PART
THIRTY-SIX
The
Birstall, Heckmondwike, Batley (Yorkshire) Line
This
is the second of two sections of the Collett family of Yorkshire
Section One is The Barwick-in-Elmet (Leeds)
Updated March 2018
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The members of the Collett family recorded in this file were
found during the research into Part 36 – The Barwick-in-Elmet (Leeds)
Line. The earliest records so far
found initially centre on Birstall which lies two miles north-west of Batley
and two miles north of Heckmondwike in the Dewsbury area of Yorkshire. Members of the family eventually migrated
to each of those three towns. For all
of the records in the 1700s the name was written as Collit or Collitt, but
once into the new century the spelling switched to the more commonly used
form of Collett, and it is this which is used throughout this file. |
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36m1 |
John Collett was born around 1730 and
he married Elizabeth Gill at Birstall on 30th April 1754. It seems highly likely that Elizabeth was
with-child on their wedding day since, less than seven months later she
presented John with the first of their two known children, their son John
whose brother was born the following year.
It is assumed that his first daughter suffered an infant death for
John’s second daughter to be given the same name two years later. The last three known children were all
baptised at Birstall on the same day, so the order in which they were born is
not known. |
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36n1
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John Collett |
Born circa 1754
at Birstall |
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36n2
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Samuel Collett |
Born circa
1757 at Birstall |
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36n3
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Sarah Collett |
Baptised on
16.04.1760 at Birstall |
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36n4
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Sarah Collett |
Baptised on
11.04.1762 at Birstall |
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36n5
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Elizabeth
Collett |
Baptised on
25.02.1773 at Birstall |
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36n6
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James Collett |
Baptised on
25.02.1773 at Birstall |
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36n7
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William
Collett |
Baptised on
25.02.1773 at Birstall |
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36n1
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John Collett was baptised at Birstall on
15.10.1754, the eldest son of John and Elizabeth Collett. He was still living at Birstall when his
son was born. |
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36o1
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John Collett |
Baptised on
07.10.1775 at Birstall |
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36n2 |
Samuel
Collett
was baptised at Birstall on 3rd March 1757, the son of John
Collett and Elizabeth Gill, and he married Frances (Fanny) Preston at
Birstall on 2nd December 1777.
Exactly nine months after they were married the couple’s first child was
baptised at Birstall and, as with the next two baptisms, the parents were
confirmed at Samuel and Frances Collett.
However, the fourth child listed below may or may not be the son of
Samuel since, as yet, no birth or baptism record has been found. |
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36o2
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James Collett |
Born circa
1778 at Birstall |
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36o3
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Mary Collett |
Baptised on 17.09.1780
at Birstall |
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36o4
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Susanna
Collett |
Baptised on 23.01.1785
at Birstall |
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36o5
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George Collett |
Born circa
1790 at Birstall |
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36o2 |
James
Collett
was baptised at Birstall on 2nd August 1778, the son of Samuel
Collett and Frances (Fanny) Preston.
He married Elizabeth Hinsliff (Hinscliffe) on 21st
September 1801 at St Peter’s Church in Leeds, where their first child was
baptised, although it would appear that the couple later settled in Birstall
where their son Thomas was baptised.
Although yet to be unearthed, it seems very likely that the marriage
of James and Elizabeth produced more than just the two children listed below. |
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36p1
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Samuel
Collett |
Baptised on
21.03.1802 at Leeds |
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36p2
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Thomas
Collett |
Baptised on
24.05.1807 at Birstall |
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36o5 |
George
Collett
was born at Birstall around 1790, the likely son of Samuel Collett and
Frances Preston, although no actual birth or baptism record has so far been
discovered for him. This means that he
may have been a brother or a cousin to James Collett (above) who was born
before the end of 1778. George Collett
married (1) Mary Fawcett at Birstall on 25th December 1810 and it
would appear that Mary was with-child on the day of the wedding since, just
five months later, their first child was born and baptised at Birstall. It would appear from the later records that
Mary may have died during the years after the birth of their son to allow
George to subsequently marry the much younger (2) Jane Collinson at Birstall
on 7th November 1819. Jane
Collinson was the daughter of William and Ann Collinson who was baptised at
Middleham in Yorkshire on 17th January 1800. |
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That second marriage for George produced at least eight children
who were all born at Heckmondwike, although they were baptised at
Birstall. No record of George Collett has
been located in the June census of 1841, and the reason for that is he had died during the first
quarter of that year, his death recorded at Dewsbury (Ref. 22 26). However, on that census day in 1841, his
widow and his family were recorded residing at Shaver Hill in Heckmondwike, but with the census
enumerator writing the family’s surname as Collitt. Jane Collett was 45, John Collett was 20, Thomas
Collett was 15, George Collett was 13, Hannah Collett was 10, Jeremiah
Collett was eight, and Jonathan Collett was four years of age. |
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By the time of the next census in 1851, Jane Collett, age 56 and
a widow, was still living
at Shaver Hill in Heckmondwike with her daughter Hannah who was 20,
and sons Thomas who was
25, Jeremiah who was 18, and Jonathan who was 14. Also living with the family that day was Mary Collett who was 20 and
born at Heckmondwike, who was described as the niece of Jane Collett. It has still to be determined, how she was
related to the family. Ten
years later Jane was 65 and
a blanket whipper in the census of 1861 when she still had daughter Hannah,
aged 30, and son Jonathan, aged 24, living with her at a dwelling on the High Street in Heckmondwike. |
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It was seven years later
that the death of Jane Collett was recorded at Dewsbury (Ref. 9b 339) during
the first quarter of 1868, when she was said to be 72 years old. Her death also meant that her unmarried
daughter Hannah Collett became an inmate at the Dewsbury Moor Union
Workhouse, where she later died. |
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36p3
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James Collett |
Baptised on
09.06.1811 at Birstall |
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The following are the children of George Collett by his second
wife Jane Collinson: |
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36p4
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John Collett |
Born in 1820
at Heckmondwike |
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36p5 |
Joseph
Collett |
Born in 1822 at Heckmondwike |
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36p6 |
Mary Collett |
Born in 1824 at Heckmondwike |
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36p7 |
Thomas Collett |
Born in 1826 at Heckmondwike |
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36p8 |
George Collett |
Born in 1828
at Heckmondwike |
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36p9 |
Hannah Collett |
Born in 1830
at Heckmondwike |
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36p10 |
Jeremiah Collett |
Born in 1833 at Heckmondwike |
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36p11 |
Jonathan Collett |
Born in 1837 at Heckmondwike |
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36p4 |
John Collett was probably born at Heckmondwike
within six months of the marriage of his parents which took place at Birstall
on 7th November 1819. He
was then baptised at Birstall on 2nd April 1820, the first child
of George Collett and Jane Collinson. After his father died during
the first few months of 1841, 20-year-old John was living with his widowed
mother and the rest of his family at Shaver Hill in Heckmondwike. He later married Eliza Heald from Batley, their wedding recorded at
Dewsbury (Ref. 22 6) during the second quarter of 1848, with whom he
had at least the six children listed below.
According to the census in 1851 the family was living at Stanningley
in Heckmondwike when John Collett from Heckmondwike was 31 and an engine
tester (in a rag factory), Eliza from Batley was also 31, and their two sons
on that day were George who was two and John Wm Collett who was only nine
months old. |
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The family was almost completed during the next decade when
three more children were added to their family, which was still living in
Heckmondwike in 1861, but
at Church Lane. John and Eliza
were both 41, with
John’s occupation being that of an engineer in a woollen factory,
George was 12, John W Collett was 10, Joseph was nine, Elizabeth A Collett
was seven and Mary was five. The
couple’s last child was born during the following year, but later that same
decade John Collett died at Heckmondwike.
