Part 38 The Oxford Stonemasons Line (Combe)

PART THIRTY-EIGHT

The Oxford Stonemasons Line

Updated July 2023

By May 2010 the size of this file was such that it was too large for emailing. It was therefore decided to separate the details and provide two files, one for the village of Combe and one for the village of Wolvercote

As the title indicates, this line is inextricably linked to the prominent family occupation of being stonemasons and affects the families in the Oxfordshire villages of Combe and Wolvercote. There are clues that perhaps suggest the families in these two villages are related, but for now they are shown as two separate families.


SECTION TWO – COMBE (1730 to 2010)

In order to avoid any conflict or confusion with the Colletts in Section One – Wolvercote, this section is distinguished from it by the use of a corresponding lower-case middle reference letter

The first link to Section One – Wolvercote occurs with James Collett (Ref. 38m8), the youngest son of Thomas and Elizabeth Collett of Combe, who start this section. In addition to this, other links between the two branches of the family were later established in 1847, through the marriage of Ann Collett (Ref. 38o11) and Matthew Collett (Ref. 38N6), and more recently in 1930 through the marriage of Kathleen Grace Ellen Collett (Ref. 38q61) and Cyril Edward Collett (Ref. 38Q27), the parents of Wendy Kathleen Rattray nee Collett, who kindly provided the details of her family.

Stone was quarried at Combe in the 18^th century and probably earlier for local use. The stone pit at the south-east edge of Peagle Wood was worked in the mid-18^thcentury by William Baggs, in the latter part of 18^th century and the earlier years of the 19^th century by John Loyt or Lloyd, and subsequently by the COLLETT family, while the quarry seems to have fallen into disuse in the early 20^th century. In the second half of the 19^th century, around 15 stonemasons were regularly recorded living in Combe, nearly all of them with the name Collett, some probably working in the larger quarries at nearby Bladon and Hanborough. In total there are NINETEEN members of this Collett family who were stonemasons throughout the whole of the nineteenth century.

The start of this section, and the order of appearance of the early members of the family and their referencing, has been further complicated by the life of William Collett (Ref. 38n5) whose widow Phoebe married William’s cousin Richard Collett (Ref. 38n9) who subsequently married his late wife’s sister Rachel. Wherever the baptism of a child at Combe is mentioned, this will have taken place at the Church of St Laurence, on Church Walk in the village.


38l1	THOMAS COLLETT was born possibly around 1733 although no actual record of his birth or baptism has so far been located. What is known is that he married Elizabeth who was born around 1742 but, yet again, no record has been found relating to the date or the place where their marriage took place. What is known is that their children were born and baptised at Combe in Oxfordshire, as confirmed by the parish register. The village of Combe lies just north of Long Hanborough and to the west of Blenheim Palace at Woodstock.

	The burial records for Combe confirm Thomas died at 83 years of age and was buried at Combe on 8^th March 1816. His wife Elizabeth survived for a further thirteen years and was also buried at Combe on 27^th December 1829 aged 87. A recent discovery has revealed that a Thomas Collett was baptised on 19^th November 1732 at Enstone, less than five miles from Combe, the baptism record confirming that he was the son of Thomas and Sarah Collett.

	38m1	Joseph Collett		Born in 1768 at Combe
	38m2	Rose Collett		Born in 1770 at Combe
	38m3	John Collett		Born in 1771 at Combe
	38m4	Elizabeth Collett		Born in 1773 at Combe
	38m5	Rhoda Collett		Born in 1776 at Combe
	38m6	Anthony Collett		Born in 1778 at Combe
	38m7	Robert Collett		Born in 1781 at Combe
	38m8	JAMES COLLETT		Born in 1784 at Combe


38m1	Joseph Collett was born at Combe in 1768, where he was baptised on 14^th August 1768, the eldest child of Thomas and Elizabeth Collett, although the surname was recorded as Collatt. He later married Rachel Collier at Combe on 13^th June 1791 and it was later that same year that their first child was born at Combe. Rachel died in 1835 at the age of 76 and was buried at Combe on 3^rd May 1835. In the first national census, conducted on 6^th June 1841, only approximate ages were recorded for adults, usually rounded to the nearest five years. So, on that occasion, the Combe census included Joseph Collett with a rounded age of 70, who was living there alone. He was a stonemason living a few doors from his stonemason brother Anthony (below), while living nearby was his eldest married son Edward and his wife Elizabeth. Joseph survived as a widower for another twelve years after the death of Rachel before he died and was buried at Combe on 12^th May 1847.

	38n1	Amy Collett		Born in 1791 at Combe
	38n2	Edward Collett		Born in 1793 at Combe
	38n3	Elizabeth Collett		Born in 1795 at Combe
	38n4	Thomas Collett		Born in 1797 at Combe
	38n5	William Collett		Born in 1799 at Combe


38m2	Rose Collett was born at Combe in 1770, and it was there that she was baptised on 3^rd February 1771, the eldest daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Collet, although the surname was recorded as Collar. Rose Collett married Samuel Winchester on the 30^th June 1794 at North Hinksey near Oxford, when she was described as a lodger living in the St Clements district of Oxford. Their first two children were Elizabeth Winchester who was born in 1796, and Rhoda Winchester who was born in 1799. Both daughters were baptised at St James Church in the Cowley area of Oxford, when their parents were confirmed as Samuel and Rose Winchester. Elizabeth was baptised during May in 1796, while Rhoda was baptised on 18^th August 1799.

	It is also understood that Rose presented Samuel with at least two sons, Joseph Winchester who was born in 1803, and Samuel Winchester who was born in 1810, both born in Oxford. At the time of the census in 1841, Rose Winchester, aged 70, was a widow living at New Street in the St Ebbs district of Oxford, with her son Joseph and his family. Joseph was 35, his wife Mary was 25, and their children were Henry who was nine, Sarah who was five, Jane who was three, and Charles who was two. Joseph had originally married (1) Maria Petty with whom he had Henry Petty Winchester prior to her death. Joseph had then married the much younger (2) Mary who was the mother of his three younger children in 1841.

	Rose’s other son Samuel was also living in Oxford, where he was 34 and his wife Emily was 24. On that occasion they had one child, their son James who was one year old. And it was four years after that, when Rose Winchester nee Collett died in Oxford during 1845. By the time of the next census in 1851 Joseph Winchester, aged 47, was still living in Oxford wife his wife Mary who was 37, and four of their youngest children, Jane who was 13, Charles who was 11, Joseph who was nine, and James who was four years old.

	A Samuel Winchester born in Oxford around 1811, who was a gardener’s labourer, was living at 9 Carters Yard in St Aldates Oxford in 1881 when he was 69. His wife was Emily Winchester, aged 60 from Oxford, who was a charwoman. Living with the couple was their Oxford born grandson, Alfred Simons (or Simeons), who was an errand boy at the age of 15. It was Rhoda Winchester, the daughter of Rose Winchester nee Collett, via her lineage through the Buckett family and the Brown family, that was the ancestor of Gillian Shaw who provided much of the detail for the April 2011 update of this family line.

	As regards the aforementioned Henry Petty Winchester, who was absent from the family home in 1851, he had already sailed to New Zealand on the first of four immigrant ships bound for the Canterbury province. He was on the ‘Charlotte Jane’ which left Plymouth on 7^th September 1850 and arrived at Lyttelton on 16^th December 1850. He was with three other printers sent out from Oxford to set up a newspaper. The Canterbury Association decided that the new colony should have a newspaper and made arrangements with Ingram Shrimpton to send out his son John, aged 17, with three printing hands, a small press, and all the other bits and pieces necessary to produce a paper. A wooden building was erected in Lyttelton and was divided into three rooms for composing, editorial and press. The first Lyttelton Times was published on Saturday 11^th January 1851.

	It was two years later that Henry married Sarah Anne Hamilton in Wellington on 3^rd January 1853. They were only married for thirteen years when Henry died when he was 35 years old at Dunedin in New Zealand on 8^th January 1866. Following that sad event his widow remarried and it is believed that Henry's sons were left to fend for themselves. Henry Petty Winchester was the great great grandfather of Jane McQuin of New Zealand, the daughter of Dorothy Elizabeth Winchester, who kindly provided the details of his short life.


38m3	John Collett was born at Combe around 1771, although no actual record has been found to confirm or deny that he was the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Collett of Combe. He married Mary Busby at All Saints Church in Oxford on 4^th May 1785 at which time he was listed as ‘John Collett from Combe’. Both of the couple’s two known children, listed below, were born and baptised at Combe. In view of the time interval between the birth dates of their daughters it is very likely that there were other children born to John and Mary during that decade.

	38n6	Jane Collett		Baptised on 22.10.1792 at Combe
	38n7	Rose Collett		Baptised on 29.11.1801 at Combe


38m4	Elizabeth Collett was born at Combe in 1773, and was baptised there on 5^th September 1773, the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Collett, although the surname was recorded as Collier.


38m5	Rhoda Collett was born at Combe in 1776, where she was baptised on 21^st July 1776, the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Collett.


38m6	Anthony Collett was born at Combe where he was baptised on 25^th December 1778, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Collett. According to the parish register, the Bishop’s Transcripts and the IGI, Anthony Collett married Martha Hathaway on 19^th September 1808 at Bletchingdon, six miles to the east of Combe. It should be mentioned that Bletchingdon was also known at Bletchington, both names being used in later census records, but referring to the same Oxfordshire village. The couple’s first child was born in the following year and was baptised at Combe on 13^th August 1809. The parish register recorded in error the child’s name as “Anthony Colcutt, the son of Anthony and Martha” but it must be assumed that it was an error in the handwriting. All of Anthony and Martha’s subsequent children were also born and baptised at Combe.

	The census in 1841 recorded the family having rounded ages living at Long Combe (Combe Longa) as Anthony who was 60, Martha who was 50, Richard who was 25, as was John, Charles who was 20, and James who was 15. Their eldest son Anthony had already left the family home by then, and was married with a family of his own living nearby. There were two younger children with Anthony and Martha and they were Martha Collett who was seven, and Abraham Collett who was five years of age They were the two surviving children of their married and widowed son Richard by his late wife Phoebe, who died shortly after the birth of their third child in 1839. By 1851 Anthony was 72 and a mason still living in Combe with his wife Martha aged 62 from Bletchington, who still had living there with them their unmarried son Charles Collett who was 32. It was just less than two years later that the death of Anthony Collett was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 413) during the first three months of 1853.

	38n8	Anthony Collett			Born in 1809 at Combe
	38n9	Richard Collett (see also Ref. 38n5)			Born in 1811 at Combe
	38n10	John Collett			Born in 1816 at Combe
	38n11	Charles Collett			Born in 1818 at Combe
	38n12	Robert Collett			Born in 1821 at Combe
	38n13	a son Collett			Born in 1822 at Combe
	38n14	James Collett			Born in 1824 at Combe


38m7	Robert Collett was born at Combe where he was baptised on 25^th May 1781, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Collett. He was a mason and he married Elizabeth around 1804/05 with whom he had four children. Sadly, it was only their daughter who survived beyond childhood. The family of three continued to live at Combe, where Robert carried on his work as a mason up until 1840, when Robert and Elizabeth discovered that their unmarried daughter was with-child. As an established and respected family of Combe, it was very likely the shame and embarrassment of their situation that resulted in the family of four leaving Combe and moving into the Summertown area of Oxford, where the child was born before the end of 1840.

	A few months later, the census in 1841 recorded the family of four living on Woodstock Road in Summertown, where Robert was 60, Elizabeth was 64, their daughter Esther was 29 and their granddaughter was about six months old. Eight years later, the death of Elizabeth Collett was recorded at Headington (Ref. xvi 49) during the second quarter of 1849.

	That situation was confirmed in the next census of 1851, when once again Robert was still living in the St Giles district of Oxford to the north of the city centre, which includes Woodstock Road. At that time, he was described as being 70 years of age and a widower and a mason from Combe. Living with him was his daughter Esther Collett who was 37 and from Combe who, with no stated occupation, was very likely keeping house for her elderly father. Also listed with Robert and Esther, and inaccurately described the daughter of Henry Collett, was Leah Collett who was 10 years of age and whose place of birth was recorded Summertown.

	38n15	George Collett		Born in 1805 at Combe
	38n16	Charles Collett		Born in 1808 at Combe
	38n17	Hester Collett		Born in 1810 at Combe
	38n18	Robert Collett		Born in 1813 at Combe


38m8	JAMES COLLETT was born at Combe in 1784 and it was there that he was baptised on 7^th November 1784, the youngest child of Thomas and Elizabeth Collett. He was a stonemason, a trade that was passed along to at least four of his five sons. He married Mary Ladson at St Ebbes in Oxford on 16^th April 1809. Mary was born at Wolvercote in 1786 where she was baptised on 26^th March 1786. Wolvercote lies immediately to the north of the City of Oxford and it was there that the couple set up home and where all nine of their children were born and baptised.

	*For the continuation of this family line see SECTION ONE – WOLVERCOTE (Ref. 38M8)*


38n1	Amy Collett was baptised at Combe on 20^th November 1791. Amy never married and died at the age of 27 and was buried at Combe on 4^th April 1819.


38n2	Edward Collett was born in 1793 and was believed to have been the son of Joseph Collett. It is understood that Edward was married twice, the first time recorded in the Combe Parish Register when he married (1) Mary Woods on 2^nd February 1818, Mary having been born around 1796. Further parish register confirmation was recorded during the following year, for the baptism of a son to Edward Collett, a mason, and his wife Mary. The child was born in mid-December that same year and virtually nine months after their wedding day. Tragically, the child survived for only four weeks and it may have been that event that prompted Edward and Mary to leave Combe. It may also have been at that time when Edward ceased to work in the family business as a stonemason.

	A subsequent entry in the parish records indicated that Edward’s wife died and was buried at Combe on 20^th August 1823 aged 27. It would therefore seem very likely that Mary died either shortly after or during the birth of their daughter Elizabeth in 1823, who did survive. Neither the child’s birth, nor her baptism, was recorded in the parish register at Combe. It must therefore be assumed that, following the death and burial at Combe of their first child in January 1819, Edward and Mary moved away from the village to live elsewhere, where their daughter Elizabeth was born and baptised.

	Six months after the death of his wife, Edward married (2) Elizabeth Gunnis at Oxford St Aldates on 28^th February 1824. It maybe that it was at Oxford where Edward and his late wife Mary were living at the time of the birth of their daughter Elizabeth. And that also may have been the birth place of daughter Mary, Edward’s third child and his first child with his second wife Elizabeth. Certainly, it has been confirmed that the child was not born or baptised at Combe. It was, however, to Combe that Edward and Elizabeth returned with their two daughters around 1826 and it was there that their remaining seven children were born. It was also there where Edward worked as a baker rather than as a stonemason, his previous occupation before leaving the village seven years earlier.

	Fifteen years later, the 1841 census confirmed the family was living at Long Combe, where Edward was listed as being a baker aged 45, his wife Elizabeth was 40, Edward’s two eldest daughters Elizabeth and Mary were both aged 15, while the younger children, starting with Jane, were 13, Fanny 12, Henry 10, Joseph who was eight, Emma who was five and William who was two years old. Up until now, it was established that both Edward and his brother Thomas (below) had a daughter Mary, although later on, only one of them was still living. It is now assumed that the death of Mary Collett, recorded at Woodstock in 1849, was in fact the daughter of Edward Collett by his second wife Elizabeth Gunnis.

	By the time of the next Combe census in 1851 more accurate records were made, thus Edward was then aged 57 and working as a baker and his wife Elizabeth was 53. Missing from the family were Edward’s two eldest children Elizabeth and Mary, the latter having died two years earlier. On the other hand, Elizabeth was a visitor at the Combe home of mason Moses Busby and it was her niece Julia Collett, daughter of Elizabeth’s unmarried stepsister Fanny Collett, who later married into the Busby family. The remainder of Edward and Elizabeth’s Combe born children were confirmed by both the Combe parish records and the census records and, in 1851, they were Jane who was 23, Fanny who was 21, Joseph who was 17, Emma who was 15 and William who was 12. With unmarried daughter Fanny, was her base-born daughter Julia Collett who was eight months old. Also staying with the family that day, was Edward’s niece Mary Collett aged 23 and a glove maker of Combe, the youngest daughter of Edward’s brother William Collett (below). Glove maker and gloveress were a very regular occupation for the girls and ladies living in the area of Woodstock – see Historical note below.

	Rather curiously, no record of any member of the family has been found or identified with the general census conducted in 1861. However, it was during the following year that the death of Elizabeth Collett, nee Gunnis was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 404) during the first quarter of 1862.

