett [18N32] was
born at Fressingfield in 1807, the daughter of William and Ann Collett, and was
baptised on 24th April 1807 at Uxbridge. It was also at Fressingfield where she
married John Woolnough on 12th May 1828 with whom she had two known
children. The first of them was Eliza
Woolnough who was baptised at Fressingfield on 12th September
1830. By the time of the baptism of the
couple’s second child the family was living at Tannington where John
Woolnough was baptised on 13th May 1832. Their son was born in the second half of
February in 1832 and was just thirteen weeks old when he died at Tannington,
although it was as John Woolner that his burial was recorded there on 22nd
May 1832. Around the time that her son
was born at Tannington there was also recorded there the death of Lucy
Woolnough at the age of only 24, following which she was buried at the Church
of St Ethelbert on 19th February 1832. It is therefore assumed that Lucy Woolnough
nee Collett died during childbirth. Less
than two years later John Woolnough, a widower, married widow Ann Pendall at
Tannington on 25th September 1834.
According to the census in 1841 John was living at Fressingfield with
his new wife Ann and his daughter Elizabeth (previously Eliza), together with
Ann’s daughter from her previous marriage, and two further children born to
John and Ann. During the next decade
John Woolnough was made a widower for the second time in his life
Phyllis
Collett [18N33] was
very likely born around 1810 and she may have been the last child of William
Collett and Ann Flint who was born at Fressingfield. What is known for sure is that as Phillis
Collett she married John Sayer at Stradbroke on 12th October 1833
and, by June 1841, she had presented John with four children at Barlow Green in
Stradbroke. The census on that occasion
listed the family as John and Phillace Sayer, both with an incorrect rounded
age of 25, Ann Sayer who was six, William Sayer who was five, Mariah
Sayer who was three, and Betsy Sayer who was one year old. Living with the family was William Collett,
aged 85 and an agricultural labourer who was most likely Phyllis’ widowed
father. Tragically, on 11th
November 1841 Phillis Sayer nee Collett of Stradbroke died there of consumption
and was buried at All Saints Church in the village on 18th November
when her age was correctly recorded as 31.
The death of Phillis Sayer was recorded at Hoxne (Ref. xiii 303)
John
Collett [18N34] was
born at Wingfield in 1785, the son of John Collett of Stradbroke and Elizabeth
Thurlow of Wingfield. There was a John
Collett aged 55 who was born in Suffolk who was residing at Wilby in 1841
Ann
Collett [18N35] was
born at Saxmundham in 1791, the eldest daughter of John and Elizabeth
Collett. She was only twelve years old
when her father was killed after falling out of tree. As the eldest daughter she remained living
with her widowed mother until she married John Hines at Saxmundham on 27th
May 1817
Hannah
Collett [18N36] was
born at Saxmundham during 1793, the daughter of John and Elizabeth
Collett. Hannah later married Frederick
King at Saxmundham on 16th June 1812. Over the following decade Hannah presented
Frederick with three daughters. Emma
King was baptised at Saxmundham on 29th January 1815, Rachel
King was baptised at Blyford near Halesworth on 22nd November
1818, and Ann King was baptised at Bulcamp, also near Halesworth, on 29th
April 1821
Charles
Collett [18N37] was
born at Saxmundham in 1795, the son of John and Elizabeth Collett. It was in 1803 when Charles was eight years
old that his father died after he fell from a tree. The continuation of the family line of Charles
Collett [18N37>30N4] can be found in Part 30 – The Suffolk & Norfolk
Line
William
Collett [18N38] was
born at Saxmundham on 14th March 1798 where he was baptised at the
parish church on 6th April 1798, the youngest known son of John
Collett and Elizabeth Thurlow. He was
six weeks short of his fifth birthday when his father fell from a tree and died
at Saxmundham as a result of his injuries.
The
continuation of the family line of William Collett [18N38>30N5] can be found
in Part 30 – The Suffolk & Norfolk Line and from there to Part 74 – The
Suffolk to South Africa Line
William
Collett [18N39] was
baptised at Wilby on 10th September 1792, the base-born child of
Hannah Collett, and may have been around two years old when he was
baptised. Tragically, his mother died
when he was about ten years old. The continuation
of the family line of William Collett [18N39>20N1] can be found in Part 20 –
The Suffolk to Australia and County Durham Line
Jemima (or Jeremiah) Collett [18N40] was most likely a twin
with sister Dinah (below). They
were both born at Wilby, where they were baptised in a joint ceremony on 25th
May 1800, the children of William Collett and Dinah Lockwood. Tragically, neither of them survived and both
were buried together at Wilby on 8th June 1800, just two weeks after
their baptism
Dinah
Collett [18N41] was
born at Wilby in 1800 and, with her likely twin Jemima (above), the pair
of them were baptised at Wilby on 25th May 1800, where they were
also buried two weeks later on 8th June 1800
Mary Ann
Collett [18N42] was
born at Wilby in 1802, where she was baptised on 17th October 1802,
the third child of William and Dinah Collett.
Unlike her two older siblings, who both died when only a few weeks old,
Mary Ann survived to reach the age of five and a half years, before she died
and was buried at Wilby on 6th May 1808
Dinah
Collett [18N43] was
born at Wilby in 1804. She later married
(1) William Allum on 18th October 1824 at Worlingworth, a village in
Suffolk next to Tannington. William was
born at Horham just two miles from Wilby, and it was at Wilby that the couple
settled and where all of their children were born. The census in 1841 recorded the family at
Wilby as William Allum was an agricultural labourer having a rounded age of 40,
Dinah Alum had a rounded age of 35, John Allum was ten years old, Robert
Allum was seven, and Hannah Allum was eight months old. Ten years later, they were still living in
Wilby at Cole Street, when William Allum from Horham was 50 and a pauper (and
agricultural labourer), Dinah Allum from Wilby was 45, and the children still
living there with them were John Allum 20, Jemima Allum 18, Elizabeth
Allum 13, Hannah Allum 10, and Dinah Allum who was four. By that time the couple’s eldest son William
Allum had already left the family home, as had son Robert, aged 16, and
Mary who was 15. Their space within the
family home had been taken up by Dinah’s widowed mother Dinah Collett, nee
Lockwood, who was 77 and another pauper.
Just over eighteen months later William Allum died at Wilby on 1st
October 1852, following which Dinah then married Jeremiah Allum at Stradbroke
on 20th February 1860, their wedding recorded at Hoxne (Ref. 4a 660). It seems very likely that Jeremiah was
William’s brother or his cousin
According to the next census in 1861 Dinah
Allum and her husband Jeremiah were both 56, when Jeremiah was an agricultural
labourer and Dinah was a shop-keeper. Ten
years later the couple was living alone in Wilby when Dinah Allum was 67 and
Jeremiah was 68, and they were still there in 1881, and again at Cole Street in
Wilby. Dinah from Wilby was 77, while
Jeremiah Allum from Brundish was 78, when he was still working as an
agricultural labourer. Eight years after
that census day, the death of Dinah Allum was recorded at Hartismere (Ref. 4a
360) during the second quarter of 1889. The
death of her second husband Jeremiah Allum was recorded at Hoxne (Ref. 4a 519)
during the first three months of 1894, when he was 93. Dinah’s eldest son William Allum married Mary
Ann Harding on 28th December 1853, while her second son John was
married and had a daughter Elizabeth Allum who married James Harwood. James and Elizabeth had a daughter Eva
Harwood who was the mother of Colin Carver, and it was Colin’s daughter Alison
Carver who helped in expanding the family of Dinah Collett and William Allum
Jemima
Collett [18N44] was
born at Wilby around 1805, where she was baptised on 4th April 1807,
the daughter of William and Dinah Collett.
She later married William Scales at Stradbroke on 15th May
1826. Jemima gave birth to at least four
children over the next fifteen years, all four of them still living with the
couple at Worlingham in 1841. William
Scales was 35 and an agricultural labourer, Jemima Scales was 35 (both rounded
ages), and the children were Marianne Scales who was 14, Dinah Scales
who was 10, Samuel Scales who was eight, and Jane Scales who was four
years of age. The death of Jemima Scales
was recorded at Hoxne (Ref. 4a 399) during the third quarter of 1880, when she
was 76 years old. Her husband survived
for another ten years, when the death of William Scales was recorded at Hoxne
(Ref. 4a 411) during the third quarter of 1890
William
Collett [18N45] was
born at Wilby and baptised there on 14th May 1809, the eldest
surviving son of William Collett and Dinah Lockwood. He married Elizabeth around 1830 and the
couple settled in Cambridge where most of their children were born. Further work still needs to be undertaken to
complete the details for this family
John
Collett [18N46] was
born at Wilby, and it was there also that he was baptised on 30th
January 1814, the son of William and Dinah Collett. He was 25 in the Wilby census of 1841 when he
was still living there with his parents, and it was also at Wilby where John
Collett married Mary Ann Sharman, the event recorded at Hoxne (Ref. xiii 736)
during the second quarter of 1848, the first of two links between the Collett
and Sharman families. Mary Ann was the
daughter of David Sharman and Sophia Harvey and was baptised at Brundish on 12th
April 1829. Mary Ann was the sister of
Amos Sharman who later married Susan Collett [18O106] in 1863. All of the children of John Collett and Mary
Ann Sharman were born at Wilby. At the
time of the next census in 1851 John was 37, while his wife Marian (Mary Ann)
was only 22, and their first child was Dinah Collett who was one year old. Two more children were added to the family at
Wilby during the next ten years, so in the census of 1861 the family comprised
John Collett, aged 44, his wife Mary A Collett, aged 34, and their three
children, Dinah Collett who was ten, William Collett who was eight, and Mary
Collett who was six
The Wilby census of 1871 include John and his
youngest son, when John Collett was 52 and an ag lab, Mary A Collett from
Brundish was 43, and Jimmy Collett was nine years of age. It was eight years later that the death of
Mary Ann Collett was recorded at Hoxne (Ref. 4a 385) during the last three
months of 1879 at the age of 50. By 1881
John Collett was a widower living at Cole Street in Wilby, and at 66 he was
still working as an agricultural labourer, mostly likely with his youngest son
James, aged 18 and from Wilby, who was also an agricultural labourer. Living with them at that time was John’s
eldest daughter Dinah Brunning nee Collett, who was 30 and from Wilby, together
with her husband Henry Brunning who was 25 and from Horham, and who was another
agricultural labourer. Also living in
Cole Street, Wilby was John’s eldest son William, with his wife
18O91 – Dinah Collett was born in 1850 at
Wilby
18O92 – William Collett was born in 1852 at
Wilby
18O93 – Mary Collett was born in 1854 at Wilby
18O94 – James Collett was born in 1861 at
Wilby
James
Collett [18N47] was
born at Wilby on 30th August 1817 and baptised there on 18th
January 1818, the youngest son and last child of William Collett and Dinah
Lockwood. He married Lucy Mutimer on 19th
October 1840 at Horham, which is north of Tannington and south of
Stradbroke. Lucy was born at Wilby in
1817, the daughter of Charles Mutimer and Elizabeth Cooke. Just after they were married the couple was
living in Wilby where, in June 1841, James was working as an agricultural
labourer, when Lucy was anticipating the imminent arrival of their first child,
their honeymoon baby. James and Lucy’s
first three children were all born at Wilby in Suffolk, while the remainder
were born at Needham, just across the county boundary in Norfolk, after the
family have moved there around 1845. By
the time of the census in 1851, the family was living at ‘the Street’ in
Needham and was listed as labourer James, aged 33, his wife Lucy who was 34,
Martha who was nine, Mary who was eight, Emma who was seven, William who was
four, Dinah who was one year old, and Eliza who was only a few months old. Three further children were added to the
family during the next decade
In the next Needham census in 1861, the family
was still living in the same dwelling as ten years earlier, by which time James
Collett from Wilby was 44 and continuing to earn a living as an agricultural
labourer, Lucy Collett was also 44 and from Wilby, Mary Collett from Wilby was
18 with no occupation, William Collett was 14, Eliza Collett was 10, James Collett
was eight, Rachel Collett was five, and George Collett was three years
old. All of the five younger children
had been born at Needham. The reason for
the absence of their daughters Martha, Emma and Dinah, was that Martha was
married by then, Emma was working as a domestic servant at Redenhall-with-Harleston
in Norfolk, and Dinah, who would have been 11, may not have survived beyond
childhood. Ten years forward found a
depleted Collett family still living at ‘the Street’ in Needham, near
Harleston. James was 53, while his wife
Lucy was 54, and the only child still living there with them was their youngest
child George who was 13. Still living in
the village was their youngest daughter Rachel who was 15. During the 1870s James passed away leaving
his widow Lucy living at 21 Opposite Row in Lakenham in Norwich in 1881, with
just her son George for company. Lucy,
aged 63, was confirmed as having been born at Wilby, while her occupation was
that of an SMS nurse. George was still a
bachelor at 23, and his place of birth was confirmed as Needham. By 1891 Lucy was 74 and at that time she was
still living with her son George who, by then had been married and widowed, although
not before he was presented with three children by his late wife. It was at the start of the new century when Lucy
Collett died, her death recorded at Great Yarmouth register office (Ref. 4b 36)
during the first three months of 1900, when she was 83
18O95 – Martha Collett was born in 1841 at
Wilby
18O96 – Mary Collett was born in 1842 at
Wilby
18O97 – Emma Collett was born in 1844 at
Wilby
18O98 – William Collett was born in 1846 at Needham
18O99 – Dinah Elizabeth Collett was born in 1849 at Needham
18O100 – Eliza Collett was born in 1851 at Needham
18O101 – James Collett was born in 1852 at Needham
18O102 – Rachel Collett was born in 1855 at Needham
18O103 – George Collett was born in 1858 at Needham
Ann
Collett [18N48] was
born at Wetheringsett and was baptised on 24th June 1804 at
Tannington, the eldest child of John Collett and Susan Watling. She married her cousin Hezekiah Lockwood at
Wilby on 27th November 1829.
Hezekiah, who was born at Wilby in 1806 and who died on 7th
January 1872, was the son of Evans Lockwood and Ann Collett [18M37], his mother
Ann being the sister of Ann’s father John.
In 1881 Ann Lockwood nee Collett was an annuitant widow of 80 years
living at Somersham in Suffolk, at the home of her daughter Lydia. Lydia Lockwood, who was born in 1829
at Coddenham in Suffolk, where she was baptised on 31st May 1829,
although the baptismal record named her parents as John and Ann Lockwood. Lydia had married Robert Sage, who was born
in 1826 at Flowton, a farmer of nine acres and, living and working with him in
1881, was his brother William Sage aged 67 and also of Flowton
ROBERT
COLLETT [18N49] was
born at Wilby where he was baptised on 23rd March 1805, the eldest
son of John and Susan Collett. He
married his cousin Diana Lockwood at Brundish, to the east of Tannington, their
wedding recorded at Hoxne (Ref. xiii 517) during the third quarter of 1837. It was only at the recording of her wedding
that her name was written as Diana. During
the rest of her life she was Dinah, the daughter of Hammond Lockwood and
Elizabeth Everett, and was baptised at Sprowston on 4th April
1813. All of Robert’s and Dinah’s
children were also born and baptised at Wilby.
After the wealth enjoyed by previous generations of the Collett family,
Robert and his family by contrast lived on the poverty line, with Robert having
to find work as a bricklayer. It was in
Wilby that the family was living in 1841, when Robert was 30, his wife Dinah
was 25, and their three children at that time were Elizabeth Collett, who was
three, Hammond Collett, who was two years old, and Susan Collett who was still
under one year old. In 1850 Robert was
sentenced at Ipswich to two weeks imprisonment for leaving his family
chargeable to the Parish of Wilby
At that time his wife Dinah and the children
were living at the Hoxne Union Workhouse in Stradbroke, where the couple’s last
child was born. A year later, according
to the census in 1851, Robert Collett was 45 and was still living at the Workhouse
in Stradbroke with three of his children, curiously though, he was recorded as
a widower. The three children with him,
at the Workhouse, were his eldest son Hammond who was 12, second eldest
daughter Susan who was 10, and his son John who was six years old. His son Robert had died four years earlier,
but his three other children were living with his wife at London Road in Wilby. Head of the household was Dinah Collett who
was 37 and a pauper, and the three children with her that day were the couple’s
eldest daughter Elizabeth who was 13, and their two youngest children, Ann who
was two, and Alfred who was not yet one year old
According to the next census in 1861, Robert
Collett from Wilby was 54 and a bricklayer’s labourer and his wife Dinah from
Sprowston was 47, when they and their family was residing in Wilby. The three children still living with the
couple John Collett who was 17, Ann Collett who was 12, and Alfred Collett who
was 10 years old. Staying with the
family on that occasion was Robert’s unmarried sister Frances Collett (below)
who was 49. Living nearby was the
couple’s eldest son Hammond Collett, aged 22, while their eldest daughter
Elizabeth Collett, also 22 and from Wilby, was living and working in the
Kentish Town area of London. Although
the whereabouts of Robert and Dinah has not been identified in the census of
1871, it was just over two years later that Robert Collett died at Wilby on 28th
September 1873, his death recorded at Hoxne (Ref. 4a 340) at the age of 67,
after which he was buried at Wilby on that same day. In the 1881 Census Dinah Collett was a widow
aged 69. The census return that year confirmed
that she was born at Sprowston, and that she was living at the home of her son
Alfred Collett at Framlingham Road in Wilby.
And, only two doors away from her, was her other son John and his
family. Dinah Collett survived for
another seven years, when she died on 27th June 1888, her death as
Dinah Collett was recorded at Hoxne (Ref. 4a 390) when she was 79
18O104 – Elizabeth Collett was born in 1837 at
Wilby
18O105 – Hammond Collett was born in 1839 at
Wilby
18O106 – Susan Collett was born in 1841 at
Wilby
18O107 – John Collett was born in 1843 at
Wilby
18O108 – Robert Collett was born in 1845 at
Wilby
18O109 – Ann Collett was born in 1849 at
Wilby
18O110 – Alfred Collett was born in 1851 at Stradbroke
Harriet
Collett [18N50] was
born at Wilby and was baptised there on 14th February 1808, but
survived for just short of one year, when she was buried at Wilby on 13th
January 1809, the daughter of John Collett and Susan Watling
Frances
Collett [18N51] was
born at Wilby and was baptised there on 24th June 1810, the daughter
of John and Susan Collett. It is
understood that she never married and in 1841, following the death of her
mother, she was living at Wilby with her widowed father when Frances Collett
was 25. The only other member of the
family living with them was Frances’ younger sister Hannah (below). After another ten years, Frances Collett from
Wilby was 35 (sic), when she was living and working there as a general servant
in 1851. Ten years after that Frances
Collett gave a more accurate assessment of her age, when she said she was 49, when
she was living with her married brother Robert (above) and his family at
Wilby, where she was described as the sister of the head of the household. It was thirteen years later that spinster
Frances Collett died at Wilby with her death recorded Hoxne (Ref. 4a 394)
during the first quarter of 1874. And it
was at Wilby where she was buried on 26th March 1874, at the age of
65
Charity
Collett [18N52] was
a twin born at Wilby during the month of May 1813 and was baptised there in a
joint ceremony with her twin-sister Susan (below) on 21st
June 1813. She was the daughter of John
and Susan Collett, and sadly she died within four days of her baptism and was
buried at Wilby on 25th June 1813
Susan
Collett [18N53]
was a twin born at Wilby during the month of May 1813 and it was there that she
was baptised in a joint ceremony with her twin-sister Charity (above) on
21st June 1813. She died two
months later and was buried on 25th August 1813, at the age of three
months, and just two months after the death of her twin-sister Charity
Hannah
Collett [18N54] was
born at Wilby and was baptised there on 16th July 1815, the last
child of John Collett and Susan Watling.
Following the death of her mother in 1840, Hannah aged 20 (rounded), was
living at Wilby with her widowed father and her sister Frances Collett (above)
in June 1841. Ten years later she was a
servant at a house in Wilby when she was 36.
Curiously in 1861, Hannah Collett of Wilby was living at Bridge Street
in Wickham Market when her age was recorded as 42 instead of 46, when she was
unmarried, living alone, and working as a charwoman. Less than a year later, the death of Hannah
Collett was recorded at Plomesgate (Ref. 4a 425) during the first three months
of 1862
Anthony
Collett [18O1] was
born at Heveningham on 21st September 1800, where he was baptised
that same day, the eldest child of Anthony Collett and his wife Anne Rachel
Curtis. At the age of 26 Anthony was
given the family home at Ubbeston by his father, where lived until just after
1841, when he settled in Bury-St-Edmunds.
During his later life, he was known as Anthony Collett of Bury-St-Edmunds
and held the position of Captain of East Suffolk. Around the time he took over the house at
Ubbeston, he married his cousin Harriet Pett Hannam who was born on 20th
July 1802 at Northbourne in Kent, and baptised there on 2nd
September 1802, the daughter of H Pett Hannam and his wife Catherine Collett [18N3]. The wedding of Anthony and Harriet took place
at Northbourne on 30th November 1826. By the time of the census in 1841, Harriet
had presented Anthony with the first three of their four children. The census return recorded the family living
at the Ubbeston house left to him by his father, who had passed away two years
earlier. Anthony was 40, his wife
Harriet was 37, and their three children were Harriet who was eleven, Maria who
was seven, and Anthony who was five years old.
Three years later the name of Capt Anthony Collett was listed in the
Ubbeston Directory of 1844. Upon moving
to Bury-St-Edmunds just after that, Anthony leased out the Ubbeston property,
which he eventually sold in 1847 to a wealthy local philanthropist Edmund
Holland, for £600. And it was Edmund who
presented the property to the Norwich Diocese for use as a rectory which still
stands there to this day – see Anthony Collett [18N1], the father of Anthony
Collett
It was during the following year, in 1848, that
the couple’s last child was born. By
1851 the family living at Bury-St-Edmunds (St James) was made up of Anthony Collett
from Cratfield who was 50 and a captain with the East Suffolk Militia, Harriet Pett
Collett who was 48, Harriet 21, Maria 17, Anthony 15, and Frances who was two
years old. Anthony Collett died at Bury-St-Edmunds
during January in 1856 and was buried at Hawstead on 30th January
1856 at the age of 55. Four years later
in the census of 1861 Harriet, aged 57, was a widow living at Dover St James in
Kent with three of her children. They
were Maria Collett who was 27, Anthony Collett who was 25, and Frances E
Collett who was 12 years old. It was a
similar situation ten years later in 1871.
The family was still living within the area of Dover St James, where
Harriet P Collett was 68, and living with her was her daughter Maria Collett
who was 37, and her son Anthony Collett who was 35. According to the next census in 1881, Harriet
P Collett was 78 and her place of birth was confirmed as Northbourne in
Kent. On that occasion she was living at
6 Camden Crescent in Dover St James, and her income was stated as coming from
‘dividends and land’.
Still living there with her, were her two
unmarried daughters, Maria Collett and Frances Collett, neither of them
credited with an occupation. Maria was
curiously recorded as being 40 rather than 47, while her place of birth was
given as Ubbeston Green (midway between Framlingham and Halesworth). Frances was also given the wrong age, being
30 instead of 32, although it did correctly give her birthplace as Bury-St-Edmunds. The three ladies were supported by three
female domestic servants and, at the time of the census, had staying with them
John Perryston, a magistrate, and his niece Catherine Perryston. Also, by that time, Harriet’s eldest daughter
was married to the Reverend John Ley, while her son Anthony Collett was the
Rector of Hastingleigh in Kent, and Vicar of Elmsted in Kent. Harriet Pett Collett nee Hannam of 2 Camden
Crescent in Dover died on 24th June 1886, her death recorded at
Dover (Ref. 2a 546) when she was 83, following which she was buried at Elmstone
on 28th June 1886. The Will
of Harriet Pett Collett, a widow, was proved at Canterbury on 2nd
August 1886 by the Reverend Anthony Collett of Elmstone Vicarage in Ashford,
Kent, a clerk (in Holy Orders) and son, the sole executor of her estate
originally valued at just over £9,162, but re-sworn in October 1886 at just
over £9,257. Having lost her mother, her
daughter Maria went to live with her older widowed sister Harriet Anne Ley in
Torquay, who had also just recently lost her husband
18P1 – Harriet Ann Collett was born in 1929 at
Ubbeston
18P2 – Maria Collett was born in 1933 at
Ubbeston
18P3 – Anthony Collett was born in 1935 at
Ubbeston
18P4 – Frances Ellen Collett was born in 1848 at Bury-St-Edmunds
Anne
Collett [18O2] was
born and baptised at Heveningham on 5th January 1802, the daughter
of Anthony Collett and Anne Rachel Curtis.
It was also at Heveningham that Anne married the Honourable Fenton John
Hort on 25th April 1826, who was born on 3rd August 1794
and baptised on 23rd August 1794, the son of Sir John bart. and
Margaret Lady Hort. Shortly after they
were married the couple moved to Ireland, where their son Fenton John Anthony
Hort was born in 1828. Fenton was
the brother of Viscount Hort, and the son of Margaret Hort with whom Fenton and
Anne were living at Furnley Lodge in Cheltenham in 1841. Margaret Hort was 75, Fenton Hort was 46, and
Anne Hort was 39. The couple’s five
children that census day were listed as Fenton J Hort aged 13, Margaret Hort
aged 11, Arthur Hort who was nine, Catherine Hort who was seven,
and Louisa Hort who was two years of age. Ten year later, the family was residing at
Bircham House in the village of Newland within the Forest of Dean,
Gloucestershire. Fenton Hort from
Abington Street in London was 56 and a fund holder, Anne was 49 and from Cratfield
in Suffolk, Margaret A Hort from Mercian Square in Dublin was 21, and Catherine
Hort was 17 and born on the Isle of Anglesey.
By 1861, 66-year-old Fenton Hort from Middlesex was a Justice of the
Peace for Monmouthshire, when he and Anne, aged 59 and from Cratfield, were
recorded at the home of their married daughter Catherine Williams and her
husband Garnons Williams at St John’s Mount, in St John’s in Brecon. Anne died five years later at Abercamlais
(Brecon), her death recorded at Brecknock (Ref. 11b 87) during the second
quarter of 1866, aged 64, although on being buried at St Cattwyg’s Church in
Llanspyddid on 27th June 1866 she was recorded as 63
Her passing left widower Fenton Hort at St
John’s Mount with just his daughter Margaret living there with him in 1871,
with three female servants. When Fenton
Hort died at St John’s Mount during the following year, he was buried at St Cattwyg’s
Church in Llanspyddid on 22nd March 1872 at the age of 78. Fenton Hort junior later went on to become a
Hulsean Professor of Divinity at Cambridge and by 1881 he was 52 and was a
Clergyman Without Cure, Doctor of Divinity, Professor of Theology living at 6
St Peters Terrace in St Mary the Lesser in Cambridge with his four
children. They were Ellen M Hort 18,
Francis F Hort 13, Mary D Hort 10, and Frederick A Hort who was eight years old. The Will of Fenton Hort, husband of Anne
Collett, and late of St John’s Mount in Brecon, who died on 18th
March 1873, was proved at the Principal Registry by his son the Reverend Fenton
John Anthony Hort of St Peter’s Terrace in Cambridge on 21st June
1873, and by John Josiah Hort of Woodland House in Warley, Essex, a colonel in
Her Majesty’s Arm, nephew, the three executors of the Will valued at under
£30,000
Catherine
Charlotte Collett [18O3] was baptised at Heveningham on 26th July 1805,
the daughter of the Reverend Anthony Collett, Rector of Heveningham and his
wife Anne Rachel Curtis. She married the
Reverend Thomas John Blofield MA, the Rector of Hellesdon-with-Drayton near
Norwich. The marriage took place at
Heveningham on 15th April 1834, and produced a daughter and three
sons for the couple. They were Catherine
Blofield, Francis Blofield, Thomas Calthorpe Blofield, and Robert
Singleton Blofield. The later death
of Catherine C Blofield was recorded at Smallburgh in Norfolk (Ref. 4b 31)
during the last three months of 1872 when she was 68. She was then buried at Hoveton St John in
Norfolk on 12th October 1872.
Her husband survived her by nearly nine years, when the death of Thomas
John Blofield, of Hoveton St John, was recorded at Smallburgh (Ref. 4b 25)
during the second quarter of 1881, when he was 74, and he was buried on 3rd
June 1881. The Will, with a Codicil, of
the Reverend Thomas Blofield late of Hoveton House in Hoveton St John, who died
there on 29th May 1881, was proved at Norwich on 3rd
August 1881 by Thomas Calthorpe Blofield Esquire of Hoveton House and the
Reverend Robert Singleton Blofield Esquire of Ormesby St Margaret, a clerk (in
Holy Orders), the two sons and executors of the estate valued at under
£6,000
William
Collett [18O4] was
born in 1812 and was baptised at Heveningham on 17th April 1812, the
youngest known son of the Rev. Anthony Collett and his wife Anne Rachel
Curtis. Tragically he died when he was
only nine years old and was buried at Heveningham on 29th November
1821 when he was described as the son of Rachel Collett formerly Curtis
Margaret
Collett [18O5]
was born at Minster-in-Thanet, near Ramsgate in Kent, where she was baptised at
the Church of St Mary on 24th January 1804. Margaret was the eldest child of Thomas
Collett of Ringleton (Manor near Woodnesborough?) and Margaret Bushell. Margaret Collett never married and in 1851
she was 47 and living at Upton House in Worth, Kent, where she was still living
in 1861 at the age of 57, when she was described as a landed proprietor
occupying house, garden, and pasture, and employing three servants. Two years after that census day, Margaret
Collett died on 3rd April 1863, her death recorded at Eastry (Ref.
2a 455), and was buried at Minster on 10th April 1863. The Will of Margaret Collett of Upton House
in Worth, valued as under £9,000, was proved at the Principal Registry on 11th
May 1863 by the oath of Catherine Harbord of Strand Street in Sandwich, a
widow, sister and sole executrix, Catherine being Margaret’s younger sister (below)
Thomas
Collett [18O6] was
born at Minster-in-Thanet on 27th May 1805 and was baptised there in
St Mary’s Church on 10th June 1805.
Just like his father before him, he too was later known as ‘Thomas
Collett of Ringleton’, very likely a reference to Ringleton Farm/Ringleton
House in Woodnesborough where he was a farmer of some considerable acreage
employing many men. The marriage of
Thomas Collett and Jane Tomlin of Ash in Kent was recorded at Eastry in Kent
(Ref. v 179) during the second quarter of 1839. Jane was baptised at Ash-next-Sandwich on 19th
February 1816, the daughter of Thomas Minter Tomlin and his wife Sarah. Thomas and Jane were only together for just
six years, when the premature death of Jane Collett was recorded at Eastry
(Ref. v 87) during the third quarter of 1845, when she was 29 years old,
leaving Thomas with four children. Jane
was subsequently buried at Woodnesborough on 5th July 1845. Four years earlier, Thomas and Jane were
recorded in the Woodnesborough census of 1841, when farmer Thomas was 35 and
Jane was 25 – both rounded ages. With
the couple was their one-year-old son Thomas
In 1851 Thomas, the eldest of the four children
was 11 years old and a scholar at a school in Canterbury, but was back living
with his father in 1861, aged 21, when daughter Ann F Collett was 19. At that time in his life, Thomas Collett from
Minster was described as a yeoman of 239 acres and a farmer of 153 acres,
employing 14 men and 5 boys. After a
further ten years, Thomas Collett was 65 and a retired yeoman who was still
living at Ringleton House, Woodnesborough, when still living with him was his
daughter Ann aged 29. Managing the farm
by then was son George Collett who was 27, and completing the household were
two female servants. Almost exactly two
years after, the death of Thomas Collett was recorded at Eastry in Kent (Ref.
2a 458) during the second quarter of 1873, when he was 67, after which he was
buried at Woodnesborough on 20th May 1873. The Will of Thomas Collett, Esquire, late of
Ringleton House in Woodnesborough, who died on 15th May 1873, was
proved at the Principal Registry on 1st July 1873 by Thomas Trusson
Collett of Upper Clapton in Middlesex, gentleman, and George Collett a farmer
of Ringleton House, the two sons and executors of the Will, the estate for
which was assessed to be under £14,000
18P5 – Thomas Trusson Collett was born in 1840 at Woodnesborough,
Kent
18P6 – Ann Friend Collett was born in 1841 at
Woodnesborough, Kent
18P7 – James Tomlin Collett was born in 1843 at
Woodnesborough, Kent
18P8 – George Collett was born in 1844 at
Woodnesborough, Kent
George
Collett [18O7] was
born at Minster-in-Thanet on 2nd October 1806 and it was there that
he was baptised on 12th October 1806 in the Church of St Mary. He was the third of the five known children
of Thomas Collett of Ringleton and his wife Margaret Bushell. George later married (1) Sarah Crofts King by
licence at the Church of St John-in-Wapping, Middlesex, on 8th June
1834. Four members of the King family
signed the register, with just one member of the Collett family, that being
Catherine Collett, George’s younger sister (below). Their marriage produced four children who
were born at Monkton, two of them recorded with the couple in the Minster
census of 1841. The family that day
comprised George Collett a farmer who had a rounded age of 30, Sarah Collett who
had a rounded age of 20, and their two children Catharine Collett who was five,
and George Collett who was three. One
year before the next census day Sarah Croft Collett died at Monkton on 10th
March 1850 at the age of 43, her death recorded at the Isle of Thanet (Ref. v
353), after which she was buried at Minster on 16th March 1850. Just over one year later widower George was
44 and a farmer of 450 acres employing 16 labourers, when he was living at
Walter’s Hall in Monkton, with just two of his children. They were Georgiana Collett who was four, and
George Collett who was three
It was five and half years later that George was
married by licence to (2) Elizabeth Smith at Minster-in-Thanet on 18th
November 1856, when George was confirmed as a widower and a gentleman of
Monkton, the son of Thomas Collett, gentleman.
One of the witnesses was George’s older brother Thomas Collett (above). Elizabeth was a spinster residing in Minster,
the daughter of James Smith, an attorney, who presented George with a further
five children, although only four of them survived. Just over four years after their wedding day,
George Collett from Minster was 54 and a farmer of 478 acres employing 16 men
and 6 boys, living at Monkton near Minster-in-Thanet in 1861. His much younger wife Elizabeth Collett from
Manchester was 36, when living with them were the first three of their five
children, together with George’s eldest child from his first marriage. Catharine Collett was 25, while Cornelius
Collett was three, Charles T Collett was one year old, and Isabella Collett was
three months old. Boarding with the
family was farm bailiff Thomas Browning of Monkton who was 63 and a widower, with
the family employing five female domestic servants. Two more daughters were added to the family
during the next seven years although, after the birth of the couple’s last
child, the family appears to have been separated, with Elizabeth Collett, nee
Smith, and her daughter Emily Collett, being identified on the Isle of Wight in
1881 and at Penge in London in 1891.
However, just prior to the next census in 1871, their son Charles
Trusson Collett suffered a premature death not long after his tenth
birthday.
As a result of the break-up of the family, in
1871 it was just ‘head of the household’ George Collett aged 64, who was still
living at Monkton with only one of his children, his son George A Collett who
was 23. At that same time, his younger
son Cornelius Collett of Monkton aged 13 was a pupil attending Grange School at
Ewell in Surrey, within the Borough of Epsom, although the census record had
his place of birth as Ramsgate. The big
family mystery is that no record has been found for all of the other members of
family, including George’s his second wife Elizabeth aged 46, and daughters
Isabella aged ten, Alice Maud aged eight, and Emily aged three years. However, it has been established that they
were all living and positively identified in subsequent following census
returns. By the time of the next Monkton
census in 1881, George Collett, aged 74, was listed as a retired farmer who had
been born at Minster-in-Thanet. The
entry in the census return still indicated that he was a married man, at a time
in his life when his Manchester born wife Elizabeth was 55 who had their
youngest child Emily with her at a boarding house in Ventor on the Isle of
Wight
With George at Walter’s Hall on Main Road in
Monkton that day, were three of his unmarried children, and they were George
Alfred Collett who was 33 and had income from land, Cornelius Collett who was
23 and a Cambridge undergraduate, and Isabella Collett who was 20. All three of them were confirmed as having
been born at Monkton. Taking care of the
domestic duties at the residence were two female servants. George Collett died at Walter’s Hall ten
months later on 21st January 1882, just three months before his son
Cornelius was married. The death of
George Collett was recorded at Thanet (Ref. 2a 563) when he was 76, and when
his personal estate was valued at £66,289 2 Shillings. The Will and Codicil of George Collett,
Esquire, late of Walters Hall Monkton, Isle of Thanet, was proved at the
Principal Registry on 13th March 1882 by George Alfred Collett, a
gentleman, of 7 West Cliff Terrace Ramsgate, and the Reverend George Collett,
nephew, of 5 St Mary’s Road Peckham in Surrey, a clerk (in Holy Orders)
the surviving two executors. The absence
of the name of his wife, may further confirm that they were an estranged couple
Whether or not it was a result of her husband’s
death is not known, but the fact remains that widow Elizabeth Collett, together
with daughter Emily, eventually returned from the Isle Wight to settle back in
mainland Britain. That move was
confirmed in the London census of 1891, when the two of them were still living together,
with their three domestic servants at 70 Belvedere Road in Penge, within the London
Borough of Bromley, Kent. Both mother
and daughter were living on their own means, when Elizabeth Collett was recorded
as being 68 years of age. All that is
currently known for sure after 1891, is the Emily continued to live in South
London, where she was recorded in 1901, 1911, and at the time of her later
death. It therefore possible that
Elizabeth may have been in Essex visiting or staying with her married daughter
Alice Maud Tidmarsh when she died, the death of Elizabeth Collett aged 72
recorded at Orsett register office (Ref. 4a 226) during the first three months
of 1896. Her recorded age at that time
closely corresponds with the baptism of Elizabeth Smith at Manchester on 4th
May 1823, the daughter of James and Mary Smith
18P9 – Catharine Collett was born in 1835 at
Monkton, Kent
18P10 – George Collett was born in 1838 at
Monkton, Kent
18P11 – Georgiana Collett was born in 1846 at
Monkton, Kent
18P12 – George Alfred Collett was born in 1848 at
Monkton, Kent
The children of George Collett and his second
wife Elizabeth Smith:
18P13 – Cornelius Collett was born in 1857 at
Monkton, Kent
18P14 – Charles Trusson
Collett was born in 1859 at
Monkton, Kent
18P15 – Isabella Collett was born in 1860 at
Monkton, Kent
18P16 – Alice Maud Collett was born in 1862 at
Monkton, Kent
18P17 – Emily Collett was born in 1868 at
Monkton, Kent
Mary
Collett [18O8]
was born at Minster-in-Thanet on 6th September 1808, the fourth
child of Thomas Collett and Margaret Bushell, and was baptised in the Church of
St Mary on 18th September 1808.
Mary later married Thomas Wickes Solly of Dent de Lion, Margate in Kent,
at Woodnesborough on 13th September 1831, with whom she had three
sons and four daughters. According to
the census in 1841, the family was living at Monkton Court in Monkton, where
Thomas Solly was a farmer aged 35, Mary Solly was 30, George Bushell Solly
was five, James Solly was three, and Mary Solly was one year old. After another ten years the family the census
in 1851 recorded the family as: Thomas W Solly who was 48 and a farmer of 420
acres employing 14 labourers; Mary Solly was 42; Thomas C Solly was 18; James
Solly was 13; Sarah Solly was eight; Catherine Solly was seven;
and Margaret Ann Solly was five years old. By 1861 the family was residing at Dent de
Lion Farm, when Thomas Wickes Solly was 58, Mary was 52, George Bushell Solly
was 24, James was 23, Mary was 21, Sarah was 19, Kate was 17, and Margaret Ann
was 15. Following the death of her
husband and eldest son (see details below), it was just Mary Solly, a
farmer of 450 acres, employing 10 men and 3 boys, a widow at the age of 63
whose only child still living with her was her daughter Mary Solly who was 31
Thomas was baptised on 15th February
1803 at St Peter’s Church in Sandwich, the son of George and Sarah Solly. He died at Dent de Lion on 28th
May 1861, following which his Will, valued at under £12,000, was proved at the
Principal Registry by the oath of Mary Solly of Dent de Lion, widow, relict,
and sole executrix. The probate process
also identified that prior to residing at Dent de Lion, his former home was
Monkton Court in Monkton. It was on 4th
June 1861 that Thomas was buried at Minster.
By the time Mary Solly, nee Collett, of 17 Gauden Road Clapham in Surrey
died on 10th November 1889 she had amassed a considerable fortune,
the value of her personal estate being £11,989 8 Shillings and 11 Pence. Her Will and Codicil were proved at the
Principal Registry on 10th January 1890 by Samuel Collett of Clare
Lodge Spring Grove Isleworth in Middlesex, gentleman, and the Reverend Harry
Harbord of East Hoathly in Sussex, a clerk (in Holy Orders), the two
executors
One of the three sons of Thomas Wicks Solly and
Mary Collett was Thomas Collett Solly, bachelor, whose Letter of
Administration was granted at Canterbury on 14th March 1890,
following his premature death on 15th October 1853 at Dent de Lion,
to the aforementioned Samuel Collett of Clare Lodge, Spring Grove, Isleworth and
Reverend Harry Harbord of The Rectory East Hoathly, which also confirmed that
Thomas Collett Solly was the son of Thomas Wickes Solly whose personal effects
were valued at £1,142 17 Shillings and 1 Penny
Catherine
Collett [18O9] was
born at Minster-in-Thanet on 23rd August 1810, where she was
baptised in St Mary’s Church on 7th October 1810 when she was
confirmed as the daughter of Thomas and Margaret Collett. She was almost 31 when she married surgeon
Henry (Harry) Gordon Harbord of Liverpool on 19th August 1841 at
Woodnesborough in Kent. Harry was
younger than Catherine, having been born on 14th August 1815 and
baptised on 19th June 1923, the son of William and Elizabeth Harbord. However, the marriage only lasted for eight
years, but during that time, Catherine presented her husband with six children
before he died. The death of Henry
Gordon Harbord was recorded at Clifton (Ref. xi 220) during the last quarter of
1849, when he was only 34 and living at Upper Parliament Street, and was buried
at St Michael’s Church in Liverpool on 4th January 1850. The only baptism record so far found is for
her eldest child, Harry Harbord, who was baptised at St Peter’s Church
in Liverpool on 2nd May 1844, when his parents were confirmed as
Henry and Catherine Harbord. A year
after being widowed, the census in 1851 placed widow Catherine Harbord from
Minster, aged 40, living at Monkton with only three of her children, when she
was described as a fund holder. The
children were Harry Harbord who was seven years old, Collett Harbord who
was four years old, and Catherine Harbord who was one year old and born
at Monkton. Her sons Harry and Collett
were born in Liverpool and were attending Marlborough School in Wiltshire at
the time of the next census in 1861, when pupils H Harbord was 17 and C Harbord
was 14
That same year, the boys’ widowed mother Catherine
was 50 years old and an annuitant living at Strand Street in St Mary-in-the-Marsh,
midway between Old Romney and Dymchurch.
Staying were her were two Lancashire born sisters Jane Brownbill who was
54, and Margaret Brownbill who was 50. Two
years later, widow Catherine Harbord of Strand Street in Sandwich was the sole
executrix of her eldest sister’s Will in May 1863, when the Will of spinster
Margaret Collett was estimated to be close to £9,000. In 1871 Catherine Harbord was 60 and an
annuitant living at Sandwich in Kent, where she employed a live-in 16-year-old
housemaid. Visiting Catherine that day were
Peckham born sisters Harriet King who was 29, and Minna King who was 26. It is very interesting that thirty years
later, the same Minna King was 56, when she was visiting Collett siblings Ann
Friend C (59) and George C (57) at Main Road in Basildon, Berkshire in 1901. Ann and George were first cousins of Catherine
Harbord
No record of Catherine has been found between
1871 and 1891 so on the day of the census in 1891, when Catherine was 80 years
of age and living on her own means at Rose Mount, East Hoathly in Sussex, she
had living with her, her unmarried niece Isabella Collett, the eldest child of
her older brother George Collett (above). She was also employing a cook and a
housemaid. Eighteen months later, Catherine
Harbord died on 24th October 1892, her death recorded at Uckfield
(Ref. 2b 81) when she was 82, after which she was buried at Minster on 28th
October 1892. Probate of the Will of
Catherine Harbord, of Rose Mount, East Hoathly in Sussex, a widow, was grant at
London on 30th December 1892 to the Reverend Harry Harbord, a clerk (in
Holy Orders) when her estate was estimated to be worth £6,657 15 Shillings
and 11 Pence
As regards her children, according to the
census in 1871, Catherine’s son Harry Harbord, aged 27, was a lodger at
Aylesford in Kent, while Collett Harbord, aged 24, was living at Alfold in
Surrey where he employed a housekeeper and a servant girl. By 1881 Harry was 37 and was the Reverend
Harry Harbord, Curate in Charge of All Saints at Highgate Espennett House in
Hawkhurst, Kent where he was supported by two domestic staff. It was on 4th June 1882, at
Goudhurst in Kent, that he married Ellen Jane Blair who was much younger than
Harry, being only 24, the daughter of Harrison Blair. By 1891 the marriage had produced the first
three of their nine children and the family recorded at East Hoathly in Sussex
comprised Harry who was 47, Ellen who was 33, Frances who was four, Kenneth who
was two, and Stephen who was under one year old. According to the next census in 1901 for East
Hoathly, the couple’s oldest three children were away at boarding school,
leaving Harry, aged 57, and Ellen Jane, aged 43, living there with their three
youngest children at that time. They
were Geoffrey who was eight, Ellen who was six, and Arthur who was three
Mary
Lynch Collett [18O10]
was baptised at Walton in Felixstowe on 1st November 1807, the
eldest child of Charles Collett and Charlotte Lynch. The baptism was a joint ceremony with her
possible twin sister Catherine (below).