Following her loss, his widow Eliza Collett was 51 in 1871, when she
and all of her six children were still residing in Heckmondwike. George was 22, John William was 20, Joseph
was 19, Elizh Ann was 17, Mary was 15, and Eliza was eight years old. |
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Sometime
during the following decade Eliza left Heckmondwike and returned to her home
town of Batley, where she was living with some of her children in 1881. The census return that year placed Eliza
Collett aged 61, as living at Bunkers Lane in Batley with her three of her
six children. They were John William
Collett who was 30 and sisters Mary and Eliza Collett who were 25 and 18
respectively, who were both working as blanket weavers. Five years later the death of Eliza Collett was recorded at Dewsbury
(Ref. 9b 388) during the third quarter of 1886 when she was 66. |
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36q1 |
George Collett |
Born in 1848
at Heckmondwike |
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36q2 |
John William Collett |
Born in 1850
at Heckmondwike |
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36q3 |
Joseph Collett |
Born in 1852
at Heckmondwike |
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36q4 |
Elizabeth Ann Collett |
Born in 1854
at Heckmondwike |
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36q5 |
Mary Collett |
Born in 1856
at Heckmondwike |
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36q6 |
Eliza Collett |
Born in 1862
at Heckmondwike |
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36p5 |
Joseph Collett was born at
Heckmondwike in late 1821 or early in 1822, and was baptised at nearby
Birstall on 22nd January 1822, the son of George Collett and Jane
Collinson. By the time he was around
twenty years of age, Joseph had left the family home at Shaver Hill in
Heckmondwike. |
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36p6 |
Mary Collett was born at Heckmondwike in 1824 and was
baptised at Birstall on 11th April 1824, the daughter of George
and Jane Collett. Like her brother Joseph
(above), Mary too was no longer living with her widowed mother in June 1841. |
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36p7 |
Thomas Collett was born at Heckmondwike in 1826 and was
baptised at Birstall on 30th April 1826. His father died when Thomas was 15 years old and was that age in June
1841 when he was living with his family at Shaver Hill in Heckmondwike. Ten years later Thomas and his family were
still residing at Shaver Hill when he was listed in the census of 1851 as
being 25 years old and a bachelor living in Heckmondwike, where he was working as a
blanket slubber. It was during the second quarter of 1853 that the wedding of
Thomas Collett and Ruth Gill was recorded at Dewsbury (Ref. 9b 586), and their marriage produced two sons and three
daughters. The next census in 1861 listed
the family living at
Goose Hill in Heckmondwike where Thomas was 35 and a woollen spinner, his wife Ruth who
was also 35, and their daughters Sarah who was four years of age and Jane who
was one year old. Three members of the family
were confirmed as having been born in Heckmondwike, while daughter Sarah’s
place of birth was recorded as Millbridge, a hamlet within the parish of
Birstall. It is not clear where
their son Joshua was on that occasion, although he was living with his family
in 1871. |
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Two more children were added to the family over the next decade
while the family was still in Heckmondwike and by 1871 the family was made up
of Thomas, aged 45, who
was still a woollen spinner, Ruth who was also 45, Joshua who was 17,
Sarah who 14, Jane who was 11, Elizabeth who was nine and George who was
seven years old. Six years later the death of
Thomas Collett, at the age of 51, was recorded at Dewsbury (Ref. 9b 410)
during the second quarter of 1877.
As a result of her loss, Ruth was a widow in the census of 1881 when,
at the age of 55, she was described as being ‘formerly a weaver’. Her four youngest children were still
living with her at the family home on Commercial Street in Heckmondwike where
they were all recorded as having been born.
Ruth’s three daughters were all employed as woollen blanket
weavers. Sarah was 24, Jane was 21,
and Elizabeth was 19, while Ruth’s son George was a butcher at the age of 17,
as was his older brother Joseph in 1881. |
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Ten years later widow Ruth Collett was 65 and still had living
with her at Heckmondwike her daughter Elizabeth Collett who was 29 and her
son George Collett who was 27. Also
listed with the three of them was Ruth’s granddaughter Mary Collett who was
nine years old, who may have been the base-born daughter of Ruth’s youngest
daughter Elizabeth. Either way she was
still listed as Mary Collett from Heckmondwike in the next census in 1901 when
she was 19. |
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36q7
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Joshua Collett |
Born in 1853
at Heckmondwike |
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36q8
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Sarah Collett |
Born in 1856
at Heckmondwike |
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36q9
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Jane Collett |
Born in 1859
at Heckmondwike |
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36q10
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Elizabeth Collett |
Born in 1862
at Heckmondwike |
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36q11
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George Collett |
Born in 1864
at Heckmondwike |
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36p8 |
George Collett was born at Heckmondwike during 1828
and was baptised at Birstall on 22nd June 1828, the son of George
and Jane Collett. He was 13 in 1841 when living
with his widowed mother and hi siblings, at Shaver Hill in Heckmondwike,
following the death of his father earlier that same year. Just over seven years later the marriage of
George Collett and Nancy Goodall was recorded at Dewsbury (Ref. 22 12) during
the last three months of 1848 and by the day of the census in 1851
they had two children. The census
return for Heckmondwike that year recorded the family as George Collett who
was 23, Nancy was 22 and sons George and John were two years and one year
respectively. Ten years later only the
couple’s youngest son was still living with them in 1861, which may indicate
their eldest son had suffered an infant death shortly after 1851. George was 31, Nancy was 30 and John was
11, and, on that day in 1861, Nancy was expecting the birth of her last
child, with her daughter born later that same year. |
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So for the census in 1871 the family was listed as George and
Nancy Collett, who were both 42, and living with them in Heckmondwike was
their son John who was 21 and their daughter Martha who was nine. By
1881 George Collett from Heckmondwike was 52 as was Nancy who was also born
at Heckmondwike when they were living at Milton Square in Heckmondwike with
their unmarried daughter Martha H Collett who was 19 and a woollen blanket
weaver as was her mother. George was
described as a woollen yarn spinner. Around one year after that census day, the death of George Collett
was recorded at Dewsbury (Ref. 9b 402) during the second quarter of 1882,
when he was 53. That sad event left his widow Nancy, at the age of 60
in 1891, living at
Milton Square in Heckmondwike where she was being visited by her son
John and his eldest child, Nancy’s grandson George Collett, who was nine
years of age. Just under twelve months after that, the death
of Nancy Collett was recorded at Dewsbury (Ref.9b 438) during the first three
months of 1892, when she was 62. |
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36q12
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George
Collett |
Born in 1848
at Heckmondwike |
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36q13
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John Collett |
Born in 1850
at Heckmondwike |
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36q14
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Martha Hannah Collett |
Born in 1861
at Heckmondwike |
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36p9 |
Hannah Collett was born at Heckmondwike in 1830 and
was baptised at Birstall on 31st October 1830 the daughter of
George and Jane Collett. Her father died in early 1841
and so one the day of the census that year, in June, Hannah Collett was 10
years old and living with her family at Shaver Hill in Heckmondwike, as she
was in 1851 when, at the age of 20, she was working as a blanket whipper. According to the census in 1861 Hannah was
30 when she was living with her mother and brother Jonathan at the High
Street in Heckmondwike. On that
occasion she had no stated occupation, while it was her mother who was a
blanket whipper. However, it was
Hannah who was again working as a blanket whipper in 1871 although, at the
age of 40, she was an inmate at the Dewsbury Moor Union Workhouse, where she
most likely died just over eighteen months after that census day. The death of Hannah Collett was recorded at
Dewsbury (Ref. 9b 415) during the final quarter of 1872 when she was 42. |
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36p10 |
Jeremiah Collett was born at Heckmondwike in 1833 and was
baptised as Jeremiah Collitt at Birstall on 12th May 1833, the son
of George and Jane Collett. Following
the death of his father in early 1841, eight-year-old Jeremiah was living with his widowed
mother and other members of his family at Shaver Hill in Heckmondwike. Ten years later in 1851, when Jeremiah was
18, he was working as a
woollen card cleaner, one of four children still living with their
widowed mother Jane Collett, aged 56, at Shaver Hill.
