PART THIRTY-SEVEN

The Oxford City Line - 1820 to 2006

Updated July 2022

This part is a branch line taking off from Part One – 1800 to 1880 and starting with Richard Collett (Ref. 1N4) who was born at Whelford near Kempsford in 1824 and is the family line of Kevin Mark Collett (Ref. 37S4) – see below

Up until November 2007 this had been a ‘closed line’ but thanks to information generously provided by Martin Davies from Stourton in the West Midlands, this line has been opened up and brought up to the present time. It also has a particular interest for Martin, not only because his ancestors were a Collett family of Oxford, but more recently because his daughter Lynda June Davies married Kevin Mark Collett in 2006.

Two of the brothers of Richard Collett from Part One have also been included here, as they too left the Gloucestershire countryside for a new life in the Oxford area.

To avoid confusion, it should be made clear that all references to Berkshire in this family line were valid prior to 1^st April 1974. On that date the Government introduced new boundary changes which resulted in the northern part of the Berkshire, above a line from Swindon to Henley, being absorbed into the new County of Oxfordshire.

Prior to 1900 the area immediately south of St Aldates in Oxford lay within the Parish of South Hinksey, the village of South Hinksey being some miles away to the east of the present day A34 Oxford By-Pass. Within that area of Oxford, albeit within the County of Berkshire, and previously known as South Hinksey and later known as New Hinksey to distinguish it from the little village of South Hinksey, is St Matthews Church on Marlborough Road in Grandpont. The Parish of New Hinksey sits on the Abingdon Road (A4144) and, with no graveyard at St Matthews Church, the parishioners continued to be buried in the churchyard of St Lawrence’s Church in the Parish of South Hinksey, the mother parish. And it was at Grandpont, within the Parish of New Hinksey, which was the home for many of the members of this Collett line, as confirmed by their established addresses. In 1900, construction of a new church, St John the Evangelist on Vicarage Road in New Hinksey, was completed.

During development of this family line, a positive link to Part 34 – The Appleford Berkshire Line has been discovered (Ref. 37N5) which is now thought to connect to Part 28 – The Faringdon Line and Part 1 – The Main Gloucestershire Line through that same Ref. 37N5.

The October 2008 update came courtesy of Stacey Eloise Hewitt

of Begbroke near Kidlington, the great granddaughter of Beatrice Victoria May Collett (Ref. 37P45)

The March 2009 update was thanks to new information received from Dennis Collett

(Ref. 37Q12) of London and Jennifer Potter (see Ref. 37Q15) of Chelmsford

For next major revision of this family line in June 2014 we have to thank Jennie Cordner

who kindly provided a great deal of missing information for many members of the family

A fairly major update of this family line was produced in 2019, thanks to new information received from Martin Ellis and Rachel Collett

37N1

Richard Collett (Ref. 1N4) was born at Whelford in 1824 and was baptised at Kempsford, there being no church in Whelford at that time. He had a rounded age of 15 years in the Whelford census of 1841, but later left the family home in Gloucestershire and moved to Berkshire where he met and later married Sarah Speake on 12^th June 1848 at either St Lawrence’s Church in the village of South Hinksey or at St Matthews Church in South Hinksey (Grandpont). Sarah was born at South Hinksey in Berkshire on 16^th November 1828 and was the eldest daughter and second child of Thomas Speake of South Hinksey and Elizabeth Reeson of Bishopstone in Wiltshire. In the 1851 Census for South Hinksey, Richard Collett from Whelford was 27 and an agricultural labourer, his wife Sarah Collett from South Hinksey was 22, and their daughter Mary Collett was just four months old. On that day, the family of three was staying with Sarah’s family, Thomas Speake was 49, Elizabeth Speake was 52, and their daughter Mary Anne Speake was 15. Completing the household was domestic servant Mary Lafford, aged 15, from Bishopstone in Wiltshire, where Sarah’s mother had also been born.

Within the following ten years the family continued to live at South Hinksey but, by the time of the census of 1861, it had been extended to comprise daughters Mary, Elizabeth and Hannah and son Charles, all of whom had been born at South Hinksey. Tragically Richard’s wife Sarah died in April 1868 so, by 1871, Richard was a widower and his children were boarding with various families in Oxford including Richard’s brother John Collett (below) and his wife Mary Ann at their home at 5 English Row, who took daughter Hannah aged 12, with son Charles aged 14 and an errand boy staying at the home of Enoch and Harriet Surrage at nearby 8 English Row.

By the time of the census of 1881 Richard was 57 and a widower living at a cottage in Church Lane in South Hinksey. He was living alone at that time and his occupation was that of milkman. Also, that year, there were seventeen members of the Speake family living in South Hinksey, including Sarah’s widowed father Thomas, a former farm labourer aged 79. Just over four and a half years later on 1^st November 1885 Richard Collett died while he was still living at South Hinksey.

37O1

Mary Collett

Born in 1851 at South Hinksey, Oxford

37O2

Elizabeth Speake Collett

Born in 1853 at South Hinksey, Oxford

37O3

CHARLES JOHN JAMES COLLETT

Born in 1856 at South Hinksey, Oxford

37O4

Hannah Reeson Collett

Born in 1858 at South Hinksey, Oxford

37N3

John Collett (Ref. 1N6) was born at Whelford during the first six months of 1828 and was baptised at Kempsford on 3^rd August 1828. He was 13 years old in the Whelford census of 1841 and, later that decade, it would seem, that he accompanied his older brother Richard (above) in a move from Whelford to Oxford, possibly when he was around twenty years of age. Seven years later, on 8^th January 1855, John married Mary Ann Speake the sister of Sarah Speake who married his brother Richard in 1848. The married also took place in the parish church of St Matthews Church in South Hinksey, where Mary Ann had been born on 30^th March 1836. It seems very likely that in the years prior to the wedding John and his brother Richard worked together, as Richard was a milkman and John was a dairyman labourer.

Following his marriage to Mary Ann Speake, the couple’s first child was born later that same year when John and Mary Ann were still living at South Hinksey (New Hinksey). However, sometime after the birth, and before the birth of their second child, the family moved nearer to the centre of Oxford, when they settled within the St Aldates district of the city, where all of their remaining children were born. That move was confirmed in the St Aldates census in 1861. Head of the household, John Collett from Gloucestershire, was 32 and employed as a milkman’s labourer. His wife Mary A Collett from South Hinksey was 25 and their three children were recorded at Sarah Collett aged five years from South Hinksey, Joseph Collett who was three and Elizabeth Collett who was one year old, both of them born at the family had moved to St Aldates.

By the time of the census in 1871 the family was living at 5 English Row in St Aldates and comprised John aged 43 and a dairyman labourer, Mary aged 34 and a tailoress, daughters Sarah A Collett who was 15 and a domestic servant, Eliza R Collett who was 11, Martha J Collett who was nine and Annie (Amy?) Collett who was four, and sons Joseph Collett who was 13, Elijah Collett who was seven years of age and William R G Collett who was seven months old. Also living with the family were visitors Jane Swift of New Hinksey who was married and aged 20 years and niece Hannah Collett who was 12 and the daughter of John’s brother Richard Collett of South Hinksey.

Ten year later the 1881 Census revealed that the family was still living at 5 English Row, which was then made up of John Collett, aged 52 and still a dairyman’s labourer, his wife Mary Ann Collett who was 45 and still a tailoress, their daughters Sarah Ann Collett who was 25 and an unmarried domestic servant, Elizabeth Reason Collett who was 21 and a nurse, Martha Jane Collett who was 19 and a tailoress, Amy Collett who was 14 and a nurse and Edith L Collett who was four. Their sons were Elijah T Collett, aged 17 and a boot closer, W R George Collett who was 11 and Ernest A Collett who was nine years of age. Missing from the family on that occasion was the couple’s eldest son Joseph, who had left home and was married and living in London. It is interesting to note that living close by at 16 Floyd’s Row in St Aldates in April 1881 was John’s younger brother Charles with his wife and family.

Missing from the family home at 5 Thompsons Yard in the St Aldates area of Oxford in 1891 was John’s wife, when he was 62, from Whelford near Fairford, and a dairyman’s labourer residing there with his unmarried son Ernest and his married daughter Martha Jane with her young family. Ernest Collett from Oxford was 19 and a builder’s apprentice. John’s daughter, Jane Shayler was 29 and also from Oxford, and with her was her husband John Shayler, aged 29 from Culham, who was a shoemaker, and their two sons Edwin Shayler and Arthur Shayler.

On that census day, John’s absent wife was staying with the family of the couple’s eldest son Joseph Robert Collett at Talbot Grove in Notting Hill, London, where Mary A Collett was 55. Whether she was just visiting the family and seeing her first Collett grandchildren, or was suffering with failing health, is not known. However, it was at the end of the same year that Mary Ann Collett, nee Speake, died at South Hinksey on 9^th December 1891 at the age of 55. By the time of the census in 1901 John Collett was 72 when he was working as a jobbing gardener while he was still living within the Oxford parish of St Aldates. Living there with him, and looking after him as his housekeeper, was his youngest daughter Edith L Collett who was 24. It was just over seven months later that John Collett died in Oxford on 14^th October 1901.

37O5

Sarah Ann Collett

Born in 1855 at South Hinksey

37O6

Joseph Robert Collett

Born in 1858 at Oxford

37O7

Elizabeth Reeson Collett

Born in 1860 at Oxford

37O8

Martha Jane Collett

Born in 1862 at Oxford

37O9

Elijah Thomas Collett

Born in 1864 at Oxford

37O10

Amy Collett

Born in 1867 at Oxford

37O11

William Richard George Collett

Born in 1869 at Oxford

37O12

Ernest Alfred Collett

Born in 1872 at Oxford

37O13

Edith Lydia Collett

Born in 1877 at Oxford

37N4

Isaac Collett (Ref. 1N7) was born at Whelford and was baptised at Kempsford on 26^th September 1830. In the 1841 census for Whelford he was 10 years of age and, by 1851, when he was 20, he was an agricultural labourer like his father and was living with his family but in Kempsford. He later married Emma Adams who was born in 1838 at Cumnor in Berkshire, to the west of Oxford. Their family featured in the census of 1871 as living at Kings Mill in Marston Lane within the New Marston area of Oxford, where Isaac was listed as being an agricultural labourer from Kempsford. The census also confirmed that Isaac Collett was 40, that Emma Collett was 33, and that their sons were Isaac William Collett who was three and Charles H Collett who was only 11 months old. Five years later at the time of the birth of his next son Francis, Isaac’s occupation was stated as being that of a labourer.

By 1881 the family had moved and was living at 7 Cherwell Cottages in the St Clements area of Oxford. At that time Isaac was described as being aged 50 years and employed as a cowman and an agricultural labourer, with his place of birth confirmed as Whelford. His wife Emma was 43 and was listed as being a charwoman. The details for Emma and the couple’s first two children agreed with the details in previous census ten years earlier. However, since 1871 there had been two additions to the family; sons Francis who was five years old and Frederick who was two, both of them having been born at Oxford.

During the 1880s, the family left Cherwell Cottages and in 1891 was residing at 194 Marlborough Road, on the south bank of the Thames River, within the Grandpont area of south Oxford. At that time in his life, Isaac Collett from Whelford was 60 and working as a milkman, and his wife Emma Collett from Berkshire (Cumnor) was 58. The couple’s two youngest sons were the only members of the family still living with them, and they were confirmed as Francis Collett who was 15 and already working as a carter, and Frederick who was 12 and still attending school.

By the turn of the century Isaac and Emma had moved and were living in the St Aldates district of the city. On the occasion of the census in 1901 Isaac from Whelford was 70 when he was living on his own means. His wife was confirmed as being 63 and from Cumnor, and living with them were their sons Francis Collett who was 25 and Frederick Collett who was 22. Judging by the census return for 1911, Emma had passed away by then, following which Isaac had been institutionalised. The census recorded that he was a widower and a resident at an institution in Wallingford at the age of 80 and that his place of birth was Kempsford in Gloucestershire.

It was just under twelve months later that the death of Isaac Collett was recorded at Wallingford register office (Ref. 2c 435) during the first three months of 1912 when he was 81 years of age.

37O14

Isaac William Collett

Born in 1868 at Headington

37O15

Charles Henry Collett

Born in 1870 at Headington

37O16

Francis Bertie Collett

Born in 1876 at St Aldates, Oxford

37O17

Frederick Jesse Collett

Born in 1878 at St Clements, Oxford

37N5

Charles Collett (Ref. 1N8) was born at Whelford in 1832 and baptised at Kempsford on 28^th April 1833, the son of Robert and Mary Collett. It would appear that he accompanied his brothers John and Richard to live in Oxford or at least followed them there a few years after their initial move away from Gloucester. The 1861 Census certainly confirmed that Charles was living with his brother John and his family in St Aldates area of Oxford. The same census listed his future wife, unmarried Emma Collett, aged 28 and a laundress, who was living at St Aldates with her one-year-old son William, who had been born in Oxfordshire. According to later census records it would seem that William’s father was indeed Charles Collett.

And so it was, just over two years after the census date, that Charles married Emma Sandall Collett who was then already expecting the birth of their second child. Emma was the daughter of Philip Collett (Ref. 34N1) and Martha Ireson of Appleford, as detailed in Part 34 – The Appleford Berkshire Line. The question therefore is, were the two families known to each other and were they related? Emma Collett (Ref. 34O2) was born at Appleford in 1832 where she was baptised on 27^th January 1833. She married Charles Collett of Whelford at Oxford sometime between April and June 1863, following which their second child was born.

After they were married Charles and Emma continued living in St Aldates near to Charles’ brothers Richard and John (above), where the couple’s next three children were born, as confirmed by later census returns. By 1881 Charles and Emma were both aged 48 and of Whelford and Appleford respectively. They were living at 16 Floyds Row in the St Aldates district of Oxford, where Charles’ occupation was that of a builder’s labourer. Living with them at that time were their five sons William who was 21, Charles who was 17, Robert who was 15, John who was 12 and Frederick who was seven years old. Also living in the St Aldates district of the city was Charles’s older brother John with his wife and his family (see details above).

Floyds Row still exists in 2007 and is situated off the Abingdon Road (A4144) on the north side of the River Thames, or River Isis as the Thames is referred as it passes through Oxford. According to the 1891 Census the family was still living in St Aldates at that time and comprised Charles and Emma both aged 58, together with their two youngest sons John aged 22 and Frederick aged 17. Sometime before the end of the century the family left the St Aldates area of Oxford and moved to the St Thomas district and it was there that they were living at the time of the next census in 1901.

By that time Charles, who was working as a general carman, was 68 and was confirmed as having been born at Whelford. His wife Emma, listed in error as Gemma, was 68 and from Appleford, while living with the couple were their bachelor sons John aged 32 and Frederick 27. It is apparent from the census of 1911 that Charles died during the first ten years of the new century, since widow Emma Collett, aged 78, was still living in the St Thomas district of Oxford with just her unmarried son Frederick Alfred for company.

37O18

William Edward Collett

Born in 1860 at Oxford

37O19

Charles Robert Collett

Born in 1864 at Oxford

37O20

Robert Collett

Born in 1866 at Oxford

37O21

John Philip Collett

Born in 1868 at Oxford

37O22

Frederick Alfred Collett

Born in 1873 at Oxford

37O1

Mary Collett was born at South Hinksey towards the end of 1850, with her birth recorded at Abingdon-on-Thames (Ref. xi 147) during the last three months of the year. It was at St Matthews Church in South Hinksey that she was baptised on 19^th January 1851, the first-born child of Richard Collett and Sarah Speake. Whilst she was listed as living with her parents within the census returns for 1851 and again in 1861 when she was 10 years old, she must have been married by the age of thirty, as there is no apparent record of her within the census of 1881 under her maiden-name.

37O2

Elizabeth Speake Collett was born at South Hinksey in 1853 and was baptised there on 4^th September 1853, the second child of Richard and Sarah Collett. She was living with her parents at South Hinksey in 1861 and, while no record of her wedding day has far been found, by 1871 Elizabeth S Brown from South Hinksey, aged 19 and a tailoress, and her husband Daniel A Brown from Eton, aged 22 and a porter, were residing in Oxford. Daniel Alfred Brown was baptised at Eton on 31^st October 1847, the son of William and Anne Brown. After a further decade, Elizabeth Brown was 28 and born at South Hinksey and Daniel Brown was 32 and born at of Eton in Buckinghamshire, were living at 33 Church Street in the St Ebbes district of Oxford, where Daniel was employed as a barman. That day in 1881, the census recorded their children as Catherine Brown who was eight, Albert Brown who was three, Rosa Brown who was two, and Alfred Brown who was just two weeks old, all of them born at Oxford. Also listed with the family was niece Florence Levitt who was nine, and charwoman Clara Walker aged 19, both of them born at Oxford.

