PART THIRTY-FOUR

The Appleford Berkshire Line

Updated August 2022

It now appears that this family line may be an extension from

Part 28 – The Faringdon Line which dates back to 1665.

The update in July 2016 resulted in renumbering of all individuals.

This is the family line of Stephen & Cheryl Adams in France (Ref. 34Q37) as depicted in capitals,

and Martin Edward Collett (Ref. 34R8) as depicted in the names underlined

In July 2014 a further line, that of Allan Collett (Ref. 34S6) was added in italics

During the development of Part 37 – The Oxford City Line

a positive connection with the Collett family of Appleford

has been discovered (see Ref. 34O2)

An earlier update and review was prompted by

Jess Metcalfe who kindly provided information relating

to the continuation of the line from Frederick Collett (Ref. 34O8)

	The earliest record of a Collett living in the Berkshire village of Appleford found to date is Robert Collett, who was born around 1740, and his wife Elizabeth, whose known details can be located in the appendix at the end of this file. The couple do not appear to have been married at the village church of St Peter & St Paul, but it was there that all of their children were baptised. Furthermore, the couple’s youngest child, Robert Collett, was born around 1780, so it was always possible that Charles, who starts this family line, may have also been their son. However, no record of his birth or baptism has so far been found in the parish register at Appleford and anyway, new unverified information obtained in 2016 casts doubt on this being true – see below.
34L1	JOHN COLLETT (Ref. 28L14) was very likely born at Faringdon in 1758 or earlier, where he was baptised on 15^th April 1759, the son of JOHN COLLETT (Ref. 28K3) and his wife Lettice Evans. It is established that a young John Collett, not of full age, married Elizabeth Willis at Great Faringdon on 6^th September 1775 and that they were the parents of Charles Collett who starts this family line. He was baptised in Berkshire at Buscot on 24^th January 1779, Buscot being only eighteen miles west of Appleford. John and Elizabeth also had two other sons, John who was born in 1781, and William who was born in 1784, the details for whom can be found within Part 28 – The Faringdon Line.
	34M1	CHARLES COLLETT – see Part 28	Born in 1779 at Buscot
34M1	CHARLES COLLETT was born around the end of 1778 or early in 1779. New, but unconfirmed, information received during 2016 suggests that Charles was the son of John Collett and Elizabeth Willis, and was baptised at Buscot near Faringdon on 24^th January 1779. That date also correlates with his stated age in the census returns for 1841 and 1851, in the first of which his place of birth was simply confirmed as Berkshire, whereas in the second it was stated as being Appleford. The reason for this may simply because his family moved there from Buscot when he was still very young.
	On 6^th February 1809, Charles Collett married Mary Sandall [named in error as Mary Randall] at Sutton Courtenay, the village closest to Appleford. Mary had been born in 1787 and earlier information stated she had been baptised at Sutton Courtenay on 6^th January 1788, although this conflicts with the parish register at Appleford which includes the baptism of Mary Sandlin, the daughter of labourer Thomas Sandlin and his wife Elizabeth Pead, on 6^th January 1788. New information received in August 2011 from a source within the current Sandell family, who does not want to be named, has verified that Mary Sandal married Charles Collett at Appleford on 6^th February 1809 and not at Sutton Courtenay, as previously obtained from parish records.
	Mary Sandall (the surname being later spelt Sandell) was the eldest of the five children of Thomas Sandall and his wife Elizabeth Pead. In addition to Mary, and of particular interest to this family line, is the third of the five children of Thomas and Elizabeth Sandall. He was Moses Sandall who was baptised at Appleford as Moses Sandlin on 16^th December 1792. He married Sarah Coxeter in 1819 and they had three children before Moses died on 3^rd June 1830, aged 38. Following his death, his widow married her nephew-in-law, Stephen Collett, the son of Mary Collett nee Sandall and Charles Collett.
	At the time of his wedding Charles was listed as an agricultural labourer, while Mary was described as a pauper. It now transpires, from the information received from the aforementioned member of the current Sandell family that Mary had given birth to a son a couple of years before she married Charles. Her base-born son Philip Sandall was baptised at Appleford on 16^th August 1807, when the child’s mother was named as Mary Sandall. With no father listed in the parish register it is not known whether or not Charles Collett was the father of the boy. What is known is that upon reaching adulthood Philip adopted the Collett surname and then as, Philip Collett the married man, he gave his two eldest daughters the second forename of Sandell after his mother.
	Once Charles Collett and Mary Sandall were married, the couple settled in Appleford where all of their children were born and baptised, their baptism records also confirming that their father was a labourer. The couple’s first child was born exactly seven months after their wedding day, which may also be an indicator that Mary’s illegitimate son Philip was fathered by Charles. Although the baptism records for only nine children have been found, there is a strong possibility that there may have been other children born into the family, particularly in the years between 1812 and 1816. In this regard the subsequent census records identify a William Collett who was born at Appleford during that period and, with the lack of another Collett family known to be living in the village at that time, he has now been included as another son of Charles and Mary.
	In the first national census for Appleford in June 1841 the age of the adults was rounded to 5 or 10 years. In Charles’ case he was recorded as being aged 60, while Mary’s ‘rounded aged’ was stated as being 50. The same census also confirmed that Charles was employed as an agricultural labourer. The only children still living with them at that time was their daughter Keren Happuch Collett [a biblical name taken from Job Chapter 42 Verse 15], who was incorrectly recorded as Karen Collett aged 21, and their youngest son Henry Collett who was seven years old. Also at that time, their older married sons Stephen and Charles was living nearby in Appleford, as was their other son Joseph, who was listed as being 15 years old and working as a servant at the Appleford home of farmer John Pullen.
	Ten years later the Appleford census of 1851 provided more accurate assessment of their ages. In that Charles Collett was 70, and was still working as an agricultural labourer, while his wife Mary was 64. The family on that occasion comprised unmarried daughters Mary Collett aged 37, and Keren Collett who was 31, and their youngest child Henry Collett who was 16 and an agricultural labourer like his father. Also living with Charles and Mary were their three grandchildren; grandson Moses Collett who was six, and granddaughters Sarah Collett, who was five, and Christian Collett who was just six months old. No positive record has so far been unearthed that might reveal they were the children of Charles’ daughter Mary, or his daughter Keren. It has been assumed that they were Keren’s children, since it has been established that a later grandchild, Thirza Wicks Collett, was definitely Keren’s daughter.
	Later that same year Charles Collett died at Appleford during the last three months of 1851, his death recorded with the registrar at Abingdon-on-Thames (Ref. vi 93). Just over nine years later in early April 1861, his widow Mary Collett, aged 73, a pauper and head of the household, was still living Appleford. Living with her on Main Road were her two unmarried daughters Mary Ann Collett, aged 48, and Keren Happuch Collett, aged 38, also both described as paupers. In addition to them, three of Mary’s grandchildren were living with her at that time, and they were Moses Collett, who was 16, Sarah Collett who was 15, and eight-year-old Thirza Collett, who was attending the village school. The widow Mary Collett died during the first quarter of 1869 at the age of 82, the death being recorded at Abingdon.
	34N1	Philip Collett (formerly Sandall)	Born in 1806 at Appleford
	34N2	Stephen Collett	Born in 1809 at Appleford
	34N3	Mary Ann Collett	Born in 1812 at Appleford
	34N4	William Collett	Born in 1814 at Appleford
	34N5	Charles Collett	Born in 1816 at Appleford
	34N6	Keren Happuch Collett	Born in 1820 at Appleford
	34N7	Joseph Collett	Born in 1823; infant death
	34N8	JOSEPH COLLETT	Born in 1824 at Appleford
	34N9	Henry Collett	Born in 1828 at Appleford
	34N10	Henry Collett	Born in 1834 at Appleford
34N1	Philip Collett was born at Appleford on 9^th October 1806, the base-born son of Mary Sandall who married Charles Collett in 1809 following which, sometime later, he adopted the Collett name. It was on 16^th August 1807 that Philip Sandall was baptised at Appleford, the son of Mary Sandall. As Philip Collett he was a farm labourer and he married Martha Ireson at Wantage on 27^th January 1828. Once they were married the couple lived at Appleford, where all of their children were born. The IGI records for the birth of the couple’s first two children named both daughters with the second forename of Sandell, after their grandmother.
	The couple was recorded in the 1841 Census for Appleford as Philip Collett aged 35, and his wife Martha who was 30. With them were their six known children, Ann Collett who was ten, Emma Collett who was eight, Elizabeth Collett who was six, Jabez Collett who was four, Hellen (Rhoda) Collett who was two, and new baby Zillah Collett, who just seven weeks old for the census on the sixth day of June. Sadly, Martha died before the thirtieth of March in 1851 and the census that year indicated the family had been split up, with some of the children living at the Union Workhouse in Abingdon.
	By 1861 widower Philip Collett from Appleford was 55 and an agricultural labourer living in Appleford. The only one of his children still living with him on that occasion was his unmarried daughter Rhoda E Collett who was 21, and she had with her, her six months old base-born son Aubrey Collett, who was described as grandson to head of the household Philip. Living next door at the adjacent dwelling was Philip’s younger brother Joseph Collett (below) and his family, and one door away in the opposite direct was Philip’s sister-in-law, the widow and pauper Sarah Collett, the wife of his late brother Stephen Collett (below).
	Ten years later, the 1871 Census confirmed that Philip Collett was 65 and that he was still living with his daughter Rhoda in Appleford, although by then she had married Benjamin Dewe, with whom she had two children, in addition to her own base-born children Aubrey and Ellen. And once again, living next door was the family of Philip’s brother Joseph and his wife Eliza.
	It was the same situation ten years later when the 1881 Census recorded that Philip was a widower and that he was living with his married daughter Rhoda Dewe at The Cottages in Appleford, where his occupation was still that of a labourer, even at the age of 74. Philip was still alive and living with daughter Rhoda in 1891 when he was 84, although it was during the following weeks that he died, when his death at the age of 83 (sic) was recorded at Abingdon register office (Ref. 2c 213) in the second quarter of that year. The very next entry in the register of deaths was that of Philip’s sister Mary (below) who also died at Appleford shortly after her brother.
	34O1	Ann Sandell Collett	Born in 1830 at Appleford
	34O2	Emma Sandell Collett	Born in 1832 at Appleford
	34O3	Elizabeth Collett	Born in 1834 at Appleford
	34O4	Jabez Collett	Born in 1836 at Appleford
	34O5	Rhoda Ellen Collett	Born in 1839 at Appleford
	34O6	Zillah Collett	Born in 1841 at Appleford
34N2	Stephen Collett was born at Appleford on 5^th September 1809 where he was baptised on 12^th November 1809, the son of labourer Charles Collett and his wife Mary Sandall. It is possible that Stephen fathered a son out of wedlock when he was around twenty-one years old. The parish register in Appleford includes the baptism of Stephen Collet Pryor on 18^th December 1831, the son of spinster Rose Pryor.
	One year later on 25^th December 1832, and following the death of her first husband Moses Sandall on 3^rd June 1830 at the age of 38, Stephen married his widow Sarah Sandall at St Helen’s Church in Abingdon. Stephen was 23 at that time, while Sarah, formerly Sarah Coxeter, was his mother’s sister-in-law. She was 39 and already had three children from her first marriage to Moses Sandall.
	Nine years later, at the time of the census in 1841, Stephen Collett was 32, and his marriage had produced two children by then. The census return revealed that he and his family were living in Appleford where his wife Sarah was shown as having a rounded aged of 40, rather than her actual age of 48. Their two children were listed as Fanny Collett, who was seven, and Frederick Collett, who was five years old. Also living with the family was the youngest son from Sarah’s first marriage, ten years old Moses Sandall.
	It was obviously Sarah’s intention to reduce her age by eight years, since in the next census of 1851, when Stephen Collett was 42, his wife was recorded as being only 50, as opposed to being 58. Still living with the couple at Appleford was their son Frederick Collett who was 15. Living nearby, and also within the same registration district, was their daughter Frances Collett who was 17, who was recorded with the correct spelling of her surname.
	Stephen Collett died during the second quarter of 1854 and his death was recorded by the registrar at nearby Abingdon. By the time of the census in 1861 his widow Sarah was a pauper living alone in Appleford. No longing needing to be embarrassed by the great age difference between her and her late husband, Sarah resorted to informing the numerator of her correct age of 67. On that occasion her place of birth was given as Witney. Living next door but one to Sarah was the Collett family of Philip Collett (above), and next door to him was the family of Joseph Collett (below), both of them being the brothers of her departed second husband.
	34O7	Frances Mary Collett	Born in 1833 at Appleford
	34O8	Frederick Collett	Born in 1835 at Appleford
34N3	Mary Ann Collett was born at Appleford on 14^th November 1812 and was baptised there of 27^th December 1812, the daughter of Charles and Mary Collett. She was never married and it was in the village of Appleford that she lived for her entire life. By the time of the census in 1851, Mary was 37 when she was living there at the home of her parents and, with the death of her father at the end of that same year, she was still living with her widowed mother in 1861, when she was described as Mary Ann Collett aged 48 and a pauper from Appleford. Also living with them was her younger sister Keren Happuch Collett (below) and three children who were described as the grandchildren of Mary Ann’s mother, as head of the household. One of them was Thirza Collett who was eight years old and the base-born daughter of her younger sister Keren. It seems likely that the other two, older children, may also have been the children of Mary’s sister Keren, and they were Moses Collett aged 17, and Sarah Collett who was 15.
	According to the Appleford census in 1871, Mary A Collett was 61, rather than 58, by which time her mother had passed away, so she was living with her sister Keren Collett and Keren’s daughter Thirza Collett in a property on Main Road in the village. Once again Mary was described as being unmarried and a pauper. Ten years later, in 1881, Mary Ann Collett aged 69 was living as a boarder with her niece Thirza Church, nee Collett, and her husband Henry Church in Appleford. Mary’s younger sister Keren, and the mother of Thirza Church, was also living there at that time. It was simply as Mary Collett aged 79, that the death of Mary Ann Collett at Appleford was recorded at Abingdon register office (Ref. 2c 214) during the second quarter of 1891. Just prior to her passing, her eldest brother Philip (above) also died at Appleford, his death being registered at Abingdon (Ref. 2c 213).
34N4	William Collett was born at Appleford around 1814 and was most likely the son of Charles Collett and Mary Sandall, although no baptism record for him has been found to date. Another unconfirmed option on the internet suggests that William was the son of James Collett of Appleford, while there no evidence provided to support this. It would appear that once he was old enough, he left Appleford and the county of Berkshire and headed north towards Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire. By 1841, when he would have been around 25 years of age, he was unmarried at 29 (sic) and was living and working in the area of Wisbech, the only Collett or Collet residing within the Wisbech, Leverington & Parson Drove registration district.
	It was while he was still living in that same area of the country that he met Elizabeth Pywell who came from Warmington near Oundle in Northamptonshire and to whom he was married on 7^th May 1844 at Warmington. A total of nine children were born to the couple although tragically only two of them survived. According to the next census in 1851 William and Elizabeth, together with their first two children, were recorded under the name of Collet at Guyhirn in the parish of Wisbech St Mary within the Wisbech & Levington [Leverington] area of Cambridgeshire. William was described as 34, a cordwainer from Aurum in Oxon (?), his wife Elizabeth was 27 and from Warmington in Northants, their son John Thos Collet was two years of age, while his baby sister Elizabeth Collet was just two months old. It is very likely that both of the children were born in the hamlet of Guyhirn, which is just over two miles from Parson Drove where their father was living and working prior to their birth. Sadly it was not long after the census day in 1851 that baby Mary Elizabeth Collett died, her death occurring before she could be baptised, which was recorded at Wisbech St Mary.
	It would appear that the first five children born when the family was living at Guyhirn, as stated in later census returns by the couple’s eldest child, even though he was baptised at the parish church in Wisbech St Mary, when the parents of John Thomas Collet were confirmed as William and Elizabeth Collet. Following the death of her daughter Elizabeth gave birth to a set of triplets during 1852 when the family was still residing at Wisbech St Mary, and it was there where the birth of Annie Elizabeth was recorded and there also where she died in 1853. Annie’s two same age siblings were Elizabeth and William, whose place of birth was recorded at Guyhirn. Just after Annie died the family comprising William, Elizabeth and their three surviving children left Cambridgeshire, when they moved to Aston in Birmingham, where the couple’s last four children were born.
	Once settled in Aston the two youngest children died during 1854, the same year that daughter Phoebe was born. Phoebe survived to be nearly four years old when she passed away, while three of the Birmingham born children died when they were around one and two years old. In the end it was only the couple’s first and last child who survived to adulthood, the youngest being almost 102 years old when he passed away. After the trauma of the 1850s and the loss of seven of their children within seven years, by the time of the census in 1861 the greatly reduced family was residing within the sub-district of Duddeston in the parish of Aston St Clements in Birmingham. Again, they were recorded under the name Collet, when William Collet from Appleford in Berkshire was 46, his wife Elizabeth from Warmington in Northamptonshire was 37, and their two surviving children were John T Collett aged 12, who had been born at Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, and James G Collet who was one-year-old and had been born in Birmingham.
	The next census in 1871 placed the family living at 38 Nicholls Park Road within the Aston district of Birmingham. William Collett was 56 and a bootmaker from Sutton, that being a reference to Sutton Courtenay, while his wife Elizabeth was 47 and from Warmington, Northants. Only the couple’s youngest son was still living with them by that time, and he was recorded as, James George Collett who was 11 and born in Birmingham. Living with the family was Sarah Ann Green from Birmingham who was 20 years of age and described as a niece to head of the household William. Working with him on that occasion, and staying with the family, was apprenticed bootmaker Joseph Bullock from Birmingham who was 14. With no member of the Collett family known to have married into the Green family, it is possible that Sarah Ann was actually related to the family of William’s wife.
	It was eight years later at Wisbech St Mary that William Collett died during 1879. Furthermore, the whereabouts of his widow Elizabeth has been discovered after 1871, even though it is established that her eldest son is known to have attended an ecclesiastic college in Bristol, and her youngest son became a draper before becoming a baptist minister.
	34O9	John Thomas Collett	Born in 1847 at Guyhirn, Wisbech
	34O10	Mary Elizabeth Collett	Born in 1851 at Guyhirn, Wisbech
	34O11	Annie Elizabeth Collett	Born in 1852 at Guyhirn, Wisbech
	34O12	William Collett	Born in 1852 at Guyhirn, Wisbech
	34O13	Elizabeth Collett	Born in 1852 at Guyhirn, Wisbech
	34O14	Phoebe Pywell Collett	Born in 1854 at Aston, Birmingham
	34O15	John Collett	Born in 1856 at Aston, Birmingham
	34O16	Jemima Collett	Born in 1858 at Aston, Birmingham
	34O17	James George Collett	Born in 1860 at Aston, Birmingham
34N5	Charles Collett was born at Appleford on 11^th May 1816, where he was baptised on 30^th June 1816, the son of Charles and Mary Collett. It was at nearby Sutton Courtenay that Charles Collett married Susan Reynolds on 13^th March 1838. Susan was born at Appleford on 13^th March 1818, where she was baptised one week later on 21^st March 1818, the daughter of William Reynolds and his wife Sarah Goodall. It was also at Appleford that all of the children of Charles and Susan were born, the first of which was born towards to end of the year in which they were married.
	By June 1841 the family living at Appleford comprised Charles who was 25, his wife Susanna who was 24, and their first two children Martha Collett, who was three years old, and William Collett who was just one year old. Over the next decade Charles and Susan increased their family by a further four children so, by the end of March 1851, the family at Appleford comprised agricultural labourer Charles Collett aged 35, Susan Collett aged 33, Martha Collett who was 13, agricultural labourer William Collett who was 11, scholar John Collet who was seven, Stephen Collet who was five, Emma Collet who was two, and baby Ann Collet who was only three months old. The census return confirmed that every member of the household had been born at Appleford.
	There were further additions to the family over the next ten years, but during the same period the two oldest children left the family home at Appleford. According to the 1861 Census, Charles was 44 and Susan 43, while their children were Stephen 15, Emma 12, Ann 10, Jane who was eight, Agnes who was six, Frederick who was three, and James who was only one year old. During the latter part of the next decade two of Charles’ daughters were married and left the family home in Appleford, so by early in the month of April 1871, living with Charles aged 54, and Susan who was 53, were only William Collett who was 30, Jane Collett who was 18, Frederick Collett aged 13, and James Collett who was 11.
	In 1881 Charles, then aged 64, was a farm labourer living at The Cottages in Appleford. Living there with him was his wife Susan who was 63 and of Appleford, and the couple’s three remaining unmarried children Jane Collett who was 27, Frederick Collett aged 22, and James Collett who was 21. Ten years later Charles Collett of Appleford was still recorded as being a farm labourer at the age of 74, while his wife Susan was 73, and by that time they were living alone at Appleford. On that occasion the couple was living just four dwelling from the family of James and Sarah Collett, their youngest son and his wife. No record of them exists in 1901, so it must be assumed that they both died during the 1890s.