Four years after that, Jeremiah Collett
married Emma Wilson, the wedding recorded at Dewsbury (Ref. 9b 561) during
the last three months of 1855. For
some reason, at the birth and baptism of their five children, and in all the
later census returns, Jeremiah’s wife’s name was recorded as Elizabeth. By the time of
the first of those census days in 1861 Elizabeth had already presented her
husband with their first two children.
At that time in their lives the family was living at Cook Lane in Heckmondwike. Jeremiah was 28 and a woollen over-looker (an inspector),
his wife Elizabeth was 26, and their children were George H Collett who was
four and Mary J Collett who was two years old. All four members of the family were
recorded as having been born at Heckmondwike. |
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Three more children were added to the family during the
following decade at Heckmondwike, the middle one of which did not survive, with the last of them
being born just prior to the next census in 1871, his birth recorded during
the second quarter of that year. On that occasion the family was still living
in Heckmondwike and comprised Jeremiah Collett who was 38 and a woollen machine
over-looker, Elizabeth Collett who 36, George H Collett who was 14,
Mary J Collett who was 12, John F Collett who was nine, plus baby John Collett
who was only a few days old. According
to the next census in 1881 the family was living at King Street in
Heckmondwike from where Jeremiah was again working as a woollen over-looker
at a nearby woollen mill. He was 48
and his place of birth was confirmed as Heckmondwike, where every member of
the household had also been born. His
wife Elizabeth was 46 and all four of their children were still living with
them. George H Collett was 24 and a
moulder at the local iron works, Mary J Collett was 22 and a woollen weaver,
while the couple’s 19-year-old son John Collett was a fettler at the woollen
mill and their youngest son John Collett was 10 years of age and was still
attending school. |
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Over the next few years the two eldest sons left the family home,
leaving just the couple’s youngest son, John Collett aged 20, still living
with his parents at Ings
Road in Heckmondwike in 1891.
By that time, Jeremiah had already finished working at the woollen
mill and, at the age of 58, was described as a retired woollen over-looker, when his wife Elizabeth
was 56. Staying with the family that
day was their married
daughter, her husband, and their only known child. Son-in-law William Law was 37, Mary J Law was 32, and
their son Percy Law was only seven months old. Sometime during the next decade, the
couple’s youngest son also left the family home, leaving Jeremiah and
Elizabeth still living at
Ings Road Heckmondwike, with the three members of the Law family. The census return in 1901 listed the five
occupants of the property as Jeremiah, who was 68 and a retired spinning
foreman, Elizabeth who was 66, William Law who was 47, Mary J Law who was 42, and Percy Law who was
10. Also living on Ings Road in 1901,
was the family of Jeremiah’s son John Fawcett Collett. It was six months later that the death of Jeremiah
Collett, aged 68, was recorded at Dewsbury (Ref. 9b 415) during the final
three months of 1901. |
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The next census in April
1911 confirmed that Elizabeth Collett, age 76, was a widow living in Heckmondwike,
and still had living there with her, her son-in-law William Law, her daughter
Mary Jane Law, and her grandson Percy Law.
Elizabeth survived for a further six years, when the death of
Elizabeth Collett was recorded at Dewsbury register office (Ref. 9b 776)
during the second quarter of 1917 when she was 82. |
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36q15
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George Henry Collett |
Born in 1857 at Heckmondwike |
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36q16
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Mary Jane Collett |
Born in 1859 at Heckmondwike |
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36q17
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John Fawcett Collett |
Born in 1861
at Heckmondwike |
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36q18
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Joseph
Collett |
Born in 1865 at Heckmondwike |
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36q19
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John Collett |
Born in 1871 at Heckmondwike |
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36p11 |
Jonathan Collett was born at Heckmondwike early in 1837
and was baptised at Birstall on 19th February 1837, the last child
of George Collett and Jane Collinson. He was only four years old
when his father died, after which the family was recorded at Shaver Hill in
Heckmondwike, when Jonathan Collett from Heckmondwike was four years old. He was still living at Shaver Hill with his widowed mother
Jane at the time of the Heckmondwike census of 1851 when he was 14. He was still living with his mother Jane and
sister Hannah (above) in 1861 when he was 24, and by which time the family home as on the High Street
in Heckmondwike. His occupation that
year was that of a fettler in a woollen mill.
It was during the first quarter of 1869 that Jonathan Collett
married Hannah Bentley
from Paddock, Huddersfield in Yorkshire, the event recorded at Huddersfield (Ref. 9a 464). The couple was blessed with the birth of
two children in quick succession and by the day of the census in 1871 the
family of four was living in Heckmondwike where their two children had been
born. Jonathan was 34, Hannah was 32,
Mary J Collett was over one year old and John B Collett was under one year
old. However, just over nine months
later the family suffered the loss of their son during the first quarter of
1872 and it seems that whatever ailment he may have had also took the life of
his older sister Mary, as she too was missing from the family in 1881. |
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It may have been the trauma caused by their loss which resulted
in Jonathan and Hannah returning to Hannah’s place of birth, to perhaps even
her parents’ home, since it was at Paddock that their next child was
born. No more children were added to
their family after that and, by the time of the next census in 1881, the
family was living at Thornton Road in Huddersfield, where Jonathan Collett
was 44 and an over-looker (an
inspector) working in a woollen and textile factory. His wife was recorded as Hanna Collett from
Paddock who was 42, and their daughter Laura Collett from Paddock was eight
years old and was attending school. |
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It was a similar situation ten years after that, except the
family of three had left Huddersfield and was recorded residing within the
Castleton area of Rochdale. Jonathan
was 54, Hannah was 52 and Laura was 18.
No record of any member of the family has been identified in the next
census of 1901. The birth of the couple’s first
child was recorded at Dewsbury (Ref. 9b 571) as Mary Jane Collett during the
last three months of 1869, and it was there also that her death was recorded
(Ref. 9b 491) during the first three months of 1875, when she was five years
of age. The birth of their youngest
daughter was also recorded at Dewsbury (Ref. 9b 654) during the fourth
quarter of 1872, despite being born at Paddock, perhaps at the home of
Hannah’s mother. The baptism of Laura
Collett took place at Birstall on 23rd February 1873, when her
parents were confirmed as Jonathan and Hannah Collett. |
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36q20
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Mary Jane Collett |
Born in 1869
at Heckmondwike |
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36q21
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John Bentley Collett |
Born in 1870
at Heckmondwike |
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36q22
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Laura Collett |
Born in 1872
at Paddock |
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36q1 |
George Collett was born at Heckmondwike in 1848, his birth recorded at Dewsbury
(Ref. XXII 37) during the third quarter of 1848, the eldest child of
John Collett from Heckmondwike and his wife Eliza from Batley. Upon his baptism at Birstall on 8th October 1848, he was
confirmed as the son of John and Eliza Collett. He was two years old in 1851 when he and
his family were living at Stanningley in Heckmondwike. In the next two Heckmondwike censuses
George was 12, and
already employed as a factory labourer when living with his family at Church
Lane in Heckmondwike, and 22 and a spinner when he was still living with his
family at Heckmondwike in 1871.