37O3

CHARLES JOHN JAMES COLLETT was born at South Hinksey on 27^th April 1856, the third of the four children of Richard Collett and Sarah Speake, who was baptised at South Hinksey on 13^th July 1856. It was at Abingdon that his birth was recorded (Ref. 2c 280) during the second quarter of 1856. Sadly, his mother died just before his twelfth birthday, leaving his father with the difficult task of having to remain in continued employment to support his family as well as looking after them. In order to assist him, other family members took the two younger children into their care. That resulted in Charles going to live with the Surrage family at 8 English Row just a few doors from his uncle John Collett at 5 English Row in St Aldates, where his younger sister Hannah (below) was staying. In 1871 Charles was an errand boy at the age of 14.

As Charles approached the end of his teenage years, he met and married Laura Alice Aldridge who was born in Oxford on 17^th February 1856. They were married at Dronfield in Derbyshire on 24^th January 1875, the town of Dronfield being midway between Chesterfield and Sheffield. The reason for this may have been that they “ran away” to be married, perhaps against the wishes of their parents since, neither of them had yet reached their nineteenth birthday. Only their first child was born while Charles and Laura were living at Dronfield. After which the three of them returned to Oxford sometime between the middle of 1877 and mid-1879, as it was in Oxford where all of their other children were born.

Just over six years after they were married Charles and Laura were both 24 when they were listed in the 1881 Census as living at 2 Shepherds Row in St Aldates Street within the St Aldates district of Oxford. Charles’ occupation was given as being that of a fireman at the nearby gas works on the bank of the River Thames, while his place of birth was confirmed as being South Hinksey. Living with the couple were their first two children, William Collett who was four years old and of Dronfield, and Laura E Collett who was one year old and born at Oxford. Also living with the family was Charles’ mother-in-law, 69-year-old Elizabeth Aldridge of Oxford who was listed as married and the wife of a blacksmith.

According to the next census of 1891 the family was residing at 218 Marlborough Road in the Grandpont area of South Oxford and comprised Charles aged 34 and a gas stoker from Hinksey, Laura aged 35 from Oxford, and their children, all of whom were said to have been born at Oxford, except the couple’s eldest child William, aged 13, whose place of birth was confirmed as Dronfield. Of the other children, Laura was 11, Charles was nine, Sarah was six, Edward was four, Catherine was two and Albert was only seven months old. Still living with the family was Laura’s mother, aged 78, who had been made a widow by then. During the next ten years the family was extended further by the birth of another five children, including a set of twins, and that may have been the reason why the family moved into the property next door. Their larger family was mostly still together at the time of the 1901 Census, with just three of the four oldest children having left the family home which, by then, was at 220 Marlborough Road. Laura was 44, as was Charles, whose occupation was that of a gas stoker.

Still living there with them were eight of their children, and they were their four sons, William who was 23, Edward who was 15, Albert who was 10, and George who was seven, and their four daughters, Catherine who was 12, May who was seven, Frances who was five, and Alice who was one-year-old. Also, still living with the family at that time, was Laura’s mother, eighty-eight years old Elizabeth Aldridge. The couple’s youngest son Wilfred was absent from the family home on the day of the census, but was back living with them shortly after, and was still living with them ten years later.

Over that ten-year period, more of Charles’ and Laura’s children left the family home in Oxford. So, by April 1911, the only children still living with them were Albert 20, George and May both 17, Wilfred Frederick Frank Collett aged 13, and Alice Gertrude Collett who was 11. On that occasion the children’s parents were recorded as being Charles John Collett and Laura Alice Collett who were both 54. Charles and Laura lived together in Oxford for almost another twenty-one years before they died within two weeks of each other. First Laura died on 7^th March1932 and was followed by Charles who passed away on 20^th March 1932. At that time in their lives the couple had still been living at 220 Marlborough Road, which was also their address when they received the War Office notification of the death of their son Charles in January 1915. Upon his death Charles Collett left effects worth £150 to his youngest son Wilfred, who was then working as a carter. Both Laura and Charles were buried at Osney Cemetery.

37P1

William Samuel Richard Michael Collett

Born in 1877 at Dronfield

37P2

Laura Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1879 at Oxford

37P3

Charles John Collett

Born in 1882 at Oxford

37P4

Sarah Collett

Born in 1884 at Oxford

37P5

Edward Collett

Born in 1886 at Oxford

37P6

Catherine Collett

Born in 1888 at Oxford

37P7

Albert Collett

Born in 1890 at Oxford

37P8

George Collett twin

Born in 1893 at Oxford

37P9

May Collett twin

Born in 1893 at Oxford

37P10

Frances Dorothy Collett

Born in 1896 at Oxford

37P11

Wilfred Frederick Frank Collett

Born in 1897 at Oxford

37P12

Alice Gertrude Collett

Born in 1899 at Oxford

37O4

Hannah Reeson Collett was born at South Hinksey in 1858, her birth recorded at Abingdon (Ref. 2c 242) during the final quarter of that year. It was also at South Hinksey where she was baptised there on 4^th October 1858, another daughter of Richard Collett and Sarah Speake. Following the death of her mother, when Hannah was just ten years old, she was taken into the care of her uncle John Collett and his family at 5 English Row in St Aldates. Her second name originated from the maiden-name of her grandmother Elizabeth Reeson, the name often being spelt Reason or Riesen. By 1881 Hannah, then aged 23, had left her uncle’s house at 5 English Row and was working as domestic servant and house maid at the home of retired farmer William Brain of Oxford, aged 58, and his wife Emma of Highworth in Wiltshire who was 48. The Brain family lived in a house named Arthurlee at 6 Crick Road within the St Giles district of the City of Oxford where Hannah was referred to as unmarried Anna Collett. Crick Road is still in existence in 2007.

It may be of interest to note that, over many years, there had been previous occasions when the Collett name had been linked with that of the Brain family, although all of them in Gloucestershire. The earliest recorded event took place at Little Rissington in 1717 when Mary Collett married Thomas Brain, followed in 1747 when Anthony Collett (Ref. 11K4) married Ann Brain at Quinton, and again in 1828 when Henry Collett (Ref. 33L2) married Margaret Brain at Upper Slaughter.

37O5

Sarah Ann Collett was born at South Hinksey in 1855 and her birth was recorded at Abingdon (Ref. 2c 259) during the second quarter of that year. She was baptised at South Hinksey on 26^th August 1855, the eldest child of John Collett and Mary Ann Speake. Sarah Ann appeared in consecutive census records from 1861, when she was five years of age, through to 1881, each time living with her parents at the family home within the St Aldates district of Oxford. In 1871 Sarah A Collett was 15 and was already working as a domestic servant, when she was living with her family at 5 English Row in St Aldates, and when her place of birth was said to be New Hinksey. By the time of the next census in 1881, Sarah Ann Collett was 25 and still employed as a domestic servant, while still living with her large family at 5 English Row. Once again, her place of birth was New Hinksey. It is now known that she never married and that the death of Sarah A Collett was recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 1115) during the second quarter of 1928, when she was 72.

37O6

Joseph Robert Collett was born at St Aldates in Oxford in 1858, the second child and eldest son of John Collett and Mary Ann Speake. At some stage in his early life, he left Oxford and moved south, perhaps initially to Reading where he met his bride to be. It was at St Giles Church in Reading on 29^th March 1880 that Joseph Robert Collett, aged 22 and the son of John Collett, married Lydia Middlemost. It was also in Reading that Lydia had been born during 1859. Shortly after they were married the couple moved to London where, in late January or early February 1881, their first child was born. According to the 1881 Census, Joseph from Oxford was 23 and an ironmonger’s smith, Lydia his wife was 22 and from Reading, and their daughter Beatrice was two months old and had been born in Kensington, although in the later census of 1901 her place of birth was said to be Westbourne Park. Their address in 1881 was 163 Southam Street in Kensington, which was more than likely where their baby had been born. Southam Street backs onto the former Great Western Railway line to the west of Paddington Station.

During the next ten years Lydia presented Joseph with a further five children, so by 1891 the family living at Talbot Grove in Notting Hill comprised Joseph R Collett who was 33 and a plumber, Lydia Collett was 32, and their six children Beatrice C Collett who was 10, Arthur R Collett who was eight, Mary A Collett who was six, Albert J Collett who was four, Frederick J Collett who was two, and baby Elsie L Collett who was under one year old, all of them born at Notting Hill near Westbourne Green. Completing the family group that day, was Joseph’s mother Mary A Collett who was 55 years old. She was still married to John Collett who was still living in Oxford with some members of the family. Mary’s visit to London was only a temporary stay there and in early December that year, she was back again in Oxford and it was there, at South Hinksey, that Mary died on 9^th December 1891, still 55 years of age.

Just after the turn of the century the family was living at Saunders Road in Hammersmith and the census in 1901 revealed that two further children had been added to the family, after Joseph and Lydia had left Notting Hill. Joseph R Collett was 43 and a plumber, and working with him as a plumber’s mate was his son Arthur R Collett who was 18. Also working with them was probably William R George Collett (below) who was Joseph’s younger brother who was also a plumber and a recently married man by then. The rest of the family at that time was listed as Lydia Collett of Reading who was 42, daughters Beatrice C Collett aged 20, Mary A Collett aged 16, and Elsie L Collett who was 10, and sons Albert J Collett who was 14, Frederick J Collett who was 12, Sydney G Collett who was seven, and Charles E Collett who was only four years old.

By April 1911 Joseph Collett from Oxford was 53 and a journeyman plumber, his wife Lydia Collett from Reading was 52, when they had left Hammersmith and were living Acton, Middlesex. Still living with the couple that day were their two youngest children George Collett from Sydenham who was 17, and Charles Collett from Notting Hill who was 14. The census return that year confirmed that Joseph and Lydia had been married for thirty-one years, and that during their time together Lydia had given birth to eight children, all of whom were still alive in 1911. Joseph Robert Collett was residing at 119 St Albans Avenue in Bedford Park, Middlesex, when he died 21^st April 1922, following which his death at the age of 64 was recorded at Brentford register office (Ref. 3a 213) during the second quarter of that year.

His Will was proved in London on 6^th September 1922 when administration of his personal effects worth £712 10 Shillings was granted to his widow Lydia Collett. By the time Lydia passed away just over eight years after her husband she was living at Uplands at 138 Godstone Road in Purley, Surrey. It was on 16^th July 1930 that Lydia Collett nee Middlemost died, with her Will proved in London on 10^th September 1930, when her estate of £1,496 0 Shillings 11 Pence was handled by Arthur Henry Chumbley, a collector of taxes, and Frederick James Collett, a clerk.

37P13

Beatrice Charlotte Collett

Born in 1881 at Westbourne Park

37P14

Arthur Robert Collett

Born in 1882 at Notting Hill

37P15

Mary Anne Collett

Born in 1884 at Notting Hill

37P16

Albert John Collett

Born in 1886 at Notting Hill

37P17

Frederick James Collett

Born in 1888 at Notting Hill

37P18

Elsie Lydia Collett

Born in 1890 at Notting Hill

37P19

Sydney George Collett

Born in 1893 at Sydenham

37P20

Charles Ernest Collett

Born in 1896 at Hammersmith

37O7

Elizabeth Reeson Collett was born at St Aldates in 1860. By the time she had reached the age of 21 she was working as a nurse, but was still living with her family at 5 English Row in St Aldates. Like her cousin Hannah Reeson Collett (above), Elizabeth was also given the maiden-name of her great aunt Elizabeth Reeson as a second Christian name. It would appear that she never married and in 1911 she was living in the St George district of central London, where she was recorded her as Elizabeth Reason Collett of Oxford who was 51.

37O8

Martha Jane Collett was born at Oxford St Aldates in 1862. By the time of the census in 1881 Martha Jane, who was 19, was following in her mother’s footsteps and was working as a tailoress, when she was very likely working with, and being trained by, her mother. It was towards the end of 1886 that the marriage of Martha Jane Collett and John Shayler was recorded at Oxford (Ref. 3a 1219) during the fourth quarter of that year. have been around five or six years later that Martha Jane Collett married John Shayler from Culham in Oxfordshire, and by April 1891 they had two children. Sadly, her mother had died only three months before the census that year, and the census return confirmed that she and her husband were living with her widowed father John Collett at his home at 5 Thompsons Yard in St Aldates.

Martha was recorded as Jane Shayler, aged 29 and born at Oxford, her husband John Shayler, also 29, was a shoemaker, and their two sons were Edwin Shayler who was two, and Arthur Shayler who was only four months, so had been born just before the death of his grandmother Mary Ann Collett. Two more children were added to their family which in 1911 was still living in Oxford, albeit minus their eldest son who was living and working in the Acton area of London when Edwin Thomas Shayler from Oxford was 22 and was staying at the home of Martha’s brother Elijah Collett (below). The remainder of his family in Oxford comprised John Shayler from Culham, aged 49, Martha Jane Shayler from Oxford who was 48, together with Arthur James Shayler who was 20, William Cyril Shayler who was 14, and Edith Mary Shayler who was 11. Many years later, in Oxford, Lily Rose Collett (Ref. 37P44) married James H Shaylor in 1933.

37O9

Elijah Thomas Collett was born at St Aldates in 1864 and his birth was recorded using his full name at Oxford (Ref. 3a 564) during the second quarter of 1864. He was listed in the Oxford census of 1871 with his family at 5 English Row when he was seven years of age. He was still living there ten years later when, as Elijah T Collett aged 17, he was employed in Oxford as a boot closer. It is established that sometime during the next few years Elijah travelled south to London where, at the end of the decade, he was living in the St Marylebone area where he met and married Emily Pitts, who was born there the daughter of Samuel Pitts and his wife Charlotte. It was very likely through his association with the shoe trade that Elijah initially met Emily since, not only was her father a bookmaker, but in 1881 Emily was a boot machinist and her older sister Minnie was a lace cleaner when the Pitts family was residing at 41 George Street in St Marylebone. The marriage of Elijah Thomas Collett and Emily Pitts was recorded at Marylebone (Ref. 1a 1158) during the third quarter of 1890.

The census conducted at Marylebone during the following year included the newly married couple, when Elijah T Collett was 27 and his wife was listed simply as E F Collett who was 29. Staying with the couple was Elijah’s brother W R G Collett (below) who was 22. Three others of the same surname were also living within that same registration district of Marylebone & Rectory, and they were George Collett a retired labourer of 62 from Marylebone, who was an inmate at the workhouse, and Marie Collett who was 41 who had with her baby Sarah Collett who was under one year old. Three years after they were married Emily presented Elijah with a son while they were still residents within the St Marylebone area of London.

However, in March 1901 the census return that year revealed that he and his wife and their son were visitors at the home of Emily’s mother, the widow Charlotte Pitts from Exeter in Devon. She was 64 and with her at 60 George Street in St Marylebone were three of her children. Her son Alfred was 37 and had taken over his late father’s boot-making business, Louisa aged 29 was helping her mother run the family home, and Harriet who was 27 was a boot machinist working in the family business. The three visitors were recorded as Elijah T Collett from St Aldates in Oxford who was 37 and a boot closer, his wife Emily who was 39 and their son Alfred T Collett who was seven years old, with both mother and son born in Marylebone.

After a further ten years Elijah Thomas Collett from Oxford was still working as a boot closer at the age of 47, when he and his family were living at 82 Larden Road (off the Uxbridge Road A4020, midway between East Acton and Bedford Park, West London. On the census form, the words ‘Acton Vale’ had been deleted, while the form confirmed that Elijah and Emily had been married for twenty years, during which time they had given birth to just the one child. Emily Collett was 49 and Alfred Thomas Collett was 17 and a boot closer working with his father. Staying with the family at their four-roomed dwelling was Elijah’s nephew, Edwin Thomas Shayler aged 22 and a motor fitter from Oxford, who was the son of Elijah’s married sister Martha Jane Shayler nee Collett (above).

Just of four years after that census day the death of Elijah T Collett was recorded at Hammersmith register office (Ref. 1a 406) during the final three months of 1915 when he was 51 years old. The birth of Alfred Thomas Collett was recorded at Marylebone register office (Ref. 1a 507) during the last quarter of 1893.