	34O18	Martha Collett	Born in 1838 at Appleford
	34O19	William Collett	Born in 1840 at Appleford
	34O20	John Collett	Born in 1843 at Appleford
	34O21	Stephen Collett	Born in 1845 at Appleford
	34O22	Emma Collett	Born in 1848 at Appleford
	34O23	Ann Collett	Born in 1850 at Appleford
	34O24	Jane Collett	Born in 1852 at Appleford
	34O25	Agnes Collett	Born in 1854 at Appleford
	34O26	Frederick Arthur Collett	Born in 1857 at Appleford
	34O27	James Ernest Collett	Born in 1859 at Appleford
34N6	Keren Happuch Collett was born at Appleford on 28^th April 1820, and was baptised there two days after on 30^th April 1820. She was the daughter of Charles Collett and Mary Sandall and, even though it appears that she never married, she was certainly the mother of base-born Thirza Wicks Collett. It also seems highly likely, although not yet verified, that she was also the mother of three earlier base-born children, Moses Collett, Sarah Collett, and Christian Collett, who were living with her in 1851.
	In the various census records for Appleford, Keren was more often recorded as Karen, as she was in 1841 when she was living with her parents at the age of 21. Ten years later in 1851, was the only time she was correctly recorded as Keren Collett, when she was still living there with her parents. By that time in her life she was unmarried at the age of 31, although the three grandchildren also living there at that time are assumed to have been her base-born children. They were Moses Collett, who was six years old, Sarah Collett who was five, and Christian Collett who was six months old. During the next few years baby Christian must have died, since in 1861, Keren Happuch Collett aged 38, was living with her widowed mother Mary, together with her sister Mary Ann Collett (above), and Keren’s three surviving base-born children Moses 16, Sarah 15, and Thirza who was eight.
	In 1869, Keren’s mother died, so making Keren as head of the household. That was confirmed in the census of 1871 when Karen Collett was 51 and a pauper living in the property on the Main Road in Appleford with her daughter Thirza Collett who was 18, along with Keren’s sister Mary A Collett. There is confusion in the next census in 1881 when Keren Happuch Collett was referred to as Karen Church aged 61, but this must have been an error made by the census enumerator, probably resulting from the fact she was living at the home of her married daughter Thirza Church. The census also revealed that Keren was listed as being a spinster and mother-in-law to head of the household Henry Church, thus confirming her as the mother of Thirza Collett. Also living with Henry and Thirza Church and their family was Keren’s older unmarried sister Mary Collett (above).
	By the time of the census in 1891 Keren was 70, and there was another misspelling of her name when she was recorded in the census return as Kans Hapook Collett. After a further ten years Keren was still living in Appleford and was recorded as Haron (Karon) Collett aged 80 in the census of 1901. There was a further incorrect spelling of her name at the time of her death during the first quarter of 1904 when she was 84. The registrar at Abingdon recorded her name as Karon Habbuck.
	34O28	Moses Collett	Born in 1843 at Appleford
	34O29	Sarah Collett	Born in 1845 at Appleford
	34O30	Christian Collett	Born in 1850 at Appleford
	34O31	Thirza Wicks Collett	Born in 1852 at Appleford
34N8	JOSEPH COLLETT was born at Appleford on 13^th February 1824, where he was baptised on 21^st March 1824, the son of Charles and Mary Collett. His age in 1841 was stated as being 15, but this was a ‘rounded age’ and he would have been 17. By that time, he was working in Appleford as a servant at the home of farmer John Pullin and his wife Hannah. During the fourth quarter of 1847 Joseph married Eliza Carr who was born in 1825 at Berrick Salome, some eight miles east of Appleford in Oxfordshire. Following their wedding the couple settled in Appleford, where all of their children were born.
	Just over three years later Joseph and Eliza were listed in the census of 1851 for Appleford as living at the dwelling right next door to his parents. The census return confirmed that agricultural labourer Joseph Collett was 27, his wife Eliza was 25, and that their two daughters were Patranella Collett who was two, and Abigail Collett who was seven months old.
	By 1861 the marriage had produced two sons for Joseph and Eliza, and their family at Appleford comprised agricultural labourer Joseph and his wife Eliza who were both 36, daughters Patranella who was 12 and Abigail 10 who were both attending the village school, and sons William, who was referred to as Levi Collett aged three years, and David Collett who was just five months old. The census in 1861 also showed that the family of Joseph and Eliza Collett was living right next door to Joseph’s widowed brother Philip Collett (above) who had living with him his daughter Rhoda and his grandson Aubrey. And just one further dwelling beyond that was Joseph’s and Philip’s sister-in-law Sarah Collett, the widow of the late Stephen Collett (above) their brother.
	Within two years of the census a further son was born into the family, so by the time of the 1871 Census the Appleford family was made up of ‘ag lab’ Joseph 47, his wife Eliza 46, Levi was 12, David was 10, while Caleb and Ellen who were both aged seven, were very likely twins. It is known that their daughter Abigail was married by then, and their eldest daughter Patranella, who was 22 and unmarried, was working away from home in the adjacent village of Sutton Courtenay on that occasion. Once again in 1871 the family of Joseph and Eliza Collett was living right next door to Joseph’s brother Philip who had passed the role of head of household to his daughter’s husband Benjamin Dewe.
	According to the census in 1881, Joseph was 58 when he was living at The Cottages in Appleford, from where he was employed as a farm labourer. With him was his wife Eliza aged 56 from Berrick Salome, who was also listed as a farm labourer, together with two of their sons, William who was 23, and Caleb who was 17, both of them born at Appleford. The two missing sons had already made the move to Wales to find work by then.
	By 1891 Joseph and Eliza were living alone at Appleford and both were aged 67. The March census ten years later in 1901 listed Joseph as being 76 and still living at Appleford with his wife Eliza who was then aged 77. Joseph was not credited with an occupation, perhaps because of ailing health, as just after the census day he died and was followed shortly after by wife Eliza who died in 1902.
	34O32	Patranella Collett	Born in 1848 at Appleford
	34O33	Abigail Collett	Born in 1850 at Appleford
	34O34	William Levi Collett	Born in 1857 at Appleford
	34O35	DAVID COLLETT	Born in 1861 at Appleford
	34O36	Caleb Reuben Collett	Born in 1863 at Appleford
34N9	Henry Collett was born at Appleford during 1828, the son of Charles and Mary Collett. Tragically he died at Appleford on 17^th December 1829 at the tender age of just one year.
34N10	Henry Collett was born at Appleford in 1834 and was baptised there on 19^th October 1834, the last child of Charles and Mary Collett. In the June census for Appleford in 1841 Henry was seven years old, when he was living with his parents and his older sister Keren (above). He was still living with his parents ten years later in 1851 when he was 16 and was working as an agricultural labour, most likely with his father who was still listed as an ‘ag lab’ at the age of 70. His father died before 1861, but by the time of the census that year Henry was no longer living with his widowed mother at Appleford, and no record of him has been found after 1851, so whether he suffered a fatal accident at work, or left England for life in another country, is not known.
34O1	Ann Sandell Collett was born at Appleford in 1830, where she was baptised on 23^rd January 1831, the eldest daughter of Philip and Martha Collett. Her second forename came from her grandmother Mary Sandall who married Charles Collett at Appleford in 1809. At the time of the first national census in Great Britain in June 1841 she was recorded as Ann Collett aged ten years, while living at Appleford with her family. Ann Collett was still living in Appleford in 1851, following the death of her mother, while most of her siblings were living in the Abingdon Union Workhouse. The lack of any record of her in 1861 presumably means that she was married sometime during the 1850s.
34O2	Emma Sandell Collett was born at Appleford in 1832 and was baptised there on 27^th January 1833, the daughter of Philip and Martha Collett. It was simply as Emma Collett, at the age of eight years, that she was recorded with her family at Appleford in June 1841. Following the death of her mother a few years later, the family was tragically split up, and by 1851 Emma, who by then was 18, was living at the Abingdon Union Workhouse with her teenage sister Elizabeth Collett (below), where also her two youngest sisters Rhoda and Zillah (below) were also living on that occasion, although not with Emma and Elizabeth.
	Around nine years later she gave birth to a base-born son William Collett in Oxford during 1860, the child first being identified as one-year-old in the 1861 census for St Aldates in the City of Oxford, where unmarried Emma Collett aged 28 and a laundress, was living at that time. Living not far away from Emma in St Aldates was her future husband Charles Collett of Whelford in Gloucestershire, who was possibly the father of her child. Just over two years later between April and June 1863 Emma married Charles Collett at Oxford and was very likely with child, as her second son was born later that same year.
	For further details of the continuation of this family line see Part 37 – The Oxford City Line (Ref. 37N5)
34O3	Elizabeth Collett was born at Appleford in 1834, the third daughter of Philip and Martha Collett. In 1841 Elizabeth was six years old when she was living with her parents in Appleford. Sometime after June 1841 and before March 1851, Elizabeth’s mother passed away, so by the time of the census in 1851 Elizabeth’s family had been split up. By that time Elizabeth Collett aged 16, and her older sister Emma (above), who was 18, were living in the Union Workhouse in Abingdon-on-Thames. Also living there at that same time, but most likely in a separate section for younger children, were Elizabeth’s two youngest sisters Rhoda and Zillah (below).
34O4	Job Collett was born at Appleford in 1836, the son of Philip and Martha Collett. In the Appleford census of 1841, and at the age of four years, he was named as Jabez Collett, although this was very likely a transcription error, since he was known as Jobey. Perhaps because of his ‘difficult’ name Job has not been positively identified in any later census.
34O5	Rhoda Ellen Collett was born at Appleford in 1839 and was listed as Hellen aged two years in the Appleford census of 1841. Ten years later in 1851, and following the death of her mother and the break-up of her family, Rhoda was living with her younger sister Zillah (below) at the Abingdon Union Workhouse in the St Helen parish of the town. Rhoda, who was 11 years old, was confirmed as having been born at Appleford, and was described as a scholar. Listed with the Governor of the Workhouse, Richard Ellis, and his wife who was the matron, were two school masters Thomas and Mary Hassell, so it was also at the workhouse that Rhoda was very likely receiving her education.
	In September 1860 she gave birth to a base-born son, the first of two children she would have as an unmarried mother. According to the census in 1861, Rhoda E Collett was 21 and a dressmaker, when she was living at the home of her father Philip Collett in Appleford, with her six months old son Aubrey Collett. Two years later Rhoda gave birth to her second child Ellen, but then, a few years later she married farm labourer Benjamin Dewe, who was born in 1837 at Sutton Courtenay. The marriage produced at least five children for the couple, and all of them were born at Appleford.
	By 1871 Benjamin Dewe from Sutton Courtenay was 33 and an agricultural labourer living in Appleford with his wife Rhoda E Dewe who was 31 and from Appleford. Living with the couple were Rhoda’s two base-born children Aubrey A Collett who was 10, and Ellen M Collett who was seven. Also living at the same address was Benjamin and Rhoda’s two children, Edith Dewe who was three, and Edwin Dewe who was just one year old. The last member of the household was Rhoda’s father Philip Collett, who was 65 and an agricultural labourer, and living in the dwelling next door was his brother Joseph and his family.
	After a further ten years, Rhoda was 42 and was working as a seamstress, while her husband Benjamin was 43 and was working as a farm labourer. Living with them at The Cottages in Appleford in 1881 were their four children who were all born at Appleford. They were Edwin Dewe who was 11, Marsden Dewe who was nine, Florence M Dewe who was six, and Annie D Dewe who was two years old. Living and working not far away within the Abingdon & Sutton Courtenay area was their eldest daughter Edith Dewe who was 14. Also still living with the family at that time was Rhoda’s widowed father Philip Collett aged 74, who was listed as a labourer and born at Appleford.
	Rhoda’s father was still living with the family in 1891, as was her illegitimate daughter Ellen Collett who was 27. Following the death of her father during the next few years Rhoda and Benjamin left Appleford, and in 1901 they were living at nearby Culham, close to the River Thames. Both were listed as being aged 62, with Rhoda employed as a tailoress, while Benjamin was working as a cowman on a local farm. After a further ten years they were recorded residing at Culham Bridge in Abingdon and living with them was again was their unmarried son Marsden William Dewe who was 39 and described as an army pensioner who had been born at Appleford.
	On the occasion of the census conducted in 1911, the completed census form described his father as Benjamin Dewe (who signed his name as B E Dewe) aged 73 and from Sutton Courtenay, who had been married for 48 years, having had eight children - with only six of them still alive. He was a cowman working on a farm, whose wife was named as Rhoda Helen Dewe from Appleford, who was 71 and a seamstress working at home. It was one year later that Benjamin Dewe died at Culham Bridge at the age of 75, his death being recorded at Abingdon register office (Ref. 2c 401) in the first quarter of 1912. With the death of her husband it would appear that Rhoda left Abingdon perhaps to live with one of her children, since the death of Rhoda E Dewe nee Collett was recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 1249) during the last three months of 1920 when she was 91 years of age.
	34P1	Aubrey Alexander Collett	Born in 1860 at Appleford
	34P2	Ellen M Collett	Born in 1863 at Appleford
34O6	Zillah Collett was born at Appleford during April 1841 and was seven weeks old on 6^th June, the day of the first national census in Great Britain. She was the youngest child of Philip Collett, formerly Sandall, and his wife Martha Ireson, with whom he was living at Appleford on the day of the census. Not long after she was born her mother died, and with a family of six young children to look after, it was inevitable that the Zillah and most of her sibling were taken into care. By the time of the next census in 1851 Zillah Collett aged eight years and from Appleford, was living in the Abingdon Union Workhouse with her older sister Rhoda (above). Whilst Rhoda was described as a scholar, Zillah was simply described as a pauper. No Zillah Collett, or any variation of the name, has been found in any subsequent census return, so she may not have survived the difficult like of living in the workhouse.
34O7	Frances Mary Collett was born at Appleford on 22^nd August 1833, but was baptised at nearby Sutton Courtney on 15^th September 1833, the daughter of Stephen and Sarah Collett. In the 1841 she was simply listed as Fanny Collett aged seven years, who was living in Appleford with her family. Upon leaving the village school in Appleford, Frances Collett was employed as a domestic servant by 1851, when she was 16.
34O8	Frederick Collett was born at Appleford in 1835, where he was baptised on 5^th July 1835, the son of Stephen and Sarah Collett, although curiously the parish record at Appleford gives the names of his parents as Stephen and Mary. In the census of 1841, as Fredrick Collett, he was five years old and was living in Appleford with his parents, Stephen and Sarah, and his older sister Fanny (above). Ten years later in the Appleford census of 1851 Frederick Collett was the only child still living with his parents at the age of 15, by which time his sister was making her own way in the world.
	By 1861 Frederick Collett from Appleford was 25 and was still a bachelor, then living in Wantage. Sometime after, and possibly in 1865, at Kensington in London, he married the widow Amelia Smith, nee Collett, of Bradford-on-Avon. Just after she reached the age of 17, Amelia Collett had previously married Frederick Smith at Bradford-on-Avon in the final quarter of 1859. By June 1860 her husband had died leaving Amelia with-child, and with only one month to go before the birth to their son.
	The census of 1861 revealed that Amelia Smith, aged 19, was a widow who was formerly a servant, who was then living at 15 Church Lane in Bradford-on-Avon with her nine-month-old son Frederick. Both mother and son were listed as having been born at Bradford-on-Avon. Following her marriage to Frederick Collett, around four years later, the couple, with Amelia’s son, moved to London where their first two children were born. It was shortly after their move to London that Frederick adopted Amelia’s son, who from that time forward was known as Frederick Collett.
	That was confirmed by the census of 1871, which revealed railway labourer Frederick Collett, aged 35, was living at 27 Hampden Street in Paddington with his wife Amelia, aged 28 and of Bradford-on-Avon, and her son Frederick Collett who was 10 and also born at Bradford-on-Avon. Missing from the family was the couple’s first-born child, daughter Amelia Ellen Collett, who was born and died during the second half of 1867. However, two years after the census date Amelia presented her husband with their first son, who was born while they were living in Wandsworth.
	By the mid-1870s the family had left London and had moved to Eastleigh in Hampshire. It was while they were there that their next son was born. Their time at Eastleigh was short lived as they moved again not long after, when they ended up at Barnstaple in North Devon. Rather strangely though, there is no record of Frederick or any member of his family listed in the 1881 Census. However, since the couple had children that were born in Barnstaple immediately before and after the date of 1881 Census, this would indicate that they were living there at that time, but that they were missed by the enumerator, or the census return was later lost or accidentally destroyed.
	In fact just six months before the census date of 3^rd April in 1881 Amelia gave birth to a son while she and Frederick were living at Trinity Street in Barnstaple. The birth certificate for their son George Henry born on 5^th September 1880 made reference to the child’s father Frederick Collett working as a railway porter and the child’s mother as Amelia Collett, later Smith and formerly Collett.
	Certainly Frederick and his family were recorded as living at 45 Vicarage Street, Barnstable in North Devon in the next census in 1891. Frederick was 55 and was still employed by the Great Western Railway, but was then a carriage examiner. Amelia Collett of Bradford-on-Avon was 49, and their children were William Collett aged 18, Albert Collett 16, Amelia Collett 14, and George Collett who was 10. The two youngest children were confirmed as having been born at Barnstaple, while the two older sons’ place of birth was confirmed as Wandsworth and Eastleigh respectively. The family also had a lodger staying with them, and that was John Hancock, a tailor aged 28 of Barnstaple.
	Within the next ten years the family moved the very short distance from 45 Vicarage Street to number 48 Vicarage Street. At that time Frederick Collett of Appleford in Berkshire was 65 and was still working as a railway carriage examiner, while his wife Amelia was 59. Only the couple’s 28 years old son William Collett of Wandsworth was still living with them at that time, apart that is from a boarder James Moon who was 24.
	On 2^nd April the census day in 1911, Frederick Collett was 75 and was confirmed as having been born at Appleford, when he was living at Barnstaple with his wife Amelia who was 69. Also living with the couple was their son William Alfred Collett with his two daughters. Sadly it was around six months after that when Frederick Collett died at Barnstaple during the third quarter of 1911 at the age of 76. At the time of the death of Amelia during the March quarter of 1923, when she was 81, she was referred to as Amelia E Collett. It therefore seems likely that she was also Amelia Ellen, as was her daughter.
	34P3	Frederick (Smith) Collett	Born in 1860 at Bradford-on-Avon
	34P4	Amelia Ellen Collett	Born in 1867 at Paddington
	34P5	William Alfred Collett	Born in 1873 at Wandsworth
	34P6	Albert Charles Collett	Born in 1875 at Eastleigh, Hants
	34P7	Amelia Ellen Collett	Born in 1878 at Barnstaple
	34P8	George Henry Collett	Born in 1880 at Barnstaple
34O9	John Thomas Collett was very likely born while his parents were living at Guyhirn, near to where he was baptised on 26^th December 1847 at the parish church of Wisbech St Mary. He was the eldest son of shoemaker William Collett from Appleford and his wife Elizabeth Pywell from Warmington in Northamptonshire. By the time of the census in 1851 John Thos Collett was two years old while he and his family were living within the parish of Wisbech St Mary. Sometime during the 1853, and following the death of two of his siblings, John’s parents moved to Birmingham, where a further five siblings died. In 1861 only four members of the family were living in Duddeston area within the Birmingham parish of Aston when John was 12 years of age and his only sibling was James who was two months
	Upon completing his elementary education at Ely, he entered Bristol Baptist College in 1870, but during the following year he was asked to leave after charges had been made against him. What they were is not known. According to the Bristol census in 1871 John was still spelling his name with a single T, when he was recorded within the St Pauls area of the city as John Thos Collet who was 24 rather than 23. He was the only Collet living there on that occasion. However, within a few months he married Hannah and over the following decade the marriage produced three sons, the first born in London, and the next two in Plymouth. It would appear that the family left Plymouth after the birth of their third child and in 1877 were once again in London. Two records there indicate that John Collett was in court on 22^nd October 1877 when sentencing was postponed, pending a further trial, and again on 19^th November 1877 when he was acquitted and discharged.
	By the time of the census in 1881 John and his family were in lodgings at 48 Southampton Street in Leicester St Margaret. The census return for the family was somewhat incomplete, as it was missing the place of birth of both John and his wife, and John did not offer his correct age. 48 Southampton Street was the home of the widow Hannah Forehead aged 41, who was also recorded with no known place of birth, who had her son Thomas and her daughter Eliza living there with her. John Collett said he was 31 instead of 33, and his stated occupation was that of a journalist – no mention of him being a man of the cloth. His wife Hannah was 32 and their three sons were John, who was nine, George, who was six, and James who was five. Curiously alongside John’s name was written what looks like ‘son-in-law’, but unless Hannah Forehead was much older than stated, she could not have been the mother of John’s wife.