	It is known that Edward’s sons Joseph and William both followed in their father’s footsteps and worked as bakers during their lives. It has also been established that baker Edward Collett was still alive in 1871, by which time he was a widower at the age of 77, when living with him at Combe were his two unmarried daughters Jane Collett, who was 40 and Emma Collett who was 33. Completing the family group was Edward’s three-year-old grandson Harold William Collett who had been born at Woodstock, whose mother had died around the time he was born. He was the third child of Edward’s widowed son Henry Collett who married for a second time in 1872. The death of Edward Collett, baker of Combe, was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 421) during the final three months of 1876, when he was 83.

	Historical Note: In nearby Woodstock there were two established and well-respected companies involved in the production of gloves. These were the Savernake Glove Factory and the Pullmans Glove Factory. The gloves made by the workers at these factories were of the highest quality and were made for the likes of the Lord Mayor of London and members of the royal family.

	38o1	John Collett		Born in 1818 at Combe
	38o2	Elizabeth Collett		Born in 1823 at Oxford?
	The following are the children of Edward Collett by his second wife Elizabeth Gunnis:
	38o3	Mary Collett		Born in 1825 at Oxford?
	38o4	Jane Collett		Born in 1827 at Combe
	38o5	Fanny Collett		Born in 1829 at Combe
	38o6	Henry Collett		Born in 1831 at Combe
	38o7	Joseph Collett		Born in 1833 at Combe
	38o8	Emma Collett		Born in 1836 at Combe
	38o9	William Collett		Born in 1838 at Combe


38n3	Elizabeth Collett was born in 1795 as confirmed by the Combe Burial Register which stated that she was buried on 22^nd December 1821 aged 26. In addition, the stray baptism records also reveal that she had a base-born daughter Rachel, who was named after Elizabeth’s mother, who presumably cared for the child after Elizabeth had died.

	38o10	Rachel Collett		Baptised on 13.12.1818


38n4	Thomas Collett was born at Combe in 1797. He married Sophia Smith at Combe on 20^th October 1820 at a time when Sophia was pregnant with Thomas’ child. A few days after the wedding Sophia gave birth to a daughter who was baptised at Combe on 29^th October 1820. All of the couple’s other children were also born and baptised at Combe, where the family was living in 1841 at Long Combe, and again in 1851. In 1841 Thomas and Sophia had rounded ages of 40, while their children were listed in the census as being John and Mary both 15, Elizabeth 12, William 10, Jane who was seven, Thomas who was three, and Charles who was two years of age.

	According to the next census for Combe, conducted in 1851, the family comprised Thomas Collett who was 53 and a mason - confirming that he was born at Combe in 1797, his wife Sophia Collett from Hampton was 52, and with him were six of his eight children, only eldest daughters Ann and Mary were missing. Both had already left the family home, Ann four years earlier to married Matthew Collett (Ref. 38N6) of Wolvercote in 1847, while no record of Mary has yet been found in that year, even though she was living in Combe later on in her life. The other six children were recorded as John aged 28, Elizabeth aged 22, William aged 20, Jane aged 16, Thomas who was 13 and Charles who was 10.

	No record of Thomas Collett or his wife Sophia has been found within the census returns for 1861, even though both of them were still alive on that day. The death of Sophia Collett nee Smith was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 396) during the second quarter of 1867, when she was 69, and it was during the following year that the death of Thomas Collett was also recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 398) in the last three months of 1868 at the age of 72, he having passed away on 4^th November that year. Probate of the Will of Thomas Collett, a mason of Combe, was proved at Oxford on 31^st December 1868, when Charles Collett, a mason, and Enoch Stoker, a servant, both of Combe, were named as the executors of his personal effects valued at under £200.

	38o11	Ann Collett		Born in 1820 at Combe
	38o12	John Collett		Born in 1822 at Combe
	38o13	Mary Collett		Born in 1825 at Combe
	38o14	Elizabeth Collett		Born in 1828 at Combe
	38o15	William Collett		Born in 1831 at Combe
	38o16	Jane Collett		Born in 1834 at Combe
	38o17	Thomas Collett		Born in 1837 at Combe
	38o18	Charles Collett		Born in 1839 at Combe


38n5	William Collett was born around 1799 and, although not confirmed, he seems very likely to have been the brother of Thomas Collett (above). He married Phoebe Woodward at Combe on 9^th November 1822 and the marriage produced five children for the couple before William’s untimely death in 1827. Phoebe was baptised at Combe on 29^th October 1800, the daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Woodward. She may also have been a cousin to Rachel Woodward (below).

	38o19	Emma Collett	Baptised on 08.02.1823 at Combe
	38o20	Sophia Collett	Baptised on 14.11.1824 at Combe
	38o21	Elizabeth Amy Collett	Baptised on 06.03.1826 at Combe
	38o22	John Collett twin	Baptised on 18.09.1827 at Combe
	38o23	Mary Collett twin	Baptised on 18.09.1827 at Combe

	Tragically, William died as the result of an accident while at work. The Combe parish burial record confirmed that he died and was buried on 29^th October 1827 aged 28. The register has the added comment that he was killed by a fall of rubble while working in a quarry closely adjoining the village of Combe. Five years after his death, Phoebe married for a second time when she married the much younger Richard Collett at St Aldates in Oxford on 15^th July 1833 and with whom she had a further three children as listed below. Richard was her late husband’s cousin (Ref. 38n9).

	38o24	Martha Collett	Baptised on 02.02.1834 at Combe
	38o25	Abraham Collett	Baptised on 05.07.1835 at Combe
	38o26	Jane Collett	Baptised on 05.10.1837 at Combe

	That second marriage for Phoebe lasted just six years, her death coming only four months after the death of their third and last child. The death of Phoebe Collett was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. xvi 88) during the third quarter of 1839, following which Phoebe was buried at Combe on 25^th August 1839 aged 38. Phoebe’s widowed husband Richard Collett (below) was, by the time of the 1841 census, back living with his parents Anthony and Martha in Combe. With him were his two surviving children Martha who was seven and Abraham who was five. It has not yet been established where the children of William and Phoebe were at that time.

*38n9*	Richard Collett was baptised at Combe on 3^rd November 1811 where he had been born earlier that same year, the second child of Anthony Collett and Martha Hathaway. He married (1) the widow Mrs Phoebe Collett formerly Phoebe Woodward (above) who was eleven years older than Richard. Phoebe came into the marriage with the five children from her first marriage to William Collett (1799-1827) who was Richard’s older cousin (see details above).

	Following her death, and having lived with his two children at the home of his parents in Combe for two and a half years, Richard also married for a second time. That took place at Combe sometime during the summer of 1843, the event recorded at Woodstock (Ref. xvi 217), the lady being (2) Rachel Woodward who was ten years younger than Richard and very likely related to his first wife. The marriage was recorded in the Woodstock parish register. Rachel was born at Long Hanborough near Combe in 1822 and Richard brought to the marriage the two surviving children from his first marriage, Martha and Abraham. His marriage to Rachel produced a further four children, all of them born at Combe, the first being born during the year following their wedding.

	By the time of the census in 1851 the family living at Combe comprised Richard Collett who was 38, Rachel Collett who was 27, stepdaughter Martha Collett who was 17, stepson Abraham who was 15, William Collett who was six and Amelia Collett who was only eight months old, who died shortly after. Just over five years later Richard Collett died at Combe aged 44 and was buried there on 4^th February 1856, just a week after his latest child was baptised. On losing their youngest daughter, the couple’s last child was given the same name, her birth recorded at Woodstock during the same quarter of 1856 as the death of Richard Collett (Ref. 3a 365) in the first quarter of the year. The child was baptised at Combe church, just one week before her father was buried there.

	No record of the family has been found in 1861 and fifteen years after his death, the Combe census in 1871 revealed that his widow Rachel Collett was 48 and had living with her, her stepdaughter, Martha Collett who was 37, while her unmarried son William Collett was 26. After a further ten years Rachel Collett of Long Hanborough was a widow aged 58 whose occupation was that of a glove maker, while she was still living in the village of Combe. Still living there with her was her son William Collett a bachelor and a general labourer aged 36 who was born at Combe, and her stepdaughter Martha Collett, another glove maker, who was 47 and also from Combe. The same three members of the family were still together on the day of the census in 1891, recorded as residing at Church Street in Combe. Rachel survived her husband by thirty-eight years before she died and was buried at Combe on 22^nd November 1894, her death recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 459) at the age of 70.

	Footnote: Sarah Woodward, who was born in 1812, married James Collett (Ref. 38N2) in Wolvercote during 1833. It is possible that Phoebe Woodward, who was born in 1801, was her sister, while Rachel Woodward, who was born in 1822 may have been their cousin.

	38o27	William Collett		Baptised on 26.05.1844 at Combe
	38o28	Sarah Anne Collett		Baptised on 12.04.1846 at Combe
	38o29	Amelia Collett		Baptised on 11.08.1850 at Combe
	38o30	Amelia Jane Collett		Baptised on 27.01.1856 at Combe


38n8	Anthony Collett was baptised at Combe on 13^th August 1809 where he was born that same year, the eldest child of Anthony Collett and Martha Hathaway. He was a stonemason and he married Sarah Mary Edgington at Combe on 13^th August 1838, the marriage recorded at Woodstock (Ref. xvi 161). Sarah was born at Bledington in Gloucestershire in 1818 and was the daughter of baker Richard Edgington. All bar one of their children was born while the family was living at Combe, where they were still living in 1851. However, ten years earlier, the Long Combe census of 1841 listed the family as Anthony Collett with a rounded age of 30, Sarah Collett with a rounded age of 20, and daughters Jane Collett who was one and Eliza Collett who had only just been born. Staying with the family was day was Sarah’s mother Jane Edgington and William Hathaway. By 1851, Anthony Collett was 41 and a mason, Sarah M Collett was 33, Jane Collett was 11, Eliza Collett was 10, Rhoda Collett was eight, Richard Collett was seven, Robert Collett was five and Mary E Collett was two years of age.

	Sometime thereafter they moved to Oxford and initially settled in Summertown, to the north of the city centre, where the last of the couple’s children was born. In 1861 the family living at Grove Street in Summertown comprised Anthony aged 51 and a mason, his wife Sarah aged 42, Eliza 19, Rhoda 18, Richard 16, Robert 15, Mary E Collett 12, Anthony who was nine, and Emily S Collett who was four years old and born at Summertown. The couple’s eldest daughter Jane Collett was 21 and was already living and working in Oxford by then. Ten years later mason Anthony was 61 and Sarah was 53 and they only had their three youngest children living with them at Summertown on the occasion of the 1871 census. They were Mary E Collett who was 23, Anthony Collett who was 19 and Emily S Collett who was 13. Sometime after that the family moved to the Cowley area of Oxford.

	It was at Magdalen Road in the Cowley that the family was living at the time of the 1881 census. By then son Anthony had left the family home leaving Anthony aged 71, whose occupation was confirmed as a stonemason, his wife Sarah M Collett aged 63 and their two youngest unmarried daughters. Mary E Collett, a milliner and dressmaker, was 32 and born at Combe, and Emily S Collett was a dressmaker’s assistant aged 23 and born at Summertown. The couple’s sons had left home to be married between 1862 and 1866 and their daughter Rhoda had living quarters at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford, where she was working.

	The death of Anthony Collett was recorded at Headington (Ref. 3a 575) during the first three months of 1890, when he was 80 years old. One year later his widow, Sarah M Collett aged 73, was living on Charles Street in Cowley with her two unmarried daughters Mary and Emily, and Sarah’s grandson Thomas A Collett who was 12 years of age and the sixth child of her son Richard Edgington Collett. It should be recorded that the Collett Family Bible of John Collett of Combe, dated 1845, held by Hilary J Collett (Ref. 38r23), contains the name of Mary E Collett of Charles Street in Oxford, where Anthony – her father - was living when he died. Which John Collett of Combe owned the Bible has yet to be determined.

	38o31	Jane Collett		Born in 1839 at Combe
	38o32	Eliza Collett		Born in 1841 at Combe
	38o33	Rhoda Collett		Born in 1843 at Combe
	38o34	Richard Edgington Collett		Born in 1844 at Combe
	38o35	Robert Collett		Born in 1846 at Combe
	38o36	Mary Elizabeth Collett		Born in 1848 at Combe
	38o37	Anthony Collett		Born in 1851 at Combe
	38o38	Emily Sarah Collett		Born in 1857 at Summertown, Oxford


38n9	Richard Collett was born at Combe where he was baptised on 3^rd November 1811, the second child of Anthony Collett and Martha Hathaway. Whilst he was actually nearer thirty years old on the day of the census in 1841, Richard was given a rounded age of 25, the same as his younger brother John (below). Because he later married (1) Phoebe Collett nee Woodward, the widow and former wife of his cousin William Collett (Ref. 38n5), the continuation of his complicated family line is fully described under Ref. 38n5.


38n10	John Collett was born at Combe where he was baptised on 5^th May 1816, another son of Anthony and Martha Collett. He had a rounded age of 25 in 1841, when the census that year placed him and his family living at Long Combe. It was a little over seven years later that the marriage of John Collett and Sarah Winchester was recorded at Oxford (Ref. xvi 181) during the third quarter of 1848. On the day of the next census in 1851 the recently married couple was residing in the Iffley area of south-west Oxford, where Sarah’s elderly widowed father James Winchester, from Iffley, was living with them aged 88. John Collett was from Long Combe was a stonemason of 34 years and his wife Sarah was described as being 43, born at Iffley, whose occupation was that of a shop keeper.

	The pair of them were still living in Iffley village in 1861, when John was 44 and a mason and Sarah was 53 and a mason’s wife. Both John and Sarah have not been identified in the census of 1871 even though they were again recorded in the Iffley census of 1881. Stonemason John Collett was 64 and his wife Sarah was 73. Three years after that the death of John Collett was recorded at Headington (Ref. 3a 444) during the third quarter of 1884, aged 68, and was followed by his widow a few months later. The death of Sarah Collett, nee Winchester, was also recorded at Heading (Ref. 3a 508) during the first three months of 1885. They were both buried in the graveyard at the Church of St Mary the Virgin on Mill Lane in Iffley; John Collett on 15^th September 1884, and four months later Sarah Collett aged 79 on 28^th January 1885.


38n11	Charles Collett was baptised at Combe on 1^st November 1818 where he was born and where he lived and worked all his life as a stonemason. He was described as being 20 years old in the census of 1841, when he was still living with his family at Long Combe. During the three months from October to December 1863 he married Ann Blake who was also born at Combe in 1818 and whose occupation was that of a glove maker like other female members of the family.

	Charles had a rounded age of 20 in the Combe census of 1841 when living with his family at Long Combe while, ten years later, he was the only member of his family residing with his parents in Combe. By then he was unmarried and 32 years old when he was working with his elderly father as a mason. Where he was in 1861 has not been discovered, but it was two years later when the marriage of Charles Collett and Ann Blake was recorded at Oxford (Ref. 3a 1083) during the final quarter of 1863.

	According to the next census in 1871, Charles and Ann were both 52 years old and born at Combe where they were living and where Charles was a stonemason and Ann was a glovemaker. Listed with the couple was Ann’s mother Ann Blake aged 81 and Ann’s sister Jane Blake who was 40, both of them born at Combe. The census return also revealed that Ann Collett and Ann Blake were both blind. Ten years later according to the 1881 census both were still living at Combe and their home at that time was within the premises known as the grocer’s shop in the village. Charles was aged 62 as was Ann. Living with them was Ann’s unmarried sister Jane Blake who was aged 50 and of Combe and who was another glove maker. Also living at the grocer’s shop but separately from the Colletts, was retired baker William Blake aged 52 of Combe, the brother of Ann and Jane, together with his wife Charlotte aged 56 of Combe.

	In addition to all of that, the actual grocer’s shop was, at that time, being managed and run by John Walker aged 38 and his wife Mary Ann aged 40 of Stadhampton in Oxfordshire and their daughter Clara, who was the grocer’s assistant aged 15 and born at Eynsham. John Walker was the older brother of Thomas Walker who married Emily Sarah Collett (Ref. 38o38).


38n12	Robert Collett was born at Combe near the end of 1821 and was baptised there on 16^th February 1822, but died shortly thereafter and was buried at Combe on 5^th March 1822.


38n13	Another Collett son was born at Combe later that same year on 22^nd December 1822 but only survived for three hours before he died and was buried on 27^th December 1822.