Mary married Reverend Edward Raikes Edgar, the Rector of Trimley in
Suffolk, at Walton Suffolk on 28th February 1832. Edward Raikes Edgar of 24 Duke Street in
Edinburgh died on 29th December 1861 at Aberdouar in Fife. The later death of Mary Lynch Edgar of
Wimbledon was recorded at Kingston-on-Thames (Ref. 2a 149) during the second
quarter of 1874, when she was 67 years old.
She was buried at Wimbledon on 25th April 1874 and left an
estate said to be under £1,000. It was
on 7th May 1874 that the Will of Mary Lynch Edgar, late of Maresfield
in Sussex, widow, who died on 16th April 1874 at 23 Lingfield Road
in Wimbledon, was proved at the Principal Registry by Charlotte Susanna Edgar,
wife of the Reverend Thomas Richard Turner, a clerk (in Holy Orders),
and Alice Maud Catherine Edgar, spinster, both of 23 Lingfield Road, the
daughters of Mary Lynch Edgar, and George Josselyn of Ipswich, gentleman, the
executors
Mary and Edward’s second son was Mileson
Edgar who was born in 1855 and who later was known as Captain Mileson
Edgar. Captain Mileson Edgar, of Red
House Park, married Elizabeth Schreiber on 28th October 1878. She was the daughter of the Reverend Thomas
Schreiber, Rector of Bradwell in Essex.
Two years before he was born, his father’s brother, the Reverend Mileson
Gery Edgar, died in 1853 leaving Westerfield Manor with his second wife
Elizabeth Arkell, who held Westerfield Manor until her death on 11th
June 1890. The Manor House had been
purchased from the Collett family in the early 1800s, it having been originally
inherited by Anthony Collett [18H8] from the Dameron family in 1600. Upon the death of Elizabeth Edgar nee Arkell,
Westerfield Manor was inherited by Captain Mileson Edgar of Red House Park and
his wife Elizabeth Schreiber
Catherine
Collett [18O11
was baptised at Walton on 1st November 1807 in a joint ceremony with
her twin sister Mary Lynch Collett (above). It is established that Catherine later
married Henry Wilkin who was born on 21st June 1802 and baptised on
20th July that same year, the son of John and Elizabeth Wilkin of
Inworth. Henry Wilkin was a surgeon of
39 Connaught Terrace, Hyde Park, in London who, at the time of his death on 26th
July 1864 was residing at 16 Pembridge Crescent in Bayswater. His Will was proved at the Principal Registry
on 2nd September 1864 by the oaths of John Elliot Snow of Walton in
Suffolk, surgeon, and Herbert Charles Wilkin of Brown Hill, Millbrook
near Southampton, Esquire, the son, the executors. It was on the day of the census in 1851 when
Henry and Catherine, and five children, were living at 39 Connaught Terrace
within the London parish of Paddington.
Henry Wilkin of Bloor Hall in Essex was 48, Catherine Wilkin from Walton
was 43, Henry John Wilkin was 22, Adelaide Wilkin was 20, Elizabeth
Wilkin was 19, Frederick Wilkin was 15, and Edward Wilkin was
14
Charlotte
Collett [18O12] was
baptised at Walton in Felixstowe on 21st January 1809, the daughter
of Charles and Charlotte Collett. On the
day of the Walton census of 1851, unmarried Charlotte Collett was 42 and a fund
holder who, together with her unmarried sister Elizabeth (below), was
living with their mother’s brother William Lynch at Upper Street
Elizabeth
Collett [18O13]
was baptised at Walton on 12th May 1810, the youngest of the four
daughters of Charles Collett and his first wife Charlotte Lynch, who died
around the end of 1813. It is known that
Elizabeth Collett, daughter of Charles Collett, married John Lynch Fletcher at
Bletchley in Buckinghamshire on 5th December 1854. John was born on 14th March 1828,
and was baptised on 1st May 1828 at St Mary’s Church in Woodford in
Suffolk, the son of William Fletcher and Mary Studd. Three years before they were married
Elizabeth and her older sister Charlotte (above) were recorded with
their uncle William Lynch, their mother’s older brother, at Upper Street in
Walton. William was a retired mariner
aged 77 from Ipswich, Charlotte Collett from Walton was 42 and a fund holder,
while Elizabeth Collett also from Walton was 41 and another fund holder. By 1861, John L Fletcher from Woodbridge was
32 and a farmer of 109 acres employing three men and one boy. His older wife Elizabeth Fletcher was 50,
when they were living in Streatley village. After a further ten years they were living at
Hardwick Hill in Chepstow and by then John Lynch Fletcher was 42 and Militia
Office Estate Agent, and Elizabeth was 59.
Six years later the death of Elizabeth Fletcher was recorded at Chester
(Ref. 8a 280) during the first three months of 1877, when she was 67, after
which she was buried at the Church of St Bridget in Chester on 24th
January 1877
Charles
Lynch Collett [18O14] was born at Walton-cum-Felixstowe during 1811, the son of
Charles Collett and his wife Charlotte Lynch.
It was in December two years that he died and was buried at
Walton-cum-Felixstowe on 12th December 1813, with his mother dying
just a few weeks later and also being buried there on 1st January
1814, following the birth of his brother Charles (below)
Charles
Collett [18O15] was
born at Walton-cum-Felixstowe during the first week of December in 1813, the
last child born to Charles Collett by his first wife Charlotte Lynch, who was
baptised at Walton on 16th December 1813. Around the time that he was born, his older
brother Charles Lynch Collett died at two years of age, and not long after that
the boys’ mother died, possibly because she did not recover from the latest
birth. Nine months after he was born, he
too died and was buried at Walton-cum-Felixstowe with his brother and his
mother on 6th August 1814
William
Collett [18O16] was
born at Walton-cum-Felixstowe where he was baptised on 4th December
1818, the only child of Charles Collett and his second wife Elizabeth
Harmsworth. He was educated at Ipswich
Grammar School under his cousin James Collett Ebden, where he matriculated when
he was 19. Later that same year he was
accepted into Peterhouse College in Cambridge on 1st October
1838. The university records show he was
the son of Charles Collett of Walton near Ipswich, and that he received his BA
in 1843. It was during the previous year
that he was ordained as a deacon, prior to which he had been the Curate of
Belstead in Ipswich. According to the
census in 1841, William Collett, with a rounded age of 20, was still living
with his parents at Woodbridge near Ipswich.
Six years later in 1847, and after he was married, he was appointed
Curate of Chelsworth, which lies midway between Bury-St-Edmunds and
Ipswich. Four years earlier, at
Walton-cum-Felixstowe, William married (1) Mary Cecil Augusta von Linsingen on
29th August 1843, which was recorded at Woodbridge (Ref. xii 707). Mary was the daughter of Count William von
William
von Linsingen, K.C.B, G.C.H, had been a distinguished officer in the German
Legion and from the age of fourteen he had been present in all of the
continental wars, including the Seven Years War, when he was on the staff of
the Duke of Brunswick. When only a
Lieutenant Colonel in 1794, he commanded a considerable corps of British and
Hanoverian troops during the eight weeks defence of Menin in Flanders, not long
after which he was taken prisoner.
During the years following this, he came to England to reform his
regiment, the 1st Hussars of the German Legion, and was appointed to
the rank of Major General in the British Service. It was during the early 1800s that he is
likely to have built a friendship with the Duke of Cambridge (see below). In 1811 he was promoted to the rank of
Lieutenant General and received the Orders of the Bath and of the Guelphs from
his late Majesty the King, with whom he was a great favourite. William and Mary Ann von Linsingen were
prominent figures in the Ipswich area at that time, and up until 1824 the Count
and his family lived at Birkfield Lodge on Belstead Road in Ipswich, which he
built in 1818 and which today is the boys’ school of St Joseph’s College. However, due to financial difficulties, he
was forced to sell the property in 1824
After their wedding, William Collett and Mary
Cecil Augusta settled in Chelsworth, where their first three children were
born, although shortly before the birth of the third child, William was offered
the post of Chaplain to the Duke of Cambridge, possibly through a
recommendation from his father-in-law, the Count von Linsingen. His new job took William and his family to Bury-St-Edmunds,
and it was while they were living there that the next three children were born
into the family. Also, during the years from
1849 through to 1852, when William was living at 1 Westend in Bury-St-Edmunds,
from where he performed the role of Curate at nearby Stanningfield. By the time of the next census in 1851,
William Collett was 32, his wife Cecil Collett was 36, and their four daughters
were Sophia Collett who was six, Emily Collett who was five, Augusta Collett
who was three, and Mary Collett who was one year old. Living with the family that day, was
William’s elderly mother Elizabeth Collett from Newbury in Berkshire who, in
the month of September that same year, was buried at Stanningfield. During the following year, William was made
Rector of Hawstead near Bury-St-Edmunds, to where the family moved between 1852
and 1855, and it was while the family was living at Hawstead that the couple’s
last child was born in 1856. By April
1861, the larger family was living within the parsonage at Hawstead, south of Bury-St-Edmunds. At that time the family comprised William
Collett was 42 and the Rector of Hawstead, Mary C A Collett was 46, and their
seven children. They were recorded as
Sophie E Collett who was 16, Ellen M Collett who was 15, Augusta C Collett who
was 13, Mary L Collett who was 11, William C Collett who was nine, Agnes M
Collett who was six, and Frederick W Collett who was five years old. It was just three years later that tragedy
struck the family, when Mary Cecil Augusta Collett died at Hawstead during the
first three months of 1864, aged 59, her death recorded at Thingoe (Ref. 4a
355).
Nearly four years later, William Collett,
widower and clerk in Holy Orders from Hawstead and the son of Charles Collett
Esquire, was married by licence to (2) Charlotte Johanna Caroline Stowiczek
(1830-1926), a spinster from Hanover in Germany, but residing at Belgrave
Square, at St Peter’s Church in Pimlico, London, on 19th May 1868. Charlotte was baptised on 26th
February 1830, the daughter of Joseph George and Eleanor Stowiczek. Their wedding day was recorded at St George
Hanover Square (Ref. 1a 566). That
second marriage for William produced another two children, both of them born
after the next census in 1871. According
to the census return that year, William and part of his original family was
still living at Hawstead within the Thingoe & Rougham area. William was 52, and his wife Charlotte was
41. Only five of his children from his
first marriage were still living there with him, and they were Sophie E Collett
26, Augustus C Collett 23, Mary L Collett 21, William C Collett 19, and Agnes M
Collett who was 16. It seems highly
likely that Charlotte was with-child on the day of the census, since later that
same year she gave birth to a daughter.
At the end of 1873 Charlotte presented William with another son, and the
second of their two children, both of whom were both born at Hawstead. However, tragedy was to strike the family
again, when Charlotte Collett nee Stowiczek died at Hawstead on 11th
January 1874 at the age of 44, very likely during, or shortly after, the birth
of her son child, her death recorded at Thingoe (Ref. 4a 341). It was also at Hawstead that she was buried
on 17th January 1874
The census of 1881 confirmed that widower
William Collett, aged 62 and from Walton, was still the Rector of Hawstead and
that he was still residing at The Rectory in Hawstead. Still living there with him were his four
unmarried daughters Ellen M Collett, aged 35, and Augusta Cecil Collett, aged
33, both born at Chelsworth, and Mary L Collett, aged 31, and Agnes M Collett,
aged 26, who were both born at Bury-St-Edmunds.
In addition to the four older daughters from William’s first marriage,
there was also Leonora J Collett who was nine years old, and John A Collett who
was seven years of age, both of whom had been born at Hawstead, the two
children from his second marriage. The
household was supported by three domestic servants, cook Priscilla Storey, 23
and from Norwich, housemaid Sally Coe, 21 and from Ixworth, and child’s nurse
Clara Pettit, aged 19 from Hawstead
Sadly, for the two younger members of his
family, William passed away just ten months after the census in 1881. It is therefore assumed that those two
children, aged just ten and eight years respectively, were subsequently brought
up their four older half-sisters. It was
originally stated in error that the Reverend William Collett died on 21st
November 1889. However, new information
supplied by Tony Copsey in January 2010, and confirmed by the records of the
Cambridge Alumni, and the Suffolk burial records, places the death of William
Collett at Hawstead as 1st February 1882, following which he was
buried at Hawstead on 4th February 1882, aged 63. It can now also be revealed that his death
was reported in The Guardian Newspaper on 8th February 1882 and
recorded at Thingoe (Ref. 4a 381). In
2010 Tony Copsey was the owner of a property that was once part of the
Westerfield Estate which, up to 1868, was in the ownership of the Collett
family. Tony is mapping the history of
the property and all those who lived there and his finding so far using the
deeds he holds reveal that the Colletts sold the property in 1868 to the
aforementioned Edgar family, with whom it remained until 1935
18P18 – Sophia Elizabeth Collett was born in 1844 at
Chelsworth
18P19 – Ellen Mary Collett was born in 1845 at
Chelsworth
18P20 – Augusta Cecil Collett was born in 1847 at
Chelsworth
18P21 – Mary Louisa Collett was born in 1849 at
Bury St Edmund
18P22 – William Charles Collett was born in 1851 at
Bury St Edmund
18P23 – Agnes Maria Collett was born in 1854 at Bury-St-Edmunds
18P24 – Frederick William Collett was born in 1856 at
Hawstead
The children of William Collett by his second
wife Charlotte Stowiczek:
18P25 – Leonora Julia Collett was born in 1871 at
Hawstead
18P26 – John Anthony Collett was born in 1873 at
Hawstead
Charles
Collett [18O17] was
born on 5th May 1823 at Beverley in the East Riding of Yorkshire,
but was baptised six days later at Falkenham, near Felixstowe in Suffolk, on 11th
May 1823, the first-born son of Cornelius Collett and Amelia Daniel from
Falkenham. The entry in the Falkenham
parish register included the additional note that the child was “of Beverley,
but at this time, in this parish”. He
had a rounded age of 15 in the Beverley census of 1841, when he was living with
his widowed mother and two younger brothers at North Bar Street in
Beverley. Six years later, the death of
Charles Collett was recorded at Beverley (Ref. i 23) during the third quarter
of 1847
Samuel
Collett [18O18] was
born at Beverley during 1824, where he was baptised at the church of St Mary
& St Nicholas on 21st November 1824, the second of the four sons
of Cornelius and Amelia Collett. His
father died in 1840 so, in the census the following year, Samuel had a rounded
age of 15, when he was living at North Bar Street in Beverley with his widowed
mother and his brother Charles (above) and Daniel (below). Where he was in 1851 has not yet been
discovered, while ten years after that, Samuel Collett was again living at
North Bar Street in 1861, when he described as a bachelor and a gentleman at
the age of 36, by which time his mother was residing in London. During the next decade, Samuel was reunited
with his mother in West London, where they were recorded in the Heston area
census, near Hounslow in Middlesex, in 1871.
In the census return that year, Samuel Collett was unmarried, was 43
years of age (sic), and was living off an annuity, at Clare Lodge in Spring
Grove Road. Staying with him and his
mother, was cousin Charlotte E Sewell from Middlesex, who was 12 years
old. His mother also employed a servant,
Martha A Buck who was 43. Spring Grove
Road runs through Hounslow, between Heston and Isleworth. Although not proved, it is possible that the
death of Samuel Collett, recorded at St Olave Southwark in South London (Ref.
1d 128) during the second quarter of 1893, and aged 68, was Samuel Collett from
Beverley. But where he was in 1881 and
1891 is still a mystery
Daniel
Collett [18O19] was
born at Beverley in 1828 and it was there that he was baptised at the church of
St Mary & St Nicholas on 10th August 1828, another son of
Cornelius and Amelia Collett. By the
time he was 12 years of age, and following the death of his father during the
previous year, Daniel and his widowed mother and two older brothers were
recorded in the June census of 1841 at North Bar Street, in Beverley. On leaving school, and completing a
qualification as an engineer, Daniel Collett from Beverley was living at
Thetford Market Place, in 1852, where he was 22, unmarried, and an engineer, a
visitor in the home of the Bailey family from Essex. Five years later, Daniel Collett, a civil
engineer, was married by licence at Hackney (Ref. 1b 470) during the fourth
quarter of 1857 to (1) Elizabeth Pollard Canwell, who was known as Lizzie. The marriage recorded at the parish church of
West Hackney confirmed that their wedding took place on 15th
December 1857 between Daniel Collett of full age, a bachelor and an engineer of
Paddington, the son of Cornelius Collett gentleman, and Elizabeth Pollard
Canwell of full age, spinster of West Hackney, the daughter of John Canwell,
farmer
Once married, the couple settled at Melcombe
Regis, in the Weymouth parish of Radipole where, in 1861, they were residing at
7 St Mary’s Street, where Daniel Collett from Beverley was 32 and an engineer
in the census that year. His wife was
confirmed as Lizzie Collett from Brighton, who was 30, while living there with
them was their two-year-old son Alfred M Collett, the family employing two
servants, Ada Thomas and Sophie Butcher.
His wife is a bit of a mystery woman, in that Elizabeth Pollard Canwell
was born in Northamptonshire, where she was baptised on 12th April
1829, the daughter of John and Elizabeth Canwell, so could they have moved to
Brighton during the following years. It
is curious that there is no record of her or her parents in the census
conducted in 1841 and 1851. For the
young Collett of Melcombe Regis, it was a similar situation in 1871, when the
family of three was still living in the Melcombe Regis of Weymouth, but at 7
Grosvenor Road. That census day Daniel
Collett, aged 42 and from Beverley, was an engineer and an iron founder
employing nine men and three boys. His
wife was listed as Lizzie P Collett, who was 40 and from Brighton, when their
son was Alfred M Collett, aged 12 years, who had been born in Weymouth. On that occasion Daniel and Lizzie were
employing a general servant Sarah Seaward, who was 22
Over the next few years Daniel’s and Lizzie’s
son Alfred attended Keble College in Oxford, where he matriculated on 15th
October 1877 at the age of 18. The
record of his attendance confirmed that he was the only son of Daniel Collett
of Melcombe Regis in Dorset. However, it
was two years earlier, while he was at university, that the death of Elizabeth
Pollard Collett, nee Canwell, was recorded at Weymouth (Ref. 5a 189) during the
third quarter of 1875, was she was 45 years old. It was at Radipole in Dorse where Elizabeth
was when she died on 17th July 1875, after which she was buried
there on 21st July.
Administration of the effects of Elizabeth Pollard Collett wife of
Daniel Collett and late of Weymouth, valued at under £200 was granted at the
Principal Registry on 10th September 1875, to Daniel Collett, an
engineer. Around eighteen months after
being widowed, the second marriage of Daniel Collett to (2) Mary Sherwood
Ireland was recorded at Cheltenham (Ref. 6a 587) during the first three months
of 1877. That second wedding for Daniel
was conducted at All Saints Church in Cheltenham on 13th February
1877 when he was a widower of 48 years, an engineer residing at Radipole. His bride was recorded as a spinster aged 39
of 17 Albert Naa, daughter of John James Ireland, a surgeon
Mary was born at Cirencester in Gloucestershire
on 11th March 1837, was baptised there on 23rd June and was
living with her parents, surgeon John James Ireland and his wife Ann Fanny
Ireland at New Quay in Dartmouth, Devon, in 1841 aged four years. At the age of ten years, Mary Sherwood
Ireland was living in the Devon village of Slapton with her family, the eldest
of three children. According to the next
census in 1881, the family home was again at 7 Grosvenor Road in Melcombe
Regis, although, on the day of the census that year, Daniel Collett from
Beverley was 52 and a civil engineer, who was visiting his younger married
brother Trusson Collett (below) at his home at 178 Gold Hawk Road in
Hammersmith. His new wife, and his son
Alfred, were recorded at their home in Melcombe Regis where, head of the
household Mary S Collett from Cirencester was 44, and her stepson Alfred M
Collett from Weymouth, was 22 and was described as a BA student at Oxford. Working for the family were two general
servants, Eliza Tompkins who was 20, and Fanny Bascombe who was 17
It was almost exactly eight years later that
Daniel Collett died at Weymouth on 17th April 1889, his death
recorded at Weymouth register office (Ref. 5a 189), at the age of 60. Three days later, he was buried at the
Radipole Parish Church of St Ann on 20th April 1889. After a further five weeks, the Will of
Daniel Collett was proved on 28th May 1889 when the two main
beneficiaries were Alfred Master Collett and Mary Sherwood Collett. There was also an additional person named in
the Will, and that was Benjamin Hopkins.
Following the death of her husband, Mary moved west along the south
coast and, at the time of the census two years later, Mary Sherwood Collett,
aged 54 and from Cirencester, was living on her own means at 2 Brooklin Villa
in Cockington, near Torquay. Visiting
her on that occasion was 57 years old spinster Sara L Hargreaves from Kent,
when Mary was still employing a servant, Elizabeth Reynolds from Hampshire who
was 26. Over the following ten years,
Mary returned to the county of her birth where, on the day of the census in
1901, she was reunited with her unmarried stepson Alfred at Cheltenham. The census that year recorded her as Mary S
Collett from Cirencester who was 64 and again living on her own means, when
Mary still had sufficient funds to continuing employing a servant, on that
occasion, Rose Newman who was 20 and from Stow-on-the-Wold. Whilst Alfred remained living in Cheltenham,
by the time of the next census, conducted in April 1911, Mary Sherwood Collett
from Cirencester was 74 years old when she was boarder at the Lambeth, London,
home of the Harry William Woods and his family. Sometime after visiting London,
Mary returned once more to Cheltenham, and it was there, just over ten years
after that day, that the death of Mary Sherwood Collett was recorded (Ref. 6a
497) during the last three months of 1921, when she was 84
18P27 – Alfred Master Collett was born in 1858 at
Weymouth, Dorset
Trusson
Collett [18O20]
was born at Beverley in 1832, the last of the four sons of Cornelius Collett
and Amelia Daniel. He was nine years old
in the census of 1841, when he may have been attending school in
Woodbridge. He later married Elizabeth
Charlotte Collett [18O49] who was born at Sweffling near Saxmundham in
1831. She was the eldest daughter of the
Reverend Woodthorpe Collett, of Brightwell in Suffolk, and Elizabeth Pyemont,
and it was at Sweffling that she was baptised on 5th July 1833. The wedding ceremony took place at Brightwell
Church to the south-east of Ipswich on 5th September 1860 and was
reported in The Times on 7th September and in the Ipswich Journal
the following day. As her father was the
incumbent clergyman at Brightwell, he had called upon two family members to
officiate on that special occasion. The
first of them was the Reverend James Collett Ebden [18M13], the Vicar of Great
Stukeley in Huntingdon, who was assisted by Elizabeth’s brother, the Reverend
Henry Pyemont Collett [18O47]. The
wedding notice, on page one of the 7th September 1860 edition of The
Times newspaper, stated that “On the fifth inst. at Brightwell Church by the
Rev. J Collett Ebden Rector of Great Stukeley, Huntingdon, assisted by the Rev.
H P Collett brother of the bride, Trusson youngest son of the late Cornelius
Collett Esq. of Beverley, Yorkshire to Elizabeth Charlotte eldest daughter of
the Rev. Woodthorpe Collett incumbent of Brightwell, Suffolk”
The family would appear to be fairly affluent,
as the household also employed two female servants, who were Ellen M Podd who
was 23 and from Holbrook in Suffolk, and Emma K Wort who was 18 and from
Lyndhurst in Hampshire. Ten years later,
in 1891, Trusson was 58 and a merchant’s clerk, living at Willesden in North
London with his wife Elizabeth, also 58, and unmarried daughter Emily Collett,
aged 29, who was already looking forward to the days she would be married,
later that same year. Once again, the family
was supported by two servants, Mary Adlam 51 and Emily Fiehlock 21. By the time of the census in March 1901,
Trusson and Elizabeth were both 68 and were still living in Willesden, at 21
Cavendish Road, just of the A5 Edgware Road between Brondesbury and
Kilburn. Trusson Collett was described
as ‘living on his own means’. Later that
same year, and following the untimely death of their married, but widowed,
daughter Emily Norton, Trusson and Elizabeth took over guardianship of their
eight-year-old granddaughter Dorothy Annis Norton, whose father had died when
the child was just two years old
According to the next census in 1911, Trusson
Collett and Elizabeth Charlotte Collett were both 78 years old when, living
with them at 21 Cavendish Road in Brondesbury was their granddaughter Dorothy
Annis Norton who, at the age of 18, was still attending a school in
Richmond. The family of three was
supported by two domestic servants Mary Emma Hodgson 53 and Ellen Jane Hobbs
39. The photograph (above) of
Trusson Collett was taken with his wife Elizabeth, most likely during 1912,
just prior to her passing. Elizabeth Charlotte
Collett died at ‘Beaufort’ 21 Cavendish Road in Brondesbury on 9th
March 1913, her death recorded at Willesden register office (Ref. 3a 369), when
she was 80 years of age. Five weeks
later, her Will was proved at London on 15th April 1913 which named
two beneficiaries, husband Trusson Collett and Charles Deighton-Brasher
Esquires, her personal effects, valued at £1,264 14 Shillings and 2 Pence. Trusson Collett was 90 years old when passed
away, his death being recorded at Willesden register office (Ref. 3a 298)
during the last three months of 1922.
His Will was proved in London on 29th January 1923, when the
joint executors of his considerable estate of £7,421 6 Shillings and 7 Pence,
equivalent to around £357K in 2013, were named as Walter Percy Norton, a
solicitor, and Dorothy Annis Tallet, formerly Dorothy Annis Norton his
granddaughter, and the wife of Frederick Paul Tallet. The probate process also confirmed that
Trusson Collett of 21 Cavendish Road in Brondesbury, died on 29th
December 1922
18P28 – Emily Collett was born in 1861 at
Beverley, Yorkshire
Frances
Jane Collett [18O21] was
born at Little Ilford in Essex on 8th November 1811, where she was
also baptised, the eldest child of Robert Henry Collett and Frances Meyler
Smith. She never married and in 1861, at
the age of 49, Frances J Collett was a fund holder residing at 44 St James
Square in the Walcot area of Bath in Somerset, when her place of birth was
confirmed as Little Iford, Essex. Living
with her that day was her brother John Collett from Westerham in Kent, who was
also a fund holder aged 28. Ten years
after that siblings Frances 59 and John 38 were still together, when they were
recorded at St Stephen’s Vicarage, Uxbridge Road in Hammersmith, the home of
their brother William Lloyd Collett. It
was the same situation in 1881, when Frances J Collett was 70, brother John
Collett was 48, at the home of William Lloyd Collett (below) the Vicar
of St Stephen’s Church in Shepherd’s Bush, but when St Stephen’s Vicarage was
on Coverdale Road in Hammersmith. During
the next decade Frances and brother John left London and retired to Brighton in
Sussex
According to the Brighton census in 1891,
Frances J Collett was 78 and she and her brother John Collett were residing at
10 Charlotte Street in Kemp Town district of Brighton, where they were both
described as living on their own means.
Just less than two years later Frances Jane Collett was 81 when she died
at her home at 10 Charlotte Street in Brighton, her death being recorded at
Brighton register office (Ref. 2b 132) during the final three months of
1892. The probate process for her Will
stated that she passed away on 18th December 1892 when her estate,
valued at £25,152 19 Shillings and 3 Pence, was executed by her brother (below)
the Reverend William Lloyd Collett of St Stephen’s Church in Shepherds
Bush. In modern day terms the estate
would have had an equivalent value of something like £2.7 million. Ten years after her death her brother John
Collett (below) was still living at 10 Charlotte Street in Brighton when
he passed away
Mary Anne
Collett [18O22] was
born at Little Ilford on 27th November 1812, the daughter of Robert
and Frances Collett. She was only 24
years old when she died on 16th September 1837 and was buried at
Westerham in Kent on 24th September 1837. It took over twenty years to settle her
estate, valued at under £1,500, through Letters of Administration signed off on
25th June 1858, granted at the Principal Registry to the Reverend
William Lloyd Collett of Shepherd’s Bush, a clerk (in Holy Orders) one
of the surviving executors of the Will of the Reverend Robert Collett, a clerk (in
Holy Orders) the father of Mary Anne Collett, spinster, he having been
first sworn
Robert
Henry Collett [18O23] was born at Little Ilford on 4th March 1814,
where he was baptised a month later on 12th April 1814, the third
child and eldest son of Robert Henry Collett and Frances Meyler Smith. He was only seventeen years of age when he
died and was buried at Westerham in Kent on 3rd December 1831, the
son of Robert Collett
Caroline
Collett [18O24] was
born at Little Ilford in 1815 where she was baptised on 3rd August
1815, the fourth child of Robert and Frances Collett. Six days later Caroline Collett was buried at
Little Ilford on 9th August 1815
Helen
Maria Collett [18O25] was born at Little Ilford on 10th April 1817 and
it was there also that she was baptised on 8th May 1817, another
daughter of Robert and Frances Collett
William
Lloyd Collett [18O26] was born at Little Ilford on 23rd November 1818,
and it was there also that he was baptised on 22nd December 1818,
the son of Robert Henry Collett and Frances Meyler Smith. He was educated at Queens College in Oxford
where he was listed as William Lloyd Collett, the son of Henry Collett of
Little Ilford in Essex. He matriculated
on 6th December 1838 when he was 20, and obtained a BA on 18th
May 1842 and his MA on 14th May 1845. It was between those two events that on 25th
September 1843, at Gillingham in Dorset, William Lloyd Collett married Frances
Harriett Smith, the daughter of Henry Smith of Morden College in Blackheath,
and was recorded at Lewisham (Ref. v 315).
What is interesting is that William’s father Robert Henry Collett [18N13]
also married a daughter of Henry Smith who might have been the father of that
particular Henry Smith. Frances was born
on 1st September 1822 at Charlton in Kent, which lies between
Greenwich and Woolwich, and just across the River Thames from Little Ilford
where William was born although, in some later census records, she gave her
place of birth as Blackheath. It was
also at Old Charlton, in the Church of St Luke, where she was baptised on 16th
April 1823, the daughter of Henry William Smith and his wife Mary
The couple’s first three children were born at
Gillingham in Dorset, with the baptism service for Frances Mary Collett
conducted by William Lloyd Collett, a clerk in Holy Orders. By the time of the census in 1851, William
was 31 and Frances was 28, and living with them within the St Pancras &
Kentish Town district of London were their two youngest children, Helen who was
two years old, and Catherine who was under one year old. By that time the couple’s three oldest
children Frances, Anna and Mary were absence from the family home, due to them
staying at Morden College with their grandparents Henry W Smith, aged 63 and
Treasurer of Morden College, and his wife Susette Smith who was 47. According to the Charlton census, Frances M
Collett was six years old, Anna S Collett was five, and Mary Collett was
three. All three girls had been born at
Gillingham near Shaftesbury in Dorset but, shortly after they were born,
William and Frances left Gillingham and moved to Dover with their daughters, where
their next child was born. Just a year
or so later the family was living in Winkfield near Bracknell in Berkshire,
where the couple’s fifth child was born
Within a year of the census in 1851, William
was appointed to the Church of St Stephen in Shepherd’s Bush, and with that
post was accommodation for the family in Hammersmith. During the next decade a further five
children were added to the family while they were living at the St Stephen’s
Church Parsonage in Hammersmith, where all of the five new children had been
born. The next census in 1861 confirmed
that the family was living at the Parsonage and that William Lloyd Collett,
aged 42 and from Little Ilford, was the perpetual curate of St Stephen’s
Church. The family was almost complete
by then, except for the couple’s third and fourth child, daughters Mary and
Helen Clara Collett, who were absence from the home on the day of the
census. It is likely that Mary had died
during the previous decade, but that Helen, aged 12 years old, was probably
attending boarding school. The remainder
of the family was listed as Frances H Collett, aged 38 from Charlton, Frances M
Collett 16, Anna S Collett 15, Catherine H Collett 10, Robert W Collett who was
eight, twins Alfred and Arthur Collett who were six, Isabella A Collett who was
four, and Jessie S Collett who was just ten months old. On that occasion the younger children had a
French governess, 44 years old Elizabeth Masera, in addition to which they also
had a nurse, Emily from Stepney who was 33
Sometime after 1861, William changed from being
the perpetual curate of St Stephen’s, when he became the Vicar of St Stephen’s
Church at Shepherd’s Bush, which was confirmed by the Hammersmith census of
1871. Also, during that decade, the
couple’s last child was added to their family and, although he was listed with
the family in 1871, no record of him has been found after that time. The census return for 1871 placed William
Lloyd Collett, aged 52 and from Little Ilford, as living at St Stephen’s
Vicarage on the Uxbridge Road in Hammersmith with his family, when his title
was that of Vicar of St Stephen’s Church in Shepherds Bush. With him was his wife Frances Harriet Collett
who was 48 and from Charlton, and eight of their eleven children. On that occasion it was the couple’s two
eldest daughters who had left the family home by that time. Anna would have been 25 and may have been
married by then, whereas it is known that Frances never married and she would
have been around 26 that year
The eight children living with their parents at
St Stephen’s Vicarage on Uxbridge Road in Hammersmith in 1871 were Helen Clara
Collett aged 22, Catherine Collett aged 20, Robert William Collett aged 18, the
twins Alfred and Arthur Collett who were both 16, Isabel Augusta Collett who
was 14, Jessie Susette Collett who was 10 and Bernard Brockwell Collett who was
five years old. In addition to the four
servants employed at The Vicarage (cook, nurse, parlourmaid, housemaid), two
other members of the Collett family were staying there on that day, and they
were William’s eldest unmarried sister Frances Jane Collett (above) who
was 59 and from Little Ilford in Essex, and his younger brother John Collett (below)
who was 38 and from Westerham in Kent.
Neither of them was described as having any occupation
The two siblings were
still living with the family ten years later according to the census in
1881. William Lloyd Collett was 62 and
was still the Vicar of Stephen’s Church in Shepherds Bush, even though the
address was changed. Living with him at
The Vicarage in Coverdale Road in Hammersmith was his wife Frances Harriet,
aged 58, who then said she was from Blackheath in Kent rather than Charlton,
together with four of their unmarried children.
They were Helen C Collett, aged 32 who was born at Dover, Alfred
Collett, aged 26 and a civil engineer, Isabel A Collett who was 24, and Jessie
S Collett who was 20, all of whom were recorded as having been born at
Shepherds Bush. Neither of the couple’s
two sons Arthur and Bernard were with the family that day, Arthur having
already died by then, while it was Bernard was attending The Priory School on
the High Street in Marlborough. Again,
listed with the family were William’s sister Frances J Collett and his brother
John Collett. The household was
supported by five domestic servants, they being a cook, a lady’s maid, a
housemaid, a kitchen maid, and a parlour maid.
In 1891 a much-reduced Collett family was still living at Hammersmith. William L Collett was 72, his wife Frances H
Collett was 68, and still living there with them was two of their unmarried
daughters, Frances M Collett who was 47, and Catherine H Collett who was 40. Towards the end of the following year the
Reverend William Lloyd Collett of St Stephen’s Church in Shepherds Bush was
named as the sole executor for the Will of his eldest sister Frances Jane
Collett of Brighton. It is also known
that William and Frances retired to Brighton where the Reverend William Lloyd
Collett died on 9th July 1896, where his death was recorded (Ref. 2b
126) during the third quarter of that year.
His address at that time in his life was 8 Marlborough Place in Brighton
and the proving of his Will was placed in the hands of the
Reverend George Booker, a clerk (in Holy Orders), Frances Mary Collett,
a spinster, Edmund Vallack, Esquire, and the Reverend Alexander Keith Ramsey, another
clerk (in Holy Orders). His
personal effects were valued at £16,697 5 shillings and 10 Pence
Following the death of her husband, his widow continued
to live at 8 Marlborough Place although, by that time, her son Alfred and her
daughter Jessie, had already left England to seek a new life in Argentina,
where they were both married. That was
confirmed in the next Bright census in 1901, when Frances H Collett, aged 78
and living on her own means, was head of the household residing at 8 Marlborough
Place. Once again, she gave her place of
birth as Blackheath, about two miles from Charlton when her two unmarried
daughters, Frances M Collett aged 56 from Gillingham, and Catherine E Collett
who was 50 and from Winkfield, were still living with her also by their own
means. On that census day, the three
elderly ladies employed a housemaid, a parlour maid and a cook. Frances Harriett Collett nee Smith, from
Charlton or Blackheath, died on 1st May 1909 when she was residing
at 21 Clifton Terrace in Brighton with her two daughters Frances and
Helen. Her death was recorded at
Brighton register office (Ref. 2b 138) at the age of 86 and her Will was proved
in London on 5th June 1909. It
was her two daughters Frances Mary Collett and Helen Clara Collett who were
named as the executors of her estate which was valued at £9,785 15 Shillings and
3 Pence. Less than two years later, the
census in 1911, recorded just the three unmarried daughters of William Lloyd
Collett as still living in Brighton. They
were Frances Mary Collett who was 66, Helen Clara Collett who was 62, and
Catherine Hester Collett who was 60.
Another source for this family includes a son Bernard Collett but, so
far, no other reference to him has been found anywhere else to verify this so,
for the time being, his name has been omitted from the list of children below
18P29 – Frances Mary Collett was born in 1844 at
Gillingham, Dorset
18P30 – Anna Sophia Collett was born in 1845 at
Gillingham, Dorset
18P31 – Mary Collett was born in 1847 at
Gillingham, Dorset
18P32 – Helen Clara Mary Collett was born in 1848 at Dover,
Kent
18P33 – Catherine Hester Collett was born in 1850 at Winkfield,
Berkshire
18P34 – Robert William Collett was born in 1852 at Shepherds
Bush, Middlesex
18P35 – Alfred Collett (twin) was born in
1854 at Shepherds Bush, Middlesex
18P36 – Arthur Collett (twin) was born in 1854
at Shepherds Bush, Middlesex
18P37 – Isabel Augusta Collett was born in 1856 at Shepherds
Bush, Middlesex
18P38 – Jessie Susette Collett was born in 1860 at Shepherds
Bush, Middlesex
18P39 – Bernard Stockwell Collett was born in 1866 at Shepherds
Bush, Middlesex
Henry
Gerard Collett [18O27] was born at Little Ilford on 12th August 1823,
and it was there that he was baptised on 11th September 1823, the
son of Robert and Frances Collett. The
premature death of Henry Gerard Collett was recorded at Newton Abbott in Devon
(Ref. x 113) during the second quarter of 1845.
The Will of Henry Gerard Collett of Braddons, Tor House in Torquay was
proved in London on 22nd April 1845, when William Lloyd Collett was
named as the executrix
Christopher
Theophilus Collett [18O28] was born at Little Ilford on 4th September 1825
and was baptised there on 5th October 1825, another son of Robert
and Frances Collett. He attended
Magdalen College in Oxford, where he matriculated on 21st October
1841 and where he was recorded as the fourth son of Robert Collett of Ilford in
Essex. Curiously in this particular
family tree he only has two known older brothers, so whether the college record
was incorrect or one of his brothers had died prior to then, has not been
determined at this time. Just like his
sister Mary and brother Henry (above), Christopher died when he was 22
years of age, when he died on 11th October 1847 at Leghorn in
Tuscany Italy, following which he was buried at Leghorn on 14th
October 1847. Nearly eleven years after
his passing, the Letters of Administration for the personal effects of
Christopher Theophilus Collett formerly of Magdalen Hall of Oxford and late of
San Marco Leghorn, a bachelor, were dated 7th July 1858, left
unadministered by his widowed mother Frances Meylor Collett, his next-of-kin,
was granted at the Principal Registry to the Reverend William Lloyd Collett of
Shepherd’s Bush, a clerk (in Holy Orders) and the brother of the
deceased having been first sworn. Former
Grant Prerogative Court of Canterbury September 1848. The value of his personal effects was stated
to be under £6,000
Jessie
Collett [18O29] was
born at Little Ilford on 25th September 1827 where she was baptised
on 8th November 1827, the youngest daughter of Robert Henry Collett
and Frances Meyler Smith. The only other
known detail regarding Jessie, is that she died at Torquay on 16th
October 1848 when her age was incorrectly record as being only 18, instead of
21
Philip
Morden Collett [18O30] was born at Speldhurst in Kent on 14th July
1829, and baptised there on 14th August 1829, the son of Robert
Henry Collett and Frances Meyler Smith, but sadly he died at Tonbridge on 8th
March 1830. His second name may have
been taken from Morden College which was attended by one of his older siblings
John
James Collett [18O31] was born at Westerham near Sevenoaks in Kent on 17th
June 1832, the youngest child of Robert Henry Collett and Frances Meyler Smith,
who was baptised on the day he was born.
Although no positive record of John or his family has been found in
1841, when they are believed to have still been living at Westerham, by the
time of the census in 1851, John Collett from Westerham was 18 and was living
at Plympton St Mary in Devon. He was the
only Collett listed in that registration district at that time, which may be
significant, since it was at Torquay in Devon three years earlier that his
older sister Jessie Collett died in 1848 at the age of 18. It is possible that he was on vacation in
Devon, or visiting relatives, or even attending the grave of his sister. Whatever the reason for him being there, it
is known that he was educated at Wadham College in Oxford where he was listed
as the son of Robert Henry Collett of Westerham in Kent. And it was at Wadham that he matriculated
that same year on 18th June 1851 when he was 19. He never married and, in 1871, he and his
eldest sister, spinster Frances Jane Collett (above), were staying with
the family of their brother William Lloyd Collett (above) at St Stephen’s
Vicarage on Uxbridge Road in Hammersmith, when John Collett from Westerham was
38 and a fund holder. John and Frances
were still living with their brother William in 1881
That year John Collett was 48 and with no
stated occupation, when was again he and Frances were living at the Hammersmith
home of William Lloyd Collett and his wife and family at St Stephen’s Vicarage on
Coverdale Road. During the years after
that, John and his sister Frances left London, when they retired to
Brighton. That was confirmed in the
census of 1891 when John Collett, aged 58, was living at 10 Charlotte Street in
the Kemp Town district of the town, not far from Brighton Pier, with his sister
Frances J Collett, who sadly died towards the end of 1892. Both of them were described as living on
their own means. In March 1901, and
following the death of his brother William Lloyd Collett (above) five
years earlier, John Collett of Westerham was 68 when he was still living at 10
Charlotte Street in Brighton. Living
there with him was William’s widow Frances Harriet Collett and her two
daughters Frances and Catherine. All
four of them, were described as living on their own means. It was just eleven months later that John
James Collett died at 10 Charlotte Street in Brighton on 17th
February 1902 at the age of 69, his death recorded at Brighton register office
(Ref. 2b 163)
In March 1901, and following the death of his
brother William Lloyd Collett (above) five years earlier, John Collett
of Westerham was 68 when he was still living at 10 Charlotte Street in
Brighton. Living there with him was
William’s widow Frances Harriet Collett and her two daughters Frances and Catherine. All four of them, were described as living on
their own means. It was just eleven
months later that John James Collett died at 10 Charlotte Street in Brighton on
17th February 1902 at the age of 69, his death recorded at Brighton
register office (Ref. 2b 163). The Will
of John Collett was originally settled in the sum of £23,115 13 Shillings and 5
Pence but was re-sworn in February 1903 when his estate was confirmed as
£22,682 14 Shillings and 5 Pence. During
the probate process he was credited with property at 88 High Street in
Sevenoaks, Kent, and at 10 Charlotte Street in Brighton where he died. Probate was granted to his unmarried nieces
Helen Clara Collett and Frances Mary Collett, two of the daughters of his
live-in sister-in-law Frances Harriet Collett, and the Reverend Alexander Keith
Ramsey and Edmund Vallak Esquire
Anna
Collett [18O32]
was born on 12th March 1822 at Bramerton, to the east of Norwich,
where she was baptised the following day by her clergyman father William. Following the death of her mother Phyllis
Preston Reynolds in 1831, her father William Collett remarried in 1835, at
which time the family was living at Bungay Road in Thetford where Anna had a
rounded age of 15 in 1841 even though she was almost 20. The subsequent census records revealed that
she was not married during the following twenty years. In 1851 and 1861 she was 29 and 39
respectively, when she was still living with her father and her stepmother at
Thetford, where her father was the rector.