37P21

Alfred Thomas Collett

Born in 1893 at St Marylebone

37O10

Amy Collett was born at St Aldates in 1867. She was referred to as Annie Collett aged four years in 1871 but was restored to being Amy Collett, aged 14, in the 1881 Census at which time she was working as a nurse, like her older sister Elizabeth (above), and was still living at the family home at 5 English Row. It would appear that she never married and in 1901, at the age of 34, she was working in the St Giles district of Oxford as a waiting housemaid. Ten years later she was recorded as Amy Collett, aged 44 and from St Aldates, by which time she had moved to the Headington area of the city.

37O11

William Richard George Collett was born at St Aldates in 1869, his birth recorded at Oxford (Ref. 3a 610) as William Richard G Collett during the last quarter of that year. It seems highly likely that he was born at 5 English Row in St Aldates, since it was at that address that William R G Collett was living with his family in 1871 when he was seven months old. They were still there ten years later when once again he was recorded as W R George Collett who was 11 years of age in the census of 1881. Upon leaving school it would appear that William joined his older brother Elijah in London, with whom he was staying in the Marylebone & Rectory registration district in 1891 when he was recorded as W R G Collett from Oxford who was 22.

It was six years later that William Richard George Collett married Emily Susan Notley at St James Church in Norlands, Kensington on 18^th April 1897. Emily, aged 32, was from Leominster in Herefordshire and was the daughter of Henry Notley, while William, aged 27, was confirmed at the son of John Collett. In 1871 Emily Notley was six years old when she was living in Leominster with her brother William who was eight at the home of her parents Henry Notley, aged 53, and Eliza Notley who was 48. Ten years after that Emily was 17 and was a general servant working for the widow Elizabeth Turner and her son William at 13 Church Street in Leominster. Over the decade following her marriage to William, Emily presented him with three children, the first two born at Hammersmith in London, and the third after the family had settled in Chiswick.

However, on the occasion of the census in 1901 the childless couple was residing within the Hammersmith area of West London when William was named simply as George Collett from Oxford who was 31 and working as a plumber. He may have been working with his older brother Joseph (above) who was also a plumber who was living in Hammersmith with his family. Living with George at Hammersmith was his wife Emily Collett from Leominster who was 36. Shortly after the birth of the couple’s second child the family of four moved the short distance to nearby Chiswick where the enlarged family was living in 1901 at 28 Grantham Road in April 1911. The census that year continued to name William simply as George Collett from St Aldates Oxford, by which time he was 41 and had been married to Emily, aged 46, for thirteen years. His occupation was stated as being that of a house plumber working in the building industry. The census return also confirmed that Emily had given birth to three children, and they were Mary Collett who was eight, Annie Collett who was five and John Collett who was three years old.

William Richard George Collett of 28 Grantham Road in Chiswick died at Charing Cross Hospital on 29^th October 1913, although it was over three years later that his Will was proved in London on 10^th March 1917. Administration of his personal effects valued at £181 1 Shilling 6 Pence was granted to his widow Emily Susan Collett.

37P22

Mary Collett

Born in 1902 at Hammersmith

37P23

Annie Collett

Born in 1905 at Hammersmith

37P24

John Collett

Born in 1907 at Chiswick

37O12

Ernest Alfred Collett was born at Oxford St Aldates in 1872 and possible at 5 English Row, where his family had been living in 1871 and where they were still living by 1881, when Ernest A Collett was nine years old. Nearly ten years later his mother Mary Ann Collett nee Speake passed away, by which time Ernest was the only one of her children still living with his parents. Following her death Ernest’s older married sister remained to the father home to look after her widowed father and Ernest. That situation was confirmed by the census in 1891, four months after the death of his mother, when Ernest Collett, aged 19, was at boat builder’s apprentice living with his father at 5 Thompsons Yard in St Aldates, Oxford. Also there, was Jane Shayler (above), Ernest’s sister, with her husband and their two children.

After a further ten years, Ernest, at the age of 27 (sic) was employed as a boat builder when he was still living in the St Aldates area of Oxford, near to the River Thames, or Isis as the river is known through Oxford. He never married and in 1911 he had his youngest sister Edith living with him in Oxford. The census that year listed Ernest Alfred Collett as 39, while his sister Edith Lydia Collett was 34, and both were confirmed as being born in the St Aldates area of Oxford. Ernest was living at 38 Marlborough Road in Oxford in the summer of 1951, but it was while he was at 205A Cowley Road in the city that he died on 14^th August 1951. His Will for £2,752 19 Shillings 10 Pence was proved at Oxford in 10^th January 1952, when the executors of his estate were named as Egerton Allen Ferguson and John Norman Douglas Rice solicitors.

37O13

Edith Lydia Collett was born at St Aldates in 1877 as confirmed by the 1881 Census in which she was listed as being four years old while living with her parents at 5 English Row in St Aldates. It was also very likely that it was at 5 English Row where she was born. Following the death of her mother when she was twelve years of age, she remained living with her elderly father John Collett until his death in the late summer of 1901. However, she was not actually living with her widowed father at the time of the Oxford census in 1891, but was not far away when she had already started work at the age of 14.

According to the March census in 1901 Edith Collett was 24 and was the only child of John Collett still living with him in the St Aldates where she was described as the housekeeper for her father of 72 years. Sadly, for Edith, her father died seven months later, following which, it would appear, she never married. In April 1911, as unmarried Edith Lydia Collett, aged 34, she was living in the St Aldates area of Oxford with her brother Ernest Alfred Collett (above).

The two unmarried siblings would appear to have lived together for the rest of the lives, or at least up until 1947. At the start of that year, they were living at 83 Marlborough Road in the Grandpont district of South Oxford and it was while Edith Lydia was attending the Radcliffe Infirmary that she died on 16^th February 1947. It took until the end of that year to resolve the administration surrounding her personal effects of £235 5 Shillings 5 Pence and her Will, which was proved in Oxford on 14^th December 1947. The administrator was named as Ernest Alfred Collett of no occupation.

37O14

Isaac William Collett was born at Headington in Oxford in 1868 as confirmed by the Census in 1871 when he was listed as being aged 3 and living with his family at New Marston in Oxford. During the next ten years the family had moved into the City of Oxford and were living at 7 Cherwell Cottages in St Clements by April 1881 and where Isaac was then 13 years of age. More work needs to be done to determine what happened to Isaac as he does not appear to be listed in any of the census returns for 1891, 1901 or 1911.

37O15

Charles Henry Collett was born at Headington in May 1870 as confirmed by the Census in 1871 when he was listed as being aged 11 months and living with his family at New Marston in Oxford. By 1881 he was aged 11 and living at the family’s new address of 7 Cherwell Cottages in St Clements. At the age of 30 Charles, who was confirmed as having been born at Oxford, was a corporal serving with the cavalry in Essex. During the next few years Charles married Alice Elizabeth and by April 1911 the childless couple was living at Epsom in Surrey where Charles Henry Collett from Oxford was 40 and his wife Alice Elizabeth was 42.

37O16

Francis Bertie Collett was born on 4^th February 1876 at Cold Arbour in the St Aldates district of Oxford on the south side of the River Thames. At the time of the 1881 Census, he was listed as Francis B Collett aged five years when he was living at 7 Cherwell Cottages with his family. Ten years later at the age of 15, he was working as a carter, when he and family were living in the Grandpont area of St Aldates at 194 Marlborough Road, the home of his parents Isaac and Emma Collett.

On 25^th February 1900 Francis was married by banns to (1) Mary Ann Hawkins at the Parish Church of South Banbury. Francis Bertie was a bachelor aged 24 of 11 Bridge Street, Osney Village in Oxford, and was a railway checker with the Great Western Railway, the son of dairyman Isaac Collett. His bride Mary Ann was seven years older at 31 and was of the Causeway in Grimsbury, just south of Banbury, the daughter of tailor Henry Hawkins of Brackley in Northamptonshire and Catherine of Whatcote in Warwickshire. The witnesses at the ceremony were Henry Hawkins and Elizabeth Hawkins (Mary Ann’s sister), and Frederick Collett the younger brother of Francis Bertie.

Just over a year later by the time of the census of 1901 the couple were living at 11 Bridge Street in Osney in the St Thomas district of the city. Mary was 32 and Francis, who was 25, was still employed as a railway goods checker. Francis’ place of birth was confirmed as being Cold Arbour, in Oxford. Mary Ann had been born at Grimsbury in 1869 and in 1881 Mary Ann Hawkins was 12 when she was living with her family at 85 Causeway in Warkworth near Grimsbury. At the time of the 1901 Census the marriage of Francis and Mary Ann had not produced any children for the couple, but they were to be blessed with two children over the next three years and both of them were born at Oxford.

By the time of the census of 1911 Francis Bertie was 35 and was still living in Oxford with his wife Mary Ann who was 42. Their son Reginald Francis was nine, while their daughter Doris Katherine was seven years old. The family was living at 98 Bridge Street in Osney Village where the two children had been born, this being just a short walk from Oxford Railway Station, where Francis was a porter with the Great Western Railway. It would appear that not long after the census day in 1911 the family of four left Oxford and moved south to Reading. Since Reading is on the same main line railway as Oxford, it seems most likely that the move was prompted by Francis working for the GWR.

Tragically, it was at Reading that Mary Ann died early in 1912, following which, later that same year, Francis married (2) Ethel Hermann. The wedding of Francis B Collett and Ethel Hermann was recorded at Reading register office (Ref. 2c 871) during the third quarter of 1912. Ethel had been born at Friskney in Lincolnshire on 7^th September 1887, the daughter of James and Emma Hermann, so was ten years younger than Francis. After a couple of years living at Coventry in Warwickshire, where their first two children were born, the family couple returned to Oxford where the next six children were born and raised. The only query within those six children credited to Francis Bertie Collett is his son and namesake Francis L Collett, whose mother’s maiden-name was recorded as Datlin on his Oxford birth record.

Many years later, it would appear that Francis moved again to Reading where he died on 2^nd September 1948 at the age of 72, while he was living at 280 Oxford Road in the town. The year that happened also coincided with the death of his daughter Margaret. At some time following his passing, his widow returned to Oxford to live. Ethel survived her husband by twenty-three years and died at the Cowley Road Hospital in Oxford in 1971. On the occasion of the two marriages of his daughter Doris, in 1921 and again in 1939, Francis was described on the marriage certificates as being initially a motor driver, and later a van driver for a motor car manufacturer.

37P25

Reginald Francis Collett

Born in 1901 at Oxford

37P26

Doris Catherine Collett

Born in 1904 at Oxford

The following are the children of Francis Bertie Collett by his second wife Ethel Emma Hermann:

37P27

Irene V Collett

Born in 1914 at Coventry

37P28

William Frederick Collett

Born in 1917 at Coventry

37P29

Gwendoline Brenda Collett

Born in 1920 at Oxford

37P30

Rene Collett

Born in 1923 at Oxford

37P31

Margaret Collett

Born in 1925 at Oxford

37P32

Jack M Collett

Born in 1927 at Oxford

37P33

Francis L Collett

Born in 1929 at Oxford

37P34

Dennis Desmond Collett

Born in 1932 at Oxford

37O17

Frederick Jesse Collett was born within the St Clements district of Oxford in 1878, the last child of Isaac Collett and Emma Adams. His birth was registered at Oxford (Ref. 3a 703) during the second quarter of the year. Just less than three years later, Frederick was two years old, when he was living at 7 Cherwell Cottages in St Clements with his family. In 1891 the family home was at 194 Marlborough Road in the Grandpont area of Oxford, where 12-year-old Frederick was still at school. Sometime later his family moved from St Clements to the St Thomas district of the city where, in 1901, he was still living at the family home. He was listed as Frederick J Collett aged 22 and his place of birth was stated as being Cold Arbour. At that time, he was employed as a servant in one of the university colleges. It was during the second quarter of 1904, that the marriage of Frederick Jesse Collett and Edith May White was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 1839). By 1911 the couple childless couple was living within the Cowley Road area of Oxford when Frederick Collett from Oxford was 32 and employed as a kitchen porter at Merton College in the city, and his wife Edith Collett from Roels Road in London was 33, whose birth had been registered at Alverstoke in Hampshire (Ref. 2b 527) during the fourth quarter of 1877.

That census day in 1911, the head of the household was Edith’s father Edward White, aged 62, who was a retired valet from Chelsea in London. His wife Emma White from Alverstoke was 62, and also living with them was their granddaughter Daisy Rooks who was seven years old and born at Neasden in Middlesex. The death of Daisy Rooks was recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 983) during the second quarter of 1920, when she was 16. In 1915 during the Great War, and at the age of 37, Frederick Jesse Collett from Oxford served with the Royal Army Medical Corps with the Battalion of 4^th General Hospital, service number 446101, and with the 3^rd Southern General Hospital. At the end of his life Frederick J Collett was still living in the county, where his death was recorded (Ref. 6b 1253) in 1951 at the age of 72.

It is fascinating that a party celebration of the Goodall family of Wolvercote brought together two branches of the Collett of Oxfordshire. The owner of the photograph, the Marian Cambanakis, relates that the picture includes her great great grandmother Clara Ann Goodall, nee Collett (Ref. 38O26), with her husband Alfred Eugene Goodall, next is Frederick Jesse Collett (Ref. 37O17) with his wife Edith May Collett, nee White. On the other side of Clara and Alfred are Edith May Collett’s sister Alice Goodall, nee White, and her husband Frederick Goodall, who are Marian’s grandparents.

37O18

William Edward Collett was born at Oxford in 1860 and was one year old when he was living with his unmarried mother Emma Collett in the St Aldates area of Oxford. She later married Charles Collett who was more than likely his father. One of William’s first jobs was as an engine cleaner with the Great Western Railway probably at the large main line station in Oxford. When he was 21 in 1881, he was still living at the family home at 16 Floyds Row in St Aldates. It was three and a half year later when William Edward Collett married Emma Budd at the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Paddington, London, on 2^nd September 1884. They were both 25 years old and William’s occupation was that of a fireman. The record of the marriage also gave the groom’s father as Charles Collett, a labourer.

During the next fourteen years Emma presented William with two sons and four daughters, and all of them born at Paddington, where the young family was living in 1891. However, by then the family had already suffered the death of their first-born child, who died shortly after his birth in 1886. The census in 1891 recorded the family as William E Collett from Oxford who was 31 and a railway fireman, Emma Collett who was also 31, but born at Great Somerford near Hullavington in Wiltshire, their son William F Collett who was four years old and their daughter Ethel G Collett who was eight months old. Staying with the family at that time was Emma’s brother Jacob Bubb (sic) who was 22.

Three more children were added to the family over the following seven years, but tragically the birth of their last child also coincided with the death of William Edward Collett at Paddington in 1898, who died as a result of an accident while at work on the railway. At that sad time, and with five children to look after, Emma appears not to have been able to cope with so many children, resulting in two of the girls, Gertrude and Rose, being placed in the care of the Railway Orphanage in Derby. The death of her husband at the age of 38 was recorded at Paddington (Ref. 1a 44) during the third quarter of 1898.

After just over two years as a widow Emma married William Nipe, the event recorded at Islington in London (Ref. 1b 651) during the last three months of 1900 when the witnesses were Annie Mary Hale and Frederick Pinner. No record of Emma and William, or her two youngest daughters, has so far been located a few months later in the census of 1901 although after a further ten years Emma Nipe from Summerford (aka Somerford) was 49 when she was living at 2 Mill Road in Merton, south-west London, with her husband William Nipe who was 35. The census return confirmed they had been married for ten years and that living with them, having returned from the orphanage, was Emma’s daughter Rose, together with her two youngest daughters.

The three daughters were listed as Rosie Collett who was 17 and a general domestic servant, Beatrice Collett who was 15 and Daisy Collett who was 12, all three of them born at Paddington and referred to as the stepdaughters of William Nipe. One other person was staying with the family and that was John Alexander Samuels who was 56.

37P35

Ernest William Collett

Born in 1886 at Paddington, London

37P36

William Frank Collett

Born in 1887 at Paddington, London

37P37

Ethel Gladys Collett

Born in 1890 at Paddington, London

37P38

Rose Emma Collett

Born in 1893 at Paddington, London

37P39

Beatrice Polly Collett

Born in 1896 at Paddington, London

37P40

Daisy Collett

Born in 1898 at Paddington, London

37O19

Charles Robert Collett was born at Oxford on 25^th March 1864 and was the second son of Charles Collett from Whelford [in Part 1] and Emma Sandall Collett from Appleford [in Part 34]. The birth of Charles Robert Collett was registered of Oxford (Ref. 3a 570) during the second quarter of 1864. According to the Oxford census in 1881, Charles R Collett from Oxford was 17 and a porter at a local china shop in Oxford while living at 16 Floyds Row with his family. Three years later Charles R Collett married Emma, with their first child born in Ontario around 1884. That was confirmed in the Canadian census of 1901, when Charles R Collett from England was 37 and head of the household at York County in Ontario. His wife Emma J Collett from England was 42, and their two sons were Charles F W Collett who was 17, and Francis W Collett who was 15, both born in Ontario.