38n14	James Collett was baptised at Combe on 16^th July 1824. He was the youngest son of Anthony and Martha Collett and had a rounded age of 15 years in 1841, when he and his family were living in Long Combe. What is known is that James followed in his father’s footsteps by becoming a stonemason and by 1851 was a married man with two sons. The census return that year listed the family at Combe as James Collett who was 26 and a mason, his wife Alice Collett who was 23, son James Collett who was four, and Benjamin Collett who was one year old. Every member of the family had been born at Combe. The birth of Benjamin Collett was registered at Woodstock (Ref. xvi 160) during the second quarter of 1849. A couple of years later, Alice gave birth to a daughter Emily who was also born at Combe in 1853. Curiously, no record of any member of the family has been found in 1861.

	Where James was in 1871 has still not been determined, because on the day of the Combe census that year he was not at home with his wife and daughter. Alice Collett was 44 and described as a stonemason’s wife, whose daughter Emily Collett was 17 and a glove maker. No record of the death of Alice Collett has been located during the 1870s, with James stating he had been widowed by 1881, when his married daughter had returned to look after him and his home. It may have just been a separation, with the later death of Alice Collett being recorded at Headington (Ref. 4a 418) during the spring of 1887, when she was 60.

	According to the Combe census in 1881, James Collett reported to the census enumerator that he was a widower aged 56, who was still working as a stonemason. He was still the head of the household and had living with him his married daughter Emily Walker who was his housekeeper. With Emily was her husband Thomas Walker and their eight-month-old son Benjamin. James was still living there ten years later in 1891 when he was 67 years old and a widower, the census return for Combe also confirming that he had been born there.

	According to the Combe census in 1901, stonemason and widower James Collett was 76 and described as the father-in-law to head of the household Thomas Walker who was 47 and an ordinary agricultural labourer residing at Church Street in the village. Thomas’ wife, Emily Walker nee Collett was 46, and their two children were George and Laura. Less than twelve months after that census day, the death of James Collett was recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 673) during the first three months of 1902, when he was 77 years old.

	38o39	James Collett		Born in 1847 at Combe
	38o40	Benjamin Collett		Born in 1849 at Combe
	38o41	Emily Collett		Born in 1853 at Combe


38n15	George Collett was born at Combe and was baptised there on 11^th November 1805. As the oldest child, he was the longest surviving son of Robert and Elizabeth Collett. He died when he was just nine years, following which he was buried at Combe on 11^th April 1815. His death almost coincided with that of his younger brother Charles (below), being only two months earlier, so perhaps indicating some sort of shared illness.


38n16	Charles Collett was born at Combe where he was baptised on 14^th August 1808. His death in early 1815 was the second infant death in the family following that of his baby brother Robert (below) the year before. He was buried at Combe on 14^th February 1815 aged six years.


38n17	Hester Collett was born at Combe at the end of 1810, where she was baptised on 14^th January 1811, although it was as Esther that she was referred for the remainder of her life. Tragically, her three brothers all died when she was only a few years old, while Hester continued to live with her parents at Combe until she gave birth to base-born daughter at Combe in 1840. It would appear that it was the shame and embarrassment caused to the family that resulted in them leaving Combe and moving south to Oxford where Hester and her daughter were living with her parents at the time of the census in 1841. On that day Robert and Elizabeth Collett had set up home on Woodstock Road in Summertown, when Esther Collett was 29 and her daughter Leah Collett was around six months old. Two years before the next census Hester’s mother died and, on the day of the census in 1851, Hester was acting as housekeeper to her elderly widowed father at a house in the St Giles district of Oxford, which includes Woodstock Road. According to the census return, Esther Collett from Combe was 37 and her daughter Leah Collett was 10 years of age and her place of birth was said to be Summertown in Oxford. No record of mother and daughter has been found after that day.

	38o42	Leah Elizabeth Collett		Born in 1840 at Summertown, Oxford


38n18	Robert Collett was born at Combe in 1813 and was baptised there on 23^rd January 1814. He was the youngest son of Robert and Elizabeth Collett and tragically he died just over five weeks after he was born. He was the first of the three sons of Robert and Elizabeth to die within almost a year of each other. He was buried at Combe on 5^th March 1814, and was followed by the passing of his two brothers during the spring of 1815.


38o1	John Collett was a honeymoon baby, born nine months after the marriage of his parents Edward Collett and Mary Woods. He was born at Combe in mid-December 1818, where he was baptised on 3^rd January 1819. Tragically he only lived for four weeks and was buried at Combe on 17^th January 1819 just two weeks after he was baptised there.


38o2	Elizabeth Collett was born around 1823 and her birth may have coincided with the death of her mother Mary Woods who died in August 1823. Elizabeth does not appear to have been born at Combe which is where the majority of her father’s subsequent children, following his remarriage, were born and where the family was living in 1841, when Elizabeth was given a rounded age of 15 years. It is however possible that Elizabeth was born in Oxford, where her father Edward married Elizabeth Gunnis in 1824.


38o3	Mary Collett was the first-born child of Edward Collett and his second wife Elizabeth Gunnis and was born around 1825, although no baptism or record of her birth has been unearthed during the research. It is possible that she may not have been born at Combe, but in Oxford where her parents were married in 1824. Certainly, all her younger siblings were born and baptised at Combe, where the family was living in 1841, when Mary Collett was 15. In the past, this Mary had become confused with her cousin Mary, the daughter of Thomas and Sophia Collett who was born and baptised at Combe in 1825. That confusion has now been resolved with the discovered of the death of Mary Collett, the daughter of Edward and Elizabeth Collett, at Woodstock (Ref. xvi 105) during the third quarter of 1849. As a consequence, she was missing from her Combe family in 1851


38o4	Jane Collett was baptised at Combe on 23^rd December 1827. She never married and would appear to have spent the majority of her life living Combe. In successive censuses Jane was said to be aged 13 and 23, when she was still living with her family while working as a gloveress, as were two of her younger sisters. There was a complete absence of Jane and her family from the census in 1861, despite the fact that she lived there until she died there in 1910. Curiously, for whatever reason, Jane gave a rounded age in every one of the remaining census returns up until that time. In 1871 Jane Collett informed the census enumerator that she was 40 years and a schoolteacher who was living a Combe with her widowed father and younger sister Emma, another schoolteacher, with whom she was most likely working.

	Following the death of her father in 1876, Jane was listed as being the head of the household in 1881 when she was still living in the village of Combe, where she was said to be 50 years of age and an assistant school mistress. The only person staying at the house with her, was lodger William Robinson who was 43. Jane ceased to be involved with the village school during the 1880s and instead set up her home in Church Street in Combe as a lodging house. That was confirmed in the census of 1891 when lodging house keeper Jane was 60 who, had living with her, her sister Emma and two elderly lodgers, Thomas and Charlotte Barnes.

	The two sisters were again living together in 1901, but at West End in Combe, where Jane was 70 with no stated occupation, although she still had a lodger, John Gardner, staying there with them. Jane Collett died at Combe when her age was more accurately defined as being 83. Her death was recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 554) during the last three months of 1910.


38o5	Fanny Collett was baptised at Combe on 24^th May 1829 and was aged 12 years at the time of the 1841 census for Combe. Nine years later Fanny gave birth to a base-born daughter. The 1851 census listed Fanny as being 21 and a gloveress, as were her sisters, when she was still living with her family and her daughter at the Combe home of her parents. Her daughter Julia Collett was eight months old and described as the granddaughter of Edward and Elizabeth Collett. It is now established that Fanny later married Enoch Stoker, their wedding recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 973) during second the quarter of 1866, following which Fanny presented Enoch with two sons. Frank Stoker was born at Combe towards the end of 1867 and was only nine months old when he died. His brother Albert Stoker was born at Combe in just over one year later and was living with his parents at Combe in 1871.

	Enoch Stoker from Wroughton in Wiltshire was 43 and an agricultural labourer, Fanny Stoker from Combe was 41 and a gloveress, and Albert Stoker was one year old. Completing the family was Fanny base-born daughter Julia Collett from Combe who was 20 and also working as a gloveress. The family of three was still living at West End in Combe in 1881 and 1891, by which time Fanny was described as a glover maker. During the 1890s, Albert left home, leaving Enoch and Fanny still living at West End in 1901, when he was 73 and she was 71. The death of Fanny Stoker, nee Collett, was recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 633) during the first three months of 1904 and five years later Enoch’s death was also recorded there (Ref. 3a 723) during the first quarter of 1909 when he was 81.

	38p1	Julia Collett		Born in 1850 at Combe


38o6	Henry Collett was baptised at Combe on 14^th August 1831, the son of Edward Collett and Elizabeth Gunnis. At the time of the first national census for Combe in 1841 Henry was 10 years old and was 19 years of age in 1851. His occupation was that of a draper. It would seem likely that he married (1) around 1860. After they were married Henry and his wife settled in Woodstock where their three children were born before tragedy struck the family with the death of Henry’s wife sometime around or just after the birth of their third child in 1867. The 1871 census placed Henry Collett, aged 39, as a widower and a draper living at Woodstock with just two or his three children Flora M Collett who was nine and Harry G Collett who was seven years old. Harry’s second forename was that of his grandmother’s maiden name. Henry’s youngest son Harold William Collett was three years old and was staying with Henry’s father, Edward Collett in Combe, at that time. Living with the family at that time was a servant, 27-years-old Rachel Wilson Freeborn, whom Henry married later that same year.

	The marriage of Henry Collett and (2) Rachel Wilson Freeborn was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 990) during the third quarter of 1871. By 1881 the family comprised draper Henry aged 49 of Combe, wife Rachel 37 of nearby Wootton, and their three children Elsie E A Collett who was eight, Hedley J Collett who was six, and one-year-old Henry Collett, plus Henry’s son Harold W Collett, aged 13, from his first marriage. At that time the family was living at Park Street in Woodstock and employed nineteen-year- old domestic servant Sarah Quartermain of Lewknor in Oxfordshire. Park Street is one of the main streets in Woodstock today and comprises many large and grand houses.

	Four years later Rachel presented Henry with their last child, who was listed with the family at Park Street in 1891. The census on that occasion recorded the family as draper Henry Collett from combe who was 59, Rachel who was 46, Elsie who was 19, Francis who was 12 and Hilda who was five. Visiting the family was Rachel’s unmarried older sister Louisa Freeborn who was 48. Employed by the family was domestic servant Charlotte Slatter who was 14.

	Henry was still living at Woodstock in 1901 where he was 69 and still working as a draper ably assisted by his daughter Elsie and son Henry. Henry’s wife Rachel was aged 56 and completing the family was their youngest daughter Hilda aged 15. It was four years later, on 17^th April 1905 that draper Henry Collett died at his home in Park Street in Woodstock. His Will was proved in Oxford on 8^th July 1905 in favour of his wife Rachel Wilson Collett who was the sole executor of his personal estate of £1,222 12 Shillings and 7 Pence. Six years after his death his widow had some of their children still living with her at Woodstock. The census in 1911 recorded Rachel Wilson Collett as 66 years of age, her sons Hedley Joseph Collett as 36 and Henry Francis Collett as 31, and her daughter Hilda Esther Collett as 25.

	Just over a year later Rachel Wilson Collett nee Freeborn, widow of Woodstock, died on 15^th June 1912 following which her Will was proved at Oxford on 21^st October that same year. Probate was granted to two of her sons, Hedley Joseph Collett and Henry Francis Collett in the sum of £1,051 12 Shillings and 7 Pence. Hedley and Henry were both described as drapers.

	38p2	Flora Mary Collett		Born in 1861 at Woodstock
	38p3	Henry Gunnis Collett		Born in 1863 at Woodstock
	38p4	Harold William Collett		Born in 1867 at Woodstock
	The following are the children of Henry Collett by his second wife Rachel Wilson Freeborn:
	38p5	Elsie Elizabeth Anne Collett		Born in 1872 at Woodstock
	38p6	Hedley Joseph Collett		Born in 1874 at Woodstock
	38p7	Henry Francis Collett		Born in 1879 at Woodstock
	38p8	Hilda Esther Collett		Born in 1885 at Woodstock


38o7	Joseph Collett was born at Combe and was baptised there on 27^th October 1833, the son of Edward Collett and Elizabeth Gunnis, his second wife. In 1841 Joseph was eight years old and was living with his family in Combe. Ten years later he had left school and was still living with his family in Combe, where he was 17 and working with his father Edward, both having the occupation of that of a baker. It may therefore have been his work that took him from Oxfordshire to Birmingham where he met his future wife, Naomi Smith of Coseley near Dudley, who was baptised at Sedgley on 1^st January 1837, the daughter of William and Mary Smith.

	It was while the couple was residing in Birmingham that all of their children were born. Joseph and Naomi’s first child was named after Joseph’s mother Elizabeth Gunnis and was seven years of age in 1871. The other children at that time were Edward Josh Collett who was five, Rose Albina Collett who was two, and Blanche Emma Collett who was only a few months. Rather oddly Joseph from Combe, a baker, gave his age as being 34 and Naomi from Coseley said she was 33, whereas in reality they were 37 and 34 respectively. That year’s census recorded the family living at Bordesley within the Deritend & Bordesley district of Aston in Birmingham, although absent that day was their son Ernest who would have been four years old. Waiting on the family were two domestic servants John Emms who was 19 and Alice Vaughan who was 12.

	Ten years later, at the time of the 1881 census, Joseph Collett of Combe and aged 48, was a master baker with his own baker’s shop at 46 Larches Street in Aston. Listed living with him was his wife Naomi aged 45 of Coseley and their seven children. Elizabeth Gunnis Collett was 17, Edward Joseph was 16, Ernest William Collett was 13, Rose Albina Collett was 12, Blanche Emma Collett was 11, Maud Mary Collett was eight, and Percy Henry was four years old. It was nine years later that the death of Joseph Collett was recorded at Aston (Ref. 6d 212) during the first three month of 1890 when his age was stated in error as 55. His widow Naomi Collett was 53 years old and a confectioner in the Aston census of 1891 when she had taken over her late husband’s bread shop, when she was living at Lawden Road in Small Heath. Still living with her were two sons, Ernest who was 23 and Percy who was 14, and three daughters, Rose who was 21, Blanche who was 20 and Maud who was 16.

	By the end of March in 1901, Naomi Collett from Tipton was 64 who had returned to live in Aston, at Chapman Road. Living there with her, were her three youngest children Blanche E Collett who was 30, Maud Collett who was 26 and P H Collett who was 24. By 1911, only her youngest child was still living with Naomi who was 74 and living in the Small Heath area of Aston, that year. Her unmarried daughter Maud Mary was 35. It was seven years later that the death of Naomi Collett was recorded at Aston register office (Ref. 6d 416) during the first month of 1918 when she was 81. Probate was dealt with at Birmingham on 2^nd February 1918 and found in favour of a member of her own Smith family, namely Sargent Hickman Smith.

	38p9	Elizabeth Gunnis Collett		Born in 1863 at Aston in Birmingham
	38p10	Edward Joseph Collett		Born in 1864 at Aston in Birmingham
	38p11	Ernest William Collett		Born in 1867 at Aston in Birmingham
	38p12	Rose Albina Collett		Born in 1869 at Aston in Birmingham
	38p13	Blanche Emma Collett		Born in 1871 at Aston in Birmingham
	38p14	Maud Mary Collett		Born in 1873 at Aston in Birmingham
	38p15	Percy Henry Collett		Born in 1876 at Aston in Birmingham


38o8	Emma Collett was born at Combe, where she was baptised on 6^th March 1836, the youngest daughter of Edward Collett and Elizabeth Gunnis. In 1841 she was five years old and 15 in 1851 when, on both occasions, she living with her family at Combe. She was working as a gloveress with two of her older sisters in 1851. As with other members of her family, no record of Emma has been found within the census of 1861 but, following the death of her mother in 1862, she was back living with her widowed father at Combe in 1871. At that time in her life she was unmarried and was working as a schoolteacher at the age of 33. Living with her and her father was her older sister Jane (above) who was also a schoolteacher, most likely working together at the village school in Combe.

	Also like her sister Jane, with whom she was living in 1891, Emma Collett never married. On that occasion Emma was a nurse of 54 years who was living at Church Street in Combe, when the head of the household was her sister Jane, a lodging house keeper. It was a very similar situated in 1901, except by then the two sisters were living at West End in Combe, where Emma was again working as a gloveress, while her age was said to be 63. Lodging with the two of them was 62-year-old John Gardner from Northleigh in Oxfordshire. Her sister passed away in 1910, leaving Emma still residing in Combe on the day of the next census in 1911 and still having John Gardner lodging with her. Emma Collett from Combe was 73 with no stated occupation. It was just over five years after that when the death of Emma Collett was recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 1312) during the last three months of 1916, when she was 80 years of age.