However, it was six weeks after the census day in 1861 that Anna Collett
married John Michael Croker at Thetford on 28th May 1861, when her
father was confirmed as William Collett, their wedding recorded at Thetford
(Ref. 4b 650). John was born in Ireland,
where he was baptised on 6th August 1820 at Kilshannig-by-Mallow in
Cork, the son of John Dillion Croker and his wife Eliza. On the day of the census in 1861, widower
John Michael Croker from Ireland, was a 40-year-old visitor at a dwelling on
Bungay Road in Thetford, a holder of a debenture. It was during the year after they were
married that Anna presented John with a son at Norwich, where they were living
in 1871 when John M Croker was 49, as was Anna, while their son John W Croker
was nine years of age. Eight years later
on 29th May 1879 at 15 The Crescent in Norwich St Stephen, Anna was
a widow following the death of John Michael Croker Esquire, which was recorded
at Norwich (Ref. 4b 96), when he was 57.
His personal effects were valued at under £6,000 when his Will was
proved at Norwich on 30th June 1879 by Anna Croker, the sole
executor
Sometime after that Anna was made a widow with
the death of her husband. By 1881 she
was head of the household at Cantley, a village lying midway between Norwich
and Great Yarmouth. Anna Croker from
Bramerton was 59 and described as holding railway stocks and mortgage, which
may suggest that John Michael Croker died from injuries he sustained while
working on the railway. Living there
with Anna was her son John W Croker who was 19 with no stated occupation who
had been born in Norwich. Supporting the
two of them were three servants, a housemaid, a cook and an errand boy. Mother and son were still together ten years
later, as confirmed by the census in 1891 when they were still residing in
Cantley. Anna Croker was 69 and her
unmarried son was 29. By that time, they
had just two domestic servants working for them. Just over seven years after that the death of
Anna Croker nee Collett was recorded at Norwich (Ref. 4b 97) during the last
three months of 1898 when she was 76.
The probate process stated that Anna Croker, a widow of Heighham Hall
Asylum in Norwich died on 5th October 1898. Probate of her personal effects amounting to
£4,192 2 Shillings and 3 Pence was granted to John Brown Aldis, a bank
inspector, and John Empson Toplis Pollard, a solicitor
William
Reynolds Collett [18O33] was born at Bramerton on 20th May 1823, where he
was baptised one week later on 28th May 1823, the eldest son of
William Collett and Phyllis Preston Reynolds.
His early education was conducted at Yarmouth Proprietary School, where
he matriculated in 1841. It was then
that he was accepted into Caius College in Cambridge on 25th March
1841 at the age of 18. The college
record also confirmed that he was born at Bramerton, the son of William
Collett, former Cambridge scholar and Vicar of St Mary’s Church at
Thetford. He graduated from Caius
College in Cambridge with a Bachelor of Arts (13th Wrangler) degree
in 1845, obtained his Master of Arts degree in 1848, and was a Fellow of Caius
College from 1845 to 1857. He was
ordained as a deacon at Ely in 1846, and became priest in 1849. It was from around that time, and into the
1850s, that he was the librarian for both Gonville and Caius Colleges, which is
acknowledged in the records at the British Library
He later married Mary Hoste by licence at
Hethersett on 22nd July 1858, when William was a clergyman from
Hethersett and the son of William Collett, clergyman. Two of the four witnesses were William’s
father and William’s stepmother, their wedding recorded at Henstead (Ref. 4b
329). Mary was two years older than
William, having been baptised on 21st March 1821 at St Peter’s
Church in Hoveton, Norfolk, the daughter of Mary Burroughs and Colonel Sir
George Charles Hoste, who fought at the Battle of Waterloo, with a painting of
him in uniform on display at the National Portrait Gallery in London. Sir George was later employed as a gentleman
usher by Queen Adelaide, following the death of King William IV in 1837, and
was also sent out to Canada to secretly investigate the state of defences of
British North American Provinces. From
1856 until 1902 William Reynolds Collett was the Rector of Hethersett with
Canteloff in Norfolk, and lived at The Hethersett Rectory in Wymondham. The next two census returns, for 1861 and
1871, placed William R Collett of Bramerton as living with his wife Mary within
the census registration district of Henstead & Humbleyard, near
Norwich. Their ages were 37 and 40, and
47 and 50 respectively. In 1871
William’s two sisters Sophia Norgate nee Collett, and Lucy Collett, were also
living nearby in Hethersett
Ten years later in 1891, William Reynolds
Collett from Bramerton, was 67 and Rector of the Parish of Hethersett living at
The Rectory, with Mary Collett aged 70, a clergyman’s wife with parish duty to
do. At that time they had three
servants. Living nearby in Hethersett were
two of William’s younger sisters; widow Sophia Norgate who had living with her
unmarried Lucy Frances Collett. It was
during the following year that William was made the Honorary Canon of Norwich,
a title that he held from 1892 until his death in 1902. However, prior to his own death, the death
of his wife Mary was recorded at Henstead register office (Ref. 4b 124) during
the last three months on 1896, when she was 70, and to honour her memory,
William organised the rebuilding of the chancel at Hethersett Church. Following her passing, the body of Mary
Collett was buried at Hethersett on 24th December 1896. Letters of Administration for Mary Collett,
who died on 21st December 1896, were granted at London on 22nd
July 1897 to her husband the Reverend William Reynolds Collett, a clerk (in
Holy Orders) , when her personal effects amounted to £670 5 Shillings and 8
Pence
Perhaps rather oddly, William W Collett, aged
77 and from Bramerton in Norfolk, was recorded at Hastings on the occasion of
the March census in 1901, when he was described as a clerk in Holy Orders. Apparently, it was following the death of his
wife that William joined with other well-to-do individuals at the Alexandra
Hotel in Hastings, where he was staying in 1901. It was just over eighteen months later that
William Reynolds Collett died at Hethersett on 11th October 1902, at
the age of 79, his death recorded at Henstead register office (Ref. 4b 125). His Will was proved in London on 6th
April 1903 and confirmed that he left part of his estate, amounting to £946 9
Shillings and 3 Pence, to his half-brother Edward Collett of Thetford, which
explains how Edward, at the age of 64, came to be married and how he managed to
set up a new life for himself. During
his life William Reynolds Collett was the author of two books, and they were ‘A
List of Early Printed Books’ (in the College Library) which was published in
1850, and ‘Women’s Work in the Church’ which was published during 1863
John
Collett [18O34] was
born at Bramerton on 10th July 1824 and was baptised there that same
day by his father the Reverend William Collett by special arrangement, when he
was confirmed as the son of William Collett clergyman and his wife Phyllis
Preston Reynolds. Tragically, John died
at Thetford in 1831
Charles
Preston Collett [18O35] was born at Bramerton on 25th April 1826 and was
baptised there on during the following day by his father, clergyman William
Collett, his mother being Phyllis Preston Reynolds. He was called to the bar of the Inner Temple
at Lincoln’s Inn during 1861 and from 1869 to 1871 he was the Puisne Judge of
the High Court at Madras in India. On 2nd
April 1871 Charles was recorded in the census return for Great Britain as being
aged 44 and boarding at 180 Piccadilly St James in Westminster, London, when he
was described as not married and a judge at Madras who born in Bramerton. It was following his return to England from
India that he married Lucy Ellen Daniels, their wedding day recorded at
Kensington (Ref. 1a 405) during the fourth quarter of 1872. Lucy was born at Islington in 1843 (Ref. iii
220) and was baptised on 20th July 1843, the daughter of Arthur and
Emma Daniels, being seventeen years younger than Charles. So, at the time of their wedding, Charles
would have been 46 compared to Lucy who would have been 29. It was around that time in their lives that a
letter, written by Eliza Ebden in November 1871 addressed to her sons, gave the
place of residence of their cousin Charles Collett as being in Foxley Road in
Kennington, not far from the Kennington Oval, the road still being there today
That may have been their address at the time of
their wedding but, shortly after, the couple moved across the River Thames to
initially settle in the Kensington area, where their first two children were
born, before they made the bigger move to Devon. The census in 1881 confirmed that Charles had
lived and worked in India, since the census return described him as a
‘barrister at law (not in practice) – Madras Civil Service, retired’. At that time, in early April 1881, Charles
and Lucy were living at Highclere House on the Warberry Road in Tor-Moham, a
parish of Torquay. Charles was 54 and of
Bramerton, while Lucy was 37 and of Islington in Middlesex. The first two of their five children were
recorded as having been born at St Mary Abbot in Kensington, while the
remainder of their children were born after the family had settled in
Torquay. The five children were Phillis
Carthew Collett who was seven, Margaret Morden Collett who was six, Charles M
Collett who was four, Laura Leslie Collett who was two, and Arthur Preston
Collett who was only seven months old
In addition to their five children, the family
also had staying with them a visitor by the name of Lucy Frances Collett (below). She was a spinster lady, aged 50, and had
been born at Thetford and was one of Charles’ younger sisters. Charles must have been fairly affluent, as
his home was served by six domestic servants.
They were the cook Selina Heard, nurse Elizabeth Inkill, Elizabeth
Martin the upper-housemaid, Clara Meinbery the parlour-maid, Elizabeth Dunstan
the under-housemaid, and Louisa Spencer the under-nurse. During his life Charles was the author of
three books, they being ‘The Treaties on the Law of Injunctions and the
Appointment of Receivers under the Code of Civil Procedures’ which was
published in 1859, ‘The Manual of the Law Torts and the Measure of Damages’
published in 1866, and ‘The Law of Specific Relief in India’ published in 1882,
which was based on the Community Act 1877
Charles Preston Collett died on 28th
January 1891 at the age of 64, his death recorded at Newton Abbott (Ref. 5b
125). Probate of the Will of Charles
Collett Esq, late of Highclere House on Warberry Hill in Torquay was proved at
the Principal Registry by Lucy Ellen Collett of Highclere House, his widow. Two months after his death his widow was
named as the head of the household at Highclere House in Tor-Moham. Lucy E Collett was 47 and only had her two
youngest children still living there with her and they were Laura L Collett who
was 12, and Arthur P Collett who was 10 years old, both of them born at
Torquay. Also living with the family of
three at that time, perhaps helping Lucy to cope with life after the recent
loss of her husband, was her younger unmarried sister Ann E Daniels who was 34
and from Islington, where Lucy had also been born. In addition to her sister, Lucy and her two
children were supported by five servants, comprising two cooks, two housemaids,
and one children’s maid
No record of Lucy or any of her children has
been found in the 1901 Census although it is established that she never
remarried. Ten years later in 1911 her
daughter Laura Collett had moved to London and was still a spinster living in
the Lewisham area of the city. No record
of the other four children has been found in 1911. However, Lucy Ellen Collett nee Daniels was a
resident of Bath when she died on 28th November 1933, her death
recorded at Bath register office 5c 619 at the age of 90. Probate of the personal effects of Lucy Ellen
Collett of Ormonde Lodge on Sion Hill in Bath valued at £5,466 13 Shillings and
6 Pence, was granted in London on 5th February 1934 to her two sons
Charles Morden Collett and Arthur Preston Collett, neither having a stated
occupation as they had both retired by then.
The amount of her estate was later re-sworn as £5,484 1 Shillings and 6
Pence
18P40 – Phillis Carthew Collett was born in 1873 at
Kensington, London
18P41 – Margaret Morden
Collett was born in 1875 at
Kensington, London
18P42 – Charles Morden Collett was born in 1876 at
Torquay, Devon
18P43 – Laura Lesley Collett was born in 1878 at
Torquay, Devon
18P44 – Arthur Preston Collett was born in 1880 at
Torquay, Devon
Sophia
Collett [18O36] was
born at Bramerton on 8th May 1827 and was baptised by her father at St
Mary in the Marsh in Norwich on 13th May 1827, the daughter of
William Collett and Phyllis Preston of the parish of St Mary-in-the-Marsh, her
father being a clerk (in Holy Orders).
Her mother died when she was only three years old, and she was recorded
as being aged 13 in the 1841 Census and was 22 years of age ten years later in
1851. On both occasions she was living
at Thetford with her father and his second wife. It was at the end of the next decade, on 6th
January 1859 that Sophia Collett was married by licence at St Mary Thetford to the
much older Lieutenant Colonel Charles Norgate of the Bengal Army. Sophia’s father was confirmed as William
Collett, a clerk in Holy Orders, who also conducted the wedding service. Three of the five witnesses were members of
the Collett family; William, Anna, and Edward
Bachelor Charles had been baptised at
Hethersett near Norwich on 3rd December 1805, the son of Thomas
Starling Norgate and his wife Mary Susan Norgate. At the time of the census in 1861, the
childless couple was living at Humbleyard near Norwich, where Charles Norgate
was 55, and his wife Sophia Norgate was 33.
However, during the next ten years Charles Norgate died, so by the time
of the next census in 1871 widow Sophia Norgate from Norwich was 42 and a land
owner, who was living at Turn Pike in Hethersett, when she had living there with
her, her unmarried sister Lucy Frances Collett from Thetford who was 41 and
described as a clergyman’s daughter. At
that time in her life Sophia was employing three female servants
The earlier death of Charles Norgate on 8th
February 1864 had been recorded at Henstead (Ref. 4b 136) during the first
three months of the year, after which he was buried at Hethersett on 13th
February at the age of 58. His Will was
proved at Norwich on 30th April 1864, when his personal effects were
valued at under £9,000, but was later re-sworn at the Stamp Office in June 1866
at under £6,000. The Will was proved by
the oaths of the Reverend Thomas Starling Norgate of Sparham in Norfolk, a clerk
(in Holy Orders) and the Reverend Louis Augustus Norgate of Foxley in
Norfolk, another clerk (in Holy Orders) and Frederick Norgate of
Henrietta Street in Covent Garden, London, foreign book seller, the brothers,
the executors
By 1881, widow Sophia Norgate, aged 52, was
living in a private house at Turnpike Road in Hethersett where Sophia was an
annuitant employing just two domestic servants.
They were Mary A Emms, aged 29 and a cook from nearby Ketteringham, and
housemaid Maria Lightning, aged 25 from Hempnall. Mary Emms’ younger sister Louisa Emms of
Ketteringham was one of three servants at The Hethersett Rectory, the home of
Sophia’s brother William Reynolds Collett (above). Sophia was still living at Turn Pike, Hethersett
in 1891 when she was 62 and, on that occasion, she had living there with her
again, her unmarried sister Lucy Frances Collett (below) who was
61. Looking after the two elderly
sisters were two domestic servants Georgiana Brown and Alice Bennett. It was the same situation again in March 1901
when Sophia Norgate was 72 and her sister Lucy Frances Collett was 71
It was at Woodbridge register office (Ref. 4a
502) during the second quarter of 1904 that the death of Sophia Norgate at
Hethersett was recorded at the age of 75, followed four years later by her
sister Lucy. The Will of Sophia Norgate
was proved at Norwich on 30th June 1904 by the oaths of Edward
Collett Esquire and Charles Bladwell LeGrys Norgate, solicitor, when her
personal effects were valued at £2,437 3 Shillings. The documentation confirmed that Sophia of
Hethersett died at Felixstowe on 7th May 1904
Lucy
Frances Collett [18O37] was born at Thetford on 11th February 1830 where
she was baptised at St Mary’s Church by her father on 27th February
1830, the last known child of the Reverend William Collett and his first wife
Phyllis Preston Reynolds. Lucy was just
sixteen months old when her mother died, after which her father remarried. Lucy was 11 years old in the June census in
1841, was 21 by March 1851 and was 31 in the April census of 1861. On all three occasions she was living with
her father and her stepmother at Thetford.
Following the death of her father in the late 1860s, Lucy moved to
Humbleyard near Norwich, where she lived with her married sister Sophia Norgate
(above). Confirmation was
provided by the census in 1871, when unmarried Lucy F Collett, aged 41, was
living at Turn Pike in Hethersett, between Wymondham and Norwich, the home of
her then widowed sister Sophia Norgate, nee Collett. However, she never married and, ten years
later in 1881, she was listed as a visitor at the Tormoham-with-Torquay home of
her brother Charles Preston Collett (above). The census recorded that she was 50 years old
and that she was supported by ‘interest from private property’
During the next decade she left Devon, possibly
following the death of her brother Charles, when she returned to live with her
older widowed sister Sophia Norgate at Turn Pike in Hethersett, where she was
recorded with Sophia in 1891, when sixty-one-year-old Lucy Frances Collett was
living on her own means. It was the same
situation in 1901 when she was 71, with the sisters’ address being ‘by the
Turnpike in Hethersett’. Both of the
sisters died during the first decade of the new century, with the death of Lucy
Frances Collett being recorded at Norwich (Ref. 4b 76) during the last three
months of 1909, when she was 79. Probate
states that spinster Lucy Frances Collett of St Clements Hostel in Norwich died
on 27th December 1909 and that it was her married sister Sophia’s
son Charles Bladwell le Grys Norgate, a solicitor, who administered her estate
of £9,843 2 Shillings and 2 Pence
Henry
Collett [18O38] was
born at Thetford on 6th March 1836 where he was baptised on 27th
May 1836, the eldest child of William Collett by his second wife Ellen Clarke
Bidwell. He was five years old in the
1841 Census for Thetford and, by the time he was 15 in 1851, he was being
educated at Tonbridge School in Tunbridge Wells in Kent, when the census return
also confirmed he was born at Thetford.
He later attended the Addiscombe Military Academy College in
Croydon. The property there was acquired
by the British East India Company in 1809 when it was converted into a military
academy. The company imported tea, coffee, silk, cotton and spices, and maintained its own private
army. The officers of that army were
trained at Addiscombe before setting off for India. In 1858, after the India Rebellion of 1857,
also referred to as the First War of Indian Independence, the British East
India Company went out of existence. The
college closed in 1861 and was sold to developers in 1863 for £33,600. It was
then razed to the ground with dynamite, and all that is left today are the two
buildings 'Ashleigh' and 'India' on the corner of Clyde Road and Addiscombe
Road, together with the former gymnasium on Havelock Road, now converted into
private apartments
Following his graduation from the academy,
Henry left England and sailed to India, where he joined the Bengal Indian Army
in 1855, rising through the ranks to become Lieutenant-Colonel in 1879. In the Second Anglo-Afghan War from 1878 to
1880, he acted as quartermaster-general on the staff of Frederick Roberts,
First Earl Roberts. He eventually
reached the rank of Colonel in 1884 and was made KCB in 1891, and from 1892 to
1893 he commanded the Peshawar district with the rank of major-general. He retired from the army in 1893 and was
honoured by Queen Victoria, when he became General Sir Henry Collett Knight of
the British Empire. He returned to
England before the end of the century and was recorded as being 65 years old,
while living at Kensington at the time of the census of 1901. His occupation was stated as being ‘Colonel
retired from the Indian Army’. Living
with bachelor Henry in 1901 was his brother Edward Collett and sisters Mary and
Ellen Collett (all below) and sadly, it was not long after the March census
day, that Henry passed away at Kew in London on 21st December 1901,
his death recorded at Kensington register office (Ref. 1a 146) when he was 65. The Will of Sir Henry Collett KCB, a retired
colonel in the British Army, of 21 Cranley Gardens in Kensington was proved in
London on 27th January 1902.
Probate was granted to Henry’s brother Edward Collett, Esquire (below),
who also appears to be the main beneficiary of his estate valued at £9,852 12
Shillings, which was re-sworn later that same year at £10,912 12
Shillings. During his life Henry Collett
was a keen botanist, collecting plants in Afghanistan, Algeria, Burma, the
Canaries, Corsica, India, Java, and Spain.
He was made a fellow of the Linnean Society in 1879. At his death he was working on a book on the
flora of Simla, which was published posthumously as ‘Flora Simlensis’ in
1902. In the photo below, he is studying
his maps
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Just over one hundred years later, as a tribute
to his work in the field of botany, he was honoured by husband and wife rose
breeders Viru and Girija Viraraghavan of Tamil Nadu in India by the naming of a
white climber rose ‘Sir Henry Collett’
which has been registered with the International Rose Registration Authority
based in the USA. The story behind this
is that Henry Collett found that species of rose in the 1880s when he was in
the Shan Hills of Burma. It is believed
that he saw it through a pair of binoculars, as something bright white in the
distance, when he was trekking in these hills.
He then collected material of the plant and sent it to a Monsieur
Crepin, who was at that time the leading taxonomist based in Brussels. It was Sir Henry Collett who suggested the
name ‘rosa gigantea’. His personal account of ‘the find’ was
recorded in the Journal of the Linnean Society, which was reproduced many years
later in Gardener’s Chronicle on 11th May 1912 and this read as
follows:
“It was
found on a plateau at 4-5,000 feet where the traveller was at once struck with
the temperate character of the flora.
The trees were mostly Oaks and Pines, whilst the herbaceous plants were
represented by species of Ranunculus, Viola, Hyperium, Clematis, etc. Only two species of Rosa were seen, and both
were new. The beautiful R. Gigantean is
particularly conspicuous, climbing over the tall forest trees, from the tops of
which the long, pendulous branches, covered with very large white flowers, hang
down in rich profusion. The Rose, which
has larger flowers probably than any other wild species, is seen from a
considerable distance in the jungle, reminding one more of a large Clematis
than of a rose. It is only locally
abundant, chiefly in dark shady valleys.”
The
other rose referred to by Sir Henry Collett, in his statement above, was
believed to be Rosa Collettiana, which had yet to be cultivated at that time
Edward
Collett [18O39] was
born at Thetford on 29th July 1837, his birth recorded at Thetford
(Ref. xiii 200), and was baptised by his father the Rectory of St Mary’s Church
in Thetford on 4th October 1837, the second son of William Collett
and his second wife Ellen Clarke Bidwell.
He was three years of age at the time of the 1841 census for Thetford,
and was still living with his family at Thetford in 1851 when he was 13. Eight years later, Edward Collett was a
witness at the January 1859 wedding of his older half-sister Sophia Collett (above). He may have been out of the country in April
1861 but, with the death of his father in the late 1860s, he had returned to
England by 1871 and, at the age of 33, Edward Collett was living at
Winchester. His place of birth was confirmed
as Thetford, as it was in 1881 when he was 43 and living with his widowed
mother Ellen and sister Ellen (below) at Trafford House in Ewell Road in
Kingston-upon-Thames. His occupation at
that time was that of a duty office clerk with the Inland Revenue Legacy (C S
C). He was still living with his mother and
sisters Mary and Ellen, at Trafford House in Kingston ten years later, by which
time he was 53 and retired from civil service with the inland revenue. ant but, following her death in the 1890s, he
left Kingston and moved to Kensington, where he was living with three of his
siblings by March 1901. By then Edward
was a retired civil servant at the age of 63, and his place of birth was once
again confirmed as Thetford. The house
in which he was living was also home to his brother Henry Collett (above)
and his sisters Mary and Ellen Collett (below).
Just nine months later Edward’s brother Henry
passed away, and that appears to have resulted in Edward and his two sisters
leaving London. While his two sisters
moved to Hampshire, the marriage of Edward Collett and Ada Rebecca Moore was
recorded at the Strand register office (Ref. 1b 1346) during the third quarter
of 1902, prior to his move to Surrey. Ada
was baptised at St Cuthbert’s Church in Thetford on 24th July 1856,
the daughter of clergyman John Moore and Elizabeth Moore. Under the terms of the Will of his older
half-brother William Reynolds Collett (above) who died in 1902, Edward
inherited nearly one thousand pounds which enabled him to marry Ada Rebecca
Moore and establish a new life for himself.
Ada was born at Thetford in 1857 (Ref. 4b 425) and was around twenty
years younger than Edward. According to
the information in the census return for 1911, the couple had been married for
eight years, when they were living at ‘Moorside’ in Tilford Road in the village
of Churt, in the parish of Frensham.
Edward Collett was 73 and from Thetford, and Ada Rebecca Collett was 53
and also from Thetford. The elderly
couple was supported by two domestic servants, housemaid Mabel Sexton 28, and
Charlotte Ayling 24, who was the cook.
Once again Edward’s occupation was confirmed as a civil servant, when he
was described as a retired civil servant.
The death of Edward Collett of Moorside, Tilford Road, Churt near
Farnham in Surrey occurred on 13th December 1918 and probate of his
estate of £15,712 12 shillings and 8 Pence was granted to the Public Trustee
and Ada Rebecca Collett, his widow. Just
less than six years later his widow Ada Rebecca Collett nee Moore passed away
on 5th June 1924 while living at 21 De Montfort Street in
Leicester. Her death was recorded at
Leicester register office (Ref. 7a 290) at the age of 67. Her Will was proved at London on 25th
September 1924. With no family to
inherited her fortune of £25,831 19 Shillings and 8 Pence it passed into the
hands of the Public Trustee
Ellen
Collett [18O40] was
born at Thetford on 21st July 1839 where her birth was recorded
(Ref. xiii 275) and where she was baptised at St Mary’s Church on 9th
December 1839 by her father the Rector of St Mary’s. Tragically, she did not survive and was six
months old when she died at Thetford, where she was buried on 22nd
January 1840, the first daughter of that name born to William Collett and Ellen
Clarke Bidwell. The death of Ellen
Collett was recorded at Thetford (Ref. xiii 234). On that very sad occasion, it was not her
father who conducted the church service, when the Reverend Thomas Sworde stood
in for the bereaved father of the child
Mary
Collett [18O41] was
born at Thetford on 15th October 1840, her birth recorded there
(Ref. xiii 275). She was baptised there at
St Mary’s Church by her father, the Rector of St Mary’s, on 2nd
December 1840, the eldest surviving daughter of the Reverend William Collett
and his second wife Ellen Clarke Bidwell.
She was under twelve months old for the Thetford census of 1841, and by
the time of the next census in 1851 she was 10 years old. In 1861, at the age of 20, Mary was still
living at Thetford Rectory with her parents.
However, following the death of her father towards the end of the 1860s,
Mary’s mother was forced to leave the Rectory in Thetford, where her father had
been the rectory for many years. That
upheaval in their life, resulted in Mary, and her two younger sisters (below),
accompanying their mother to Kingston-upon-Thames, where they were living in
1871. On that occasion Mary Collett from
Thetford was 30. Ten years later, at the
time of the 1881 census, Mary Collett, aged 40 and of Thetford, was still a
spinster when she was living with her mother’s sister and her husband at Upper
Beulah Hill Haddon in Croydon. Her aunt
was Lydia Grohawk, nee Bidwell, who was 55 and from St Lukes in Middlesex. Lydia’s husband was retired farmer Francis W
Grohawk, aged 62 of Letheringsett in Norfolk, and living with the couple was
their four children, plus five servants.
In addition to Mary Collett, also living with the family was Lydia’s two
older maiden sisters (and Mary’s aunts) Laura Bidwell, aged 60, and Octavia
Bidwell, aged 59, both of them from Thetford and both living on independent
means. Forty-year old Mary Collett was
also listed as being of independent means, indicating a degree of wealth and
affluence. How long Mary was living with
her aunt has not been established, but on the death of her father in the 1870s,
her mother Ellen Collett had moved Kingston-upon-Thames
Sometime during the next ten years Mary had
left Croydon and moved the short distance to Kingston where she was living with
her mother, her older brother Edward (above) and younger sister Ellen (below)
in 1891 at the age of 50. Upon the death
of their mother, Mary and her sister Ellen moved into the centre of London and
in 1901 the pair of them was living with their brothers Henry and Edward
Collett (above) at Kensington. By
then Mary was 60 and the census record confirmed she had been born at Thetford
and was living on her own means. With
the death of their brother Henry Collett in December 1901, the two sisters left
London and moved to Hampshire, where in April 1911 they were still living
together at Christchurch. According to
the census that year, Mary Collett from Thetford was 70 years old. Less than six months later, spinster Mary
Collett died at Swanton Morley Street off Valerie Road in Bournemouth on 23rd
September 1911, with her death recorded at Christchurch register office (Ref.
2b 927) at the age of 70. Probate for
her Will was granted on 13th October 1911 to her sister Ellen Anna
Collett (below) and Mary Catherine Bidwell, both spinsters, for her
estate worth £18,575 13 Shillings and 3 Pence, which was later re-sworn at
£19,268 8 Shillings and 11 Pence
Ellen
Anna Collett [18O42] was
born at Thetford on 21st October 1842, with her birth recorded there
(Ref. xiii 276). Just as with her older
siblings, it was her father, the Rector of St Mary’s Church in Thetford, who
performed at the ceremony of her baptism there on 27th October 1842.
She was the second daughter named Ellen
of William Collett and his wife Ellen.
Daughter Ellen was still living at Thetford with her family in March
1851 at the age of eight years, and was still there in April 1861 when she was
18. Following the death of her father in
the late 1860s Ellen’s depleted family left Thetford and moved to
Kingston-upon-Thames where she and her mother Ellen, and sisters Mary (above)
and Laura (below) were living in 1871.
At that time in her life unmarried Ellen A Collett from Thetford was
28. Ellen was still living with her
mother ten years later in 1881, when also living with them at Trafford House in
the Ewell Road in Kingston was Ellen’s brother Edward Collett (above). Once again Ellen, aged 38, was not married,
nor was she credited with having an occupation.
At that time the three members of the Collett family employed three
domestic servants, Elizabeth J Hancock, aged 29 who was the cook, Emma A
Gardiner, aged 38 who was a parlour maid, and Helen Mitchell, aged 16, who was
an under-house maid
Over the following decade Ellen, her brother
Edward, and her mother, were joined at Kingston by her older sister Mary (above)
who was living there with them in 1891 when Ellen A Collett was then 48. Once again the family had three domestic servants
in their employ. The next few years saw
the sisters lose their mother, after which they moved to London and, in 1901,
they were living in Kensington with their brothers Henry Collett (above),
who had returned from India, and Edward Collett (above). Just like her sister Mary, 58 years old Ellen
was also listed in the census as living on her own means, while having been
born at Thetford. Sometime after the
death of their brother Henry Collett in December 1901, the two sisters left
London and moved to Hampshire, where in April 1911 they were still living
together at Christchurch. The census
return for the Christchurch registration district listed Ellen Anna Collett
from Thetford as being 68. In October
1911, following the death of her sister Mary (above), Ellen Anna Collett
inherited her sister’s home at Swanton Morley Street on Valerie Road in
Bournemouth where she was living when she died on 12th June
1921. The death of Ellen Anna Collett
was recorded at Christchurch register office (Ref. 2b 750), when she was 78. Probate of her personal effects valued at
£16,337 14 Shillings and 9 Pence was granted to her niece Phillis Carthew
Collett, a spinster, and Charles Alfred Morton Lightly, a solicitor
Laura
Collett [18O43] was
born at Thetford on 29th October 1844, where her birth was recorded
(Ref. xiii 329). Laura was another child,
and the youngest surviving child, of William Collett the Rector of St Mary’s
Church in Thetford and his second wife Ellen Clarke Bidwell, whose baptism on 8th
March 1845, was conducted by her father.
She was six years old in the census of 1851 and was 16 in 1861, while
living at Thetford with her family.
Laura would have been in her early twenties when her father died and,
upon that sad event, she and her family had to vacate the rectory at Thetford
and seek alternative accommodation. A
few years later, according to the census in 1871, Laura and her mother, and her
two older sisters, were living at Kingston-upon-Thames, when she was described
as Laura Collett, aged 26, from Thetford.
Later that same year, the marriage of Laura Collett and Frederick
Jeffries Crowder was recorded at Kingston-upon-Thames (Ref. 2a 421) during the third
quarter of 1871. Frederick was born on
15th June 1935 and was baptised at Chelsham in Surrey on 10th
August that same year, the son of Frederick Robert Crowder, gentleman, and his
wife Lucy, of Chelsham Lodge. It was at
Weybridge in Surrey where they settled and where they were living in 1881 at a
property ‘St Andrews’, where Fredrick from Chelsham was 45 and a clerk in a
Legacy Duties Office. His wife Laura was
36, when they employed a cook and a housemaid.
After a further ten years, the couple was recorded at 14 Uxbridge Road
in Kingston-upon-Thames, when Frederick J Crowder was 55 and was the Principal
Clerk at the Legacy Duty Office in Somerset House, London, who was living at
the home of his 93-year-old father Frederick R Crowder, a widower with no
stated occupation. Laura Crowder from Thetford
was 46, while the other members of the household were two elderly couples, one
with a 24-year-son who was a school master, they being a coachman and a
housekeeper, and a butler and a cook
Eight years after that census day Laura Crowder
died on 18th May 1909, her death recorded at Chertsey register
office (Ref. 2a 49) at the age of 64, following which Laura of St Andrews,
Weybridge was buried there on 21st May. It was only after the death of her husband
ten years after her demise that her own Will could be proved. According to the census conducted in 1911 at
Weybridge, Frederick Jeffries Crowder was 70 years old and a widower and a
retired civil servant from Chelsham. The
other three occupants at the ten-roomed property were three domestic
servants. Eight year later Frederick Jeffries
Crowder of St Andrews in Weybridge died on 19th January 1919 at the
age of 83, and was buried there on 21st January. His Will proved in London on 3rd
April 1919 to Violet Ella Crowder, spinster, and George Bertram Crowder
Esquire, the personal effects amounting to £10,671 18 Shillings and 7 Pence,
which was later re-sworn as £10, 493 11 Shillings and 11 Pence. Two days after his Will was proved was when
the Will of his later wife was eventually proved in London on 5th
April 1919 to the same Violet Ella Crowder for an estate valued at £4,417 6
Shillings and 5 Pence
Alfred
Collett [18O44] was
born at Thetford on 5th September 1848 and was baptised there on 31st
October 1848 by his father when he would have been the youngest child of
William Collett and Ellen Clarke Bidwell had he survived. The death of infant Alfred Collett was
recorded at Thetford (Ref. xiii 243) and was buried at St Mary’s Church in
Thetford on 18th January 1849
Woodthorpe
Schofield Collett [18O45] was born at Linwood, near Market Rasen in Lincolnshire at
the end of 1826, the first-born child of Woodthorpe Collett and Elizabeth
Pyemont. It was at Market Rasen where he
was baptised on 11th March 1827.
He was 14 at the time of the census in June 1841, when he was at school
in Ipswich St Clement. He later attended
Clare College in Cambridge, which he entered on 2nd April 1846,
having already completed his matriculation that same year. While at Cambridge he was awarded a Browne
Medal, and obtained his BA in 1850. He
was a Senior Fellow from 1851 onwards and achieved his MA in 1853. He followed in his father’s footsteps by
entering the church but, unlike his father Woodthorpe Collett, he never
married. In the census of 1851, he was a
visitor at the home of the Quick family at Denmark Hill in Lambeth, where
Woodthorpe Collett from Market Rasen was unmarried at 24, when he was said to
be a tutor. Three years later in 1854 he
was ordained a deacon, and became a priest at Ely in 1855. However, six years later the census in 1861
placed Woodthorpe S Collett from Market Rasen as being single, 34 years of age,
and a patient in a Harpenden hospital, his occupation being that of a
clergyman. Just four years after that,
according to Crockford’s Clerical Directory, Woodthorpe Schofield Collett was
unbeneficed in 1865, which means that he no longer held a church office which
provided an income, due to his failing mental health
It may have been that action, coupled with the
death of his father in 1869, that resulted in Woodthorpe returning to the
family home on White House Road in Trimley St Mary, Colneis, near Woodbridge, where
he was living with his widowed mother Elizabeth Collett and his two unmarried
siblings Catherine and William (below), plus the two young children of
Woodthorpe’s youngest married sister Bertha Wright nee Collett (below). Woodthorpe S Collett was 44 years old and a
Fellow of Clare College in Cambridge, who was described as a lunatic. Ten years later, in the census of 1881, and
following the death of his mother, he was recorded as being 54 and a clergyman
from Lincolnshire, who was living at 13 Windsor Road in Ealing, Middlesex, the
home of his married brother Charles Keeling Collett (below). By 1891, as only W S Collett from Ipswich, he
was a boarder at 12 Preston Park Avenue in Brighton, when he was described as a
rector clergyman aged 60. He was again living
in the Preston a sub-district of Brighton in Sussex, in 1901 where he was 73
and his place of birth was once again recorded incorrectly as Ipswich. It was while he was still living in Brighton
that he died on 26th January 1913, at the age of 85, the death of
Woodthorpe Schofield Collett recorded at Steyning register office (Ref. 2b 349)
which was also reported in The Times newspaper on 29th January
1913. His Will was proved at Brighton on
19th April 1913, when the two main beneficiaries were named as
Cathrine Anne Deighton Braysher (who died at Staines in 1917) and Charles
Deighton Braysher (who also died at Staines but in 1915), who was a visitor at
the home of Woodthorpe’s married sister, Bertha Wright in 1881
John Anthony
Collett [18O46] was
born at Wickenby in Lincolnshire on 1st June 1828, where he was
baptised on 8th June 1828, another son of Woodthorpe Collett and
Elizabeth Pyemont. He was 13 years old
in 1841 when he was living at Woodbridge with his parents and the rest of his
family, but minus his older brother Woodthorpe (above). It is established that John was later
employed by the P & O Steam Ship Company, and on 18th January
1861 he submitted a Certificate of Competency as an Ordinary Master in the
Foreign Trade to the Local Marine Board of the Port of London, when he was
residing at the Brightwell Parsonage, Ipswich.
Tragically, only five years later, the death of John A Collett, aged
only 36, was recorded at Woodbridge (Ref. 4a 426) during the first three months
of 1866. Being so young, John probably
had no thought of making his Will therefore, following his premature death
Letters of Administration were drawn up and dated 23rd March 1866
and granted at Ipswich to the Reverend Woodthorpe Collett of Brightwell, a clerk
(in Holy Orders), father and next-of-kin of the deceased, who died at
Brightwell 8th February 1866, a bachelor and a Captain in the
service of the Peninsula & Oriental Steam Navigation Company
Henry
Pyemont Collett [18O47] was born in 1829 at Little Glemham, where he was baptised
on 18th October 1829, the son of Woodthorpe Collett and Elizabeth
Pyemont. He was 12 years old in the June
census of 1841, and he later attended Trinity Hall at Cambridge University,
which he entered on 4th July 1850, where he gained a Bachelor of
Arts degree in 1854. The record at
Trinity Hall confirmed that he was the third son of Woodthorpe Collett, clerk
of Hasketon, Woodbridge in Suffolk. It
was at Trinity Hall in Cambridge that he was simply recorded as Henry Collett
from Glemham in Suffolk, aged 21, a scholar, in the census of 1851, while it
was eight years later that he was ordained as a priest in 1859. Two years after that, in the next census in
1861, he was still a bachelor when he was living with his parents at Woodbridge
where he was recorded as Henry Pyemont Collett, aged 37, instead of Henry
Pyemont Collett who was 31. Later that
same year, Henry was a priest in Norwich, which overlapped with his role of the
Curate of Kesgrave in Suffolk. It was
during the following year when Henry Pyemont Collett married Isabella Lamb Cooper,
their wedding day recorded at Bosmere (Ref. 4a 735) during the second of 1862,
Bosmere being in the Needham Market area of Suffolk. Isabella was the daughter of Edward and
Phoebe Cooper and was baptised at St Peter’s Church in Wolverhampton on 12th
April 1833, who was living with her widowed father and younger brother Edmund
at Wolverhampton in 1841, aged eight. Ten
years later she was a student attending a girls’ school at Westbury-upon-Trym
in Gloucestershire, when Isabella Lamb from Wolverhampton was 18. Once she was married to Henry, Isabella gave
birth to their first child in the Leicestershire village of Shenton but, within
the following year, the family moved to Denver in Norfolk, just south of
Downham Market, where their other two sons were born
Two years prior to the 1861 Census, Henry was
ordained as a priest in 1859 and by 1861 he was a priest in Norwich. Overlapping with that, from 1859 to 1862 he
was the Curate of Kesgrave in Suffolk.
The four years from 1863 to 1867 he was the Perpetual Curate for the
Parish of Fordham, where he baptised his two youngest sons. From 1867 to 1874, he was appointed Vicar of
St Mary’s Church at Tilney-cum-Islington in Norfolk, midway between Wisbech and
King’s Lynn, which is where the family was living at the time of the census in
1871. The details in the Wisbech &
Terrington St Clement census listed the family as Henry Pyemont Collett, aged
41 from Little Glemham, his wife Isabella Lamb Collett, aged 38 and from
Wolverhampton, and their three children Edward Pyemont Collett who was eight
years old and born at Shenton to the north of Hinckley, Henry Francis Collett
who was six, and John Anthony Collett who was four years old, both confirmed as
having been born at Denver in Norfolk.
Also supporting the family on that occasion were two servants, Elizabeth
Pitcher, aged 20 from Denver, and Ann Elizabeth Ebbeson who was 19 and from
Fakenham
There appears to be a gap in the life of Edward
Pyemont Collett from 1874 to 1876, but from then on, until 1878, he was the
Vicar of Ixworth in Suffolk. Sometime
during the next year or two, the family left Suffolk and by the time of the
next census in 1881 Henry, aged 51, was teaching at a school in Hasting, while
he was living at 12 Springfield Road in Hastings St Leonard with his two oldest
sons. Edward P Collett was 18, and Henry
F Collett was 16 and was still undertaking his education. Although listed in the census return as a
married man, neither his wife, nor his youngest son, were residing with Henry
on the actual day of the census.
Instead, the household was completed by two servants, cook Emily Hoile,
aged 21 and from Kent, and maid Elizabeth Woodland, aged 19 and from Ashford in
Kent. However, the wider census of 1881
revealed that Isabella L Collett was visiting her elderly mother, a clergyman’s
widow, Phoebe A Frazer, at her home in Lower Green, Tettenhall in
Staffordshire. Isabella was 48 and her
place of birth was Wolverhampton
At that same time, the couple’s missing
youngest son, John A Collett, aged 13, was a pupil boarder at Norton House
College in Luton, where, in error, his place of birth was given as Leicester,
even though it is well established that he was born in Denver and baptised by
his father in nearby Fordham. Upon his
retirement, Henry and Isabella moved north to the Lake District. At the time of the census in 1891 Henry P
Collett was 61, and his wife Isabella L Collett was 58, at a time in their
lives when they were living in the Cartmel area, between Ulverston and
Grange-over-Sands. During that decade
Henry and Isabella left the Lake District when they moved south to Dawlish on
the south Devon coast. And it was at
Dawlish that Henry Pyemont Collett died on 29th March 1898, his
death recorded at Newton Abbott register office (Ref. 5b 93) when he was 68. According to a record within the Cambridge
Alumni, he had been living at Dawlish where he ‘remained without a cure’. Upon his death his body was taken to Brightwell
in Suffolk, where he was buried near to his father on 1st April
1898. His Will was proved at Exeter on
16th April 1898 to his widow Isabella Lamb Collett of Overcliff in
Dawlish, when his personal effects amounted to £80 2 Shillings and 3
Pence. Following his passing, Isabella
was still living at East Cliff in East Dawlish in March 1901 where, according
the census at the end of that month, she was a widow aged 68, from
Wolverhampton who was living on her own means, who had living with her, her thirty-four-year-old
unmarried son John A Collett, together with two female domestic servants. It was nine years later that she died at
Overcliff on 5th January 1910, when her personal effects were valued
at £8,196 5 Shillings and 10 Pence, her Will proved in London on 25th
February 1910 to Edward Pyemont Collett, surgeon dentist, and Arthur Forester
Walker, solicitor
18P45 – Edward Pyemont Collett was born in 1863 at
Shenton, Leicestershire
18P46 – Henry Francis Collett was born in 1865 at
Denver, Norfolk
18P47 – John Anthony Collett was born in 1866 at
Denver, Norfolk
Charles
Keeling Collett [18O48] was born at Little Glemham in 1831, where he was baptised
there on 21st August 1831, the son of Woodthorpe Collett and
Elizabeth Pyemont. He was listed with
his family at Woodbridge in the census of 1841, when he was 10 years old and
was 20 in 1851 when he and his family were residing in the village of Hasketon
near Woodbridge. It was on 9th
October 1859, at Trinity Church in Paddington, London, that the marriage by
licence of Charles Keeling Collett and Eliza Skinner Cole took place, the event
recorded at Kensington (Ref. 1a 214).