	Six years earlier on 26^th December 1875 John Thomas Collette was appointed Baptist Minister at Ringstead Church in Northamptonshire, the records stating that he had gained a Master’s Degree and a PhD which he had obtained in Germany. Whether these are true facts is not known since John was very much a man of mystery and intrigue. However, in October 1876 it was proposed that Dr Collett’s name be erased from the Church Book as he had joined the Catholic Church, thus he was only in post for less than one year when he was asked to leave Ringstead.
	After a number of years in Leicester, J T Collett PhD returned to Ringstead in 1882 where he gave a talk at the Ringstead Temperance Hall on Monday 4^th February entitled ‘Reminiscences of the Drink Curse’. A report in the Wellingborough News read as follows:
	The announcement of Mr. Collett’s visit to Ringstead, as might be expected, drew a large number of people to the Temperance Hall. Some were attracted thither by curiosity, others perhaps expected to hear something novel, and many came to hear a man who about seven years ago made no small commotion in the village, and championed the people’s cause in parish matters. He expressed the great pleasure it gave him to be once more in Ringstead. It was six and a half years since he left the village. During that time life had passed roughly with him, and some of the angles in life had been rudely rubbed off, but notwithstanding all the vicissitudes of life he dared to come to Ringstead, where (dare he say it) he was once the Baptist Minister. He should ever cherish that thought. Well, he still had the same love for freedom and free thought as then. Though this might bring crosses and rebuffs, he and they should have a purpose true and dare to defend it. He advocated freedom of thought and freedom of speech to his opponents as well as to himself.
	He went on to talk of the dangers of drink: how it shortened lives, destroyed careers, blunted the affections and impaired the memory. He admitted to his audience that he had once drunk intoxicating drinks and could say, ‘from personal experience that the drink was an evil’. He finished by describing in graphic terms his experience of prison life while incarcerated in Leicester gaol, a victim of an unjust, vindictive and scandalous prosecution.
	It was on Thursday 1^st September 1881 that John Thomas Collett of 48 Southampton Street came before the Leicester Borough Police Court. The charge was that, although he did not have authority to collect accounts he had done so, getting two cheques made out in his name. Those cheques had not been paid into the company account. One was for £9 10s and the other for £6 6s. One witness told the court that he had asked for this under the pretext that he received 5% commission on all orders that he personally took in. In spite of his previous ‘excellent character’ and ‘testimonials from persons of the highest standing’, he was only given bail of £80 and two sureties of £40 each. It is unlikely that he would have been able to find that money, so presumably he remained in gaol. He was committed to trial at the next Quarter Sessions and at the Leicester Borough Sessions on Wednesday 19^th October 1881, when he was sentenced to twelve months hard labour.
	We know a great deal about his time in Leicester Gaol because he wrote a book entitled ‘Prison Reminiscences of the Drink Curse’ which was published in 1883 by Marshall Brothers of London, although it was printed in Leicester. It ran to 112 pages and was obviously the basis of the temperance speech that he gave in Ringstead in February of the previous year. Other books written by John Thomas Collett, PhD. F.R.A.S, include ‘The Shades of Hades’, ‘Why I am a Liberal’ and ‘Is Vaccination a Preventative against Disease’. John worked as a librarian while in Leicester Gaol and in that way he saw many of the prisoners and recounts that 2500 prisoners entered the prison each year and of whom only 17 were not the victims of drink. He also tells us that the real rogues easily coped with prison life and even quite enjoyed it. For other men, however, who had made one mistake it could be a bitter experience.
	On Monday 3^rd December 1883 John paid another visit to Northamptonshire when he gave a lecture at Raunds Temperance Hall on ‘Reforms needed by the working classes’, and a few months later, in February 1884, he was once again called before the Leicester County Court when he was sued for a debt of £1 that he owed. The debt was for a pair of boots from some five years earlier when John had been employed as a traveller for a boot and shoe manufacturer. The case was covered at length in the Leicester Chronicle, perhaps because he was beginning to gain some notoriety. In answer to being questioned, he revealed that he was a newspaper agent and author but only by commission. He went on to say that his average earnings were 33s 6d a week but added that he had been in distress for some fifteen months, and that he and his wife and family had been in the Workhouse for some time.
	Further court cases followed that same year, one for non-payment of £8 for advertising his books, and another for not paying solicitor’s fees amounting to £18, on which occasion of 5^th August 1884 John stated that he was editor of the Birmingham & Midlands Trades Journal. A year later on 22^nd August 1885 the Tamworth Herald printed a short article on the Trent Valley Brewery Company of Lichfield which included reference to ‘The Brewers’ Review’ a new publication devoted to the interests of the brewing trade, edited by Mr. J. T. Collette, MA, PhD.
	In May 1887 another court appearance highlighted that John was residing at 2 Garfield Place in Bordesley Green, Small Heath in Birmingham. On that occasion he was brought before the Birmingham Police Court when it was alleged that John Thomas Collett, a doctor of philosophy, a curate, a scripture reader, and editor, was charged with obtaining money from people by false pretences. The police asked for him to be remanded, but John wanted the case to be heard immediately as he was sure he could prove his innocence. However, he was sentenced to three months hard labour as a rogue and vagabond on Wednesday 25^th May, 1887, when it was stated that he had a previous conviction for embezzlement at Chester.
	Having served his sentence and been released, he was back in court once again in August 1887, when he was in the dock at Aston Police Court charged with obtaining Alms by false and fraudulent pretences at Ward End on 5^th May that year. Despite the pleas for leniency by his defence lawyer, and a promise by John to reform, he was sentenced to another two months hard labour. That may have been the last straw for John and his family who then emigrated to America. John later said that the family had entered the New World in 1887 but the ship’s passenger list below suggests it was a year later.
	However, it was on board the vessel Lord Clive that the family sailed out of Liverpool, which docked in Philadelphia harbour on 5^th June 1888. Unlike other passenger lists there were no ages or christian names for the party. Instead the family of John T Collett was recorded in the following way. Collett, Jno (male) a lab, Mrs Collett, (female) wife, Collett boy (male) a lab, Collett child (male), and Collett child (female) – the latter being an obvious gender error. In the following year the Philadelphia City Directory published in 1889 included John T Collett as a labourer, and one year later he was a civil engineer living in the Bullitt Building there. That is almost certainly the same home where his wife and sons were living over the next six or seven years.
	It was seven years after his arrival in America that John Thomas Collett died in Philadelphia on 17^th December 1894 and was buried four days later in Philadelphia Cemetery. His occupation was given as journalist and his address was 116 Spruce Street. He was described as married and 45 years of age, while the cause of death was recorded as mania with lubitis and periostitis of the face and jaw. Six years later, according to the 1900 United States Federal Census, the widow of John Thomas Collett and her two youngest unmarried sons were living at the home of her eldest son John at 148 Cox Street in Camden City, New Jersey. After living in America for thirteen years none of them had become naturalised citizens by that time, which most likely happened sometime later.
	It was during December 2011 that webmaster Brian Collett was contacted by David Ball regarding John Thomas Collett. David was in the process of compiling a book about the many interesting characters of the Northamptonshire village of Ringstead. By that time David had a great deal of information on the former Baptist Minister of Ringstead but did not know into which Collett family he belonged. Over the months leading up to June 2012 Brian and David worked together to uncover more about the man and his family, the outcome of which was to determine his position in this family line. It is therefore thanks to the generosity of David that we now know so much more about this colourful character.
	34P9	John Collett	Born in 1871 at London
	34P10	George Collett	Born in 1874 at Plymouth
	34P11	James Collett	Born in 1875 at Plymouth
34O10	Mary Elizabeth Collett was born at Guyhirn near Wisbech during January in 1851, while it was at Wisbech St Mary that her birth was recorded as Mary E Collett the daughter of William and Elizabeth. Furthermore she was just two months old in the census of 1851, but sadly died shortly thereafter.
34O11	Annie Elizabeth Collett was born at Guyhirn in 1852, one of a set of triplets born to William and Elizabeth Collett. The birth of all three children was recorded at Wisbech St Mary, where Annie’s death was registered in 1853.
34O12	William Collett was born at Guyhirn in 1852 and was around one year old when his parents took the family to live in the Aston area of Birmingham, where William died in 1854.
34O13	Elizabeth Collett was born at Guyhirn in 1852 and it was also in 1854 that she died at Birmingham around the same time that her brother William (above) lost his life.
34O14	Phoebe Pywell Collett was born at Aston in Birmingham during 1854. Unlike four of her older siblings Phoebe reached the age of four years before she too suffered a childhood illness which took her life. Her second forename was taken from her mother’s maiden-name.
34O15	John Collett was born at Aston in 1856 and was around two years old when he died there in 1858.
34O16	Jemima Collett was born at Aston in 1858 and died shortly afterwards, the seventh of the nine children of William Collett and Elizabeth Pywell to suffer the same fate.
34O17	James George Collett was born at Aston in Birmingham on the 19^th October 1860, the youngest known child of William Collett and Elizabeth Pywell. It was at Duddeston in the Aston parish of Birmingham that he was living with his family in 1861 when he was incorrectly recorded as being only two months old. For the next census conducted in 1871 James and his parents were living at 38 Nicholls Park Road within the Aston district of Birmingham, when James George Collett was recorded as being 11 years of age and born in Birmingham.
	By 1881 James G Collett, aged 21 and from Aston, was one of the four assistants employed by draper Richard H Widdowson from Melton Mowbray at his premises in Birmingham. James eventually gave up being a draper’s assistant when he became a baptist and attended Preachers’ Classes run by Henry Platten, the Minister at the Graham Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. It was from there that he progressed to Rawdon Baptist College in Yorkshire, and in 1888 he was appointed joint Pastor of the Kings Heath. He was still a bachelor in 1891 when he was recorded as James Collett aged 31 and from Birmingham, who was residing in the Kings Norton area.
	Shortly after that he married Ellen Lucy Bond who was born in 1870, the daughter of Joseph Winsor Bond and Luisa Jones, and her two sons fathered by James Collett carried Ellen’s father’s name of Winsor. It was at Kings Heath that James and Ellen were living for the birth of their first child in 1893. Sometime after that event James became the Pastor at Moseley Baptist Church, a position he held until 1913. It was also within the Moseley urban district that the couple’s final three children were born. According to the census in March 1901 the family was residing at 3 Blenheim Road in Kings Norton headed by James G Collett, who was 41 and a Baptist Minister from Birmingham.
	The remainder of his family were recorded as his wife Ellen Collett who was 30, and their two children Mary Collett, who was eight, and James R Collett who was one year old. Employed by the family was general domestic servant Lilian Pass from Stoke Priors who was 22. Because of the years between the two children it is possible there had been others who did not survive. Ten years later the completed family was living at 66 Greenhill Road in Moseley, where James George Collett was 51 and a Baptist Minister, Ellen Lucy Collett was 40, both born in Birmingham, Mary Eileen Collett was 18, James Ralph Winsor Collett was 11, William Winsor Collett was nine, and Louisa Elizabeth Collett was five years old. Living with the family were the sisters Nellie Elizabeth Pearson who was 22 and Florence Gertrude Pearson who was 20, both from Bridgtown in Staffordshire where they had been living in 1891 and 1901. They were two of the five children of William H Pearson from Bilston who was a widower in 1901 when he was a moulder’s labourer living at Attercliffe cum Darnall area of Sheffield.
	What happened to the Collett family after 1913 when James’ tenure at Moseley ceased is not known at this time. What is known is that in 1927 his son James returned from Malaya with his wife Margaret, at which time the couple stated that they would be staying at 96 Oxford Road in Moseley near Birmingham. Presumably that was the home of James and Ellen and the couple’s first return to England after the birth of their first child.
	Other than that, it is known that Ellen Lucy Collett nee Bond died at Bromsgrove in 1962, which may have been prior to or after the death of her husband. James George Collett had lived a very long life when he died at Birmingham on 10^th October 1962, just nine days short of his 102^nd birthday. His life was in complete contrast to that of his more controversial older brother John Thomas Collett (above) who had left for America before James took up holy orders. In 2009 the New Life Baptist Church in Kings Heath was renovated and during the work two time capsules were found built into the walls. One was from 1872 and the other from 1897 which included, amongst other church documents, a handwritten note from James George Collett dated 1897.
	34P12	Mary Eileen Collett	Born in 1893 at Kings Heath
	34P13	James Ralph Winsor Collett	Born in 1899 at Moseley
	34P14	William Winsor Collett	Born in 1901 at Moseley
	34P15	Louisa Elizabeth Collett	Born in 1905 at Moseley
34O18	Martha Collett was born at Appleford towards the end of 1838 and was three years old in census of 1841 and was 13 in 1851 Census. Around the age of 22 she married Richard Bennett who was born at nearby Shillingford in 1839 and, it would seem likely, that at the time of the 1861 Census Martha was expecting their first child. Martha Bennett was confirmed as being 23 and born at Appleford, while her husband was 21 and born at Shillingford, where they were living at that time. It was at Shillingford that the couple’s first four children were born before the family moved, first to Stanford-in-the-Vale, where their next two children were born, and after 1876 to Westrop near Highworth, where their seventh child was born and where the family was living in April 1881.
	At that time Richard Bennett of Shillingford was 42 and was employed as an agricultural labourer, while his wife Martha was 44 and from Appleford. Their three oldest children George Bennett (born in 1861), Charles Bennett (born in 1863), and Elizabeth Bennett (born in 1865), had left the family home, leaving agricultural labourer Paul Bennett aged 13, Ellen Bennett who was eight, James Bennett who was five, and William Bennett who was three years old.
34O19	William Collett was born at Appleford in 1840. He was one year old in 1841, 11 years of age in 1851, and was 20 in 1861. At the time of the 1871 Census he was still a bachelor living at Appleford, when he was 30. Also living in the village was Mary Ann Church aged 24, and her base-born daughter Susannah who was six years old. It was sometime during the years following the census that year William Collett and Mary Ann Church were married.
	Mary Ann Church was born at Sutton Courtenay in 1846 and was the daughter of James and Elizabeth Church. James, who was a shepherd, was born in 1810 at Brightwell near Wallingford, while his wife was two years older and came from Sutton Courtenay. Mary Ann Church was also the sister of Henry Church who married Thirza Collett (below). It seems very likely that the marriage produced no children for William and Mary Ann.
	In 1881 William, aged 41, and Mary Ann, who was 35, were living at The Cottages in Appleford where Mary Ann’s parents were also living. William was described as a railway packer and labourer working for the Great Western Railway. The village of Appleford had a small station on the Oxford to Didcot main line, known as Appleford Halt. Living with William and Mary Ann in 1881 was Mary Ann’s base-born daughter Susannah Church who was 16 and described as ‘daughter-in-law’ to head of the household William Collett.
	Ten years after that William aged 50, and Mary aged 49, were still living at Appleford, as they were just after the turn of the century, when they were 60 and 57 years old respectively. No occupation was stated for William, but his wife Mary A Collett was employed as an agricultural field worker. During the next few years it must be assumed that William passed away since, by April 1911, Mary Ann Collett who was born at Sutton Courtenay and was living at Appleford was a widow at the age of 68.
34O20	John Collett was born at Appleford in 1843 and was seven years old in 1851 when he was living with his family at Appleford. By the age of 17 he had left home and was living and working in the Witney census registration district. It would appear that he married Jane towards the end of the 1860s. By the time of the census in 1871, the couple was recorded as John Collett of Appleford who was 28, and his wife Jane E Collett who was 26, when they were living in Appleford. No later record of the couple has so far been found in any of the census returns, so it is not known whether the marriage resulted in the birth of any children, or whether the couple left England for another country.
34O21	Stephen Collett was born at Appleford in 1845 and was five years old in the Appleford census of 1851, and was 15 in the one ten years later in 1861. By the time of the census in 1871 Stephen Collett had married Mary Ody who was born at nearby Clifton Hampden in 1847, the couple settling down to live at Appleford immediately after they were married. The census at that time confirmed Stephen Collett was 25, and his wife Mary was 23. However, just a short while after the census day, the couple left Appleford and made their way south on the railway to settle in Reading, where their children were all born.
	By 1881 Stephen, was 36 and employed by the Great Western Railway as a railway guard and was working at Reading Station. At that time, he and his family were living at 45 George Street in Reading. His wife Mary was 34 and of Clifton in Oxfordshire, while their three children at that time were Thomas Collett, who was seven, William Collett, who was four, and Frederick who was one year old, with all of them confirmed as having been born at Reading.
	Just one further child was added to the family, and in early April 1891 the family living in the St Mary parish of Reading comprised Stephen Collett aged 46, Mary Collett who was 44, and their children Thomas Collett 17, Charles Collett 14, and Frederick Collett who was 10. Whilst the couple’s last and youngest son James was included in the census of 1901 Census, for some reason he was absent from the family in 1891. Over the last decade of the century three of the couple’s four sons left the family home in Reading, so by the time of the next census in 1901 the family still living in Reading comprised Stephen from Appleford who was 55, Mary his wife who was 53, and their son Frederick who was 21.
	It was over eight years later that the death of Stephen Collett was recorded at Reading register office (Ref. 2c 212) during the final three months of 1909. At the time of the proving of his Will it was stated that he was residing at 45 George Street in Reading from where he had been employed as a railway porter, but that he actually died as a patient in the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading. Probate of his personal effects valued at £217 16 Shillings and 6 Pence was granted to his widow Mary Collett. Following the death of her husband Mary remained in Reading when she moved in with her married son Thomas Stephen and his family, and it was with them that she was recorded in the census of 1911 as Mary Collett, a widow of 63, from Clifton Hampden.
	34P16	Thomas Stephen Collett	Born in 1873 at Reading
	34P17	William Charles Collett	Born in 1876 at Reading
	34P18	Frederick J Collett	Born in 1879 at Reading
	34P19	James Valentine Collett	Born in 1881 at Reading
34O22	Emma Collett was born at Appleford in 1848 and was two years of age in the census of 1851 and was 12 in 1861 and, on both occasions, she was living with her family at Appleford. By the time of the next census in 1871, Emma was married and was living at Cholsey near Wallingford. She was Emma Clifton aged 22 and had been born at Appleford. Her husband was John Clifton was 29 and, at that time, the marriage had not produced any children for the couple.
	It seems likely though that Emma was with-child on the day of the census since, later that year she presented her husband with their first child. He was born at nearby Wittenham and, within a year of his birth, Emma and John had returned to live in Appleford, where a further three of their children were born. According to the 1881 Census the family was living in a cottage in Appleford, from where John Clifton was working for the Great Western Railway as a platelayer. He was 39 and had been born at Clifton Hampden on the Oxfordshire side of the River Thames. The same census return also confirmed that Emma was 32 and had been born at Appleford, and that their children were Frederick Clifton who was nine, George Clifton who was eight, Edward Clifton who was six, and Elizabeth Clifton who was four years old.
	During the next ten years a further four children were added to the family. By 1891 the family living at Appleford comprised parents John 49 and Emma 42, and their children Frederick 19, George 18, Edward 16, Elizabeth 14, Kate Clifton 10, Jane Clifton who was seven, Mary Clifton who was three, and the latest arrival Eliza Clifton who was not yet one year old. Sometime during the 1890s Emma died and just after the turn of the century widower John Clifton was still working for the GWR as a platelayer, when he was 57. Living with him, and also working for the GWR, was his son Edward Clifton who was a telegraph labourer.
34O23	Ann Collett was born at Appleford during December 1850 where she was living with her parents and was just three months old on the 30^th March 1851, the census day that year. She was still living at Appleford with her family a decade later when she was 10 years old in the April census of 1861. On reaching the age of maturity, around the age of twenty years, she married the much older Thomas Church, the son of James Church and his wife Eliza Cotterell, who was born at Benson in Oxfordshire on 1^st September 1838. Shortly after their wedding day Thomas’ brother Henry Church married Thirza Collett (below) who was the cousin of Ann Church nee Collett. By April 1871, Ann was listed in the census return as Ann Church aged 20 and born at Appleford, where she was still living with her husband.
	By the time of the census of 1881 Ann had presented her husband Thomas Church with four children, all of whom had been born at Appleford. And they were Anne Church who was eight, John H Church who was six, Alice Church was four, and Arthur W Church who was one year old. No occupation or place of birth was given for Ann’s husband on that occasion. Over the following decade a further two children were added to the Appleford family.