Two years later, Charles R Collett aged 39 and from Oxfordshire in England, was a labourer travelling in steerage class onboard the ship Pomeranian leaving England for Toronto on 16^th May 1903. It was at 330 Broadview in Toronto, York County, where Charles Robert Collett was living in 1911 when he was described as follows. Aged 47 and born during March 1864 in England, who first came to Canada in 1883, whose occupation was a house plasterer. With him was his older wife Emma Jane Collett who was 52 and also born in England, together with their 27-year-old son Charles William Collett who was an action-maker at a piano factory. Charles Robert Collett was 96 when he died at The Beaches in Toronto on 3^rd August 1960 and was buried at St John’s Norway Cemetery and Crematorium.

37P41

Charles F William Collett

Born in 1884 at Ontario, Canada

37P42

Francis W Collett

Born in 1886 at Ontario, Canada

37O20

Robert Collett was born at Oxford during the months of April to June in 1866. On leaving school he was employed as a machine boy with a local printing company. Being a centre of learning, Oxford had many bookshops including the famous Blackwells, as well as many companies that printed books including the Oxford University Press and the Clarendon Press. Upon reaching twenty years of age Robert married (1) Mary Eliza Weller at Headington around May 1886. Nine months later their first child was born while the couple were living at 9 Cross Street, Cowley St John in Oxford. The child’s birth register confirmed the parents as milk carrier Robert Collett and Mary Eliza Collett formerly Weller. The birth was registered by Mary on 2^nd March 1887.

Almost exactly one year before the next census day, Mary presented her husband with their second child Lily Rose Collett who was born at 1 Swan Street, Osney Village in Oxford. The birth was registered at Oxford on 1^st May 1890 by the child’s mother and the entry confirmed the father was Robert Collett, a stableman, and the husband of Mary Eliza Collett formerly Weller. According to the Oxford census of 1891, Robert Collett was 25 and a milk seller, the same age as his wife Mary E Collett. Listed with the couple at 1 Swan Street in Osney Village were their two daughters Maud M Collett who was four and Lily R Collett who was one year of age, all four occupants of the property were simply confirmed as having been born in Oxfordshire.

Five years later Mary was once again with child and gave birth to a son in the autumn of 1896. Tragically, neither mother, nor her son, survived and the deaths of both of them were recorded separately but during the last three months of 1896. Which of them was the first to lose their life, is currently not known. However, and for whatever reason, the death of baby Robert Collett was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 507, while it was at Headington register office that the death of Mary Eliza Collett was recorded (Ref. 3a 491).

Four years after suffering that double tragedy, Robert Collett married (2) Ada Mary Green at Oxford during November 1900, who presented him with another daughter nine months later. Their wedding was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 1690). Ada Mary Green was born at Oxford in 1868 and was the daughter of cab-driver Samuel Green of Hill End in Berkshire and his wife Emma of Baydon in Wiltshire. In 1881 Ada was aged 12 years and was the only child living with her parents at 45 Blackfriars Road in Oxford St Ebbes. However, when she was just 19 years old, she gave birth to a base-born child, Lillian Lucy Green. The child was born on 28^th February 1888 at 54 Friars Street in St Ebbes and the birth was registered at Oxford by her mother Ada Mary Green on 5^th April that year. The name of the father was not included.

The later census of 1891 revealed that Ada was still living with her parents and that she had with her, her daughter Lillian Green who was three years old. It was following the wedding of Ada and Robert Collett, nine years later, when both Ada and her daughter Lillian took on the Collett surname. That was confirmed within the census of 1901 which revealed that Robert then aged 34 was married to Ada M Collett aged 32 and that they were living at 9 Wood Street in the St Ebbes district of the city. Living with them was Robert’s daughter Lily R Collett aged 10 from his first marriage, and Ada’s daughter Lillian L Collett who was 13. All four family members were credited with having been born in the City of Oxford. In 1901, Robert’s eldest daughter Maud M Collett had completed her schooling and, at the age of 14, she was working as a lady’s companion at West Street in Osney Village.

By that time Robert was employed as a groom and cab-driver, just like Ada’s father. Ada was with child at the time of the census and four months later she gave birth to the couple’s only known child. The birth of daughter Beatrice was registered by Ada on 18^th September 1901 and confirmed the child’s parents were cab-driver Robert Collett and Ada Mary Collett, formerly Green, and that their address was 9 Wood Street, Oxford St Ebbes. However, at the start of the next decade, the 1911 census confirmed that Robert Collett of Oxford was 45 and the publican and pub landlord at the Norfolk Arms on Bridge Street, at the entrance to Osney Village. His wife Ada Collett, also of Oxford, was 42, and the only child still living with them was their nine-year-old daughter Beatrice Collett.

Nearly eleven years after that census day, and on the occasion of the marriage of his daughter Beatrice, Robert Collett continued to work as a public house landlord within the St Ebbes area of the city, which included Osney Village. Beatrice’s husband was a cellarman, so it is perhaps likely that the couple met as a result of her father’s occupation. The public house in question, where Robert was the publican in 1911, was the Norfolk Arms on the corner of Bridge Street and Norfolk Street. There is still a public house on the site, but with a different name. According to descendants of this family, Ada’s daughter Lillian, who was born on 28^th February 1888, later stopped using the Collett surname and reverted instead to her previous name of Lillian Lucy Green.

37P43

Maud Mary Collett

Born in 1887 at Oxford

37P44

Lily Rose Collett

Born in 1890 at Oxford

37P45

Robert Collett

Born in 1896 at Oxford; died in 1896

The following are the children of Ada Mary Green:

37P46

Lillian Lucy Collett (adopted stepdaughter)

Born in 1888 at Oxford

37P47

Beatrice Victoria May Collett

Born in 1901 at Oxford

37O21

John Philip Collett was born at Oxford in 1868 as confirmed by the 1881 Census in which he was 12 years old and was living with his family at 16 Floyds Row in St Aldates, where it is likely he was born. By the time he was twenty-two John was still a bachelor and was still living with his parents in St Aldates. A few years after that, and sometime during the 1890s, he married Mary Ada who was born at Grimsbury near Banbury in 1869 and once married the couple initially settled in St Aldates. Shortly afterwards the couple left the city centre and moved to the St Thomas area of Oxford where they were living in 1901. At that time John was 32 and was employed as a letter carman, today’s equivalent of a special delivery postman.

John’s wife Mary A Collett was 31 and living with the couple was their niece Maud who was working for them as a domestic housemaid at fourteen years of age, Maud M Collett being the daughter of John’s older brother Robert (above). It is not known whether John and Mary ever had any children of their own, but it seems unlikely since by April 1911 it was still just the couple that were living together in the Headington area of Oxford. John Philip Collett was 42 and his wife Ada was 39.

37O22

Frederick Alfred Collett was born at Oxford in 1873 as confirmed by the 1881 Census in which he was recorded as being seven years of age, who was living with his family at 16 Floyds Row in St Aldates where it is likely he was also born. At seventeen years of age Frederick was living with his parents and his brother John (above) at his parents’ home in St Aldates. Over the next few years, the family moved out of the city centre to the St Thomas area of Oxford. In the census of 1901 Frederick was still a bachelor at the age of 27 when he was employed as a porter in a shop in Oxford, while still living with his parents in the St Thomas district of the city. Within the few years after 1901 Frederick’s father Charles died and by April 1911 Frederick was the only member of the family still living in the St Thomas area of Oxford with his elderly mother Emma.

Frederick later married Ellen and the couple continued to live in Oxford, although it is unclear as to whether Ellen gave birth to any children. At the time of the Second World War the couple was living at 30 Oatlands Road in Oxford and it was there on 5^th February 1942 that Ellen Collett passed away. Administration of her personal effects, valued at £291 15 Shillings 8 Pence, was granted to her husband Frederick Alfred Collett at Oxford on 18^th March that same year. At that time in his life Frederick was described as a retired booksellers porter, which may be an indication that he was employed at Blackwell’s Bookshop in Broad Street, Oxford, for most of his working life.

37P1

William Samuel Richard Michael Collett was born at Dronfield in Derbyshire on 15^th May 1877, the eldest child of Charles John James Collett and Laura Alice Aldridge. Only the first year or two of his life were spent at Dronfield as his parents returned to their native Oxford before the birth of their second child and William’s sister Laura (below). The 1881 Census confirmed that William, aged four years and born at Dronfield, and his sister Laura, were living with their parents at 2 Shepherds Row in the St Aldates district of Oxford. During the next few years, the family settled in 218 Marlborough Road in the Grandpont area of South Oxford where, in 1891, William Collett was 13.

After a further ten years, according to the 1901 Census, William was 23 when he was still living at the home of his parents which, by then, was at 220 Marlborough Road, from where he was employed as a kitchen porter. At the age of twenty-eight, William Collett was married by banns to Annie Keen, the daughter of cloth cutter John and Lucy Keen of South Hinksey, where Annie had been born in 1876, her birth recorded in nearby Abingdon-on-Thames during the last quarter of that year (Ref. 2c 279). The marriage took place at the Church of St John the Evangelist in New Hinksey on 18^th November 1905, although it was at the Abingdon register office where it was recorded (Ref. 2c 683). That was because New Hinksey was south of the River Thames which, up until 1974, formed the county boundary between Oxfordshire and Berkshire.

The couple’s marriage certificate confirmed that both the bride and the groom were 28 years of age, William living at 220 Marlborough Road (the home of his parents), a labourer and the son of stoker Charles John Collett. The two witnesses were the said Charles Collett and Sarah Collett, William’s younger sister. It is now confirmed that the couple’s first child did not survive infancy, with their second child apparently born at Fyfield near Tubney, just west of Abingdon where the births of both daughters were recorded. That second child, Hilda May Collett, should not be confused with another Hilda May Collett, whose birth was recorded at nearby Headington during the first quarter of the same year, but to parents Philip Collett (Ref. 38P26) and his wife Annie Woodward. Further details of that family can be found in Part 38 – The Oxford Stonemasons of Wolvercote.

Whether their first two children were born at Fyfield has not been validated by any baptism record but, by the time of the next census in 1911, William and Annie, plus surviving daughter Hilda, were residing at a 3-roomed dwelling off the Abingdon Road in South Hinksey, also known as New Hinksey or Grandpont, and just south of St Aldates in the City of Oxford. On that day William Collett from Dronfield was 34 and a gas stoker, most likely working at the nearby gas works in Grandpont and his wife Annie Collett was 35 and had been born in that same area south of Oxford. Their daughter Hilda May Collett was said to be one year old and born at South Hinksey, like her mother. The census return that year confirmed that William and Annie had been married for five years, during which time Annie had given birth to two children, one of which was no longer alive. Also, on that census day, Annie was expecting the birth of the couple’s next child, who was born just over two months later.

Three of the couple’s last four children were born at 38 Lake Street, before the larger family moved to 37 Marlborough Road in Grandpont, where their last child was born, with all four births recorded in Oxford. Both Lake Street and Marlborough Road are still there today. Tragically, when their youngest child was around two years of age, Annie Collett nee Keen, suffered a premature end to her life, when the death of Annie Collett of 37 Marlborough Road was recorded at Oxford register (Ref. 3a 992) during the second quarter of 1920.

After just over a year, as a single parent with five young children, widower William Samuel Richard Michael Collett married widow Ellen Annie Needham at St Matthews Church in Grandpont on 20^th August 1921. Both of them were 44 years old, when William was still living at 37 Marlborough Road, from where he was employed at a gas labourer, the same as his father Charles John Collett. Prior to that day, Ellen had been living at 20 Marlborough Road. She had been born on 25^th July 1877 and her father was named as William Ludlow, a painter, while the two witnesses were Charles and Sarah Wiggins, Sarah being William’s married sister and a witness at his first marriage to Annie Keen.

Ellen Needham, the former Ellen Annie Ludlow, was known as Nellie and, in the 1939 Register, she and William were residing at John Piers Lane in South Hinksey. On that day William was still a gas works labourer and Ellen was described as performing unpaid domestic duties. The couple enjoyed nearly thirty years together at Grandpont. South Hinksey, Cold Harbour when, at the age of 73, the death of William S R M Collett was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 1246). He died on 3^rd January 1951 when he was still residing at 14 Pitt Road in Grandpont, Cold Harbour (renamed Chatham Road since then), where he and Nellie had been living in 1932, together with William’s eldest daughter Hilda, who gave that address on the day of her wedding that year. Although not proved, it is possible that Nellie had died nine years prior to the death of her husband since, recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 1879) during the first three months of 1942 and at the age of 63, was the death of Ellen Collett.

The birth of Ellen Annie Ludlow was recorded at Oxford (Ref. 3a 666) during the third quarter of 1877, the daughter of William and Ellen Ludlow of Bridport Street in the St Ebbes district of Oxford. Just prior to being married, Ellen was working at the Sarah Acland Home for Nurses, situated at the southern end of Banbury Road in Oxford, where she was employed as a domestic housemaid at the age of 33. It was during the following year, that she married William A Needham, the event recorded at Oxford (Ref. 3a 2082) during the last three months of 1913.

37Q1

Gladys Annie D Collett

Born in 1907 at Fyfield, nr Tubney

37Q2

Hilda May Collett

Born in 1909 at Fyfield, nr Tubney

37Q3

Florence Annie Frances Collett

Born in 1911 at New Hinksey

37Q4

William Frank Collett

Born in 1913 at New Hinksey

37Q5

Charles Edward Collett

Born in 1915 at New Hinksey

37Q6

Wilfred Collett

Born in 1918 at Oxford

37P2

Laura Elizabeth Collett was born at Oxford on 14^th September 1879, the second child and eldest daughter of Charles and Laura Collett, her birth registered at Oxford (Ref. 3a 701). It is possible she was born at 2 Shepherds Row in St Aldates, where she was living with her family on the day of the census in April 1881. Ten years later, 11-year-old Laura and her family were recorded at 218 Marlborough Road in Grandpont, nine years after which the marriage of Laura Elizabeth Collett and Francis Edward King, known as Frank, was recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 1625) during the last three months of 1900. According to the 1901 Census, the couple was living at Temple Road in Cowley area of Oxford where Frank, who was born at Cowley, was 24 and was working as a college servant. Laura was 21 and was employed as a washer laundress. With them was their son Frank King who was one. A further four children were added to the family at Cowley over the next ten years, so by April 1911 the King family still living at Temple Road in Cowley comprised Francis Edward 34, his wife Laura Elizabeth 33, and their children Frank King who was 10, Stanley King who was eight, Leslie King who was six, Fred King who was three, and Thomas King who was just one month old.

37P3

Charles John Collett was born at 2 Shepherds Row in St Aldates on 1^st June 1882, the son of Charles and Laura Collett, but by 1891 he and his family were listed in the census that year at 218 Marlborough Road in Grandpont. On leaving school he worked as a blacksmith for a short while and in January 1900 he enlisted with the army, having previously been a volunteer with the Second Voluntary Battalion of the Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry. His attestation papers with the regular army describe him as being 18 years and 7 months, 5'-6" tall, weighing 8 stone, with a chest circumference of 33”-35", having brown hair, grey eyes, a fresh complexion and a respectable appearance.

Apparently, the commanding officer of 7th Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars, a cavalry regiment, would not take him as a recruit on account that his weight at 8 stone ‘was not acceptable’. So instead, he joined the Rifle Brigade and nine months later he was transferred to the Royal Engineers. During the first three months of 1901 he was sent to South Africa to participate in the Second Boer War, for which he was awarded the South Africa (Queen's) Medal with clasps for service in Cape Colony and the Orange Free State.

Because of that, there is no record of Charles within the census of 1901 while, ten years after that, the census conducted in early April 1911 confirmed Charles John Collett, aged 29, was with the military overseas. A lot happened to Charles during that decade when in 1907 he was stationed in Sierra Leone and by 1911 he was serving in Malta and had passed tests to become a superior blacksmith. In October 1913 his army records describe him as ‘Latterly sober, a clean smart intelligent and industrious man who has shown a marked improvement in the last year’. He was still in Malta in 1913 and in September 1914 he was described by the Assessing Officer as 'Sober, honest, industrious, clean & hard working, a good man'. These comments perhaps indicate that he was a reformed character, presumably having been involved in some unsavoury behaviour at an earlier time.