However, by 1871, his father had passed away following which his
widowed mother returned to live in Batley with three of George’s five sibling
after 1871. It was also shortly after
1871 when George Collett married (1) Mary Firth from Gomersal with whom he settled in
Heckmondwike, where their three children were born. Their marriage was recorded at Dewsbury (Ref. 9b 944) during the last
three months of 1871. |
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By
1881 the couple and their three children had left Heckmondwike and were
residing at Common Side in Soothill near Batley. According to the census that year George
was 32 and was employed as a woollen spinner over-looker (an inspector), his wife Mary was 31 and his three children were
James Collett who was eight, Fred Collett who was six and Betsy E Collett who
was two years old. No more children
were added to their family as
George’s wife suffered a premature death at the age of 33, perhaps even
during the birth of a fourth child, who also did not survive. The death of Mary Collett was recorded at
Leeds (Ref. 9b 378) during the first quarter of 1883. Following the death of his wife, George
married (2) Sarah Ann Kilburn, the event recorded at Dewsbury (Ref.9b 646)
during the first three months of 1885. |
||
|
|
||
|
That
was confirmed in the census return for Batley in 1891 when George Collett was
42 and working as a shoddy manufacturer, while living on Longlands Road in Staincliffe, midway
between Batley and Dewsbury. His
new wife Sarah Ann Collett was 38, and his three children were James who was
18, Fred who was 16 and Betsy E Collett who was 12. Sometime during the latter half of the
1890s George’s eldest son had left home to be married and was living nearby
in Batley in 1901 when he was presumably still working for, or with,
George. On that occasion George and
his reduced family were living at 11 Longlands Road in the hamlet of
Staincliffe. |
||
|
|
||
|
The
Collett household in 1901 comprised George 51 from Heckmondwike who was still
employed as a shoddy manufacturer, his wife Sarah Ann from Liversedge near
Heckmondwike was 47, and George’s two children were Fred who was 26, and
Betsy who was 22. It is interesting
that the family employed an unmarried servant girl by the name of Edith
Collett who was 24 and from Batley, although it is currently unclear how she
may have been related. Ten years later
George was 62 and Sarah was 58 and the only people recorded with them at
Batley were George’s unmarried son Fred Collett who was 35, his unmarried
daughter Betsy E Collett who was 32, and domestic servant Alice Mary English
from Burford in Oxfordshire. |
||
|
|
||
|
The death of George
Collett was recorded at Dewsbury (Ref.9b 776) during the first three months
of 1914 when he was 65. |
||
|
|
||
|
36r1
|
James Collett |
Born in 1872
at Heckmondwike |
|
36r2
|
Fred
Collett |
Born in 1874
at Heckmondwike |
|
36r3
|
Betsy Eliza Collett |
Born in 1878
at Heckmondwike |
|
|
||
|
|
||
36q2 |
John William Collett was born at Heckmondwike during June
1850, the second son of John and Eliza Collett, who was nine months old on
the day of the census in 1851 when he was named as John Wm Collett. On that occasion he and his family were
living in the Stanningley area of Heckmondwike. Ten years later John W Collett was recorded
in the Heckmondwike census with his family at the age of 10. With the death of his father John’s mother
took the family to nearby Liversedge where they were living in 1871 when John
William Collett was 20. Another family
move happened during the 1871 when his mother took some of the family to
nearby Batley where John was 30 in 1881 and an engine driver in a rag
factory. Living at Bunkers Lane in
Batley that day with John and his mother were his two youngest sisters. John was still unmarried in 1891 when he
was 40 and still living in Batley, either with or close to his brother George
(above). |
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
36q3
|
Joseph Collett was born at Heckmondwike in 1852 and
was the third child of John and Eliza Collett and was nine years old in the
census of 1861. Not long after his
father died during the 1860s Joseph’s mother moved her family to nearby
Liversedge where they were living in 1871 when Joseph was 19. It was therefore at Liversedge that he met
his future wife and around the middle of the 1870s he married Eliza of
Liversedge. By 1881 they had two sons
living with them at Brighton Street in Heckmondwike. Joseph Collett was 29 and a butcher, the
same trade as his younger cousin George (below). Eliza was 27 and their two Heckmondwike
born sons were named as Horace Collett who was two and Harry Collett who was
one year old. |
||
|
|
||
|
While other members of Joseph’s family had settled in Batley
prior to 1881, Joseph and Eliza were recorded at 109 Mill Road in nearby
Dewsbury by the time of the census in 1891.
That move had taken place after the birth of the couple last known
child at Heckmondwike. Recorded in the
census in error under the surname Callett every member of the family was
confirmed as having been born at Heckmondwike. Joseph was 39 and a butcher, Eliza was 36,
Horace was 12, Harry was 10, Louis was six and Reginald was three years of
age. Supporting the family was 15-year-old
domestic servant Lucilla Roebuck from Sheffield. What happened to Joseph and Eliza after
that time is not known except that they were not living with, or looking
after their young family by March in 1901.
Nor have they been located in the census of 1911 while every member of
their family has been identified in 1901 and 1911. |
||
|
|
||
|
36r4
|
Horace Collett |
Born in 1878
at Heckmondwike |
|
36r5
|
Harry Collett |
Born in 1880
at Heckmondwike |
|
36r6
|
Louis Collett |
Born in 1884
at Heckmondwike |
|
36r7
|
Reginald Collett |
Born in 1887
at Heckmondwike |
|
|
||
|
|
||
36q7 |
Joshua Collett was born at Heckmondwike in 1853, the
eldest child of Thomas and Ruth Collett who was not with them on the day of
the 1861 census when he would have been seven. However, Joshua was living at the family
home in 1871 at the age of 17.
Although Joshua was once again absent from the census in 1881 it was
also around that time when he married Ruth and during the next decade their
marriage produced four children who were all born at Heckmondwike. The census for Heckmondwike in 1891
therefore listed the family as Joshua Collett who was 37, Ruth who was 33,
Ella who was 10, Thomas who was eight, Joseph who was six, and Edith Annie
who was only one year old. Ruth was
very likely expecting the birth of the couple’s fifth child, who was born
later that same year. |
||
|
|
||
|
In total three more children were added to the family during the
next six years, although Joshua died before the end of the century. Whether it was his death that forced the
family to move to Bradford is not known, nor is it known whether he had died
before the birth of his last child who was born in Bradford. By March 1901 the family was living at 8
Oakwood Street in Bradford where Ruth Collett was 44 and a widow. With no occupation she was reliant on the
income from her two eldest children, her son Thomas having already left home
by then. Ruth’s daughter Ella was 20
and was working as a stuff weaver, while her son Joseph was 15 and working as
a worsted spinner’s bobbin sorted.
Ruth’s four youngest children were listed as Edith who was 11, Fred
who was nine, Arthur who was five and Agnes who was three. |
||
|
|
||
|
Ruth died during the first ten years of the new century and
following that sad event her three youngest children were looked after by her
married daughter Ella who was married in 1906. |
||
|
|
||
|
36r8
|
Ella Collett |
Born in 1881
at Heckmondwike |
|
36r9 |
Thomas Collett |
Born in 1883
at Heckmondwike |
|
36r10 |
Joseph
Collett |
Born in 1885
at Heckmondwike |
|
36r11 |
Edith Annie
Collett |
Born in 1889
at Heckmondwike |
|
36r12 |
Frederick Collett |
Born in 1891
at Heckmondwike |
|
36r13 |
Arthur Collett |
Born in 1895
at Heckmondwike |
|
36r14 |
Agnes Collett |
Born in 1897
at Bradford |
|
|
||
|
|
||
36q10
|
Elizabeth Collett was born at Heckmondwike in 1862 the
youngest daughter of Thomas and Ruth Collett.