	In 1891 Thomas Church from Benson was 50 (sic) and Ann Church from Appleford was 40, and living with them at Appleford were their children John H Church 16, Alice Church 14, Arthur W Church 11, James E Church who was eight, and Nellie (Nelly) Church who was three years old. Ten years after that the family was still together when Thomas from Benson was 63 and Ann from Appleford was 50, although after a further ten years the only child still living with the couple at Appleford was Nellie Church who was 23. Her father Thomas Church was 73 and her mother Ann Church was 60.
34O24	Jane Collett was born at Appleford in 1852 and was eight years old in 1861 and was 18 in 1871. She was still a spinster in 1881 at the age of 27, when she was working as a machinist. At that time she was still living with her parents at The Cottages in Appleford. Shortly after that time, Jane married Francis Prior and in 1891 the couple was still living in Appleford, where Jane Prior was 38 and Francis, who was referred to as Frank Prior, was 39. Just after the turn of the century, Jane was 48 in March 1901, when her husband Francis, aged 50, was working as a labourer in a local Hay & Corn Store. Jane’s place of birth was confirmed as Appleford, where the couple was living at that time, while Francis had been born at East Hagbourne, to the south of Didcot.
34O25	Agnes Collett was born at Appleford in 1854 and she was six years old and 15 years of age in the 1861 and 1871 census records for Appleford. She married William Belcher during the late 1870s and presented him with their first child in April 1880. The 1881 Census confirmed that Agnes and William had left Appleford following their wedding and that they had moved to live in the village of Basildon, just south of the Goring Gap. Agnes was 25 and had been born at Appleford, while her husband was 26 and had been born at Long Wittenham. William Belcher was working as a shepherd at that time in his life, and their daughter Jane E Belcher was twelve months old and had been born after the couple settled in Basildon. By the turn of the century Agnes and William had returned to William’s home village of Long Wittenham, where Agnes Belcher was 45, and her husband was 47 and was still employed as a shepherd.
34O26	Frederick Arthur Collett was born at Appleford in 1857 and was three years old in 1861 and 13 in 1871. At the aged of 23 he was still a bachelor living at the family home in Appleford, from where he was working as a farm labourer. Sometime during the 1880s it is believed, although not proved, that Frederick married Kezia Harvey who was born at Sutton Courtenay. In the earlier census of 1881, Kezia Harvey who 23 when she was living with her parents at West St Helens Street in Abingdon, from where she was working as a tailoress at a local factory.
	It looks very much like the couple settled down to live in Sutton Courtenay after they were married, but so far no record has been found to confirm the marriage produced any children. In the 1901 Census for Sutton Courtenay, Frederick A Collett was 43 years of age and working as the publican at an inn in the village, while his wife, referred to as Sarah Collett of Sutton Courtenay was 42 and was employed as a jacket maker. The same couple was still residing within the Sutton Courtenay area in April 1911, when Frederick was still working as a publican but was recorded using his full name of Frederick Arthur Collett. He was 53, as was his wife Sarah Collett. Two other people were staying with the couple, the first of them being the niece of Frederick and Sarah. She was Beatrice Mary Prior who was 21 and born at Appleford, the daughter of Thomas and Ann Prior who, during the third quarter of 1913 married William T Howard at Abingdon (Ref. 2c 731). The second person living with Frederick and Sarah was William Kent who was also aged 21.
34O27	James Ernest Collett was born at Appleford in 1859, the youngest child of Charles and Susan Collett of Appleford. However, in all of the following census records he was simply referred to as James Collett, and it was only much later in his life that his full name was used. In the first of the census returns to feature James, in 1861, he was one year old, and ten years later in 1871, he was 11 years of age, when he was still living in Appleford with his family. By the time of the census in 1881, he was still living with his parents at The Cottages in Appleford where, at the age of 21, he was working as a farm labourer, like his brother and his father.
	Three years later James Collett married Sarah Jane Brookland from the next village of Sutton Courtenay, when the details of their wedding were recorded at Abingdon register office (Ref. 2c 637) during the last quarter of 1884. The witnesses present on the day were Eliza Sophia Whitehead and James Smart. Three years prior to that Sarah Brookland from Berkshire was 16 and the housemaid at 21 Windsor Street in Brighton where she was employed by widower Charles Graham who was 69. Once married the couple lived the early part of their life at Appleford, where all of their children were born. It is of interest that, on the occasion of the marriage of his son Stephen in 1914, James was referred to as James Ernest Collett, a labourer.
	By the time of the census of the 1891 the family living at Church Street in Appleford comprised James Collett aged 31 and a groom and a gardener from Appleford, his wife Sarah Collett was 25 and from Sutton Courtenay, who was working as a ‘jacket head’ employed by a nearby clothing factory. Their three children were Edward Collett who was six, Ernest Collett who was three, and Stephen Collett who was only nine months old. Also lodging with the family in 1891, was Sarah’s younger brother James Brookland who was 22 and also from Sutton Courtenay, who was working as a farm labourer. Also living in Appleford in 1891 and just four dwellings away from the home of James Collett and his family, were his parents Charles and Susan Collett.
	It was during the following year that the fourth child of James and Sarah, and their first daughter, was born into the family, and she was followed by a further three more children up to the start of the new century. All of them were born at the family home in Church Street, Appleford. By the time of the census in March 1901 the enlarged family was still living there when James was 40 and was still working as a domestic groom and a gardener, while his wife Sarah aged 36, was still employed on work for the local factory as a clothing maker. Also by that time, the couple’s two eldest sons were working on a local farm, where Edward Collett was a teamster at the age of 15, while 13 years old Ernest Collett was a plough boy. The remaining children on that occasion were Stephen Collett who was ten, Florence Collett who was eight, Sidney Collett who was five, Margaret Collett who was two, and baby Elizabeth Collett who was under one year old.
	Two more children were born into the family during the next decade, while they were still living at Appleford. They were confirmed in the Appleford census of 1911 when James was 51, his wife Sarah was 45, and the children still living with them were Ernest Collett who was 23, Stephen Collett who was 20, Sidney Collett who was 15, Elizabeth Collett who was 10, Lawrence Collett who was seven and Frederick Collett who was two years old. The three main absentees on that occasion were eldest son Edward who was a policeman in Oxford by then, daughter Florence who was already married by then, and Margaret who would have been 12 – see below.
	New information discovered in 2013 reveals that Margaret Collett died at Appleford during the first quarter of 1902 when she was just three years old, the sad event being registered at Abingdon (Ref. 2c 213). She was not the only child of James and Sarah to die before reaching maturity because tragically the death of the couple’s youngest son Frederick Collett was also recorded at the Abingdon register office (Ref. 2c 346) during the last quarter of 1927 when he was only 18 years of age. However, five years earlier the children’s father James Ernest Collett died at Appleford during the last three months of 1922 when his death was recorded at Abingdon register office (Ref. 2c 337) at the age of 62, and during the previous year Sarah Jane Collett nee Brookland passed away, when her death was recorded at Abingdon in 1921.
	34P20	Edward John Collett	Born in 1885 at Appleford
	34P21	Ernest James Collett	Born in 1888 at Appleford
	34P22	Stephen Collett	Born in 1890 at Appleford
	34P23	Florence Collett	Born in 1892 at Appleford
	34P24	Sidney Collett	Born in 1895 at Appleford
	34P25	Margaret Collett	Born in 1898 at Appleford
	34P26	Elizabeth Collett	Born in 1900 at Appleford
	34P27	Lawrence John Collett	Born in 1904 at Appleford
	34P28	Frederick Charles Collett	Born in 1909 at Appleford
34O28	Moses Collett was born at Appleford in late 1844 or very early in 1845, the birth being registered during the first quarter of 1845 and recorded on page 174 of Volume VI of the register of births at Abingdon. He was the first of four base-born child of Keren Happuch Collett of Appleford. In 1851, when he was six years old, he was living with his mother and his two sisters, Sarah and Christian, at the home of his grandparents in Appleford. Ten years later when he was 16, Moses had already left the village school and was working as an agricultural labourer, while still living with his mother and two sisters, Sarah and Thirza, at the home of his widowed grandmother in Main Road in Appleford. Also living there was his maiden aunt Mary Ann Collett.
	Around the middle of the 1860s Moses Collett married Mary Ann who was born at Sutton Courtenay in 1846 and it was there also that the couple’s first child was born and baptised. By the time of the next census in 1871, Mary Ann had presented Moses with their first two children, the second of them born at Appleford where all the subsequent children were born and baptised. The census that year for Appleford listed the family as Moses Collett aged 27, his wife Mary who was 24, and their two children John H Collett who was three years old and born at Sutton Courtenay and Emma A Collett who was one year old and born at Appleford. In the later census records, Emma A Collett was referred to as Emily A Collett.
	Ten years later according to the census in 1881, Moses was 36 and was employed as a platelayer working for the Great Western Railway. He and his wife were living at The Cottages in Appleford, where curiously it was stated that all of their children had been born. The children at that time were John H Collett aged 13, Emily Collett aged 11, Susan Collett who was seven, Walter Collett who was five, and Martha Collett who was two years old. The children’s mother, Mary Ann Collett from Sutton Courtenay, was working as a machinist at the age of 34.
	At the next census in 1891 Moses was 46 and his wife Mary was 44. They were still living at Appleford with their children John Collett who was 23, Susan Collett who was 17, Walter Collett who was 15, Martha Collett who was 12, Robert Collet who was eight and Francis Collett who was five years old. The couple’s absent eldest daughter had left home by then and was living and working in Richmond. She was referred to as Emily A Collett and was confirmed as being aged 21 and born at Appleford.
	Just after the turn of the century Moses Collett was 56, when he was working as a carpenter on the railway, while his wife Mary Ann Collett was 54. At that time all of their children, with the exception of the two youngest children, were also living in Appleford. See separate entries for exact details. By 1911 Moses Collett was 67 and the census that year confirmed he was born at Appleford where he was also still living. Listed with him, was his wife Mary Ann who was 64, and his two sons Walter William Collett aged 36 and Francis Collett who was 24. Also living with the family was their daughter Emily’s eldest son Frederick Beaumont, who was 14 and already working as a farm labourer, following the death of his father six years earlier. Six years after that census day the death of Moses Collett at the age of 72 was recorded at the Abingdon register office (Ref. 2c 495) during the first quarter of 1917.
	34P29	John Henry Collett	Born in 1867 at Sutton Courtenay
	34P30	Emily Alona Collett	Born in 1869 at Appleford
	34P31	Susan M Collett	Born in 1873 at Appleford
	34P32	Walter William Collett	Born in 1875 at Appleford
	34P33	Martha Collett	Born in 1878 at Appleford
	34P34	Robert Collett	Born in 1882 at Appleford
	34P35	Francis Samuel Collett	Born in 1886 at Appleford
34O29	Sarah Collett was born at Appleford in 1845, the second of four base-born children of Keren Happuch Collett. She was five years old in the Appleford census of 1851, when she was living at the home of her grandparents, together with her mother, her older brother Moses Collett (above), and younger sister Christian Collett (below). During the following years, her sister Christian appears to have died, although during that time her mother gave birth to her fourth base-born child. By 1861, Sarah Collett aged 15, was a house servant at the home of her grandmother, the widow and pauper Mary Collett. Also living at the same dwelling was Sarah’s mother Keren Collett, her brother Moses Collett, and younger sister Thirza Collett (below). By 1871, and at the age of 25, it must be assumed that she was married, as there was no record of a Sarah Collett of that age, born at Appleford in that census or any later census records.
34O30	Christian Collett was born at Appleford during September 1850, the third base-born child of Keren Happuch Collett. On the day of the census in 1851, she was described as Christian Collett aged six months, the granddaughter of Charles and Mary Collett. Also living at her grandparents’ home was her mother Keren, her siblings Moses and Sarah (above), and her maiden aunt Mary Collett and her bachelor uncle Henry Collett. Christian’s absence from the family at the time of the next census in 1861 probably indicates that she suffered an infant death during the early years of the 1850s.
34O31	Thirza Wicks Collett was the fourth base-born child of Karen Happuch Collett and was born at Appleford during 1852, the birth being registered at Abingdon during the last quarter of that year. The village of Appleford was the home to many members of the Wicks family, one of whom it must be assumed was Thirza’s father. In 1861 she was eight years old while living with her mother, her brother Moses, her sister Sarah, and her aunt Mary Ann Collett at the Appleford home of her widowed grandmother on Main Road. Eight years after that her grandmother died, at which time her mother Karen became head of the household. Two years later in 1871 Thirza Collett, aged 18 and from Appleford, was described as being a seamstress. It is interesting that she was the only one of the three Collett ladies living at the dwelling on the Main Road in Appleford who was in employment, while her mother Karen and aunt Mary were both listed as paupers.
	Sometime during the second quarter of following year Thirza Collett married Henry Church at Appleford, when the two witnesses were John Jones and Lucy Tarry. The marriage was recorded at the Abingdon register office (Ref. 2c 509). Within the first eight years of their life together the marriage produced three children for the couple, as confirmed by the next 1881 Census. According to the census that year Henry Church, who was born at nearby Sutton Courtenay, was 27 and a farm servant, while his wife Thirza was aged 28. The couple were living at The Cottages in Appleford with their three children Albert Church who was eight, Sarah Church who was six, and George Church who was two years old, all of whom had been born at Appleford.
	Also living with the family was Thirza’s mother Keren Collett aged 61, who was described as mother-in-law to head of the house Henry Church, together with Thirza’s maiden aunt and her mother’s older sister Mary Collett, who was 69. Thirza Church of Appleford was still living there in 1901 when she was 48 and named as the wife of Henry Church and the daughter of Karon Collett. By 1911 she was 58 when the census that year described her as Thirza Church of Appleford, married to 60-year-old Henry Church for the past 30 years. Living at Appleford with the couple was their son Reginald Church who was 15.
34O32	Patranella Collett was born at Appleford in 1848, the eldest child of Joseph and Eliza Collett. In the Appleford census returns for 1851 and 1861 she was recorded as Patranella Collett aged two years, and Patranella Collett aged 12 years and a scholar and, on both occasions, she was living at the home of her parents. On leaving school it would appear that Patranella left the village of Appleford, since in 1871, at the age of 22, she was living and working in the Nuneham Courtenay area of Oxfordshire, where she was incorrectly recorded as Paternally Collett. It was six years later that Patranella Collett married Joseph Carter, the event recorded at Abingdon-on-Thames (Ref. 2c 653) during the last three months of 1877. Joseph Palmer Carter was an agricultural labourer who was born within the Northcourt area of Abingdon (Ref. 6 125) during the third quarter of 1849, the son of William and Hannah (Ann) Collett.
	Judging by the following census returns, Patranella and Joseph never had any children that survived and, by 1881 they were living in Appleford where Joseph, aged 31, was a platelayer with the Great Western Railway. His wife was recorded at Pateranella (sic) Carter aged 32. It was there also that the pair of them was still living in 1891 when Joseph was 41 and Paternella (sic) Carter was 42. Perhaps because of his advancing years, Joseph was a packer on the railway in 1901 when his age was recorded incorrectly as 50 years. The census that year described his wife as Portranella (sic) Carter who was 51 instead of 52. It was also at Appleford that they were still living in 1911, while it was over sixteen years later that the death of Joseph P Carter aged 78 was recorded at Abingdon register office (Ref. 2c 350) during the fourth quarter of 1927. On the occasion of the passing of his widow Patranella Carter nee Collett three and a half years later she was 82 years of age residing in Wallingford-on-Thames where her death was recorded (Ref. 2c 354) during the second quarter of 1931.
34O33	Abigail Collett was born at Appleford in 1850 and was just seven months old on the census day on 30^th March 1851 when she was recorded as living at Appleford with her parents and her older sister Patranella (above). By the time of the next census in 1861 she was 10 years old and was still living at Appleford with her family.
	Around the time that she was twenty Abigail married John Barrett of Ewelme near Wallingford and, by 1881, the couple was living at Ewelme Street within what was her husband’s home village. Abigail Barrett was 30 and born at Appleford, while John Barrett was 31. Their children at that time were Joseph Barrett aged 10, Harry Barrett who was eight, Frances Barrett who was six, John Barrett who was four, James Barrett who was two, and William Levi Barrett aged eight months, who was named after Abigail’s brother (below). All of the couple’s children were confirmed as having been born at Ewelme.
	By the turn of the century Abigail Barrett was a widow at the age of 50 and, following the death of her husband, she had returned to her roots and was once again living in Appleford by the time of the census in 1901. That confirmed she had been born there and that she working as a domestic servant.
34O34	William Levi Collett was born at Appleford in 1857, the eldest son of Joseph Collett and Eliza Carr. According to the Appleford censuses of 1861 and 1871, he was referred to as Levi Collett aged three years and 12 years old respectively. However, in the 1881 Census he was listed as William L Collett aged 23 and unmarried, a railway servant who was working for the Great Western Railway, while still living with his parents at The Cottages in Appleford.
	It seems very likely that he married Elizabeth within the first few months following the 1881 census. Elizabeth was born at Appleford in 1858 and both she and William were 32 years old in 1891 when they were living at Abingdon, where their children had been born. At that time the couple had just three children, Elizabeth Collett who was eight, Oliver Collett who was five, and Alfred L Collett who was two years old, although a fourth child was added to the family around three years later.
	By 1901 William L Collett was 43, with his wife Elizabeth being 42, when they were living at Sutton Courtenay where William was employed as an ordinary agricultural labourer. The couple’s eldest child has so far not been traced in 1901 and is assumed to have been married by then, but their three sons were confirmed as Oliver Collett who was 15, Alfred L Collett who was 12, and Jesse J Collett who was six years old, with all of them born at Abingdon.
	Over the next few years the family left Sutton Courtenay and moved towards the west. William, Elizabeth, Oliver and Jesse ended up in Swindon, but not all living together, while Alfred was living at Faringdon in 1911. The Swindon census of 1911 identified William Levi Collett as 53 and Elizabeth Collett as 52, both of Appleford, living there with their youngest son Jesse Collett who was 16, within the parish of Stratton St Margaret.
	William Levi Collett died on 2^nd October 1935, while it was just over one month later that his Will was proved in London on 11^th November 1935. The probate process confirmed the following details, that he was residing at Hillside Cottages in Watchfield near Shrivenham in Berkshire when he passed away at the age of 78, and that the executors of his personal effects amounting to £594 6 Shillings and 3 Pence were his two sons Jesse James Collett and Alfred Levi Collett, both of them described as gardeners.
	34P36	Elizabeth Collett	Born in 1882 at Abingdon
	34P37	Oliver Collett	Born in 1885 at Abingdon
	34P38	Alfred Levi Collett	Born in 1888 at Abingdon
	34P39	Jesse James Collett	Born in 1894 at Abingdon
34O35	DAVID COLLETT was born at Appleford during October 1860, the son of Joseph Collett and Eliza Carr. In the census the following year he was recorded as being five months old, and ten years later in 1871 he was still living at Appleford with his family when he was 10 and was attending the village school. Sometime after leaving school, David Collett joined forces with his cousin Rhoda’s illegitimate son Aubrey Alexander Collett (Ref. 34P1), who was the same age, when they left their respective families in Appleford, to seek work on the railway in South Wales. David initially set up home at 13 Oxford Street in Roath in Glamorgan where he was living in 1881, when he was 20 years old and employed by the Great Western Railway as a porter.
	He later became a gasworks labourer and he married Harriet Judith Free at Cardiff Registry Office on 12^th February 1883. Harriet was the daughter of William Free and his second wife Mary Davies, and was born in Cardiff on 24^th April 1863. Two years prior to her marriage to David she was employed as the cook at Park Grove School in Cardiff St Johns. Over the next ten years the marriage produced four children for David and Harriet, all of whom were born at Cardiff, where they were living in 1891. At that time David was recorded as 30 and born at Appleford, while Harriet was 28 and their children were William Collett who was seven, Joseph Collett who was five, Alice Collett who was three, and Harriet Collett who was two years old.
	It would appear from the birth dates of the couple’s next four children that the family continued to live at Cardiff until the end of the century, when they followed Aubrey Alexander Collett (below) to live in the Aston area of Birmingham. According to the 1901 Census, David was confirmed as having been born at Appleford, and that he was 40 and employed as a labourer at the local gas works. His wife Harriet was 39 and from Cardiff, where all of their eight children at that time had been born.
	Their children on that occasion were listed as William L Collett aged 17, (Joseph) C Collett aged 15, Alice Collett aged 13, Harriet Collett aged 12, Abigail Collett who was nine, Patranella Collett who was seven, David Collett who was four, and Mary Collett who was two years old. As David named some of his children after his own brothers and sisters is it very likely that the L in son William’s name was Levi, like that of his oldest brother William Levi Collett. On the actual census day at the end of March 1901, it seems highly likely that David’s wife was expecting their ninth child, which was born later that same year, and that this was followed two years later by the couple’s final addition to the family.