38o9	William Collett was born at Combe where he was baptised on 4^th December 1838. He was listed as being two years old in 1841 and 12 years old in 1851 in the Combe census in those years. So far, no trace has been found of William in 1861, when he would have been 22, while it was seven years later that he became a married man. The marriage of William Collett from Combe and Frances Laughton took place at Stonesfield and was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 941) during the second quarter of 1868. On that same day, with the same marriage reference number, Frances’ sister Sarah Laughton married James Prior of Stonesfield, in what was very likely a joint ceremony. Frances and Sarah formed part of the ninth generation of a farming family and was born at Woodstock in 1843 but, had moved to Stonesfield with her family by 1851. Ten years later Frances Laughton from Stonesfield, aged 18, was a candidate pupil teacher living and working at the Oxford High Street home of draper William Woodward and his wife Sarah.

	Three years after they were married William 32 and his wife Frances 28, were confirmed as living in the Deritend & Bordesley area of Aston in Birmingham during early April in 1871. Also living with them was their first-born child Alice Elizabeth Collett who was just one year old. It should be noted that William was notoriously bad at giving the couple’s correct ages in subsequent census returns. That may have been intentional if he did not want to admit he was five years older than Frances. Their correct ages are therefore included in brackets in each case.

	Just one further chid was added to the family in the middle of the next decade and by 1881 the family was living at 207 Bordesley Green in Deritend. William stated that he had been born at Combe but that he was 40 (42) while Frances was 37 and confirmed she had been born at Woodstock. In addition, the census return stated that William was working as a post master and baker employing three men. It would therefore appear that he had followed his older brother Joseph (above) to Birmingham where they both continued to work as bakers, as their father Edward Collett had done so before them.

	Their two children at that time were Alice E Collett who was 11, and Laughton W Collett who was five, both of them having been born in Birmingham. Also living with them was Frances’ nine-year-old niece Emma M Prior who was born at Stonesfield, the daughter of Sara and James Prior. The family employed 14-year-old domestic servant Mary Bennett and, helping William in the baker’s shop, was Annie J Smith aged 25, a baker’s assistant from Pershore.

	Sometime between 1881 and 1891 William and his family moved house, going from 207 Bordesley Green to 79 Bordesley Green, where the aforementioned Emma Prior was still living with the family in 1891 at the age of 18. The Deritend census of 1891 listed William’s family as head of the household William Collett who was 48 (52), Frances Collett who was 45 (47), and their two children Alice E Collett who was 21, and Laughton W Collett who was 15. During the following decade, both children left the family home, which was still at Bordesley Green in 1901.

	The census that year confirmed that William Collett from Combe in Oxfordshire was 59 (62) and that his occupation was that of a baker and post-master. His wife Frances Collett from Woodstock was 56 (57), and still living and working within the family was Emma M Prior who was 28 and from Stonesfield who was employed by William as an assistant in the post office. The last member of the household was domestic servant Maimie Herbert from Birmingham who was 19.

	With their daughter Alice already married by March 1901, it was not long after that Laughton became a married man and started a family of his own in Aston. So, by April 1911, William and Frances had been married for forty years when they were living in Aston. William Collett from Combe said he was 70 (instead of 72) when he was a baker and a sub-postmaster, while Frances Collett from Woodstock gave her correct age of 67, when she was recorded as assisting her husband. Still living with the couple was unmarried niece Emma Maria Prior from Stonesfield who was 37 and an assistant c o, when the couple’s general domestic servant was 15-year-old Nellie Collins.

	It was almost exactly three years later that William Collett died at Aston, his death recorded there during the first quarter of 1914, following which he was buried at Stonesfield. Frances survived for another seventeen years before she died on 2^nd April 1931 while living within the Birmingham South registration district. Frances Collett, nee Laughton, was 88 when she died and was buried with her husband at Stonesfield, where a single gravestone marks the spot.

	38p16	Alice Elizabeth Collett		Born in 1869 at Birmingham
	38p17	Laughton William Collett		Born in 1876 at Birmingham


38o11	Ann Collett was born at Combe in 1820 and was baptised there on 29^th October 1820. She was the eldest child of Thomas Collett and Sophia Smith of Combe and she later married Matthew Collett of Wolvercote in Oxford in 1847.

	*For the continuation of this family line see Section One – Wolvercote (Ref. 38N6)*


38o12	John Collett was born at Combe and was baptised there on 7^th December 1822. He was the eldest son of Thomas and Sophia Collett and it is known that he became a stonemason like many of the Collett family. In the Combe census of 1841 John had a rounded age of 15, when he was living there with his family at Long Combe. Ten years later he was still living with the rest of his family at Combe when he was 28 and a mason. It was during the last three months of 1853 when the marriage of John Collett and Ann Matilda Hunt, who was born at Stonesfield in 1830, was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 1009). More often than not, Ann Matilda Collett was referred to as Matilda.

	The marriage produced two known daughters for John and Matilda who, by 1871 were living at Stonesfield. John was confirmed as being 48 and a mason who was born at Combe. His wife Matilda was 40 and a dressmaker from Stonesfield, and their youngest daughter was ten-years-old Elizabeth Collett who was born at Combe. The whereabouts of eldest daughter Matilda in 1871 has not been fully confirmed. And it was at Stonesfield that the couple were still living ten years later. The census return for 1881 confirmed that John Collett of Combe was a stonemason of 58 and that his wife was Matilda aged 46 (sic) of Stonesfield who was a dressmaker. At that time, they were living alone in a house on Boot Street in Stonesfield. At that same time their two daughters were living and working in Chertsey with their cousin Charles Hunt of Stonesfield, the nephew of their mother.

	According to the next census in 1891, mason John Collett was 67 and his wife Ann M Collett was 60, when they were living on Combe Road in Stonesfield. Living with the couple was their married daughter Elizabeth S Oliver who was 30 and dressmaker, with her husband Job Oliver who was 46 and an insurance agent, together with their three children. Ernest Oliver was seven, John J Oliver was five and Matilda H Oliver was not yet one-year old. It was almost the same situation ten years later, except missing from the dwelling on Woodstock Road in Stonesfield was Job Oliver, perhaps away on business. The remainder of the family group was listed as John Collett who was 78 years of age and was still listed as a stonemason having his own account, who was born at Combe. His wife Matilda Collett was 70, and with them again was their daughter Elizabeth S Oliver with her three children.

	It was at the end of that next decade when Ann Matilda Collett nee Hunt died at Stonesfield, her death recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 553) during the last quarter of 1910 when she was 80. Following the loss of his wife, John was taken care of by his youngest daughter. According to the census in 1911 John Collett, aged 88 and from Combe, had no stated occupation and was a widower living at Hump Wood Farm in Stonesfield. Also living there was his unmarried daughter Matilda M Collett who was 54. Interestingly, the census entry stated that he had been the father of five children of which only two had survived, those two being his daughter Matilda M Collett who never married, and Elizabeth S Oliver nee Collett, with whose family he was living. It must have been shortly after 1911 that John Collett died at Stonesfield.

	38p18	Matilda M Collett		Born in 1854 at Combe
	38p19	Elizabeth S Collett		Born in 1860 at Combe


38o13	Mary Collett was born at Combe, where she was baptised on 22^nd May 1825, the baptism record confirmed that she was the daughter of Thomas and Sophia Collett. By the time of the census in 1841, Mary was 15 years old and still living with her family at Long Combe in Combe. Perhaps shortly after that day, and upon leaving school, Mary left the family home in Combe, although no positive sighting of her has been found in 1851 right through to 1881, when she may have been working away from the county of Oxfordshire. From the next census in 1891 it is evident that she never married, when she was recorded as being 66 years of age and working as a gloveress, while residing at Church Street in Combe. Also living very nearby in Church Street that year, were unmarried sisters Jane, a lodging house keeper, and Emma, a nurse, they being Mary’s younger cousins.


38o14	Elizabeth Collett was born at Combe where she was baptised on 10^th August 1828. Elizabeth was twelve years old in 1841 and 22 in 1851 and, on both occasions, she was living in the family home at Combe, where she was a glove maker in 1851. Within weeks of the census day, Elizabeth Collett married George Neville of Begbroke near Kidlington, who was born there in 1829, the event recorded at Woodstock (Ref. xvi 229) during the second quarter of 1851. It would appear that their marriage produced at least two sons for the couple, who were born after they had made their home in Yarnton, one mile south of Begbroke. Twenty years later George and Elizabeth Neville were still residing in Yarnton, where he was 42 and a tailor, Elizabeth from Combe was also 42, and their two sons were William Neville who was 19 and Frederick Neville who was 13.

	And it was again at Yarnton, where the family was living in ten years later in 1881. The census that year revealed that the family was living in a private house in the village where George and Elizabeth were both said to 50, rather than 50 and 52. Their youngest son was Frederick Neville was 23 and was working alongside his father as a tailor. Living with the family was Elizabeth’s nephew Thomas W Collett who was also working with George Neville as a tailor. Thomas William Collett was the son of Elizabeth’s younger brother William Collett (below). He was 20 years old in April 1881 and his place of birth was confirmed as Burmington near Shipston-on-Stour.

	According to the next census in 1891 George and Elizabeth were living alone at Gravel Pits in Yarnton where, once again, they were recorded at the same age of 62. It was at the same address that the elderly couple was living in 1901, when the only person living with them was their grandson Maurice Cyril Neville from Yarnton who was seven. They were still together and living in Yarnton in 1911 when they were both 82. The death of Elizabeth Neville, nee Collett, was recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 1202) when she was 88, having died on 13^th April 1917 at Yarnton, where she was buried in the graveyard of St Bartholomew’s Church.


38o15	William Collett was born at Long Combe and was baptised at Combe on 20^th February 1831, the fifth child of Thomas Collett and Sophia Smith. By the time of the first census in 1841, William was recorded as being ten years old while living at Combe with his family, and he was still there ten years later in 1851 when he was 20 and was a mason working alongside his older brother John (above). It was on 28^th January 1859 that William Collett married Betsy Powell with their wedding day recorded at Shipston-on-Stour (Ref. 6d 627). Elizabeth Powell, daughter of Thomas and Mary Powell, was born at Horn Lane in Shipston-on-Stour in 1836, and was baptised at Shipston on 11^th December 1836. Her name was recorded as Betsy or Betsey in the majority of the records that have been found for her, although it was as Elizabeth Collett that her later death was recorded in 1911.

	Once married William and Betsy settled in the hamlet of Little Wolford, within the Parish of Burmington, three miles south of Shipston, where their first five children were born, who were all baptised at the parish church in Burmington when their father was described as a farmer. The Little Wolford/Burmington census return for the Shipston-on-Stour registration district in 1861, listed the family as William Collett from Long Combe aged 29 and an agricultural labourer, his wife Betsy from Shipston who was 24, and with them their first child Thomas William Collett who was still under one year old. During the next decade a further four children were added to the family when they were still living at Little Wolford, but shortly thereafter they moved to nearby Cherington, where the couple’s last two children were born and baptised, their baptism records stating that their father was an agricultural labourer, rather than a farmer.

	According to the Cherington census of 1871, the family was made up of agricultural labourer William Collett from Long Combe who was 41, Betsey who was 35, and their children Mary Ann Collett who was nine, William Collett who was seven, Alice Powell Collett who was five, Mary Sophia Collett who was three, and Betsy Powell Collett who was one year old and born at Cherington Hill. The couple’s oldest son Thomas William Collett was missing on that occasion. After only living in Cherington for around five or six years the family moved again during the second half of the 1870s, on that occasion to Shipston-on-Stour, where they were recorded as living in the census of 1881.

	The census return for Shipston confirmed that the family was living in Powells Cottage which was, presumably, where Betsy’s parents had lived and which she probably inherited at the time of their deaths. At that time the family was made up of William Collett who was 50 and who was working as an agricultural labourer, his wife Betsy of Shipston who was 42 (sic), and three of their children. They were William T Collett who was 17 and described as being ‘ill in bed’, Mary Sophia Collett who was 13 and born at Burmington as was her older brother, and six-year-old Eli Powell Collett who had been born at Cherington.

	The other children from the marriage of William and Betsy had already left the family home by then and three of them were also listed in the census of 1881. See separate entries for their son Thomas William Collett, and daughters Mary Ann Collett and Alice Powell Collett. The only child for whom no later records have been found was their youngest daughter Betsy Powell Collett, who suffered an infant death at the start of 1873.

	William and Betsy did not stay long at Powells Cottage, since a few years later the couple moved south and in 1891 they were residing at Upper Side in Leafield, to the north of Witney, within the Charlbury & Chipping Norton registration district, where William Collett was 60 and a farmer, Betsey Collett was 52, and the only children still living with them were sons Thomas W Collett who was 29 and assisting his father on the farm, and Eli P Collett who was doing the same at the age of 16.

	Ten years later the census of 1901 contained some conflicting information regarding William and Betsy who, by then were living further south in Oxfordshire at Alvescot. William was a farmer whose age was recorded as 65, although that was very likely an error in translation and should have been 69. Betsy’s age was given as 60 when is fact she would have been 64. William’s place of birth was confirmed as Combe in Oxfordshire, while Betsy’s birthplace was confirmed as Shipston-on-Stour. Still living with the couple at Kenn’s Farm in Carterton near Alvescot, and south-west of Witney, was their youngest son Eli P Collett who was 25 and ‘a farmer’s son’ whose birthplace was confirmed as Cherington.

	It is interesting to note that, during the early years of their marriage, William’s occupation was that of a farmer according to his children’s baptism records, while being described as an agricultural labourer from 1861 through to 1881, after which he was described as being ‘a farmer’ in 1891 and 1901. It therefore seems likely that, as well as inheriting Powells Cottage from his wife’s Powell family, William also took over the running of their farm, before taking over Kenn’s Farm in Carterton. Just over twelve months after the census day in 1901, William Collett died at Alvescot, with his death recorded at Witney register office (Ref. 3a 547) during the second quarter of 1902 when he was said to be 70 years of age, rather than 71. Nine years after his passing, his widow Betsy was still living at Alvescot on the day of the next census of 1911. On that occasion her age was given more accurately as being 74, when Betsy Collett from Shipston-on-Stour had two people living with her that day, and they were her unmarried son Eli Powell Collett who was 37 and a farmer, and her grandson Harold George Collett from Leafield, near Witney, who was 17 and working on the farm. Harold was the second child of Betsy’s eldest son Thomas. Just over six months later, the death of Elizabeth Collett aged 74, was recorded at Oxford Headington register office (Ref. 3a 1073) during the fourth quarter of 1911.

	38p20	Thomas William Collett		Born in 1860 at Little Wolford
	38p21	Mary Ann Collett		Born in 1861 at Little Wolford
	38p22	William Thomas Collett		Born in 1863 at Little Wolford
	38p23	Alice Powell Collett		Born in 1865 at Little Wolford
	38p24	Mary Sophia Collett		Born in 1867 at Little Wolford
	38p25	Betsy Powell Collett		Born in 1869 at Cherington
	38p26	Eli Powell Collett		Born in 1875 at Cherington


38o16	Jane Collett was born at Combe where she was baptised on 15^th June 1834. The baptised record confirmed that her parents were Thomas and Sophia Collett and that, in June 1841, Jane was living with her family at Combe at the age of seven years. She was still living at Combe with her family in 1851 when she was 16 years old and working with her older sister Elizabeth (above) as a glove maker. Jane was very likely married during the latter half of the next decade since she was not listed as Jane Collett of Combe in the census of 1861.


38o17	Thomas Collett was born at Combe where he was baptised on 11^th June 1837, a son of Thomas and Sophie Collett, who was three years old in the Combe census of 1841. Ten years later, he was 13 years of age and was working as an agricultural labourer when he was still living with his family in Combe. It was later, when he was old enough, that he took up the same profession as his father and his older brothers, when he became a stonemason. He later married Elizabeth who was born in 1836 at Aston in Oxfordshire, midway between Faringdon and Witney. Although no record of their marriage has so far been found, it is likely to have taken place around 1861.

	After a further decade Elizabeth Collett had presented Thomas with four children, the births of the first three registered at Woodstock, covering an area which included Combe. The fourth and last child was born after the family had settled in New Hinksey, just south of the centre of Oxford city. Thomas himself was absent from the family home in 1871, when Elizabeth from Aston, Oxon, was 33 and a stonemason’s wife. Her four children were listed as Thomas G Collett who was nine, William C Collett who was seven, Alfred H Collett who was five and Elizabeth M Collett who was two years of age.