At the outbreak of war, he became Sapper Charles Collett service number 6798 with the 11^th Field Company of the Royal Engineers. He saw active service during the early months of the Great War but tragically he was 32 when he was killed in Flanders on 11^th January 1915 as a result of a bomb explosion while he was in the explosives shed. The cause of death was recorded as unknown. Six others were killed in the same accident and 14 were wounded. Curiously when the War Office at Chatham wrote to his parents on 23^rd January 1915 with the notification of his death, the date was specified as 13^th January at a locality not known. Charles’ name appears on Le Touret Memorial at Richebourg L’ Avoue south-west of Lille in France which was established to commemorate the 13,000 service men who lost their lives prior to 25^th September 1915 and who had no known grave of their own.

The name of Charles John Collett is one of 66 inscribed on the war memorial at St Matthew’s Church on Marlborough Road in Grandpont, South of Oxford. Four of Charles's brothers, William, Arthur, George and Wilfred, also went to fight and all five of them were pictured, together with their father, in an article published on 10^th May 1916 in the Oxford Journal Illustrated. It is thanks to author Liz Woolley, a resident of Marlborough Road in 2015, we now know a lot more about Charles John Collett and his family.

37P4

Sarah Collett was born on 2^nd October 1884 at either 2 Shepherds Row in St Aldates or at 218 Marlborough Road in Grandpont, the daughter of Charles and Laura Collett. In 1891, six-year-old Sarah was living with her family at the latter of those two addresses. By March 1901 she had left the family home which, by then was at 220 Marlborough Road, and four years after that, she was one of the witnesses at the marriage of her eldest brother William Collett (above). Just over four years later, Sarah Collett married Charles Wiggins, their wedding recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 1859) during the last three months of 1905. Once married, the couple lived next door to Sarah's parents at 222 Marlborough Road. Their first child Albert Charles Wiggins was born in 1907 and died in 1990, while their daughter Dorothy Alice M Wiggins was born at Oxford (Ref. 3a 2164) during the third quarter of 1911 and she died in 1981.

A few months prior to the birth of her daughter, Sarah Wiggins, aged 27, and her husband Charles Wiggins, aged 32, were living in Oxford with their three-year old son Albert Wiggins, as confirmed in the April census of 1911. Five years later Sarah gave birth to a third child, Edward Henry Wiggins, who died in 1971. In 1921, Charles and Sarah Wiggins were the witnesses at the second wedding of Sarah’s older brother William Collett at St Matthews Church in Grandpont, following the premature death of his first wife. This very likely confirms that the siblings had a fairly close family relationship, with both of them still living at Marlborough Road.

37P5

Edward Collett was born at Oxford on 6^th June 1886, the son of Charles and Laura Collett. In the census of 1891, he was listed as Edward aged four years living at 218 Marlborough Road in Grandpont, where he may have been born after his parents moved there from St Aldates. Another family move subsequently took place and on the day of the census in 1901 he was incorrectly listed as Edmund Collett living with his family at 220 Marlborough Road. By that time, he had left school and, at the age of 15 years, was employed as a billiard maker, which may made been another error if he was a billiard marker. No record of Edward has been found in the census of 1911 since it is now known that prior to that he had emigrated to New Zealand where he tragically died at Wairau Bar on 11^th July 1912 at the age of only 26.

37P6

Catherine Collett was very likely born at 218 Marlborough Road in Grandpont on 2^nd June 1888, where she was living with her parents in 1891 at the age of two years. At 12 years of age in 1901 she and her family were residing at 220 Marlborough Road. She later married Arthur Edward Albert Baughan around 1907 and went to live at 234 Banbury Road in North Oxford. By April 1911 Catherine had given birth to three children of whom only two had survived. That was confirmed in the census that month which showed the family residing at 14 Wood Street in Oxford, a four-roomed dwelling. Arthur Edward Albert Baughan from Oxford was 28 and an auxiliary postman employed by the General post Office (GPO), his wife of three years Catherine was 23, and their two children were Arthur Roland Collett Baughan who was three and Frances Catherine Baughan who was one year old.

Living with the family on that occasion, as boarders, was Arthur’s brother Louis William Baughan who was 27 and a jobbing gardener from Oxford, his wife of under one-year Amelia Eleanor Baughan who was 28, and their two-month-old daughter Doris Mildred Baughan. What is extraordinary, is the census enumerator also recorded in the margin of the census return that Louis, Amelia and their daughter intended to emigrate to Western Australia on 14^th May 1911, presumably their passage already assured on the day of the census.

Arthur E A Baughan was 74 when he died in Oxford, where his death was recorded (Ref. 6b 1052) during the last three months of 1957. Catherine Baughan nee Collett survived her husband by nearly fifteen years and her death was also recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 2649) during the second quarter of 1972 when she was 84.

37P7

Albert Collett was born at 218 Marlborough Road in Grandpont on 14^th August 1890, the son of Charles Collett and Laura Aldridge. And it was there that Albert was under one year old in the census of 1891, while in 1901, when he was 10 years of age, he and his family were living at 220 Marlborough Road. He was again living with his parents at 220 Marlborough Road in April 1911 when he was 20. It was sometime during the next three years that Albert travelled to New Zealand, perhaps even drawn there by his older brother Edward (above) who had emigrated there just a few years earlier. There may also have been the attraction of a job offer by a member of his mother’s family – see below for further details.

On 14^th December 1914 Albert Collett enlisted with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force at Trentham Camp, by which time he was not married and gave his father’s name as Charles John Collett of 220 Marlborough Street (sic) at Grandpont. On that same date he gave his occupation as that of a fisherman employed by W S Aldridge at Wairau Bar, Blenheim, who was presumably related to his mother. It was also at Wairua Bar that his brother Edward had died over two years earlier. Curiously his date of birth was noted in his army record as 14^th August 1889 which, if correct, would mean that he was over eighteen months old at the time of the census of 1891, and not under one year old as stated therein.

It was as Private Albert Collett 6/1491 of the Canterbury Infantry Regiment that he served a total of three years two hundred and ninety-one days, of which three years and ninety-two were spent overseas. He was in Egypt on 27^th March 1915 on his way to England. It was while he was in England that he married spinster Alice May Strange (pictured here) at Holy Trinity Church in Oxford on 29^th September 1915, and a time when Alice was residing at the home of her future parents-in-law at 220 Marlborough Street in Oxford. It seems highly likely that she remained living there until she and Albert could return to New Zealand at a later date.

However, just over two months prior to their wedding day Albert was taken ill and on 7^th July was admitted to the military hospital in Devonport, Plymouth. From there he was transferred to the Royal Victoria Hospital at Netley near Southampton on 17^th July 1915, from where he was discharged on 22^nd July. He then reported for duty at the Weymouth Deport on 9^th August 1915. The following year, on 11^th January 1916, he was at Weymouth Camp, presumably prior to returning to frontline duties. Later that same year his military record stated that he had been “Detailed for duty at the Peel House on Regency Street in London” from 29^th May 1916, and was “Detailed on Command”. Perhaps he objected to being sent there, since he immediately went on two-days absence without leave, and was deducted two-days’ pay. That was the second time he had been awol, the first time on 14^th October 1915 when he should have been at the Tattoo at the M V Camp in Weymouth, as a result of which he forfeited one day’s pay.

Something odd happened to Albert on 3^rd August 1916, with the first entry for that day stating he had returned from command in London, when he was sent to Hornchurch in Essex, but the very next entry stated that he had been “detailed on command back at the Peel House”. This was very likely due to another bout of sickness which was recorded on 4^th August. He was again back in hospital in London for a further three days from 15^th April to the 17^th April in 1917. Just a few months after that during July 1917 he arrived in France where, on 15^th August 1917, he lost his rank as private at Rouen when he was made cook. It would appear that he was the cook at Rouen for almost four months when, on 30^th November, he relinquished the appointment of cook and was reinstalled as a private while he was still at Rouen.

It seems likely that he was then put back on frontline duties again, during which he may have been injured or taken ill, since he was sent back to England and to Torquay on 5^th December 1917. It was on 1^st April 1918 that Albert was in Glasgow from where he sailed on board the ship Athenic back to New Zealand, where he arrived on 17^th May. It was on 30^th September 1918 that he was finally discharged from duty, being “no longer physically fit for war service, on account of illness contracted on active service”. For his involvement in the war, he was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

The full diary of his military movements during his first year of service in 1915 was recorded in his army record as: March in Egypt; May in Gallipoli & the Dardanelles, where he was injured; June in Lebanon & Egypt, and in hospital in Heliopolis on 16^th June; July at Weymouth in England. Upon entry into military service Albert was described as being five feet four inches tall, weighing 140 pounds, having black hair, brown eyes, and a fresh complexion. Prior to leaving England for New Zealand Albert had served for two years with the Oxford Volunteers and, for one year, with the Oxfordshire & Berkshire Light Infantry.

Albert’s wife, Alice May Strange, was born at Oxford in 1893, the daughter of journeyman bootmaker Joseph Peter Strange and his wife Sarah Golder Strange. In the census of 1901 and 1911 Alice was recorded as Edith Alice Strange, living in Oxford on both occasions at the age of eight and 18 respectively. Once Alice and Albert were reunited and living again in New Zealand, Alice presented Albert with a son Wilfred. However, there are some sources that suggest the child was born in Oxford, like his older sister Jessie May (above), but no such record has been unearthed. It must therefore be assumed that he was born after the family made their home at Wairua in New Zealand.

The only other known fact about Albert Collett is that he died in New Zealand on 12^th August 1946 at the Wairau Hospital in Blenheim, and was followed thirteen years later by his wife Alice who passed away at the Public Hospital in Christchurch on 11^th December 1959. The record of the death of Albert at Wairau register office (Ref. 82324) provided the following additional information. Farmer Albert Collett of Dillons Point had been born in Oxford and had lived in New Zealand for thirty years. His parents were Charles John Collett, a labourer, and Laura Aldridge, and Albert was 25 when he married Alice May Strange in Oxford whose age was 53 at the time of his passing. He was 56 when he died and for seven months he had suffered with carcinoma of the larynx. Following his passing, he was buried on 14^th August, his grave marked by a beautiful headstone in the ANZAC ‘half round’, within the Omaka Cemetery at Marlborough. Helpful, in genealogical terms, is his death record, in which there is reference to three sons, aged 26, 24 and 21, and a daughter who was 30, confirming the place within the family of the three previously missing children, now having been added to the list below.

37Q7

Jessie May Collett

Born in 1916 at Oxford, England

37Q8

Wilfred Charles Collett

Born in 1920 at Wairau, New Zealand

37Q9

Albert Roland Collett

Born in 1922 at Wairau, New Zealand

37Q10

Russell Edward Mervyn Collett

Born in 1925 at Wairau, New Zealand

37P8

George Collett was one half of a set of twins born at 218 Marlborough Road in Grandpont on 6^th July 1893. Like his twin-sister May (below) he was seven years old at the time of the census of 1901 when the family was settled at 220 Marlborough Road. About six months before George reached his seventeenth birthday, he signed on with the Great Western Railway to work at the main line station in Oxford. That happened on 9^th February 1910, however, after only eighteen months employment with the GWR he resigned on 24^th July 1911. The census that year, on 2^nd April, recorded George as still living with his family at 220 Marlborough Road, just a short walk from the railway station where he was working at that time when he was 17.

Unlike his two older brothers Edward and Arthur (above), George emigrated to Canada where he served as a Private with the First Canadian Division, although it was mentioned in the Oxford Journal Illustrated in May 1916 that he was wounded in action. After the war, on 4^th December 1920, he married Henrietta Burwell at the Presbyterian Church at 19 Laws Street in Toronto, Ontario. Henrietta was born in 1896 and had lived with her family at 7 Cadmans Court in Leeds, Yorkshire, before making the journey to Canada. It was at Toronto that the couple spent the rest of their lives together and where their only son was born. George Collett died at Toronto on 28^th January 1956, while Henrietta lived a widow’s life for the next twenty-seven years before she also died at Toronto on 8^th May 1983.

37Q11

George Frederick Collett

Born in 1924 at Toronto

37P9

May Collett was one half of a pair of twins born at 218 Marlborough Road in Grandpont on 6^th July 1893 and was listed with her twin-brother George (above) as being seven years of age in 1901, while living at 220 Marlborough Road as she was in 1911 aged 17 years. It was as a teenager she met Frederick Frank Stanley Poulter who was born at Oxford on 9^th May 1890, whom she later married just a month after her twentieth birthday. The wedding took place at St Aldates Church in Oxford on 21^st August 1915. Almost three years after they were married Mae and Frederick emigrated to Canada on 1^st April 1923 where they joined her brother George Collett (above) in Toronto. And it was at Toronto that Frederick Poulter died on 2^nd July 1950 followed, nearly twenty-one years later, by Mae Poulter (formerly May Collett) who also died at Toronto on 18^th February 1971.

37P10

Frances Dorothy Collett was probably born at 220 Marlborough Road on 7^th July 1896 and was five years old by the time of the census of 1901, when she was still living with her family at 220 Marlborough Road. The reason for her absence from the family home in 1911 has now been revealed, with her premature death, at the age of 12, recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 501) during the second quarter of 1908.

37P11

Wilfred Frederick Frank Collett was born at 220 Marlborough Road on 10^th October 1897 but was not listed with his parents at that address in the census return for 1901. However, ten years later as Wilfred Frederick Frank Collett he was still living with his family at 220 Marlborough Road at the age of 13. He was only 16 years old when war broke out in Europe, so was too young to enter military service. However, it was during May 1916, when he was 18, he was serving in France as a Driver with the 156^th Heavy Battery of the Royal Garrison Artillery with the service number 297236.

It was in 1930 that Wilfred F F Collett married Irene May Vincent, the event recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 2801) during the last quarter of that year. Upon the death of his father two years later, it was Wilfred Collett, a carter, who was the sole beneficiary, receiving his father personal effects valued at £150. Wilfred and Irene were residing in Oxford when they died and it was at Oxford register office (Ref. 20 2308) during the last three months of 1978 that Wilfred died at the age of 81. He was followed by Irene whose death was also recorded there (Ref. 20 2874) during the first three months of 1981 when she was 76. The same record also gave her date of birth as 2^nd May 1904.

37P12

Alice Gertrude Collett was born at 220 Marlborough Road on 21^st December 1899, the last child of Charles John James Collett and Laura Alice Aldridge. She was one year old and 11 years of age in the census returns of 1901 and 1911 when she was still living with her parents at 220 Marlborough Road. She eventually married Thomas Owen, who was known as Tom Owen and, at some time in their life, they lived in Canada, where Alice’s brother George and sister May also lived. However, on 24^th October 1958 Tom and Alice sailed into the port of Southampton on board the Cunard liner Ivernia from Montreal.

On the ship’s passenger list the couple’s forward address was given as 10 Norreys Avenue in Oxford, whilst it described them as a company director and a housewife. Thomas Owen was born on 3^rd December 1896. It was twenty-three years after Alice returned to Oxford that she died there in 1981 when she was incorrectly described as being 80 years of age instead of 81 or 82. The death of Alice Gertrude Owen was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 20 2454) during the fourth quarter of 1981.

37P13

Beatrice Charlotte Collett was born at Westbourne Park in London in 1881, the first child of Joseph Robert Collett and Lydia Middlemost. Her birth was registered at Kensington (Ref. 1a 132) during the first three months of 1881 and nine months after her parents were married in Reading. Shortly after that Beatrice Charlotte Collett was baptised at the Church of St Andrew & St Philip in Kensington on 28^th February 1881, the daughter of Joseph Robert and Lydia Collett. Beatrice was just two months old at the time of the census in 1881. She was living with her parents at their home at 163 Southam Street in Ladbroke Grove, which is still there today. Westbourne Park lies midway between Ladbroke Grove and Talbot Grove, where the family was living in 1891. Shortly after 1881, the family moved to nearby Notting Hill where, according to the subsequent census returns, all her younger siblings were born. By 1891, when she was ten years old, Beatrice and her family were living at Talbot Grove in Notting Hill. By the time she was 20, she and her family had moved to Hammersmith. And it was while at Saunders Road in Hammersmith in 1901, that Beatrice was working as a dressmaker’s assistant. Whilst some members of her family were living in Brentford in 1911, no trace has been found of Beatrice. Whether she had moved north or not is not known, but it was at Darlington in County Durham that the death of a Beatrice C Collett, aged 34, was recorded during the second quarter of 1915. It has not been confirmed or denied, that she was Beatrice Charlotte Collet from London.