	The family’s address in April 1911 was 71 St Margaret’s Road at Ward End in the Aston district of Birmingham. Head of the household David Collett from Appleford was 50 and at that time he was still employed as a gasworks labourer. The census return confirmed that he had been married to his wife for twenty-eight years and that she, Harriet Judith Collett, was 49 and from Cardiff in South Wales. Seven of their ten children were still living with them at that time, and they were their sons Joseph Collett 25, David Collett 15, Caleb Collett who was nine, and James Collett who was seven, and their daughters Abigail Collett 19, Patranella Collett 17, and Mary Collett who was 12 years old. The birthplace for all of the older children was confirmed as Cardiff, while the two youngest children were confirmed as having been born after the family had moved to Birmingham.
	There was one other person living with the family at Ward End in 1911 and that was Harriet Judith Collett’s nephew J A Free from Cardiff who was 13 years of age and attending school locally. Of the couple’s three missing children, their eldest son William was known to have been married before 1911, and this may well have applied to their daughter Harriet, since no record of her as Collett has been found in the 1911 Census. No further details are available regarding the family’s later life, except that it is known from the Electoral Roll for 1922 that David Collett, his wife Harriet Judith Collett and David Collett, their son, were still residing at 71 St Margaret’s Road in the Erdington Ward of Birmingham. It was also at the same address that the couple was still living in 1939, whilst it was twelve years later that Harriet Judith Collett nee Free died in 1951 at nearly ninety years of age.
	34P40	William Levi Collett	Born in 1883 at Cardiff
	34P41	JOSEPH CHARLES COLLETT	Born in 1885 at Cardiff
	34P42	Alice Eliza Collett	Born in 1887 at Cardiff
	34P43	Harriet Judith Collett	Born in 1889 at Cardiff
	34P44	Abigail Collett	Born in 1891 at Cardiff
	34P45	Patranella Collett	Born in 1894 at Cardiff
	34P46	David Collett	Born in 1896 at Cardiff
	34P47	Mary Collett	Born in 1898 at Cardiff
	34P48	Caleb Collett	Born in 1901 at Birmingham
	34P49	James Collett	Born in 1903 at Birmingham
34O36	Caleb Reuben Collett was born at Appleford in 1863 and was the youngest child of Joseph Collett and Eliza Carr, with whom he was living in 1871 at the age of seven. He initially found work as a farm labourer in the early part of his life after leaving school and in 1881 when he was 17 he was still living at the family home at The Cottages in Appleford. During the following years Caleb left Appleford and moved to London where he met and married Mary Anne Shambrook who was born at Stoke Newington and who was three years older than Caleb who was twenty-four and confirmed as the son of Joseph Collett. Mary Anne was 27 and was the daughter of Charles Shambrook, while the marriage was recorded at West Hackney on 13^th May 1888.
	It would appear that their marriage produced just the one child for the couple who was born at Bayswater in London during the following year. At the time of the census in 1891 Caleb Reuben Collett from Appleford was 27 and was living and working in the Paddington St Mary district of London. His wife was confirmed as Mary Ann Collett aged 30, and their daughter was Beatrice Mary Collett who was one year old.
	By the time of the 1901 Census the family had moved out of London and was living in the All Saints district of Hereford. Caleb was confirmed as being 37 and born at Appleford and was working as a railway engine driver. Mary Ann was 40 and their daughter Beatrice was 11. By 1911 the family of three was still living in the City of Hereford where Caleb was 47, his wife Mary Ann was 50, and their daughter Beatrice Mary Collett was 21. For the next forty years the couple continued to reside in Hereford where the death of Caleb R Collett was recorded (Ref. 9a 31) during the second quarter of 1951 when he was 87.
	34P50	Beatrice Mary Collett	Born in 1889 at Bayswater
34P1	Aubrey Alexander Collett was born at Appleford in September 1860, the base-born son of Rhoda Ellen Collett. He was recorded as being six months old in the Appleford census of 1861 when, as Aubrey Collett, he was living with his unmarried mother at the Appleford home of his grandfather Philip Collett. Two years later his mother gave birth to a base-born daughter, just after which she married Benjamin Dewe. In 1871 Aubrey A Collett aged 10, was living at the home of his stepfather Benjamin Dewe in Appleford, with his sister Ellen (below), their mother Rhoda Dewe, and their two Dewe half siblings. Between the years after leaving school and before his twentieth birthday Aubrey accompanied his mother’s cousin David Collett (Ref. 34O35) when the pair of them left Appleford and made the move to South Wales, where both of them were employed by the Great Western Railway.
	It was while he was in Wales that he met and married Mary Jane Morgan who was born in 1857 at Llaneddarne in Wales. The couple’s wedding was recorded at Cardiff (Ref. 11a 393) during the second quarter of 1879 when Aubrey was still only 18 and Mary was 22. After living in Cardiff for only a few months, where their first child was born, the young family settled at Chippenham in Wiltshire. Their home in Chippenham was in Union Road from where Aubrey, at the age of 20 in 1881, was employed as a telegraph clerk with the Great Western Railway. At that same time his wife Mary Jane was 23 and their daughter Florence was one year old.
	Again the family only stayed for a short while at Chippenham, where a second daughter was born, before another move took the family to Swindon, the spiritual home of the Great Western Railway. It was while they were living in Swindon that Aubrey’s and Mary’s third daughter was born. Shortly after the birth of that child the family left Swindon when they made their way north to Worcester. And it was there that the couple’s next child was born and where the family was recorded in the census of 1891.
	The North Worcester census that year listed the family as Aubrey A Collett from Appleford who was 30, and his wife Mary Jane Collett from Cardiff who was 32. With them, were their four daughters, Florence M Collett from Cardiff who was 11, Beatrice Z Collett who was seven and from Chippenham, Margaret R Collett who was three, and Ellen L Collett who was one year old and born at Worcester.
	Mary Jane may well have been expecting her fifth child on the day of the census, since not long after she presented Aubrey with his first son while they were still living in Worcester. It would appear that another family move took place sometime between 1892 and 1893, because the next two children were born in the Aston area of Birmingham, where the family was also still living at the time of the census in 1901.
	Aubrey Collett was recorded as being 40 years old and born at Appleford in Berkshire, and his occupation was that of a railway clerk. Living with him was his wife Mary who was 42 and from Llaneddarne in Wales. Of their seven children, only six were living there with them, following the premature death of their daughter Ellen, possibly while the family was still living in Worcester. The remaining children were listed as Florence M Collett aged 21 and from Cardiff, Beatrice Z Collett aged 19 and from Chippenham, Margaret R Collett aged 13 and from Swindon, Philip J Collett who was nine and from Worcester, Harold E Collett who was six and from Birmingham, and Edgar B A Collett who was not yet one year old and also born in Birmingham.
	A further move for the family took place sometime over the following years, since by 1911 they were living in the St Thomas district of Exeter in Devon. Aubrey Alexander Collett from Appleford was 50 and employed as a railway inspector and Mary Jane Collett, his wife, was 52. The children still living with them on that occasion were Margaret Rhoda Collett 23, Harold Edward Collett 17, and Edgar Baden Alexander Collett who was ten years old. It was just after the end of the Second World War that Aubrey Alexander Collett died on 31^st January 1947 at the family home at 431 Warwick Road in Birmingham. His death, at the age of 86, was recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 9c 580), while his estate of £352 16 Shillings and 1 Penny was probated in favour of his eldest daughter Florence Miriam Herbert, a married woman.
	34Q1	Florence Miriam Collett	Born in 1880 at Cardiff
	34Q2	Beatrice Zillah Collett	Born in 1882 at Chippenham
	34Q3	Margaret Rhoda Collett	Born in 1887 at Swindon
	34Q4	Ellen L Collett	Born in 1889 at Worcester
	34Q5	Philip James Collett	Born in 1891 at Worcester
	34Q6	Harold Edward Collett	Born in 1895 at Birmingham
	34Q7	Edgar Baden Alexander Collett	Born in 1900 at Birmingham
34P2	Ellen M Collett was born at Appleford in 1863, the base-born daughter and second child of unmarried Rhoda Ellen Collett and an unknown father. Not long after she was born, Ellen’s mother married Benjamin Dewe, and it was at the home of the Dewe family that Ellen M Collett, aged seven years, was living at Appleford with her mother and her illegitimate brother Aubrey A Collett (above) in 1871. Ellen would have been 17 in 1881, but so far no record of her has been found at that time. However, during the following years she returned to live with her mother Rhoda Dewe in Appleford, where she was recorded in 1891 as Ellen Collett from Appleford who was 27. The absence of any record of her as Ellen Collett in the next census of 1901 probably indicates that she was married by then.
34P3	Frederick Collett was born at Bradford-on-Avon around the month of July in 1860 and was originally named Frederick Smith. His mother was Amelia Collett who had been born eighteen years earlier and who had married Frederick Smith at Bradford-on-Avon during the last quarter of 1859. Sadly Frederick Smith senior never got to see the birth of his son, as he died within six months of being married to Amelia, his death being registered at Bradford-on-Avon during the second quarter of 1860.
	Frederick’s mother then met and married Frederick Collett of Appleford, following which the three of them left Wiltshire and headed for London. Once there, arrangements were made for Frederick Smith to take up the Collett surname, as confirmed by the entry in the census of 1871. The census that year listed him as Frederick Collett who was 10 years old, who had been born at Bradford-on-Avon. He was living at 27 Hampden Street in Paddington with his mother Amelia Collett who was 28 and also from Bradford-on-Avon, and her husband Frederick Collett who was 35 and from Appleford in Berkshire.
	By 1873 the family was living at Wandsworth and by 1875 they had moved again, that time to Eastleigh in Hampshire. Another move followed very soon after that, which took Frederick and his family to settle at Barnstaple in North Devon. Curiously no record of Frederick, his parents, nor any member of his family, has been found in the 1881 Census even though it is established that he had siblings who were born at Barnstaple either side of the date of the census. And no further records have been found for Frederick in subsequent census details, even though his parents reappeared at Barnstaple in the following census of 1891. In addition to his absence in 1881 and 1891, a further search of the census returns for 1901 and 1911 has also revealed no evidence that Frederick was still alive and living in the UK, so it may be that he had left these shores or had passed away.
34P4	Amelia Ellen Collett was born in London and was baptised at the Holy Trinity Church in Paddington on 7^th July 1867. Tragically she survived for only a few months and died during the final quarter of that same year.
34P5	William Alfred Collett was born at Wandsworth in London in 1873. Although there is no apparent record of him or his family in 1881, he was 18 years old in the census of 1891 when he was living in the family home at 45 Vicarage Street in Barnstaple. His occupation at that time was that of a cabinet maker. Ten years later and William was still working as a cabinet maker and was still living in Barnstaple, although the address by then was 48 Vicarage Street. The census entry confirmed he was 28 and that he had been born at Wandsworth, the only member of the family still living with his parents.
	During the third quarter of 1902 he married Emily Eliza Kidd at Barnstaple. However, the marriage only last for three years when Emily died at Barnstaple at the age of 30 during the third quarter of 1905, leaving William with twin daughters. Only one Emily E Kidd was listed in the 1881 Census and she was six years old and born at Bedlington in Northumberland. Her parents were saddler Thomas Kidd and his wife Sarah, both from Northumberland, who were living at Front Street in Bedlington at that time.
	The year before Emily married William she was living with her widowed mother and younger brother Watson Kidd at Jesmond near Newcastle when she was 26. Following the death of his wife in 1905, William took his two daughters to live with their grandparents. This was confirmed by the census in 1911 when William was 38 and was living at the home of his parents Frederick and Amelia Collett in Barnstaple with the twins who were seven years old.
	34Q8	Doris Gwendoline Emily Collett	Born in 1903 at Barnstaple
	34Q9	Edna Queenie Ellen Collett	Born in 1903 at Barnstaple
34P6	Albert Charles Collett was born at Eastleigh in Hampshire in 1875. Like all of his family, there was no record of him in 1881, but by 1891 he was 16 and was a cabinet maker working with his older brother William (above) while living in the family home at 45 Vicarage Street in Barnstaple. Sometime, during the months of July to September 1900, Albert married Emily Darch who was born at Barnstaple in 1872. Emily was the daughter of John and Ann Darch of 11 Union Street in Barnstaple and her place of birth in the 1881 Census was given as Barum in Devon, like that of all of the Darch children.
	The census in the spring of 1901 recorded Albert as 26 and his place of birth as Southampton (near Eastleigh). His occupation at that time was that of a cabinet maker. Emily was 28 and her place of birth was given as Barnstaple. Although there was no child listed with the couple on that occasion, it is very likely that Emily was pregnant with the first of their six children on the day of the census.
	By April 1911 the census return for Barnstaple listed the family as Albert Charles Collett of Southampton who was 38, his wife Emily Collett who 39, and their six children Ada May Collett who was nine, Florrie Amelia Ellen Collett who was seven, Annie Maude Mary Collett who was six, Frederick George Henry Collett who was four, Alfred Ernest John Collett who was two, and baby Emily Collett who was just seven months old.
	34Q10	Ada May Collett	Born in 1901 at Barnstaple
	34Q11	Florence Amelia Ellen Collett	Born in 1903 at Barnstaple
	34Q12	Annie Maude Mary Collett	Born in 1904 at Barnstaple
	34Q13	Frederick George Henry Collett	Born in 1906 at Barnstaple
	34Q14	Alfred Ernest John Collett	Born in 1908 at Barnstaple
	34Q15	Emily Collett	Born in Aug/Sept 1910 at Barnstaple
34P7	Amelia Ellen Collett was born at Barnstaple in early 1878 and was 12 years old in the census of 1891, although she and her family have not been located in 1881. She was living with her parents at 45 Vicarage Street in Barnstaple at the time of the census in 1891, where she was employed as a dressmaker. Living with the family as a lodger was 28 years old tailor John Hancock of Barnstaple. It may have been through him that Amelia, then aged 14, was introduced to tailor John Lavercombe who was 19, to whom she was later married.
	And so it was, towards the end of 1899, that Amelia married John Lavercombe who was born at Bratton Fleming, on the western edge of Exmoor. John was the son of William and Elizabeth Lavercombe of Bratton Fleming. Just over one year after they were married the couple was living in Barnstaple at the time of the 1901 Census and already had one child by then. The census revealed that Amelia was 23 and her husband John was 27, and that his occupation was that of a tailor.
	The child living with them at Barnstaple was new born baby Hilda M E Lavercombe who was born at Barnstaple. Four years later Amelia presented John with a son. By the time of the next census in 1911, the family, which was living at Crediton by then, was made up to John Lavercombe aged 37, Amelia Ellen Lavercombe aged 33, Hilda Maud Ellen Lavercombe who was ten, and Herbert John Lavercombe who was six years old.
34P8	George Henry Collett was born at Barnstaple on 5^th September 1880, his birth registered there (Ref. 5b 439) during the last three months of the year. His mother Amelia registered the birth while the family was living at Trinity Street in Barnstaple. George’s father was employed as a railway porter by the Great Western Railway and no record of the family has been found in the April census of 1881. Ten years later though, George H Collett was 10 years old and living with his family at 45 Vicarage Street in the Barnstaple census of 1891.
	By the end of the century, George had left Devon and headed north to Leeds where, in 1901, he was 20 and was working as a coachsmith, when he was a lodger at Willow Street in Headingley-with-Burley, his place of birth confirmed as Barnstaple. It was later that same year that the marriage of George Henry Collett and Emily Gertrude Thorne was recorded at Leeds register office (Ref. 9b 710) during the fourth quarter of 1901.
	It may be of interest to note that also living in that same area were two other Colletts. They were photographer Clara Collett nee Elliott, who was 26 and from Moorthorpe in Yorkshire, and Lina Collett a 16-year-old domestic servant who was born at Barwick-in-Elmet near Leeds. It has since been established that Lina Collett, who was born in 1884, was the daughter of blacksmith William Richard Collett of Barwick-in-Elmet and Mary Hannah Todd of nearby Thorner. Details of her family can be found in Part 36 – The Leeds Line under the Ref. 36Q8.
	A couple of years later George married Emily, with whom he had a daughter whose birth was recorded at Barnstaple register office (Ref. 5b 422) during the third quarter of 1905. According to the census in April 1911, George was still living in the Headingley-with-Burley district of Leeds. The census return listed George Henry Collett of Barnstaple as 31 and a blacksmith working in the motor trade, and his wife Emily Collett, also from Barnstaple, who was 35. Completing the family was their five-year-old daughter Emily Gladys Collett who had been born in Barnstaple. With the main family home in Burley, it is very likely that a pregnant Emily was staying with her parents at Barnstaple for the birth of Emily. Tragically, the premature death of Emily Gladys Ridd Collett was recorded at Leeds register office (Ref. 9b 548) during the fourth quarter of 1912, at the age of seven years. It was at Armley Hill Top Cemetery in Leeds that she was buried, following her passing on 7^th December 1912.
	Within two years, with war looming in Europe, George Henry Collett aged 34 and from Barnstaple, enlisted with the Army Service Corps and was assigned to the British Military Training School, when his home address was Naas in Yorkshire.
	34Q16	Emily Gladys Ridd Collett	Born in 1905 at Barnstaple
34P9	John Collett was born in London during the latter part of 1871. His father John Thomas Collett was unmarried and was living in Bristol on 2^nd April 1871, although no record has been found to date for his marriage to Hannah. In fact the only record of John being in England was within the census return for 1881 when he was nine years old. On that occasion he and his complete family were living in Leicester where they were lodging at 48 Southampton Street in the St Margaret district of the city. Not long after the census day that year John’s father was imprisoned in Leicester Gaol for a year, at which time John and his mother and two brothers were placed in the union workhouse.
	Over the next six years John’s father spent further periods of time in prison at Leicester and, on his final release in 1887, the family left England when they sailed to a new life in America. At the time of the death of his father, according to the Philadelphia City Directory John was a clerk living in Philadelphia with his mother Hannah and brother George (below), although his youngest brother James was not with them. Four years later the Philadelphia Directory of 1898 includes John and his previously missing brother Thomas J (James) Collett living with their mother Hannah at Naudain in Philadelphia who described as the widow of John Thomas Collett. By the time of the census in 1900 John was married to Catherine and they were living at 148 Cox Street in Camden City, New Jersey. John Collett from England was head of the house at 29 and was working as a proof-reader, while his wife Catherine was 28 and from Wisconsin, although her father came from Scotland. Living with the childless couple were John’s two younger brothers, together with his widowed mother.
34P10	George Collett was born at Plymouth in 1874, the second son of John and Hannah Collett. He was six years in 1881 by which time the family had moved to Leicester via Ringstead, and was lodging at 48 Southampton Street. Six year later the family emigrated to America and in 1894 they were living in Philadelphia when George’s father died. At that time in his life George was a labourer. After a further six years, when George was 26, he and his mother and youngest brother James (below), were living at 148 Cox Street in Camden City, New Jersey, the home of George’s older brother John (above) who was married by then. Both George and his brother John were presumably working together, as their stated occupation was that of a proof-reader.
34P11	James Collett was born at Plymouth in 1875, the youngest of the three children of John Thomas Collett and his wife Hannah. When James was around one year old his family left Plymouth, following his father being offer the job of Baptist Minister at Ringstead in Northamptonshire. However, within nine months of taking up the role, his father was dismissed, resulting in the father moving to Leicester.
	The move to Leicester was confirmed in the census of 1881 when the entire family was in lodgings at 48 Southampton Street, where James was five years old. Over the next six years James’ father spent time in Leicester Gaol following which in 1887 the family emigrated to America, where James’ father died in 1894. By 1900 James was unmarried at the age of 25, when his occupation was that of a tinsmith. At that time in his life he was living at the home of his eldest brother John (above) at 148 Cox Street in Camden City, New Jersey.
34P13	James Ralph Winsor Collett was born at Moseley in 1899, the second child and eldest son of James George Collett and Ellen Lucy Bond. In 1901 James R Collett was one year old and in 1911 he was recorded living with his parents at 66 Greenhill Road in Moseley under his full name of James Ralph Winsor Collett aged 11 years when he was still attending school. On leaving school James became an accountant and was in his early twenties when he married Margaret Tait Milligan who was born in Edinburgh. Where the wedding took place is not known but by the time of the birth of their first child James and Margaret were residing in Malaya where James was employed as an accountant.
	During the summer of 1927 James, his wife and their son sailed from the Malay States to London on board the SS Diomed of the China Mutual Steam Navigation Company which arrived in London on 25^th July 1927, the vessel having started its journey at Otura in Japan. The family travelled first class and was listed as James Ralph Windsor Collett, an accountant aged 27, his wife Margaret De Lacy Collett who was also 27, and their son James, for whom no age was given. The address in England where they were intending to stay was 96 Oxford Road in Moseley, just south of Birmingham, which was very likely the home of James’ parents. So perhaps the reason for the trip was a holiday to bring their first-born son to see his grandparents. The absence of that child’s name on future passenger lists may be an indication that he stayed in England when his parents returned to their home in Malaya.