	By the time of the 1881 census the family was living at 25 Stockmore Street in the St Clements district of Oxford. Stockmore Street runs between Cowley Road and the Iffley Road (A4158) and is still there today. Thomas aged 43 was still a stonemason, his wife was 44 and the children still living with them were Thomas Collett aged 18 an unemployed mason, Alfred Collett aged 15 and Elizabeth Collett aged 12 years. Once again, the two sons were confirmed as having been born at Woodstock, while Elizabeth had been born at (New) Hinksey on the outskirts of Oxford.

	No record of Thomas Collett has been found in the census of 1891 so it must be assumed that he had died during the 1880s. Following his death, it would appear that his wife moved out of Oxford to be near her husband’s family in Combe since, according to the census return for 1891, Elizabeth M Collett was 54 and living within the Woodstock registration area. By the end of March in 1901, the widow Elizabeth Collett from Aston was 64 and a needle worker living with her married daughter Elizabeth Franklin, and her two children, at Leopold Street, west off Cowley Road, within the Cowley area of south Oxford. She was still living there, with her widowed daughter Elizabeth Franklin and her two children in 1911, by which time she was described as being 74 and an old age pensioner from Aston. It was later that same year when the death of Elizabeth Collett was recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 1073) during the last three months of 1911 when she was still 74 years of age.

	38p27	Thomas George Collett		Born in 1862 at Woodstock (Combe)
	38p28	William Charles Collett		Born in 1864 at Woodstock (Combe)
	38p29	Alfred Henry Collett		Born in 1866 at Woodstock (Combe)
	38p30	Elizabeth Mary Collett		Born in 1868 at Hinksey, Oxford


38o18	Charles Collett was born at Combe in late 1838 or early 1839. He was baptised at Combe on 23^rd June 1839 and was the youngest child of Thomas and Sophia Collett. In the census conducted in June 1841 he was two years old and was living with his family in Combe. But within the Combe census of 1851 his parents described their son in error as being ten years old, when he was attending the village school. Charles was yet another Collett from the little village of Combe who later became a stonemason.

	He married Fanny Selena Buckingham during the second quarter of 1859 as recorded in the Headington District register. Fanny was born in 1840 at Eynsham midway between Oxford and Witney. It may be of interest that on 6^th April 1859, a Fanny Buckingham was the single mother of Selena Buckingham who was baptised that day, but who sadly died and was buried at Combe less than two weeks later on 18^th April 1859. It would appear that Fanny married Charles Collett shortly after that tragic event. The couple spent the first six or seven years of their life together living at Combe, where their first four children were born, with the fifth child born after the family had settled in Bletchingdon around eight miles from Combe, although no record of the couple has been identified in the census of 1861.

	For the census in 1871 the family was confirmed as residing in Bletchingdon where Charles was 31 and a stonemason, Fanny was 32 and from Eynsham, Frederick C Collett was 10, William T Collett was seven, Thomas W Collett was five, Mary A Collett was three and Elizabeth Collett was one year old. It was at Bletchingdon that all of the couple’s remaining children were born and where the family was still living at the time of the census of 1881. According to the census return in 1881 Charles Collett of Combe was a stonemason at 46 and his wife Fanny was 41 and from Eynsham. By then the couple’s eldest son had left the family home, probably due to overcrowding, and was lodging in a house in the same village street in Bletchingdon. Therefore, the two eldest sons still at home were Combe born William who was 18 and Thomas who was 16, both of whom were employed as agricultural labourers.

	The other children were Maryanne, aged 13 and also from Combe, Elizabeth, aged 11, Emma, who was eight, Charles, who was six, Alice, who was four, George, who was two, and baby Richard who was only eleven months old. The birthplace of the six youngest children was named as Bletchington rather than Bletchingdon. Charles, a stonemason, and Fanny were still living in Bletchingdon in 1891 when both of them were recorded as being 52 years old. Listed with the couple were four of their children Charles who was 16, Alice who was 14, George who was 12 and Richard who was ten.

	Ten years later stonemason Charles from Combe was 62 in the census of 1901 when he was still a resident of Bletchingdon. His wife Fanny Selena Collett of Eynsham was not with her husband on the day of the census. Instead she was staying with her married daughter Elizabeth Watts, who had just given birth to Fanny’s grandchild. The census return described her as Fanny Kena Collett who was a nurse at the age of 62 at the home of farm labourer Jonathan Watts, his wife Elizabeth and baby son Cuthbert Percy Watts, at Main Street in Wardington near Banbury. That was very likely only been a temporary measure, since Fanny was back with Charles in Bletchingdon for the census in 1911. In March 1901 stonemason Charles Collett, aged 62 and from Combe, had living with him at Bletchingdon his two sons Charles H Collett, aged 26, and Richard H Collett aged 20, together with his granddaughter Margaret M Collett, who was eight years old and born at Bletchingdon, and his cousin one-step removed William Collett (Ref. 38o27) from Combe who was 57 and a mason’s labourer.

	Margaret M Collett was Margaret May Collett who was living and working within the City of Oxford in 1911 at the age of 17. She was the base-born daughter of Emma Collett, Charles’ and Fanny’s unmarried daughter. By April 1911 Charles and Fanny were both recorded in the Bletchingdon census return as being 72 years of age, while living with them, and probably looking after them in the old age, was their unmarried daughter Emma Collett who was 38. Also with them that day, was their granddaughter Hilda Knight from Nuneaton in Warwickshire who was five years of age and the child of their married daughter Alice Knight. In error, she was described as the niece of Charles Collett.

	38p31	Frederick Charles Collett		Born in 1860 at Combe
	38p32	William Thomas Collett		Born in 1862 at Combe
	38p33	Thomas William Collett		Born in 1864 at Combe
	38p34	Mary Anne Collett		Born in 1867 at Combe
	38p35	Elizabeth Collett		Born in 1869 at Bletchingdon
	38p36	Emma Collett		Born in 1872 at Bletchingdon
	38p37	Charles Henry Collett		Born in 1874 at Bletchingdon
	38p38	Alice Sophia Collett		Born in 1876 at Bletchingdon
	38p39	George Henry Collett		Born in 1878 at Bletchingdon
	38p40	Richard H Collett		Born in 1880 at Bletchingdon


38o19	Emma Collett was born at Combe where she was baptised on 8^th February 1823. Sadly, she only survived until the age of just six years when she died and was buried at Combe on 25^th December 1829.


38o20	Sophia Collett was born at Combe and was baptised the on 14^th November 1824, the daughter of William Collett and Phoebe Woodward. Both of her parents had died by the time she reached her early teenage years and in 1841, with a round age of 15, she was living and working with the Godden family at Pitching Hill in Woodstock. Where she was in 1851 has not yet been discovered, but two years later she married William Kilby, the wedding day recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 1026) during the last three months of 1853. He was from nearby Tackley and was the son of John and Ann Kilby, and it was at Tackley that the newly married couple settle and where all of the children were born.

	Following the death of William’s mother, the family group living in Tackley in 1861 included his widowed father John Kilby who was 66. William Kilby was 37 and a game keeper, Sophia Kilby was 36, and their first four children were listed as Emily A Kilby who was six, Edna Kilby who was five, John Kilby who was three and Ernest Kilby who was one year old. It was at Church Road in Tackley where the family was living in 1881 by which time three different children were living with William and Sophia. They were Francis Kilby who was 19, Albert Kilby who was 18 and Edith Kilby who was 11. Ten years later their home was on Church Row in Tackley but, by then Sophia from Combe, was a widow aged 66. Three of her children were still living with her, Tom who was 32, Edith who was 21 and Eder who was 19, together with Sophia’s grandson Ernest Kilby who was 12 years old, all of them born at Tackley.

	According to the next Tackley census in 1901, Sophia Kilby was 77 and was still residing on Church Row, but with just her youngest son Eder K Kilby aged 29. The death of Sophia Kilby, nee Collett, was recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 1608) during the first quarter of 1917, when she was 93.


38o21	Elizabeth Amy Collett was born at Combe where she was also baptised on 6^th March 1826, another daughter of William Collett and Phoebe Woodward. Elizabeth was born into a tragic family, when first her father died in 1827 and six years later her mother married her late husband’s cousin, to whom she was married until she died in 1839. The disruption caused to family life was immense and to such an extent that no member of the family has been identified with the census conducted in 1841. However, in the census of 1851, Elizabeth Collett from Combe was 24, a gloveress and a visitor at the Combe home of Moses Busby who was a married mason of 56 years. In 1879 Julia Collett married John Busby, Julia being a niece of Elizabeth Amy Collett.

	Although the whereabouts of Elizabeth in 1861 has not been discovered, it was six years after that census year that the marriage of Elizabeth Amy Collett and widower Thomas Dawes was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 1187) during the final three months of 1867, both of then born at Combe, where their wedding day most likely took place. Thomas brought with him two daughters from his marriage to Isabella, whose death, at the age of 43, was recorded at Woodstock towards the end of 1866. In the census of 1871, Thomas Dawes was 54 and a labourer, Elizabeth Dawes was 45 and a glove maker, Ann Dawes was seven and Elizabeth Dawes was four.

	Ten years later, the Combe census in 1881 revealed that Elizabeth was 54 and a nurse (sub-medical) living at Plantation Road with just her husband Thomas, aged 64, and stepdaughter Elizabeth, aged 14. Thomas Dawes passed away in 1897, his death recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 460) when he was 80. It was at West End in Combe that Elizabeth and stepdaughter Lizzie were living in 1901, when they were both working as a gloveress, Elizabeth at the age of 75 and Lizzie at 34. Two years after that day, the death of Elizabeth Amy Dawes, nee Collett, was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 511) during the second quarter of 1903.


38o22	John Collett was a twin with Mary (below) and was born at Combe, where he was baptised on 18^th September 1827 in a joint ceremony with his twin sister. He was one of five children born to William Collett who died just over a month after son John was baptised. Nothing more has been discovered about John Collett from Combe who does not seem to appear in any future census records, whereas his twin sister Mary does. It is possible, although not confirmed, that it was his death that was recorded at Headington (Ref. xvi 38) during the fourth quarter of 1840.


38o23	Mary Collett was a twin sister to John (above) who was born at Combe and who was baptised there on 18^th September 1827 in a joint ceremony with her brother. They were the last two children of William Collett by his first wife Phoebe Woodward. The baptism took place just over a month before the death of her father and tragically her mother, who remarried after his death, died eleven years later in 1839. By 1851 Mary was living in Combe with her uncle Edward Collett (Ref. 38n2) where she was working as a glove maker at the age of 23 years. Just over three years later Mary Collett gave birth to a base-born daughter, whose birth was recorded at Woodstock, although no obvious record of mother and daughter has been found on the day of the census in 1861.

	However, ten years later, the Combe census of 1871 recorded Mary as the unmarried mother of Emma, the only two people residing in that dwelling. Head of the household Mary Collett was recorded as being 43 years of age, while Emma Collett was 17, both of them born at Combe and both of them working together as glove makers. Eight years later Emma was married, leaving her mother living alone in Combe in 1881. That year she was described as being single at the age of 52, and was continuing to work as a glove maker. Two other glove makers were living nearby, the first of them being Martha Collett (Mary’s half-sister – below), who was unmarried and still living with her glove maker stepmother Rachel Collett, the widow of Richard Collett (Ref. 38n9/38n5). Completing that household was Mary’s stepbrother William Collett, a general labourer, who was Rachel’s eldest child.

	Rather strangely no record of Mary Collett of Combe aged around 62 or 63 has been identified within the national census of 1891, while by 1901 she was again a resident in the village. By that time Mary Collett from Combe was 72 years old, where she was continuing to be involved in the making of gloves, as a gloveress. Mary died just before the next census day, by which time she was no longer living in Combe, as the death of Mary Collett was recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 600) during the first few months of 1911. Her stated age was 84, which corresponds exactly with her year of birth being 1827.

	38p41	Emma Collett		Born in 1854 at Combe


38o24	Martha Collett was born at Combe in 1834 and baptised there on 2^nd February 1834. Following the death of her mother Phoebe in 1839, Martha and her surviving sibling Abraham (below) lived for a few years with their father Richard at his parent’s home in Combe, where she was seven years old in 1841. Upon her father marrying Rachel Woodward in 1843, it was in the Combe census of 1851 that Martha Collett, aged 17, was living with her father, stepmother, her brother Abraham, and two stepchildren from their father’s second marriage to Rachel. It would appear that Martha never married as, in 1871 she was 37, and in 1881 she was 47, and on both occasions, she was still single and was living with her widowed stepmother Rachel, following the death of her father in 1856. Like her stepmother, Martha also worked as a glove maker, as did her half-sister Mary Collett (above) who was living very nearby in Combe on the day of the census in 1881.


38o25	Abraham Collett was born at Combe in 1835 and was baptised there on 5^th July that year. He was five years old in the Combe census of 1841, by which time his mother had died and Abraham and his sister Martha (above) were staying with the children’s paternal grandparents. Like the vast majority of the Collett family of Combe and Wolvercote, Abraham worked in the building trade but in the Combe census of 1851 he was 15 and an agricultural labourer when he was living with his father Richard and his stepmother Rachel. Where Abraham was on the day of the census in 1861 has not been discovered, while it was six years after that when the marriage of Abraham Collett and Emma Bates was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 957} during the third quarter of 1867. Emma was born at Oxford in 1839 and her marriage to Abraham produced six children, all of whom were born at Combe where the family was living in 1871.

	According that year’s census, the family comprised Abraham Collett from Combe who was 35 and a slater and plasterer, his wife Emma Collett from Oxford was 30 and their two children who were Annie Collett aged three years and Sarah Collett who was one year old. It was a similar situation at Combe in 1881, by which time daughter Sarah had died and a further five children had been added to the family. Abraham was still working as a slater and a plasterer at the age of 45, Emma was 41, Annie was 13, Phoebe who was nine, Frederick who was six, Anthony who was five, Ralph who was two and Arthur who was eleven months old. Nine years later, when Emma Collett nee Bates was 50 years old, she passed away, her death recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 519) during the last three months of 1890.

	Just six months later, slater and plasterer Abraham Collett was a widower at the age of 55, when he was residing at West End in Combe with five of his children. Looking after the family was his daughter Phoebe Mary Collett aged 19, and sons Frederick Rich. Collett who was 17, Anthony George Collett who was 15, Ralph Collett who was 12, and Arthur John Collett who was ten. Their eldest child, daughter Annie had moved to London to seek work by then. The family was again living at West End in 1901, where Abraham was 65 still a slater and plasterer, his youngest son Arthur J Collett was 20 and, still looking after the two men was daughter Phoebe M Collett who was the housekeeper at the age of 29.

	Abraham Collett, a stonemason of Combe, died on 11^th March 1906, although his personal estate of £48 was only subject to administration at Oxford on 8^th May 1912 in favour of Frederick Richard Collett, a plasterer - Abraham’s eldest son. The death of Abraham Collett was recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 609) at the end of the first quarter of 1906.

	38p42	Annie Martha Collett		Born in 1867 at Combe
	38p43	Sarah Elizabeth Collett		Born in 1870 at Combe
	38p44	Phoebe Mary Collett		Born in 1872 at Combe
	38p45	Frederick Richard Collett		Born in 1874 at Combe
	38p46	Anthony George Collett		Born in 1875 at Combe
	38p47	Ralph Collett		Born in 1878 at Combe
	38P48	Arthur John Collett		Born in 1880 at Combe


38o26	Jane Collett was born at Combe, was baptised there on 5^th October 1837 and died there in April 1839, her mother suffering a premature death at the same time.


38o27	William Collett was born at Combe where he was baptised on 26^th May 1844, the son of Richard and Rachel Collett. He was six years old in 1851 and five years later his father passed away. By 1871 he was unmarried at 26 and a labourer who was still living with his mother and stepsister Martha Collett (above) at Combe. He was a general labourer and by 1881, at the age of 36, he was not married and was still living with his widowed mother Rachel in Combe. Living with them was his stepsister, the spinster Martha Collett. Ten years after that, the Combe census of 1891 described William Collett as a single man aged 46 from Combe, who was a general labourer who was still living with his mother Rachel Collett and his stepsister Martha Collett.

	It is possible, because of his marital status in the next two census returns, that the marriage of William Collett and Sarah Elizabeth Carless, recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 58) during the final quarter of 1899, related to William born at Combe in 1844. By 1901 he was living at Bletchingdon when William Collett, a married man from Combe, was 57 years of age and was employed as a mason’s labourer, perhaps even working for his cousin, stonemason Charles Collett (Ref. 38o18) above, with whom whose family he was recorded as a boarder. Ten years later, in April 1911, William Collett of Combe was 66 and was an inmate at Woodstock Union Workhouse which was situated at Hensington-within-Woodstock. The census return also described him as married and a former farm labourer while, next in the list of inmates was William’s cousin Robert Collett from Combe who was 65. Where his wife was on those two occasions, still remains a mystery. The death of William Collett was recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 38) during the second quarter of 1923, when he was 78 years old.