At the age of nine years she was living with her family in
Heckmondwike and during the next decade her father passed away. It was at Commercial
Street in Heckmondwike that Elizabeth, age 19, was still living with her
widowed mother, as she was ten years later when she was 29. On that occasion in 1891 nine-year old Mary
Collett from Heckmondwike was living at the same address who, it has been assumed,
was Elizabeth’s base-born daughter, although it is also possible she was the
base-born child of one of Elizabeth’s two older sisters. By 1901 Mary Collett was 19 when she was
employed as a blanket weaver in Heckmondwike where she was living, and by
which time Elizabeth may have been married.
Where Elizabeth was in 1901 has not been discovered although in 1911
she was recorded in the census that year as living in Dewsbury as Eliza
Collett from Heckmondwike who as 48. |
||
|
|
||
|
36r15
|
Mary Collett |
Born in 1881
at Heckmondwike |
|
|
||
|
|
||
36q11 |
George Collett was born at Heckmondwike in 1864, the
youngest child of Thomas and Ruth Collett.
He was seven years of age in 1871, was 17 in 1881 by which time he was
working as a butcher while still with his widowed mother at Commercial Street in Heckmondwike, and was 27 in
1891 when he was only one of two siblings still living in Heckmondwike with
his mother. Within a couple of years
he married Elizabeth who was also born in Heckmondwike and by the time of the
census in 1901 they had completed their family with the birth of two
daughters |
||
|
|
||
|
It was at Heckmondwike where the family of four was still living
in March 1901 when George was 37 and a dyer’s labourer, his wife Lizzie was
34, while their daughters were Rhoda Collett who was five and Ethel Collett
who was still under one year old. Ten
years later it was a similar situation with George 47, Elizabeth 44, Rhoda 15
and Ethel who was 10. |
||
|
|
||
|
36r16
|
Rhoda Collett |
Born in 1895
at Heckmondwike |
|
36r17
|
Ethel Collett |
Born in 1900
at Heckmondwike |
|
|
||
|
|
||
36q13 |
John Collett was born at Heckmondwike around 1850
the surviving son of George Collett and Nancy Goodall, both of Heckmondwike. During the latter years of the 1870s John
married Susan Wood of Heckmondwike, the daughter of George Wood a grocer and
warehouseman. By the time of the
census in 1881 the childless couple was living with widower George Wood at
his home in Nunroyd, Heckmondwike.
John Collett, his son-in-law, was 31 and a carpet weaver, while his
wife Susan was 26 with no occupation as she very most likely acting as
housekeeper for the two men. Susan was
expecting the couple’s first child, when their son was born later that same
year, with their second son being born during the following year. |
||
|
|
||
|
According to the next census in 1891 for the Dewsbury &
Liversedge registration district John was visiting his elderly mother at her
home and had taken his eldest son with him, while Susan was at their own home
with the couple’s youngest son. John
Collett was 40 and son George was nine years old, while Susan was 36 and son
Jeremiah was eight years old. It would
seem likely that John Collett died before the end of the century, since the
census in March 1901 only recorded Susan Collett who was 47 and her son
Jeremiah who was 18 still living in Heckmondwike. By that time Susan’s eldest son was living
in nearby Dewsbury. During the first
decade of the new century Jeremiah left home to make his own way in the
world, leaving Susan Collett nee Wood living alone at Liversedge near
Heckmondwike in 1911 at the age of 56.
By that time her two sons were both married and living in the
Doncaster area. |
||
|
|
||
|
36r18
|
George Collett |
Born in 1881
at Heckmondwike |
|
36r19
|
Jeremiah Collett |
Born in 1883 at Heckmondwike |
|
|
||
|
|
||
36q14
|
Martha Hannah Collett was born at Heckmondwike in 1861, the
daughter of George Collett and Nancy Goodall.
Her birth was
recorded at Dewsbury (Ref. 9b 457) during the third quarter of 1861,
following which she was baptised at Birstall on 20th April 1862,
the daughter of George and Nancy.
She was nine years old in the census of 1871 and, at the age of 19 in
1881, Martha was still living with her parents at Milton Square in
Heckmondwike, from where she was working as a woollen blanket weaver, like
her mother. Just over four year later the marriage of Martha
Hannah Collett and John Henry Mortimer was recorded at Dewsbury (Ref. 9b 819)
during the third quarter of 1885. |
||
|
|
||
|
Five years into their
marriage, the Mortimer family was residing at Beck Lane in Heckmondwike where,
in the census of 1891 the family was made up of Henry who was 29 and working
as a teamer, his wife Martha Ann who was also 29 and working as a
washerwoman, Henry’s mother Martha and his sister Mary. During the next five years Martha gave birth
to two children who were living with the couple at Blanket Hall Street in
Heckmondwike at the end of March in 1901. John H Mortimer was 39 and a hay
dealer, Martha Mortimer was 39, daughter Annie Mortimer was nine and son Sam
Mortimer was five. Staying with the
family on that census was Martha’s nephew George Collett, who was described
as a labourer working for a hay dealer – his uncle John Mortimer. George was the younger of the two sons of
Martha’s older brother John Collett (above). |
||
|
|
||
|
Something happened to the
young family during the next decade, because the census in 1911 revealed that
the wife of John Henry Mortimer, aged 49 and a scavenging carter, was named
as Charlotte Ellen Mortimer who was 48 and born at Heckmondwike. Completing the household were Martha and
John’s two children, Annie Mortimer who was 19 and an Axminster carpet
weaver, and Sam Mortimer who was 16.
The death of Martha H Mortimer was recorded at Bradford (Ref. 9b 187)
during the first quarter of 1941. |
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
36q15 |
George Henry Collett was born at Heckmondwike in 1857 and baptised at
Birstall on 31st May 1857, the eldest son of Jeremiah and
Elizabeth Collett. He was four years
old in 1861 and was 14 in the census of 1871.
By 1881 he and his family were living at King Street in Heckmondwike
when bachelor George was 24 and his occupation was that of a moulder at the
local iron works. Almost immediately after the census day in 1881 George
married Emily who was also born at Heckmondwike but in 1857. Over the following twenty years the marriage
produced four children for the couple and all of them born at Heckmondwike,
where the family was living in 1901. |
||
|
|
||
|
George Henry Collett was 44 and was still working as an iron
moulder but, on that occasion, he was employed at an engine works. His wife Emily was 43 and their four
children were Walter who was 19 and an iron moulder at an engine works,
Norman who was 13 and a telegraph messenger, Hilda who was eight and Edna who
was five years old. The same family of
four was still together and living in Heckmondwike in April 1911 when George
Henry was 54, Emily was 52, Walter was 29, Norman was 23, Hilda was 18, and
Edna was 15. |
||
|
|
||
|
36r20
|
Walter
Collett |
Born in 1881
at Heckmondwike |
|
36r21
|
Norman
Collett |
Born in 1887
at Heckmondwike |
|
36r22
|
Hilda Collett |
Born in 1892
at Heckmondwike |
|
36r23
|
Edna Collett |
Born in 1895
at Heckmondwike |
|
|
||
|
|
||
36q16
|
Mary Jane Collett was born at Heckmondwike in 1859, the only
daughter of Jeremiah Collett and Elizabeth Wilson, and was baptised at nearby Birstall under her
full name on 24th April 1859.