	It was also in Malaya where the couple’s remaining children were born. A second return sea journey to England took place in 1932 when their third child was two years old. On that occasion it was just Marguerite and her son Richard Anthony Collett who travelled to the United Kingdom, boarding the ship at Penang, with their destination address being 96 Oxford Road in Moseley. Once back in Malaya Marguerite gave birth to a fourth child during 1935 and two years later the majority of the family again sailed to England from Singapore. The ship’s passenger listed recorded the family as James Ralph Collett aged 37, Marguerite Collett aged 38, Valerie Collett who was eight, Richard Anthony Collett who was six and Patricia Collett who was two years of age. Yet again the family’s destination was 96 Oxford Road in Moseley.
	The Second World War forced the family out of Malaya and on fleeing the country Margaret Collett nee Milligan died at sea off the coast of Hong Kong in 1942. It was reported that Mrs M Collett was a passenger on board SS Tanjong Penang when it was sunk by a torpedo from a Japanese submarine on 17^th February 1942. Marguerite Collett had boarded the ship at Kuala Lampur, was 43 years of age and a British citizen, the wife of Mr J R W Collett of Whittal & Company Chartered Accountants of Golf View Road in Kuala Lampur and an internee in Changi. Following the death of his wife, and his liberation from imprisonment at the end of the war, James and his youngest son settled in Australia where they lived out the rest of their lives.
	Nothing is currently known about his youngest son, except that it is established that Richard Anthony Collett died in Australia during 2011. However, James Ralph Winsor Collett was named in divorce proceedings at Western Sydney Records Centre in Kingswood between 11^th October 1946 and 7^th May 1948. The case, number 4633/1946, centred around Alfred George Barnard and his wife Daphne Kate Winifred Barnard, the latter having had an affair with James Collett. Following the divorce, it is likely that James and Daphne were married, although no record of their wedding has so far been found to validate this assumption. If proved to be true, the couple were then married for nearly thirty years when the death of James Ralph Winsor Collett was recorded in Australia during 1978.
	Thanks to some sterling work by Jennie Cordner (of Part 28) in 2016 it is now known that James’ two daughters both survived the war and that is most likely because the three youngest children were left behind in England in 1937, or just after, when James and Margaret returned to Malaya. See their individual entries for further details.
	34Q17	James Ralph Collett	Born during 1922 in Malaya
	34Q18	Valerie Collett	Born during 1929 in Malaya
	34Q19	Richard Anthony Collett	Born during 1931 in Malaya
	34Q20	Patricia Louise Collett	Born during 1934 in Malaya
34P14	William Winsor Collett was born at Moseley during latter part of 1901 or the first few months of 1902, the son of James Ellen Collett. It was at 66 Greenhill Road in Moseley where the family was residing in 1911 when William Winsor Collett was nine years old. Whether as a result of an accident at work, or as a witness of the influenza pandemic, the death of William W Collett, aged 21, was recorded at Kings Norton register office (Ref. 6d 134) during the second quarter of 1923.
34P16	Thomas Stephen Collett was born at Reading in 1873, his birth recorded there (Ref. 2c 339) during the third quarter of that year. It was at the Church of St Mary in Reading that he was baptised on 28^th September 1873, the son of Stephen and Mary Collett. He was seven years old in the census of 1881 when he was living with his parents at 45 George Street in the town, as he was ten years later in 1891 when he was 17 and employed as a biscuit maker. Just prior to the census in 1901, Thomas married Emily Rogers from Mapledurham, near reading, and by the end of March in that census year, the couple was residing at Cambridge Street in Reading. Thomas Collett of Reading was 27 and a biscuit maker – most likely with the firm of Huntley & Palmer, while Emily was 25. Staying with the childless couple, was Thomas’ brother-in-law James Rogers from Tilehurst, who was 19. On the day of the census Emily was expecting the couple’s first child, and over the following decade Emily presented Thomas with a further three children while they were still living in Reading, and at some time during that period in the lives Stephen’s widowed mother also joined the household.
	All of this was confirmed by the Reading census of 1911 when Thomas Stephen Collett was 37 and still employed as a biscuit maker, his wife Emily was 35, and their four children were Emily Collett who was nine, Thomas Collett who was six, Eva Collett who was three, and Vera Collett who was eleven months old. Living with the family was Thomas’ mother, the widow Mary Collett of Clifton Hampden, who was 63. Thomas continued to live and work in Reading, since it was there also that his death was recorded (Ref. 6a 124) during the first quarter of 1952 when he was 78.
	34Q21	Emily Mary S Collett	Born in 1901 at Reading
	34Q22	Thomas Stephen J Collett	Born in 1904 at Reading
	34Q23	Eva Collett	Born in 1908 at Reading
	34Q24	Vera Collett	Born in 1910 at Reading
34P17	William Charles Collett was born at Reading in 1876, his birth recorded there (Ref. 2c 340) during the third quarter of 1876. He was four years of age and was living with his family at 45 George Street at the time of the Reading census in 1881. He and his family were still residing in George Street ten years after that when, at the age of 14, he had already left school and was working as a porter with the Great Western Railway. Just before the end of the century he married Louisa Betteridge, a Reading girl, who was born there during the summer of 1870, the daughter of Robert and Susannah Betteridge. Not long after she was born her father, who was a railway engine driver with the Great Western Railway, took the family to live in Wallingford. And it was there at Thames Street that Louisa still living with her family in 1891 when she was 20 years old and a dressmaker. It seems very likely that it was through William’s work, also with the Great Western Railway, that he met Robert Betteridge and subsequently his daughter Louisa.
	The marriage of William Charles Collett and Louisa Betteridge was recorded at Reading (Ref. 2c 860) during the last three months of 1898 and their first child was born eighteen months later in the spring of 1900. The census return for Reading in March 1901 listed the family of three, living at Stanley Street, as William Collett who was 24 and working as a shunter with the Great Western Railway, his wife Louisa Collett who was 30 and their son Robert W Collett who was one year old. Later that same year Louisa gave birth to the couple’s second child, but tragically around that same time their first son suffered an infant death. During the remainder of that decade a further four children were added to the family, although sadly their father died around the time of the birth of his last child. The death of William Charles Collett, aged only 34, was recorded at Reading register office (Ref. 2c 217) during the last quarter of 1910.
	The remainder of his family was recorded in the Reading census of 1911 as follows. Louisa Collett of Reading was 40 and a widow living on private means, presumably a railway pension, and with her were her five surviving sons, Walter James Collett who was nine, William Frederick Collett who was seven, Leslie Albert Collett who was five, Leonard Ernest Collett who was three, and Stanley Thomas Collett who was one year old. The census return confirmed that every member of the household had been born in Reading, together the fact that Louisa had given birth to a total of six children. It seems highly likely that William was an amateur painter in his spare time, as a number of landscape paintings signed by W C Collett and framed in Reading have been located in an attic in February 2013 at the home of Lee Kalaker.
	Louisa Collett continuing to care for her family of boys all through the next seven years and, after the end of the Great War of 1914-1918, she married William P Taylor at Reading, where the event was registered (Ref. 2c 1002) during the last three months of 1918.
	34Q25	Robert Steven William Collett	Born in 1900 at Reading
	34Q26	Walter James Collett	Born in 1901 at Reading
	34Q27	William Frederick Collett	Born in 1903 at Reading
	34Q28	Leslie Albert Collett	Born in 1905 at Reading
	34Q29	Leonard Ernest Collett	Born in 1907 at Reading
	34Q30	Stanley Thomas Collett	Born in 1910 at Reading
34P18	Frederick J Collett was born at Reading in 1880 and was just one year old at the time of the 1881 Census when he was living at 45 George Street in Reading with his parents Stephen and Mary Collett. He was still there with his family in 1891, when he was 10 years old. No record of Frederick has been found in either of the census returns for 1901 and 1911, so he may have left the country or been abroad with the military services during that time. Certainly there was Frederick J Collett listed in the British Army records, who served in the Great War. The only detail provided in the records is that he was Private Frederick J Collett No. 446101 who served with the Royal Army Medical Corps.
34P19	James Valentine Collett was born at Reading in 1881 but after the census that year. He was the youngest son of Stephen and Mary Collett but was not living with them in 1891, when the census that year placed him living in the Paddington area of London. James V Collett was 10 years old and his place of birth was confirmed as Reading. Ten years later he was living and working in the Kensington area of London as a commercial clerk, when has was 20 and recorded as James V Collett from Reading. It would appear that James was not married by the time of the census in 1911. At that time in his life James Valentine Collett was 30 and again still living and working within the Kensington district of London. The only other Collett living within that same area of London was Susannah Elizabeth Collett who was 56 years of age although, so far, no connection with her has been made.
34P20	Edward John Collett was born at Appleford in 1885 and, as Edward Collett he was six years old in the Appleford census of 1891. It was again as Edward Collett that he was still living there with his family at Church Street in Appleford in 1901 at the age of 15, when he was working as a teamster on a farm with his brother Ernest (below). On 10^th July 1908 Edward, then aged 22, was appointed Police Constable 66 in the Oxford City Police Force, following which he moved to Oxford and in the April census of 1911 he was living in police accommodation at 55 James Street, which runs between Iffley Road and Cowley Road, where he was recorded as Edward John Collett aged 24 and a police constable from Appleford.
	Just over three years later trouble was brewing in Europe and on 4^th August 1914 Germany invaded Belgium and, when the Kaiser refused to withdraw, Great Britain and the Commonwealth took up arms against the aggressor. Edward volunteered for service in the military but in order to do so he was first required to resign from the police force, which he did on 5^th September 1914, following which he was assigned to 5^th Battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Regiment as E J Collett, service number 12748.
	In 1915 The Police (Emergency Provisions) Act 1915 was introduced to enable police officers, with the approval of their Chief Constable, to be released from their duties on the understanding that they could return to the police force on completion of their war service. In that way their war service would also count as police service. It was also agreed that the same terms would also apply to those men who had taken up arms prior to the introduction of the Act. Therefore, it was under those terms that Edward John Collett remained as a member of Oxford City Police for the duration of the war.
	During the month of May in 1915 the 5^th Battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Regiment was mobilised for war and landed at Boulogne in France on 21^st May 1915. Nine months later, while on home leave during the first quarter of 1916, Edward John Collett married Rose Elizabeth Geary at Tewkesbury, the event recorded at Tewkesbury register office (Ref. 6a 885). Just over one year later, and following another home leave to be with his wife in Bedfordshire, Edward was a Sergeant with 'C' Company of 5^th Battalion, Ox and Bucks Light Infantry when they were involved in the First Battle of the Scarpe in France and, as a result of the injuries he sustained, Edward John Collett died on 1^st May 1917 at the age of 31.
	At the time of his death his wife was in the early stages of pregnancy when she was living at Bedford Road in Wilshamstead, which today is known as Wilstead, just south of Bedford. He was buried at Warlincourt Halte British Cemetery at Saulty in Pas de Calais – Grave IX.F.II. His name is also listed on the War Memorial in the village of Wilstead. In addition to this, there is a memorial plaque within the church at Appleford which includes the name of Edward John Collett as one of seven men from the village, out of a total of 37, who did not return home after the campaign, together with a framed memorial acknowledgement to all 37 men, which includes Edward’s younger brother Sidney (below).
	Approximately five months after his death Rose Collett gave birth to Edward’s son, whose birth was recorded at Bedford register office (Ref. 3b 383) during the last quarter of 1917. Philip E G Collett, was born (registered Bedford, Bedfordshire 1917 Oct-Dec volume 3B page 383). He never saw his father
	34Q31	Philip Edward George Collett	Born in 1917 at Wilstead, Bucks.
34P21	Ernest James Collett was born at Appleford on 21^st January 1888 and was two years of age in the April census of 1891, when he was simply recorded as Ernest Collett. It was also as Ernest Collett that he was listed with his family at Appleford in March 1901, when he was 13 and was working with his older brother Edward (above) as a plough boy at a local farm in Appleford.
	Thirty months later Ernest ceased working on the land, when he took up employment with the Great Western Railway at the nearby mainline station in Didcot. That happened on 12^th October 1903 but, for whatever reason, his employment there did not last very long when, less than five month later, his contract ceased at Didcot on 25^th February 1904. Seven years later, in the census of 1911, Ernest Collett was still a single man of 23, when he was still living at home with his parents in Appleford. However, by that time his wife to be was already carrying his child and it was just over two months after the census day that they were married on 5^th June 1911.
	The marriage of Ernest J Collett and Beatrice N Gates was recorded at Abingdon (Ref. 2c 289) but very likely took place at Appleford where Bernice Nelly Gates was born in 1887 when her birth was recorded at Abingdon (Ref. 2c 29) during the second quarter of that year. The witnesses at the wedding were Beatrice E Herbert and William G Powell. Within two months, their son was born at Appleford, the event recorded at the Abingdon register office (Ref. 2c 622) on 1^st August 1911, when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Gates. It was during the first three months of 1963 that Beatrice N Collett nee Gates died at Appleford when she was 75, following which her death was recorded at Abingdon register office (Ref. 6a 2).
	34Q32	Ernest George Collett	Born in 1911 at Appleford
34P22	Stephen Collett was born at Appleford on 17^th June 1890, the third son of James Ernest Collett of Appleford and Sarah Brookland of Sutton Courtenay. He was only nine months old at the time of the Appleford census in 1891, and was 10 years old in 1901, and 20 years old in 1911, when he was still living with his parents at the family’s home in Appleford.
	It was three and a half years later, when Stephen Collett was 23, that he married Emma Maud Barnett at Appleford on 21^st October 1914, with their wedding day recorded at Abingdon register office (Ref. 2c 739). Emma was also 23 and her birth was recorded at Abingdon register office (Ref. 2c 266) during the first three month of 1891. She was a daughter of shepherd George Barnett and Eliza Barnett, both born at Appleton six miles north-west of Abingdon, whose family was living at Dry Sandford two miles north of Abingdon in 1901. On that occasion, 10-year-old Emma was described as having been born at Appleton, as she was again in 1911, by with time she was 20 and a kitchen maid employed by Benjamin J Morland, Justice of the Peace, at Sheepstead House in Marcham.
	It would appear from the birth of their two known children, that Stephen may have been away from his wife during the war years, since it was only at the end of the Great War that their daughter was born, closely followed by their son. Stephen Collett died during April in 1957 at the age of 66, and was buried in the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin at Long Wittenham on 12^th April 1957. Nine years after being widowed, the death of Emma M Collett was recorded at Oxfordshire register office (Ref. 6b 1017) in 1966, when she was 75 years old, when she was very likely living there with her unmarried son William, whose death was also recorded there two years after.
	34Q33	Winifred Evelyn Collett	Born in 1918 at Appleford
	34Q34	William Edward Henry Collett	Born in 1919 at Appleford
34P23	Florence Collett was born at Appleford in 1892, where she was living with her family in March 1901 at the age of eight years. It was around ten years later that Florence Collett married Albert W Meadham who was almost twice her age. According to the Appleford census of 1911, Albert Meadham was 35, while his wife Florence was 18.
	,
34P24	Sidney Collett was born at Appleford during 1895, the fifth child and fourth son of James Ernest Collett and his wife Sarah Brookland. Sidney was five years old in 1901 and was 15 years of age in 1911 when, on both occasions, he was still living with his family in Appleford. From a plaque in the church at Appleford it is known that Sidney served his king and Country during the Great war of 1914 to 1918, since his name is amongst those of other men from the village. However, unlike his older brother Edward (above) who was killed in action, Sidney would appear to have survived the ordeal although no later information about him after the war has so far been discovered.
34P27	Lawrence John Collett was born at Appleford in 1904 and was another son of James and Sarah Collett, who birth was recorded at Abingdon register office (Ref. 2c 303) during the third quarter of 1904. As simply Lawrence Collett aged seven years he was living with his family at Appleford on the day of the census in April 1911. He was forty-nine years old when he was married in London during 1956, which may have been a first or second marriage. It was at Edmonton register office (Ref. 5e 925) that the wedding was recorded between Lawrence J Collett and Winifred G Fowler during the first three months of 1954. Tragically they were only married for two and a half years when the death of Lawrence J Collett was recorded at Edmonton register office (Ref. 5e 218) during the third quarter of 1956 at the age of 52.
34P28	Frederick Charles Collett was born at Appleford in 1909, the youngest child of James Ernest Collett and his wife Sarah Brookland. His birth was recorded at Abingdon register office (Ref. 2c 286) under his full name during the first quarter of 1909, but tragically it was there also that his death was recorded (Ref. 2c 346) during the three months at the end of 1927 when, as just Frederick Collett, he was only 18 years of age.
34P29	John Henry Collett was born at Sutton Courtenay in 1867, his birth recorded at Abingdon (Ref. 2c 273) during the last three months of 1867 using his full name. He was baptised at Sutton Courtenay on 24^th November 1867, the son of Moses and Mary Ann Collett, before the family settled in Appleford. As John H Collett he was three years old in the census of 1871 and again as John H Collett he was 13 ten years later in 1881. On both occasions he was still living at the family home in Appleford, as he was in 1891 when John Collett of Berkshire was 23 and a railway labourer with the Great Western railway. During the next decade he left Appleford and moved to the southern edge of Berkshire. By the time of the census in March 1901 John Hy Collett from Appleford was 33 and was working as a domestic servant at Wellington College, a public school at Crowthorne, near Easthampstead. Almost immediately after the census day in 1901 John married Sarah and their only son was born during the following year, although it has not been determined where the couple were living at that time. However, eight years later in April 1911 general labourer John Collett was 42, as was his wife Sarah, when they were living in the town of Didcot, just a few miles from Appleford and Sutton Courtenay. With them was their son Henry John Collett who was eight years old, his place of birth stated as being Didcot, like his mother, who birth was actually recorded at nearby Wallingford (Ref. 2c 325) during the third quarter of 1902.
	34Q35	Henry John Collett	Born in 1902 at Didcot
34P30	Emily Alona Collett was born at Appleford in 1869 and was one year old and 11 years of age in the following two census returns for Appleford. At the age of 21 Emily, who was confirmed as having been born at Appleford, was living in Richmond-on-Thames in London. Just over four years later Emily Eliza Collett aged 26 married Thurel Beaumont, aged 21, who was a Private with 4th Hussars and the son of William Beaumont, while Emily was confirmed as the daughter of Moses Collett. They were married at St Stephen’s Church in Hounslow, north London, on 22^nd December 1895. Emily and Thurel had two children, the first of which was born at Appleford, with the second born at nearby Didcot, where Emily’s older brother John (above) was living in 1911. In March 1901 Emily Beaumont aged 31, was confirmed as living at Appleford, where she had been born. Her soldier husband was away on military duty, while the children living with her that census day were Frederick Beaumont who was four, and Walter Beaumont who was one year old. Emily may well have been expecting her third child on the day of the census.
	In March 1901 Thurel Beaumont, aged 28, was still serving as a private with the British Army and was based at a camp in Canterbury in the Remount Depot. Curiously he gave his place of birth as Berkshire, while the only record for the birth of a Thurel Beaumont of the right age, was at Heckmondwike in Yorkshire, the son of Annie Beaumont of Whitley, Yorkshire. During the next four years Emily presented her husband with two more children, although tragically those children hardly got to know their father, because the death of Thurel Beaumont was recorded at Abingdon register office (Ref. 2c 199) during the first three months of 1905, when he was 35. The next census in 1911 confirmed that Emily Beaumont from Appleford was a widow at 42 who had living with her, her three youngest children. They were Walter Beaumont who was 11, Annie Beaumont who was nine, and Harry Beaumont who was seven years old. Emily’s eldest son Frederick was 14 and was staying with her parents, the boy’s paternal grandparents, at Appleford from where he was working as a farm labourer.
34P31	Susan M Collett was born at Appleford in 1873 and was seven at the time of the census in the 1881, and was 17 in 1891. On both occasions she was living with her family at Appleford. Ten years later she was still a spinster and was still living at Appleford, at the age of 27 and with no stated occupation. A little while later Susan married Frank Boulter with whom she had a son before the couple settled in Swindon, where they were living in 1911. Susan Boulter of Appleford was 37, her husband Frank was 36, and their son Frank Boulter junior was three years old.
34P32	Walter William Collett was born at Appleford in 1875 and was five in early April 1881 and was 15 in 1891. On leaving school he joined his father Moses as an employee of the Great Western Railway. Just after the start of the new century he was 25 and was still living at Appleford with his parents, where he was a bricklayer’s labourer with the GWR. Ten years later at the age of 36, Walter William Collett was still a bachelor living in Appleford with his parents and his younger brother Francis (below).