38o28	Sarah Anne Collett was born at Combe in March 1846 and baptised on 12^th April 1846. However, just over one month after the baptism she died and was buried at Combe on 14^th May 1846 aged two months.


38o29	Amelia Collett was born at Combe where she was baptised on 11^th August 1850. At just over two years of age she died and was buried at Combe on 3^rd October 1852. The birth of Amelia Collett was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. xvi 152), where her death was recorded (Ref. 3a 351).


38o30	Amelia Jane Collett was born at Combe and was baptised on 27^th January 1856, the last child of Richard Collett and his second wife Rachel Woodward, but very tragically her father died during the week after she was baptised. The birth of Amelia Jane Collett was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 571) where her premature death was also recorded (Ref. 3a 339) during the third quarter of 1858, when she was only two years of age.


38o31	Jane Collett was born at Combe in 1839 and the first child of Anthony Collett and Sarah Mary Edgington, who was baptised at Combe on 19^th January 1840, when her mother was named as Sarah Ann. Her birth was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. xvi 157) during the first quarter of that year. Jane was one year old in the Combe census of 1841 when her family was residing at Long Combe. By the time she was 11 in 1851 she had already left school and was working as a gloveress, while she was stilling living with her family in Combe. During the next decade she moved to Oxford city centre where on the day of the census in 1861, she was 21 and a parlourmaid at an establishment on the High Street within the parish of St Peter in the East. .

	Jane Collett from Combe was still unmarried in 1871, by which time she was 30 and a servant/nurse in the St Giles area of the city. It is possible that she married either Thomas Alfred Grant or James Lathbury in 1876, the marriage recorded at Headington, although no such record of either marriage union has been discovered in any subsequent census return.


38o32	Eliza Collett was born at Combe where she was baptised on 20^th June 1841 when once again, as with her older sister Jane (above) her mother’s name was recorded as Sarah Ann rather than Sarah Mary. Two weeks earlier, on the day of the 1841 census, she was recorded with her family at Long Combe, where she was a few weeks old. Her birth was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. xvi 145) during the second quarter of that year, the second child of Anthony and Sarah Collett. She was 10 years of age in the Combe census of 1851 and was 19 years old in 1861 when living with her family at Grove Street in Summertown.

	Nine years later, the marriage of Eliza Collett and Henry Cook was recorded at Oxford (Ref. 3a 973) during the last three months of 1870. Once married the couple initially set up home in the St Thomas area of the city, not far from the railway station, and it was there that they were recorded in the census of 1871. Henry Cook from St Giles in Oxford was 33 years of age and a warehouse and Eliza Cook from Combe was 30. No record of the couple after that day has been discovered.


38o33	Rhoda Collett was born at Combe where she was baptised on 12^th March 1843. Rhoda was employed as a domestic servant and a nurse at the Radcliffe Infirmary in St Giles in Oxford and at the age of 35 she was not married. According to the Oxford census of 1881, Rhoda Collett was sharing accommodation with two other single nurses at the infirmary, these being 22 years old Kate Mitchell of St Clements in Oxford and Jane Dumbleton aged 24 of Woodstock. By 1891 Rhoda was still a single lady at the age of 44. The census that year confirmed she was born at Combe and that she was living in the St Clements area of Oxford.


38o34	Richard Edgington Collett was born at Combe and baptised there on 26^th May 1844, a son of Anthony Collett and Sarah Mary Edgington, whose birth was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. xvi 153). It would appear that he followed the family profession by being associated in some way with stonemasonry and the building industry. When he was around twenty-one years of age, the marriage of Richard Edgington Collett and (1) Mary East, of Bletchingdon in Oxfordshire, was recorded at Headington (Ref. 3a 812) during the second quarter of 1865. Mary was the daughter of Weston-on-the-Green farmer Thomas East and his wife Mary. Richard and Mary then moved to Wokingham in Berkshire shortly after they were married and it was there that their first two children were born. They were only at Wokingham for a couple of years before they moved again, on that occasion to Godalming in Surrey where a further two of their children were born, the first of them recorded with the family in 1871.

	That year the family was residing somewhere referred to as Crownpik in Godalming, where Richard E Collett from Long Combe in Oxfordshire was 26 and a mason, his wife Mary was 27, and their three children Albert C Collett who was three and Alfred R Collett who was one, both born at Wokingham, and Mary E Collett who had only just been born after arriving in Surrey. As previously mentioned, the next child added to the family was born at Godalming, before the family returned Summertown, just north of the City of Oxford, prior to 1875, where a further two children were born. However, after the birth of the second of those two children the family moved into a larger property within the affluent St Giles district in the centre of Oxford.

	The 1881 census recorded the family at Wykeham Cottage in George Street, close to the city centre, where Richard E Collett was a builder employing two men and that he was 37 and had been born at Combe. His wife Mary Collett was also 37 and from ‘Bletchington’, and living with them were their children Albert E Collett who was 13, Arthur R Collett who was 11, both born at Wokingham, Mary Jane Collett who was 10, Rosa E Collett who was nine, both born at Godalming, and Lillian E Collett aged five and Thomas A Collett who was three years old, and both of them born at Summertown.

	Just over two years after that census day, the premature death of Mary Collett, aged 39, was recorded at Headington (Ref. 3a 407) during the third quarter of 1883. After a year of looking after his family alone, the marriage of widower Richard Edgington Collett and (2) Emma Whitlock was recorded at Headington (Ref. 3a 1094) during the third quarter of 1884. The actual event took place on 25^th August 1884 at St Giles Church in Oxford, when Emma was named as the daughter of Alfred and Jane Whitlock. That second marriage produced another five children for Richard although, tragically, the second of them did not survive. Also, after the loss of that son in late 1887 or early 1888, no obvious record has been found of his father Richard in 1891, who may have been away on business. On the census day that year his wife Emma and his family were living at Sunnymead in Summertown, where Emma Collett from Kidlington was 37 and her three Summertown born children by Richard Collett were listed as son Willie E Collett who was five, Gertrude E Collett who was three and Elizabeth E Collett who was under one year old. Also living at the same dwelling were two of Richard’s sons from his first marriage, and they were Albert E Collett aged 23 and Arthur R Collett aged 21, both of whom had been born at Wokingham. The final member of the family was Emma’s aunt Elizabeth Whitlock who was 54 and also born in Kidlington.

	Not long after that census day in 1891, the Collett family left Sunnymead and moved the short distance to Iffley, on the south side of Oxford, where their fourth child was born. Sometime during the next six years the family moved again, that time east across the River Thames to the Cowley St John area of the city. And it was there, at 34 Stanley Road, that Richard and Emma were living at the time of the census in 1901. Richard was listed as being 56 and his occupation was that of a stonemason. Living with him was his wife Emma who was 48 and their four children Willy aged 15, Gertrude aged 13, Elizabeth who was 10 and Margaret who was seven years old.

	For the second occasion in his life, Richard has not been identified in the census of 1911, while Emma and her three youngest children were still residing in the Cowley area of South Oxford. According to the census return that year Emma Collett from Kidlington was 58 and still married, the keeper of a lodging house. By then the family’s previous home at 34 Stanley Road in the Iffley area of Oxford, had been taken over by Albert Edward Collett, her husband’s eldest son from his first marriage. The three children living with Emma that day were her two daughters Elizabeth who was 20 and Margaret who was 17. Also listed with them was Emma’s recently married stepson Arthur Collett who was 41 and who had been born at Wokingham. Richard was still living in the Oxford area when he passed away during February, his death recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 1715) during the first three months of 1934, when he was 89. His widow survived him by seven years, when Emma Collett, nee Whitlock, died in 1941.

	In 2018 Judy Middleton generously provided details of her family tree, starting with Richard Edgington Collett of Combe, who was a mason and a builder, and partner in the company of Collett & Buckingham. It was that company which built the Clarendon Hotel on Cornmarket Street in Oxford which was later demolished to make way for the Clarendon Shopping Centre. The hotel was built on the site of The Star which was demolished in 1863 after at least four-hundred years as a coaching inn. For a Buckingham family connection, see Charles Collett (Ref. 38o18) who married Fanny Buckingham in 1859. *Author’s note*: as a child in the 1950s I recall a building company Collett & Rogers that had their offices and builder’s yard a few miles to the west of Oxford in Wootton village to the north of Abingdon-on-Thames, just a short distance from where I was living with my family.

	38p49	Albert Edward Collett		Born in 1867 at Wokingham
	38p50	Arthur Richard Collett		Born in 1869 at Wokingham
	38p51	Mary Jane Collett		Born in 1871 at Godalming
	38p52	Rosa Edith Collett		Born in 1872 at Godalming
	38p53	Lillian Ethel Collett		Born in 1876 at Summertown
	38p54	Thomas Anthony Collett		Born in 1878 at Summertown
	The following are the children of Richard E Collett by his second wife Emma Whitlock:
	38p55	William Edgington Collett		Born in 1885 at Oxford
	38p56	Richard Charles Collett		Born in 1886 at Oxford
	38p57	Gertrude Ellen Collett		Born in 1888 at Oxford
	38p58	Elizabeth Emma Collett		Born in 1891 at Summertown
	38p59	Margaret Lucy Collett		Born in 1893 at Iffley, Oxford


38o35	Robert Collett was born at Combe where he was baptised on 26^th April 1846. Apart from being listed with his family at Combe in 1851 when he was five years old, and again in 1861 at Headington when he was 15, Robert appears in later census records as a ‘misfit’. According to the census of 1881 he was a vagrant living at The Union Workhouse in Crawley Road at Horsham in Sussex. He was 33 and from Oxford and was a general labourer. No other record for him has been found until in April 1911 Robert Collett, formerly a general labourer from Combe, was 65 when he was an inmate at the Woodstock Union Workhouse in Hensington-within-Woodstock. Also living there on that occasion was Robert’s cousin William Collett (above) from Combe who was 66.


38o36	Mary Elizabeth Collett was born at Combe in 1848 and by 1861 when she was 12, she and her family had left Combe and had moved to Summertown within the Headington St Clements area of Oxford. It was there also that Mary E Collett, aged 23 and a dressmaker, was still living with her parents ten years later in 1871. At the age of 32 in April 1881 she was not married and was still living with her elderly parents at their home on Magdalen Road in the Cowley area of Oxford, from where she was working as a milliner and a dressmaker. Working with her was her younger sister Emily (below).

	In 1891 Mary E Collett of Combe was 42 and living within the St Clements registration district in Oxford and ten years later at the age of 51 she was living in the Oxford St Giles district, at Oakthorpe Road in Summertown, which runs between Woodstock Road and Banbury Road. On that day in 1901, Mary E Collett from Combe was a dressmaker and head of the household. Living there with her, was her younger sister Emily S Collett, plus two boarders, Albert Wiggins and Robert Rillip. By April 1911 the two sisters were still living together at that same address, but both of them recorded under their full names. Mary Elizabeth Collett from Combe was 63 years old and again working as a dressmaker, who was still taking in boarders; on that occasion, mother and daughter Edith and Pamela Wilson. Mary’s sister Emily, completed the household.

	The death of Mary E Collett was recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 1210) during the final three months of 1930, when she was described as being 83 years of age.


38o37	Anthony Collett was born at Combe in 1851, his birth recorded at Woodstock (Ref. xvi 157) during the second quarter of that year. He was nine years old in the census of 1861 when he was living with his family at Grove Street in Summertown, and he was still living there with his parents ten years later at the age of 19, by which time he was working as a mason, most likely with his stonemason father Anthony Collett senior. However, by 1881, Anthony Collett junior was employed as an agent for a building society and had taken lodgings at 2 Commercial Road in the St Ebbes district of Oxford. The census return confirmed he was born at Combe and that he was 29, when he was a boarder at the home of cab proprietor George Porter.

	It was one year later when Anthony married Emily Ann Mathews who was born in Oxford during 1853, the daughter of turner and painter William Mathews and his wife Elizabeth. The event was recorded at Oxford (Ref. 3a 799) in the first three months of 1882. According to the census in 1891, the childless couple was living on Banbury Road, north of Oxford city centre, where Anthony Collett was 39 and a house and estate agent, and his wife Emily A Collett was 37. During the 1890s the couple left Oxford and moved to the south coast where, in March 1901, they were living at Whitworth Road in Portsmouth. Anthony from Combe was 49 and his occupation was again that of a house and estate agent, while his wife Emily Ann Collett of Oxford was 47.

	Emily Ann Collett nee Matthews passed away some time after April 1901 and before April 1911, leaving her husband as a widower in the Sussex census of 1911. Anthony Collett from Combe near Woodstock in Oxfordshire was 59 and was living in Hove near Brighton, within the Steyning registration district of Sussex. The census return that year described Anthony as being a widower, whose occupation was that of a builder and stonemason. Eight years after that census day, the death of Anthony Collett was recorded at Steyning register office (Ref. 2b 389) during the first quarter of 1920 when he was 67 years old.

	FOOTNOTE: It may be interesting to note that there were fourteen other Colletts living within the Steyning registration district in 1911, although none of them were born there. One group of six was the family of George Collett aged 64, who was from Birmingham, while another was bachelor Herbert Collett (Ref. 1P138) who had been born at Devonport near Plymouth around 1886.


38o38	Emily Sarah Collett was born at Summertown in 1857 where she and her family were living in 1861. In 1871 Emily S Collett was 13 and was still living with her family in Summertown. By 1881, and at the age of 23, she was still living with her parents at their home in Magdalen Road in Cowley from where she was working as a dressmaker’s assistant, presumably assisting her older sister Mary (above).

	In 1891 she was listed as Emily S Collett aged 33 of Summertown and just after the start of the new century she was still a single lady. Again in 1901 she confirmed that she was from Summertown and, at the age of 43, she was still working a dressmaker, and by then she was living at Oakthorpe Road in Summertown at the home of her older sister Mary Elizabeth Collett (above). The two sisters were still living there ten years later, where they were recorded in the census of 1911. The census return that year listed Emily under her full name, as Emily Sarah Collett who was still unmarried at the age of 53, who had been born at Summertown.


38o39	James Collett was born at Combe in 1847, the first of the three known children of stonemason James Collett and his wife Alice. His birth was registered at Woodstock (Ref. xvi 134) during the third quarter of 1847, with his death also recorded there (Ref. 3a 492) during the last quarter of 1898, at the age of 51. Apart from the Combe census in 1851, when James junior was four years of age, the only other census return to feature him was in 1881 when he was unmarried and a stonemason aged 33 who was a lodger at the Market Place, Hinckley, Leicestershire home of elderly couple John and Ann Linney.


38o41	Emily Collett was born at Combe in 1853, with her birth registered at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 501) during the third quarter of that year, the only known child of James and Alice Collett. On leaving school she took up the local occupation as a glove maker, as confirmed in the Combe census of 1871, when Emily was 17 and the only person living with her mother Alice Collett, who was described as the wife of a stonemason (the absent James). After another eight years the marriage of Emily Collett and Thomas Walker was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 1225) during the last three months of 1879. Thomas was two years older than Emily and worked as an attendance at a local institute or asylum. That may have been the Radcliffe Lunatic Asylum in Headington which opened in 1826. However, eight months after the birth of their first child, Emily and Thomas, and their son, were living at the Combe home of Emily’s widowed father, stonemason James Collett, where Emily Walker was 27 and undertaking the role of housekeeper for her father in 1881, when Thomas Walker was an unemployed asylum attendant.

	On that day in 1881, it was Thomas Walker’s brother John Walker, together with his wife and their daughter, who were managing the village grocer’s shop in Combe, which Emily later managed. Five further children were added to the family during the next decade so, by 1891, the family comprised Thomas Walker who was 36 and an agricultural labourer, living with his family at the shop on Church Street in Combe. His wife Emily Walker was 36 and their children were Benjamin Thomas Walker, aged 10 years, Albert William Walker who was nine, James Walker who was seven, Charles Walker who was six, George Henry Walker who was five, Laura Maria Walker who was one year old.