She may have been born at Cook Lane in Heckmondwike, where her family
was living in 1861, when Mary J Collett was two years of age. She was
still living with her parents in the next two census returns; Mary J Collett was 12 in 1871 and in 1881 she and her
family were living at King Street in Heckmondwike from where Mary J Collett
was 22 and a woollen weaver. Mary married William Law from
Batley, the son of Benjamin and Maria Law. Their marriage resulted in the birth of only
one child, son Percy Law, who was born at the Ings Road home of her parents
in Heckmondwike, where she was living in 1891 and 1901. In the census of 1891 Mary Jane Law was 32,
William Law from Batley was 37 and a cloth dresser, and Percy Law had only just
been born, and it was the same situation in 1901 when William was 47 and a
cloth percher, Mary was 42 and Percy was 10.
After the death of Mary’s father, she and her family remained living
with her widowed mother in Heckmondwike, and it was there they were recorded
in 1911. William Law from Batley was
57 and a cloth stumper, Mary Jane was 52 and son Percy was 20. |
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
36q17 |
John Fawcett
Collett
was born at Heckmondwike, although
his birth was recorded at Dewsbury (Ref. 9b 517) during the second quarter of
1861, following which he was baptised at Birstall on 25th August
that year, the son of Jeremiah and Elizabeth Collett. The name Fawcett was a reference back to
Mary Fawcett who was the first wife of John’s grandfather George Collett,
whom he married at Birstall near Heckmondwike in 1810. John Fawcett Collett married Annie from
Mirfield, to the south-west of Dewsbury, in the first half of the 1880s and
their marriage appears to have given the couple at least three children. In 1891 John and Annie already had the
first two children with them when the family was living at Battye Street in Heckmondwike. John F Collett was 29 and a spinner at a woollen
mill, his wife Annie from Mirfield was 26, their son Arthur L Collett
was five years old and their daughter Clara was not yet one year old. |
||
|
|
||
|
Midway through the next decade the couple’s third known child
was born, again at Heckmondwike like the first two, and possibly at Ings Road, where the family
was living in 1901. The census
that year confirmed the family had five members, and they were John Fawcett
Collett aged 39, his wife Annie Collett aged 36, and their two daughters
Clara, ten, and Ethel, four, were attending school. Completing the family was son Arthur L
Collett who was already working as woodcarver for a cabinet maker at the age
of 15. Head of the household, John Fawcett
Collett, from Heckmondwike, was employed as a carding over-looker (an inspector) at a local mill. |
||
|
|
||
|
The same family group was still together in 1911, when the
census that year listed them as John Fawcett Collett, aged 49, Annie Collett aged
46, Arthur Ledgard Collett aged 25, Clara Collett aged 20 and Ethel Collett who
was 14. John appears to have spent all his life in
Heckmondwike, since the death of John F Collett was recorded at Dewsbury
(Ref. 9b 1257) during the first quarter of 1929 when he was 67. |
||
|
|
||
|
36r24
|
Arthur Ledgard Collett |
Born in 1885
at Heckmondwike |
|
36r25
|
Clara Collett |
Born in 1890
at Heckmondwike |
|
36r26
|
Ethel Collett |
Born in 1896
at Heckmondwike |
|
|
||
|
|
||
36q18
|
Joseph Collett was born at
Heckmondwike in 1865 and was baptised at Birstall on 27th August
1865, the son of Jeremiah and Elizabeth Collett. Tragically he did not survive, died during
the next few years. |
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
36q19 |
John Collett was born at Heckmondwike in 1870, the
youngest child of Jeremiah and Elizabeth Collett, who was baptised at Birstall on 9th
April 1871, but whose birth was recorded at Dewsbury (Ref. 9b 594) during the
last three months of 1870. He
was under one year old in the census of 1871 and was attending school at the
age of 10 in 1881, when John and his family were residing at King Street in
Heckmondwike. John was still living with his parents at Ings Road in Heckmondwike
in 1891, when he was 20 and working as a brussels carpet weaver. It was on 10th March 1900 at
Batley, where John Collett aged 29 and the son of Jeremiah Collet, married
Hannah Milner aged 24 and the daughter of Matthew Milner. One year later the couple was residing at
Peel Street in Heckmondwike, when John Collett from Heckmondwike was 30 and a
carpet weaver, and his wife Hannah Collett, also born at Heckmondwike, was 25
and a rag weaver, according to the census return completed in 1901. |
||
|
|
||
|
Four years later Hannah gave birth to a son at Heckmondwike,
where the family of three was living in April 1911. John Collett was 40 and still employed as a
carpet weaver, Hannah Collett from Pudsey was 35, and their son Harry Collett
was six years old. The birth of their son was
recorded at Dewsbury register office (Ref. 9b 617) during the second quarter
of 1905. As far as can be determined,
Harry was the one and only child born to John and Hannah. The death of John Collett was recorded as
Dewsbury (Ref. 9b 961) during the first three months of 1933, when he was 62 years
of age. |
||
|
|
||
|
36r27
|
Harry Collett |
Born in 1905 at Heckmondwike |
|
|
||
|
|
||
36q21
|
John Bentley Collett was born at Heckmondwike on 31st
December 1870, the son of Jonathan and Hannah Collett, who birth was recorded
at nearby Dewsbury (Ref. 9b 608) during the first quarter of the following
year. John Bentley Collett was
baptised at St Peters Church in Birstall on 9th April 1871 when
once again his parents were named as Jonathan and Hannah Collett. However, it was less than one year later
that the death of John Bentley Collett was recorded at Dewsbury (Ref. 9b 429)
during the first three months of 1872. |
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
36r1
|
James Collett was born at Heckmondwike in 1872 and
was eight years old at the time of the census in 1881 when he and his family
were living at Common Side in Soothill in Batley. His mother, Mary Firth, died during 1883, after which his father re-married
in 1885. In 1891 James was 18
and was working for his father while he was still living at the family
home. Towards the end of the 1890s
James married Edith from Liversedge near Heckmondwike and by the time of the
census in 1901 the marriage had produced the couple’s first child. |
||
|
|
||
|
At
that time James was still working for his father and was living in Batley
close to where his father and stepmother were living. James was 28 and
was working as a traveller for his father George Collett who was a ‘cotton’
shoddy manufacturer. James’ wife Edith
was 25 and their daughter Mary was still under one year old in March 1901. Two more children were added to the
family during the first ten years of the new century. So, by April 1911, the family at Batley was
made up of James Collett who was 38, Edith Collett who was 35, Mary Collett
who was 10, Kathleen Collett who was six and George Collett who was one year
old. It is possible that further
children may have been added to the family over the following years. |
||
|
|
||
|
36s1
|
Mary Collett |
Born in 1901
at Batley |
|
36s2
|
Kathleen
Collett |
Born in 1906
at Batley |
|
36s3
|
George
Collett |
Born in 1910
at Batley |
|
|
||
|
|
||
36r2
|
Fred Collett was born at Heckmondwike in 1874 and that was how his name was
recorded throughout his life. The
birth of Fred Collett was recorded at Dewsbury (Ref. 9b 672) during the last
quarter of 1874. It was almost a year
later the Fred Collett was baptised at Birstall on 10th October
1875, the son of George and Mary Collett. In 1881 Fred and his family were living at
Common Side in Soothill, near Batley, when he was six years of age. His mother died in 1883, after which his
father married Sarah Ann Kilburn in 1885, and it was with them that
16-year-old Fred, a
warehouse assistant, and his sister Betsy (below) were living in 1891
but at Longlands Road in Staincliffe, between Batley and Dewsbury. They were still living there in 1901 when
the address was confirmed as 11 Longlands Road, from where unmarried Fred, at
the age of 26, was a rag
dryer. By 1911 Fred, aged 35, and his father were working
together as shoddy manufacturers, that is, after the family had moved to
Batley. |
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
36r3
|
Betsy Eliza Collett was born at Heckmondwike in 1878, her birth recorded at Dewsbury
(Ref. 9b 679) during the fourth quarter of that year, the third and last
child of George Collett and his first wife Mary Firth. It is possible that she was born at Common
Side in Soothill, near Batley, where Betsy E Collett was two years old in
1881, when living there with her family. Following the premature death of her mother,
and the subsequent re-marriage of her father, it was with her father and
stepmother Sarah Ann, plus her older brother Fred (above), that she was
living at Longlands Road in Staincliffe in 1891 when Betsy E Collett was 12
years old. It was same situation in
1901 when Betsy was 22 and still living at the family home at 11 Longlands
Road. By April the same family group
was living in Batley, where Betsy Collett was 32, with no occupation. It is now known that she never married, but life a long life in
Yorkshire. The death of Betsy E
Collett was recorded at Spen Valley (Dewsbury) register office (Ref. 2d 407)
during the last three months of 1952 when she was 73. |
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
36r4
|
Horace Collett was born at Heckmondwike in 1878, the
eldest of the four sons of Joseph and Eliza Collett. He may have been born at the couple’s home
in Brighton Street in Heckmondwike where Horace was two years old in
1881. Sometime in the months after
1887 the family moved to Dewsbury and 109 Mill Road where the family was
residing in 1891 when Horace was 12.