Charles was 27, a bachelor and a banker residing at Bishop’s Road in
Paddington, the son of Woodthorpe Collett, a clergyman. Eliza was a widow at 29, residing at Queen’s
Terrace, the daughter of John Robinson deceased, a Captain with the Bengal Army,
the former wife of George Collett whom she married in India on 28th
September 1847. Eliza Skinner Robinson was
born on 28Th August 1828 and was baptised at Futtehgurh, Bengal, on
28th September 1829, the daughter of John Brown Robinson and his
wife Eliza. Less than two years after
their wedding day, the couple was recorded living at 3 Bishop’s Road (next to
his younger unmarried brother Robert Ebden Collett (below), where Charles
K Collett from Little Glemham was 30 and a banker’s clerk and his wife Eliza S
Collett was 32 from Dacca in India.
Employed by them at that time was a 14-year-old housemaid. It is unclear where Charles was ten years
later in 1871, since Eliza S Collett was living at 3 Foxley Road in Kensington
aged 42 and the wife of a banker’s clerk, who had living with her, her three
children. They were Mary E Collett who
was 10 years old and incorrectly recorded as born at Paddington, as was Charles
Collett who was eight, while Percy Collett aged five years had been born at
Kensington, which was correct.
Completing the household was a domestic servant and a boarder, a retired
lieutenant of the Jersey militia. One
year later, Eliza gave birth to a second daughter at 3 Foxley Road, but neither
she or her older sister were living with their parents in 1881
Nine years later, according to the 1881 Census,
Charles Keeling Collett, aged 50 of Little Glemham, and his wife Eliza Skinner
Collett, aged 52 of Dacca, were living at 13 Windsor Road in Ealing. Windsor
Road today is adjacent to the Ealing Broadway Centre in London. Living with them was their son Charles
Hubert Edgar Collett, together with Charles Keeling’s older brother Woodthorpe
Schofield Collett (above). The
family employed two domestic servants, and they were the cook Amelia Morton
aged 24 of Stafford and housemaid Ann Williams aged 18 of Penryn Coch in
Wales. Although the census return gave
their son’s place of birth as Paddington in London, it is known that Charles
Hubert Edgar Collett was baptised at Brightwell-cum-Foxhall on 12th
July 1863, the son of Charles and Eliza Collett, and that he was born there on
30th December 1862. It was
around twenty months after that census day when Charles Keeling Collett died on
15th December 1882 at the age of 51 when living in Ealing, with his
death recorded at the Brentford (Ref. 3a 56) during the last three months of
1882. It was on 18th November
1882 that he was buried at Perivale in Middlesex, London. The Will of Charles Keeling Collett, formerly
of 3 Foxley Road, Pembroke Square in Kensington, but later of Brightwell House,
15 Gordon Road in Ealing, was proved by Eliza Skinner Collett of Brightwell
House, widow, the relict and sole executrix, his estate valued at £261 13
Shillings and 4 Pence
Eliza’s youngest daughter may well have been
attending a private boarding school on 1881, hence the reason for her absence
that census day. However, at the age of
19 in 1891, Mabel C Collett was again living with her widowed mother Eliza S
Collett on that census day at Kensington when she was 62 and living on her own
means, when her place of birth was confirmed as Bengal, Dacca. Once again Eliza was employing a domestic
servant, while the fourth person at the property (no. 9) was a boarder. During the next ten years Eliza moved from
Kensington to Hammersmith, and daughter Mabel was married. Both of those two events were confirmed by
the Hammersmith census in 1901, when mother and married daughter were residing
at 43 Richmond Gardens. Eliza S Collett was 72 and again living on
her own means, who had staying there with her, her daughter Mabel Laing-Meason
aged 29 and her grandson George L Collett who was six and born at Clapton. By 1911 Eliza Skinner Collett was 82 years
old, had been married 56 years earlier, and had given birth to four children of
whom three were still alive. At that
time in her life she was living at 30 South Place in Kensington (or maybe
Kennington), when once again her married daughter Mabel Catharine Laing-Meason
was living there with her, and with her two sons, Edward Hugh Gregor
Laing-Meason and Gilbert George Nigel Laing-Meason. Just over a year after that census day, the
death of Eliza S Collett was recorded at Camberwell register office (Ref. 1d
777) during the second quarter of 1912, when she was 84 years old
18P48 – Mary Elizabeth
Collett was born in 1861 at Brightwell
18P49 – Charles Hubert
Edgar Collett was born in 1862 at Brightwell
18P50 – Percy Duque
Collett was born in 1866 at Kensington
18P51
– Mabel Catharine Collett was born in 1872 at Kensington
Elizabeth
Charlotte Collett [18O49] was born at Sweffling near Saxmundham in 1832, where she
was baptised on 5th July 1833, the daughter of the Reverend
Woodthorpe Collett. She was nine years
old in the census of 1841 and in 1851, at the age of 18, she and her family
were living within the village of Hasketon near Woodbridge. She later married Trusson Collett [18O20] the
son of Cornelius Collett [18N6] of Beverley in Yorkshire on 5th
September 1860, as reported in The Times and the Ipswich Journal. For the continuation of this family go to
Trusson Collett. The photograph of
Elizabeth (below) was possibly taken around 1913, the same year that she
died, and also included in the picture with her was her husband Trusson
Collett, whose photograph can be seen under his name above
Elizabeth Charlotte Collett of Beaufort House,
21 Cavendish Road in Brondesbury, Middlesex, the wife of Trusson Collett, died
on 9th March 1913. Her Will
was subsequently proved at London 15th April 1913 to Trusson Collett
Esquire and Charles Deighton Braysher Esquire, the executors of her personal
effects valued at £1,264 14 Shillings and 2 Pence. Charles Deighton Brayshaw was the husband of
Elizabeth’s younger sister Catherine Ann Collett (below)
Catherine
Ann Collett [18O50] was
born either at the end of 1833 or early in 1834 most likely at Sweffling, where
she was baptised on 20th January 1834, the daughter of the Reverend
Woodthorpe Collett and his wife Elizabeth Pyemont. Shortly after her baptism, she and her family
moved to Woodbridge where they were living at the time of the census in 1841
when Catherine was recorded as being eight years old. According to the next census in 1851
Catherine Collett from Sweffling was 16 when she was living with her large
family at Hasketon near Woodbridge. No
record has so far been found of her in the census of 1861 although, following
the death of her father in 1869, Catherine A Collett, aged 37 and unmarried,
was once again living with her widowed mother and other members of the family
at White House Road in Trimley St Mary, within the Colneis sub-district of
Woodbridge in 1871, when she was described as having no occupation. Four years later, and on the other side of
the world, the marriage by licence of Catherine Ann Collett and Charles
Deighton Brayshaw took place on 27th November 1875 at the British
Consulate in Shanghai, China
Ten years earlier, Catherine’s younger sister
Bertha (below) had also married at the Office of the British Consulate
in Shanghai. Charles was a widower aged
37 residing in Shanghai, whose occupation was that of assistant harbour master,
the son of John Deighton, a publisher.
Catherine, the daughter of Woodthorpe Collett, a clergyman, also residing
in Shanghai, whose age was incorrectly recorded as 33, when she was 37 in 1871.
Certainly, Catherine was older than
Charles, who was born at Cambridge on 18th June 1838. It was also there, that he was baptised on 15th
October 1837, the son of John and Susanne Deighton. On 15th July 1859, Charles
submitted a Certificate of Competency to the Marine Board at Wills Street in
London as a Second Mate Foreign Going Trade when he was living at 4 Earls
Terrace in Kensington
When Catherine was in 1881 has not so far been
discovered, when her husband Charles Deighton Brayshaw, aged 48 and from
Cambridge, in the employ of the Customs Service, who was a visitor at Park
Terrace, Fonnereau Road, Ipswich, the home of 81-year-old spinster Letitia
Pyemont, an annuitant from Linwood in Lincolnshire. Also living at the same address was Charles’
widowed sister-in-law Bertha Emily Wright, nee Collett, with her three
children. Bertha was Catherine Ann’s
younger sister and was described as the niece of Letitia Pyemont, confirming
her as the sister of his mother-in-law, Elizabeth Collett, nee Pyemont,
Catherine Ann’s mother. Thirty years
later, the illusive couple was residing at Ragne, Braintree in Essex, when
Charles was 73, a retired harbour master from Cambridge, and his wife of 36
years was Catherine Ann Brayshaw from Sweffling who was 77. The couple’s two female domestic servants
were both nineteen years of age, when the home was a ten-roomed property
Four years after that day, the death of Charles
Deighton Brayshaw was recorded at Staines register office (Ref. 3a 8) during
the first three months of 1915, at the age of 77. The Will of Charles Deighton-Braysher (sic)
of Carisbrooke, Stanwell Road in Ashford, Middlesex, was proved at London on 15th
April 1915, following his death on 11th February 1915, to Trusson
Collett and Charles Oswald Liddell, Esquires, for his personal effects valued
at £6,057 8 Shillings and 11 Pence. It
seems curious that there was no reference to his wife who died two years after
being made a widow, when she was still living at Carisbrooke, Stanwell Road in
Ashford, where she died on 22nd March 1917. The death of Catherine Ann Deighton-Braysher
(sic) was recorded at Staines register office (Ref. 3a 16) at the age of 83. Administration of her personal effects,
reported to be worth £1,026 3 Shillings and 4 Pence, was certified with Will
limited on 24th May 1917 to Walter Percy Norton the attorney of
Anthony Keeling Collett, the eldest of the two sons of Catherine’s youngest
brother William Michael Collett (below)
Robert
Ebden Collett [18O51] was born at Ipswich St Peter on 17th June 1835,
the son of Woodthorpe Collett and Elizabeth Pyemont, and was baptised at St
Peter’s Church in Ipswich on 5th March 1836. By June 1841 he and his family were living in
Woodbridge, where Robert was recorded in error as being seven years old,
whereas in 1851 he was 15 and still living with his family which was recorded
in the village of Hasketon near Woodbridge.
A decade later, unmarried Robert E Collett from Ipswich was residing at
3 Bishop’s Road in Paddington where, at the age of 25 he was a clerk in the
grand function (?). Living at that same
location, but in a separate dwelling or apartment was Robert’s older brother Charles
Keeling Collett (above) and his wife Eliza Skinner Collett. No record of Robert has been found in the
census returns in 1871, 1881, 1891, or 1901.
By 1911 Robert was a married man living in Felixstowe where he was
described as keeper of a boarding-house and an employer who said he was 63
(sic), instead of 76, most likely not wanting to admit that he was that much
older than his wife. She was Ellen
Collett aged 52 and born in the London parish of St Pancras, who was his wife
of seven years, who had not given birth to any children. Two elderly spinsters were the only boarders
on that census day, both living on independent means, while the only person
employed by Robert at that time, for the nine-roomed property, was 21-year-old
Angelina Mary Baker from Gosport who was a housemaid. It was during the last three months of 1904
that the marriage of Robert Ebden Collett and Ellen Humphreys was recorded at
Hastings register office (Ref. 2b 54).
Three years after the census day in 1911 Robert died, with the death of
Robert E Collett, aged 78, recorded at the Suffolk Woodbridge register office (Ref.
4a 107) during the second quarter of 1914
Bertha
Emily Collett [18O52] was born at Woodbridge in 1837 and was baptised there in St
Mary’s Church on 11th October 1837, a daughter of Woodthorpe Collett
and Elizabeth Pyemont. It was also at
Woodbridge that she was living with her family in 1841 at the age of five
years. On the day of the next census in
1851, Bertha Emily Collett aged 13 and from Woodbridge was a visitor and a
pupil at the Ipswich home of forty-two-year-old Ann Sanderson who had living
with her just her three children Ellen Agnes Sanderson 17, Annie Sanderson 11,
and Keary Edgar Sanderson who was six.
At that time Bertha’s own family had settled in the village of Hasketon
near Woodbridge which, on that occasion, had Bertha’s aunt Letitia Pyemont and
her brother living with her family, with whom Bertha appears to have had a more
permanent connection later in her life.
After a further ten years Bertha Emily Collett, aged 24, was back living
with her family in the parish of Foxhall, as confirmed by the census in 1861. It was within the next four years that Bertha
Emily Collett married William Algernon Wright on 21st January 1865
at Holy Trinity Church in Shanghai, the marriage solemnised by the British
Consulate there. William was a bachelor
and a mariner living in Shanghai, the son of William Wright, a clerk in Holy
Orders. Bertha was a single lady of 27
years, also residing in Shanghai, the daughter of Woodthorpe Collett, another
clerk in Holy Orders. Curiously, ten years later, Bertha’s older sister
Catherine was married in Shanghai. By
1871, Bertha and William’s two eldest children were back in England, without
their parents, when they were staying with Bertha’s recently widowed mother
Elizabeth Collett at White House Road in Trimley St Mary, near Woodbridge. On that census day, Bertha L P Wright was
four years old and born at Aldeburgh in Suffolk, while William A C Wright was
one year old and born at Trimley St Mary.
Following the subsequent birth of the couple’s third child, two years
later, William A Wright, who was born on 3rd November 1835, died on
22nd December 1879 at Nagasaki in Japan, at the age of 45, the cause
of death being disease of the lungs. His
obituary confirmed that he was the son of the late Reverend Doctor Wright,
Headmaster of Colchester Grammar School. His passing left Bertha a widow at the age of forty-two
with three children to look after
William was born at Burton Street and baptised
on 12th January 1836 at St Pancras, the son of William Wright, a
private tutor, and his wife Nancy Goddard. On 1st September 1855, William
Algernon Wright of Lesden Road in Colchester, Essex, had submitted a
Certificate of Competency to the Local Marine Board for the Port of London as a
Second Mate, which he indicated should be forwarded on to the Shipping Office
in Southampton. And that was presumably
how he ended up in China ten years later
The next census in 1881 revealed that Bertha
Emily Wright from Woodbridge was 40 and was living with her elderly aunt and
annuitant Letitia Pyemont aged 81 from Linwood in Lincolnshire, her mother’s
unmarried sister, at 27 Park Terrace on Fonnereau Road in Ipswich St
Margaret. Bertha was described as the
niece of Letitia Pyemont, a widow and an annuitant, while with her were her
three children. They were Bertha L P
Wright who was 14 and born at Aldeburgh, William Algernon C Wright
who was 11 and born at Trimley, and son Francis Wright who was seven
years of age and born in Ipswich. The combined family was served by two domestic
servants, Matilda Cann 31 and Lydia Harvey 29.
Visiting the families was Charles Deighton Braysher from Cambridge who
was 43 and a beneficiary under the terms of the Will of Bertha’s eldest brother
Woodthorpe Schofield Collett (above), following his death in 1913,
Charles being the husband of Catherine Ann Collett (above), who were
married in Shanghai. It was a very
similar situation in 1891, with Bertha E Wright aged 48 and a widow living on
her own means at the Ipswich home of her maiden aunt Letitia Pyemont 27 Fonnereau
Road with her 24-year-old daughter Bertha L Wright also living on her own
means, and the great niece of Letitia Pyemont.
What happened to Bertha over the next twenty years is not yet
known. However, the census in 1911 did
reveal some new details of her life. On
that day Bertha Emily Wright was a lodger at 29 Palmerston Road in Ipswich,
when she was 74 and of private means, a widow from Woodbridge, who had been
married for 46 years, during which time she had given birth to five children,
only one of whom was still living. Nine
year later Bertha Emily Wright nee Collett died on 3rd February 1920
while at the Cottage Hospital in Felixstowe. The death of Bertha E Wright was recorded at
Woodbridge register office (Ref. 4a 1254) by someone who did not know her very
well, as her age was said to be 76 instead of 82. Her Will was proved in London on 12th
May that same year, when probate of her personal effects of £273 5 Shillings and
3 Pence was granted to Anthony Keeling Collett, a journalist. He was her nephew, the eldest son of Bertha’s
brother William Michael Collett (below)
William
Michael Collett [18PO53] was born at Woodbridge on 2nd April 1839, the
youngest of the nine children of Woodthorpe Collett and Elizabeth Pyemont. He was baptised at Woodbridge on 3rd
April 1839, and it was also at Woodbridge that he was living with his family in
1841, when he was two years old. The
census in 1851 included William Collett, aged 12, was attending a national
school at Lower Brook Street in the St Mary Quay district of Ipswich, which was
attended by his eldest brother Woodthorpe in 1841. He was later educated at Queen Elizabeth’s
School in Ipswich which was an Endowed Grammar School and at which he
matriculated on 31st October 1857, when he was 19. He then secured an open scholarship at
Trinity College, Oxford in 1858 and achieved a First-Class Classical
Moderations degree in 1860. That was followed
two years later by a Second-Class Classical School degree and a Bachelor of
Arts degree. In the next census in 1861,
William Michael Collett from Woodbridge was 23 and an undergraduate at Oxford,
on that occasion, he was enjoying some time away from his studies, when he was
recorded with his family at The Heath in Foxhall. By the time of the next census in 1871,
William M Collett from Woodbridge was 32 and described as a Fellow, Tutor and
Dean of Oriel College in Oxford, who was living with his widowed mother
Elizabeth and other members of the family at White House Road in Trimley St
Mary, following the death of his father two years earlier
William obtained his Master of Arts in 1864
and, a year after that, he secured an open Fellowship at Oriel College Oxford
and held the position of Fellow until 1874.
It was also in 1865 that he was a tutor and assistant master at
Wellington College. On 30th
March 1874, the Reverend William Michael Collett of Oxford was named in the
Letter of Administration following the death of his mother in Ipswich on 15th
March that year. Just after that he was
appointed as The Rector of Cromhall in Gloucestershire, shortly after which he
married Alice Burnett, who presented him with two sons. The marriage of William and Alice was
conducted at St Peter’s Church in Southampton on 23rd June 1874,
when the groom was confirmed as the son of Woodthorpe Collett, and the bride’s
father was named as Robert Edwin Burnett.
By the time of 1881 Census, William was living at The Rectory in
Cromhall Lygon, which is near Wotton-under-Edge. The census return confirmed that he was 42
and had been born at Woodbridge, and that he was the Rector of Cromhall. His wife Alice, who was born at Paddington,
was 33 years old. Living with the couple
were their two sons Anthony, who was three, and John who was seven months old,
both of them having been born at Cromhall.
The family was supported by housemaid Rhoda Booth, aged 29 of Hatherley,
and nursemaid Rosa Higgs aged 21 of Yate
In 1882 the Rev. W M Collett was represented at
court by A H Turner solicitor, regarding the non-payment of rent charges
amounting to £24 9 Shillings and 11 Pence that was owed to him by the occupier
of Ashworth House near Wotton-under-Edge, the property of Henry Isaac Brown of
Bristol. Nine years later, William
Michael Collett from Woodbridge was 52 and a married man, when he was the
Rector of Cromhall and was living there in 1891, with just two domestic
servants. On that same day, his wife
Alice Collett, then aged 42 and living on her own means, was residing at
Claremont Crescent in Weston-super-Mare with her son Anthony Collett who was
13. Boarding there with them was Sir
Richard Musgrave, bart, who was eighteen and from Cumberland. At the same time, absent son John was
attending school in Oxford and at 10 years of age, he was a boarder at
Bevington Road in the St Giles area of the city. It is rather odd, that no recorded of William
and Alice, either together or in a separated state, has been identified in the
census of 1901. That census day, the
couple’s eldest son was living in Theale, Berkshire, having completed his
university at Oriel College in Oxford, while their youngest son was a civil
engineering student and a boarder at the Heysham home of the Elliott family
near Lancaster
It was during the following year, that he died
at Cromhall on 24th May 1902, a clerk (in Holy Orders). The death of the Reverend William Michael
Collett was recorded at Thornbury register office (Ref. 6a 162) during the
second quarter of 1902, at the age of 63.
His Will was proved on 22nd November 1902 at London, when the
sole beneficiary of his personal effects valued at £519 13 Shillings and 1 Penny
was his widow Alice Collett. His
obituary was printed in the Manchester Courier and Lancashire General
Advertiser on 29th May 1902, when he was referred to as the Reverend
W Michael Collett. By 1911, Alice
Collett from London was 64 and a widow with private means, who was living in
the Warwickshire town of Rugby with her youngest son John and two domestic
servants. During the next two decades,
Alice Collett returned to Somerset, and it was at Bath register office that her
death was recorded (Ref. 5c 720) during the first three months of 1931, when
she was 83. Alice Collett nee Burnett
died on 24th January 1931 at the Lansdowne Hospital & Nursing
home in Bath, when the Limited Administration of her personal estate was resolved
at London on 5th August 1931 to Ronald Peake, solicitor and attorney
of John Colet Collett in the sum of £1,438 3 Shillings and 4 Pence
18P52 – Anthony Keeling Collett was born in 1877 at
Cromhall, Gloucestershire
18P53 – John Colet Collett was born in 1880 at
Cromhall, Gloucestershire
Ebden
Collett [18O55] was
possibly born at Loddon in Norfolk around 1834.
He was the younger of the two children of James Collett and Sophia Ebden
who both died in 1836. What happened to
two-year old Ebden and his sister Fanny, who was four, after those two tragic
events, is not known. What is known is
that Ebden Collett was named on the passenger list of the ship ‘Doric’ which
sailed out of Lyttelton in New Zealand on Thursday 5th April 1894
bound for London, England, as reported in the Christchurch Star newspaper. It was reported later that same year that he
returned to Auckland in New Zealand, when he departed from the Port of London
on 27th December 1894 on board the ship Ionic when he was described
as a labourer
William
Collett [18O56] was
born on 5th February at Great Poringland in Norfolk during the first
months of 1838, the eldest son of William Collett and his second wife Mary Ann
Dye. His parents were married at
Poringland on 19th December 1837, where William Collett was baptised
on 11th March 1838, the son of labourer Willian Collett and Mary Ann
Collett. The birth therefore took place within
three months of the couple’s wedding day and was immediately followed by their
departure from Poringland and their arrival at Henstead in Suffolk, where the
birth was registered during the first quarter of 1838. After just a couple of years of living at
Henstead, where his sister Honor (below) was born, the family of four
moved the eight miles south to the town of Halesworth. And it was there they were living at New
Court in June 1841, when William was three years old and his place of birth being
Porlan in Norfolk, a local reference to Poringland. Ten years later in 1851 William was still
living with his parents who were again living at New Court in Halesworth. He was then 13 and was already working as a
basket maker, and again his place of birth was recorded as Porlan
One possible record of
him has been found within the census of 1861 when a William Collett was 22 and
a Private (service no. 1964) with the Third Battalion Military Training School
at Aldershot in Hampshire. However, it
was five years later that bachelor William Collett of Halesworth, a labourer
and the son of William Collett, was married on 1st October 1866 to
Eliza Whale, the event recorded at Blything (Ref. 4a 1517). Eliza was the daughter of labourer Arthur
Whale, a spinster of full age, while the two witnesses were named as John Alden
and Maria Alden, the latter being William’s younger married sister (below). In the earlier census of 1851, the Whale
family had been residing at Hound, a village in Hampshire about two miles from
Burlsedon and, in 1861, when Eliza Whale was working as a domestic servant, she
gave her place of birth as Hound. By
early April in 1871, the childless couple was based in army barracks at St
Germans & St Anthony, near Torpoint and Devonport in Cornwall, where
William Collett was 32 and a Private in the 57th Battalion, while his
wife Eliza was 29. Again, on that
occasion, William said his place of birth was Porlan and Eliza said hers was
Burlsedon. Tragically, not long after
the census day that year William Collett either died or was killed in action
because, on 24th July 1873, Eliza Collett, a widow, married bachelor
George Turner, their wedding recorded at Stoke Damerel (Ref. 5b 595). George was a Private with the 7th
Company Royal Marines. Eight years after
they were married George and Eliza were living at 4 St Pauls Street, East
Stonehouse in Plymouth, where George Turner from Bristol was 42 and still a
Royal Marine, and Eliza Turner from Netley in Hampshire was 38
Honor
Collett [18O57] was
born at Poringland on 10th March 1840, although she was privately
baptised at home on 15th March 1840, the daughter of labourer
William Collett and his wife Mary of Poringland. Her birth that was recorded at Henstead (Ref.
xiii 168), previously referred to in error as her place of birth. With the next twelve months her family moved
the short distance to Halesworth, where they were living in June 1841. On the occasion of the first national census
Honor Collett was one year old when she and her family were living at New Court
in Halesworth. Sadly, Honor died when
she was just 10 years old, following which she was buried in the graveyard of
St Mary’s Church at Halesworth on 16th February 1850. The death of Honor Collett was recorded at
Blything (Ref. xiii 303). It was on 12th
February 1850 that she died at Halesworth, when the cause of her death was
hydrocephalus and fever
Daniel
Collett [18O58] was
born at Halesworth on 14th June in 1842, the third child of William
Collett by his third wife Mary Ann Dye, whose birth was recorded at Blything
(Ref. xiii 377). It was at Halesworth
where he was baptised in 4th September 1842. Tragically, he was only three months old when
he died on 7th September 1842 and was buried at St Mary’s Parish
Church in Halesworth four days after on 11th September. The death of Daniel Collett was recorded at
Blything (Ref. xiii 253) when the cause of death was recorded as inflammation
Maria
Collett [18O59] was born at Halesworth
on 17th October 1843, where she was baptised five years later on 3rd
December 1848 in a joint ceremony with her sisters Susanna Eliza Collett and
Fanny Collett (below), the daughters of William Collett and Mary Ann. In 1851 she was seven years old and was
living with her parents at 139 New Court in Halesworth. Ten years later, when she was 18, she was
working as a house servant at a private boys’ school at Belvedere Cottage on
Bungay Road in Halesworth run by George and Mary Yallop. The school house
was brick built (in white bricks) and had symmetrical design with a centre door
and chimneys at each gable end. Apart
from the time when Maria worked there, it has always been known as Belvedere
House, but ceased to be a school sometime between 1861 and 1868, when a trade directory
named the occupier as John Bayes, a farmer
It was on 20th April 1865 that Maria
Collett was married by banns to (1) John Alden at St Nicholas’ Church in Great
Yarmouth, with whom she had five children.
Their marriage certificate recorded that John was 29 and a fisherman,
residing at The Row 112, the son of blacksmith John Alden senior, while Maria’s
address was the Naval Asylum in Great Yarmouth, with her father confirmed as
William Collett, a labourer. It is
assumed, since she was a house servant at her previous address, that she was
also a live-in servant at the Naval Asylum.
Row 112 in Great Yarmouth was also previously known as Chambers the
Sailmaker’s Row, when the premises were occupied by many trades folk and
included public houses. It was not until
1804 that the numbers were added. Whilst
Maria’s parents gave her correct age in the two censuses of 1851 and 1861,
Maria constantly stated that she was younger than her actual age in all of the
subsequent census records. That was
particularly noticeable after she married for a second time, when her new
husband was her junior by fifteen years.
The figures in brackets [ ] represent her real age
John Alden was born in Yarmouth in 1835 and
baptised on 19th July 1935.
His parents were John Alden a blacksmith and Mary Ann Barnaby and they
were married on 24th October 1824, the witnesses being John Callow
and Elizabeth Barnaby – who were later married.
John Alden and Mary Ann had 10 children and it is interesting that their
second child was baptised as Elizabeth Callow Alden. The witnesses at the
wedding of John Alden and Maria Collett included Mary Ann Collett. One year after they were married, Maria and John
were named as the witnesses at the wedding of her older brother William (above)
to Eliza Whale. After a further five
years of married life with John, Maria had already presented her husband with
their first two children, when the family was living at Raglan Street West in
Lowestoft. Maria was aged 25 [28], John
was ten years older at 35 and their children were Louisa Alden who was four,
and Anna M Alden who was two. The
census reference to Louisa was incorrect, as it should have been her daughter Lavinia
Alden. Maria was with child on the
day of the 1871 Census and the couple’s only son John Frederick W Alden
was born later that same year. Over the
next six years the marriage produced a further two children for Maria and John,
they being Ellen Mary Alden who was born in 1874 when the family was
still living at Raglan Street West, and Elizabeth Alden who was born on
16th March 1878
The family left Lowestoft around 1875 and set
off north for a new life in East Yorkshire.
By the spring of the following year, they were living at 16 Temple Court
on Cogan Street in Kingston-upon-Hull, where the first of two tragedies was to
affect the family. It was at that
address that the death of two-year old Ellen Mary Alden was registered on 13th
April 1876. Some good news followed
later during the next year, when Maria discovered she was once again with
child, which would hopefully help to compensate for the loss of their daughter. Sadly, for Maria it was during her pregnancy
that she received the news of the death of her husband in 1877 at the age of
41. As a fisherman it seems very likely
that that he may have died during a fishing trip, as no registration of his
death has so far been found in any records.
Maria’s new baby was born while she and her children were still living
at 16 Temple Court, and the registration of the birth of daughter Elizabeth
confirmed her father as John Alden deceased.
Sometime over the next year or so, Maria and her children left Temple
Court and, by April 1881, part of the family was living at 2 Kings place in the
Parish of Holy Trinity in Hull. The
census record stated that Maria of Halesworth was a widow aged 32 [38]. Her occupation was given as laundress and
living with her was her son John who was 10 and daughter Elizabeth who was
three. Boarding with the family was dressmaker
and 66 years old widow Sarah Johnston of Brixham in Devon. Maria’s son John became a fisherman like his
father and, just as his father did, he too died in the North Sea on 17th
February 1906 at the age of 35
As she approached her fortieth birthday, Maria
started a new life with (2) George William Wright with whom she had a further
three children, all of them born at Hull.
George was fifteen years younger than Maria and, despite the best
efforts by researchers, no record of a marriage for Maria and George has been
found. According to the 1891 Census,
Maria aged 42 [48] was the wife of George Wright when they were living at 6
Liverpool Street in Newington Hull.
Living with them were Maria’s three children from her first marriage,
Lavinia Alden, John Alden, and Elizabeth Alden, plus Lavinia’s daughter Edith
Alden. In addition, the house was also
home to Maria and George’s two children, Ada Wright who was six, and
William Wright who was three years old
It is known that Lavinia Alden was not married
when Edith Alden was born but, although she was Ada Wright’s half-niece, she
was brought up as her sister, being of a similar age. Ada Wright was the grandmother of Liz
Whittaker – who kindly provided details of her family, and it was Liz’s father,
son of Ada who, together with his siblings, considered Edith to be their
aunt. Liz herself, actually met both
Lavinia and Edith, her Aunt Vinnie and Aunt Edie, a few times and thought of
them as lovely ladies despite both of them had suffered tragedies in their
lives. Aunt Vinnie’s husband, who was a
widower with children when she married him in Leeds during 1899, committed suicide
in 1910. Aunt Edie was living with her
mother during 1911 in Leeds and it was there that she was married in 1915. Her husband, a Private in the Canadian Rifles
(although not Canadian, but born in Leeds), died on 10 November 1918 from a
gunshot wound to the head sustained over the night and morning of the first and
second of October 1918
Three years later, in 1894, Maria’s two new
children by George, had been joined by brother Ernest Wright so, by the turn of
the century, the family comprised Maria 52 [58], George 43, and their children
Ada Wright, William Wright and Ernest Wright.
Maria’s grand-daughter Edith Alden was still in the care of her
grandmother, since the child’s mother (Lavinia) was then married and had moved
away to make a fresh start in Leeds. The
1901 Census also revealed that George Wright was a tobacconist, confectioner and
baker, and that he and his extended family were living at 395 Hessle Road in
Hull at that time
By
the time of the next census in 1911, Maria was 61 and had been married to
George for 28 years. The couple was
still living at 395 Hessle Road in Hull, where George's occupation was given as
Tobacconist, with Maria being described as assisting in the business. Living with them were their two sons William
Henry Wright, aged 24, who was an unmarried labourer working at the Fish Dock,
and Ernest Wright, aged 17, who was an engine cleaner on the railway. Also living with them was widow Fanny Frost,
nee Collett (below) who was Maria's younger sister. William Henry Wright had been born at
Hull in 1887, where his younger brother was also born in 1893. The house at Hessle Road comprised seven
rooms, including a kitchen, but excluding a scullery and a bathroom. It was at that same address that Maria died
nearly seventeen years later on 6th March 1928 at the age of 84, and
was buried in Division Road Cemetery on Hessle Road, Hull, on that same day. George Wright, being that much younger than
his wife, survived for another seven years before he passed away on 10th
June 1935 at 395 Hessle Road in Kingston-upon-Hull. His Will was proved at York on 28th
June 1859 in favour of Ernest Wright, heating engineer, for £111 3 Shillings and
5 Pence. His youngest son Ernest
Wright was born at Hull on 7th October 1893 and he later married
Nellie Waslen
18P54 – Ada Wright was born in 1884 at
Hull
Susanna
Eliza Collett [18O60] was born at Halesworth on 16th June 1846, her
birth recorded at Blything (Ref. xiii 410) during the second quarter of that
year. She was later baptised in a joint
ceremony with her younger sister Fanny (below) and her older sister
Maria Collett (above) on 3rd December 1848. She was another child of William Collett and
Mary Ann Dye who, despite being baptised as Susanna Eliza, used her second
forename thereafter. It was only at the
registering of her death that she was named as Susanna Eliza. As simply Eliza Collett aged four years, she
was living with her family at 189 New Court Halesworth in 1851. When she was 13 years old, she was living
with her mother at Barrack Yard on Mill Hill Street in Halesworth. To seek work, Eliza eventually moved to
London where, in 1871, she was living at Queens Gate Place in Kensington, where
she was employed as a cook. Eliza was
still a spinster ten years later and was still working as a cook, but in Sussex
in 1881. By then she was 32, living and
working at the home of wealthy widow Gertrude Martyn at Roffey Lodge on the
Crawley Road in Horsham, when Eliza’s place of birth was confirmed as
Halesworth. To say her employer,
Gertrude Martyn, was a wealthy widow may be an understatement. Three years earlier, she had financed the
building of the 300-seat All Saints Church at Roffey in Horsham, in memory of
her late husband. As a direct result,
the new parish of Roffey was also created in 1878 to coincide with the opening
of the church
It was while she was in Sussex that Eliza met
and marriage John Mann who was born in 1853 at Wisborough Green in Sussex, who
was baptised there on 20th March 1853, the son of George and Sophia
Mann. The 1881 Census placed 28 years
old John Mann as the gardener at the home of William Swift in Devonshire Road
in Eltham in Kent. William Swift, at 46,
was also a gardener as was his brother George 38 who was also living at the
home, along with John Mann’s older brother Jessie Mann, aged 33. Fifteen months after the census day in 1881,
Eliza Collett and John Mann were married at the aforementioned All Saints
Church in Roffey, Sussex, on 10 June 1882.
Their marriage produced three children for the couple, two of them being
John William Mann who was born at Mottingham in Kent in 1884, and Ruth
Isabella Mann who was born at St Albans in 1886. By 1891 the family of four was living at
Sopwell Lodge in the Hertfordshire village of Sopwell, where John Mann was 38
and a gardener from Wisborough Green, his wife Eliza Mann was 41 and from
Halesworth, John William Mann was seven, and Ruth Isabella Mann who was five,
but over the following years the family moved north to Lancashire. That was confirmed in the census of 1901,
when the family was living in Ingol Lodge Cottage at Ashton-on-Riddle, where
John Mann was 48 and a domestic gardener, Eliza Mann was 50, John William Mann
was 17 and also a domestic gardener, and Ruth Isabella Mann was 14 and a
dressmaker
The family was again residing in
Ashton-on-Riddle in 1911, in a seven-roomed dwelling at 2 Grosvenor Place. By then John was a jobbing gardener with his
own account at the age of 58, and his wife of 28 years was Eliza who was 60
years of age who had given birth to three children, only two of whom were still
living. Their son and daughter aged 27
and 25 respectively still had the same occupations as in 1901, except Ruth was then
working from home as a dressmaker with her own account. Boarding with the family that day was Ethel
Wise from Bishop’s Stortford who was the head teacher at a borough council
elementary school. Nearly twenty years
later, Eliza died on 9th September 1930, when she was 83, and living
at 2 Grosvenor Place in Preston. The
cause of death was heart failure, myocardial degeneration, and broncho
pneumonia. The death of Susanna Eliza Mann
was recorded at the Lancashire Preston register office (Ref. 8e 483) during the
third quarter of 1930, and that was only the second time in her life she was
credited with the correct two forenames, and in the right order
Fanny
Collett [18O61] was
born at Halesworth on 10th November 1848, with her birth recorded at
Blything (Ref. xiii 365), after which she was baptised at Halesworth on 3rd
December 1848 in a joint ceremony with her two older sisters, Maria and Susanna
Eliza (above). Fanny was 11 years
old in 1861 when she was living with her mother at Barrack Yard on Mill Hill
Street in Halesworth. Ten years later
Fanny was working as a servant at the Sun Inn in the Thoroughfare at Woodbridge
in Suffolk. She later married mariner William
Frost at St John’s Church in Woodbridge on 8th January 1874, when
the witnesses were Charles Collett and Eliza Frost, and when Eliza’s father
William was a gardener, who was regularly described as a labourer in census
returns. The wedding recorded at Woodbridge
(Ref. 4a 863) during the first quarter of that year. The birth of William Frost was recorded at Woodbridge
(Ref. xii 507) in 1844, and it would appear from the next census in 1881 that
they did not have any children. The
census return that year recorded William Frost, aged 36 of Woodbridge, as a
mariner, and that he was living at New Street in Woodbridge with his wife Fanny
who was 30 and from Halesworth. Living
with them was Fanny’s brother Frederick Collett (below) who was 25 and
also of Halesworth
According to the next census in 1891, William
Frost from Woodbridge was 45 and a mariner, when Fanny Frost from Halesworth
was 41, when they were living at New Street in Woodbridge. Ten years after that, in March 1901, Fanny
Frost aged 50 was again living with her husband William Frost at 28 New Street
in Woodbridge, from where 55-year-old William was employed as a canal
porter. Five years later, during the
third quarter of 1906, the death of William Frost was recorded at Woodbridge
register office (Ref. 4a 603) when he was 58.
Having lost her husband, Fanny Frost aged 59 and a widow, was living
with her older married sister Maria Wright nee Collett (above) and her
family, at 395 Hessle Road in Hull in 1911.
Sixteen years later, when she died on 10th March 1927, she
was still living at 395 Hessle Road, Kingston-upon-Hull, the cause of death
being chronic bronchitis and senile decay.
The death of Fanny Frost, nee Collett, was recorded at the Hull
Sculcoates register office (Ref. 9d 236) during the first three months of 1927,
when she was 78
John
Collett [18O62] was
born at Halesworth on 26th November 1850, with his birth recorded at
Blything (Ref. xiii 391), the seventh child of William Collett and Mary Ann
Dye. John was four months old in the
Halesworth census of 1851, but during the latter part of that decade the family
must have encountered some difficulty which resulted in John’s father taking
him and his younger brother Charles (below) to live at the Blything
Union Workhouse in Bulcamp-with-Blythburgh.
And it was there that the three of them were recorded in 1861 when J C
from Halesworth was eleven years old. By
1871 John Collett from Suffolk said he was 22 when he was working as a live-in waiter
at The Reform Club in Pall Mall, within the Westminster area of London while,
not far away, in Kensington was his unmarried sister Eliza (above). Not long after, John ceased being a waiter,
when he joined the army and was sent to Curragh Camp in Ireland and, while he
was there, he met his future wife. The
marriage of John Collett and (1) Susan Sullivan was conducted on
27th February 1873 at Dunmanway in County Cork, Ireland. Susan was born during 1855 in County Cork and
their first child, a son, was born at Kilcullen in County Kildare on 26th
October 1873, following which he was baptised on 15th December
1873. His birth was registered by his
father John Collett on 3rd November 1873, when John was described as
a drummer with the 57th Regiment, aka 57th (West
Middlesex) Regiment of Foot
Whether John’s regiment was dispatched to
America, or whether he completed his term of duty, he and Susan eventually
settled in America, where Susan died on 7th January 1890 of
pneumonia at the age of 34. By then, it
is established that their last six children had been born in America, which
would indicate they had left Ireland between the birth of their first two
children. The known list of children was
made up of John Collett (1873-1901), Charles Jeremiah Collett
(1876-1899), Susan Mary Collett (born 1878), Henry Francis Collett (1881-1968),
Elizabeth M Collett (1883-1967), George Edward Collett (1885-1974), and Helena
Collett (1887-1969). Two years after being widowed, John Collett married (2) Catherine (Kate) Swanick on 31st January 1892. On that occasion he gave his age as 39,
whereas in fact he had just celebrated his forty-second birthday. He perhaps did that out of embarrassment
because Kate was only 26 years old. It
is believed that, by that time in his life, he was living in or near Boston, Massachusetts, where he
remained for the rest of his life
The
USA census of 1910 for Boston, revealed that John Collett had arrived in America
during 1875, although the 1930 US Federal Census shows he arrived in 1873,
which is impossible. By 1910, John and Catherine
had given birth to four children, with only three still living, and they were Robert
Collett aged 18, Fred Collett aged 14, and Ernest Collett who was eight years
of age. The same census return stated
that Catherine had arrived in the USA during 1887. John was a labourer working at a planing mill,
while Catherine was a cook in a restaurant.
Their eldest son Robert was a messenger boy with the postal union. The family rented their house and both John
and Catherine were naturalised citizens.
Their marriage record confirmed that John’s parents were William and
Mary and that it was his second marriage. The 1920 census rather oddly states "does
not live there", with similar comments next to most of the other
names. After a further decade, the US
Federal Census for 1930, identified John Collett as widower who was living in
Long Island Almshouse, Suffolk County in Massachusetts, his wife Catherine Collett
having died on 17th July 1922 in Boston, where John Collett died on
29th October 1930
18P55 – John Collett was born in 1873, at Kilcullen, County Kildare, Ireland
18P56 – Charles Jeremiah Collett was born in
1876, in America
18P57 – Susan Mary Collett was born in 1878, in
America
18P58 – Henry Francis Collett was born in 1881,
in America
18P59 – Elizabeth M Collett was born in 1883, in
America
18P60 – George Edward Collett was born in 1885,
in America
18P61 – Helena Collett was born in 1887, in
America
The following are the children of John Collett
by his second wife Kate Swanick:
18P62 – Robert Collett was born in 1892, at
Boston, Massachusetts
18P63 – Fred Collett was born in 1896, at
Boston, Massachusetts
18P64 – Ernest Collett was born in 1902, at
Boston, Massachusetts
Charles
Collett [18O63] was
born at Halesworth on 11th May 1853, another son of William and Mary
Ann Collett, his birth recorded at Blything (Ref. 4a 643). and his third wife
Mary Ann Dye. When Charles was eight
years of age, he and his father and his brother John (above) were
staying at the Blything Union Workhouse in Bulcamp-with-Blythburgh in 1861, but
on leaving school he became a blacksmith, which was his stated occupation in
April 1871 when he was 17. At that time
in his life, he was living with his widowed father and brother Frederick
Collett (below) at 112 New Court in Halesworth. Three years after that census day, when
Charles Collett was 21, he was married by banns to Elizabeth Alice Field, aged
20, at St Peter’s Church in Lowestoft on 29th March 1874, when the
witnesses were George Drake and Ellen Ashby, with the event recorded at Mutford
(Ref. 4a 995). Both the bride and the
groom were residing in Lowestoft, where Charles was a blacksmith and the son of
gardener William Collett, while Elizabeth had no stated occupation and was the
daughter of Frederick Field, a butcher. Elizabeth
Alice Field was born on 15th May 1855 at 200 Bridge Street in
Ipswich, her mother being Priscilla Field nee Dodd. Her birth was recorded at Ipswich (Ref. 4a
538) during the second quarter of 1855, but only as Elizabeth Field. Although Elizabeth was recorded as 20 years
of age on their wedding day, she was actually only eighteen years old, also
confirmed by the census return in 1881.
Once they were married, Charles and Elizabeth
moved to the north of England, with their first child born seven months later
on 28th October 1874 at Edmondsley, Waldridge, near
Chester-le-Street in County Durham. As a
result of Charles’ occupation as a journeyman blacksmith, the family was living
in Sunderland at the time of the birth of the next two children, and at
Kingston-upon-Hull when their fourth child was born. By the time of the 1881 Census, the family
was living at 4 Johnsons Place in the Holy Trinity
district of Hull. Charles Collett was
confirmed as being 26 and born at Halesworth, while his wife Elizabeth was 24
and born at Ipswich. Charles was still
working as a blacksmith at that time, when the children were Florence M Collett
who was six, Elizabeth H Collett who was four, and Charles F W Collett who was
just one year old. During that same
year, while the family was still living in Hull, Charles’ third daughter Maria
was born, but suffered a premature death before reaching full-age
Between 1881 and 1891 the family moved to
Ipswich, to live at Vine Cottage on St Georges Street
within the St Margaret district of the town.