34P33	Martha Ann Collett was born at Appleford in 1878 and was two years old in the census of 1881 and was 12 in 1891. Just after the turn of the century Martha Ann Collett from Appleford, was living at Chiswick within the Brentford district of London where she was working as a general domestic servant at the age of 22. With no further census record of her, it is highly likely that Martha was married before April 1911.
34P34	Robert Collett was born at Appleford in 1882 and was eight at the time of the Appleford census of 1891. Upon leaving school, and reaching the required entry age, Robert joined the army and was recorded in the 1901 Census as Private Robert Collett from Appleford who was 19 and serving with the infantry at Hartley Wintney in Hampshire. No record of him has been found in 1911 when he may have been serving abroad.
34P35	Francis Samuel Collett was born at Appleford in 1886, his birth recorded at Abingdon (Ref. 2c 318) during the first quarter of that year using his two forenames. In the Appleford census of 1891 he was listed with his family at Francis Collett, when he was five years old. By 1901 he was still living with his family at Appleford when he was recorded as Samuel Collett aged 15. Ten years later in April 1911 he was again living with his elderly parents at Appleford and was described in the census return as Francis Collett aged 24 who had been born at Appleford. However, upon his death at Wallingford in Oxfordshire he was recorded as Francis S Collett aged 59, the event registered at Wallingford (Ref. 2c 337) during the second quarter of 1945.
34P37	Oliver Collett was born at Abingdon in 1885 and was five years of age in the 1891 Census when he was living at Abingdon with his family. Ten years later he had left school and the family had moved the short distance to Sutton Courtenay where, at the age of 15, he was working as an errand boy for a stationery company. During the first ten years of the new century Oliver and his brother Jesse (below), and their parents, moved to Swindon, although by 1911 Oliver was not living with them in their new family home. At that time Oliver Collett from Abingdon was unmarried at the age of 25. The only other known detail regarding Oliver is that it was at Wantage register office (Ref. 6a 207) where the death of Oliver Collett was recorded during the second quarter of 1967 when he was 81 years old.
34P38	Alfred Levi Collett was born at Abingdon in 1888 where his birth was recorded during the last three months of that year (Ref. 2c 282). He was named as Alfred L Collett aged two years at the time of the 1891 census when he and his family were still living in Abingdon. Sometime during the latter half of the next decade the family left Abingdon and moved the few miles to nearby Sutton Courtenay, where they were living in March 1901 when Alfred L Collett was 12. Sometime between 1901 and 1911 Alfred’s family left Sutton Courtenay and moved west to Swindon where his parents and two brothers were living in April 1911. However, at that same time Alfred Levi Collett from Abingdon was living and working in Faringdon, where he was still a bachelor at 22.
	Just over one year later Jesse married Gladys M Wyatt in Faringdon where the wedding was recorded (Ref. 2c 657) during the second quarter of 1912. The two witnesses were Lydia Enstone and Herbert Langridge. The census in 1911 recorded Gladys was living at Whitchurch in Berkshire with her brother who was a gardener from nearby Watchfield. Many years later, and upon the death of his father at home at Hillside Cottages in Watchfield in 1935, it was Alfred and his brother Jesse (below) who were named as the executors of his personal effects. On that occasion both Alfred and his brother were working as gardeners, so it may have been through his work association with his wife’s brother that Alfred was introduced to Gladys.
34P39	Jesse James Collett was born at Abingdon on 16^th October 1894, but shortly after he was born, his parents moved to nearby Sutton Courtenay. In the census of 1901 Jesse J Collett was six years old and was living there with his family. Jesse was the only child of William and Elizabeth Collett of Appleford who was still living with his parents by April 1911, by which time the three of them were living in Swindon where Jesse James Collett was 16 and his place of birth was confirmed as Abingdon. At the time of the death of his father in 1935 Jesse was a gardener, and was described as such when he was named as a joint executor of his father’s Will with his brother Alfred (above), who was also a gardener. Jesse James Collett was 88 when he died during the summer of 1983, his death recorded at Basingstoke register office (Ref. 20 0117) during the second quarter of that year.
34P40	William Levi Collett was born at Cardiff in 1883 and was seven at the time of the Cardiff census in 1891, when he was living there at the family home. By the turn of the century the family had left Cardiff and was living in the Aston area of Birmingham where William L Collett aged 17 was employed as an electric tool maker. Five and a half years after that William Levi Collett married Annie Elizabeth Clayson, the event recorded at Aston register office (Ref. 6d 676) during the fourth quarter of 1906. The two witnesses were Joseph Neale and Elsie Page. It was during the following year that their daughter was born and, according to the census of 1911, William L Collett from Cardiff was 27 and a motor fitter who was still living within the Aston area of Birmingham. With him there was his wife Annie E Collett who was 32 and from Southwark in London, and their daughter, also named Annie E Collett, who was three years old and born in Birmingham.
	It is not known if further children were added to their family after 1911 however, it is known that their only known child died when she was only five years old, the death of Annie E Collett recorded at Aston register office (Ref. 6d 377) during the second quarter of 1913. The birth of Annie Elizabeth Collett had also been recorded at Aston register office (Ref. 6d 440) during the first three months of 1908. Having lost their daughter, William and Annie were married for just over twenty-two years when William Levi Collett died during the summer of 1929 at the age of 45. His death was recorded at the Birmingham South register office (Ref. 6d 235) during the second quarter of that year.
	34Q36	Annie Elizabeth Collett	Born in 1908 at Birmingham
34P41	JOSEPH CHARLES COLLETT was born at Cardiff during the second quarter of 1886 and was five years old in 1891. His family left Cardiff around the end of the century and, in the 1901 Census, he was listed as Joseph C Collett aged 15 from Cardiff, who was living with his family in the Aston area of Birmingham, where he was working as a chandelier fitter. Ten years later Joseph Collett from Cardiff was 25 and was still living with his family at 71 St Margaret’s Road in Ward End. The census return listed him at that time as the oldest child living with his parents, David Collett of Appleford and Harriet Judith Collett nee Free from Cardiff. On that occasion Joseph was unmarried and his occupation was that of a motor engine fitter, presumably employed at a local garage or car construction factory.
	Just over five years later Joseph Charles Collett married Sarah Kendall during the fourth quarter of 1916. In the earlier Aston census of 1901 Sarah was a spectacle-case maker at the age of 13. She had been born at Birmingham in the first quarter of 1888, the daughter of John and Elizabeth Kendall. Tragically Sarah died in Birmingham between January and March in 1925 when she was only thirty-seven years old. This may have been as a result of a failed childbirth, although that is only speculation.
	However, it is now established that around two years after being widowed Joseph C Collett married Nellie Wilson at Aston in 1927, the details of the marriage recorded at the Birmingham North register office (Ref. 6d 509) during the first three months of that year. There followed a further twenty-years of married life for Joseph who passed away in 1949.
	34Q37	IVY ELIZABETH COLLETT	Born in 1918 in Birmingham
	34Q38	Vera L Collett	Born in 1919 in Birmingham
34P42	Alice Eliza Collett was born at Cardiff in 1887 and was the third child of David Collett and Harriet Judith Free. Alice and her family were still living in Cardiff on the day of the census in 1891 when she was three years of age, but after a further nine years her father’s work took the family to Birmingham, where Alice was 13 in 1901. On leaving school Alice took up work as a general servant but on the day of the census in 1911 she was described as an inmate at a hospital in the Erdington district of Birmingham. The census return confirmed that Alice Collett from Cardiff was 22 years of age and single, whose former occupation was that of a general servant.
34P43	Harriet Judith Collett was born at Cardiff on 9^th March 1889, the daughter of David Collett and his wife Harriet Judith Free, and was two years old in the Cardiff census of 1891. Around the end of the century Harriet’s family left Cardiff when they moved to the Aston district of Birmingham where they were living in 1901, when Harriet was 12. It was eight years later at Aston that she married John Charles Wolverson during 1909, and it was there also that the childless couple was living in April 1911, when both John and Harriet Wolverson were 22.
	There are some unanswered questions relating to John Charles Wolverson since, in 1891, he was recorded as John Wolverton, two years old, the only one of that surname living within the Stoke-on-Trent & Shelton registration district. It was a similar situation ten years later when, in the census of 1901, he was listed as John Wolverson aged 12 and from Birmingham, and again he was the only person with that surname living there. A recent discovery reveals the birth of John Charles Wolverson was recorded at Wolverhampton (Ref. 6b 634) during the second quarter of 1889.
	Curiously, according to the Pigot’s Directory for Birmingham in 1941, the occupation of John Wolverton (?) was a chain maker with Coseley Coal Masters, while four years later the Electoral Roll for the Yardley Ward in Birmingham recorded John C Wolverson living there with his wife Harriet. And again, ten years later in 1955, the Electoral Roll that year once more recorded John C Wolverson and his wife Harriet residing at 12 Ward End Road in the Stechford Ward of Birmingham. The death of John Charles Wolverson was recorded at Birmingham register office (Re. 9c 134) during the first three months of 1966 when he was 76, and it was six years later that Harriet Judith Wolverson nee Collett aged 83 died at Aston, with her death also recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 9c 1567) during the first quarter of 1972.
34P44	Abigail Collett was born at Cardiff in 1891, but after the census that year, and she was the third daughter of David and Harriet Collett. Sometime after 1896 the family left Wales and moved to Birmingham, very likely for work reasons. By March 1901 the family was settled in the Aston district of the city, where Abigail was recorded as being nine years old and from Cardiff. By the time Abigail was 19 in April 1911 she was working in factory in Birmingham where her younger sister Patranella (below) may also have been employed at that same time. Abigail was still living with her parents at 71 St Margaret’s Road in Ward End in the Aston registration district. It was during the first three months of 1917 when Abigail Collett married John A Barlone, their wedding recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 6d 453), whose daughter Dorothy E Barlone was born just over two years later, with her birth recorded at Aston register office (Ref. 6d 741) during the third quarter of 1919, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett.
34P45	Patranella Collett was born at Cardiff in early 1894 where her birth was recorded (Ref. 11a 277) during the first three months of that year. She was around three or four years old when he family moved to Birmingham. It was there, in the Aston district, that she was living with her family in 1901 when she was seven years old. On leaving school, it would appear that Patranella secured work with her sister Abigail (above) at a local factory. In the census of 1911, when she was 17, she was living with her parents at 71 St Margaret’s Road in Ward End, and was described as a factory worker.
34P46	David Collett was born at Cardiff in 1896 just prior to his family moving north to settle in the Aston area of Birmingham. And it was there that he was recorded in March 1901 as being four years of age and from Cardiff. Ten years later David had begun his working life when, at the age of 15, he was employed as errand boy at the Austin Morris factory in Small Heath, not far from Ward End where he was living with his parents at 71 St Margaret’s Road. It was also at that address where he was unmarried and the only child still living with his parents in 1922, and where they were still living at the start of the Second World War.
34P48	Caleb Collett was born at Aston in Birmingham in 1901, but this would have been after the day of the census that year, which was on the thirty-first March. It is possible, although not confirmed, that his parents may have been living at 71 St Margaret’s Road in Ward End at the time of his birth, since that was their address in early April 1911. The Aston district census that year confirmed that Caleb Collett was nine years old and the youngest son (at that time) of gasworks labourer David Collett from Appleford, and his wife of twenty-eight years Harriet Judith Collett nee Free.
	Sometime during the next few years Caleb’s brother James Collett (below) died in a barn fire, and it was at that tragic time in his life that Caleb took the name James as a mark of respect for his brother. It is rumoured that the brothers were twins, although this is not borne out by their respective ages in 1911, when James was two years younger than Caleb.
	In fact it was as Arthur James Collett that he married Jenny Pierpoint sometime around 1921 or shortly thereafter. In the census of 1901 a Jinnie Pierpoint from Golborne near Newton-le-Willows was four years old, when she was living in that area of South Manchester with her family. This may or may not have been the Jenny/Jinnie who married Arthur James Collett.
	Just after the couple were married, Jenny presented Arthur with their only child. Because of this, the couple later adopted a daughter. It is also known that Arthur James Collett was employed at the Austin Morris Factory in Small Heath in Birmingham, a job that was very likely secured for him by his older brother who had been working there since leaving school. As a resident of the Aston area of Birmingham, it seems rather cruel that Arthur James Collett died on 19^th May 1982, just one week before the 1982 European Cup Final in which his local football team Aston Villa Football Club beat the German team from Bayern Munich.
	34Q39	Arthur Edward Collett	Born in 1924 at Birmingham
	34Q40	Doreen Collett (adopted)	Date of birth unknown
34P49	James Collett was the youngest child of David Collett and Harriet Judith Free. He was born at Aston in Birmingham in 1903 and was seven years old at the time of the census in 1911 when he and his family were living at 71 St Margaret’s Road in Ward End, at Aston in Birmingham. Although his brother Caleb was recorded as being two years older than James in the 1911 Census, there is some talk within the family that Caleb and James were twins. And that it was for this reason that Caleb took the name James Collett upon the death of ‘his twin brother’. Tragically, James Collett was still a child when he died in a barn fire, and this presumably happened not long after 1911.
34Q1	Florence Miriam Collett was born at Cardiff in 1880 and very soon after she was born her parents moved to Chippenham in Wiltshire where, according to the census of 1881, Florence was one year old and living at Union Road with her parents. After a few years living in Chippenham the family moved to Swindon and from there to Worcester, where they were living in 1891 when Florence was 11. Before the middle of the next decade her family moved again, on that occasion to Birmingham, all of the moves being the result of her father who was a railway employee. And it was there, in the Aston area of the city, that Florence M Collett from Cardiff was living with her family at the age of 21.
	It was during 1905 that Florence married Edgar Vincent Herbert who was born at Appleford in Berkshire which, coincidentally, was where her father had been born. By the time of the census in April 1911 their marriage had not produced any children for the couple, who were then residing at 74 Osborne Road in the Sparkbrook district of Birmingham. The substantial property comprised six rooms and was only occupied by postman Edgar Vincent Herbert aged 31 who was an employee of the General Post Office and his wife of five years Florence Miriam Herbert who was also 31 and described as a housekeeper from Cardiff. In addition to that, the census return confirmed that the couple had not given birth to any children, although that may have changed after 1911. Upon the death of her father in 1947, it was Florence Miriam Herbert, a married woman, who was named as the sole executor of his estate of just over £352.
34Q2	Beatrice Zillah Collett was born at Chippenham in 1882 and very likely while her family were living at Union Road in the town. Over the following years her father’s work on the railways took the family first to Swindon, and then on to Birmingham, via a few years spent in Worcester, where the family was living in 1891 when Beatrice was seven years old. In March 1901 Beatrice was 19 and was living with her family in the Aston area of Birmingham. Some years after she married Arthur Henry Jones with whom she moved back to Chippenham, which is where they were living in 1911 with their daughter Gladys Evelyn Fell Jones who was seven years old.
34Q3	Margaret Rhoda Collett was born at Swindon in 1887, the third daughter of Aubrey Alexander Collett and Mary Jane Morgan, whose birth was recorded at Highworth (Ref. 5a 16) during the third quarter of that year. Not long after she was born her father’s work on the railway took the family to Worcester, and in the North Worcester census of 1891 Margaret R Collett from Swindon was three years of age. Sometime after 1892 the family moved again, on that occasion to Birmingham where they were living in 1901 when Margaret R Collett was 13. Over the following years the family left the Midlands and on the day of the census in 1911 unmarried Margaret Rhoda Collett from Swindon was 23 when she was once again still living with her parents, but in the St Thomas district of Exeter in Devon.
34Q5	Philip James Collett was born at Worcester in 1891, the first son of Aubrey and Mary Jane Collett, whose previous four children had all been daughters. The North Worcester census of 1891 did not include Philip, so he was born there after the fifth of April. Not long after he was born, perhaps when he was only one or two years old, his family left Worcester and moved to the Aston district of Birmingham. According to the Aston census in 1901 Philip J Collett from Worcester was nine years old, when he was living there with his family, while ten years later in April 1911 he was 19 and was living and working at Taunton in Somerset, while his parents were living in Exeter.
34Q6	Harold Edward Collett, previously named here as Harold Ward Collett, was born at Sparkbrook in south Birmingham on 11^th March 1895, the sixth of the seven children of Aubrey Alexander Collett and Mary Jane Morgan. It was a Harold E Collett aged six years that he was living with his family in Birmingham in March 1901 while, during the following years his father’s work on the railway resulted in the family leaving Birmingham. By April 1911 the family had settled in Exeter where Harold Edward Collett from Birmingham was 17. On leaving school Harold became a policeman and in 1914 he enlisted with the First Battalion of the life Guards. His attestation form for short military service confirmed that Harold Edward Collett from Sparkbrook in Birmingham was 19 years old.
	Shortly after the First World War, Harold married Kate Stanley, the daughter of Henry Stanley and Elizabeth Wainwright. The marriage produced two children for the couple, the first born near Birmingham during 1920 and he was the grandfather of Michael Donovan who kindly provided new family details in June 2014. The couple’s second child was born in London. Harold Edward Collett was 78 years of age when he passed away, his death recorded at the Devon Central register office (Ref. 7a 983) during December 1973.
	34R1	Ronald Edgar Stanley Collett	Born in 1920 at Kings Norton
	34R2	George Edward H Collett	Born in 1921 at Hampstead
34Q7	Edgar Baden Alexander Collett was born at Aston in Birmingham in 1900 and was one year old at the time of the Aston census of 1901. Sometime in the years after that, his family moved south to the county of Devon and in April 1911 they were recorded as living within the St Thomas district of Exeter, where Edgar Baden Alexander Collett was ten years of age. It would appear that, shortly after the end of the First World War, Edgar married Florence Matilda Attwood. Florence was born at Emily Street in the Aston district of Birmingham in 1900, the daughter of James Attwood, her birth recorded there (Ref. 6d 197) during the fourth quarter of that year.
	The marriage is known to have produced at least one child for Edgar and Florence, with their son born at Birmingham in 1920. That child was around thirteen years of age when Edgar suffered a premature death at the age of only thirty-three years while the family was once again residing in the Birmingham area. The death of Edgar B A Collett was recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 6d 98) during the last three months of 1933. Having already lost her husband, seven years later Florence received the tragic news that her Royal Navy seaman son had been killed in action during the Second World War in 1940 when she was living in Dudley.
	34R3	John Edward Collett	Born in 1920 at Birmingham
34Q10	Ada May Collett was born at Barnstaple after the 31^st March 1901 census day that year. She was the eldest of the six known children of Albert Charles Collett and his wife Emily Darch, and was nine years of age in the Barnstaple census of 1911. It was eleven years later, during the second quarter of 1922, that Ada M Collett married Frank H Harris at Barnstaple where their marriage was recorded (Ref. 5b 1043). Over the following years Ada presented Frank with four children, and they were Alfred F J Harris (1923-2000), Frank C Harris (1925-1967), George Henry Harris (1931–1931), plus one another who was still alive in the twenty-first century.
34Q11	Florence Amelia Ellen Collett was born at Barnstaple during 1903, the second child of Arthur and Emily Collett. As a child she was very likely referred to as Florrie, since it was as Florrie Amelia Ellen Collett aged seven years that she was included with her family residing in Barnstaple on the day of the census in 1911. Thirteen years on from that day, the marriage of Florence A E Collett and Joseph P Manning was recorded at Barnstaple register office (Ref. 5b 1068) during the second quarter of 1924. Nothing further is known about Florence and Joseph at this time, except that the death of Florence A E Manning was recorded at Barnstaple (Ref. 7a 321) during the first three months of 1962 when she was 58 years old.
34Q13	Frederick George Henry Collett was born at Barnstaple on 17^th July 1906, his birth recorded there (Ref. 5b 408) during the third quarter of the year. He was four years old in the Barnstaple census of 1911. He was the fourth child and only surviving son of Arthur and Emily Collett. Over twenty years later he married Violet Cox at St Bartholomew’s Church in Armley, to the west of Leeds, on 23^rd December 1931. Violet’s father was named as Robert Cox, while Frederick’s father was confirmed as Albert Charles Collett. The death of Frederick George H Collett was recorded at Barnstaple register office (Ref. 21 0820) during the month of March in 1975 when he was 68.