Whether some major tragedy hit the family during the next decade is
not known, but what is known for sure is that Horace left home to pursue a
career with the General Post Office which initially took him to
Cambridgeshire. |
||
|
|
||
|
That move south was confirmed in the next census of 1901 when
Horace Collett from Heckmondwike was living in St Neots at the age of 22
where he was employed as a post office clerk and telegraphist. Within the next few years he returned north
where he married Mary Ethel with whom he had a son before the next census in
1911. Just after the child was born
the couple settled in Chapel en le Frith in Derbyshire where in 1911 Horace
Collett from Heckmondwike was 32, Mary Ethel Collett was 25 and Neil Collett
was three years of age. Neil was very
likely the first of many children for the couple. |
||
|
|
||
|
36s4
|
Neil Collett |
Born in 1907
not in Derbyshire |
|
|
||
|
|
||
36r5
|
Harry Collett was born at Brighton Street in
Heckmondwike during 1880 the son of butcher Joseph Collett and his wife
Eliza. It was at that address that he
and his family were recorded in 1881 when Harry was one year old. By 1891 the family had left Heckmondwike
and was settled in a dwelling at 109 Mill Road in Dewsbury where Harry was
10. Over the next few years the family
suffered some trauma, but what that was is still unknown. Where it was the result of the deaths or
separation of Harry’s parents has not been determined, since no record of
them has been unearthed in the two census returns for 1901 and 1911. |
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By
March 1901 it was Harry Collett, age 21 and from Heckmondwike, who was named
as the head of the three-roomed household at 13 Hillary Street in the hamlet
of Staincliffe between Batley and Dewsbury, when he
was described as a shoddy warehouseman, while living there with him were his
two younger brothers Louis and Reginald (below). Supporting the three brothers was domestic
servant Annie Denton from Batley who was 40.
Curious further records of his three brother have been located in the
next census of 1911, but no record of Harry has been found anywhere in Great Britain. Whether he travelled abroad or passed away
is not known. |
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36r6
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Louis Collett was born at Heckmondwike in 1884 and
that may have taken place at Brighton Street where his family was living
three years earlier. When he was
around four or five years of age his parents took the family to live at 109
Mill Road in nearby Dewsbury where Louis was six years old in 1891. Did his parents both die during the next
decade, as no record of them has been found in 1901 or again in 1911. Louis was 17 and a rag machine joiner
according to the next census in 1901 when he was living at 13 Hillary Street
in Dewsbury where his older brother Harry was the head of the household. Louis Collett from Heckmondwike was 27 in
the Dewsbury census of 1911 when he was still a bachelor. |
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36r7
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Reginald Collett was born at Heckmondwike in 1887 the
youngest of the four son of butcher Joseph Collett and Eliza Collett. Shortly after he was born his family left
Heckmondwike and by the time Reginald was three years old in 1891 the census
that year placed the family at 109 Mill Road in Dewsbury. Where his parents were ten years later is
not known, nor have they been identified at any time after 1891. It was his older brother Harry who was the
head of the family at 13 Hillary Street in Dewsbury by 1901 when Reginald was
only 13. By that time he had already
left school and was an errand boy working for a local chemist. After a further ten years Reginald Collett,
age 23 and from Heckmondwike, was recorded as a bachelor living within the
North Brierley district of the West Riding of Yorkshire. |
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36r8
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Ella Collett was born at Heckmondwike in 1881 but
towards the end of that year, which was possibly the same year that her
parents Joshua and Ruth Collett were married.
She was 10 years old in 1891 when she was still living with her family
in Heckmondwike. Her youngest sibling
Agnes was born in 1897 and that happy event may have been shortly after the
death of her father. It may have been
his passing that was the reason why the family was no longer living in Heckmondwike,
but had settled in Bradford. It was
also in Bradford, at 8 Oakwood Street, that Ella was supporting her widowed
mother and the rest of the family as only one of two members of the family
who were working. Ella Collett was 20
when she was employed as a stuff weaver. |
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During the next decade there were two major events in the life
of Ella Collett, although it is not yet known which came first. What is known is that it was during 1905 or
1906 that she married John Burton from East Dereham in Norfolk. One year later she gave birth to the first
of two sons who were both recorded with Ella and John in 1911. Also by that time Ella’s mother had died
and so Ella’s three youngest siblings were living with her and her new
family. John Burton was 31 and a
coachsmith working for a coach building shop in Batley, when the family was
recorded in a four-roomed dwelling at 87 Taylor Street. Ella Burton from Heckmondwike was 30,
although she was named as Helah Burton, who had been married for five years
during which she had given birth to two children. It is possible that more children were
added to the family in the years after 1911. |
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Ella’s two children on that day were named as Lloyd Burton who
was four and Frank Burton who was six months old, both of them born after the
couple had settled in Batley. Ella’s
three siblings were Fred, Arthur and Agnes Collett (see below for details). |
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36r9 |
Thomas Collett was born at Heckmondwike in 1883, the
son of Joshua and Ruth Collett. Thomas
was eight years old when he was with his family in Heckmondwike in 1891, but
sometime after around 1897 his father died and his family left Heckmondwike
to live in Bradford. As one of the
older children in the family Thomas had left home prior to the census of 1901
and was working as a hall porter in Harrogate at the age of 19. After a further ten years the census in
1911 recorded Thomas Collett from Heckmondwike as being unmarried and 29
living and working within the Leeds registration district. |
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36r12 |
Frederick Collett was born at Heckmondwike in 1891 but
after the census day that year.
Whether his birth was registered under the name Frederick is not
known, but in the next two census returns he was referred to simply as Fred. Two things occurred in the life of the
young Fred; one was death of his father when he was around five or six years
old, and the other – perhaps a result of the first – saw the family leave
Heckmondwike and settle in Bradford.
It was at 8 Oakwood Street in Bradford, a four-room property, that
Fred aged nine years was living with his widowed mother and other members of
his family in 1901. |
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Following the death of his mother between 1901 and 1911 Fred and
his two younger siblings Arthur and Agnes were taken into the Batley home of
their eldest married sister Ellen (above).
The census in April 1911 recorded Fred Collett from Heckmondwike as
being aged 19 who was employed as a domestic chauffeur, the brother-in-law of
head of the household at 87 Taylor Street, that being John Burton the husband
of Ella Burton nee Collett. |
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36r13 |
Arthur Collett was born at Heckmondwike in 1895, the
youngest son of Joshua and Roth Collett.