Charles’ occupation on the occasion of the 1891 Census was that of a blacksmith
and shopkeeper at the age of 37. Elizabeth
was 36, daughter Elizabeth was 14 and a mother’s helper, Charles was 12 and
still attending school, as was Maria who was nine. The couple’s eldest daughter Florence would
have been 16, although no trace of her has been found. Ten years later Charles Collett was 47, and
Elizabeth Collett was 45, when they were still living in Ipswich in 1901, but
at The Drift in Britannia Road in the St Margaret’s area of the town, from
where Charles continued to work as a blacksmith, but with his own account. The only child still living with the couple
was Charles Collett junior aged 21 and a coach painter whose place of birth was
said to be Sunderland rather than Hull.
Boarding with the family was another coach painter, Harry Smith who was
24 and from Royston in Hertfordshire
According to the next census in 1911, the
couple was still living at The Drift in Britannia Road, Ipswich, by which time
Charles Collett from Halesworth was 57 and a market gardener, while Elizabeth
Collett from Ipswich was 56. The census
return confirmed that they had been married for thirty-six years and that
during that time they had four children, three of whom were still alive and not
living with them by then. However, there
were two other people staying at the house, and they were their granddaughter
May Johnson who was ten years old and born at Chelmsford, the daughter of
Florence May Collett. The other was 22-year-old
Walter Briggs from Kersey in Suffolk, who was described as a garden labourer
and a servant, an employee of Charles Collett
18P65 – Florence Mary Collett was born in 1874 at
Edmondsley
18P66 – Elizabeth Honor Collett was born in 1876 at
Sunderland
18P67 – Charles Frederick W Collett was born in 1879 at Sunderland
18P68 – Maria Collett was born in 1881 at
Kingston-upon-Hull
Frederick
William Collett [18O64] was born on 2nd January 1856 at Barrack Yard in
Halesworth, with his birth recorded at Blything (Ref. 4a 645), but only as
Frederick Collett. It was during the
summer of the following year that Frederick William Collett was baptised at Halesworth
on 4th August 1857, and confirmed as a son of William and Mary
Collett. At the age of five years, he
was living with his mother and sisters Eliza and Fanny (above) at
Barrack Yard on Mill Hill Street in Halesworth.
Ten years later at the age of 15 he had left school and was working in
Halesworth as a baker, while still living with his widowed father and brother
Charles (above) at 112 New Court.
The census of 1881 revealed that Frederick, then aged 25, was unmarried
and was employed as a footman while living at the home of his married sister
Fanny Frost (above) and her husband at New Street in Woodbridge. It would appear that not long after April
1881 Frederick moved north, perhaps to Kingston-upon-Hull to be reunited with
his sister Maria and brother Charles (both above). It this is true, there is a possibility that
while he was in Hull he somehow met or encountered the Mallinson family. In 1881 Samuel Mallinson aged 30 was the
store manager of J Shaws (Provisions) at 3 Livingstone Arcade on the Anlady
Road in Hull. Samuel John Mallinson had
married Maria Alice Dibnah at York on 21st September 1875, when she
was 19 and the daughter of Arthur Dibnah, their wedding recorded east of Hull,
at Patrington (Ref. 9d 441). Maria was
six years younger than her husband and by whom she had had three children by
1881. By April 1891 Samuel Mallinson was
an inmate at the Borough Asylum in Hull, so had separated from his wife and
family. Maria and her children had left
Hull and were living at Leeds with Frederick Collett
According to the 1891 Census, Frederick Collett
from Suffolk was 38 and a waiter who, as head of the household, was living at 5
Clare Road in Leeds. Also listed as
living at the same address, but as boarders, were (Maria) Alice Mallinson aged 35
and a waitress from Patrington and her four children, the youngest of which was
Frederick Mallinson aged one year, who was reputed to be the son of Frederick
Collett. By the turn of the century
Frederick Collett from Halesworth was 42 and was still working as a waiter at a
local inn on the day of the census in 1901.
As before, he was head of the household, but then at 1 Belmont Road in Harrogate, where his housekeeper was
44-year-old Maria Alice Mallinson from Patrington. Also living at the same address was
dressmaker Ellen E Mallinson who was 24, Henry Charles Mallinson who was 22, Samuel
A Mallinson who was 17, Fred Mallinson who was 11, and Marjorie who was eleven
months old, but with no surname, just ‘daughter’. On the same day, Maria’s estranged husband
Samuel Mallinson was 50 and an omnibus driver living at 19 Gibson Street in
Sculcoates (Hull), but died six years later
It now transpires that the two younger children
were indeed the children of Frederick William Collett, as revealed in the next
census in 1911. One unexplained
curiosity is recorded in the Harrogate census of 1911 and that relates to the
fact that Frederick William Collett aged 52, gave his place of birth as
Woodbridge, rather than Halesworth some 20 miles away. On that occasion he was residing at 3 Cheltenham Parade in
Harrogate, a boarding house managed by him. Living there with him was his wife Alice Maria
Collett who was 54 and assisting with the business, and their two children
Frederick William Collett who was 21, and Marjorie Collett who was 10. The boarding house had six boarders on that
day and they were William Henry Hartley who was 28, Arthur Andrew Dibnah who
was 48 (a gentleman from Patrington and the brother Maria Alice Collett)
with his wife Rose Anna Dibnah (47), Tamamoto Chiyokicko (55), with his wife
Elizabeth Chiyokicko (40), plus Annie Long who was 21. The death of Alice Maria Collett was recorded
at Knaresborough register office (Ref. 9a 123) during the fourth quarter of
1921, when she was 65 years old. Her
Will was proved at London on 10th January 1922 to James Lomas Walker
and James Wilkinson, solicitors, when her personal effects were valued at
£1,088 15 Shillings and 4 Pence. The
document also confirmed that Maria Alice Collett, the wife of Frederick Collett
who died at 3 Cheltenham Parade in Harrogate on 21st November 1921. No record of the death of her husband has
been found, although it is known that his son was still living in Harrogate in
1939
18P69 – Frederick
William Collett was born in 1890 at
Leeds
18P70 – Marjorie
Collett was born in 1900 at
Harrogate
William
Collett [18O65] was
born at Mettingham in 1822, where he was baptised on 14th April
1822, the eldest child of Henry Collett and Elizabeth Colls. He had left the family home by June 1841,
when he was 18 years old, although he was still living within the Wangford
& Beccles registration district which included Mettingham. He came from a farming background and was a
farm labourer for most of his life. It
was five years later during the second quarter of 1846 that William Collett married
Mary Ann Bradnum, their marriage recorded at Wangford (Ref. xiii 783). Mary Ann was born on 26th March 1822
at Kirby Cane in Norfolk, midway between Bungay and Beccles, the daughter of
gardener Joseph Bradnum and his wife Dinah.
According to the Mettingham census of 1851, William was 28 and an
agricultural labourer, Mary was 29 and from Kirby Cane, and by then only two of
their four surviving children were recorded with them, they being Matilda who
was three, and Harriet who was not yet one year old. Both girls had been born at Mettingham. It is possible, following two child deaths in
the family during the preceding years, the missing children Benjamin and
Charlotte were elsewhere at that time, since both are known to have survived to
adulthood. Either side of the birth of
their daughter Matilda, it is understood that a further two children were born
to William and Mary Ann at Mettingham, neither of whom survived. They were William who was born in 1847 and
Emma who was born on 14th September 1848. Emma only lived for a couple days and was
buried at Mettingham on 17th September 1848, while William was
buried there three months later on 24th December 1848
The Collett family was still living at
Mettingham, in a dwelling on Great Road, at the time of the next census in
1861, when William, an agricultural labourer, and Mary Ann were both 39. On that occasion they had eight children
living there with them, although the eldest child was then Benjamin. The eight children with William and Mary Ann
in 1861 were Benjamin who was 11, Harriet who was 10, Joseph who was nine,
William who was eight, Sarah who was six, Dinah who was five, George who was
two, and James who was under one year old.
By that time, the couple’s eldest surviving daughter, Matilda, had left
school and was a servant at Home Farm in Gorleston, the home of farmer James
and Charlotte Boggis. It may be of
interest that the two eldest Boggis children had been born at Kirby Cane, and
therefore it may have been through Matilda’s mother that her employment with
the family had been arranged at Home Farm
The marriage of William and Mary Ann Collett
produced a total of twelve surviving children, and all of them were born at
Mettingham, where the births were also registered. Sometime after their family was complete William
and Mary Ann left Mettingham and moved north towards Great Yarmouth where they
settled down to live at Burgh Castle, overlooking Breydon Water. The reason for the move was a new job
opportunity for William, as a labourer at the cement works, which also came
with accommodation provided by his employer as confirmed in the census of 1871
when the family was residing at ‘the cement works’ in Burgh Castle. On that occasion the family comprised William
aged 48, Mary Ann aged 49, and their children William, aged 17, Dinah, aged 13,
George, aged 12, James, aged 10, Jemima, who was eight, Cornelius, who was
seven, and Henry who was five years.
Their eldest son Benjamin had already left the family home by that time,
as had daughters Harriet and Sarah who were living and working in Yarmouth, and
son Joseph who was living within the same area as his family. Sometime before April in 1871 William’s and
Mary Ann’s eldest surviving child, their daughter Matilda, had left Home Farm
at Gorleston to seek work in London. And
it was there, in Islington, that she was recorded as living and working in the
census of 1871, at the age of 23. It was
there also that later she secured work for two of her sisters, with all three
of them working in London in 1881
According to the 1881 Census, only youngest son
Henry aged 15 was still living with his parents at 14 Butt Way in Burgh
Castle. William was confirmed as being
58 and born at Mettingham, at a time in his life when he had returned to
working as a farm labourer. Mary Ann was
also 58 and her place of birth was confirmed as Kirby Cane. Farm labourer William and his wife Mary Ann
were still living in Burgh Castle ten years later in 1891 when they were both
69. Their address on that occasion was
Porter’s Lane, and living there with them was their unmarried daughter Matilda,
and their grandson George who was nine and attending school. And it was there also that the couple was
still living, after a further ten years in March 1901, when they were both
79. During the following year Mary Ann
Collett, aged 80, died at Burgh Castle and her death was recorded at Mutford R
D (Ref. 4a 621) during the fourth quarter of 1902, and was buried there on 29th
October. William Collett was a widower
for less than two years, when he died in 1904 and his death was also recorded at
the Mutford Rural District register office (Ref. 4a 703) during the third
quarter of that year at the age of 82.
It was also at Burgh Castle that he was buried with his wife on 12th
September 1904
18P71 – William Collett was born in 1846 at
Mettingham
18P72 – Maud Matilda Collett was born in 1848 at
Mettingham
18P73 – Emma Collett was born in 1848 at
Mettingham
18P74 – Charlotte Collett was born in 1849 at
Mettingham
18P75 – Benjamin Collett was born in 1850 at
Mettingham
18P76 – Harriet Collett was born in 1851 at
Mettingham
18P77 – Joseph Collett was born in 1852 at
Mettingham
18P78 – William Collett was born in 1854 at
Mettingham
18P79 – Sarah Collett was born in 1855 at
Mettingham
18P80 – Henry Collett was born in 1856 at
Mettingham
18P81 – Dinah Collett was born in 1857 at
Mettingham
18P82 – George Collett was born in 1858 at
Mettingham
18P83 – James Collett was born in 1860 at
Mettingham
18P84 – Jemima Collett was born in 1862 at
Mettingham
18P85 – Cornelius Bradnum Collett was born in 1864 at
Mettingham
18P86 – Henry Collett was born in 1865 at
Mettingham
Henry
Collett [18O66] was
born at Mettingham on 6th March 1823 and was baptised there
seventeen days later on 23rd March 1823, the second son of Henry and
Elizabeth Collett. He was a farm
labourer at Mettingham for much of his life, and it was there that Henry
Collett married (1) Maria Myall on 14th August 1842. Maria was born on 20th March 1823
and was baptised at Metfield on 20th April 1923, the daughter of
William and Anne Myall. The marriage
produced six known children for the couple while they were living at
Mettingham, although only three survived before Maria died in February
1854. Seven years earlier, and after
Henry and Maria had been married for five years, Henry was caught red-handed
stealing a pocket knife, for which he was sentenced to serve one month’s hard-labour
in 1847. In 1851 Henry and Maria were
living at Low Road in Mettingham with their three surviving children, having
already suffered the death of their second daughter. Henry and Maria were both 28 and born at
Mettingham, and their three children were Mary Ann (Marianne) Collett who was
eight and born at Shipmeadow, Ellen who was four, and James who was one year
old, both of them born at Mettingham. Staying
with the Collett family was Ellen Myall from Mettingham who was 21 and a silk
winder, the younger sister of Henry’s wife.
Henry was an agricultural labourer, while Maria was pregnant with the couple’s
fifth child on the day of the census and, after two months, their penultimate
child was born, but sadly he did not survive, nor did their last child who was
born three years later
Just over six months after the death of their
last children, Henry’s younger unmarried sister, Susan Collett (below),
was expecting the birth of a base-born child which Henry and Maria agreed to
take into their family as their own.
Tragically, Maria did not live long enough to see her ‘adopted’ daughter
baptised at Mettingham in April 1854, as she passed away two months before the
event. Maria Collett was buried at
Mettingham on 7th February 1854, at the age of 30, her death
recorded at Wangford (Ref. 4a 464). Four
months after the death of his wife, Henry Collett married (2) Catherine Ellis
at Mettingham on 5th June 1854, their wedding recorded at Wangford
(Ref. 4a 996). Catherine was the former
wife and widow of Richard Ellis, with whom she had had five children. Catherine was many years older than Henry,
although there was a wide variation in their ages in the subsequent census
returns. At the time of her death, it
was revealed that she was born at Mettingham in 1809 as Catherine Brighton –
see note below
By the time of the next census in 1861, the
family living at Great Road in Mettingham comprised Henry Collett who was 39
and an agricultural labourer of Mettingham, his new wife Catherine Collett also
of Mettingham who was 51, and Henry’s two children from his first marriage, Ellen
who was recorded in error as Eleanor Collett who was 15, and James Collett who
was 12, who was already working alongside his father. Living with the family by then, was their
granddaughter Emma Collett who was only five months old and born at Shipmeadow,
south-east of Mettingham, the base-born child of Henry’s eldest daughter Mary
Ann Collett. Also living with the family
were presumably two of Catherine’s children from her first marriage, and they
were referred to as daughters-in-law, rather than stepdaughters, Jane Collett
who was 17 and Emma Collett who was 15, both born at Mettingham and both working
alongside Ellen Collett as silk weavers.
Ten years later, in the Mettingham census of 1871, Henry was 47 and
Catherine was 60. On that occasion Henry
and Catherine’s children were no longer living with the couple
The couple was still residing in Mettingham by
1881, when they were living in a dwelling simply referred to as being on the
High Road. Henry was 56 and his wife
Catherine was 70. Less than thirty
months after that census day, Henry Collett died at Mettingham, his death
recorded at Wangford (Ref. 4a 462), after which he was buried at Mettingham on
16th August 1883 aged 63.
Catherine then had nearly eight years as a widow, during which time she
left Mettingham, when she moved into the Union Workhouse in Shipmeadow, where
she was confirmed to be an inmate and a widow aged 84 (sic) on the day of the
census in 1891. One months later she
died there, when Catherine Collett of Shipmeadow, and late of Mettingham, was
buried at Mettingham on 3rd May 1891, when she was 83, and recorded
as the daughter of John Brighton. It may
be of interest that, Robert Collett [18O90] married Lydia Ann Brighton who was
born in 1838, the daughter of Robert and Mary Brighton
18P87 – Mary Ann Collett was born in 1843 at Shipmeadow
18P88 – Maria Collett was born in 1844 at
Mettingham
18P89 – Ellen Collett was born in 1846 at
Mettingham
18P90 – James Collett was born in 1849 at
Mettingham
18P91 – Walter Collett was born in 1851 at
Mettingham
18P92 – George Collett was born in 1853 at
Mettingham
Maria
Elizabeth Collett [18O67] was born at Mettingham on 25th August 1825, and
was baptised there on 4th September 1825, the eldest daughter of
Henry Collett and Elizabeth Colls. It
would appear that an illness hit the family in 1834, because in December that
year Maria Elizabeth, and her sister Rachel (below), both died while
only nine and seven years old respectively.
Maria Elizabeth Collett was buried at Mettingham on 18th
December 1834, just thirteen days after her younger sister
Samuel
John Collett [18O68] was
born at Mettingham on 23rd September 1826 where he was baptised on
15th October 1826, the son of Henry and Elizabeth Collett. Tragically, he only survived for just over
three months when he died at Mettingham, where he was buried on 3rd
January 1827, aged 14 weeks
Rachel
Collett [18O69] was
born at Mettingham on 4th October 1827, where she was baptised on 4th
November 1827, the second daughter and the fifth of the nine children of Henry
and Elizabeth Collett. Tragically, she
died when she was seven years of age and was buried at Mettingham on 5th
December 1834, just less than two weeks before her sister Maria Elizabeth
Collett (above) also passed away
Mary Ann
Collett [18O70] was
born at Mettingham on 22nd February 1828, and it was there also that
she was baptised on 28th March 1828, the daughter of Henry and
Elizabeth Collett. At the time of the
census in 1841, Mary Collett was listed as being 12 years old, while living
with her parents at their Mettingham home.
It was over eight years later, on 12th October 1849, that
Mary Ann Collett married James Porter at Weybread, just south of Harleston,
after the reading of banns. Their
wedding was recorded at Hoxne (Ref. xii 1141).
James was baptised at Ellough near Beccles on 21st October
1821, the son of John and Charlotte Porter.
Once married, Mary Ann and James initially settled in the village of
Weybread, where the first of their nine children was born in 1850. However, by the end of March in 1851, James
and Mary Ann, together with their daughter Ann Elizabeth, were living at Hoxne
near Diss, before they moved to Ilketshall St Andrew, where the couple’s next
six children were born. By 1861 the
family living at Tooks Common in Ilketshall St Andrew comprised, agricultural
labourer James Porter who was 38, his wife Mary Ann of Mettingham who was 31,
together with five of their children, they being Ann, John, Eliza, Emma, and
William
Around 1865 the family moved again, when they
travelled the two miles to Ringsfield to the west of Beccles, and it was there
that Mary Ann’s last two children were born.
Just after the birth of the last child, the family moved once more, that
time to 16 High Road in Worlingham near Beccles, where they were living at the
time of the census of 1871, when James was 49 and Marian was 42. The census that year listed the children as
William who was 10 (born 1860), Alice who was eight, (born 1862), Dinah who was
six (born 1864), Harry who was four (born 1866), and George who was two years
old (1868-1872) who suffered an infant death during the following year. The older children had already left the
family home by then, and they were Anna (born 1850), John (born 1852), Eliza
(born 1855), and Emma (born 1857). By
1881 James Porter was 59 and he was living with his wife and their two youngest
surviving sons at 7 Bull’s Green in the village of Toft Monks in Norfolk, just
north of Beccles. Mary Ann was 52, and
both of their sons, William aged 20 and Harry at 14, were employed as
agricultural labourers, like their father
The couple was still living at 7 Bull’s Green
in Toft Monks in 1891 with their son Harry, when James was still employed as an
agricultural labourer. Mary Ann Porter
passed away during the last three months of 1893, while the couple was still at
Toft Monk, her death being registered at Loddon (Ref. 4b 150) at the age of 65. And it was at Toft Monks that Mary Ann was
buried on 21st December 1893.
James Porter continued to live there following the death of his wife,
and it was there also that he died on 11th May 1900 and was buried
at Toft Monks on 17th May 1900 when he was 78. His death was also recorded at Loddon
register office (Ref. 4b 143). His Will
was proved at Norwich on 8th June 1900 to William Maddle, a farmer,
for his personal effects estimated to be worth £137 11 Shillings and 11
Pence. Of the couple’s nine children,
two are of particular interest since they both married their Collett cousins,
and they are the couple’s fourth child Emma Porter, and their eighth child
Harry Porter, both as listed below. The
third child listed below is also of interest, but for a different reason. William Charles porter was the great
grandfather of Robert Porter who, in September 2010, generously provided a
great deal of new information about this particular Collett family, and that
shown at the start of Part 19
18P93 – Emma Porter was born in 1857 at
Ilketshall St Andrew
18P94 – William Charles Porter was born in 1860 at
Ilketshall St Andrew
18P95 – Harry Porter was born in 1867 at
Ringsfield
Susan
Collett [18O71] was
born at Mettingham on 6th July 1830, and was baptised there on 22nd
August 1830, the daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Collett. She was 10 years old in the Mettingham census
of 1841 when she was living there with her family. Ten years later in 1851 Susan was still
living with her parents when she was 20, but three years later she gave birth
to a base-born daughter, who was named in honour of her older sister Maria
Elizabeth (above) who had died when Susan was only four years old. Just over three years later at Mettingham, on
3rd October 1857, Susan Collett married Edward Mayes from Bungay,
the son of labourer Edward Mayes. Around
that time in her life, Susan was employed as a silk winder, while the marriage
resulted in the birth of a number of children for the couple. By 1861 the Mayes family was residing at Low
Road in Mettingham, when Edward Mayes was 42 and an agricultural, his wife Susan
Mayes was 31 and a silk winder, her daughter Maria E Mayes was seven – formerly
Maria Elizabeth Collett, Arthur Mayes was two years of age, and Eliza Mayes was
only nine months old. Completing the
family group was Mary Ann Collett aged 11 years and from Shipmeadow, who had
already finished her schooling and was working as another silk winder. Who she was, has still to be determined. Susan was made a widow during the next
decade, as confirmed by the completed census return for 1871. Having lost her husband Susan had fallen on
hard time and, with no occupation and five children to look after, she was an
inmate at the Shipmeadow Union Workhouse, where her youngest child had been
born. That fact possibly indicates
Edward Mayes died around 1869/70. Susan
Mayes was 40 and a widow, Arthur Mayes was 12, Eliza Mayes was
10, Emma Mayes was eight, Minnie Mayes was six, and William
Edgar Mayes was three months old
The family eventually managed to get away from
the Union Workhouse in Shipmeadow, with them living at Turnpike Lane in Bungay
by 1881. Susan Mayes was 50, her
occupation being that of a monthly nurse, when still living with her, were four
of her children. Arthur Mayes was an
iron moulder at 22, Emma Mayes was 18 and a printer’s gatherer, Marian E Mayes
was 16 and a silk winder, and William E Mayes was 10 years old and attending
school. After a further ten years, Susan
was again residing in Bungay but at Gas House Lane, where she was 60 and a sick
nurse. The only member of her family
still living with her, was her youngest child William Edgar Mayes who was 20
and a labourer. She was still working as
a monthly nurse in 1901 at the age of 70 at Popson Street in Bungay, while in
1911, she was an old age pensioner of 80 when she was living at Graves Lane in
Bungay, the home of her married daughter Eliza Raven, aged 50, who had been
married to Samuel Raven for 31 years, during which time she had given birth to
two children, with only one of them still alive. Within the next few months the death of Susan
Mayes was recorded at Wangford register office (Ref. 4a 525) during the second
quarter of 1911, at the age of 80
18P96 – Maria Elizabeth Collett was born in 1854 at
Mettingham
Robert
Collett [18O72] was
born at Mettingham on 5th December 1831 and it was there also that
he was baptised on 1st January 1832, the son of Henry and Elizabeth
Collett. Robert was nine years old, and
19 years old, in the two censuses carried out at Mettingham in 1841 and
1851. On both occasions he was living
there with his parents, and for the latter he was working as an agricultural
labourer. It was at Mettingham on 24th
May 1857 that Robert married (1) Eliza Barber who was born in 1836 at St
Michael South Elham, the daughter of Robert and Mary Ann Barber. Their wedding was recorded at Wangford (Ref.
4a 1069). By the time of the 1861
Census, the marriage had produced just one child for Robert and Eliza. The census record for Mettingham revealed
that Robert was 29 and an agricultural labourer, and that Eliza was 24, and that
they were living in Castle Road. Their
son Henry, who was born at Mettingham, was one year old and was later referred
to as Harry Collett in the census of 1871, and subsequent records
A second child for the couple was born at
Mettingham eight years after their first, but tragically Eliza died at
Mettingham shortly after on 16th December 1868, and was buried at
Mettingham on 20th December 1868 aged just 32. The death of Eliza Collett was recorded at
Loddon (Ref. 4a 156). It is therefore
conceivable, although not proved, that Robert and Eliza may have had other
children between 1859 and 1867 who did not survive. An obituary was printed in the East Suffolk
Gazette which said “COLLETT - On the 16th
December, at Mettingham, greatly lamented, aged 32, Eliza, the wife of Mr
Robert Collett, of Mettingham”. It
was nine months after the death of his wife that Robert married (2) Ellen
Beckett who was many years younger, having been born at nearby Bungay, where
she was baptised at St Mary’s Church on 23rd August 1846. They were married by banns at the Parish
Church of St Mary the Virgin in the village of Denton, to the west of Bungay,
on 14th September 1869. Robert
was a widower aged 36 who was an inn keeper of Mettingham, and the son of Henry
Collett a labourer, who signed the register with the mark of a cross. Ellen signed the register in her own hand, was
24 and a spinster of Earsham, the daughter of William Beckett a publican. The
record of that second marriage for Robert was recorded at Depwade (Ref. 4b 382). Ellen Beckett was the daughter of William
Beckett and his wife Susannah (Susan) Godbold and, in 1871 at Halesworth, Maria
Godbold from Beccles was 18 and the niece of cabinet market George Collett from
Newington in Surrey, who was working with her uncle as a cabinet maker’s
assistant. She had been baptised at
Beccles on 20th June 1852, the youngest daughter of William and Mary
Ann Godbold, who were living at Blyburgate in Beccles in 1861
Once married, the couple left Mettingham and
moved the one mile across the county boundary to the village of Broome in
Norfolk, just a short distance from Bungay, where Robert’s and Ellen’s first
three children were born. The move to
Broome was the result of Robert taking over the beer house in Broome. According to the 1871 Census, Robert Collett
from Mettingham was 38 and a beer seller, whose wife was Ellen Collett from
Bungay who was 25. At that time, they
were listed as living at the Beer House in Broome within the Loddon
registration district with their four children, Harry who was 11, Alice who was
three, Clara who was two, and new arrival Elizabeth who was not yet one year
old. A new job opportunity arose in 1872
which resulted in another family move, on that occasion to the adjoining
village of Ditchingham, just to the north of Bungay, where Robert took over the
running of the Black Horse Inn. It was
at Ditchingham that they were living when their next four children were
born. And the family was still there in
the spring of 1881. The census recorded
that Robert was 47 and of Mettingham and was working as a beer retailer at the
Black Horse Inn on the Loddon Road in Ditchingham
His wife was Ellen, aged 36 from Bungay, and
their eight children were Alice who was 13, Clara who was 12, Elizabeth who was
10, Horace who was nine, Florence who was eight, Kate who was seven, Robert who
was six, and daughter Jessie who was three years old. The two oldest girls were listed as silk
winders, although Clara was also listed as still being at school so was
probably a part-time silk winder. Robert
and Ellen added to their family in the 1880s with two more children, the first
of which was born at Ditchingham, while the later arrival was born after the
family had moved back to Broome, where Robert resumed work as an agricultural
labourer. And it was from that time
onwards that the family lived at Yarmouth Road in Broome. According to the census of 1891 the family
was recorded as Robert of Mettingham aged 57, an agricultural labourer, his
wife Ellen (the first time in her life that she was recorded as Eleanor Collett)
from Bungay was 45, while the five children still living with them were Ellen E
Collett who was 20 and Robert Collett who was 16, Jessie Collett who was 13,
Arthur Collett who was seven and Sidney W Collett who was two years of age. All of the children were simply recorded as
having been in Norfolk. On that day,
Robert and Ellen’s daughter Florence had already left the family home, and was
preparing for her marriage to Henry Bird, with whom she had three children
before 1901. Tragically, just over two
years after the day of the census in 1891, Robert and Ellen’s daughter Ellen
Elizabeth Collett died at Broome on 2nd August 1893 at the age of
23. Four years later, Robert and Ellen
were still living in Broome, when Robert Collett died at Yarmouth Road near the
end of September 1897, at the age of 64, and was buried at Broome on 1st
October 1897. His death was recorded at
Loddon register office (Ref. 4b 149)
By the time of the census in 1901, Ellen
Collett was widow at the age of 54. At
that time, all of her children, with the exception of the two youngest, had
left the family home. The census for
Broome listed the family as Ellen Collett from Bungay 56, and her sons Arthur
Collett 17 and from Ditchingham, and Sidney who was 12 and from Broome. Curiously her sons’ ages did not correspond
with their ages in 1891. The family also
had living with them at that time, Ellen’s granddaughter Ellen Bird aged three
years, who was also born at Broome and who was the youngest of the three
children of Ellen’s daughter Florence Collett and her husband Henry Bird. Rather oddly though, in 1901 Florence Bird of
Broome was aged 29 and was recorded as living in the London Borough of West Ham
with her ‘brother-in-law’ George Bird of Ditchingham aged 31 who was a
carpenter’s labourer. Ten years later
Florence and George Bird had five children and were living in Lambeth. By April 1911, Ellen Collett of Bungay was 64
and was no longer living in Broome, but instead, was living in the Ipswich area
of Suffolk with her three unmarried sons and a grandson. They were Horace Collett, Arthur Collett,
Sidney Collett, and Harold Elden who was 16 and born at Broome, the son of
Clara Elizabeth Elden, nee Collett, her eldest child who already had a large
family and was expecting the birth of her last child. The census return also stated that Ellen had
given birth to ten children, only four of whom were still alive in 1911. It was many years later, that the death of
Eleanor Collett was recorded at Ipswich register office (Ref. 4a 1170) during
the last three months of 1933, when she was 87 years old
18P97 – Albert Collett was born in 1857 at
Mettingham
18P98 – Henry Collett was born in 1859 at
Mettingham
18P99 – Alice Collett was born in 1867 at
Mettingham
The children of Robert Collett and his second
wife Ellen Beckett:
18P100 – Clara Elizabeth Collett was born in 1869 at
Broome, Norfolk
18P101 – Ellen Elizabeth Collett was born in 1870 at
Broome, Norfolk
18P102 – Horace Collett was born in 1871 at
Broome, Norfolk
18P103 – Florence Collett was born in 1873 at
Ditchingham, Norfolk
18P104 – Kate Collett was born in 1874 at
Ditchingham, Norfolk
18P105 – Robert Collett was born in 1876 at
Ditchingham, Norfolk
18P106 – Jessie L Collett was born in 1877 at
Ditchingham, Norfolk
18P107 – Arthur Collett was born in 1883 at
Ditchingham, Norfolk
18P108 – Sidney W Collett was born in 1888 at
Broome, Norfolk
Christopher
Collett [18O73] was
born at Mettingham in 1836 and was baptised there on 25th February
1836, the son of Henry and Elizabeth Collett.
It was at Mettingham where his parents are known to have lived for part
of their life together and where Christopher was recorded as being 15 in 1851. He married Lucy Sones at Chediston, near
Halesworth on 16th October 1858, where she had been baptised on 6th
August 1837, the daughter of labourer Thomas Sones and his wife Myra. The wedding of Christopher Collett and Lucy Sones
was recorded at Blything (Ref. 4a 1513), the birth of Lucy Sones recorded at
Blything (Ref. xiii 273) during the third quarter 1837. It was during the year following their
wedding day that Lucy presented Christopher with their first child, who was
born at Mettingham. By the time of the
census in 1861, the family of three was living by The Green in Chediston, where
Christopher Collett, aged 25, was working as an agricultural labourer, Lucy Collett
was 23, and their son George Collett was one year old. Curiously, the three of them were lodgers at the
home of Thomas and Mary Sones, although Lucy was not described as their
daughter, nor Christopher and their son-in-law.
During the following year the couple’s second child was born while the
family was still living at Chediston, before the family made a more permanent
move to Wrentham, four miles north of Southwold
Four of Christopher’s and Lucy’s remaining five
children were all born while the family was living at Wrentham. According to the census in 1871, the family
was living at Cuckholds Green in Wrentham and comprised Christopher Collett,
aged 34 and from Mettingham, who was an agricultural labourer, his wife Lucy
Collett, who was 33 and from Chediston, and with them were their five
children. The three oldest children, who
were all attending the village school, were George Collett, aged 11 who was
born at Mettingham, Ann L Collett, who was nine and born at Chediston, and
Frederick C Collett, who was four and born at Wrentham. The two younger Wrentham born children were
Walter H Collett who was two, and Alfred Collett who was one year old. One more child was born to the Christopher
and Lucy while they were still living at Wrentham, but shortly after, around
1873, a major family move took place which resulted in them leaving Suffolk and
heading north to Lancashire. It was at
Winton, in Eccles, where Christopher and Lucy set up their new home, and it was
there also that their final child was born in 1874. Less than two years later the first of three
tragedies hit the family with the death of their son Walter Harry, whose death
was reported to the registrar at Barton-upon-Irwell, which today is a district
within the town on Eccles
It was in the next census in 1881 that the
family was confirmed as living at 33 King Street in Barton-upon-Irwell. Christopher Collett from Mettingham was 44
and was working as a farm labourer. Lucy
Collett from Chediston was 42, and the children still living in the family home
with them were Catherine Collett 19 of Chediston, Fred C Collett 14, Alfred
Collett 11, Henry Collett who was eight, and Walter Collett who was six years
old. The youngest son was confirmed as
having been born at Winton in Lancashire, but the place of birth of his three
older brothers was incorrectly recorded as Rendham in Suffolk, rather than
Wrentham. It was at the end of the
following year that Christopher Collett, aged 44, died at Barton-upon-Irwell,
his death being recorded at Barton register office (Ref. 8c 381) during the
last quarter of 1882. At some time in
his life, in addition to being an agricultural labourer, Christopher also
worked as a coachman. The third tragedy
to strike the family was the likely death of son Alfred, for whom there is no
record after 1881. Nearly six years
after the death of her husband, the widow Lucy Collett married Samuel Bower,
54-year-old son of William Bower, at Christ Church in Patricroft, Lancashire on
4th August 1888, the event recorded at Barton-upon-Irwell (Ref. 8c
840). Samuel was a general labourer and
was born at Wilmslow in Cheshire in 1834.
By the time of the census in 1891, Samuel, aged 56, and Lucy, aged 52,
were residing at 9 Elizabeth Street in Barton-upon-Irwell, with just Lucy’s
youngest son William Collett, aged 16, still living with her, while her two
unmarried sons, Christopher (Frederick) and Henry, were living nearby
Barton-upon-Irwell
It was a similar situation in 1901 except that
by Samuel and Lucy were listed as living at 23 Ellesmere Street in Eccles,
where general labourer Samuel Bower from Wilmslow was 66, and his wife was Lucy
Bower from Chediston in Suffolk, who was 61.
Lucy Bower, formerly Lucy Collett nee Sones, died ten years later during
the first three months of 1911, with her death recorded at Barton-upon-Irwell
register office (Ref. 8c 413), when she was 72.
Just after she passed away, Samuel was recorded in the census of 1911
living at 5 Byron Street in Patricroft, the home of William Collett and his
wife Eda, his late wife’s youngest son Walter William Collett
18P109 – George Collett was born in 1859 at
Mettingham
18P110 – Ann Catherine Collett was born in 1862 at
Chediston
18P111 – Frederick Christopher Collett was born in 1866 at
Wrentham
18P112 – Walter Henry Collett was born in 1869 at
Wrentham
18P113 – Alfred Collett was born in 1870 at
Wrentham
18P114 – Henry Collett was born in 1872 at
Wrentham
18P115 – Walter William Collett was born in 1874 at
Winton, Eccles
Charles
Collett [18O74] was
born at Earsham, near Bungay, around six to seven months after his parents were
married there. He was baptised at All Sant’s Church in Earsham
on 8th June 1828,
the only known son of Samuel Collett, a labourer, and his wife Marianne Read. In 1841, when he was 13, Charles was still
living with his parents at Earsham, although he had left the family home there
by 1851, when he was 22 and living and working as a domestic groom, just six
miles away at Loddon, at the home of elderly couple George and Mary Kett. Two years after that Charles Collett aged 24
married Ellen Rix aged 26 at All Saints’ Church in Norwich on 9th
May 1853 and recorded at Norwich (Ref. 4b 195).
Charles was a servant and the son of labourer Samuel Collett, Ellen was
the daughter of George Rix, another labourer, while the witnesses were James
and Sarah Dickenson. Ellen was born on 8th August 1827
and was baptised at Brooke, six
miles south-east of Norwich on 6th September 1827, the daughter
of farmer and carter George Rix and Maria Harvey
Their first child was born at Brooke, near
Loddon, with further children added to the family over the following years, the
second and third being born at Hampstead in London, the next being born after
the family had returned to Brooke, with the last two being born following the
family’s move to Norwich. At the time of
the census in 1861 Charles and Ellen and their young family were living in
Hampstead in London, where Charles aged 32 and from Earsham was employed as one of nine servants at The Hill
in Hampstead, the home of the very large Hoare family of John Gurney Hoare
(1810-1875) and his wife Carolyn. There
is a plaque on the house today, to acknowledge that John Gurney Hoare was the
prime mover in the battle to save Hampstead Heath from development
Living
nearby to where Charles was working was his wife and their first three
children. It was at Heath Street, the
A502 in Hampstead, within the London Borough of Camden that Ellen Collett from
Brooke was 33, when her three children were Alfred Collett from Brooke who was
six, Charles Collett who was three, and Henry Collett whose age was recorded in
days, both born at Hampstead
Sadly,
either during, or not long after, the birth of their last child in mid-February
1869, Ellen Collett died in 1869. That
situation was confirmed in the next census in 1871, when Charles Collett
from Earsham was 42 and a
widower who was living with his six children in the Parish of St
Margaret in Norwich. His children were
recorded as Alfred Collett aged 17 from Brooke, Charles Collett aged 14 from
London, Henry Collett aged 10 from London, Herbert Collett who was seven and
born at Brooke, George Collett who was four, and Eliza Collett who was two,
both born after the family settled in Norwich
Interestingly,
it was around four months earlier, when the death of Maria Collett was recorded
at Norwich (Ref. 4b 129) during the last quarter of 1870, although her age was
38. That would also coincide with the
later baptism of Charles’ daughter Eliza who was twenty-eight months old when
she was baptised in Norwich on 25th June 1871, with the baptism
record stating that her parents were Charles Collett, a messenger, and Maria
Collett. It is known that, as the only
daughter of Charles Collett, Eliza was taken into the family of John and Susan
Waites, with whom she was living in 1881.
On that same day, Charles’ youngest son George had left school and was a
servant at the Norwich home of an elderly couple
So, having lost his wife, Charles’ family was
broken up, with just two of his five sons still living with him in 1881. At that time in their lives, the three of
them were working as agricultural labourers who were lodging at the Jolly
Butchers Inn on Ber Street in Norwich. Charles
Collett senior was 52 and from Earsham, Charles junior from London was 21,
while Herbert was 16 and,
although born at Brooke, his confused father gave his place of birth as Hampstead. So far, Charles’ son Harry Edward Collett has not been located after
1871. It is also established that
Charles Collett senior died during
the month of December 1883, with his death recorded at Norwich (Ref. 4b 91)
during the first three months of the following year when he was 55 years of
age. It was in the grounds of the Church
of St Andrew in the Eaton district
of Norwich that Charles Collett was buried on 7th January
1884. He was followed a year later by
his fourth son, Herbert who died in Norwich during 1885. That leaves unanswered questions regarding
Charles’ two youngest children, George and Eliza, who were placed with other
families sometime after 1871, whilst his two eldest sons were married during
the 1880s
18P116 – Alfred Ernest Collett was born in 1854 at
Brooke, near Loddon
18P117 – Charles George Collett was born in 1858 at
Hampstead, London
18P118 – Harry Edward Collett was born in 1861 at Hampstead, London
18P119 – Herbert Albert Collett was born in 1863 at
Brooke, near Loddon
18P120 – George Collett was born in 1866 at
Norwich
18P121 – Eliza Collett was born in 1869 at Norwich
Benjamin
Anthony Collett [18O75] may have been born at Fressingfield, but was baptised at
nearby Cratfield. He was born on 31st
August 1824, just six months after his parents were married at Fressingfield,
and was baptised at Cratfield on 22nd September 1824, less than a
month after he was born. He was the
eldest son of Benjamin Collett and Bertha Philpot, but sadly around the time he
was ten years old his mother died, possibly during the birth of his brother
Isaac (below). He was nearly 16
years old when his father remarried and by the time of the first national
census at Fressingfield in June 1841 Benjamin was 17. Just over two years later Benjamin married
Sarah Ann Spalding at Fressingfield on 26th December 1843. Sarah Ann Spalding was born at Earl Soham in
1819, where she was baptised on 14th July 1819, the daughter of
James Spalding and Hannah Rose, making her four years older than Benjamin. One year before they were married Sarah gave
birth to a base-born child Sarah Ann Spalding who was born at Fressingfield, where
she was baptised on 23rd December 1842, the child of Sarah Ann
Spalding. Young Sarah may, or may not,
have been fathered by Benjamin Collett, but once married she too adopted the
Collett name. During the remaining years
of that decade the couple had a further six children, although only two of them
survived and were living with Benjamin and Sarah at Fressingfield by the time
of the census in 1851
The census return that year listed the family
living in New Street in Fressingfield as sawyer Benjamin Collett, who was 28,
his wife Sarah Ann Collett, who was 31 and from Earl Soham, their daughter
Sarah A Collett, who was eight, and their son Harry Collett who was not yet one
year old, both of them born at Fressingfield.
Also living nearby in New Street was Benjamin’s father Benjamin Collett
with his second wife Sarah Collett nee Vincent.
During the 1850s Sarah presented Benjamin with three more children as
confirmed in the Fressingfield census of 1861.
The census return listed Benjamin Collett, aged 37, and Sarah Collett,
aged 40, with their three most recent children, Jane who was seven, Keziah who
was four, and Anthony who was two years old.