37P14

Arthur Robert Collett was born at Notting Hill in 1882, the second child and eldest son of Joseph Robert Collett from Oxford and Lydia Middlemost from Reading. His birth was registered at Kensington (Ref. 1a 110) during the last three months of the year, and was eight years old in 1891, by which time he and his family were residing at Talbot Grove in Notting Hill. Ten years later he was 18 and was working with his father as a plumber’s mate at Saunders Road in Hammersmith where they were living. Sometime during the next decade Arthur, and his younger brother Frederick (below), left Hammersmith and moved to Edmonton, where they were living in 1911 when Arthur was 27. During the next couple of years, Arthur Robert Collett from London sailed to a new life in Australia. That was confirmed after the start of the First World War, when he entered the army recruitment office in Holsworthy, New South Wales, twenty miles south of Sydney. It was there, that Arthur Robert Collett, the son of Joseph Robert Collett, was assigned the service number 6286.

37P15

Mary Anne Collett was born at Notting Hill near the end of 1884, another child of Joseph and Lydia Collett. Her birth was registered at Kensington (Ref. 1a 168) during the first quarter of 1885, and she was six years of age in the census of 1891, when living at Talbot Grove. Upon leaving school she joined her older sister Beatrice (above), working for a dressmaker. In 1901 they were both listed as dressmaker’s assistants while living with their parents at Saunders Road in Hammersmith, where Mary from Notting Hill was 16 years old. Although not proved, it is possible that it was Mary Anne Collett who married William Albert Gough in 1905, when she was 20 years of age, the wedding recorded at Brentford register office (Ref. 3a 345) during the third quarter of the year. It was also at Acton near Brentford that her parents were living in 1911.

37P16

Albert John Collett was born at Notting Hill towards the end of 1885, with his birth registered at Kensington (Ref. 1a 130) during the first three months of 1886. He was another son of Joseph and Lydia Collett and was four years old in 1891 when the family was living at Talbot Grove in Notting Hill, when his place of birth was simply Kensington. By the time he was 14, he had left school and was employed as an apprentice to a harness maker while still living with his family, which had moved to Saunders Road in Hammersmith. Ten years later in 1911, Albert Collett from Notting Hill was 24 and a house painter who was still living with his parents although, by that time, they were living at Acton in Middlesex.

37P17

Frederick Joseph Collett was born at Notting Hill at the end of 1888, with his birth registered at Kensington (Ref. 1a 111) during the first quarter of 1889. He was yet another son of Joseph and Lydia Collett, and was possibly born at Talbot Grove in Notting Hill, where Frederick J Collett from London was two years old in 1891. By the time his was 12 years of age, Frederick J Collett from Notting Hill and his family were living at Saunders Road in Hammersmith. Ten years later, he and his older brother Arthur were living at Edmonton. At the time of the death of his mother in 1930, Frederick James Collett was working as a clerk and was described as such when he was named as one of the two executors of his mother estate of £1,498 0 Shillings 11 Pence. The other executor was Arthur Henry Chumbley, a collector of taxes, who may have been Frederick’s brother-in-law. It is possible he remained living in Middlesex, where the death of a Frederick J Collett was recorded (Ref. 5e 349) in 1951 when he was 64.

37P18

Elsie Lydia Collett was born at Talbot Grove in Notting Hill, either later in 1890 or just after the start of 1891, with her birth recorded at Kensington (Ref. 1a 140) during the first three month of the latter. She was the sixth of the eight children of Joseph and Lydia Collett and their youngest daughter. Elsie L Collett was only a few months old in the census of 1891, when she and her family were still living at Talbot Grove. Over the following years, it would appear the family moved initially to South London, where her brother Sydney was born, before being recorded in the census of 1901 at Saunders Road in Hammersmith, where Elsie L Collett was ten years of age.

37P19

Sydney George Collett was born at Sydenham (Kent) South London in 1893, when his birth was recorded at Lewisham register office (Ref. 1d 1173) during the second quarter of the year. He was the seventh of the eight children of Joseph and Lydia Collett. While the majority of his siblings were born at Notting Hill, where the family was living in 1891, it seems curious that Sydney was born south of the Thames River. The census in 1901 identified his family living at Saunders Road in Hammersmith, when Sydney G Collett from Sydenham was seven years old. Ten years later, when the family had moved from Hammersmith to Acton in Middlesex, it was as George Collett aged 16 and from Sydenham, that he was employed as a clerk in the office of a merchant.

37P20

Charles Ernest Collett was born in 1896, with his birth recorded at Fulham register office (Ref. 1a 228) during the third quarter of that year. He was the last child born to Joseph Robert Collett and Lydia Middlemost. It is possible that Charles was born at Saunders Road in Hammersmith, where he and his family were living in 1901 when, at the age of four ages, the place of birth for Charles E Collett was incorrectly stated as Notting Hill, where some of his older siblings were born, and where the family was living in 1891. After a further ten years, Charles Collett from Notting Hill (sic) was 14 and junior clerk working in the office of a caterer, when he and his brothers Albert and Sydney (above) were the only children still living with their parents at Acton in Middlesex.

37P25

Reginald Francis Collett was born at 11 Bridge Street in Osney Village, Oxford, on 7^th April 1901 and was the first-born child of Francis Bertie Collett and his first wife Mary Ann Hawkins. That was one week after the day of the census that year, with his birth recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 948) during the second quarter of the year. Under his full name of Reginald Francis Collett he was nine years old on the day of the census in 1911when he and his family were residing at 98 Bridge Street, Osney Village, not far from the railway station in Oxford, where his father was employed as a porter by the Great Western Railway Company. He later married Florence Dodd who was born on 4^th July 1903, Florence being the daughter of Annie Lydia Dodd nee Tyler, and her marriage to Reginald produced one son for the couple. Their wedding day was recorded at Hammersmith register office (Ref. 1a 541) during the last three months of 1924. Reginald is understood to have met Florence through his sister Doris (below) whose son Gerard was fostered by Florence’s mother Annie Lydia Dodd. Reginald and Florence were living at Acton in London at the time of his death on 9^th December 1961, when he was 60, with his passing recorded at London, after which he was buried at Acton Cemetery within the London Borough of Ealing. Just over fifteen years after being widowed, Florence Collett, nee Dodd, aged 73, died in the Paddington area of London on 25^th December 1976.

37Q12

Dennis Francis Gerrard Collett

Born in 1931 at Shepherds Bush, London

37P26

Doris Catherine Collett was born at Bridge Street in Osney Village, Oxford, on 20^th January 1904. Her birth was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 1077) during the first three months of the year. And it was there, at 98 Bridge Street in Osney Village, that she was living with her family in 1911 when she was seven years of age. She was seventeen years old when she was married by banns to Dutchman (1) Gerardus van der Meer who was nineteen and a waiter. The wedding took place on 22^nd September 1921 at the Church of St John on Waterloo Road in Lambeth, and was recorded at Lambeth register office (ref. 1d 607). Gerardus’ father was also Gerardus who was a printer, while Doris’ father was confirmed as Francis Bertie who was a motor driver. At that time the couple’s address was given as 124 York Road in South East London.

The marriage produced two children for Doris and Gerardus. The first was Dora Cornelia who was born at Lambeth in 1922, who was followed a year later by Gerard Reginald who was born at Kingston-on-Thames in 1923. Not long after the birth of the second child, Gerardus deserted his family and returned to his native Holland.

Faced with the prospect of no income to support herself and her two very young children, Doris was forced into domestic service. That in itself posed other problems and eventually her two children were taken into care. Daughter ‘Corrie’ was sent to an orphanage operated by Mrs de Vries, while son Gerard was fostered by Annie Lydia Tyler. It may be of interest to note that the mother of Gerardus van der Meer was Adriana Roose de Vries, so it may be that Corrie was cared for by her grandmother.

There must have been reluctance on behalf of her husband to grant Doris a divorce so that she could remarry. In the end though, the marriage between Doris and Gerardus was finally dissolved in 1936, but not before Doris had taken up with Arthur ‘Blon’ Gridley with whom she had a daughter who was born at the end of March in 1931.

Their daughter Patricia was eight years old when Doris C van der Meer eventually married (2) Arthur Gridley at Southend-on-Sea on 10^th July 1939, the event recorded there (Ref. 4a 3434). Arthur was a bachelor aged 38 and was the son of general labourer Arthur Gridley and Elizabeth Barnham, while Doris Collett ‘otherwise van der Meer’ was 35, the daughter of Francis Bertie Collett a van driver for a motor car manufacturer. At the time of their wedding the couple was living at 17 Prittlewell Street in Southend and Arthur’s occupation was given as being a steel erector.

Doris Catherine Gridley nee Collett was living at 187 Rochford Road in Prittlewell near Southend-on-Sea in Essex when she died on 17^th December 1964. The photograph above was taking on the day Doris’ daughter Patricia was married. And it was Doris’ daughter Patricia of Southend Road in Wakering, Essex that reported the death of her mother to the registrar’s office in Southend-on-Sea. The cause of death was recorded as a coronary occlusion and a coronary atheroma. By the time Arthur Gridley died just a few months later he had moved the short distance north from Prittlewell to Rochford where he was recorded as living at the time of his death in 1965.

37Q13

Dora Cornelia van der Meer

Born in 1922 at Lambeth in London

37Q14

Gerard Reginald van der Meer

Born in 1923 at Kingston-on-Thames

37Q15

Patricia Florence Gridley

Born in 1931

37P27

Irene V Collett was born at Coventry in 1914, where her birth was recorded (Ref. 6d 1439) during the last three months of the year. The record of her birth confirmed that her mother’s maiden-name was Herman, being the first child born to Francis Bertie Collett and his second wife Ethel Hermann. After the birth of her brother William at Coventry in 1917, her father’s work in the motor trade was the reason for a family move to Oxford where, towards the end of 1934, the marriage of Irene V Collett and Stanley F Hooper was recorded (Ref. 3a 3257).

37P28

William Frederick Collett, like his older sister Irene (above), was born at Foleshill in Coventry on 17^th June 1917, with his birth also recorded at Coventry register office (Ref. 6d 1073) during the third quarter of 1917, whose mother’s maiden-name was again confirmed as Hermann. No record has been found to indicate that he ever married, although it is established that it was at Oxford where he died, where the death of William Frederick Collett was recorded in 1982, at the age of 65. He was the eldest son of Francis Bertie Collett and his second wife Ethel Hermann.

37P29

Gwendoline Brenda Collett was born at Oxford in 1920, the daughter of Francis Bertie Collett and his second wife Ethel Hermann. Her birth was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 1928) during the last three months of the year, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Hermann. Gwendoline later married to become Gwendoline Brenda Cox when she married George Cox. The couple then had a daughter Lorraine Cox who, at the time of her wedding, became Lorraine (Laurie) Jackson. In May 2010 Laurie Jackson of Abingdon-on-Thames near Oxford, made contact and offered to provide more details of her mother’s family, which is still awaited.

37P30

Rene Collett was born at Oxford around 1923 another child of Francis and Ethel Collett for whom, rather curiously, no birth record has been found. What is definitely known about her is that she later travelled to Australia where she died in 1993.

37P31

Margaret Collett was born at Oxford in 1925 and was another daughter of Francis and Ethel Collett. Her birth was also recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 1719) during the third quarter of the year, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Hermann. Sadly, she was only twenty-three years old when she died in 1948.

37P32

Jack M Collett was born at Oxford in 1927 and another son of Francis and Ethel Collett whose birth was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 1711) during the second quarter of that year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Hermann. It would appear that during his early life he was a milk delivery man, an occupation closely associated with earlier generations of this family.

He later became a car driver, like his father, and eventually acted as chauffeur and general assistant to the comedian Francis (Frankie) A Howerd (1917-1992) – the photograph on the left. Jack also briefly held a similar position with the American film actor Burt Lancaster (1913-1992) when he was living in England – the photograph on the right.

Following the death of his older half-brother Reginald Francis Collett (above) in 1961 Jack inherited the radio and electrical shop at 125 The Vale in Acton. The Vale today is the Uxbridge Road (A4020) in the vicinity of Acton Park. However, with no knowledge of the electrical trade, the business soon failed and, as a result, Jack was forced to close the shop. It seems likely it was after that happen, that he travelled to Australia to join his sister Rene Collett (above). It is not known how long he spent in Australia, but his return to England was prompted by the fact that he was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer.

37P33

Francis L Collett was born at Oxford in 1929, another son of Francis Collett and his second wife Ethel Hermann. The birth of Francis L Collett was recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 1636) during the first three months of that year. However, on the record of his birth, his mother’s maiden-name was stated as being Datlin. Very little is known about him, except that he died during the month of June in 2006, following which Frank L Collett was laid to rest at Kidlington Parish Burial Ground on 19^th June 2006. Apart from the conflicting mother’s maiden-name, there is a high probability that it was this Francis L Collett who features in Appendix Two in Part 46 – The Charlton-on-Otmoor (Oxon) Area Line at the end of the second section 1870 to 2011. That suggests Francis L Collett married Ann Raiswell at Oxford (Ref. 6b 1541) during the last three months of 1954, after which their first two children David Martin and Elizabeth Ann Collett were born in Oxford in 1955 and 1957, before moving to Bicester, where Graham Francis and Philip John Collett were born in 1960 and 1966.

37P34

Dennis Desmond Collett was born in 1932 at Oxford, with his birth recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 1809) during the third quarter of that year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Hermann. He was the youngest child of Francis Collett and Ethel Hermann. He was 22 years old when the marriage of Dennis D Collett and Margaret A Couling was recorded at register office (Ref. 6b 1756) during the second quarter of 1955. Margaret was also born in Oxford, with her birth recorded there (Ref. 3a 1920) during the third quarter of 1934, when her mother’s maiden-name was stated as being Hann. Margaret gave birth to four children, with all of the births recorded at Oxford register office with, in each case, the mother’s maiden-name confirmed as Couling.

37Q16

Lynn S Collett

Born in 1956 Q3 at Oxford (Ref. 6b 1337)

37Q17

Jane D Collett

Born in 1960 Q2 at Oxford (Ref. 6b 1681)

37Q18

Paul David Collett

Born in 1970 Q1 at Oxford (Ref. 6b 3773)

37Q19

David Edwin Collett

Born in 1972 Q2 at Oxford (Ref. 6b 3773)

37P35

Ernest William Collett was born at Paddington in London the first child born to William Edward Collett and Emma Budd. His birth was recorded at Paddington (Ref. 1a 59) during the third quarter of 1886 which sadly was the same quarter that his death was also recorded there (Ref. 1a 36).

37P36

William Frank Collett was born at Paddington, the son of William Edward Collett and his wife Emma, who was baptised at St Paul’s Church in Paddington on 24^th April 1887. In 1891 William F Collett was four years old when he was living in Paddington with his parents and younger sister Ethel (below). Eight years later William’s father died at which time William had four sisters two of which were taken into an orphanage. His widowed mother remarried in 1900, although no record of her or William’s other two sisters has not yet been found within the census of 1901. William on the other hand had already entered domestic service by March 1901 and at the age of 14 was a house boy with a family in the parish of Witley in the town of Wormley in Surrey.

The only William Collett born at Paddington recorded within the census of 1911 was 23 and was serving with the military overseas. He may or may not have been William Frank Collett who was certainly a witness at the wedding of his sister Ethel (below) two years later in June 1913. Seven years after that on 22^nd May 1920 William Frank Collett married Charlotte Bowels at the Church of St Mary in Merton where his sister was married three years later. He was 33 and the son of William Edward Collett deceased, an engine driver, while she was 35 and the daughter of George Alfred Bowels.

37P37

Ethel Gladys Collett was born at Paddington in July 1890 and was baptised there at St Paul’s Church on 19^th October that year, the eldest daughter of William and Emma Collett. She was eight months old in the Paddington census of 1891 and was around eight years of age when her father died. As the eldest daughter Ethel accompanied her younger sister Rose Emma Collett when they were taken into the care of the Railway Orphanage on Ashbourne Road in Derby. The orphanage was set up in 1875 for the children of railway workers who had died during the course of their duties, which provides the evidence that Ethel’s father most likely died as a result of an accident at work. Therefore, this was one way that the company could help Ethel’s mother who gave birth to her last child around the time she lost her husband.