	During the following ten year the older sons left the family home in Combe and by 1901, ordinary agricultural labourer Thomas Walker was 47, when his wife Emily, aged 46, was described as a draper, a bacon curer, and general shopkeeper at their home/shop on Church Street in Combe. The only children still living there with them were son George H Walker who was 15 and working alongside his father, and daughter Laura M Walker who was 11. Assisting Emily was 15-year-old Harriet Silmon, a general domestic servant. By that time the couple’s two sons Albert and James had moved towards London where they were working as bakers. Ten years later in April 1911, it was the same situation with Thomas 58 and Emily 57, having only George Harry Walker 24 and Laura Maria Walker 21 living with them at Combe. By that time the couple’s eldest son Benjamin Thomas Walker of Combe in Oxfordshire was 30 and was living at East Retford in Nottinghamshire with his wife Annie who was 29.


38o42	Leah Elizabeth Collett was born at Woodstock Road in Summertown, Oxford, in 1840, the only child of unmarried Hester (Esther) Collett of Combe, her birth recorded at Headington (Ref. xvi 52) during the last quarter of that year. As Leah Collett, a few months old, she was living with her unmarried mother at the Summertown home on Woodstock Road of her paternal grandparents Robert and Elizabeth Collett. Following the death of her grandmother, Leah’s mother took over looking after her elderly father and, in 1851, when Leah was 10 years of age, she and her mother were again recorded with Robert Collett in the St Giles district of Oxford. No record of Leah or her mother has been found after 1851.


38p1	Julia Collett was base-born at Combe in July 1850, her birth recorded at Woodstock (Ref. xvi 151), whilst it was at Combe where she was baptised on 11^th August 1850. From the time of her birth, she was taken into the care of her grandparents with whom she was living at the end of March 1851 aged eight months. Living there with her was her unmarried mother Fanny Collett aged 21. Although Julia’s whereabouts have not been traced in the 1861, she was listed in Combe census of 1871 when she was 20 and working as a gloveress, like her mother had been twenty years earlier. On that day she was living in the home of her married mother Fanny Stoker, where Julia was incorrect described as the daughter-in-law of Enoch Stoker, when she was his stepdaughter.

	Just over eight years later the marriage of Julia Collett and John Busby was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 961) during the third quarter of 1879, their wedding taking place in Combe. John was a stonemason from Combe, where he was born during the summer of 1855, the son of John and Jane Busby. It seems highly likely it was John’s work that was the reason the family of three moved to London just after the birth of their first child. Certainly, by the time of the census in 1881 Julia and John were living at 23 Penton Place in the Walworth area of London with their daughter Maud who was just four months old. At that time Julia Busby from Combe was 30 years old, while John Busby was 25 and his occupation was again confirmed as that of a stonemason. When the work in London had been completed, the family returned to Combe before the early months of 1884.

	Once settled back in Combe, Julia presented her husband with their second daughter, and it was there also that the family was recorded in the census of 1891. Head of the household, at their Church Street home, was named as John Busby junior, who was 35, his wife Julia Busby was 40, and their two children were Maud Julia Busby who was ten years old and had been born at Combe at the end of 1880, and Elsie Jane Busby who was seven years old and had been born at Combe during the second quarter of 1884. Ten years later, according to the census in 1901, the same was still residing in Church Street, where John was 45, Julia was 50, and the only child still living there with them, was the youngest daughter Elsie J Busby who was 17.

	Whether as a result of an accident at work, or through illness, John Busby died at Combe in 1907, his passing confirmed by the census return for Combe in 1911 which included his widow Julia Busby, aged 60, still living there. With her on that day were two visitors, Ellen Marshall who was 66 and Mary Kathleen Buy who was 36.


38p2	Flora Mary Collett was born at Woodstock in 1861, where her birth was recorded (Ref. 3a 565) during the fourth quarter of that year. As Flora M Collett she was aged nine years in the Woodstock census of 1871 when living with her father at Park Street. By the time of the 1881 Flora had left the family home at Park Street in Woodstock and was working as an assistant draper to Thomas C Fyson of St Ives in Huntingdonshire. Flora’s father was a draper in Woodstock and may have been influential in securing her with job with Mr Fyson who employed twelve assistants and eleven apprentices. The census record confirmed that Flora Mary was aged 20 and was born at Woodstock.

	Around three or four years later it would appear that Flora married Arthur R Lay and that the couple settled to live at Woodstock where all of their children were born. Arthur was born at Woodstock in 1858. According to the 1901 census, Arthur aged 42 was a glove manufacturer living at Woodstock with his wife Flora aged 39 and their three children Minnie G Lay who was 14, Dorothy M Lay who was eight and Richard H Lay who was four years of age. No further children were added to the family so by April 1911 the family still living in Woodstock was made up of Arthur Robert Lay aged 52, Flora Mary Lay aged 49, and two of their three children Dorothy Mary Lay aged 18, and Richard Henry Lay who was 14.


38p3	Henry Gunnis Collett was born at Woodstock in 1863, where his birth was recorded (Ref. 3a 586) during the fourth quarter of that year. He was the eldest son of Henry Collett and his first wife, the boy’s grandmother being Elizabeth Gunnis, who was named as Harry G Collett aged seven years in the Woodstock census of 1871, when he was living with his widowed father at Park Street. Tragically he died at Woodstock five years later, the death of Henry Collett was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 491) during the first three months of 1876, when he was 12 years old.


38p4	Harold William Collett was born at Woodstock in 1867 and, following the death of his mother, possibly at the time of his birth, three-year-old Harold William Collett from Woodstock was staying with his grandfather Edward Collett and his grandmother Elizabeth Gunnis at Combe. He was 13 and still attending school in 1881 when on that occasion, he was living with his family at Park Street in Woodstock. Harold followed in his father’s footstep and worked as a draper. He married Hannah E Bowl who was born at Warborough near Wallingford in Oxfordshire in 1872. At the age of nine Hannah had attended a private school at Broad Street in Bampton as a boarder with her sister Edith who was eight and her brother William who was six.

	Harold and Hannah were married in the mid-1890s and by the turn of the century they had moved to Odiham near Basingstoke in Hampshire, where Harold continued his work as a draper. The 1901 census confirmed that Harold was 33 and from Woodstock and that Hannah was 27 and from Warborough. At that time the marriage had produced no children for the couple. Ten years later Harold and Hannah were still living in Hampshire, but at Hartley Wintney where in April 1911 Harold William Collett was 43 and his wife Hannah E Collett was 37. Again, there were no children listed with them, so it must be assumed that they never had any.


38p5	Elsie Elizabeth Anne Collett was born at Woodstock in 1872 and was aged eight years at the time of the 1881 census and was living with her family at Park Street in Woodstock. By the end of the century she had not married and was aged 27 and was still living with her parents at Woodstock, where she was working as an assistant draper to her draper father Henry Collett. It was just after the census year that Elsie married Thomas David Hughes with whom she had two sons before 1910. That was confirmed by the census in 1911 when Thomas Hughes was 42, his wife Elsie Elizabeth Annie Hughes of Woodstock was 38, and their two children were John Henry Hughes who was seven, and Percy Myfanny Hughes who was two years old, both of whom were born at Woodstock.


38p6	Hedley Joseph Collett was born at Woodstock in 1874 where he was living with his family in 1881 at the age of six. He later became a commercial traveller and may have chosen to reverse his Christian names because in 1901 he was living at Edgbaston in Birmingham where he referred to himself as Joseph H Collett, aged 26 and from Woodstock. It seems very likely that he returned to Woodstock around the time of the death of his father. And it was at Woodstock that Hedley was living with his mother Rachel, his brother Henry, and his sister Hilda (both below) in 1911 when he was still a bachelor at the age of 36. It was in June of the following year that his mother passed away, following which her Will was proved in favour of draper Hedley Joseph Collett and his brother Henry Francis (below) on 21^st October 1912, the value of her estate being just over £1,000.


38p7	Henry Francis Collett was born at Woodstock in 1879 and was one year old at the time of the 1881 census when he and his family were living at Park Street in Woodstock. On leaving school he supported his father as a draper’s assistant. By March 1901, when Henry was 21, he was still living at the family home in Woodstock where he was an assistant draper working with his father Henry and his sister Elsie (above). Shortly after that Henry’s father died and by 1911, he was still a bachelor living with his widowed mother Rachel and two siblings. The census for Woodstock of 1911 recorded that unmarried Henry Francis Collett of Woodstock was 31. Just over a year later Henry’s mother died, when he and his brother Hedley (above) were named during the probate process on 21^st October 1912. That confirmed the brothers were both drapers, so they may have been working together in Woodstock. The total value of her estate was just over £1,000.


38p8	Hilda Esther Collett was born at Woodstock in 1885 and was 15 and was living with her parents in Woodstock in 1901. During the next ten years her father died and by 1911 Hilda Esther Collett was twenty-five and was still living at Woodstock with her widowed mother Rachel and her two older brothers Hedley and Henry (above).


38p9	Elizabeth Gunnis Collett was born at Aston in Birmingham in 1863 and was named after her grandmother, her birth recorded at Aston (Ref. 6d 224) during the third quarter of the year. In the 1871 census for Deritend & Bordesley in Aston Elizabeth was seven years of age. Ten years later at the age of 17 she was described as a scholar so was still in full-time education. She was also living with her father’s baker shop at 46 Larches Street in Aston. It seems likely that during the following years she was married as she was not listed in any census after 1881 as Elizabeth Collett.


38p10	Edward Joseph Collett was born at Aston in 1864, where his birth was recorded (Ref. 6d 260) during the fourth quarter of that year. He was five years old in 1871 and was 16 in 1881 when he was living at 46 Larches Street in Aston. Although no record has been found, it must have been around the middle of the 1880s when Edward married Ada Mary. By the time of the census in 1891 the couple was residing on Lawden Road in Small Heath, the same road where Edward’s widowed mother and his younger siblings were also living. The marriage of Edward and Ada had produced two children for the couple by that time, both born at Deritend in Aston. They were Alec Collett who was three years old and Alfred E Collett who was around nine months old, while their parents were named as Edward J Collett who was 26 and an engineer’s pattern maker, and Ada M Collett who was 25.

	During the following decade a further four children were born to the couple, with three of them born while the family was still living in Small Heath. Sometime between 1898 and the turn of the century the family left the Aston area of Birmingham and moved one mile south to Thornhill Road in Sparkhill within the parish of Yardley, near to where Edward’s brother Ernest (below) was living at Balsall Heath. The family at Thornhill Road in 1901 comprised Edward J Collett, aged 36, who was again working as an engineer’s pattern maker, his wife Ada M Collett who was 35, and their five children. They were Alec Collett aged 13, Alfred E Collett who was 10, Victor J Collett who was eight, Flora B Collett who was seven, and Rose L Collett who was three. At the end of that census year Ada gave birth to her last child while the family was still living in Sparkhill, the birth recorded at Solihull register office.

	By April 1911 the completed family comprised Edward Joseph Collett aged 46 and again described as an engineer’s pattern maker, his wife of 24 years was Ada Mary Collett aged 45, and with them were their six children. Alexander E W Collett was 23, Alfred E Collett was 20, Victor J Collett was 18, Flora B Collett was 17, Rose Lilian Collett was 13, and Leslie Thomas Collett was nine years old. The two youngest children were still attending school, while every member of the family having been born in Birmingham. On that occasion the family was still living in Sparkhill to the west of Solihull. Also, within the 1911 census, every member of the household was said to have been born in Birmingham, as they had been ten years earlier 1901. Edward was 78 when he died in 1943, his death was recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 6d 419) as Edward J Collett during the quarter of that year.

	38q1	Alexander Edward W Collett		Born in 1888 at Small Heath
	38q2	Alfred Ernest Collett		Born in 1890 at Small Heath
	38q3	Victor Joseph Collett		Born in 1892 at Small Heath
	38q4	Flora Blanche Collett		Born in 1894 at Small Heath
	38q5	Rose Lillian Collett		Born in 1897 at Small Heath
	38q6	Leslie Thomas Collett		Born in 1901 at Sparkhill, Solihull


38p11	Ernest William Collett was born at Deritend in Aston in 1867, his birth recorded at Aston (Ref. 6d 263) during the last three months of that year, but as William Ernest Collett. However, within every subsequent record of his life, the two forenames were reversed, as in the census of 1871 when he was aged four years, and again in 1881 when he was 13 and still attending school and living at the family home at 46 Larches Street in Aston. During the 1880s, the family left Aston when they moved just south of Birmingham city centre. By 1891 Ernest was 23 years of age and still unmarried and living at the family home, which by then, was on Lawden Road in Small Heath (just north of Balsall Heath), where he worked with his mother in his late father’s baker’s shop. On that census day the plans for his marriage may well have been in an advanced stage, because it was only a few months later that he became a married man.

	The marriage of Ernest William Collett and Ellen Lea was recorded at Kings Norton (Ref. 6c 715) during the third quarter of 1891. Ellen was born at Bordesley, where she was baptised on 12^th September 1869, the daughter of Henry Williams Lea and his wife Ellen. Once married, the couple settled in Balsall Heath where they were living in 1901 and where their two children may have been born. According to the census that year, the family of four was residing in a property on Moseley Road, where Ernest W Collett was 33 and working as a bread salesman, his wife Ellen was 31 and was employed as a sales woman in a shop, and their two children were Elsie M Collett who was nine and Wilfred Collett who was seven. The place of birth for all four members of the family was simply recorded as Birmingham. Married couple Henry and Elizabeth Sutton, from Stockport, was boarding with the family on that day. Also, on that day, Ellen knew she and Ernest were looking forward to the birth of their third child within the next six months.

	A further three children were added to the family during the next decade and by 1911 the family was living in the Sparkhill area of Yardley, Sparkhill being removed from Yardley and becoming part of Birmingham that same year under the Greater Birmingham Act 1911. Sparkhill is also just one-mile south-east of Balsall Heath. Ernest William Collett was 42 and a baker, his wife was recorded as Nellie who was 41 and with them were four of their five children Elsie May aged 19, Doris Maggie who was nine, Nellie who was five, and Rose who was four years of age. Once again, they were all stated to have been born in Birmingham. Absence from the home that day was the couple’s only son Wilfred, who tragically had died during the previous year at the age of just 16. It should be noted that their youngest daughter was given the maiden name of her grandmother Elizabeth Collett, nee Gunnis, albeit spelt slightly differently.

	The death of Ernest W Collett was recorded at Bromsgrove register office (Ref. 9d 10) during the second quarter of 1949, at the age of 80. Four years earlier he had attended the two weddings in 1945, of his two youngest daughters Nellie and Rose, when they were both married at the Church of St John the Baptist in Leamington Spa during the month of September, but separately, three weeks apart.

	38q7	Elsie May Collett		Born in 1892 at Kings Norton
	38q8	Ernest Wilfred Collett		Born in 1894 at Kings Norton
	38q9	Doris Maggie Collett		Born in 1901 at Balsall Heath
	38q10	Nellie Collett		Born in 1905 at Balsall Heath
	38q11	Rose Gunness Collett		Born in 1907 at Solihull


38p12	Rose Albina Collett was born at Deritend in Aston in 1869, her birth recorded at Aston (Ref. 6d 257) during the fourth quarter of that year. She was the fourth child of Joseph Collett and Naomi Smith and was two years old in the 1871 census and was 12 in 1881 when she was living at the family home at 46 Larches Street in Aston. Ten years later Rosa A Collett was 21 with no stated occupation, when she was living with her widowed mother at Lawden Road in Small Heath. Just over eighteen months after that census day, the marriage of Rose Albina Collett and Albert Henry Noad took place at Holy Trinity Church in Bordesley on 22^nd October 1892. Rose was recorded as being 22 and the daughter of Joseph Collett, while Albert was 25 and the son of Albert Noad.

	Their daughter was born during the next twelve months and, by 1901, the three of them were residing at a dwelling on Station Road in Handsworth where Albert H Noad from Paddington in London was 34, his wife Rose A Noad was 31 and daughter Edith R Noad was seven years old, both females said to have been born in Birmingham. The family was still together at Handsworth in 1911 when, once again on that occasion, Rose’s second name was recorded as Albenia. Albert Noad was 44, Rose Albenia Noad from Bordesley was 41 and Edith Rose Noad from Small Heath was 17.

	Rose lived a long life, most of it, if not all of it, within the Birmingham area. She was 94 when she passed away, her death recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 9c 59) during the second quarter of 1964.


38p13	Blanche Emma Collett was born at Deritend in Aston, possibly at the end of 1870, with her birth recorded at Aston (Ref. 6d 285) during the first few weeks of 1871. Under her full name she was included in the census of 1871, when a few months old, and again in 1881 when she was 11. On that occasion she and her family were living at 46 Larches Street in Aston. After a further decade it was as Blanche E Collett, aged 20, that she was living at Lawden Road in Small Heath with her recently widowed mother and her siblings in 1891, when she was working as a vest maker. She was still unmarried and living with her mother in 1901, by which time the family home was on Chapman Road in Aston, from where Blanche E Collett was employed as a dressmaker.