All of them having been born at Fressingfield. Their eldest daughter Sarah would have been
eighteen years old and may have already been married to William Brundish by
that time. The photograph below, taken
on glass and damaged over time, shows the ‘1861 family’ of Keziah, Benjamin,
Sarah holding Anthony, and Jane, just prior to Benjamin’s death. The group is standing outside a house that is
today the Fox & Goose public house in Fressingfield
What happened to the family during the next
decade is not known for sure, but around 1875 Sarah left Fressingfield, when
she moved to Kent to be with her daughter Sarah Ann Collett (formerly Spalding)
who was the wife of William Brundish of Fressingfield by then. Sarah Ann Collett and William Brundish were
married around 1863 and their first five children had been born while they were
still in Suffolk, while two further children were born after the family had
moved to Erith in Kent. According to the
1881 Census Sarah Collett of Fressingfield, aged 62, was a washerwoman and
mother-in-law to head of the household William Brundish, a general labourer who
was 39. At that time, he and his wife
and family were living at 25 Bottle Road in Erith. Eight years after that census day, the death
of Sarah Collett was recorded at Dartford in Kent (Ref. 2a 252) during the last
three months of 1889, when she was 69 years old. She was subsequently buried at Erith on 12th
November 1889, the burial record stated she had been living at Belvedere in
Erith
18P122 – Sarah Ann Collett (formerly Spalding)
was born in 1842 at Fressingfield
18P123 – Samuel Collett was born in 1844 at
Fressingfield
18P124 – Jane Collett was born in 1845 at
Fressingfield
18P125 – Sam Collett was born in 1846 at
Fressingfield
18P126 – Matilda Collett was born in 1847 at
Fressingfield
18P127 – Edward Collett was born in 1849 at
Fressingfield
18P128 – Harry James Collett was born in 1850 at
Fressingfield
18P129 – Jane Collett was born in 1852 at
Fressingfield
18P130 – Keziah Collett was born in 1856 at
Fressingfield
18P131 – Anthony Harry Collett was born in 1858 at
Fressingfield
18P132 – William Collett was born in 186244 at
Fressingfield
William
Collett [18O76] was
born at Fressingfield in 1826, where he was baptised on 12th October
1826, the second son of Benjamin and Bertha Collett. At the time of the census in 1841 William was
15 and was still living with his family at Fressingfield, by which time his
father Benjamin was then married to Sarah, following the death of William’s
mother in 1834. William was a soldier in
the army and it is established that he married Ann Vernon from Ravenglass in
Cumberland around 1847, their wedding recorded at Whitehaven (Ref. xxv 202), following
which the couple lived in Ireland for the first three years of their life. In the spring of 1851, William Collett, aged
24, was a private with the 4th Dragoon Guards based at Brecon
Barracks. His family was billeted at
Brecon St Mary, where his wife Ann, aged 21, was living with the couple’s first
two children, Henry Collett who was two, and Bethiah Collett who was one year
old
Ann may have been expecting the couple’s third
child on the day of the census in 1851 and, by the time it was born, the family
was living at Dartmoor in Devon. Two
further children were added to the family during the following six years, the
first born at Fressingfield and the last at Whitehaven. And it was at Scotch Street in St Bees near
Whitehaven that the family was living at the time of the census in 1861. By that time William Collett from
Fressingfield had retired from the army, when he was described as an outdoor
Chelsea Pensioner at the age of 34. His
wife Ann was 31 and from Ravenglass, and completing the family were their five
children and Ann’s elderly mother Ann Vernon who was 64. The five children were Henry Collett who was
12, Bethia Ann Collett who was 10, both born in Ireland, John Collett who was
nine and born at Dartmoor, William Collett who was five and born at
Fressingfield, and Elizabeth Collett who was three years old and had been born
at Whitehaven. It was sometime during
the next decade that William Collett died, perhaps from an injury sustained
while he was in the guards. According to
the census return for 1871 his widow and four of his five children were living
at 103 Scotch Street, a lodging house in St Bees. Ann Collett, at 41 was a housekeeper, and the
children with her on that occasion were, Bethia Ann Collett who was 21, John
Collett who was 19, William Collett who was 15, and Elizabeth Collett who was
13
Ten years later in 1881, the widow Ann Collett
from Ravenglass was 52 and was a laundress living at 41 Hawke Street in
Barrow-in-Furness. The only one of her
children still living with her by then, was her son William Collett who was 25
and who had been born at Fressingfield, like his late father. Four other people were listed at the address,
and the first of these was Ann’s grandson William Collett who was five and who
had been born at Berwick-on-Tweed. It
has been assumed that he was the son of William Collett whose wife, and the
mother of son William, had died possibly during a subsequent childbirth. Three of the other four children of Ann were
married by then, although no record married daughter Bertha, or bachelor son
John, has been located in the census at that time. The other three people residing at 41 Hawke
Street in 1881 were all boarders, and they were Job Roberts aged 45 from
Liverpool, Charles Littlewood aged 27 from Crewe, both of them boiler makers,
and 21-year-old Agnes Irving a jute weaver from Ireland. It was during the last three of that same year
when the death of Ann Collett was recorded at Barrow-in-Furness (Ref. 8e 517)
at the age of 52
18P133 – Henry Collett was born in 1848 at
County Mayo, Ireland
18P134 – Bethia Ann Collett was born in 1850 at
Mullingar, Ireland
18P135 – John Collett was born in 1851 at
Dartmoor, Devon
18P136 – William Collett was born in 1855 at
Fressingfield
18P137 – Elizabeth Collett was born in 1857 at
Whitehaven, Cumberland (Cumbria)
John
Collett [18O77] was
born at Fressingfield on 19th May 1828, and was baptised there on 26th
May 1828, the third son of Benjamin Collett and Bertha Philpot. Tragically he died almost immediately after
his baptism and was buried at Fressingfield on 31st May 1828 at the
age of just twelve days
Charles
Collett [18O78] was
born at Fressingfield in 1829 and it was there that he was baptised on 2nd
August 1829, the fourth son of Benjamin Collett and Bertha Philpot. Like his brother John (above), Charles
also died very young, when he was buried at Fressingfield on 14th
August 1831, and was followed by his mother who was buried there in 1834
Keziah
Collett [18O79] was
born at Fressingfield in 1832 with her birth recorded at Hoxne (Ref. 4a 350),
following which she was baptised at Fressingfield on 12th August
1832. The baptism record confirmed that
her parents were Benjamin and Bertha Collett.
According to the Fressingfield census in 1841, Keziah Collett was eight
years old when she was living there with her father and his second wife
Sarah. According to the census in 1851
Keziah Collett of Fressingfield was 18 years old and was living and working in
the South Ockendon & Orsett area of Essex. Although unlike her brother John
and Charles (above) who died in infancy, Keziah Collett did reach
adulthood before she died in 1854, when she was buried at Fressingfield on 3rd
December 1854 at the age of 22
Elizabeth
Collett [18O80] was
born at Fressingfield in 1833. According
to the Fressingfield census in 1841, Elizabeth was seven years old when she was
living there with her parents Benjamin and Bertha Collett, her brother Isaac (below),
and her two half-brothers Charles and George (below)
Isaac
Collett [18O81] was
born at Fressingfield in 1834 the same year that his mother Bertha died. The birth of Isaac Collett was recorded at
Hoxne (Ref. 4a 337) and the fact that no baptism record for Isaac has been
found may indicate that his father Benjamin took the death of his wife badly
and could not bring himself to baptise the child, which he may have blamed for
the death of Bertha. By the time of the
Fressingfield census in 1841 Isaac was six years old and was living with his
father, who by then had remarried, his sister Elizabeth (above), and his
two half-brothers Charles and George (below). Ten years after that Isaac was recorded as
being 15, by which time he had moved out of his father’s house and had started
work, while still living nearby in Fressingfield. Isaac Collett died at Fressingfield during
the first week of 1852, where he was buried on 9th January 1852,
aged just 16
Charles
Collett [18O82] was
born at Fressingfield in 1839, his birth recorded at Hoxne (Ref. xiii
441). He was baptised at Fressingfield
on 26th April 1840, when the record of his baptism confirmed that he
was the son of Benjamin Collett and his second wife Sarah Vincent. They were married at Fressingfield on 21st
May 1839, making Charles their first child.
It was the Fressingfield census in June 1841 that placed Charles’ birth
towards the end of 1839, when his age was stated as being two years old, the
argument being that had he been born during the first four months of 1840 he
would have only been one year old. For
the next census in 1851 Charles Collett was 11 years old which would fix his
birth around the end of 1839 or very early in 1840. At that time, he was living at New Street in
Fressingfield with his parents and his two younger siblings George and Sarah (below). On leaving school he took up working on the
land, but by the time of the census in 1861, at the age of 21, Charles Collett
from Fressingfield was a gunner in the Royal Artillery and was base at Fort
Monkton in Alverstoke in Hampshire. No
later record of Charles has been discovered, which might indicate that he was
killed in action
George
Collett [18O83] was
born at Fressingfield where he was baptised on 18th April 1841, when
his parents were confirmed as Benjamin and Sarah Collett. His birth was recorded at Hoxne (Ref. xiii
436) during the first quarter of 1841 and, according to the June census that
year, he was three months old, meaning that he was born during March that
year. He was 10 years old in the census
of 1851 when he was living with his family at New Street in Fressingfield. Shortly after the start of the next decade, the
marriage of George Collett and Harriet Cracknell took place at Fressingfield on
13th November 1860 and was recorded at Hoxne (Ref. 4a 1137). Harriet was the daughter of labourer Benjamin
Cracknell and his wife Mary, and was born at Saxtead when her birth was
recorded at Hoxne (Ref. xiii 1129) just after the start of 1842. It was also at Saxtead that she was baptised
on 8th February 1842. Four
months after their wedding day, and at the aged 20, agricultural labourer George
was confirmed as a married man and head of the household at Fressingfield. Living there with him was his wife Harriet
Collett who was 19 and from Saxtead, and George’s parents Benjamin Collett who
was 61 and Sarah Collett who was 56. Over
the following eighteen years the marriage produced nine children for George and
Harriet, with all of them born at Fressingfield. The Fressingfield census of 1871 listed the
family as George Collett was 30 and still working as an agricultural labour, his
Saxtead born wife Harriet who was 29, and their children Harry Collett who was
eight, Mary Ann Collett who was six, Benjamin Collett who was five, Keziah
Collett who was two, and George Collett junior who was under one year old
During the next decade more children were added
to the family, which also had to suffer the tragic loss of eldest daughter Mary
Ann and son William. And it was at
Fressingfield that the family was still living ten years later in 1881. Their place of residence was listed as Catchpool Gardens where agricultural labourer George
was 40, the same age as his wife Harriet.
The only children that were missing that day were the two eldest sons
who had left home to seek work elsewhere.
The remaining children still living at the address were Benjamin who was
15, Keziah who was 12, George who was 10, Esau who was six, William who was
five, and Sarah who was two years old, the only one not attending school. Son Benjamin had left school and was employed
was as an agricultural labourer like his father. Later that same year, in 1881, the family
moved the three miles east to Cratfield where, towards the end of the year, son
James was born. Another move quickly
followed, since by the time of the birth of their ninth and last child, George
and Harriet were living at Cratfield around the mid-1880s. However, by the
time of the next census in 1891, George and Harriet and some of their family
were recorded living at St Cross South Elmham near Harleston, within the
Wangford & Bungay registration district of north Suffolk. George and Harriet were both 50, while living
with them were William 15, Sarah 12, James who was nine, and May who was five
years old
According to the 1901 Census, George Collett,
aged 60, was a stockman on a farm at Pixey Green near Stradbroke. Living with him was his wife Harriet also 60
who gave her place of birth as Saxtead.
The only members of the family still living with them were three of
their youngest four children. They were William Collett, aged 25 and a non-domestic groom, Sarah
Collett, aged 22 and a domestic housemaid, and James Collett, aged 19 who was
an ordinary farm labourer. The couple’s
youngest child, May Collett, was 15 and was a general domestic servant living
and working with a family at Fressingfield-cum-Withersdale. Her place of birth was confirmed as being
Cratfield. Ten years later George
Collett was 70 and Harriet his wife was 69, and at that time the couple was
still living at Stradbroke, although no other member of the family was living
with them by then. George Collett survived
for another thirteen years after that day, when his death was recorded at
Hartismere register office (Ref. 4a 879) in Suffolk during the second quarter
of 1924 when he was 83. It was ten years
after being widowed that the death of Harriet Collett was recorded at
Hartismere (Ref. 4a 1046) during the last three months of 1934, at the age of
93
18P138 – Henry Collett was born in 1862 at
Fressingfield
18P139 – Mary Ann Collett was born in 1864 at
Fressingfield
18P140 – Benjamin Collett was born in 1866 at
Fressingfield
18P141 – Keziah Collett was born in 1868 at Fressingfield
18P142 – George Collett was born in 1870 at
Fressingfield
18P143 – William Collett was born in 1872 at
Fressingfield
18P144 – Esau Collett was born in 1874 at
Fressingfield
18P145 – William Collett was born in 1875 at
Fressingfield
18P146 – Sarah Collett was born in 1878 at
Fressingfield
18P147 – James George Collett was born in 1881 at
Cratfield
18P148 – May Collett was born in 1885 at Cratfield
Sarah
Anne Collett [18O84] was
born at Fressingfield in 1843, the youngest child of Benjamin Collett and Sarah
Vincent, and was baptised there on 9th July 1843, being birth having
been recorded at Hoxne (Ref. xiii 462).
At the time of the census in 1851 Sarah was seven years old when she was
living at New Street in Fressingfield with her parents and older brothers
Charles and George (above). She
was eight years old when she died at Fressingfield, where she was buried on 7th
September 1851
Sarah
Collett [18O85] was
born at Ilketshall St Andrew in 1826, and may have been the eldest child of
John Collett of Fressingfield and Catherine Baldwin of St James South
Elmham. However, no record of her
baptism has been found, nor was she recorded with her family at Ilketshall St
Andrew in the census of 1841. Sarah Collett of Ilketshall St Andrew was 26 in the census of 1851, when
she was living and working at Henstead near Kessingland. Towards the end of the next decade, Sarah
took up employment as housekeeper to widower Nathan Rumsby and his four young
children at their home in Broad Street in Bungay. That would have taken place around 1858 when
Nathan Rumsby’s wife had passed away.
That situation was confirmed by the census in 1861 in which Sarah
Collett from (Ilketshall) St Andrew was unmarried at the age of 34 and was
working as a housekeeper for 31-year-old Nathan Rumsby, a fitter in Smith’s
shop, and his four children aged two to eight years. Also listed in the same census, as a visitor
at the same address, was Catherine Collett from St James (South Elmham), a
labourer’s wife aged 56, who was the mother of Sarah Collett. With no record of Sarah Collett found after
that time, it may be assumed that she was married during the 1860s
John Collett [18O86] was
born at Ilketshall St Andrew on 1st January 1829, where he was
baptised on 22nd February 1829, the eldest son of John Collett and
Catherine Baldwin. At the time of the
first national census in June 1841, John was 12 years old and was living with
his family at Ilketshall St Andrew. A
few years later he left school, having obtained his School Certificate. He joined the army at Halesworth when he was
seventeen years and nine months. He was
initially with the 16th Regiment, but later transferred to the 54th
Regiment. John spent a total of twenty
years and two days with the army, of which eight years and eight months was
spent in India. The records also confirm
that he held the rank of a private with the 54th Regiment. He married (1) Mary Penney on 8th
April 1857 at Stoke Damerel, a parish in Devonport, where their wedding was
recorded (Ref. 5b 527). Within a few
years the couple was living in India, where their two daughters were born. The first child was born at Cawnpore, and the
second one at Maradabad in Calcutta.
Within two years of the birth of their second child the family was
extended by the addition of a son, who was also born while John and Mary were
still living in Calcutta. John finally
retired from the army in May 1873 and was the recipient of the Indian Mutiny
Medal and Good Conduct Medal. He also
received two good conduct awards from the army
Upon
leaving the army John and Mary returned to Ilketshall St Andrew, where he took
up work as a labourer. Sadly, Mary
Collett nee Penney died during the first week of April in 1874 from cancer of
the womb, her death recorded at Wangford (Ref. 4a 455). It was on 7th April 1874 that Mary
was buried at Ilketshall St Lawrence at the age of 40. Presented with being a widower with three
young children to support, in addition for the need to keep working, John
placed his three children with the family of his younger married brother
William Collett (below). Not long
after the passing of his wife, John met and married (2) Charlotte Mary Carver
on 23rd July 1875, their wedding recorded at Wangford (Ref. 4a 935). Charlotte was the daughter of John and
Charlotte Carver, and was ten years younger than John and had been born on 13th
January 1840 at Homersfield, which lies between Harleston and Bungay, and was
baptised at Attleburgh on 14th January 1840. Tragically, the marriage lasted only six
weeks when John Collett died from a stroke on 5th September
1875. His death certificate incorrectly
gave his age as 43, whereas he was actually 46 years old on the first of
January that year. Following his passing,
John Collett was buried that same day with his first wife Mary in the
churchyard at Ilketshall St Lawrence, on the outskirts of Ilketshall St
Andrew. The burial record gave his age
as 42
In the eighteen months after the death of her
husband, John’s widow had a liaison with another man which resulted in the
birth of a base-born daughter for Charlotte, almost two years after John
Collett had died. The child was baptised
at Ilketshall St Andrew in August 1877, when she was described as the
illegitimate child of Charlotte Collett.
It was perhaps for that reason that Charlotte then gave up the child,
when she passed her daughter into the care of farm labourer William Howlett,
with whose family the child was living in 1881.
By that time, the widow Charlotte Collett, aged 41 and from Homersfield,
had left Ilketshall St Andrew and was working twenty-five miles away, as a cook
at the home of farmer John Read at Gosling Hall Farm in Debenham, between
Stowmarket and Framlingham. However,
during the next decade Charlotte returned to Ilketshall St Andrew where she met
Frederick Barber, whose wife had recently died.
Frederick was born at Bungay in 1845 and was therefore five years
younger than Charlotte Collett. Perhaps
it was more to help look after his six children that Charlotte married
Frederick, and by 1891 the couple was still living at Ilketshall St Andrew
Charlotte Barber was 51, Frederick was 46 and
an agricultural labourer, and only three of his six children were still living
with their father and stepmother. They
were Rosa Barber aged 19 and a general servant, William Barber who was 12, and Charles
Barber who was 11. It was a similar
situation in 1901, except by then, Frederick’s daughter had left, presumably to
be married, with the remainder of the family residing on the High Street in
Ilketshall St Margaret. The census that
year revealed that Frederick from Bungay was 56, Charlotte from Homersfield was
60, William was 21 and from Ilketshall St Lawrence, and Charles was 20 from
Ilketshall St Andrew, both men agricultural labourers like their father. By April 1911, the census that year confirmed
exactly the same situation. Still living
at Ilketshall St Andrew was Charlotte Barber, aged 71, together with Frederick
Barber, aged 66, and his son Charles Barber who was unmarried and 30 by
then. John Collett’s two daughters from
his first marriage, Elizabeth and Sarah, were both living and working in London
by that time, see their separate entries for more details. Only his son John was still living with his
brother’s family at that time. Nearly four
years later the death of Charlotte Barber was recorded at Wangford register
office (Ref. 4a 1709) during the first three months of 1915, when she was 76,
where the death of Frederick Barber’s passing was recorded during the last
three months of 1919 (Ref. 4a 1125) at the age of 74
18P149 – Elizabeth Collett was born in 1861 at
Cawnpore, India
18P150 – Sarah Collett was born in 1862 at Maradabad,
India
18P151 – John Christian George Collett was born in 1864 at Fort
William (Calcutta), India
The base-born child of Charlotte
Collett nee Carver, the widow of John Collett:
18P152 – Harriet Collett was born in 1877 at
Ilketshall St Andrew
Charles
Collett [18O87] was
born at Ilketshall St Andrew on 19th March 1831, and was baptised
there on 24th April 1831, the second of the four sons of John and
Catherine Collett. In 1841 Charles
Collett, aged nine years, was living with his family at Ilketshall St Andrew,
and he was still living there with his family ten years later in 1851, when he
was 19. It was on 31st August
1857 at Carlton Colville, near Pakefield, that the marriage by banns of Charles
Collett and Mary Ann Ellis took place and was recorded Mutford (Ref. 4a 995). Both were of full age, not previously married,
and were residing in Carlton Colville, where Charles was a labourer and the son
of labourer John Collett, while Mary was recorded as the daughter of John Ellis,
which we know she was not. In fact, Mary
Ann Ellis was born on 23rd October 1825 at Thurlton in Norfolk,
between Beecles and Great Yarmouth, where she was baptised on 13th
November 1825, the base-born daughter of Charlotte Ellis. It was at Reedham, on the River Yare, that
the couple initially settled, and it was there that their first son was born
and baptised in 1858, after which the family moved to Oulton where they were
living in 1861. It was also at Oulton
where their second son was born three years later. The census return for 1861 recorded the
family as agricultural labourer Charles Collett aged 30 from Ilketshall St
Andrew, his wife Mary who was 34 and from Thurlton, and their Oulton born son
George who was three years old. Visiting
the family that day was Mary’s mother Charlotte Ellis who was 60 and from
Beccles who, curious was described as a widow.
Also living nearby in Oulton was Charles’ younger brother Robert Collett
(below). During the previous year,
Charles Collett at the age of 31 was baptised at Oulton on 10th June
1860, and that event may have coincided with a change in his religious
beliefs. It has also been noted that his
eldest son was baptised for a second time at Oulton in 1864 in a joint ceremony
with his younger brother, again perhaps indicating a change of faith
By early April in 1871, Charles and Mary were
recorded with their two sons in the census for Gorleston living at 4 Common
Lane in Southtown, from where Charles was an agricultural labourer. Charles Collett was 40, his wife Mary A
Collett was 44, and their children were listed as George Collett, who was 13,
and Charles Collett who was seven years old.
Charles’ eldest son George had left home by the time of the census in
1881, leaving the family of three still living at 4 Common Lane. Charles was 50 and was employed as a dock
labourer, while Mary was 54, and Charles junior was 16 and his place of birth
was confirmed as Oulton. In 1891 the
couple was living at East Marsh Road in Burgh Castle, where Charles, aged 60
was a farm labourer, and his wife Mary was 64.
Living with them on that occasion was their grandson George L Collett,
aged five years, the eldest son of Charles George Collett. Just after the start of the new century, in
March 1901, Charles Collett was 70 years of age and a dairyman who was also an
employer, when he was living at 11 Common Road in Gorleston with his wife Mary
who was 74 and from Thurlton. As an
employer, Charles had two grandsons living with him and Mary, the first of them
being Lionel Collett who was 15 and a cattleman from Gorleston, the other being
Bertie Collett who was 13 and had left school and was learning the trade of a
cowman, although that was not mentioned in 1901, but was his occupation shortly
thereafter, as confirmed by the census in 1911, when he and his brother Lionel
were working together on the same farm.
The two boys were the sons of Charles younger son Charles George Collett. Completing the household was a mystery
character who was described as follows.
Clement Burton from West Caistor, Norfolk, was a widower aged 80, who
was a retired carter, who was recorded as the father of the head of the
household, which we know cannot be true with just ten years difference in their
ages. Ten months after that census day, the death of Charles Collett was
recorded at Great Yarmouth register office (Ref. 4b 25) during the first
quarter of 1902, after which he was buried at Gorleston-with-Southtown 27th
February 1902 at the age of 70. The
burial record stated that he had died as a patient at the Cottage Hospital in
Gorleston. During the following days,
the death of Mary Collett aged 74 was also recorded at Great Yarmouth register
office and was the very next entry after her husband (Ref. 4b 26), with whom
she was buried on 7th March 1902, having died at home at 24 High
Road in Southtown
18P153 – George Collett was born in 1858 at
Reedham, Norfolk
18P154 – Charles George Collett was born in 1864 at
Oulton, near Lowestoft
Lucy
Collett [18O88] was
born at Ilketshall St Andrew in 1835 and where baptised there on 18th
December 1836, the daughter of John Collett and Catherine Baldwin. In 1841, at the age of four years, Lucy was
living with her family at Ilketshall St Andrew.
At the time of the next census in 1851, her age was given as 16, when
she was still living with her family at Ilketshall St Andrew, where she was
also living in 1861 when she was recorded as being 24 and hay trusser, like her
father and her brother William (below).
It was during the following year that Lucy Collett, aged 26, married
George Gowing at Wangford on 22nd March 1862, their wedding day
recorded at Wangford (Ref. 4a 873).
George, who was 22, was born at Wrentham near Wangford, when his birth
was recorded at Blything (Ref. xiii 349).
He was then baptised at Wrentham on 19th July 1840, the son
of William and Sarah Anne Gowing. He was
later known as George Gowing of Ringsfield, the next village to Ilketshall St
Andrew. Immediately after the wedding,
Lucy returned to Ilketshall St Andrew with her husband, where they lived for
the remainder of their lives and where they raised three sons and four
daughters, they being Harry Gowing, Emma Gowing, Charles
Gowing, Julia Gowing, Ellen Gowing, Sarah Gowing, and James
Gowing. Three of the couple’s first
four children were recorded with them at Great Common in Ilketshall St Andrew in
the census of 1871. Absent was their
first-born child Harry who was nearby in Ilketshall St Andrew at the home of
Lucy’s parents, John and Catherine Collett. The
children listed with George and Lucy were Emma who was six, Charles who was
five years, and Julia who was three years of age. George Gowing was 30 and an agricultural
labourer from Redisham, and Lucy Gowing was 35
The next census in 1881 confirmed the family
was living in a dwelling house at Great Common in Ilketshall St Andrew, where
George Gowing, aged 41, was employed as an agricultural labourer and hay
cutter, while his wife Lucy was 45 years old.
By that time their eldest son Harry, aged 17, was working as an indoor
farm servant at nearby Shipmeadow at Codfish Hall Farm, the home of bachelor
farmer John Riches. Lucy and George’s
eldest daughter Emma, who would have been 16, has not been located in 1881 and
may have died during the 1870s. Of the
remaining children Charles was 15 and working with his father as an
agricultural labourer and hay cutter, while the four younger children were
still attending school. They were Julia
who was 13, Ellen who was 10, Sarah who was six, and James who was five years
old. By the start of the next decade,
their son James was the only child still loving with the couple, when George
was 50 and a hay cutter and a thatcher, Lucy was 54, and James was 15 and a hay
cutter’s assistant
Ten years later in 1901, the completed census
return was a repeat of the previous one, with the same three members of the family
again residing at the family home in Ilketshall St Andrew. George Gowing was 60 years old with the occupation
of a thatcher, Lucy Gowing was 64 and son James Gowing was 25 and employed as a
thatcher’s assistant, again working with his father. Of the other members of the family, sons
Harry aged 37 and Charles aged 34 were also still living in Ilketshall St
Andrew. Harry was married to Mary Ann
aged 37 of Rumburgh by whom he had two children these being Herbert aged 10 and
Edith aged 8. Both children had been
born at Ilketshall St Andrew where Harry was employed as an agricultural
labourer. Son Charles was also working
as an agricultural labourer and was married to Elizabeth aged 38 of Reydon in
Suffolk with whom he had six children.
They were all born at Ilketshall St Andrew and were Harriet aged 12,
George aged 10, Ellen who was eight, Hubert who was seven, Laura who was four, and
baby Ernest who was not yet one year old.
There is still a strong presence of Gowing family members living in that
area of Suffolk in 2008
It was around six months prior to the next
census in 1911, the death of George Gowing was recorded at Wangford register
office (Ref. 4a 571) during the last quarter of 1910, when he was 70 years
old. His Will was proved in London on 28
October 1910 to Lucy Gowing, widow, in the sum of £251 19 Shillings 8
Pence. The document also confirmed that
he died at Ilketshall St Andrew on 13th October 1910. The loss of her husband was confirmed in the
census of 1911, when Lucy Gowing, aged 76 and the head of the household at 20
Hungate Lane in Beccles, a two-roomed dwelling, was described as a labourer’s
widow, having given birth to a total of 10 children, of which three had not
survived. Nearly fourteen years later
the death of Lucy Gowing was recorded at Wangford register office (Ref. 4a
1261) during the first quarter of 1925, when she was 88 years old. It was also at Ilketshall St Andrew where Lucy
died on 9th February 1925, her Will proved at London on 6th
March 1925 when her personal effects valued at £243 5 Shillings and 11 Pence to
Sheba Scarle Gowing, the wife of James Gowing
William
Collett [18O89] was
born at Ilketshall St Andrew on 17th October 1838, the son of John
Collett and Catherine Baldwin. Her birth
was recorded a month later on 16th November at Wangford (Ref. xii
433), when William’s father was named as John Collett, an agricultural
labourer, and his mother was recorded as Catherine Collett, formerly
Baldwin. William was two years old in
the June census of 1841, and was 11 at the time of the census in 1851 when, on
both occasions, he was living with his family in Ilketshall St Andrew, within
the Wangford & Beccles registration district of North Suffolk. Ten years later, in 1861, he was one of only
two children still living in the family home in Ilketshall St Andrew when, at
the age of 22, he was employed as a hay trusser, working alongside his father
and his sister Lucy (above). Ten months
earlier, when William was 21 years old, he received an adult baptism at
Ilketshall St Andrew on 11th June 1860, perhaps with view to being
married in church. Three and a half
years after the day of the census in 1861, William Collett a labourer married
Emma Rackham on 19th November 1864 at Ellingham near Bungay. The witness's where Rachel Words, Rose Wilson
and Mary A Cobb or Lobb. Emma was born
at Heckingham in Norfolk on 19th July 1836 and was baptised on 31st
July that same year, the daughter of John Rackham and his wife Elizabeth Balls
although, by the time of the census in 1841, Emma Rackham, who was four years
old, was living at Heckingham with the family of Samuel and Elizabeth Thompson,
and their three-month-old daughter Elizabeth.
With Emma were her two old siblings, a brother aged 13 and sister Sarah
Rackman who was 10. It is therefore
highly likely that Emma’s father had died, allowing Elizabeth Rackham to marry
Samuel Thompson who was some years older that Elizabeth. Ten years later she was 14 and was living and
working in the Norwich Mancroft registration district and, after a further ten
years when she was 24 in 1861, she was living and working as a domestic servant
within the Wangford & Beccles registration area
Eighteen months prior to their wedding day
William Collett and Emma Rackham were both named as the witnesses at the
wedding of William’s brother Robert (below) at Ilketshall St
Andrew. It would appear that William and
Emma spent their early years together in the village of Ilketshall St Andrew
where their three children were born, the first two children being baptised at the
Church of St Andrew, with the third being baptised at the Church of St John the
Baptist. The little village of
Ilketshall St Andrew has three churches within one kilometre of the village
centre, and they are the two churches mentioned above, plus the Church of
Ilketshall St Lawrence which also serves the village of that name to the south
of St Andrew. By 1871 William and Emma
had suffered the loss of their third child, who died at three weeks just two
years earlier. The census that year
recorded the family as living at Great Common in Ilketshall St Andrew when
William Collett was 33, his wife Emma was 34, and their three children were
Sarah Collett who was five, John Collett who was three, and new baby William
Collett who was only two months old.
Tragically, like the first William born into the family, that second
William also died before reaching his second birthday. Upon the death of his sister-in-law, Mary
Collett nee Penney in 1874, William and Emma took into their family the three
children of John Collett (above), they being Elizabeth who was 13, Sarah
who was 12, and John who was 10 [18P138, 18P139, 18P140]
By 1881 two of their own children had left the
home of William and Emma, so they and their family were recorded as follows,
where they were living in Ilketshall St Andrew but near the church of St John
the Baptist. William was an agricultural
labourer at the age of 43. His wife Emma
was 44 and the only one of their children still living with the couple, was
their son John who was 13. Also living
with the family in 1881, and working with son John, was the boy’s cousin John
Collett, who was 16 and who had been born in India. His relationship to head of the house William
was nephew, and he was the son of William’s older brother John (above)
who spent some time in India with the British Army, but who had died in 1875,
following the death of his wife in 1874.
At that time William’s and Emma’s daughter Sarah was working within the
village, at The Rectory attached to the Church of St John the Baptist
Sometime during the next decade William was
offered a new job that took him and his family from Ilketshall St Andrew to the
village of Reydon Smear, just outside Southwold. The move, and the change of career, was confirmed
by the census in 1891, when William Collett was 52 and a farm bailiff at Easton
Farm, his wife Emma was 53, and their son John Collett was 23. Also living within the same registration
district, but not with the family by that time, was John Collett aged 26 and
from India. Another family move happened
during the 1890s which took William and Emma the few miles north to Lowestoft,
which is where they were living at the time of the census in 1901. By that time William was employed as a
general labourer at the age of 60, while Emma was 61, and their address was 3
Waterloo Terrace on the Beccles Road, in the St Peter’s Street district of the
town. Emma Collett nee Rackham died on
25th May 1908 at the age of 72, her death recorded at Mutford
register office (Ref. 4a 589). Emma
Collett of Ashby Dell was buried at Thurlton on 29th May 1908. Three years later in
the census of 1911 William Collett, a widower of 73, was working as a labourer
at a market garden while lodging at the White Horse Inn in Lower Thurlton,
between Beccles and Loddon. Charles
Prime aged 48, the publican at the White Horse was also a market gardener. William Collett was 76 when his died, his
death recorded at Loddon register office (Ref. 4b 249) during the fourth
quarter of 1914. He was living in
Thurlton where he was buried with his wife on 24th November 1914
18P155 – Sarah Collett was born in 1865 at
Ilketshall St Andrew
18P156 – John Collett was born in 1867 at
Ilketshall St Andrew
18P157 – William Collett was born in 1869 at
Ilketshall St Andrew
18P158 – William Collett was born in 1871 at
Ilketshall St Andrew
Robert
Collett [18O90] was
born at Ilketshall St Andrew where he was baptised on 9th August
1840, the youngest child of John Collett and Catherine Baldwin and his birth
was recorded at Wangford (Ref. xiii 453).
It was at Ilketshall St Andrew that he was living with his family in
June 1841, when he was recorded as being one year old. By the time of the next census in 1851,
Robert Collett was 10, when he was confirmed as the youngest member of his
family, which was still living at Ilketshall St Andrew. However, by the time of the census in 1861,
Robert Collett from Ilketshall St Andrew, aged 22, was a fisherman on board the
boat ‘Glance’ out of Lowestoft harbour, and was very likely living with his
married brother Charles (above) and his family. It was just over two years later, on 7th
May 1863 at Ilketshall St Andrew, that Robert Collett married fieldworker Lydia
Ann Brighton, the daughter of agricultural labourer and husbandman Robert
Brighton and his wife Mary, who was baptised at Ilketshall St Andrew on 6th
January 1839. The witnesses at the
wedding ceremony were William Collett and Emma Rackham, Robert’s older brother (above)
and his future wife, whom he married six months later. The wedding of Robert and Lydia was recorded
at Wangford (Ref. 4a 1003), and the birth of Lydia Ann Brighton was recorded at
Wangford (Ref. xiii 434). After they
were married Robert and Lydia settled in Ilketshall St Andrew where their only
known children were born, although their daughter died only eight months after
she had been born
Furthermore, the death of the child may also
have coincided with the death of Robert Collett sometime after 1866 and before
1871, although it is more than likely that he died as a result of an accident
while at sea. The absence of both of
them was confirmed by the details in the census of 1871, which placed Lydia Ann
Collett as a widow at the age of 31, who was employed as a field worker. Living with her at ‘by the Common’ in
Ilketshall St Andrew was her son Robert who was seven years old, and Lydia’s widowed
mother Mary Brighton who was 77, on parish relief and an agricultural labourer
working in doors. All three members of
the household were recorded as having been born at Ilketshall St Andrew. At that time, their dwelling was four doors
along from the Hare & Hounds Inn
It was seven years later on 2nd
March 1878 that Lydia Ann Collett married widower William Artis at Ilketshall
St Andrew where they were both living at that time, their wedding recorded at
Wangford (Ref. 4a 951). William Artis
was born at Ilketshall St Lawrence on 25th March 1829 and was
baptised there on 5th April 1829, the son of William and Hannah
Artis. It was at Wangford (Ref. 4a 949)
in 1855, that he had first married Amy Girling, who had been born there on 26th
January 1831 and baptised there on 6th February 1831, the daughter
of William and Mary Girling. The
marriage of William and Amy produced four daughters and a son. His first daughter, Sofia Artis, was born at
Wangford on 19th June 1856 but, shortly after, the family moved to
Ilketshall St Andrew where the next three children were born. They were Sarah Artis born in 1860, Alfred
Artis born in 1864, and Matilda Artis born in 1872. In 1871 William Artis, aged 42, and his wife
Amy, aged 40, were living at Ilketshall St Andrew when eldest daughter Sofia was
missing. It was during the second
quarter of 1874, just after the birth of Alfred, that the death of Amy Artis
was recorded at Wangford (Ref. 4a 460) at the age of 43. Also, during that decade, her three youngest
children also died, possibly by the same cause or illness
Three years after being widowed in 1874, Julia
Artis was born in 1877 but did not survive, and she may have been a child of
William Artis and his future wife Lydia Ann Collett. During 1880 Lydia gave birth to a son, George
Artis, who was baptised at Carlton Colville on 25th August, who was
buried there on 1st September 1880.
By the time of the census in 1881, Lydia Ann Artis, and her second
husband William Artis, were living at Carlton Colville, just south of
Lowestoft. William was employed as a
farm labourer and his place of birth was confirmed at Ilketshall St Lawrence,
while Lydia Ann’s place of birth was confirmed as Ilketshall St Andrew. Rather oddly William gave his age as 49, when
he was actually 51, and his wife was recorded as Lydia Ann Artis aged 37 (sic). By that time Lydia’s son Robert Collett was
working as a fisherman on board the boat ‘Au Revoir’ which had sailed out of
nearby Pakefield, bound for Falmouth, earlier that year. So, the only person living with Lydia and
William in 1881 was William’s daughter, Sarah Artis, who was 21, when son
Alfred was 17 and a boy onboard the vessel ‘Chance’ and it was three later he
died, possibly at sea. Ten years later
in 1891, the couple was still living at Carlton Colville, where William Artis
was recorded as 56 (instead of 61), and Lydia Artis was 52. It was only in March 1901 that William
admitted that he was older than he had previously stated. According to that census, William was 71, and
an agricultural labourer, living at Gisleham to the
south of Carlton Colville, with his wife Lydia who was 61 and from Ilketshall
St Andrew. Staying with the couple at
Rushmere Road was Lydia’s granddaughter Norah Collett who was eight years
old and born in Suffolk, the eldest daughter of her son Robert Collett
Following the death of her second husband,
during the first ten years of the new century, in 1911 Lydia Artis was living in
the village of Rushmere, just south of where she was living in 1901. She was described as being 71 and a widow and
an old age pensioner from Ilketshall St Andrew.
Living there with her were two of her grandchildren from the family of
her son Robert Collett, who had died at Liverpool in 1903, where the two girls
had been born. In addition to her two
granddaughters, Norah Collett from Wavertree aged 18, and Florence Collett from
Garston who was 10, also living with Lydia as a lodger, was Robert Lydamore who
was 73 and a farm labourer from Rushmere.
Lydia Ann Artis died at the age of 79, her death recorded at Mutford
register office (Ref. 4a 2331) during the last three months of 1919
18P159 – Robert Collett was born in 1863 at
Ilketshall St Andrew
18P160 – Mary Anne Collett was born in 1866 at
Ilketshall St Andrew
Dinah
Collett [18O91] was
born at Wilby in 1850, her birth recorded at Hoxne (Ref. xiii 485) during the
second quarter of the year, the daughter of John and Mary Ann Collett. She was one year old in the Wilby census of
1851, and was 10 years of age in the 1861 census. After a further ten years, Dinah Collett from
Wilby was 21 and a domestic servant at 2 Hermitage Villa, St Ann’s Road, in the
Tottenham area of London, Middlesex. That
was the home of John Barker, a coffee merchant, and his large family. It was nine years later that Dinah Collett married
Henry George Brunning of Horham (Suffolk) who was a few years younger than
Dinah having been born near the end of 1855 (Ref. 4a 431). Their wedding was recorded at Hoxne (Ref. 4a
803) during the second quarter of 1880. By
the time of the census conducted in the following year the marriage had not
produced any children for the couple, but Dinah was expecting the birth of
their first child. On the census day in
1881 Dinah Brunning of Wilby was 30 and her agricultural labourer husband Henry
was 25, with his birth also recorded at Hoxne (Ref. 4a 431), during the last
three months of 1855, when they were living with Dinah’s widowed father John
Collett at Cole Street in Wilby, where her younger brother James Collett, aged
18, was still living. Not long after
that day, Dinah gave birth to a daughter at Wilby, where their son was born, before
the family of four settled in Palgrave, near Diss, where they were residing in
1891. Henry G Brunning was 35, Dinah
Brunning was 37 (sic), Helen Jane Brunning was 10, and William George
Brunning was six years of age. It
was in 1893 that their son died aged eight years
Sometime after that day the family crossed over
the River Waveney into Norfolk to make their new home in the town of Diss. By 1901 they were recorded at 10 Stanley
Villas when Henry was a carter for a brewery at 45, Dinah was 51, and daughter
Helen was 19 and a dressmaker having her own account at home. The years later, at the age of 58 (sic),
Henry Brunning was again living in Diss, where his occupation was that of a
brewery’s carman, and his wife Dinah from Wilby was 61. The only child still living with them was
unmarried Helen Brunning who was 29 and a dressmaker. Tragically, it was towards the end of that
year when the death of Dinah Brunning was recorded at Diss register office
(Ref. 4b 274) during the last quarter of 1911, when she was 62. Henry George Brunning was 77 years old when
he died many years after being widowed, when his death was recorded at Norwich
register office (Ref. 4b 142) during the second quarter of 1933
William
Collett [18O92] was
born at Wilby in 1852, the second child and eldest son of John and Mary Ann
Collett. William was eight years old in
the Wilby census of 1861, and was 18 years of age in 1871, when William Collett
from Wilby was groom and a boarder at Merstham near Ashford in Kent. During the fourth quarter of 1875, William
Collett married Jane Brunning from Horham, whose brother Henry George Brunning
married William’s sister Dinah (above) in 1880. William and Jane’s wedding day was recorded
at Hoxne (Ref. 4a 1246a), while her
earlier birth was also recorded at Hoxne (Ref. 4a 483) during the first quarter
of 1854. By 1881 the childless couple
was living at Cole Street in Wilby, close by his widowed father and his sister married
Dinah (above) and his brother James (below), all of them living
together at Cole Street. William, aged
27, was an agricultural labourer, and his wife Jane was 26. The couple was still residing in Wilby ten
years later when William was 39 and Jane was 38, and they were still there in
March 1901. William Collett, aged 47 and
from Wilby, was employed as a horseman working on a local farm, and his wife
Jane from Horham was 46. At the end of
the decade, William was 60 and a labourer on a farm and Jane was 58, when they
were living at Saxtead in Suffolk, when the completed census return recorded
that they had been married for 35, but had had no children, while they were
living at Cole Street in Wilby, Eye. Looking after the elderly couple was
29-year-old live-in sick nurse Blanche Louisa Brockwell. Jane became a widow sometime after that day
and was later staying at Stow Lodge in Gipping, north of Stowmarket, where she
was described as being incapacitated, a widow born on 26th December
1853. The death of Jane Collett was
recorded at Gipping register office (Ref. 4a 2333) during the last three months
of 1940, when she was nearly 87
James
Collett [18O94] was
born at Wilby in 1861 with his birth recorded during the second quarter of that
year (Ref. 4a 599), the last child of John Collett and Mary Ann Sharman. As Jimmy Collett age nine, he was the only
child still living with his parents in 1871, while it was eight years after
that day, that his mother died. James was
18 years old at the time of the Wilby census of 1881, when he was an
agricultural labourer working with his widowed father John Collett, the pair of
them living at Cole Street in Wilby. On
that same day, James’ older married sister Dinah Brunning (above) was
still living with them, having married Henry Brunning during the previous
year. Possibly upon the death of his
father, James headed for London, where James Collett of the same age was living
in 1891 and 1911, who was died there in 1917.
The details within the census of 1911 certainly relate to James Collett
from Wilby, so it is most likely that the other two do as well. According to the census in 1891, unmarried James
Collett from Suffolk was 27 and a tram driver living in London and boarding at 22
Cross Street in Clapham, the home of widow Maria Lowing. By 1911 James was 47 and a tram regulator and
time keeper employed by Wandsworth Council, when he was still single, living at
189 Wirtemburgh Street in Clapham, when he confirmed that he had been born at
Wilby in Suffolk. The later death of
James Collett was recorded at Clapham register office (Ref.1b 366) during the
first three months of 1917, at the age of 55, placing his year of birth early
in the 1860s
Martha
Collett [18O95] was
born at Wilby on 13th July 1841 and was the eldest child of James
Collett and Lucy Mutimer. In 1845 Martha
and her family left Suffolk when they moved over the county boundary into
Norfolk and settled in the village of Needham where, in 1851 Martha was nine
years old. It was in the village of
Wissett, near Halesworth, on 12th December 1860 that Martha, aged
19, married Joseph Peck who was 23, the wedding recorded (Ref. 4a 1504). Joseph was born at Westhall near Halesworth
on 16th September 1837, and was baptised at Westhall on 12th
November 1837, the son of Samuel Peck and Susan Gipson. In total, Martha gave birth to thirteen
children, the first being her base-born daughter Eliza Collett by an unnamed
father, whose birth was recorded at Depwade (Ref. 4b 218) during the fourth
quarter of 1857, who was baptised at the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Pulham
Market on 3rd December 1857. There
were five illegitimate babies baptised there in a joint ceremony that day, when
each of the five mothers were individually recorded as living in the Union
House, presumably for wayward girls. Three
months after Martha had married Joseph, she discovered she was expecting the
first of her twelve children with him and, in the census of 1861 agricultural
labourer Joseph Peck was 25 and from Chediston, Martha Peck was 20 and from
Wilby, and Eliza Collett was three years old and had been born at Pulham Market,
when they were living at Goodwins Cottages
Ten years later, the census in 1871 listed the
family at Spexhall, north of Halesworth, as labourer Joseph Peck 32, Martha
Peck 29, Eliza Peck 13, Samuel Peck nine and born at Spexhall, William
Peck seven, Joseph Peck two, and Catherine Peck who was ten months, all of them
except Samuel had been born at Chediston, less than a mile south of
Wissett. The twelve Peck children were: Samuel
Peck (born 06.09.1861); William Peck (born 01.12.1863); James
Peck (born 24.08.1865, who died 27.08.1865); Susan Peck (born
07.06.1867, who died 05.07.1868); Joseph Peck (born 23.03.1869); Catherine
Peck (born 13.05.1870, who died 12.11.1926); George James Peck (born
28.01.1872); Lucy Mary Peck (born 10.06.1873); Charles Peck (born
19.02.1876); Rachel Peck (born 07.09.1877); Harry Peck (born
10.12.1879); and Amy Peck (born 02.04.1882). After the birth of the last child, Joseph and
Martha Peck lived at Mendham, where they were recorded in 1891, 1901 and
1911. The aforementioned daughter Catherine
Peck later married Frederick John Godfrey, the son of Martha’s younger married
sister Emma Godfrey nee Collett (below)
Mary
Collett [18O96] was
born at Wilby during 1842, the daughter of James Collett and Lucy Mutimer. When she was around three years of age her
family left Wilby went they settled in the village of Needham near Harleston in
Norfolk. And it was there that she was
living with her parents in 1851, at the age of eight, and again in 1861 when
she 18. Another ten years later Mary
Collett was 28 and working as servant for Christopher Cadge at Stubbs Green in Loddon,
Norfolk
Emma
Collett [18O97] was
born at Wilby on 19th March 1844, the daughter of James and Lucy
Collett, her birth recorded at Hoxne (Ref. xiii 439) during the second quarter
of the year. but very soon after, her
family settled in Needham near Harleston, where she was seven years old in
1851. Emma was not living with her
family at Needham in 1861, instead she was 17 years old and working as a
general servant at the home of 71-year-old Stephen Laidler, an independent
chapel minister, in Redenhall-with-Harleston.