That situation was confirmed in the census of 1901, by which time Ethel’s mother had remarried but, whose whereabouts has not yet been determined. Ethel Gladys Collett from London was 10 years old and was an inmate at the Railway Orphanage with her sister Rose Emma Collett who was seven and also from London. During the next few years Ethel and Rose returned to London to live with their mother and stepfather William Nipe. However, while Rose was still living with them at 2 Mill Road in Merton in 1911, Ethel has not been identified anywhere in Britain in the census of 1911.

Just over two years later Ethel Gladys Collett married Frederick William Griffiths at Holy Trinity Church in Brompton within the London Borough of Kensington & Chelsea on 8^th June 1913. Ethel and Frederick were both 22, when Ethel was described as the daughter of William Edward Collett and Frederick was the son of Albert Mark Griffiths. One of the witnesses was Ethel’s brother William Frank Collett.

37P39

Beatrice Polly Collett was born at Paddington in 1896 and was baptised at St Mary’s Church in Willesden within the London Borough of Brent on 10^th December 1896. Her father William Edward Collett, an engine driver, died as a result of an accident at work on the railway when Beatrice was only two years old and two years after that her mother Emma Collett nee Budd married William Nipe. Upon the death of their father, Beatrice’s two older sisters, Ethel (above) and Rose were taken in by the Railway Orphanage in Derby while Beatrice and her baby sister Daisy stayed with their mother, although no record of them has been found in the census of 1901.

By April 1911 Beatrice was 15 when she was living at the home of her stepfather William Nipe at 2 Mill Road in Merton where her mother and her two sisters Rose and Daisy were also living. It was twelve years later when Beatrice Polly Collett, aged 27, married James Leopold George Mason, aged 26, on 6^th August 1923 at St Mary’s Church in Merton. Beatrice’s father was described as William Edward Collett deceased, an engine driver, while James’ father was James Mason. Beatrice was still living in Surrey when she died, the death of Beatrice P Mason recorded at the Croydon register office (Ref. 5g 6) during the second quarter of 1962 at the age of 66.

37P43

Maud Mary Collett was born at 9 Cross Street, Cowley in Oxford on 2^nd February 1887, the eldest child of Robert Collett and Mary Eliza Weller. She was born nine months after their wedding day, with her birth also recorded at Headington (Ref. 3a 785). Just a few weeks after her fourth birthday, Maud M Collett and her family were living at 1 Swan Street in Osney Village, Oxford. Even though her family had already left Osney Village by 1901, and were residing at 9 Wood Street in St Ebbes, 14-year-old Maud M Collett was a domestic housemaid and a lady’s companion who was still living there on West Street. To supplement ‘the lady’s’ income, she took in lodgers who, on that day, were two GWR employees, railway guard Albert E Bosley aged 22 from Wallingford, and railway porter Oliver J Purdy aged 19 from Didcot. Just over six years later, the marriage of Maud Mary Collett and John Henry Thurston was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 1805) during the second quarter of 1907.

The census return for 1911 confirmed that the couple had been married for four years, during which time Maud had given birth to a son. On that day the family of three was residing in Osney Village, where John Henry Thurston from Summertown in Oxford was 24 and was a restaurant waiter, Maud Mary Thurston was also 24 and born at St Clements Oxford, and their three-year-old son Frederick Robert John Thurston had been born in Osney Village. Upon the death of Maud Mary Thurston on 1^st October 1965, she was buried just a short distance west of Osney Village, at Botley Cemetery, at the age of 78.

37P44

Lily Rose Collett was born at Swan Street in Osney Village in Oxford on 1^st April 1890, her birth recorded at Oxford (Ref. 3a 802), and as Lily R Collett she was one year old in 1891. She was ten-years-of- age in the census of 1901 when again as Lily R Collett she was living with her parents at Wood Street in the Oxford St Ebbes area of the city. After a further ten years, Lily Rose Collett from Osney Village was 21 and the only domestic servant at the Oxford St Giles house of widow Emily Jorden aged 68 and from Water Perry, who was living on private means. Twenty-two years after that census, the marriage of Lily R Collett and James H Shaylor was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 1676) during the first quarter of 1933. The Collett family of Oxford had previous connections to the Shaylor family in 1886 when Martha Jane Collett (Ref. 37O8) married John Shayler. The later death of Lily Rose Shaylor was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 20 2872) in 1979.

37P47

Beatrice Victoria May Collett was born at 9 Wood Street in the St Ebbes area of the city of Oxford on 11^th August 1901, when he father Robert Collett was a cab-driver. Her mother was Ada Mary Green, who was Robert’s second wife, Beatrice being the couple’s only child. Sometime during the first decade of the new century, her father took over the Norfolk Arms on the corner of Bridge Street and Norfolk Street in Osney Village. And it was at the Norfolk Arms that the three of them were living in 1911, when Beatrice Collett was nine years old. A few years later, she may have met her future husband through her father’s business, because the young man in question was a cellarman at a wine store in Oxford.

Francis Durham, who was born at Wigtoft in Lincolnshire in 1894, was referred to as Frank and he married Beatrice on 25^th December 1920 in St Ebbes. The marriage certificate confirmed Beatrice’s age as 19, while Frank’s was 26. It also confirmed that Beatrice’s father was publican Robert Collett. The marriage produced three children for the couple, whose births were recorded at the Headington register office when their mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett. Frank died in 1980 and was followed by Beatrice Victoria May Durham nee Collett who passed away in 1985.

The three children were Frank Durham, born in 1922, Gordon D Durham, born in 1923, and Margaret Durham, who was born in 1925. The birth of Gordon D Durham in Oxford was recorded at Headington (Ref. 3a 1618) during the last quarter of that year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett. Gordon later married Rose Howes, their wedding recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 1903) during the last three months on 1947, with whom he had two children. The birth of Rose E Howes was also record at Oxford (Ref. 3a 1724) during the second quarter of 1925, when her mother’s maiden-name was stated as Allsworth.

The couple’s two children are Sandra J Durham who was born at Oxford during the second quarter of 1949, her birth recorded there (Ref. 6b 1375), and Keith Durham, who was born at Oxford in 1951, his birth recorded there (Ref. 6b 1118) during the fourth quarter of that year. For both events, the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Howes. Keith married Helen Brown at Oxford, where the event was recorded (Ref. 6b 3235) during the summer of 1971. It was during the first quarter of 1971 that the marriage of Sandra J Durham and Frederick W Pledge was recorded at Oxford (Ref. 6b 1887). Later that same year Sandra presented Frederick with a daughter Sharon Ann Pledge, whose birth was recorded at Oxford (Ref. 6b 3973). During the next decade Sandra and Frederick separated and in 1982 the marriage of Sandra J Pledge and Stephen Hewitt was recorded at Oxford (Ref. 20 3231) in the summer of that year. That second marriage also resulted in the birth of a daughter, Stacey Eloise Hewitt who was born in Oxford on 23th May 1983. In 2008 Stacey and her mother were living with Stacey’s grandfather near Kidlington in Oxfordshire, and it was Stacey who kindly provided the details of her family line.

37Q1

Gladys Annie D Collett may have been born at Fyfield where her sister Hilda (below) is believed to have been born. However, like that of her sister, the birth of Gladys Annie D Collett was recorded at Abingdon-on-Thames register office (Ref. 2c 306) during the second quarter of 1907, and where her death was also recorded that same year (Ref. 2c 143) during the third quarter of the year.

37Q2

Hilda May Collett was said to have been born at Fyfield near Tubney on 30^th May 1909 although, in the following census, her place of birth was recorded as South Hinksey, where her mother had been born. However, it was at the register office in Abingdon-on-Thames that her birth was recorded on 12^th July 1909, within the sub-district of Fyfield, the second-born child of William Collett and Annie Keene, her older sister (above) having suffered an infant death two years earlier. The census of 1911 recorded Hilda May Collett, aged one year, living with her parents at South Hinksey where, it was stated, she had been born.

Nearly twenty-one years later Hilda May Collett married Frederick George Gardner, the event recorded at Oxford register office (Ref.3a 2153) during the first quarter of 1932. It was on 6^th February 1932, at the Church of St Matthew in Grandpont, when spinster Hilda May Collett, aged 22 and a cook, the daughter of William Collett, a gas stoker, was married by banns to bachelor Frederick George Gardner who was 26 and an iron moulder, the son of H B Gardner, a cropper hand. One of the witnesses was Hilda’s widowed father. Both the bride and the groom were said to be residing at 14 Pitt Road in Cold Harbour, the home of Hilda’s father, where her father was still living when he passed away in 1951, her mother having died much earlier in 1920. Hilda and Frederick had two children, John Henry Michael Gardner who was born at Oxford on 18^th May 1936, and Joan A Gardner who was born there in 1938, who later married Clifford (Cliff) Francis.

At the time of the death of Hilda May Gardner, maiden-name Collett, on 26^th August 1999, while in the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, she had been residing at 46 Kennington Road in the village of Kennington, just south of Oxford. Her late husband was confirmed as Frederick George Gardner, an iron moulder at a foundry, while the informant of her death was her son John Henry Michael Gardner.

37Q3

Florence Annie Frances Collett was born at New Hinksey on 21^st June 1911, her birth recorded at Abingdon register office (Ref. 2c 600) during the third quarter of 1911, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Keene. It was at St Matthews Church in Grandpont where she was baptised on 10^th August 1911, the third daughter of William Collett, a stoker, and his wife Annie. She never married and it was at Banbury on 11^th December 2007 that she died, following which she was laid to rest at St Laurence Church in South Hinksey.

37Q4

William Frank Collett was born at New Hinksey on 12^th May 1913 in the family home at 38 Lake Street, just off the Abingdon Road in South Oxford. And it was at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 2137) that his birth was recorded, his mother’s maiden-name confirmed as Keene. It was during the last three months of 1941 when William F Collett married Elizabeth K Gordon, the event recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 4636). The marriage produced twin sons for the couple, who were born in Oxford.

37R1

Graham W Collett

Born in 1949 at Oxford

37R2

Malcolm C Collett

Born in 1949 at Oxford

37Q5

Charles Edward Collett was born at New Hinksey during 1915 in the family home at 38 Lake Street, just off the Abingdon Road. His birth was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 1910) during the third quarter of 1915, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Keen. He sustained injury during the Second World War when attempting to rescue an injured friend. It would appear he lived all his short life in Oxford, since he died on 12^th February 1951, while a patient at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford, his death recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 1336).

37Q6

Wilfred Collett was born at St Aldates in Oxford on 11^th February 1918. The birth took place in the family home at 37 Marlborough Road in the Grandpont area of South Oxford, and was recorded at the register office in Oxford (Ref. 3a 1504) when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Keen. After the Second World War he met and married Gladys Joan Palumbo on 29^th May 1948, Gladys having been born in Italy in 1922. The wedding ceremony took place at the Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 2002). The couple’s only child was born a year after they were married while they were still living in the Oxford area. It was during the early weeks of 1982 that the death of Wilfred Collett was recorded at Oxford (Ref. 20 2904) when he was 64.

37R3

Roger Anthony Collett

Born in 1949 at Oxford

37Q7

Jessie May Collett was born at Oxford in 1916, the only daughter and the eldest child of Albert Collett and his wife Alice May Strange who were married in Oxford during the previous year. It was at Oxford register office that her birth was recorded (Ref. 3a 1798) during the last three months of 1916, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Strange. Jessie and her family emigrated to New Zealand after her father completed his involvement in the Great War and it was there that she later married and had two children, Barrie and Yvonne. It was also in New Zealand that she died on 19^th December 1984.

37Q8

Wilfred Charles Collett was very likely born at Wairau Bar, near the town of Blenheim in the Marlborough district of the South Island of New Zealand, during 1920, the second child and the eldest of the three sons of Albert and Alice Collett, both of them born in Oxford. After servicing with the military during the First World War, his father took the family to live at Wairau in New Zealand, where his father had been living before the start of the conflict. Wilfred was married to Zelma, with whom he had two children. Apart from this, the only other known fact about him is that his later years were spent at Oyster Bay in Port Underwood in New Zealand, where Wilfred Charles Collett died during 1978.

37R4

John Dennis Collett

Born on 27.04.1946 in New Zealand

37R5

Annette Collett

Born on 10.04.1949 in New Zealand

37Q9

Albert Roland Collett, who was known as Bert, was born at Wairau Bar in Blenheim during 1922, another son of Albert and Alice Collett. Upon being married, Bert had two daughters and a son. During the Second World War, Bert served as an engineer and the photograph here shows him in uniform, with an inset at top left, of his wife Pat, together with their first child, Jenny Collett. This most likely places his wedding day, and the birth of their first child, during the latter years of the war. The photograph was kindly provided by Rachel Collett, Albert’s grand-daughter-in-law. Pat Collett died in July 2013, four years before her husband. Following his death on 16^th August 2017, at the age of 95, he was buried with the ANZACs at the Fairhall Cemetery in Marlborough New Zealand.

37R6

Jenny Collett

Born circa 1944 in New Zealand; died 2015

37R7

Maureen Collett

Date of birth unknown in New Zealand

37R8

Roger Albert Collett

Date of birth unknown in New Zealand

37Q10

Russell Edward Mervyn Collett was born at Wairau Bar in 1925, the last of the four children of Albert Collett and Alice May Strange. He never married, nor had children and, following his death on 3^rd February 1994, at the age of 68, he was buried with his mother Alice, at Omaka Cemetery in Marlborough.

37Q11

George Frederick Collett was born at Toronto in Canada on 7^th September 1924, and it was there also that he died on 23^rd February 1978.

37Q12

Dennis Francis Gerrard Collett was born at 38 St Stephen’s Avenue in Shepherds Bush on 14^th November 1931, his birth recorded at Hammersmith register office (Ref. 1a 235), his mother’s maiden-name confirmed as Dodd. When he was three years old Dennis and his parents moved just around the corner to 167 Goldhawk Road in Shepherds Bush. He attended Brackenbury Primary School in Hammersmith and later St Clement Danes Holborn Estate Grammar School where he gained seven General School Credits (Matriculation Exemption). He was later awarded an Ordinary National Certificate in Electrical Engineering.

Dennis F G Collett married (1) Jenny Kathleen Miller, the event recorded at Hammersmith (Ref. 5c 1788) during the third quarter of 1952. Two months later the couple were presented with twin daughters and they were followed by the four more children for Dennis and Jenny. Shortly after the birth of their last child, the marriage ended. It was during the first three months of 1960 that Dennis married (2) Lily M Parkinson at Morden in Surrey, the event recorded at the Surrey North-Eastern register office (Ref. 5g 1109). Lily Mary Parkinson was born on 26^th November 1933 and was already pregnant with the couple’s first child on her wedding day. The marriage produced five children for the couple, the last child being born when the family was living at 80 Whatley Avenue in the Raynes Park area of south-west London.

Dennis was employed by the British Acoustic Films Laboratory as an acoustics engineer before joining the British Broadcasting Corporation in sound radio. He later worked in BBC Television where he was a video tape editor for which he was awarded a BAFTA in 1983. A dreadful tragedy struck the family in 1987 when their daughter Helen, who was eighteen at the time, was murdered by her boyfriend. That very sad event took place at Merton Park in London on 17^th January 1987.

Dennis retired in 1991 and during his life he was interested in astronomy, photography and playing the piano. In his later life he enjoyed a game of golf and learned to play the flute. He suffered with a form of allergic asthma and developed glaucoma around the time he retired. In 2009 Dennis was living in the Merton Park area of south-west London when he kindly provided some of the details that helped towards the development of this family line.

37R9

Denise Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1952 at Hammersmith

37R10

Lesley Anne Collett

Born in 1952 at Hammersmith

37R11

Gillian Susan Collett

Born in 1954 at Hammersmith

37R12

Richard J M Collett

Born in 1956 at Hatfield, Herts.

37R13

Kim M Collett

Born in 1957 at Kensington

37R14

Jacqueline A Collett

Born in 1959 at Kensington

The following are the children of Dennis Collett by his second wife Lily Mary Parkinson:

37R15

Stephen Paul Collett

Born in 1960 at Carshalton

37R16

Julia Jane Collett

Born in 1961 at Carshalton

37R17

Nicholas Lucian Collett

Born in 1963 at Carshalton

37R18

Helen Rebecca Rose Collett

Born in 1968 at Raynes Park

37R19

Laura Frances Collett

Born in 1971 at Raynes Park

37Q13

Dora Cornelia van der Meer was born at Lambeth in London on 10^th May 1922. She was known as Corrie and lived with her parents until the age of two when her father returned to Holland, leaving his wife and children destitute. Corrie was in a foster care home until the age of five, when her foster mother died. She was then placed in an orphanage named called The Poplars. At the orphanage they referred to her as Dora, using her legal name.