34Q14	Alfred Ernest John Collett was born at Barnstaple during 1908 and was two years old in the Barnstaple census of 1911. Tragically, he was only 14 years old when he died, his death recorded at Barnstaple register office (Ref. 5b 430) during the third quarter of 1922.
34Q17	James Ralph Collett was born in Malaya on 1^st April 1922, the eldest of the four known children of James Ralph Winsor Collett and Margaret (Marguerite) Tait Milligan. In 1927 he accompanied his parents when they visited the Moseley home of his grandparents at 96 Oxford Road, although his age was not included on the ship’s passenger list. With no mention of his name on future passenger lists, when his parents visited the same address in 1932 and 1937, it is possible that James Ralph junior spent his early years with his grandparents in Moseley or at a boarding school in the Birmingham area. Following the death of his mother in 1942, who died at sea escaping from the invading Japanese forces, and his father’s release from Changi prisoner-of-war camp, James’ father and younger brother settled in Australia where they both died many years later.
	James Ralph Collett was twenty-three years old when he married Jessie Harvey at Plymouth in Devon, the event recorded at Plymouth register office (Ref. 5b 901) during the second quarter of 1945, around the time of Victory in Europe Day. Just over one year after their wedding day their son was born at Plymouth where the family appear to have lived out their lives. It was at 35 Palmerston Street in the, Stoke district of Plymouth that retired machine inspector James Ralph Collett passed away on 17^th May 2000 at the age of 78, his death recorded at Plymouth register office (Ref. b62a 129) that same month. Later that year a notice was placed in the London Gazette stating that the last date for claims against his estate must be submitted by 30^th October 2000 to Howard & Over (Solicitors) at 114 Albert Road in Devonport, Plymouth, and confirming that James Arthur George Collett was the executor of his father’s personal effects.
	34R4	James Arthur George Collett	Born in 1946 at Plymouth
34Q18	Valerie Collett was born in Malaya during 1929, the eldest of the two daughters of James and Margaret Collett. She was eight years old when Valerie, together with her brother Richard and sister Patricia, accompanied their mother to England where they remained with Valerie’s paternal grandparents until they had completed their education. Her mother died in 1942 and after the war Valerie’s father took her brother Richard to live in Australia, where Valerie and her sister Patricia (below) joined them in early 1947. They were described as students on the passenger of the ship Orbita which arrived in Sydney on 22^nd January when Valerie was 18 years of age.
34Q20	Patricia Louise Collett was born in Malaya on 28^th March 1934 and was the youngest of the four children of James Ralph Winsor Collett and Margaret (Marguerite) Tait Milligan. Two years after she was born the family returned to England. The passenger list for the sailing out of Singapore named only the couple’s three youngest children, and they were Valerie Collett who was eight, Richard Anthony Collett who was six and Patricia Collett who was two years of age. The address to which the family was travelling was 96 Oxford Road in Moseley, Birmingham. It would now appear that the children remained in England, perhaps for their education, when James and Margaret returned to Malaya, where James was taken prisoner by the Japanese and where Margaret died when attempting to return to England in 1942.
	After the war Patricia’s father settled in Australia with the younger of her two brothers Richard, and it was in 1947 that Patricia, aged 12 years, and her older sister Valerie (above) sailed to Australia to be reunited with their father and brother. The two girls, both students, sailed out of Liverpool on the ship Orbita of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company bound for Sydney, via the Suez Canal, where they disembarked on 22^nd January 1947. Their stated address in England on the passenger list was still 96 Oxford Road in Moseley, the home of their paternal grandfather James George Collett.
	Sometime before the start of 1955 Patricia travelled to England to see her grandparents who were still residing at 96 Oxford Road in Moseley, Birmingham. It was also at that address that both James and Ellen Collett died seven years later in 1962, so the visit may have been prompted by their failing health. However, on 7^th January 1955 Patricia Louise Collett, unmarried at the age of 21 and a secretary, sailed out of Southampton on board the ship Oranje of the Royal Dutch Mail Netherland Line, bound for Singapore. It seems most likely it was a trip to see her mother’s memorial stone.
34Q21	Emily Mary S Collett was born at Reading in 1901, her birth recorded there (Ref. 2c 356) during the third quarter of the year. As simply Emily Collett she was living with her family in Reading in 1911, after which it was eighteen years later that she married Eric Osmond Swancutt. He was born at Abbey Dore near Hereford during the first three months of 1904 and was the son of Cecil and Annie Swancutt. The marriage of Emily and Eric was recorded at Reading register office (Ref. 2c 1127) during the final three months of 1929.
34Q22	Thomas Stephen J Collett was born at Reading in 1904, where his birth was recorded (Ref. 2c 356) during the third quarter of that year. He was the second child of four children and only son of Thomas Stephen Collett and his wife Emily. It was simply as Thomas Collett aged six years that he was recorded with his family in the Reading census of 1911, while it was as Thomas S J Collett that he married Hilda F Brooker at Reading during the last three months of 1933 (Ref. 2c 988). The couple’s only known child was born just under two years after they were married, the event recorded at Reading register office (Ref. 2c 599) during the third quarter of 1935, when mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Brooker. The death of Thomas Stephen J Collett was recorded at Reading register office (Ref. 6a 128) during the second quarter of 1967 when he was 62.
	34R5	Ann Collett	Born in 1935 at Reading
34Q23	Eva Collett was born at Reading in 1908 and it was there too that her birth was recorded (Ref. 2c 351) during the second quarter of that year. In the Reading census of 1911 Eva was three years of age. It would appear that she lived all her life within the Reading area, since it was at the Reading & Wokingham register office that the death of Eva Collett was recorded (Ref. 19 225) during autumn of 1992. Her death certificate confirmed that she had been born on 8^th March 1908.
34Q24	Vera Collett was born at Reading where her birth was recorded (Ref. 2c 369) during the second quarter of 1910. She was only eleven months old in the Reading census of 1911 and tragically, shortly after the census day, her death was recorded at Reading register office (Ref. 2c 205) in the second quarter of 1911.
34Q25	Robert Steven William Collett was born at Reading during the second quarter of 1900, where the birth was recorded (Ref. 2c 350) using his full name of Robert Steven W Collett. He was the eldest son of William Charles Collett and his wife Louisa Betteridge and was under one year old in the Reading census of 1901. Tragically, during the three months after his brother Walter (below) was born, the death of Robert William S Collett (?) was recorded at Reading register office (Ref. 2c 256) in the first quarter of 1902 when he was described as being only one year old. In fact, he was only a few months from his second birthday.
34Q26	Walter James Collett was born at Reading on 19^th December 1901, the second of the six sons of William and Louisa Collett, whose birth was recorded there (Ref. 2c 348) during the first few days of 1902. He was around eight years old when his father suffered a premature death at the age of thirty-four so, in the Reading census of 1911, he was recorded under his full name at the age of nine years when he and his four surviving brothers were still living with their mother. Nothing further is known about the life of Walter James Collett, expect that his death was recorded at Wokingham register office (Ref. 6a 623) during September 1972 when he was 70 years old.
34Q27	William Frederick Collett was born at Reading in 1903, where his birth was registered (Ref. 2c 366) during the third quarter of the year and where he was seven years old in 1911 just a few months after the premature death of his father William. On that occasion the census confirmed that he and his four young brothers were living with their widowed mother Louisa. Eighteen years later the marriage of William F Collett and Irene G M Pearson was recorded at Reading register office (Ref. 2c 934) during the second quarter of 1929.
34Q28	Leslie Albert Collett was born at Reading on 29^th April 1905 and was the fourth son of William and Louisa Collett. He was five years of age in the Reading census of 1911 and the only other known fact about him at this time is that his death was recorded at the Reading and Wokingham register office (Ref. 19 0149) during the month of June in 1974 when he was 69.
34Q29	Leonard Ernest Collett was born at Reading on 24^th October 1907. He was the penultimate son of William Charles and Louisa Collett and was around three years old when his father died. Five months later, in the Reading census of 1911, he was also listed as being three years old when he was living with his widowed mother and his four brothers. During his long life it would appear that he was married twice, his first wife possibly being a casualty of the Second World War, although no record has so far been found to support this idea.
	Leonard E Collett first married (1) Jessie Drew in Reading, as confirmed by the register office records there (Ref. 2c 1023) during the last three months of 1936. He may have been widowed (or divorced) during the Second World War because he later married (2) Irene Gladys M Collett (Ref. 41Q45) from Harefield, that event also recorded at the Reading register office (Ref. 6a 324) during the third quarter of 1946. Irene Collett died in the summer of 1990 when her death was recorded at the Reading and Wokingham register office (Ref. 19 349). Leonard survived his wife by just over three years, when his death, at the age of 86, was also recorded at Reading and Wokingham register office (Ref. B34a 3201b/63) during the month of October in 1993.
34Q30	Stanley Thomas Collett was born at Reading on 17^th February 1910, the last child born to William Charles Collett and his wife Louisa. His birth was recorded at Reading register office (Ref. 2c 339) during the first quarter of that year. Tragically, he never got to know his father, who died at Reading towards the end of that same year. So by the time of the census in 1911, one-year old Stan, as he was known, was living in Reading with his widowed mother and his four older brothers. Perhaps it was the Second World War, intervening in his life, that was the reason why he was 35 when he became a married man. That happy event took place after the end of the conflict and was recorded at Reading register office (Ref. 2c 1101) during the last quarter of 1945 between Stanley T Collett and Lilian May Tedder, who was also born in Reading. They were married for thirty-years, when the death of Stanley Thomas Collett was recorded at Reading register office (Ref. 19 0485) in 1981.
34Q31	Philip Edward George Collett was born at Bedford Road in Wilshamstead (today known as Wilstead), Buckinghamshire and just south of Bedford during 1917. He was the only offspring from the marriage of Rose Elizabeth Geary and soldier Edward John Collett who was killed in action before Philip was born. It was at Bedford register office (Ref. 4a 39) that the marriage of Philip E G Collett was married to Ivy Reynolds during the last three months of 1946. It is not known at this time whether the union produced any children.
34Q32	Ernest George Collett was born at Appleford in 1911, the eldest child of Ernest James Collett and Beatrice Nelly Gates who was only married just before he was born. His birth was recorded at Abingdon register office (Ref. 2c 622) on 1^st August 1911. No details are currently available about his life, although he was residing within the Wallingford area when he died at the age of 73, the event being recorded at Wallingford register office (Ref. 20 2738) during the final quarter of 1984.
34Q33	Winifred Evelyn Collett was born at Appleford on 16^th March 1918, the eldest of the two children of Stephen Collett and his wife Emma Maud Barnett. Her birth was recorded at Abingdon register office (Ref. 2c 500) with her mother’s maiden-name confirmed as Barnett. She later married Royden Morris on 26^th December 1939, the event recorded at Wallingford register office (Ref. 2c 1637). In those days, Wallingford was on the county boundary between Berkshire and Oxfordshire, near to where Winifred’s parents and younger brother were living across the River Thames when they passed away. The marriage of Winifred and Royden produced four daughters, all of the birth recorded at Wallingford register, when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett. They were Sandra Morris in 1942, Paula J Morris in 1947, Arline Morris in 1949, and Maxine A Morris in 1951. One of the four was the mother of Lucy Evenden, who kindly supplied the information about her grandmother Winifred Evelyn Morris nee Collett who died at Didcot on 28^th April 2003, and her great grandfather Stephen Collett. Royden Morris was born on 20^th May 1917 at Bridgend in Glamorganshire, South Wales, and he too died at Didcot on 19^th November 2001.
34Q34	William Edward Henry Collett was born at Appleford on 10^th August 1919, the son of Stephen Collett and Emma Maud Barnett. His birth was recorded at Abingdon register office (Ref. 2c 478), when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Barnett. William remained a bachelor all his life and was very likely still living with his widowed mother when she died in Oxfordshire in 1966. Less than two years later, the death of William Edward Henry Collett was also recorded at Oxfordshire register office (Ref. 6b 1412) after he suffered a premature death on 25^th February 1968 at the age of only 48.
34Q37	IVY ELIZABETH COLLETT was born in Birmingham on 2^nd July 1918, the eldest of the two daughter of Joseph Charles Collett and Sarah Kendall, whose birth was recorded at the Aston register office (Ref. 6d 756). She married Sydney Charles Adams sometime during the months of October to December in 1937. The marriage produced one daughter and five sons, one of which was Stephen Adams below. Ivy Elizabeth Adams nee Collett died on 23^rd March 2005.
	Stephen Adams married Cheryl to whom grateful thanks must go for helping to develop this family tree. Cheryl also acknowledges the help she received from Sally Ann Free, a descendent of Harriet Judith Free who married David Collett (Ref. 34O35).
34Q38	Vera L Collett was born in Birmingham on 24^th October 1919, the younger of the two daughters of Joseph and Sarah Collett. As with her sister Ivy (above), her birth was also recorded at the Aston register office (Ref. 6d 955) when, on both occasions, the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Kendall.
34Q39	Arthur Edward Collett was born at Aston in Birmingham on 1^st October 1924, the only son of Arthur James Collett, formerly Caleb Collett, and his wife Jenny Pierpoint. His birth was recorded at the Birmingham North register office (Ref. 6d 756), when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Pierpoint. Arthur would have been 15 years old at the outbreak of the Second World War, but by the end of it he would have been 21, so he may well have taken part in the conflict somewhere during the latter years. It would also appear that, shortly after peace was declared, he married Victoria Ellen Brannigan. Victoria was born at Kilkenny in Ireland on 30^th October 1923, and the wedding ceremony took place on 7^th September 1946 and very likely within the West Midlands area, since that was where the couple’s two children were born.
	Victoria first presented Arthur with a daughter who was born at the Dudley Road Hospital in 1947, while the second child was born eleven years later in 1958, when the family was living at Castle Bromwich. It was possibly during that time in his life that Arthur Edward Collett was an analytical chemist with the company of James Boothe. Many years later, at the time of his retirement, he was working for Lucas the motor parts manufacturer. Sadly, only a short while after retiring Arthur Edward Collett died on 5^th May 1991 at the age of 66.
	34R6	Yvonne Ellen Collett	Born in 1947 at Birmingham
	34R7	Martin Edward Collett	Born in 1958 at Castle Bromwich
34R1	Ronald Edgar Stanley Collett was born in Worcestershire on 21^st April 1920, the eldest of the two sons of Harold Ward Collett and Kate Stanley. His birth was recorded at Kings Norton register office (Ref. 6d 283) during the second quarter of 1920, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Stanley. He took an active part in the Second World War and was awarded an emergency commission from the ranks to Second Lieutenant with the Royal Corps of Signals. That promotion was dated 27^th June 1946, when his service number was 366918. Four years later Ronald E S Collett married Vera Louise Green, the marriage recorded at the London Hampstead register office (Ref. 5c 1648) during the last three months of 1950.
	The marriage produced three children who were all born in London, and they were: Anna Louise Collett - whose birth was recorded at St Pancras (Ref. 5d 502) in the last quarter of 1951; Jean Mary Collett - whose birth was recorded at Hampstead (Ref. 5d 1127) in the first quarter of 1953; and John George Collett, whose birth was recorded at Hampstead (Ref. 5d 1126) in the third quarter of 1955. All three births confirmed the mother’s maiden-name was Green. The later death of Ronald Edgar Stanley Collett was recorded at the Middlesex Harrow register office (Ref. 2321 97b) near the end of 1999. After he passed away, Vera left London, when she settled in nearby Hertfordshire. Vera Louise Green’s birth was recorded at Islington register office (Ref. 1b 434) during the third quarter of 1925, while Vera Louise Collett was living at St Albans when she died in 2015 at 90 years of age.
	34S1	Anna Louise Collett	Born in 1951 in London
	34S2	Jean Mary Collett	Born in 1953 in London
	34S3	John George Collett	Born in 1955 in London
34R2	George Edward H Collett was born in London on 17^th November 1921 and was the youngest son of Harold and Kate Collett. His birth was recorded at Hampstead register office (Ref. 1a 963) during the quarter of that year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Stanley. He served as a glider pilot during the Second World War and was involved in D-Day landings. It was after the war when George E H Collett married Betty G Gaunt, the wedding recorded at Hereford register office (Ref. 9a 89) during the last three months of 1946. Over the following years Betty presented George with three sons, whose births were all recorded at Hereford register office when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Gaunt on each occasion. They were Peter G Collett (Ref. 9a 17) during the third quarter of 1948. Terry J Collett (Ref. 9a 57) during the first quarter of 1951. Allan S Collett (Ref. 9a 51) during the second quarter of 1957. The death of George Edward H Collett was recorded at Herefordshire register office (Ref. 29 339) in September 1986 when he was 65.
	34S4	Peter G Collett	Born in 1948 at Hereford
	34S5	Terry J Collett	Born in 1951 at Hereford
	34S6	Allan S Collett	Born in 1957 at Hereford
34R3	John Edward Collett was born at Birmingham in 1920, his birth recorded there (Ref. 6d 734) during the first three months of the year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Attwood. John was 13 when he father died and was 19 at the start of the Second World War when he enlisted with the Royal Navy, as an ordinary seaman. It was as Seaman Collett P/JX167707 that he was assigned to the E-Class mine-laying destroyer HMS Esk, which was used on patrols in the Mediterranean and off the home shores.
	The tragic circumstances surrounding the loss of HMS ESK were not fully publicised at the time for security reasons. Whilst on a course to lay a minefield off the Dutch coast in August 1940, the five mine-laying destroyers ran into a new German minefield, with the result that three ships were sunk and a fourth was badly damaged. It was therefore reported that John Edward Collett died on 1^st October 1940 at the age of 20. His naval records confirm he was the son of Edgar and Florence Collett of Dudley in Worcestershire. The name of John Edward Collett is included amongst those listed on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial in Panel 39 on Column 3.
34R4	James Arthur George Collett was born at Plymouth in 1946, the only known child of James Ralph Collett and Jessie Harvey. His birth was recorded at Plymouth register office (Ref. 7a 803) during the third quarter of 1946 when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Harvey. Nothing further is known about the life of James A G Collett except that he was named as the executor of his father’s estate following his passing in 2000.
34R6	Yvonne Ellen Collett was born at Dudley Road Hospital in Birmingham on 4^th March 1947, the eldest daughter of Arthur Edward Collett and Victoria Ellen Brannigan. By 2010 Yvonne was married and was known as Yvonne Ellen Bridgewater.
34R7	Martin Edward Collett was born at Castle Bromwich on 24^th February 1958, the son of Arthur Edward Collett and Victoria Ellen Brannigan. Martin was married in 1979 and the marriage produced four children for Martin and his wife. However, that marriage ended in 1993. Five years later, on 26^th September 1998, Martin married (2) Janet who already had four children from her previous marriage. And it was Janet, who is known as Jan, who kindly provided the details of her husband’s family, which was used for the July 2010 update of this family line. Since the issue of the July 2010 version of this file, a request has been received from the eldest of the four children of Martin’s first wife, representing herself and her three siblings, to withhold their personal details at this time, together with the details relating to their mother.
	34S7	a Collett daughter	Born in 1983
	34S8	a Collett son	Born in 1985
	34S9	a Collett daughter	Born in 1987
	34S10	a Collett son	Born in 1988
	34S11	Giles Elliot Collett	Born on 26.09.1998 at Yeovil
	APPENDIX 1 - SO FAR UNCONNECTED APPLEFORD COLLETTS
34A1	Living in the village of Appleford around 1760 was ROBERT COLLETT and his wife Elizabeth who was born in 1742. Over the following two decades the parish register included the baptism of seven of their children at the Church of St Peter & St Paul in Appleford. Five of their seven children were baptised under the name Collet, and they were Ann Collet, who was baptised on 5^th April 1761, Mary Collet, on 9^th February 1766, Thomas Collet, on 19^th March 1769, Dinah Collet on 17^th June 1770, and James Collett who was baptised on 18^th January 1778. The other two sons were baptised with the more traditional spelling of the name.
	It was four years after the birth of his last child that Robert Collett died at Appleford on 3^rd December 1784, when the parish register stated that he died a pauper. His wife survived him by almost thirty years, when she died at Appleford on 9^th August 1814 at the age of 72.
	34A1/1	Ann Collett	Born circa 1760 at Appleford
	34A1/2	Mary Collett	Born circa 1765 at Appleford
	34A1/3	Thomas Collett	Born circa 1768 at Appleford
	34A1/4	Dinah Collett	Born circa 1770 at Appleford
	34A1/5	William Collett	Born circa 1773 at Appleford
	34A1/6	James Collett	Born circa 1777 at Appleford
	34A1/7	Robert Collett	Born circa 1779 at Appleford
34A1/5	William Collett was born at Appleford around 1773 and it was there also that he was baptised on 10^th April 1774, the son of Robert and Elizabeth Collett.
34A1/7	Robert Collett was born at Appleford in either later 1779 or early 1780 where he was baptised on 24^th September 1780, the son of Robert and Elizabeth Collett.
34A2	Ann Collett of Appleford (?) is very much a person of great mystery. The only record of her was within the census of 1861, when 20-year-old Ann Collett was said you have been born at Appleford, most likely as stated by her employer, when she was a domestic servant living and working at Denbigh Terrace in Notting Hill, within the Kensington area of London.