When he was five years old his father had been dead for a few years
and his family had left Heckmondwike to live in Bradford. The census in 1901 recorded Arthur living
with his widowed mother and the family at 8 Oakwood Street. A few years later his mother died, so at
that sad time Arthur, his brother Fred (above) and sister Agnes (below) went
to live with their married sister Ella in Batley. On leaving school Arthur took up employment
at a local clothing mill where he was involved in cloth finishing. In 1911 he was 15 when living with his
sister at 87 Taylor Street in Batley. |
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36r14 |
Agnes Collett was born at Bradford in 1897 and was
the last child born to Joshua Collett and his wife Ruth. It is possible that her father had died
shortly before was born as the family had only recently settled in Bradford,
having moved there from Heckmondwike.
So by the time of the census in 1901 Agnes was three years of age when
she was living with her widowed mother at 8 Oakwood Street in Bradford,
together with her older siblings.
Agnes was around ten years old when her mother died, after which she
and her two siblings Fred and Arthur went to live at 87 Taylor Street in
Batley, the home of her older married sister Ella Burton. At the age of 13 in 1911 Agnes from
Bradford was already working as a rug maker at a nearby rug warehouse. |
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36r18
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George Collett was born at Heckmondwike in 1881, the
eldest of the two sons of John Collett and Susan Wood. His birth was recorded at Dewsbury (Ref. 9b 616) during the third
quarter of 1881. He was nine
years old in the census of 1891 but was not recorded with his mother and his
younger brother Jeremiah (below). Instead,
he and his father were visitors at the home of George’s grandmother Nancy
Collett at Milton Square in Heckmondwike. In 1901 he was
living and working with his uncle John Henry Mortimer in Heckmondwike, where
19-year-old George was a labourer to John who was a hay dealer, the Mortimer
family living at Blanket Hall Street.
During the following years George travelled to Doncaster, where his
younger brother Jeremiah had already settled, and it was there where George was
married and started a family. The marriage of George Collett
and Gertrude Alice Swaby was recorded at Doncaster (Ref. 9b 1355) during the
second quarter of 1909, and produced two children for the couple. |
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According
to the Doncaster census conducted in April 1911, George Collett from
Heckmondwike was 29 and a steel wire galvaniser at the local Wire Works, who
had been married to Gertrude Alice Collett, age 35 and from Hexthorpe in
Doncaster, for two years. Living there
with them in the 5-roomed dwelling at 11 Hirck Street was their seven-month-old
son George Arthur Collett who was also born at Doncaster. One more son was added to the family before the tragic death of
George Collett in 1915, whose death was recorded at Doncaster register office
(Ref. 9c 1119) during the second quarter of that year, when George was only
34 years old. |
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36s5
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George Arthur Collett |
Born in 1910
at Doncaster |
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36s6
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Leslie
Collett |
Born in 1914 at Doncaster |
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36r19
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Jeremiah Collett was born at Heckmondwike, either at
the end of 1882 or early in 1883, the youngest of the two sons of John Collett
and Susan Wood, whose
birth was recorded at Dewsbury (Ref. 9b 636) during the first quarter of 1883. At the age of eight years he was living
with his mother, his father and his older brother George (above) in
Heckmondwike. With the death of his
father during the last decade of the century, Jeremiah was still living with
his mother at Heckmondwike in 1901 when he was 18 and employed as a dyer’s
labourer. Sometime during the next five years, Jeremiah
moved to Doncaster where his marriage to Edith Mary Maples was recorded (Ref.
9c 962) during the first three months of 1907. Once married, the couple settled within the
Doncaster suburb of Balby-with-Hexthorpe, where their only known child was
born, and where the family of three was living in 1911, not far from his
brother George (above). |
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The census in 1911 identified
the three of them living at the home of Edith’s father, Henry Maples, who was
59 and from Nottinghamshire. Jeremiah Collett from
Heckmondwike was 28 and
a wire drawer, who was described as the son-in-law of Henry Maples. His wife Edith Mary Collett was 27, and
their daughter Doris Collett was one year old. Edith’s place of birth was recorded as Adwick le Street, just north
of Doncaster. The record of the birth
of their daughter took place at Doncaster register office (Ref. 9c 853)
during the first three months of 1910. |
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36s7
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Doris Collett |
Born in 1910 at Balby-with-Hexthorpe |
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36r24 |
Arthur Ledgard Collett was born at Heckmondwike in 1885, his birth recorded at Dewsbury
(Ref. 9b 639) during the fourth quarter of that year. It was also at Battye Street in Heckmondwike where he was living
with his parents in 1891 when Arthur L Collett was five years old. By the time he was 15, in March 1901, Arthur
L Collett had left school and was working as a woodcarver for a local cabinet
maker in Heckmondwike while living with his family at Ings Road. He was still there ten years later in 1911
when he was 25, but recorded under his full birth name of Arthur Ledgard
Collett, when his
occupation was that of a mechanic. The
married of Arthur L Collett and Bertha Furnace was recorded at Dewsbury
register office (Ref. 9b 1446) during the third quarter of 1913. Bertha was born in 1886 at Liversedge, to
the east of Heckmondwike, the daughter of William Henry and Janet Furnace of
Halifax Road. In 1911 Bertha was 24
and working as a stuff weaver, while still living with her parents in Liversedge. |
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As far as can be determined, the
marriage of Arthur and Bertha produced just the two children listed below,
who may have been born at Liversedge even though their births were recorded
at Dewsbury. Arthur’s daughter was
only five years old when the death of Arthur L Collett was recorded at
Dewsbury register office (Ref. 9b 682) during the second quarter of 1924,
when he was only 38 years old. |
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36s8
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William
K Collett |
Born in 1915, recorded in Dewsbury |
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36s9
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Ethel
M Collett |
Born in 1918, recorded in Dewsbury |
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36s5 |
George Arthur Collett was born at Doncaster towards the end
of September 1910, the firstborn child of George Collett and Gertrude Alice Swaby. His birth was recorded (Ref. 9c 870) during
the last three months of the year, and when his mother’s maiden name was confirmed
as Swaby. He was recorded in
the Doncaster census of 1911 as being just seven months when living with his
parents at 11 Hirck Street. Although
not yet proved, there is currently ongoing research into the fact that in
2016 there was an Englishman also named George Arthur Collett, who was
married to Lise Marie Haugen, a hairdresser, who was working and residing in
the small town of Sparbu in central Norway.
The only brief details about that present-day George Arthur Collett is
that he was born in 1979, has a younger sister - Camilla
Collett Eriksen, a hairdresser in Levanger, and that his father was
also George Arthur Collett, as was his grandfather, which could bring us back
to George Arthur Collett born in 1910. |
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36s6
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Leslie Collett was born at
Doncaster in 1914, where his birth was recorded (Ref. 9c 1962) during the
second quarter of the year, and when his mother’s maiden name was confirmed
as Swaby. |
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36s8
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William K Collett was born in 1915,
possibly at Liversedge, his birth recorded at Dewsbury register office (Ref.
9b 948) during the third quarter of 1915, when his mother’s maiden name was
confirmed as Furnace. He may have been
married at Liversedge, since it was at nearby Spen Valley register office
(Ref. 9b 1463) that his marriage to Sarah H Cansfield was recorded in the
last three months of 1945. |
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36s9
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Ethel M Collett was born in 1918
and, although the birth was recorded at Dewsbury (Ref. 9b 750) during the
last quarter of that year, when her mother’s maiden name was confirmed as
Furnace, it is possible she was born at Liversedge. It was during the second quarter of 1939
when Ethel Collett married Robert Todd, the wedding recorded at Leeds
register office (Ref. 9b 863). |
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