In 1938, at the age of sixteen, her father Gerardus van der Meer, retrieved Corrie from The Poplars and took her to Holland to live with her paternal grandmother, Steintje Stefanna Kok- van der Meer. She lived with her paternal grandmother for a while and then moved in with her father at his hotel in Arnhem in Holland. And it was there that she stayed throughout the war years.

It was on 1^st September 1952 in London that Dora Cornelia van der Meer married Dutchman Joost Hendrik de Rooze, and the following year the couple emigrated to Australia. When they did not settle there, the couple emigrated to the United States of America in 1955. Their marriage produced two children Audrey Catherine de Rooze who was born on 5^th May 1956 and Corry Dina de Rooze who was born on 13^th December 1963, both children being born at San Francisco in California. Joost became a naturalised citizen of the United States in 1964, and Corrie one year later in 1965. Both Joost and Corrie worked in the hospitality industry and lived in several different locations throughout the United States, finally retiring in San Francisco.

Audrey Catherine de Rooze married Jeffrey Benson Adams on 24^th January 1974, and their marriage produced two children, Ryan de Rooze Adams, born on 13^th May 1981 in Des Moines, Iowa, and Lindsey Catherine Adams, born on 29^th April 1987 at Oklahoma City in Oklahoma. Audrey de Rooze Adams divorced Jeffrey Adams in 2010. Audrey and her children currently reside at Tulsa in Oklahoma, and it is thanks to her that the story of her mother can be told.

Corry Dina de Rooze married Daniel Lynn Stewart on 10^th September 1982, but they were divorced in 1984, with no children produced from this union. Corry Dina de Rooze married William Kenneth Kenner in 1995 and was divorced in 1999, again with no children from that union. In 1999, she graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in History. She moved to Seattle, Washington in 1999. Corry Dina de Rooze married William Sylvester Bush III on 5^th June 2002 but was tragically widowed on the following day. She works in the hospitality industry in Seattle, where she remains single with no offspring. Dora Cornelia de Rooze was still living in San Francisco when she died from a brain tumour on 16^th February 1996. Joost Hendrik de Rooze continued to live in San Francisco after the death of his wife, and it was there on 9^th March 2001 that he passed away, the cause of death being GI bleed.

37Q14

Gerard Reginald van der Meer was born at Kingston-on-Thames on 9^th December 1923. From the time the family was abandoned by his father just after he was born, Gerard was fostered by Annie Lydia Dodd who was the mother-in-law of his uncle Reginald Francis Collett. Gerard is known to have married ‘Nolly’ and had three children. He died from a heart attack while in Spain during 1988.

37Q15

Patricia Florence Gridley was born on 31^st March 1931. She was just approaching her nineteenth birthday on 4^th January 1950 when she married (1) John C Potter at Southend, the event recorded at Southend-on-Sea register office (Ref. 4a 1455). The marriage produced two sons for the couple, they being David John Potter who was born in 1953, and Andrew Simon Potter who was born in 1961. At the time of the death of her mother Doris in December 1964, it was Patricia Florence Potter who notified the registrar’s office in Southend of her passing. The death certificate confirmed that Patricia was living at a house named St Anton in Southend Road at Wakering in Essex at that time.

Many years later Patricia married (2) Alan Hodges at Southend on 25^th March 1986. Alan was born at Shoeburyness in Essex on 31^st May 1932 and was the son of Reginald and Florence Hodges. And it was Jennifer Potter of Chelmsford, the daughter of the aforementioned David John Potter, who kindly provided the details relating to her family back to her great-great-grandfather Francis Bertie Collett.

37R1

Graham W Collett was born at Oxford during the third quarter of 1949, one of the twin sons of William Frank Collett and Elizabeth K Gordon, his birth recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 1323), when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Gordon. He later married Andrea C Gardner with whom he had two children. The marriage of Graham and Andrea was recorded at Bullingdon register office (Ref. 6b 3077), near Bicester, during the third quarter of 1970. Once married the couple settled in Oxford, where the births of both of their children were recorded; the first of them (Ref. 20 3028) during the spring of 1974, and (Ref. 20 2677) during the spring of 1976. On both occasions, the children’s mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Gardner.

37S1

Deborah Joanne Collett

Born in 1974 at Oxford

37S2

Paul Nathan Collett

Born in 1976 at Oxford

37R2

Malcolm C Collett was born at Oxford during the third quarter of 1949, the second of the twin sons of William and Elizabeth Collett. The only difference in the registration of his birth, from that of his brother (above), was the line number under the same reference number quoted above. Malcolm C Collett married (1) Berenice H Matthews during the second quarter of 1970, the event recorded at the Witney, Oxfordshire, register office (Ref. 6b 2817). As far as can be determined, Berenice presented Malcolm with two sons while the couple was living in Oxford, where their births were recorded (Ref. 6b 3188 and Ref. 20 2758) respectively in 1973 and 1978. In each case the record also confirmed that the mother’s maiden-name was Matthews. Whether his wife died after the birth of their second child or the couple separated is unknown, but the subsequent marriage of Malcolm C Collett and (2) Anne E Williams was recorded at the Bicester Ploughley register office in 1988 (Ref. 20 3681).

37S3

Adrian Lee Collett

Born in 1973 at Oxford

37S4

Alan James Collett

Born in 1978 at Oxford

37R3

Roger Anthony Collett was born on 28^th June 1949 at the John Radcliffe Maternity Hospital in Oxford, his birth recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 1402), his mother’s maiden-name confirmed as Palumbo. When he was in his early twenties he met and married twenty-year-old Rosemary Elaine Ellams on 16^th October 1971, their wedding recorded at Oxford (Ref. 6b 2333). Rosemary was born on 7^th June 1951 and, after the couple was married, they settled in the village of Aston in Oxfordshire, midway between Faringdon and Witney. And it was while they were living at Aston that both of their children were born. Roger Anthony Collett died on 26^th July 2007 while he was still living in Oxfordshire.

37S5

Samantha Jacey Collett

Born in 1975 at Aston, Oxfordshire

37S6

Kevin Mark Collett

Born in 1978 at Aston, Oxfordshire

37R4

John Dennis Collett was born on 27^th April 1946, the eldest of the two children of Wilfred Charles Collett and his wife Zelma. He was in his late twenties when he married Margaret Anne Lamour who was born on 21^st July 1949, and they had two children.

37S7

Angela Jane Collett

Born on 13.11.1975 in New Zealand

37S8

James John Collett

Born on 01.02.1978 in New Zealand

37R8

Roger Albert Collett was born on 3^rd Mary 1951, was the son of Albert Roland Collett who was born in 1922. Knowing that his father saw active service during the Second World War, it seems highly likely that Roger’s father was married after the war. Roger Albert Collett married Heather Ann Jacques, who was born on 8^th October 1951, during the first half of the 1970s. Heather then presented Roger with three sons who, in the first half of 2019, were aged respectively as 44 years, 36 years and 34 years. One of those sons is married to Rachel Ruby Collett and, it is Rachel, who generously provided the new details and photographs for her husband’s family in 2019.

37S9

Matthew Roger Collett

Born on 09.03.1975 in New Zealand

37S10

Jonathan Edward Collett

Born on 05.05.1982 in New Zealand

37S11

Nicholas James Collett

Born on 05.06.1984 in New Zealand

37R9

Denise Elizabeth Collett was one half of a set of twins born at Hammersmith on 17^th November 1952, the eldest child of Dennis Francis Gerrard Collett and his first wife Jenny Kathleen Miller. It was also at Hammersmith where her birth was recorded (Ref. 5c 770), when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Miller. At some time in her life, she followed her twin sister to Australia since, it was at Brisbane, that Denise Collett married (2) Pat Kelly with whom she had two children. Their daughter Christine Kelly was born on 12^th July 1978, followed by their son Adam Kelly who was born on 12^th November 1982. The records at Hammersmith, also show that Denise E Collett married (1) George J Hawkins, their wedding day recorded there (Ref. 5b 1347) towards the end of 1970, when Denise Elizabeth Collett was only eighteen years of age. If this was her, before she moved to Australia, then Pat Kelly may have been her second husband, as indicated above.

37R10

Lesley Anne Collett was one half of a set of twins born at Hammersmith on 17^th November 1952, with her birth also recorded at Hammersmith (Ref. 5c 770, when her mother’s maiden-name was also confirmed as Miller. Just like her twin sister Denise (above), Lesley also travelled to Australia where she married (1) Mister Pinder at Sydney. The marriage produced one daughter for the couple when Sally Ann Collett-Pinder was born on 25^th April 1971. It would also appear that Lesley later married (2) Christopher Clarke from whom she was subsequently divorced and is still living in Australia. Lesley’s daughter Sally Ann went on to marry Paul Gillen and today they have three children. Sian Kathleen Gillen born on 31^st March 1994, Caitlin Margaret Gillen born on 5^th March 2001, and Niamh Rosean Gillen who was born during October 2004.

37R11

Gillian Susan Collett was born at Hammersmith on 24^th May 1954, the daughter of Dennis Francis George Collett and his first wife Jenny Kathleen Miller, her birth recorded at Hammersmith (Ref. 5c 894) when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Miller. She later married Richard L Ballard, the event recorded at Morden register office in Surrey (Ref. 5d 845) during the last three months of 1971, when Gillian was barely sixteen years old. It seems very likely that Gillian presented Richard with a honeymoon baby within the next nine months, with the birth of their son Paul Richard Ballard, recorded at the London Poplar register office (Ref. 5d 2185) during the second quarter of 1972.

37R12

Richard J M Collett was born at Hatfield in Hertfordshire in 1956, his birth recorded there (Ref. 4b 86) during the second quarter of 1956, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Miller. Richard was around thirty years old when he married Sharon J Arnold, their wedding recorded at the Hertford and Ware register office (Ref. 10 579) during the spring of 1986. The births of both of their daughters were recorded at the Hertfordshire register office in Hatfield (Ref. 10 201) early in 1992 and (Ref. 5321b b77c) during the spring of 1996 and, on both occasions, the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Arnold.

37S12

Sophie Rebecca Collett

Born in 1992 at Hatfield, Hertfordshire

37S13

Lisa Claire Collett

Born in 1996 at Hatfield, Hertfordshire

37R13

Kim M Collett was born in London in 1957 after her parents returned to the city following a short spell living in Hatfield, the fifth child of Dennis and Jenny Collett. Her birth was recorded at Kensington (Ref. 5c 1456) during the third quarter of 1957, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Miller. Not long after she was born, her parents were divorced and her father was remarried in 1960.

37R14

Jacqueline A Collett was born in London, with her birth recorded at Kensington register office (Ref. 5c 1636) during the second quarter of 1959, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Miller. She was the sixth and last child of Dennis Francis Gerard Collett and his first wife Jenny Kathleen Miller. She was one year old when her parents separate and her father remarried. Jacqueline was twenty-six-years-old when her marriage to Steven T Allen was recorded at Wandsworth register office (Ref. 15 563) towards the end of 1986.

37R15

Stephen Paul Collett was born on 24^th May 1960 at 7 Laburnum Avenue in Carshalton within the Sutton district of south-west London. His birth, as Stephen P Collett, was recorded at the Surrey North- Eastern register office (Ref. 5g 644), when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Parkinson. He was the eldest child of Dennis Francis George Collett and his second wife Lily M Parkinson, who were only married a short while before he was born. Stephen later married Anne Mary Saulter who was born on 8^th January 1959, the daughter of Leonard Saulter and Muriel Mary Milford. The wedding took place at Morden in Surrey on 27^th May 1993 and three years later Anne presented Stephen with a son who was born at the St Helier Hospital, just less than a mile from where the couple were living in the family home at 7 Laburnum Avenue in Carshalton. His birth was recorded at Sutton register office (Ref. 2541c c8b), when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Saulter.

37S14

Jonathan Nicholas Collett

Born on 19.08.1996 at Carshalton

37R16

Julia Jane Collett was born at 7 Laburnum Avenue in Carshalton on 26^th December 1961, the eldest daughter of Dennis Collett and his second wife Lily Parkinson. The record of her birth was registered at the Surrey North Eastern register office (Ref. 5g 785), when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Parkinson. When almost thirty years old, she married Paul Thistleton at Canterbury in Kent on 15^th June 1991. Paul was born on 17^th June 1956 and was the son of Lawrence Thistleton and Patricia Elaine Parks. During the following decade Julia presented her husband with four children. They were Thomas William Thistleton born on 27^th November 1992, Emily Scarlett Thistleton born on 24^th August 1994, Lucinda Grace Thistleton born on 5^th August 1996 and Alice Cordelia Thistleton who was born on 8^th February 1998.

37R17

Nicholas Lucian Collett was born in Carshalton at 7 Laburnum Avenue on 25^th June 1963, his birth recorded at the Surrey North Eastern register office (Ref. 5g 760), when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Parkinson. He later married Julia Louise King the daughter of William Brit King and Lynda Willis. The wedding took place in the village of Broughton north-east of Huntingdon on 28^th July 1990. It would appear that the couple initially lived in the Wandsworth area of London, where their first child was born, before settling in the Cambridgeshire village of Hilton near Fen Stanton, south-east of Huntingdon. And it was there that the family was living at The Paddocks when the couple’s two youngest children were born, their births recorded at nearby Huntingdon.

37S15

Bethany Rose Collett

Born in 1991 at Wandsworth, London

37S16

William Edward Palmer Collett

Born in 1995 at Hilton, Cambs.

37S17

Beatrice Olive Collett

Born in 1997 at Hilton, Cambs.

37R18

Helen Rebecca Rose Collett was possibly born at 80 Whatley Avenue between Raynes Park on 23^rd October 1968, whose birth was recorded at Merton register office (Ref. 5d 4760/s), where her mother’s maiden-name confirmed as Parkinson. She was a much-loved child of Dennis and Lily Collett, who was tragically killed by her boyfriend at Merton Park on 17^th January 1987 when she was only eighteen years of age.

37R19

Laura Frances Collett was born at 80 Whatley Avenue in Raynes Park on 12^th May 1971, the last child of Dennis Francis Gerrard Collett and his second wife Lily Mary Parkinson. Her birth was recorded at the London Borough of Merton register office (Ref. 5d 1595) during the second quarter of 1971, where her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Parkinson. She was twenty-two when she married John Milton at Morden in Surrey on 17^th September 1993, the event also recorded at Merton register office (Ref. 14 835). John was the son of Kenneth Gilbertson Milton and Vera Barnett and was twelve years older than Laura, having been born on 18^th June 1959. Just over a month after they were married, Laura presented her husband with the first of their three children. He was Henry James Milton who was born on 31^st October 1993. The two following children were Rebecca Rose Milton born on 19^th November 1995 and Charles Edward Milton who was born on 7^th September 1999.

37S5

Samantha Jacey Collett was born at Aston in Oxfordshire on 25^th August 1975, although her birth was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 20 3464), when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Ellams. It is possible that she was the Samantha J Collett who married David J Anthony during the summer of 2002, the event recorded at the South Gloucestershire register office (Ref. 304 0598).

37S6

Kevin Mark Collett was born at Aston on 1^st March 1978, his birth recorded in Oxford (Ref. 20 2926) when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Ellams. After the turn of the century Kevin met Lynda June Davies who was born at Bromsgrove in Worcestershire on 27^th May 1979. The couple were later married at St Peters Church in Kinver near Stourbridge in the West Midlands on 2^nd September 2006. It was Lynda’s father Martin Davies (1956-2016) who kindly provided the vast majority of the information in this Collett family line and that of Part 38 – The Oxford Stonemasons Line (Wolvercote) which is his own Collett family line.

37S15

Bethany Rose Collett was born in London on 30^th November 1991, her birth recorded at Wandsworth register office (Ref. 15 1992), when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as King.

37S16

William Edward Palmer Collett was born in Cambridgeshire on 9^th May 1995 when his family was living in the village of Hilton near Fen Stanton, the birth recorded at Huntingdon register office (Ref. 3331a f29a) where his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as King.

37S17

Beatrice Olive Collett was born at Hilton in Cambridgeshire on 12^th August 1997 with her birth also recorded at Huntingdon register office (Ref. 3331a g2a), her mother’s maiden-name confirmed as King.