Seven years later she married Henry Godfrey at Needham on 2nd
March 1868, both were of full age and not married before and residing in
Needham, with Henry’s occupation being that of a husbandman. His father was Henry Godfrey, husbandman, the
same occupation as Emma’s father James Collett.
The two witnesses appear to be Emma’s father James Collett and her older
sister Mary Collett (above). Tragically,
the marriage only lasted for four years, when Emma Godfrey died at Rushall in
Suffolk on 6th February 1872, and was buried there three days later
on 9th February. Her death
was recorded at Depwade (Ref. 4b 181). One
year earlier, the Needham census in 1871 placed the family at Harleston Road in
Rushall and revealed that ag lab Henry Godfrey was 24, Emma Godfrey was 26, and
their son Fred Godfrey was two years of age and born at Needham. It is very interesting that Fred was Frederick
John Godfrey who married Catherine Peck around 1889, Catherine being the
daughter of Martha Collett and Joseph Peck, Martha being Emma’s old married
sister (above)
William
Collett [18O98] was
born at Needham on 3rd August 1846, his birth recorded at Depwade
(Ref. xiii 43), the son of James and Lucy Collett. At the age of four years and 14 years he was
living with his family at Needham. William
Collett from Needham was 24 and working as a miller at Meadham in Suffolk in
1871, while it was just a few weeks later that the marriage of William Collett
and (1) Martha Freeston was recorded at Hoxne (Ref. 4a 825) during the second
quarter of 1871. By 1881, the couple was
living at Mill Lane in Attleborough where 34-year-old William Collett from
Needham was employed as a corn miller, when his wife Martha Collett from
Alburgh, near Harleston, was 44 years of age.
After a further ten years the census in 1891 recorded the pair of them
residing at Maudon Road in Barnham Broom in Norfolk, where William was 44 and a
miller from Needham and Martha was 55 and from Alburgh. The death of Martha Collett Freeston was
recorded during the last three months of 1898 (Ref. 4b 126) at the Norfolk
Forehoe register office. That loss for
William was confirmed in the census of 1901 when he was a widower staying at a
boarding house on Low Street in Hardingham, Norfolk, at the home of Thomas and
Zillah Pearce. On that day William’s was
incorrectly recorded as being 50, when his occupation was again that of a
miller. Six months after that census
day, widower William Collett married (2) Annie Wiles on 29th
September 1901 at Hardingham, their wedding recorded at Mitford register office
(Ref. 4b 759) for a second time, as reflected in the next census of 1911. William from Needham was 64 and a grist
miller at Hardingham Mills, when Annie Collett from Suffolk was 75. It was three years later that the death of
William Collett was recorded at the Norfolk Mitford register office (Ref. 4b
293) during the last quarter of 1914, when he was 67
Dinah
Elizabeth Collett [18O99] was born at Needham on 20th July 1849, the
daughter of James Collett and Lucy Mutimer, whose birth was recorded at Depwade
(Ref. xiii 43). She was one year old in
the Needham census of 1851, but her absence from the family home in 1861, may
suggest that she suffered an infant death
Eliza
Collett [18O100] was
born at Needham on 9th February 1851, with her birth recorded at
Depwade (Ref. xiii 49), and was just two months old in the census for Needham
in 1851. She was also listed as living
there with her family in 1861 when she was 10 years old. Eliza was married twice in her life, the
first time was with (1) Alexander Carter, when the event was recorded just
prior to the next census at Depwade (Ref. 4b 369) during the first quarter of
1871. A few weeks after, railway porter
Alexander Carter from Fressingfield was 21 and Eliza Carter from Needham was 20
when they were living at Pulham St Mary in Norfolk. Their three children were born within the
next six years; Lucy Emma Carter was born at the end of 1872, with her
birth recorded at Norwich (Ref. 4b 124) during the first three months of 1873, Alexander Adolphus Carter was born at
Thorpe-next-Norwich in 1874, the birth recorded at Norwich (Ref. 4b 116) during
the last quarter of that year, and the birth of James Edward Carter was recorded
at Norwich (Ref. 4b 123) during the third quarter of 1877. The Norwich census in 1881 revealed that
Eliza from Needham was a widow aged 30 when she was earning a living as a
tailoress and having a boarding house.
With her were here three children Lucy who was seven, Alexander who was
five, and James who was three, all born in Norwich. It is interesting that one of the three men boarding
with the family that day was James Giles from Ipswich who was single and a
railway porter, to whom Eliza married in 1883.
The marriage of Eliza Carter and James Wilkinson Giles was recorded at
Norwich (Ref. 4b 240) during the third quarter of the year, and with whom she
had another son. The birth of Robert
James Giles was recorded at Norwich (Ref. 4b 121) during the second quarter
of 1884
In 1891 James was a railway porter aged 37 and
from Ipswich, and Eliza was 39 and from Needham, when they were residing at
Rosary Road in Norwich with their son Robert Giles who was seven and born at
Norwich. Also living with the three of
them were two stepsons and a niece. The
stepsons were Alexander Carter who was 16 and a brewer’s clerk, and James
Carter who was 13 and a draper’s assistant, both of them both in Norwich. The niece was two-year-old Naomi Collett, the
youngest child of Eliza’s brother George Collett (below), following the
premature death of his first wife Amy London.
By 1901, the family was still residing at Rosary Road in Norwich where
James was 46 and working with Robert who was 17, both of them employed at the
local railway station when James was still a porter, Robert was a clerk, and
Eliza had no stated occupation at the age of 45. According to the next census in 1911, James
Giles from Ipswich was 53 and a railway porter, when his unmarried son Robert
was 27 and a railway clerk. Eliza Giles
from Needham was 58 and completing the household was John Clarke from Cromer
who was 25 and another railway clerk, who was a boarder with the Giles
family. Fifteen years later the marriage
of Robert James Giles and Evelyne Lucy Burrells was recorded at Mitford
register office (Ref. 4b 589) during the second quarter of 1926. He was 62 years old when he died on 22nd
July 1946, the death of Robert James Giles recorded at Norfolk register office (Ref.
4b 405). His Will was proved at Norwich
on 10th August 1946, when the sole beneficiary was his widow Evelyn
Lucy Giles
James
Collett [18O101] was
born at Needham on 23rd August 1852, the son of James and Lucy
Collett, his birth recorded at Depwade (Ref. 4b 192), and he was eight years
old in the Needham census of 1861. On
leaving school he entered into an apprenticeship, which was how he was
described in the Stradbroke census of 1871, when 18-year-old James was an
apprentice blacksmith and a boarder at the Queen’s Head Street home of blacksmith
John Davy, aged 58, and his wife Susan.
It would appear that he was married in the late 1870s, but tragically,
shortly after they were married his wife died, possibly during childbirth. By April 1881 James was a childless widower
at only 28 years of age. The census for
that year placed him as a visitor at 7 Cox Buildings, George Street in Great
Yarmouth the home of his married sister Rachel French nee Collett (below). James’ birthplace was stated as being Needham
and his occupation was that of a blacksmith journeyman. No further record of James has been
discovered in Great Britain after that time
Rachel
Collett [18O102] was
born at Needham on 24th April 1855, the daughter of James and Lucy
Collett, her birth recorded at Depwade (Ref. 4b 205). Rachel was five years old by the time of the
Needham census in 1861, when she was living there with her parents. After another ten years she had finish with
her schooling and was already working as a nursemaid at the age of 15 in
1871. At that time in her life, she was
employed at the Norfolk Redenhall-with-Harleston home of grocer Thomas J Weavers
and his wife Alice and their large family.
Exactly seven years later, when she was incorrectly recorded as being only
20 years of age, the marriage of Rachel Collett and William French, a boiler
maker, who was also 20 years of age, took place at St Matthew’s Church in
Thorpe-next-Norwich on 8th April 1878. The event was recorded at Norwich (Ref. 4b 243)
when the bride’s father was confirmed as James Collett, and the groom’s father
as Thomas French. The birth of William
French was recorded at Norwich (Ref. 4b 117) during the third quarter of 1859,
after he had been born on 30th June and was baptised at St Matthew’s
Church in the village of Thorpe on 7th August 1859. By 1881 the couple was living at 7 Cox
Buildings on George Street in Great Yarmouth.
William was 22 and employed as a boiler-maker journeyman, with Rachel
being 25 on that census day, by which time she may have been with-child for the
first time. Staying with the couple that
same day was Rachel’s widowed brother James Collett (above), a boarder
Charles Collerson, who was 18 and a railway engine cleaner from Norwich, and
visitor Emma Langton, a dressmaker aged 22 of Great Yarmouth
The couple’s first child Arthur may have
suffered an infant death because, by the time of the Southtown, Great Yarmouth
census in 1891, William French was 31 and an engine fitter, Rachel French from
Needham was 32, and the three children living with them at 3 Queen’s Place were
Lottie Annie French who was seven (born in 1884), William Charles
French who was three (born in 1888), and Rachel Emily French who was
six months old (born in 1890). It was at
3 High Mill Road in the Gorleston area of Great Yarmouth that the same family
group was living in 1901, when William French was 40 and an engine fitter,
Rachel French was 40 (sic), and their three surviving children were Annie
French who was 17 and a milliner at home, Charles French who was 13, and Emily French
who was 10, all three children having been born at Southtown in Great
Yarmouth. Ten years later in April 1911
the family was still together and living in the Gorleston area, when William
French was 51, Rachel French was 53, William Charles French was 23, and Emily
Rachel French was 20. The census that
year recorded that they had given birth to nine children, with only three of
them identified above, with a fourth being their first child Arthur Bertie
French (born in 1881). Rachel and
William eventually passed away within five months of each other in the middle
of the 1930s. The death of William
French was recorded during the first quarter of 1935 (Ref. 4b 25), following
which he was buried at Great Yarmouth on 7th March that year. He and his wife died at 150a Caister Road in
Great Yarmouth, when the death of his widow was recorded during the third
quarter of that year (Ref. 4b 11), when she was buried with her husband on 25th
July 1935
George
Collett [18O103] was
born at Needham on 10th February 1858, the youngest child of James
Collett and Lucy Mutimer, whose birth was recorded at Depwade (Ref. 4b 224). He was three years old and 13 years old in
the Needham census returns for 1861 and 1871 when he was still living with his
parents and was already working as an agricultural labourer in 1871, by which
time he was the only child still living with his parents. However, with the death of his father during
the 1870s, George was the only child still living with his widowed mother Lucy
in 1881. On that occasion George was 23,
unmarried, and was employed as a plate-layer working on the railway, while
living at Lakenham in Norwich at a dwelling described as ‘opposite 21
Row’. George was married by banns to (1)
Amy London, a domestic servant, aged 26 and the daughter of James London, a
labourer, the wedding ceremony conducted on 14th October 1882 at
Christ Church in Eaton-St-Andrew, Norfolk, when George labourer was 24 and the
son of James Collett, a labourer. The
marriage was recorded at Norwich (Ref. 4b 285) and produced four children for
the couple while they were living in Norwich.
However, tragically Amy died either during or not long after the
possible birth of a fifth child who also did not survive. The death of Amy
Collett, of Mill Street, was recorded at Norwich (Ref. 4b 86), after which she
was buried at St Mark’s Church in Lakenham on 9th September 1890,
aged 36. She was baptised at Barnworth
in Norfolk on 3rd May 1854, when her father James was a maltster. Her birth, together with that of her twin
brother Charles Timothy London, was recorded at Blofield (Ref. 4b 198). George was a widower at 33, by the time of
the census in 1891, when he was living at 43 Mill Street in Norwich. With four young children and no wife, George
had living there with him, his mother Lucy Collett at 43 Mill Street within the
Lakenham district of Norwich in 1891, with two-year-old Naomi Collett temporarily
living with George’s older married sister Eliza Giles (above). By that time George Collett, aged 33 and from
Norfolk, was working as a labourer, while his mother Lucy Collett, aged 73 and
from Suffolk, was acting as his housekeeper and was described simply as his
relative. George’s three children were
recorded as scholars Ruth Collett who was seven, and David Collett who was six,
and Philip Collett who was three years old.
Curiously the children’s place of birth was ditto-ed under their
father’s place of birth, indicating that they were simply born in the County of
Norfolk. At the end of the next decade
George’s mother passed away
Just over a year after the day of the census in
1891, the second marriage of George Collett and (2) Catherine Ann Donnelly, a
widow, formerly Trinder, took place during the third quarter of 1892 and was
recorded at Norwich (Ref. 4b 275). That
was then confirmed in the census of 1901, when the couple was living at 24 Gordon
Road in Norwich, where George Collett from Needham was working as a labourer
and a plate-layer at the age of 43. His
younger wife was Catherine A Collett who was 32, his daughter Ruth Collett was
17 was listed as having no occupation, and his sons David Collett was 16,
Philip Collett was 13, and Naomi Collett who was 12 years old. On that occasion the children’s place of
birth was recorded correctly as Norwich.
Completing the household was Catherine’s unmarried daughter Margaret A
Donnelly aged 31 and a wages clerk. After
a further four years George was widowed for a second and was married for a
third time. The death of Catherine Ann
Collett was recorded at Norwich register office (Ref. 4a 107) during the last
quarter of 1902, when she was 52. So, the
1911 Census recorded the family still living at 24 Gordon Road in Lakenham (Norwich)
as George Collett from Needham who was 53 and a painter working for the Great
Eastern Railway, and his older wife was described as Hannah Collett aged 56 and
from Norwich. Still living with the
couple, were George’s two sons David Collett who was 26 and a labourer, and
Philip Collett who was 23 and a plate-layer with the Great Eastern Railway,
together with the two youngest children from Hannah’s previous marriage. They were Albert Kett who was 18 and Percy
Kett who was 14, both boys employed as labourers in the mustard department of
Colmans of Norwich. By that time
George’s daughter Ruth was living and working in Hackney, London. The earlier marriage of George Collett and
(3) Esther Hannah Kett, a widow, was recorded at Norwich register office (Ref.
4b 249) during the first three months of 1905.
The birth of Esther Hannah Cupper was recorded in Norwich (Ref. 4b 110)
during the third quarter of 1854, her baptism then delayed until she was
baptised at Thorpe in Norfolk on 10th March 1861. It was near the end of 1876 when Esther
Hannah Cupper married Thomas Kett at Norwich (Ref. 4b 345). In October 1914 George and Hannah were still
living in the Lakeham district of Norwich City Centre, at 40 Harford Street
which runs between Hall Road and City Road, when George learned of the death of
his son David Collett at the Battle of Loos.
The death of George Collett was recorded in Norfolk (Ref. 4b 171) during
the last three months of 1937. Eight
after being widowed, the death of Esther Hannah Collett was recorded at Acle
register office (Ref. 4b 39) during the fourth quarter of 1945, when she was 91
years old
18P161 – Ruth Collett was born in 1883 at
Norwich
18P162 – David Collett was born in 1884 at
Norwich
18P163 – Philip Collett was born in 1888 at
Norwich
18P164 – Naomi Collett was born in 1889 at Norwich
Elizabeth
Collett [18O104] was
born at Wilby in 1837 and was the first child born to Robert Collett by his
wife Dinah Lockwood, whose birth was recorded at Hoxne (Ref. xiii 320) during
the fourth quarter of the year. Unlike her
younger siblings, Elizabeth was not baptised at Wilby, with her baptism delayed
until 28th July 1839 at Brundish in Suffolk, the ceremony conducted
only three days before her brother Hammond (below) was baptised at
Wilby. She was living with her parents
at the time of the subsequent census days in Wilby, first in 1841 when she was
three years old, and then at 13 years of age in 1851 when she was with her
mother who was living separately from Elizabeth’s father who had fallen on hard
times. Upon leaving school Elizabeth
secured work in London, and according to the census in 1861 Elizabeth Collett
from Wilby was living and working in the Kentish Town area of London at the age
of 22. Sometime after that, Elizabeth
Collett married Elijah Pipe whose birth was recorded in Suffolk (Ref. xiii 390)
during the third quarter of 1839, when their wedding was recorded at Chelsea
(Ref 1a 358) during the third quarter of 1863, the marriage by the reading of
banns having taken place on 27th September 1863 at St Lukes Church
in Chelsea. Both the bride and grooms
were recorded as residing at 36 Regent Street, Elizabeth aged 25 and the
daughter of Robert Collett, a bricklayer, who signed the register in her own
hand, with Elijah making the mark of a cross, being 24 and a labourer, the son
of Jeremiah Pipe. Elijah’s birth was
recorded at Hoxne (Ref. xiii 390), following by his baptism at Brundish on 28th
July 1839, the child of Jeremiah and Emma Pipe
HAMMOND
COLLETT [18O105] was
born at Wilby, his birth recorded at Hoxne (Ref. xiii 407) during the first
quarter of 1839, and was baptised at Wilby on 31st March 1839, the
eldest son of Robert Collett and Dinah Lockwood. He was born into a poverty-stricken family,
although their ancestors had been extremely wealthy. In the June census of 1841 Hammond Collett
was two years old when he was living at Wilby with his family. At the age of 11, in 1850, Hammond and his
siblings were living with his mother Dinah at the Hoxne Union Workhouse, while his
father served a two-week sentence in Ipswich prison. However, by the time of the census on 30th
March 1851 Hammond was still living at the Hoxne Union Workhouse, but on that
occasion, he was with his father Robert, his sister Susan (below), and
his brother John (below), while his mother and his others siblings were
elsewhere. It was around the time of the
1861 Census that Hammond was working as a carter for a local farmer in Wilby,
when he was dismissed from the job. In
1863 he was a witness at the wedding of his sister Susan Collett (below). It is interesting to note that both signed
their names in the marriage register which, despite coming from an impoverished
family, indicates the educated status of the family from the previous wealthier
generations. A little while later he
moved to Brentford to seek work where, in 1864 he secured employment as a
malt-man working for one of the many breweries that flanked the River Thames
within the Brentford area. It was
through his work that he met Isaac Bradford a maltster at the brewery and through
whom he was introduced to his daughter Mary Bradford
Hammond married Mary Bradford on 17th
December 1865 at Turnham Green in Middlesex, the event recorded at Brentford
(Ref. 3a 85) during the fourth quarter of 1865, Mary having been born on 6th
December 1840 at Kingston-upon-Thames, where her birth was recorded (Ref. iv
199) early in 1841, and where she was baptised on 24th January 1841,
her father being Isaac Bradford and her mother being Hannah Joles, who were
married at Long Ditton in Surrey on 6th September 1835. The wedding register confirmed that Hammond
was a maltster residing at Turnham Green, the son of bricklayer Robert Collett,
while Mary was the daughter of malt-man Isaac Bradford, when one of the
witnesses was John Collett, Hammond’s younger brother (below). The first child born to Hammond and Mary was
a daughter, who sadly did not survive, although two further children were born
to the couple prior to the census in 1871.
On that occasion that family of four was living in the Chiswick area of
Brentford, where Hammond was 31, Mary was 30, son Hammond I Collett was two,
and daughter Mary A Collett was one year old.
By the time of the next census in 1881, a further four children had been
added to the family, with a final child born during the following year. The census return for 1881 recorded the
family residing at Back Lane in Chiswick where they were listed as Hammond
Collett, aged 41 and from Wilby, his wife Mary Collett, aged 40 and from
Kingston-on-Thames, and their six surviving children. They were Hammond Collett, aged 12, Mary A
Collett, aged 11, Alfred Lewis Collett, who was nine; Robert Collett, who was
five; Ada E Collett, who was three; and John Collett who was just six months
old. Curiously the place of birth for
the two youngest children was given as being Brentford, while all of the other
children had been born at Chiswick
After another ten years the family was complete
when it was still living in the Chiswick area in 1891. Hammond was 51, Mary was 50, Mary A Collett
was 21, Alfred L Collett was 19, Robert Collett was 15, Ada E Collett was 12,
John Collett was 10, and the last child Rosetta Collett, was eight years
old. Just after the turn of the century
Hammond Collett of Suffolk, aged 62, was working as a general labourer at
Chiswick, when he and his family were living at 4 Woodings Cottages, Back Lane. His wife Mary Collett who was 63 had been
born at Kingston-upon-Thames, and their daughter Ada Emily Collett who was 23
had been born at Chiswick. Living nearby
with his own family was their married son Hammond. Eight years later Hammond (senior) died in
1909 at 70 years of age, his death recorded in Middlesex (Ref. 3a 82) during
the last three months of the year. His
wife lived on for a few more years and in April 1911 she was living with her
son Robert and his family in Chiswick, where she was described as widow Mary Collett
aged 70. The later death of Mary Collett
was recorded at Richmond register office in Surrey (Ref. 2a 475) during the
third quarter of 1923 when she was 82
18P165 – Annie Collett was born in 1866 at
Brentford, London
18P166 – Hammond Isaac Collett was born in 1868 at
Chiswick, London
18P167 – Mary Ann Collett was born in 1870 at
Chiswick, London
18P168 – Alfred Lewis Collett was born in 1872 at
Chiswick, London
18P169 – ROBERT COLLETT was born in 1875 at
Chiswick, London
18P170 – Ada Emily Collett was born in 1877 at
Chiswick, London
18P171 – John Collett was born in 1880 at
Chiswick, London
18P172 – Rosetta Collett was born in 1883 at
Chiswick, London
Susan
Collett [18O106] was
born at Wilby where she was baptised on 28th February 1841, the
eldest daughter of Robert Collett and Dinah Lockwood. Her birth was recorded at Hoxne (Ref. xiii
424) during the first two months of 1841.
She was just a few months old at the time of the Wilby census in June
1841, and ten years later in 1851, when Susan was 10 years old, she was living
at the Hoxne Union Workhouse with her father, and her brothers Hammond and
John. Ten years later, and after leaving
school and entering domestic service, Susan Collett from Wilby was 20 and
working as a cook at a school in Bury-St-Edmunds. It was also at Wilby that she married Amos
Sharman of Brundish on 30th April 1863. Their wedding was recorded at Hoxne (Ref. 4a
781) during the second quarter of 1863, while the previous entry for Hoxne was
that of the marriage of Susan Collett nee Vincent [18N30] who married James
Wright during the same quarter of 1863. Both
Susan and her brother Hammond Collett (above), who was a witness at the
wedding ceremony, signed the register in their own hand. Amos Sharman was a labourer like his father
David Sharman, and was a widower when he married Susan. Sophia Harvey was the first wife of David
Sharman, whose daughter Mary Ann Sharman (the sister of Amos) became the wife
of John Collett [18N46]. In 1871 the
family at Wilby comprised Amos aged 35, Susan aged 30, William Sharman
aged 12, Annie Sharman who was seven, Elijah who was three, and
Georgiana who was one year old. By 1881 Susan and Amos and their family were
still residents of Wilby, living at Wilby Green. Their children were Elijah Sharman aged
13; Georgiana Sharman aged 11; David Sharman who was nine; Alvina
Sharman who was seven; and Arthur J Sharman who was five, and all of
them born at Wilby
The family continued to live in Wilby where
they were in 1891, at The Green, and again in 1901. For the former census return, Amos was 54,
Susan was 50, their unmarried son Elijah was 33, and grandson Charles Sharman
who was 12. Staying with the family that
day was Amos’ grandson Charles Sharman who was 12 years of age and the son of
William Sharman (born 1858), who was the son from the first marriage of Amos
Sharman and Elizabeth Allum who did not have survive the ordeal of birth of their
son. By 1901 Amos Sharman was 65 and a
horseman on a farm, and Susan Sharman was 60 when they were still living at
Wilby Green. Seven years later, Susan
Sharman nee Collett died at Wilby, with her death recorded at Hartismere
register office (Ref. 4a 497) during the fourth quarter of 1908 at the age of
67. After a further three years her
widowed husband Amos was living alone at Wilby Green when he was 77 and a farm
labourer and after another four years the death of Amos Sharman was recorded at
Hartismere register office (Ref. 4a 1066) during the second quarter of 1915,
when he was 82
John
Collett [18O107] was
born at Wilby and baptised there on 2nd July 1843, the son of Robert
and Dinah Collett, his birth recorded at Hoxne (Ref. xiii 401). He married Sarah Mallett of Pimlico by banns
at Chelsea on 30th July 1866, the wedding recorded there (Ref. 1a
433) seven months after John had signed the register at Turnham Green
(Brentford) as a witness to the marriage of his eldest brother Hammond (above). The wedding register stated that bricklayer
John Collett, was 23 and the son of Robert Collett, also a bricklayer, when he
was residing at 5 Stratham Place, Stewart’s Grove in Chelsea, while Sarah
Mallett was 22, daughter of Ephraim Mallett, a gardener, and residing at 55 Arthur
Street in Chelsea. The couple’s first
two children were born at Chelsea with the remainder being born and baptised at
Wilby, and buried there as well. On the
day of the next census in 1871, the family living at Wilby comprised bricklayer
John Collett who was 27 and born at Wilby, Sarah Collett who was 26 and born at
Pimlico, John Collett junior was three and born at Chelsea, and Ephraim Collett
was one-year-old, also born at Pimlico. Staying
with the family that day was Sarah’s younger brother, 19-year-old Ephraim
Mallett, also born at Pimlico. In 1881
the family was living at Framlingham Road in Wilby. John was a 34 years old bricklayer and his
wife Sarah was aged 36. With them were
their children, John aged 13, Ephraim aged 11, Robert who was nine, Alfred who
was eight, James who was five, Charles who was four, Sarah who was three, and
Emily aged six months. The first two
children had been born at Chelsea, with the rest born after the family returned
to Wilby. Also living at Framlingham
Road in Wilby at that time was John’s brother Alfred Collett (below) and
his family who were near next-door neighbours, with just one property in
between them. John and his family were
still living there in 1891 when he was 48 and Sarah was 47. The children still living with them on that
occasion were John Collett aged 23, Robert Collett aged 19, Alfred Collett aged
18, James Collett aged 16, Charles Collett aged 15, Sarah Collett aged 13, and
Emily Collett who was 10 years old, with the couple’s three youngest children
having died in infancy some years before
Just after the turn of the century John Collett
was 57 and still earning a living as a bricklayer, and Sarah Collett was 56,
when they were still living in Wilby between The Lodge and Stone House, with
just their unmarried son Alfred Louis Collett living with them who was 28. Sarah’s place of birth was confirmed as
Pimlico while John occupation was that of a bricklayer. Following the death of his wife Sarah, which
was recorded at Hoxne (Ref. 4a 463) during the second quarter of 1906, John
left Wilby and moved the five miles south-east to Dennington north of
Framlingham, to live with his married son Alfred Louis Collett and his family,
where bricklayer John was 67 in the Dennington census of 1911. That day John’s younger son Charles was also
living there at the home of his older married brother Alfred, together with
John’s granddaughter Emily Emiliea Collett who was eight years old and born at
Wilby. It seems very likely that John
Collett was the last member of the family to live in Wilby after many centuries
of continuous residency, since no one of the Collett name was living there in
April 1911. The death of John Collett at
Dennington was recorded at Hartismere (Ref. 4a 1020) during the fourth quarter
of the following year, when he was 69
18P173 – John Collett was born in 1866 at
Chelsea, London
18P174 – Ephraim George Collett was born in 1870 at
Chelsea, London
18P175 – Robert Collett was born in 1871 at Wilby
18P176 – Alfred Louis Collett was born in 1873 at Wilby
18P177 – Harry Collett was born in 1874 at Wilby
18P178 – James Collett was born in 1875 at Wilby
18P179 – Charles Collett was born in 1876 at
Wilby
18P180 – Sarah Ann Collett was born in 1878 at
Wilby
18P181 – Amelia Betsy Collett was born in 1879 at
Wilby
18P182 – Emily Collett was born in 1880 at
Wilby
18P183 – Mary Ann Collett was born in 1882 at
Wilby
18P184 – Ernest Collett was born in 1884 at
Wilby
18P185 – Arthur Collett was born in 1885 at
Wilby
Robert
Collett [18O108] was
born at Wilby, with his birth recorded at Hoxne (Ref. xiii 460) during the
second quarter of the year, who was then baptised at Wilby on 11th
May 1845. He died when he was one year
and six months old and was buried at Wilby on 11th December 1846,
the son of Robert and Dinah Collett, his death recorded at Hoxne (Ref. xiii
337)
Ann
Collett [18O109] was
born at Wilby in 1849, her birth recorded at Hoxne (Ref. xiii 432) during the
third quarter of the year, following which she was baptised there on 5th
August 1849. The baptism record
confirmed that she was the daughter of Robert Collett and his wife Dinah. At the age of 21 Ann Collett from Wilby was
working as servant for draper Frederick Fletcher and his school teacher wife
Emma at Ealing Lane in Brentford, Middlesex.
She later married David Bridges at Wilby on 31st December 1873,
the event recorded at Hoxne (Ref. 4a 1259) during the first month of 1874. David was a labourer of Tannington and was
the son of Israel Bridges, himself a labourer.
Seven years after their wedding day, David Bridges was 30 and an
agricultural labourer, and Ann Bridges was 31 and living in a tied dwelling on Hall
Farm in Framlingham, Suffolk, with three children in 1881. The children were Mary Elizbeth Bridges
(born 1875) who was six, Eliza Bridges (born in 1876) who was four, David
Bridges (born 1878) was three, and Dinah Matilda Bridges (born 1880,
died 1885) was one-year-old. The first
three children had been born at Dennington.
It seems highly likely that the youngest child did not survive, simply
because the next daughter added to the family was given the name Dinah. The family was living at College Road in
Framlingham by 1891, where David was 41 and a farm labourer, Ann was 42, Eliza
was 14 and a domestic servant, David junior was 13 and a smith, and the new
arrival Dinah Matilda Bridges (born 1886) was only five years of age
from Langham. It was at the same address
that the family was living 1901, when it was only Dinah aged 14 a domestic
nurse, who was living with her parents at College Road Framlingham in
1901. By then David was 51 was a
slaughterman, butcher, and pig killer, having his own account, when his wife Ann
was 52. After a further ten years, and
still residing in Framlingham, David Bridges was 61 and a pig butcher and his Annie
Bridges was 62. The 1911 census return
stated that David and Ann had been married for 37 years during which time they
had given birth to a total of eight children, of which only four were still
alive that day. It was during the last
three months of 1911 when the death of Annie Bridges was recorded at Plomesgate
register office (Ref. 4a 1076) at the age of 62. Eleven years after her passing the death of
David Bridges was recorded at Hartismere register office (Ref.4a 907) during
the quarter of 1932 when he was 72
Alfred
Collett [18O110] was
born in the Hoxne Union Workhouse in Stradbroke near Wilby early in 1851, the
last child of Robert Collett and Dinah Lockwood whose birth was recorded at
Hoxne (Ref. xiii 306) during the first three months of that year. He was under one year old in the Wilby census
of 1851 when he and his mother and two older siblings were living at London
Road in Wilby, when his place of birth was recorded as Stradbroke. On the same census day, his father, and
another three older siblings, were living at the Hoxne Union Workhouse in
Stradbroke. Alfred was 10 years old in
the Wilby census of 1861, when he and his reunited family were still living in
Wilby, where it was said he had been born.
No record so far has been found for Alfred in 1871, but just over three
years later he became a married man. It
was also at Wilby that he married Caroline Smith on 14th June 1874,
the event recorded at Hoxne (Ref. 4a 837), the daughter of labourer John Smith
who was born at Brundish with her birth recorded at Bosmere during the fourth
quarter of 1853 (Ref. 4a 429). All of
the early children of Alfred and Caroline were born and baptised at Wilby,
while the later children were born at nearby Stradbroke. According to the 1881 Census, Alfred, aged 30
and from Wilby, was a cattle drover living at Framlingham Road in Wilby. Living with him was his family, comprising
his wife Caroline, aged 27 of Brundish, sons Cornelius and David, who were six
and five, and daughters Elizabeth and Anna, aged three years and ten months
respectively. Also living with them was
Alfred’s widowed mother Dinah Collett.
Living at the next house but one from Alfred and his family in
Framlingham Road in Wilby, was his brother John Collett (above) with his
family
Ten years later, at the time of the census in
1891, Alfred and his family were residing at Laxfield Road in Stradbroke. Alfred and Caroline were both 40, when Alfred
was working as a drover, while their children were Cornelius 17, David 15,
Elizabeth 14, Anne 12, and Katy who was seven years old. With no reference to daughter Dinah, it may
be assumed that she had died by then.
Sometime during the last decade of the century, Alfred found himself in
some sort of trouble since, within the census of 1901, he was described as an
inmate and a prisoner in Ipswich, where he was confirmed as Alfred Collett from
Stradbroke who was 52 and a cattle drover.
On that same day, his wife Caroline Collett was living at Wootten Green
in Stradbroke with her youngest surviving daughter Kate Collett, aged 18, and a
granddaughter Ethel Minnie Collett from Stradbroke who was three years
old. Head of the household Caroline was
48 and a general domestic servant from Brundish. However, the couple was eventually reunited
and was residing at Wootten Green by the time of the next census in 1911. Alfred Collett of Wilby was 60 and again
working as a cattle drover, while his wife Caroline Collett of Brundish was 58. Still living with the couple was their
granddaughter Ethel Collett, aged 13 and from Stradbroke. It therefore seems likely, in the absence of
any better information, that granddaughter Ethel Minnie Collett was the
base-born child of their daughter Annie who would have been around 17 years
when she became with-child. This would
rule out her mother being Kate Collett who would have been 13 or 14
The couple’s older daughter Elizabeth became a
married woman in 1898, her marriage and the birth of Ethel Minnie both recorded
at Hoxne during the same three months in 1898.
Subsequently, Elizabeth appears with her husband and children in the census
of 1901 and again in 1911. Furthermore,
no record of daughter Annie Collett has been discovered in either of the census
returns for 1901 and 1911, which may indicate she died during the birth of
Ethel Minnie Collett or shortly thereafter.
Less than two years later Alfred Collett died at Wootten Green, when his
death at the age of 62 was recorded at Hartismere register office (Ref. 4a
1159) during the first three months of 1913.
In the 1939 Register, especially produced with
war looming in Europe, widow Caroline Collett was undertaking domestic duties
at 21 Baker Street in Doncaster. The
register recorded her date of birth as 4th October 1853. Four other people were living at that
address, and they farm labourer Lewin Pybus born on 24th August
1901, his wife Florence E Pybus born on 10th December 1906, a
housewife, and their two sons, Horace Collett born on 18th October
1925, and Charles Collett born on 28th November 1928, both of them
attending school. Florence E Pybus was
formerly Florence Elizabeth Collett the youngest child of Caroline’s eldest son
Cornelius Collett. Caroline survived her
husband Alfred by twenty-eight years, when her death was recorded at Doncaster
register office (Ref. 9c 1622) during the first quarter of 1941, at the age of
87
18P186 – Cornelius Collett was born in 1874 at
Wilby
18P187 – David Collett was born in 1876 at
Wilby
18P188 – Elizabeth Collett was born in 1877 at
Wilby
18P189 – Annie Collett was born in 1880 at
Wilby
18P190 – Dinah Collett was born in 1882 at
Stradbroke
18P191 – Kate Collett was born in 1884 at
Stradbroke
Harriet
Anne Collett [18P1] was
born at Ubbeston in 1829 and was baptised at Heveningham on 9th
August 1829, the eldest of the four children of Anthony Collett and Harriet
Pett Hannam. The village of Ubbeston in
Suffolk lies midway between Framlingham and Halesworth. By 1841 Harriet was 11 years old and was
still living at Ubbeston with her family.
Not long after that, the family moved to Bury-St-Edmunds, where Harriet
was 21 and under occupation in 1851, she was simply described as ‘at
home’. She later married the
considerably older, Reverend John Ley, Rector of Waldron in Sussex, and the
couple initial settled in Devon. Their
wedding day was recorded at Bury-St-Edmunds (Ref. 4a 707) during the second
quarter of 1857. John Ley is reputed to
have owned land in Canada, although that has not been verified. On the day of the census in 1861 the Reverend
John Ley aged 56 and the Rector of Waldron, Sussex, was at All Saints Church
Rectory, where he had a groom and a charwoman in his employment, when his wife
was at the Dover home of John’s married brother. Harriet Anne Ley from Ubbeston was 31 and the
sister-in-law to the head of household.
It was also at Waldron in Sussex that married Harriet Anne Ley was
recorded in 1871 at the age of 41, when John was 66. Although her husband was absent that day,
Harriet had living with her, her sister Frances Ellen Collett, aged 22 and from
Bury-St-Edmunds, two cousins, and a domestic cook. The first of the two cousins was William
Hannan Henderson, a clergyman aged 25, the other being Andrew Hannan who was
29, who may have been related to her mother’s Hannam family
According to the Torquay census of 1881, John
Ley, aged 76, was Clerk in Holy Orders for the Care of Souls who had been born
at Ashprington near Totnes in Devon. His
wife was described as Harriet Anne Ley, aged 51, a clergyman’s wife from
Ubbeston in Suffolk. The couple’s
address was given as Tor Church, Beechcroft Road in Tormoham, where they
employed two female domestic servants.
Just prior to the day of the census in 1891, the death of John Ley was
recorded at Newton Abbott in Devon (Ref. 5b 136) during the first three months
of 1891 at the age of 86. At the time of
the census in 1881, Harriet’s unmarried sister Maria (below) was still
living with their mother at Dover.
However, upon being made a widow, and also following the death of her
mother, the two sisters lived together at Tor Church Road in Torquay, as
confirmed by the census in 1891, when Harriet A Ley was 61, her sister Maria
Collett was 57, when living with them was Harriet’s sister-in-law Mary S Ley
from Somerset who was 60, when all three ladies were living on their own
means. Looking after the needs of the
three elderly ladies were three domestic servants, including a cook and a
nurse. That arrangement continued for a
further three years, until 1894 when Maria died. Following the death of her sister, Harriet
left Devon when she moved to Dallington Lodge on Maori Road in
Stoke-next-Guildford in Surrey, where she spent the remainder of her
years. That was confirmed by the census
returns in 1901 and 1911, in the first of which she was listed as Harriet Anne
Ley, aged 71 and from Ubbeston, who was living on her own means, employing a
cook and a housemaid. It was at
Dallington Lodge in Guildford that she was residing in 1911 when she was 81,
having private means, and three domestic members of staff by then, including a
cook, a housemaid, and a parlourmaid
Two years after that census day, Harriet Anne
Ley, nee Collett, passed away at Dallington Lodge, Maori Road in Guildford on
25th January 1913, at the age of 83, her death recorded at Guildford
register office (Ref. 2a 159). Her Will
was proved at Guildford on 11th March 1913, when the first
beneficiary was Harriet’s unmarried younger sister Frances Ellen Collett, the
second was Harriet’s nephew Jacob Ley, the third being spinster Janet Emily
Tatham from Dallington in Sussex, a professional milliner who was 45 and living
with Harriet in 1911 as a boarder, so presumably caring for Harriet during her
last two years. The earlier death of her
late husband took place on 26th March 1891 at Beechcroft Road in
Torquay, following which his Will, and a codicil, valued at £7,452 0 Shillings and
10 Pence, was proved at Exeter on 29th May 1891 by the Reverend
Anthony Collett of Elmsted Vicarage at Ashford in Kent, a clerk (in Holy
Orders) and William John Woolcombe of Plymouth, solicitor, and Jacob Ley of
Holmleigh, Kingskerwell, Devon, Esquire, nephew, the three executors. By the time of Harriet’s death in 1913, her
estate was estimated to be worth £4,374 19 Shillings and 4 Pence
Maria
Collett [18P2] was
born at Ubbeston in late 1833 and was baptised there on 11th January
1834, the second child of Anthony and Harriet Collett. She was seven years old in the Ubbeston
census of 1841. Over the following years
her family went to live in Bury-St-Edmunds where she was living with them in
1851 at the age of 17. With the death of
her father during the 1850s, Maria’s mother moved to Dover St James where the
family was recorded in 1861 and 1871, when Maria Collett was 27 and 37
respectively. She never married and in
1881 she was still living with her widowed mother Harriet Pett Collett and her
sister Frances Ellen Collett (below) at 6 Camden Crescent in Dover St
James. Her place of birth in the census
that year was given as Ubbeston Green.
After the death of her mother during the 1880s, Maria moved to Torquay
to live with her widowed sister Harriet (above). It was there in 1891, at the age of 57, that
Maria was living within the Newton Abbot & Torquay census registration
district with her sister. Also staying
nearby at a lodging house in Torquay at that time was her brother Anthony (below). It was just three years later that Maria
Collett of Ubbeston died on 12th November 1894 at the age of 60, her
death recorded at Elham in Kent (Ref. 2a 566), after which she was buried at
Elmstone, Kent, on 16th November 1894. Her Will was proved in London on 5th
January 1895 by the Reverend Anthony Collett, a clerk (in Holy Orders),
her brother, when the estate of Maria Collett, spinster of Elmsted Vicarage,
Elmsted in Kent, was valued at £4,010 17 Shillings and 11 Pence
Anthony
Collett [18P3] was
born at Ubbeston in 1835, where he was baptised on 13th November
1835, the only son of Anthony Collett and Harriet Pett Hannam. He was five years old in the Ubbeston census
of 1841, but shortly after his family moved to Bury-St-Edmunds, where he was
still living with his family in 1851 aged 15.
He was initially educated at Bury School under Doctor Donaldson, and
then on 3rd March 1854 Anthony Collett from Ubbeston entered Trinity
College in Cambridge. He was 18 years
old and the son of Anthony Collett of Bury-St-Edmunds. He gained his Bachelor’s degree in 1859 and
his Master’s degree in 1869. Upon
completion of his BA, Anthony was ordained as a deacon at Canterbury, and in
1860 he was ordained a priest. From 1859
until 1874 he was the curate at St Mary’s Church in Dover. It was after the death of his father during
the late 1850s, that Anthony and his sisters Maria (above) and Frances (below),
travelled with their mother to Dover St James where they were living in 1861,
when Anthony was 25. Anthony and Maria
were still living with their mother at Dover St James ten years later in 1871,
when Anthony was 35. After 1874 and up
to 1880 Anthony was the Curate of Hastingleigh, where he assisting the frail Gostwyck Prideaux who had
suffered a stroke. From 1880 to
1895 Anthony Collett was Rector of Hastingleigh with Elmsted, and Vicar of
Bredhurst from 1895 to 1905.
Hastingleigh and Elmsted are adjacent villages to the east of Ashford in
Kent. By the time of the census in 1881,
bachelor Anthony was 45 and was living at The Rectory in Hastingleigh, when his
place of birth was recorded as Ubbeston in Suffolk. With him at The Rectory, he had two servants,
housekeeper Mary A Hedge aged 30, and George Wyborn, groom and gardener aged 24
Whether because of the recent death of his
eldest sister’s husband, Anthony Collett was temporarily staying at Endsleigh
House, a lodging house in Church Road, Torquay in 1891, not far from where his
eldest sister Harriet Anne Ley was living, and with her their sister
Maria. The census that year also
confirmed that Anthony was 55 and from Ubbeston, and that he was Rectory of
Hastingleigh. Three years later his
sister Maria died at Torquay, and by March 1901 Anthony was living at Boxley
near Maidstone in Kent with his youngest sister Frances. Anthony Collett, aged 65 and from Ubbeston,
was a Church of England clergyman, while his sister Frances E Collett from
Bury-St-Edmunds was 52. The two siblings
were still living together ten years later, but by then they were living at
Canterbury. Anthony was 75, and his
sister was 61. Towards the end of his life
Anthony resided at Barton Fields in Canterbury, and it was there also that he
suffered a tragic end to his life, when he was found dead in his bath on 10th
December 1924. And it was at Elmsted Church that he was buried with two of
his sisters on 15th
December 1924. The following
obituary appeared in the Kentish Express newspaper two days after the
discovery. “The Reverend Anthony Collett, aged 89, was found dead in the bath at
his Canterbury residence. At the inquest
a verdict of natural causes was returned. The reverend gentleman was formerly
Curate at St Marys Dover, Rector of Hastingleigh, and Vicar of Bredhurst.” The
death of Anthony Collett was recorded at Canterbury register office (Ref. 2a
1035) and his Will was proved at Canterbury on 21st January 1925 to
Philip James Hannam, a retired civil servant.
The personal effects of Anthony Collett of Ellerslie, Barton Fields,
east of Canterbury, was reported to be £29,602 0 Shillings and 7 Pence
Eight days later the same newspaper ran the
following article on 20th December regarding his funeral at
Elmsted: As briefly announced in our
last issue, the Rev. A. Collett M.A. of Ellerslie, New Dover Road, Canterbury
was found dead under tragic circumstances at his residence on Thursday
week. The deceased gentleman, who was 89
years of age, was apparently in his usual health considering his advanced years
and had walked into the town with Miss Blofield who was staying with him. They subsequently had dinner and prayers and
after, saying Good Night, Mr Collett went to his bath. About midnight Miss Wilson, a maid, not
having heard Mr Collett leave the bath room, became anxious, woke up the other
maid and they went to the housekeeper’s room.
The housekeeper receiving no response to her knock at the door, called
Miss Blofield, who called in Mr Simmons living nearby. He, bursting open the door, found Mr Collett
lying face downwards in the bath with his head covered with water. The bath was emptied, the deceased gentleman
removed, and Dr Stewart Wacher
sent for, who on arrival found that death had taken place an hour or so
earlier. At the inquest at which a
verdict of Death by Natural Causes
was returned, Dr Wacher said death might have been due to accidental drowning
or a heart attack before falling into the water. He had attended Mr Collett for
the past three years for giddiness due to a weak heart action. The late Mr Collett, who was educated at
Trinity College, Cambridge, and ordained in 1859, had spent the whole of his
active ministry (over 47years) in Kent.
He was Curate of St Marys Dover until 1874, Curate of Hastingleigh with Elmsted 1874-1880, Rector of Hastingleigh
with Elmsted 1880-1895 and Vicar of Bredhurst 1895-1906. Since his retirement he had resided at
Canterbury, where he had frequently assisted at church services. He was a member of several societies and took
a keen interest in the Kent and Canterbury Hospital and other charitable
institutions; he was highly respected and beloved by many
During the time he was at Elmsted, the reverend
gentleman was instrumental in carrying out many much-needed improvements to the
churches. In the years 1877 and 1879
both the Elmsted and Hastingleigh churches were completely restored and
re-seated, and later a new organ was installed at Elmsted. Mr Collett was responsible for the erection
of the new Elmsted Vicarage, at Bodsham, and presented the village with the
splendid Parish Hall at the Parish Room, Tamley Lane in
Hastingleigh. The funeral took place on Monday at the
little church on the hill at Elmsted.
The service, which was of a very simple nature as befitted a man of such
unostentatious character, was conducted by the Rev. H Hammond of Elmsted and
the Rev. G.C. Clairmonte of Petham. The
hymn ‘On the Resurrection Morning’
was sung and as the cortege left the church for the graveside while Miss Emily
Hayward, the organist, played the Dead March in Saul. The coffin was of plain unpolished oak, with
a small brass plate and a large wooden cross on the cover. The immediate followers were Mr and Mrs
Hamman, Mrs J Harvey, Mr J D Harvey, Miss Blofield, Mr and Mrs Collett Mason,
Mr and Mrs J Reeves, and the household servants, while those present in church
and at the graveside included Colonel Irby, Messrs CF Tappenden (Cubison
Tappenden), S Hopkins, J Taylor, W Wetherell, the school master of Bodsham, and
H Hopkins, the Misses Kirke-Smith, Mrs Spicer and Mrs M Hopkins
Floral tributes were received from Mr and Mrs
Reginald Collett, Tony and Bernard, LCAJ and MC Blofield, Mr J S and Mr J D
Harvey, Mr and Mrs F M Furley and Mr Walter Furley, Mrs C H Wilkie, Mrs Rogers,
Misses Helen and Catherine Collett, Mr and Mrs Collett Mason, Miss Upton, A H
Garnon-Williams and Lottie, G J Thompson, Mr and Mrs Reeves, Mr Ley, Mr and Mrs
P J Hannam, Ellen and Winifred the housekeepers, managers of St Paul’s Church
Schools, Samaritans Committee of the Kent and Canterbury Hospital, and scholars
and teachers of St Paul’s School in Canterbury.
At the same hour, a short service was held at St Alphege Church in
Canterbury, where the late Mr Collett was a regular worshipper. The Rev. A A Carter (Rector) officiated, and
the lesson was read by the Rural Dean (the Rev E L Ridge). Among those present were the following ladies
of the Samaritan Fund Committee of the Kent and Canterbury Hospital, Mrs G K A
Bell (president), Mrs E L Holland, Mrs Brunker, Mrs Williams, Mrs Rogers, and
Miss Edwards. Others present included
Admiral Sir R Henderson and Lady Henderson, with Admiral Sir W Henderson, Canon
T G Gardiner, Rev. J T Hales, Rev. J G Kemp, Rev. C H Barton, Miss Wilkie, Miss
Blomfield, Mrs Graham Wills, Mrs R G Hodgson, Mrs Skinner, Mr F P Carroll
(secretary of the Kent and Canterbury Hospital), Miss Purchas (matron at the
Kent and Canterbury Hospital), Mr T A Bowen, Mr R Stanbridge and others. The Reverend Collett’s elder sister Maria is
also buried the graveyard of St James Church at Elmsted, together with his
other sister Frances Ellen, both not far from his own grave which lies under
the shade of an ancient Yew tree to the left of the main entrance to St James
Church. Inside the church, affixed to a
wall, is the commemorative brass plate, the inscription on which is reproduced
below
“In Memory of Rev. Anthony Collett, M.A., Camb.
Who for 20 years was in Spiritual Charge of the parishes of Elmsted and
Hastingleigh and by whose efforts both these churches were restored. He died at Canterbury on 10th Dec
1924 aged 89 years and was buried in this churchyard”. Immediately below the brass plaque is another
plaque in remembrance of his mother Harriet Pett Collett. In 2011 the former home of Anthony Collett at
54 New Dover Road in Canterbury was being used by the Youth Hostel
Association. In addition to all of this,
Collett Close, in the neighbouring hamlet of Bodsham in Kent, is named in his
honour, following his creation of a school there and the building of the
Bodsham Vicarage
Frances
Ellen Collett [18P4] was
born at Bury-St-Edmunds in 1848, her birth recorded there (Ref. xiii 387), the
youngest of the four children of Anthony Collett and Harriet Pett Hannam. It is curious that, unlike her three older
siblings, no baptism record for her has been found, particular bearing in mind
the family’s close connection with the church.
It was as Frances Collett age two years that she was listed with her
family in the Bury-St-Edmunds’ census of 1851.
With the death of her father sometime in the following decade, the
remainder of Frances’ family moved to Dover St James, where Frances, aged 12,
was living with her mother Harriet, her brother Anthony, and one of her
sisters, Maria, in the census of 1861.
It has not been determined where Frances was ten years later in 1871,
but after a further ten years, and at the age of 30 (rather than 32), she was
still not married and was living with her widowed mother Harriet Pett Collett
and her sister Maria Collett at 6 Camden Crescent, Dover St James in Kent. Following the death of her mother during the
1880s, Frances E Collett, aged 42 was living at Elham in Kent, five miles
inland from Folkestone. During the next
decade she was reunited with her brother Anthony, and by March 1901 the
siblings were living together at Boxley near Maidstone in Kent, when Frances E
Collett from Bury-St-Edmunds was 52. The
April census of 1911 listed Frances under her full name of Frances Ellen
Collett from Bury-St-Edmunds, by which time she was 61. On that occasion she was still living with
her brother Anthony but, by that time, the two of them had left Boxley and
instead were living in Canterbury. It
was at the end of 1915 that Frances Ellen Collett passed away on 3rd
December, having spent the previous twenty years acting as the housekeeper for
her brother Anthony who died nine years later.
The Will of Frances Ellen Collett of Ellerslie Barton Fields near
Canterbury, was proved at Canterbury on 14th February 1916 to
Anthony Collett, her brother and a clerk (in Holy Orders), in the sum of
£6,854 13 Shillings
Thomas
Trusson Collett [18P5] of Ringleton House, a farm in Woodnesborough, where he was born in 1840 and where his father
had an extensive acreage, with his birth recorded at Eastry (Ref. v 143) during
the first quarter of the year. It was
also at Woodnesborough that he was baptised on 8th April 1840, the
first-born child of Thomas Collett and Jane Tomlin. Fourteen months later, the family of three
was living at Ringleton Farm in Woodnesborough, where his father was a farmer
at 35 years of age, his mother was 25, and Thomas junior was one year old in
the census of 1841. Ten years later
Thomas Collett from Woodnesborough was 11 and attending a private school on
Oaten Hill within the Canterbury parish of St Mary Bredin. On completing his education, Thomas T Collett
was living with his widowed father at Ringleton House in Woodnesborough on the
day of the census in 1861, when he was 21 but with no stated occupation and
together with his sister Ann (below).
Four years after that he married his cousin Georgiana Collett (below)
by licence at the Parish Church in Monkton, Kent, on 11th July 1865,
their wedding recorded at Thanet (Ref. 2a 1674). Thomas was 25, a bachelor and an esquire from
St Johns Hackney in Middlesex, the son of Thomas Collett esquire, whereas
Georgiana was a minor of Monkton and the daughter of George Collett esquire,
who was born at Monkton in either 1836 or 1837.
Four members from the combined Collett families were the witnesses, and
they were Ann Friend Collett and George Collett, and Sarah Collett and Thomas
Collett. It would appear that, following
their wedding, the couple initially settled down to live at Upper Clapton in
London Borough of Hackney, where their first five children were born, although
the first one suffered an infant death.
Two of those four children were confirmed in the Hackney census of 1871,
when the young family was residing at Clapton Road, where Thomas was 31 and a
landowner and an oil merchant and a dry salter from Woodnesborough, and
Georgiana was 24 and from Monkton. Their
two Hackney born children that day were Thomas Collett who was three and
William George Collett who was one year old.
Employed by the family were three domestic servants, a cook, a housemaid
and a nursemaid. Within the next six
months, Georgiana gave birth to a daughter who was also born at Upper Clapton
and baptised at Hackney. Sometime after
the birth of the couple’s fifth child the family then moved to Kent, where they
lived in the village of Woodnesborough, where their three youngest children
were born. It was at Eastry in Kent,
that the death of their fifth child was recorded during the last three months
of 1875. Surprisingly a search of the
1881 Census has so far not revealed the whereabouts of Thomas or Georgiana and
the three youngest members of their family, although it is known that their
children were educated in England and lived and died there. What the census does reveal was that their
eldest son, Thomas Collett aged 13, was attending The Lines Private School at
Sutton Valence in Kent as a boarder.
That may be a reference to Sutton Valence Grammar School, which was
later attended by Thomas’ younger brother Charles Collett, prior to going to
Cambridge University
Their father, Thomas Trusson Collett, sadly
died just over four months after the national census day that year, when he
passed away on 19th August 1881, aged just 41, when Thomas and
Charles were only 13 and 5 years old respectively. The death of Thomas Trusson Collett was
recorded at Eastry in Kent (Ref. 2a 467).
Five days later, Thomas Trusson Collett was buried at Woodnesborough on
24th August 1881. His Will
and a codicil were proved on 10th December 1881 at the Principal
Registry by the Reverend George Collett of 5 St Mary’s Road in Peckham, Surrey,
a clerk (in Holy Orders), his brother, George Alfred Collett of 7
Westcliff Terrace, Ramsgate in Kent, gentleman, and Georgiana Collett of
Ringleton House, widow and relict, the executors. George Alfred was Georgiana’s brother, and
the documentation stated that Thomas was late of Ringleton, Woodnesborough,
Sandwich, Kent, whose estate was valued at £30,974 15 Shillings and 9 Pence, a
very very considerable sum of money for that time. According to the next census in 1891, widow
Georgiana was still living at Woodnesborough within the Eastry & Sandwich
registration district in Kent. Georgiana
Collett was 44, and living there with her were all four of her children. Thomas Collett was 23, William G Collett was
21, Charles Collett was 15, and Katharine Collett was 12 years old. During the next ten years Georgiana’s three
sons left the family home at Woodnesborough so, by the time of the census in
March 1901, it was just her daughter who was still living there with her. Georgiana Collett from Monkton was 54, while
Katharine Collett of Woodnesborough was 22.
Neither lady was credited with an occupation. It was the same situation ten years later in
April 1911, when Georgina Collett was 64 and living on private means, when she
was still living at Woodnesborough with her unmarried daughter Katharine
Collett who was 32. By that time
Georgiana’s son Charles had died from injuries he sustained in a cycling
accident in 1903. Thirty years after
losing her youngest son, the death of Georgiana Collett was recorded at Eastry
register office (Ref. 2a 1951) during the first three months of 1933, when she
was 86 years old. It was at Wellesley
House Nursing Home in Walmer, Kent, that she died on 20th February
1933, following which her Will amounting to £4,297 4 Shillings was proved in
London on 28th April 1933 to her son William George Collett, a
retired schoolmaster
18Q0 – Thomas Tomlin Collett was born in 1866 at
Upper Clapton, Hackney (London)
18Q1 – Thomas Collett was born in 1867 at
Upper Clapton, Hackney
18Q2 – William George Collett was born in 1869 at
Upper Clapton, Hackney
18Q3 – Caroline Collett was born in 1871 at
Upper Clapton, Hackney
18Q4 – Francis Collett was born in 1873 at Upper Clapton, Hackney
18Q5 – Charles Collett was born in 1875 at
Woodnesborough, Kent
18Q6 – Katherine Collett was born in 1878 at
Woodnesborough, Kent
18Q7 – Trusson Collett was born in 1881 at Woodnesborough, Kent
Ann
Friend Collett [18P6]
was born at Woodnesborough on 13th June 1841, where she was baptised
as Ann Friend Collett on 31st August 1841, the second child of
Thomas and Jane Collett. It is
established that she never married. Like
her older brother Thomas (above), Ann also privately education, in her
case attending an all-girls’ school in at St Lawrence (Isle of Thanet) where,
in 1851, she was a 10-year-old pupil. By
1861, and at the age of 19, Ann Friend Collett was living with her widowed
father, and older brother Thomas, at Ringleton Farm in Woodnesborough. Her father retired from farming during the
following decade, when her youngest brother George took on management of the
farm. All of that was confirmed in the
census of 1871 when Ann F Collett from Woodnesborough was 29 and living at
Ringleton House with her widowed father, and her brother George who had taken
over the running of the family farm.
However, it would appear that the family eventually gave up the farm
when Ann’s father died and her brother George took up his chosen occupation as
clergyman. By 1881 the two unmarried
siblings were living at 5 St Mary’s Road in the Camberwell area of South
London, in Surrey, where Ann F Collett was 39 and head of the household was
George Collett (below) who was 37 and a clergyman M A for the Diocesan
of Rochester. On that census day they
employed four domestic servants, a cook, a housemaid, a gardener, and a general
servant
The pair of them was still living on St Mary’s
Road in Camberwell in 1891, by which time George was 47 and Ann was 49 and
living on her own means. Both of them
were confirmed as having been born at Woodnesborough, while that year their
three domestics servant were a housemaid, an under-housemaid, and a cook. It was at Main Road in
Basildon, Berkshire, that brother and sister were still living together in
1901, when Ann F Collett was 59 and George Collett was 57. Visiting the couple was 56-year-old Minna King
from Camberwell, when they continued to employ three servants. According to the census in 1911, both Ann and
George were residing at Dane Park House in Ramsgate where on for the third time
in her life Ann was recorded as Ann Friend Collett who was described as sharing
the role of head of the household with her brother who was 67. Once again, they had a cook, a housemaid, and
a parlourmaid. Seven years later, Ann
Friend Collett, spinster, was named as the first executor of the Will of her
brother George who died at Dane Park House on 8th May 1918, the
second executor being William George Collett, her nephew, who was one of the
two executors for her own Will twenty-three years later
The 1939 Register, prepared in the United
Kingdom with the Second World War looming, included Ann F Collett who was
living on private means at Dane Park House on Dane Park Road in Ramsgate with
her younger companion and secretary Dora M Potts. Ann lived a very long life and was
ninety-nine years old when she died, her death recorded at Wokingham register
office (Ref. 2c 929) during the second quarter of 1941. The death notice published in the newspaper
on 2nd June 1941 read as follows: “COLLETT, on Saturday May 31
1941, Ann Friend Collett, (born June 14 1841), only daughter of the late Thomas
Collett of Ringleton, Woodnesborough, Kent.
Funeral at Finchampstead, Wednesday June 4 at 12 noon. No flowers.”
The Will of Ann Friend Collett of Dane Park House, who died at
‘Kenilworth’ in Crowthorne, Berkshire, was proved at Llandudno on 20th
October 1941 to William George Collett, retired schoolmaster, and Evelyn
Margaret Collett, spinster, when her personal effects were valued at £20,352 8
Shillings and 3 Pence. William George
Collett (her nephew) was the second son of Ann’s older brother Thomas Trusson
Collett (above), while Evelyn Margaret Collett was the youngest
grandchild of the aforesaid Thomas Trusson Collett, the last child of his
eldest son Thomas Tomlin Collett
James
Tomlin Collett [18P7] was born at Woodnesborough in 1843, the son of Thomas
Collett and Jane Tomlin, his birth recorded at Eastry (Ref. v 145). He was baptised at Woodnesborough on 26th
April 1843, but tragically it was during the first three months of 1844 that
his death was recorded at Eastry (Ref. v 127) before he reached his first
birthday. The body of baby James Tomlin
Collett was buried at Woodnesborough on 13th February 1844
George
Collett [18P8]
was born at Woodnesborough in 1844, the son of Thomas and Jane Collett. According to the census in 1861, 17-year-old
George Collett from Ringleton (House) in Woodnesborough was a scholar at
Henwick House School, within the Parish of Hallow and two miles north of the
City of Worcester. He matriculated in
1862, following which he was accepted at Corpus Christi College in Cambridge on
26th May 1862, when he was confirmed as the second son of Thomas of
Ringleton (House), Woodnesborough in Kent.
After four years he obtained his Bachelor of arts degree in 1866 and his
Master’s degree after a further three years in 1869. By 1871 George Collett, a curate, had
returned to the family home in Woodnesborough, when the head of the household
was his widowed father, a retired yeoman, with George having taken over
management of Ringleton Farm at the age of 27.
The farm was described as being 300 and 400 acres, on which was employed
17 men and 5 boys. Three years later,
George was ordained as a deacon and the following year (in 1875) he became a
priest in the City of Worcester. In
addition to that, he was the Curate of Lozells in Birmingham up to 1876, when
he was appointed the Curate at Redhill in Surrey from 1876 to 1878. He never married and, at the time of the
census in 1881, George Collett was 37 and a Rochester Diocesan clergyman with a
Master of Arts degree, living at 5 St Mary’s Road, Camberwell in Peckham. Listed at the house with him, was his older
sister Ann F Collett (above), aged 39, plus four servants. There then followed a four-year-term up to
1884, when he was the Curate at Peckham, after which he was the Vicar at
Peckham until 1892.
That situation was confirmed in the next census
of 1891, when George Collett from Woodnesborough was 47 and the Vicar of St
Marks Church in Peckham when he was living 5 St Mary’s Road in Camberwell,
within the Peckham district of London.
Still living there with him was his unmarried sister Ann F Collett who
was 49 and living on her own means.
Completing the household were three domestic servants. From 1892 he was the Vicar of Basildon in
Berkshire, up until 1910, as confirmed in the Basildon census of 1901. Again, it was George and his sister Ann who
were still living together at the vicarage on Main Road in the town, but by
then they were employing four domestic servants. George Collett was a clergyman of the Church
of England at the age of 57, when his sister Ann was 59, both born at
Woodnesborough. On completing his term
of office as the Vicar of Basildon in 1910, George and sister retired and spent
the latter years of their life together at Dane Park House on Dane Park Road in
Ramsgate, where they were recorded in the census of 1911. The census return that year indicated the
George and Ann were sharing the role of head of the household, when George was
67 and a pensioner and a clergyman with the Church of England, and Ann Friend
Collett was 69. Once again, they had
three domestic servants, a cook, a parlourmaid, and a young housemaid. It was also at Dane Park House where George
Collett died on 8th May 1918, at the age of 74, his death recorded
at Thanet register office (Ref. 2a 1261).
His Will was proved in London on 10th June 1918 to Ann Friend
Collett, spinster, and William George Collett, schoolmaster, the two executors
of his estate valued at £9,195 11 Shillings and 1 Penny
Catharine
Collett [18P9] was
born at Monkton in Kent in 1835, where she was baptised on 30th
November 1835, the eldest child of George Collett and his first wife Sarah
Crofts King. By the time she was 16,
Catharine Collett from Monkton was attending Mount Albion School for Girls in
St Lawrence-in-Thanet, and was back living at Monkton with her father and
stepmother in 1861 when she was 25 and a farmer’s daughter. It was shortly after that when she married
Benjamin Thomas Whittington from the City of London, their wedding recorded at
Thanet (Ref. 2a 1001), with older Benjamin baptised at St Botolph’s Church in
Bishopsgate on 13th June 1823, the son of Benjamin Whittington and
Elizabeth Bonaker. Catharine gave birth
to four children during the years leading up to the next census in 1871, by
which time the family of six was residing at 6 Oxney Villas in Islington,
within the Finsbury area of London.
Benjamin T Whittington was 48 and a commercial clerk from London,
Catharine from Monkton was 36, when the four children were recorded as Georgiana
E Whittington aged seven, Benjamin George Collett Whittington aged
six, Catharine E Whittington aged four, and Richard Whittington
who was two years old. On that census
day, Catherine may well have already been expecting the birth of her fifth
child, with the eventually arrival of Collett Ashmore Whittington. All of the children had been born at
Islington. Ten years later in 1881, the
family was still living in Islington, at 19 St John’s Road, but with only four
of their children, daughter Catharine being absent on that day. Benjamin T Whittington was 58 whose
occupation was that of a cashier in the wine trade, his wife Catharine was 45,
Georgiana was 17, Benjamin was 16 and a solicitor’s clerk, Richard was 12 and
still at school, and Collett A Whittington was nine years of age.
Three years later the death of Catharine
Whittington was recorded at Islington (Ref. 1b 197) during the third quarter of
1884 at the age of 49. The Will of
Catharine Whittington was proved at the Principal Registry on 11th
February 1885 by her husband, who was described as Benjamin Thomas Whittington
of Rosemount, gentleman and sole executor.
It is interesting to note that probate was granted under certain
limitations. The personal effects of
Catharine Whittington, who died on 19th September 1884, was assessed
at £737 6 Shillings and 7 Pence, when she was described as being formerly of 19
St John’s Road, Upper Holloway, but late of Rosemount, 36 Hazelville Road
in Hornsey Lane, Middlesex. After losing
his wife, widower Benjamin was still living at 36 Hazelville Road in 1891, when
he was 68 and a cashier and a book-keeper.
Again, living there with him, were four of his five child; they were
Georgiana aged 27, Catharine aged 24, Richard aged 22 and a student at Oxford,
and Collett A Whittington who was 19 and a bank clerk. By 1901 the family’s home address was 100
Hazelville Road in Islington, where Benjamin was 78 and a retired mercantile
clerk, Georgiana was 37, Catharine was 34 – both of them living on private means,
and Collett A Whittington who was 29 and employed as a clerk for a City of
London Financial Merchant. Eight years
after that day, the death of Benjamin Thomas Whittington was recorded at
Edmonton register office (Ref. 3a 198) during the last three months of 1909,
when he was 86. It was at 33 Woodland
Gardens in Muswell Hill, London, that he passed away on 26th October
1909, following which on 23rd March 1910, the Will for his estate of
£750 12 Shillings and 5 Pence was proved to Collett Ashmore Whittington, a
cashier
George
Collett [18P10] was
born at Walter’s Hall in Monkton in 1838, the second child and eldest son of
George Collett and Sarah Crofts King, whose birth was recorded at the Isle of
Thanet (Ref. v 438) during the second quarter of that year. It was also at Monkton where he was baptised
on 25th June 1838 and where his parents were confirmed as George
Collett and Sarah Crofts Collett.
Tragically he died in 1844 aged just six years
Georgiana
Collett [18P11] was
born at Monkton in 1846, her birth recorded at the Isle of Thanet (Ref. x 304),
and was baptised at Monkton on 9th July 1846, the daughter of George
and Sarah Crofts Collett. Following the
death of her mother in 1850, she was four years old in the census of 1851, when
she was living at Walter’s Hall in Monkton with her widowed father and younger
brother George (below). Ten years
later, Georgiana Collett from Monkton was 14 and a scholar at 58 Avenue Park in
Hampstead. After a further four years, when she was under full age, she was
married by licence to her cousin Thomas Trusson Collett (above) of
Ringleton House, Woodnesborough on 19th August 1865. For more details of Thomas and Georgiana and
their family, go to Thomas Trusson [18P5]
George
Alfred Collett [18P12] was born at Walter’s Hall, Monkton in 1848 and was baptised
at Monkton on 29th May 1848, another son of George and Sarah Crofts
Collett. His birth was recorded at the
Isle of Thanet (Ref. v 517) during the first three months of the year. George was only two years old when his mother
died in March 1850, and was three years old in the census of 1851, when he was
living at Walter’s Hall with his father and sister Georgiana (above). Ten years later George Alfred Collett from
Monkton was a 13-year-old pupil at Henwick House School in the Parish of
Hallow, just north of Worcester, where his cousin and namesake George Collett (above)
was another pupil there in 1861, aged seventeen years. By 1871, George A Collett was 23 and a
farmer’s son, who was again living and working with his father at Monkton. At the time of the next census in 1881,
unmarried George was 33, when he was preparing for his forthcoming wedding in
two-months-time, whilst he was still living with his father George Collett, his
half-brother Cornelius Collett, and his half-sister Isabella Collett (below)
at Walter’s Hall on Main Road in Monkton.
The census returned stated that he earned his income from land. It was at St John’s Church in Brixton, South
London, on 11th June 1881 that George Alfred Collett was married by
licence to Georgina Ching Clemson who was born at Camberwell in 1850, her birth
recorded at Lambeth (Ref. iv 272). She
was then baptised at St Mary’s Church in Lambeth on 14th June 1850,
a daughter of George and Georgina Clemson.
Their entry in the marriage register confirmed that George was 33, a
bachelor and a gentleman from Walter’s Hall in Monkton, the son of George
Collett, a gentleman. Likewise, Georgina
was described as a spinster at 31, residing at 353 Brixton Road, and the
daughter of gentleman George Clemson, deceased.
The wedding was recorded at Lambeth (Ref. 1d 463). The couple’s first son was also born at
Camberwell, whereas their next two children were born at Ramsgate, and the last
two at Monkton, where the family had settled by 1887. The Monkton census in 1891 listed the family
as George A Collett who was 43 and living on private means at Monkton Road,
Georgina C Collett who was 40, George C Collett who was eight, Alfred Collett
who was seven, Dorothy Collett who was five, Harold W Collett who was four and
Percy S Collett who was two years old.
On that occasion the family was employing four female domestic servants:
a cook; a housemaid; and two domestic nurses
By the turn of the century, George and Georgina
were still living at Monkton and, according to the census in 1901, George
Alfred Collett was 53 and he, and his eldest son George Clemson Collett aged
18, were both listed as being farmers.
George’s wife was recorded as Georgina Ching Collett, who was 50 and
from Camberwell in London, and their daughter Dorothy was 15 and her place of
birth was given as St Laurence Ramsgate.
The couple’s three sons, who were absent from the family home on that
occasion, were Alfred who was 17, Harold aged 14, and Percy aged 12, who were
all recorded as living at Edgar Road in Margate, where they were attending the
same boarding school. With the death of
both parents occurring during the following decade, three of the children of
George and Georgina were the only members of his family for whom a record has
been found in the census of 1911, and they were their sons George and Harold,
and daughter Dorothy. It is now known
that sons Alfred and Harold both sailed to Canada in 1906, with Harold
returning on the death of his father the following year, after which it was
Percy who joined Alfred in Canada, where they made their permanent home. George Alfred Collett died on 16th
May 1907 at Monkton, his death recorded at Thanet register office (Ref. 2a 577)
when he was 59. Five days later he was
buried at Minster-in-Thanet on 21st May 1907. The Will of George Alfred Collett was proved
at Canterbury on 29th June 1907, when Georgina Ching Collett was
named as sole executor of his estate. It
was just three years after his passing, that his widow died on 2nd
June 1910, her death recorded at the Kent Eastry register office (Ref. 2a 569)
during the second quarter of 1910, at the age of 60 years. Her Will was proved in London on 30th
June 1910 when her estate was assessed to be £6,723 0 Shillings and 8 Pence and
the two executors were George Clemson Collett, gentleman and Roddom William
Burn, a solicitor. The probate process
confirmed that the home address for Georgina Ching Collett was 33 Kildare
Terrace in Bayswater, London, while it was when she was with relatives in
Woodnesborough that she died at Ringleton House
18Q8 – George Clemson Collett was born in 1882 at
Camberwell, London
18Q9 – Alfred Collett was born in 1883 at
Ramsgate, Kent
18Q10 – Dorothy Collett was born in 1885 at
Ramsgate, Kent
18Q11 – Harold Willis Collett was born in 1887 at
Monkton, Kent
18Q12 – Percy Stapleton Collett was born in 1888 at
Monkton, Kent
Cornelius
Collett [18P13] was
born at Walter’s Hall in Monkton on 26th December 1857, his birth
recorded at Thanet (Ref. 2a 613). He was
the first child of George Collett by his second wife Elizabeth Smith, and was
baptised at Monkton on 10th January 1858. Cornelius was three years old in the census
of 1861 when he was one of three children living with his parents at
Monkton. He attended The Grange School
at Ewell in Surrey, where he was 13-year-old pupil in 1871, and from where he
matriculated in 1878. Later that same
year, on 1st October 1878, he commenced his higher education at
Corpus Christi College in Cambridge.
Upon entry he was referred to as Cornelius Collett of Canterbury, the
son of George Collett of Walter’s Hall, Monkton, Ramsgate in Kent. According to the census in 1881, Cornelius
Collett, aged 23, was unmarried and described as a Cambridge undergraduate
while he was living with his father George Collett and his brother George
Alfred Collett (above) at Walter’s Hall on Main Road in Monkton. It was just over one year later when
Cornelius Collett was married by licence to Edith Mary Solly at St Mary’s
Church in Lewisham in London on 26th April 1882, the event recorded
at Lewisham (Ref. 1d 1362). He was a
bachelor of 24 whose rank or profession was simply recorded as gentleman who
was residing at 4 Selby Villas in Penge, the son of gentleman George Collett
deceased who had only passed away three months earlier. His bride Edith was only 19 and was described
as a spinster of 3 Esmonde Villas in Lewisham, the daughter of gentleman George
Bushell Solly, her birth recorded at Thanet (Ref. 2a 714) during the first
quarter of 1863. Upon being baptised at
Monkton on 5th April 1863 her parents were confirmed as George
Bushell Solly and Eliza Harriet Georgina Solly.
The witnesses at the wedding were Edith’s father and Reginald M Mortimer
However, it was in July of the following year
that Cornelius is alleged to have beaten his wife, who subsequently commenced
divorce proceedings, the detailed papers for which are re-produced here. “It was on 12th September 1884
that the humble petitioner Edith Mary Collett of 4 Selby Road in Anerley near
Croydon in Surrey the lawful wife of Cornelius Collett showeth that after the
said marriage (as detailed above) your petitioner lived and cohabited
with her said husband at Anerley and that there is no issue of the
marriage. That the said Cornelius
Collett has treated your petitioner with great unkindness and cruelty and has
frequently struck beat and otherwise assaulted her. On or about the tenth day of July 1883 the
said Cornelius Collett abused and struck your petitioner on the neck several
blows violently and behaved cruelly towards her. In or about the month of August 1883 the said
Cornelius Collett turned your petitioner out of the house at midnight in her
nightdress and made her stand bare-footed outside the street door for about
half an hour and would not allow her to re-enter the house. On 28th February 1884 the said
Cornelius Collett struck your petitioner leaving the marks of his finger and
causing her face to swell. That the said
Cornelius Collett is in the habit of getting drunk and whilst in that state
abuses and cruelly illuses your petitioner.
That on or about June 14th 1884 the said Cornelius Collett
committed adultery with some woman whose name is unknown to your petitioner and
thereby contracted a venereal disease.
That on or about the month of June 1884 the said Cornelius Collett
wilfully communicated to your petitioner a venereal disease. That the said Cornelius Collett has
frequently committed adultery with diverse other women. Wherefore your petitioner prays that her said
married may be dissolved and that she may have such further and other relief in
the premises as to this honourable court may seem fit. Signed Edith M Collett”
On 18th September, Edith applied to
the High Court of Justice for recovery of money for lodging and physician
expenses, stating that her husband had since emptied their home at Anerley and
had sold all the furniture, a sum of £1,200 being stated. She continued that Cornelius was intending to
dispose of his milk farm in Beckenham and on realising the whole of his estate
was planning to move abroad. In a
rebuttal received by the High Court, Cornelius stated that the proceeds from
the sale of the milk farm at Beckenham will not exceed £250 and that he still
had considerable outstanding debts to settle, while the money from the sale of
the furniture had already been used to pay off some of those debts. He continued by saying that in order to save
costs he had moved to Stone Farm, the weekly rent for which does not exceed £2
10 Shillings. He also denied that he was
intending to move abroad and stated that he had already paid his wife the sum
of £15 on 15th October, that being £3 per week, and could afford to
pay no more. Then, on 14th
Day of November 1884, Edith made a sworn signed statement at 78 Vincent Square
in London regarding additional information relating to the contents of the
petition of 12th September (above). This stated that in London on 14th
June, her husband had been with a known prostitute by the name of Lily and
that, on other unknown dates, he had been with another prostitute known as
Kate. That was accepted by the High
Court of Justice
Charles Trusson Collett [18P14] was born at Walter’s
Hall in Monkton near the end of 1859, with his birth recorded at Thanet (Ref.
2a 662) during the first quarter of 1860.
He was baptised at Monkton on 27th January 1860, another
child of George and Elizabeth Collett, who as Charles T Collett was one year
old in the Monkton census of 1861 when living at Walter’s Hall. Sadly, he was just ten years old when he died
and was buried at Minster on 7th June 1870 using his full name
Isabella
Collett [18P15] was
born at Walter’s Hall in Monkton on the last day of 1860 when she was confirmed
as the daughter of George Collett and Elizabeth Smith, her birth recorded at
Thanet (Ref. 2a 649) during the first month of 1861. Shortly after she was baptised at Monkton on
30th January 1861, when her parents were once again named as George
and Elizabeth Collett, with whom she was living at Monkton in the census of
1861 when she was still under one year of age.
Where Isabella was at the time of the next census in 1871 is not known,
but ten years after that Isabella Collett, aged 20, was living with her father,
a retired farmer, at Walter’s Hall on the Main Road in Monkton. As the senior lady in the house, she had no
occupation, instead it seems likely that she managed the two female servants on
behalf of her elderly father and her old half-brother George Alfred Collett and
her brother Cornelius Collett (above).
The two servants supporting the family were Harriet Gilham who was 30
and the family’s cook, and Sarah Setterfield, aged 24, who was a maid. By 1891, and at the age of 30, Isabella
Collett was living on her own means at the East Hoathly, Sussex, home of her
very elderly widowed aunt Catherine Harbord, within the Uckfield &
Framfield registration district of the county.
Catherine Collett, as she was born, was the widow of Henry Gordon
Harbord and the younger sister of Isabella’s father, and died at East Hoathly
just over eighteen months after the census day in 1891
Following the death of her aunt, Isabella left
Kent and moved into London where, in March 1901, she was recorded as being 40
years of age and residing at 3 Colville Square in Kensington. On that occasion the census confirmed that
her place of birth was Monkton, and that she was again living on her own
means. Visiting her that day was her
eleven-year-old niece Emily Alice Tidmarsh from Appleford in Berkshire, and
completing the people at the address was a general domestic servant. Emily was the child of Alice Maud Tidmarsh,
nee Collett (below), Isabella’s younger sister. Ten years later Isabella Collett from Monkton,
at the age of 50 and living on private means, was still living in the
Kensington a 3 Colville Square, where she had widow Edith Harriet Caldicott and
her three children living with her. That
situation was also confirmed in the electoral roll for Kensington from 1910
through to 1912. After a further
twenty-eight years, Isabella Collett was recorded at 8 Colville Gardens in
Bayswater on the occasion that the 1939 Register was compiled. The entry confirmed that she was born on 31st
December 1860 and was living on private means.
Six years later, the death of Isabella Collett was recorded at
Kensington register office (Ref. 1a 131) during the first three months of
1945. It was at Flat 2, 8 Colville
Gardens in Bayswater, that she died on 18th January 1945, when
administration of her estate of £1,129 2 Shillings and 4 Pence was granted at
Llandudno on 21st March 1945 to Roland Thomas Collett Tidmarsh, a
bank official. Roland was the brother of
the aforementioned Emily Alice Tidmarsh and was therefore a nephew of Isabella
Alice
Maud Collett [18P16] was
born at Walter’s Hall in Monkton towards the end of 1862, her birth recorded at
Thanet (Ref. 2a 711) during the first three months of 1863. She was baptised at Monkton on 16th
January 1863, another daughter of George and Elizabeth Collett. Alice Maud Collett later married the
Reverend Thomas William Tidmarsh, the Rector of Slapton, their wedding recorded
at Abingdon-on-Thames (Ref. 2c 461) during the third quarter of 1888. Thomas William was born in Buckinghamshire,
where his birth was recorded (Ref. 3a 492).
Three years after their wedding day, the couple was recorded a 5
Barringdon Villas in Plympton St Mary, where Thomas W Tidmarsh from Steeple
Clayton, near Buckingham, was 32 and the Curate of St Mary’s Church, and Alice
M Tidmarsh from Monkton was 29. Their
two children were Emily A Tidmarsh who was one year old (approaching her second
birthday), and Frederic A C Tidmarsh who was nine months. Helping Alice was a nurse, a cook, and a
housemaid. More children were added to
the family, although none of them accompanied Thomas and Alice to Bury Farm at
Slapton in Buckinghamshire when they were visitors at the home of farmer Albert
Buckmaster, when Church of England clergyman Thomas Tidmarsh was 41 and his
wife Alice was 38. Regarding the whereas
of their children in 1901, eldest daughter Emily was 11 and a visitor at the
home of her aunt, Isabella Collett (above) at 3 Colville Square in
Kensington, and sons Frederic Collett Tidmarsh aged ten, Charles Collett
Tidmarsh aged nine, and Roland Collett Tidmarsh aged eight, were being
cared for by governess Marian Hutton at 8 Ash Green, Copford in Essex on that
census day
That visit to Slapton in 1901 may have helped
to secure a new position for Thomas since, by 1911 he and his family were
residing at the twelve-roomed Slapton Rectory in Leighton Buzzard. The very detailed census return listed the
couple who had been married for twenty-two years, during with time they had
given birth to nine children, all of them still alive, but with only seven of
them living with their parents. Thomas
was 52 and a clerk in Holy Orders, Alice was 48, with their seven children
being Emily Alice Tidmarsh aged 21 and born at Appleford near Abingdon, Frederic
Arthur Collett Tidmarsh aged 20 and born at Longdon, Lichfield, an
undergraduate at Oxford, Roland Thomas Collett Tidmarsh aged 18 and a
bank clerk who was born at Frome in Somerset, Dorothy May Tidmarsh aged
16 and born at Harbridge, Ringwood in Hampshire, as was Marguerite Winifred
Maud Tidmarsh aged 15, Fabian William Collett Tidmarsh aged nine,
and Lionel George Collett Tidmarsh who was seven years of age. The two youngest children had been born after
the family had arrived in Slapton. The
death of Thomas William Tidmarsh was recorded at the Lancashire Lunesdale
register office (Ref. 8e 873) during the last quarter of 1934, at the age of
75. The Will of the Reverend Thomas
William Tidmarsh of Gressingham Vicarage in Lancaster, who died there on 28th
November 1934, was proved in London on 31st January 1935 to the
Reverend Frederic Arthur Collett Tidmarsh and Dorothy May Tidmarsh, in the sum
of £313 6 Shillings and 6 Pence
Emily
Collett [18P17] was
born at Walter’s Hall, Monkton in 1868, the nineth and last child of George
Collett, and the fifth child by his second wife Elizabeth Smith. Her birth was recorded at Thanet (Ref. 2a
815) during the first three months of that year. It was at Monkton that she baptised on 4th
March 1868. In 1881, Emily and her
mother were lodgers at Hawthorne Villa, the Ventor, Isle of Wight lodging house
of Frederick and Sarah Marks, maybe on holiday there. Emily Collett from Monkton was 13 and a
scholar, and Elizabeth Collett from Manchester was 55. By 1891 the two of
them were still together, but on that census day, they and their three domestic
servants were recorded at 70 Belvedere Road in Penge, London, where Emily was
23 and living on her own means, as was her mother Elizabeth who was recorded as
being 68. It was at 5 Streathbourne
Road in Streatham, South London, that Emily Collett was 33 and head of the
household, who was again living on her own means in 1901, while by 1911 she and
a companion and two domestic servants were residing at 25 Manville Road in
Balham. The property had seven rooms to
accommodate the four ladies, when unmarried Emily Collett from Monkton, Thanet,
Kent, was 43 having private means, and her companion was Anne Darby from Thanet
St Lawrence aged 72. The later death of
Emily Collett was recorded at Wandsworth register office (Ref. 1d 723) during
the first quarter of 1936 when she was 68.
With no family, the proving of her Will at London on 25th
March 1936 named Arnold Francis Steele, a solicitor, as the sole beneficiary of
her estate valued at £6,878 7 Shillings and 1 Penny. The probate process also confirmed that Emily
was still living at 25 Manville Road in the Upper Tooting area of Surrey, where
she passed away on 16th February 1936
Sophia
Elizabeth Collett [18P18] was born at Chelsworth on 28th October 1844 and
was baptised there on 12th November 1844, the eldest child of
William Collett and Mary Cecil Augusta von Linsingen. Her birth was recorded at Cosford in Suffolk
(Ref. xii 333). From 1851 through to
1856, she was living with her family at Chelsworth, after which her father
became the Vicar at Hawstead, where she was still unmarried and living with her
family in 1871. She was recorded as
being 26, but with no occupation. Sophia never married and, in 1881 at the age
of 36, she was a visitor at the home of Richard D Gough, an 81-year-old
Magistrate for Brecon, at Yniscedwyn House in Lower Ystradgynlais in
Brecon. She was living in a flat at 15
Oakley Street in Chelsea, London, during the summer of 1899, and it was there,
as Sophia Elizabeth Collett, aged 54, that she died on 15th August
1899. Her death was recorded at Chelsea
register office (Ref. 1a 309). Following
her passing, her body was taken to Hawstead where her father had been the
Rector of Hawstead, and where she was buried with her parents on 18th
August 1899. Sophia was an acclaimed
painter of miniature portraits and exhibited six works at the Royal Academy
between 1889 and 1893 when living in Chelsea, and the Walker Gallery in
Liverpool during 1888 from her home at Chapel House, Eastgate Street in Bury,
and in 1892 when she was living at Mustow House on Mustow Street in
Bury-St-Edmunds, the home of her two sisters Ellen and Augusta (below). Her cousin, one-step-moved at Alfred Master
Collett (below), was also an accomplished artist, as was Sophia’s
half-sister Leonora Collett (below)
Ellen
Mary Collett [18P19]
was born at Chelsworth on 5th March 1846, where she was baptised on
1st June 1846, the daughter of William and Mary Cecil Augusta
Collett. Her mother died in 1864,
following which her father married for a second time, but that was short-lived,
since his second wife died in 1874. So,
by 1881, Ellen M Collett from Chelsworth was 35 and was the eldest child still
living with her widowed father at the Rectory in Hawstead, just ten months
before he died. Later in her life she
was referred to as Ellen Mary Collett of Bury-St-Edmunds, and it was there that
she was living in 1891 at the age of 45, when she was recorded as Ellen M
Collett from Chelsworth and had living there with her, her younger sister
Augustus C Collett (below). Just
like her older sister, Ellen never married and was still residing in Bury in
both 1901 and 1911. For the census
conducted in the first of these years, Ellen Mary Collett of Chelsworth was 55
and living on her own needs when living with her was her younger half-sister
Leonora Julia Collett (below). It
was the same situation ten years later in April 1911, when Ellen Mary Collett,
aged 65 and from Chelsworth, was again living there with Leonora Julia
Collett. Nearly twenty years later, the
death of Ellen M Collett was recorded at Bury-St-Edmunds register office (Ref.
4a 1079) during the first three months of 1930, when she was 84. Her Will was proved at Ipswich on 12th
April 1930 to Leonora Julie Collett, a spinster, in the sum of £3,568 11
Shillings. The probate document also
stated that Ellen Mary was residing at 10 Hospital Road in Bury-St-Edmunds when
she passed away on 17th March 1930