	Almost seventeen months later Blanche Emma Collett, aged 32 and the daughter of Joseph Collett, was married to Walter Hadley who was 36 and the son of William Hadley, at St Martin’s Church in Birmingham on 25^th August 1903. Both of them were confirmed as being single at that time, with the event recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 6d 6) during the third quarter of 1903. It was at Smethwick where the couple settled after their wedding day and where their first two children were born. That was confirmed in the Smethwick census of 1911 when Walter Hadley from Smethwick was 44 and a mechanical engineer, Blanche Emma Hadley was 40, Thelma Blanche Hadley was six, and Walter Raymond George Hadley was five years of age. The death of Blanche Emma Hadley was recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 9c 262) during the last three months of 1952, when she was 81 years old.


38p14	Maud Mary Collett was born in 1873 at Deritend, with her birth recorded at Aston (Ref. 6d 288) during the second quarter of that year. She was eight years old in 1881 when Maud Mary was living with her family at 46 Larches Street in Aston. By 1891 her father had died and that year she and her family were living on Lawden Road in Small Heath, where Maud M Collett was recorded as being 16 years old and employed in the making of baby linen. During the next decade Maud took up the job of a grocer’s assistant, which she still was doing in 1901 when she was 26, unmarried and still living with her mother and younger brother Percy (below). The family home that year was at Chapman Road in Aston.

	Maud Mary Collett was the only child still living with her elderly mother in 1911, but at Small Heath in Birmingham. She was still unmarried at the age of 35, when she was working as a shop assistant. Surprisingly, when her mother passed away in 1918 the sole beneficiary under the terms of her Will, was a member of her Smith family. It was thirteen years later when the marriage of Maud M Collett and Leslie H Broomhall was recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 6d 1110) during the fourth quarter of 1931.


38p15	Percy Henry Collett was born in 1876 at Deritend and his birth was also recorded at Aston (Ref. 6d 418) during the last three months of the year. As Percy Henry Collett he was four years old at the time of the 1881 census for Aston, when he and the family were living at 46 Larches Street. It was as Percy H Collett aged 14 and an errand boy that he was recorded in the Bordesley census of 1891, by which time his father had died and he was living at Lawden Road in Small Heath with his widowed mother. He was one of two children still living with his mother at Chapman Road in Aston on the day of the next census in 1901, when as P H Collett aged 24, his occupation was that of a non-domestic coachman. It was during the second quarter of 1905 that a Percy Henry Collett was married, the event recorded at Aston register office (Ref. 6d 593), although the bride was not named as Florence, his wife in the next census of 1911, by which time their marriage had produced two children.

	By April 1911 Percy Henry Collett was 34 and working as a carter, when living at Small Heath in the Aston area of Birmingham, not far from where his elderly mother was also living at that time. Living with Percy was his wife Florence who was 33 and their two children were Winnie Rose Collett who was four and Leslie Henry Collett who was two years old, every member of the household having been born in Birmingham. Percy would appear to have lived out his whole life in the Birmingham area, since it was at Birmingham register office (Ref. 9c 840) that the death of Percy Henry Collett was recorded during the first quarter of 1959, when he was 82 years of age. The birth of Winnie Rose Collett was recorded at Aston register office (Ref. 6d 254) during the last quarter of 1906 and the birth of Leslie Henry Collett was also recorded there during the first quarter of 1909.

	38q12	Winnie Rose Collett		Born in 1906 at Birmingham
	38q13	Leslie Henry Collett		Born in 1909 at Birmingham


38p16	Alice Elizabeth Collett was born at Deritend in Aston in 1869. She was 11 years old at the time of the Aston census of 1881 when she was living with her parents at 207 Bordesley Green. The family was still living in Aston in 1891 but on that occasion, it was at 79 Bordesley Green where Alice was 21. It was during third quarter of 1894 that Alice Elizabeth Collett married Stephen Arnold, the event recorded at Aston (Ref. 6d 554), with whom she had four children over the next eight years. Sadly, the couple’s nly son, Samuel (1898-1899) did not survive. Having been raised the son of the Superintendent of Boys Reformatory School at Mamilad in Newport, South Wales, Stephen took up a similar position at the King’s Norton Reformatory in Birmingham, where Alice became Matron, as well as bringing up her own children.

	The census of 1901 revealed Alice Elizabeth Arnold, aged 31 and from Birmingham, was a house wife residing in the Aston are of the city. With her was her husband Stephen who was 37, and daughters Mary who was five and Nancy who was four years of age. Ten years later the family still living within the Aston area, but at The Reformatory School of The Norton Boys Home in Saltley, where Stephen Arnold was 47 and the superintendent of the reformatory school – as he had been in 1901. His wife Alice Elizabeth was 41, Mary Frances was 15, Nancy Grace was 14, and Joan Elizabeth was nine years old. Alice and Stephen eventually retired to Stonesfield where Stephen died on 26^th January 1946, followed by Alice Elizabeth Arnold nee Collett who died there just over six years later on 12^th September 1952.

	The couple’s eldest daughter, Mary Frances Arnold was born in Birmingham on 4^th August 1895, with her birth recorded at Aston register office (Ref. 6d 374). Mary later became a teacher and in 1922 she married her childhood sweetheart Hubert John Dixon. Eleven years later Hubert became headmaster of King’s College at Wimbledon in 1933. And it was at Wimbledon that the couple remained living until Mary died in 1960. Hubert retired two years later. The marriage produced two children for Mary and Hubert and these were Joan Rachel Dixon who was born on 8^th January 1924, and Christopher John Arnold Dixon who was born on 17^th August 1928. And it was Christopher’s son, Tony Dixon from Twickenham, who kindly provided the details relating to his family. It is also interesting to note that the great grand aunt of Tony Dixon’s wife was married to Sir Charles Henry Collett who was Lord Mayor of London in 1933. See Part 51 – The Descendants of the Gloucestershire Line under Ref. 51P1 for more details of that family.

	Their second child was Nancy Grace Arnold who was born in Birmingham on 15^th January 1897. Like her sister Mary (above), Nancy also became a teacher and taught physical education at the North London Collegiate until she was recalled to Stonesfield to tend her ageing parents during the Second World War. They lived at 1722 Laughton’s Hill and after Nancy died in April 1973 the cottage was sold for the first time.

	The youngest daughter was Joan Elizabeth Arnold who was born in Birmingham on 6^th April 1902. She married Andrew Allen during the second quarter of 1932 and raised two children while living in Birmingham. Upon retired Joan and Andrew returned to Stonesfield in 1965 where they lived in Church Close until 1995. The couple’s two children were Francis Andrew Allen who was born in 1934, and Joan Margaret Allen who was born in 1936.


38p17	Laughton William Collett was born at Deritend in Aston in 1876 and his named derived from his mother’s maiden name. His birth was recorded at Aston (Ref. 6d 277) during the second quarter of that year. In April 1881 he was five years old when living with his parents at 207 Bordesley Green in Aston. During the next ten years the family moved to 79 Bordesley Green where they were living by 1891. At that time Laughton was 15 and was still attending school. Shortly after the census day he completed his schooling and joined his father to train as a baker, which he was by the time he was 25 according to the Aston census of 1901. Also, by that time, he was a married man, the marriage of Laughton William Collett and Charlotte Louisa Smith having been recorded at Aston (Ref. 6d 313) just a few weeks before that census day. The marriage produced four children for the couple before the end of the decade but, in 1901, it was at Bankes Road in Aston that Lawton (sic) and Charlotte were living. On that day Charlotte, from Birmingham, was 24 and expecting the imminent birth of their first child, whose birth was recorded shortly after that census day.

	According to the next census in 1911, the family of six was still living in Small Heath, within the Aston area of Birmingham, when Laughton had taken over his father’s bakery business. Laughton William Collett was 35 and a baker, his wife Charlotte Louisa Collett was 34, and their children on that occasion were William Edward who was nine, Leslie Arnold who was seven, Kathleen Louis who was six and Harold Thomas who was three. For all other records, the couple’s youngest son was only ever referred to as Harold Francis Collett, so the Thomas second name in 1911 census return was very likely made in error. As far as can be determined, no children were added to the family after 1911.

	Laughton William Collett was residing at 224 Somerville Road in Small Heath, Birmingham, when he died on 7^th December 1939, his death recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 6d 543) when he was 63 years old. Probate of his Will was completed at Birmingham on 18^th January 1940 when his youngest child Harold Francis Collett was named as one of the two executors of his personal effects valued at £372 0 Shillings and 5 Pence. The second executor was John Howard, a Lloyd’s Bank cashier. The last nine years of Laughton’s life was spent as a widower, having lost his wife in 1930, her death recorded at Birmingham (Ref. 6d 388) during the first three months of that year.

	38q14	William Edward Collett		Born in 1901 at Aston, Birmingham
	38q15	Leslie Arnold Collett		Born in 1903 at Aston, Birmingham
	38q16	Kathleen Louisa Collett		Born in 1904 at Aston, Birmingham
	38q17	Harold Francis Collett		Born in 1908 at Aston, Birmingham


38p18	Matilda M Collett was born at Combe in 1854. No record of her or her family has so far been located in the census of 1861. Ten years later her parents and younger sister Elizabeth (below) were living in Stonesfield but again no census record has actually been confirmed for Matilda. What is known is that she left the family home in Oxfordshire to enter domestic service and the only possible appearance of her in 1871 was in the Rugeley & Lichfield registration district in Staffordshire where there was listed a Matilda Collett aged 16.

	Ten years later in 1881 she was employed as a child’s nurse at the home of Surrey Magistrate William C Scott and his family at Church Road in Chertsey. It would appear that at the time that Matilda was offered the job there was also a vacancy for a lady’s maid and that was filled by Matilda’s younger sister Elizabeth (below). Certainly the 1881 census listed both sisters as living and working at the house, where Matilda was 26 and Elizabeth was 20, when both girls were confirmed as having been born at Combe in Oxfordshire.

	Matilda M Collett never married and by 1911, and following the death of her mother during the first ten years of the new century, she was still working as a lady’s maid at the age of 54, when she was living with her married sister Elizabeth Oliver (below) at Hump Wood Farm in Stonesfield. Also living there was her widowed father John Collett who was 88.


38p19	Elizabeth S Collett was born at Combe in 1860, although no record of her, or her parents, or her older sister Matilda, have been found in the census the following year. However, by the time of the census in 1871 Elizabeth Collett of Combe was ten and was living with her parents in her mother’s home village of Stonesfield. On leaving school she entered into the world of domestic service and was a lady’s maid, working with her older sister Matilda (above) at the home of William C Scott in 1881 when she was 20. The Scott household at Church Road in Chertsey comprised William Scott aged 30 of London, his wife Ursula K Scott 21 of Clapham and their two months old daughter Katherina Alethia Scott born at Brompton. Today Church Road runs between the M25 and the Brighton Road (A318).

	It therefore looks very much like the two sisters were employed either just before or around the time of the birth of the baby. In addition to all of these, there were a further two people living at the address and they were Emma Hart, the 26 years old cook and 18 years old footman Charles Hunt. Charles Hunt was previously known to the two Collett sisters. He was their cousin from Stonesfield, being the nephew of the girl’s mother who, before marrying their father, was Matilda Hunt.

	It was during the following year that Elizabeth married the much older Job Oliver who was born at Stonesfield near Combe in 1844, the son of Joseph Oliver. The couple’s first child was born at Aldershot in Hampshire, but thereafter the family returned to Stonesfield where two more children were added to the family, and where they remained living for the rest of their life. In 1891 the family was living at Combe Road in Stonesfield, at the home of Elizabeth’s elderly parents John and Matilda Collett. The family comprised Job Oliver from Stonesfield who was 45 and an insurance agent, Elizabeth S Oliver from Combe who was 30 and a dressmaker, and their three children. They were Ernest Oliver who was seven, John J Oliver who was five, and Matilda H Oliver who was not yet one year old.

	Job Oliver must have been away on business on the day the next two consecutive censuses were conducted, since he was absent from the couple’s Stonesfield home, both in 1901 and 1911. In the former his wife and three children were still living with his parents-in-law but at Woodstock Road in Stonesfield. His wife Elizabeth S Oliver was 39 and dressmaker with her own account, Ernest F Oliver from Aldershot was 17 and a horseman working on a farm, John J Oliver was 15 and a stonemason’s assistant, and Matilda C H Oliver was ten years of age. Elizabeth’s mother died at Stonesfield during the years following 1901, at which time her widowed father John and her older unmarried sister Matilda moved in with Elizabeth and her family at Hump Wood Farm in Stonesfield.

	That situation was confirmed by the next census in 1911 when the occupants of the six-roomed dwelling known as Hump Wood Farm were recorded as: S Elizabeth Oliver from Combe who was a farmer and an employer at the age of 50 who had been married for 28 years with three children all of whom had survived and were living there with her; Ernest F Oliver, aged 27 a farmer and an employer from Aldershot; John Joseph Oliver a farmer from Stonesfield who was 25; and Matilda M Oliver who was also from Stonesfield, who was 20 with no stated occupation, so presumably was helping her mother keep house. The other two occupants were John Collett from Combe who was 88 and described as the father of Elizabeth, and Matilda M Collett, aged 54 from Combe who was a lady’s maid and named as the sister of Elizabeth Oliver.

	It was six years later that the death of Job Oliver was recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 1605) during the first three months of 1917, when he was 74 years of age.


38p20	Thomas William Collett was born on 25^th April 1860 in the hamlet of Little Wolford, one mile south of Burmington, near Shipston-on-Stour. He was the first-born child and eldest son of farmer William Collett and Betsy Powell and was named after his grandfather Thomas Collett of Combe. He was baptised at the local parish church of St Barnabas & St Nicholas in Burmington on 27^th May 1860, when his father’s occupation was stated to be that of a farmer. The following year Thomas W Collett was recorded as being ten months old and living with his parents at Little Wolford, Burmington, where they remained until he was around eight years old, when the family moved to nearby Cherington. Curiously Thomas was missing from the census return for Cherington in 1871.

	By the time of the following census in 1881, Thomas W Collett was 20 and was living with his aunt Elizabeth Collett who was then married to fifty-year-old George Neville from Begbroke near Kidlington. George was a tailor and he and his wife and their son Frederick Neville lived in a private house in nearby Yarnton. The two cousins Thomas W Collett and Frederick Neville, who was three years older than Thomas, were both tailors working with George Neville. Thomas’ place of birth was confirmed as having been Burmington.

	By that time in his life Thomas’ parents William and Betsy Collett had inherited farm property left to them following the deaths of Betsy’s parents. The dwelling was known to have been Powells Cottage in Shipston, which also seems likely to have had some farmland attached to it. So, in a few short years William Collett progress from being an agricultural labourer to being a farmer. By the time of the census of 1891, and with their advancing years, it would appear that William and Betsy persuaded their eldest son Thomas to return home to help out on the farm.

	The census that year placed Thomas W Collett, aged 29 and of Burmington, back living with his parents and his youngest brother Eli Powell Collett (below) at their new home at Upper Side in Leafield, north of Witney, within the Charlbury & Chipping Norton area. Within the next six months Thomas became a married man, with the wedding of Thomas William Collett and his sister-in-law Jane Ferriman recorded at Chipping Norton register office (Ref. 3a 1333) during the third quarter of 1891. Two years earlier, in the summer of 1889, Thomas’ sister Mary Ann (below) had married Jane’s brother William Ferriman.

	Once married, Thomas and Jane settled in Leafield where their four children were born. Leading up to 1901, Jane presented her Thomas with the first three of those four children and by March 1901 the family was recorded living at The Riding in Leafield. Thomas W Collett was 40 and a farmer from Burmington, Jane was 34 and had been born at Leafield, and their children were William C Collett who was nine, Harold G Collett who was seven, and Grace P Collett who was four.

	Two years later the couple’s fourth and last child was born while Thomas was still farming at Leafield. However, by the time of the census in 1911, two of the sons of Thomas and Jane had left the family home in Leafield, so the incomplete family was simply recorded as Thomas William Collett who was 51 and retired from farming to become a licensed victualler, his wife Jane who was 44 and assisting her husband in the family business, and their two youngest children Grace who was 14 with no stated occupation, and Bessie who was seven and attending school.

	38q18	William Charles Collett		Born in 1891 at Leafield, near Witney
	38q19	Harold George Collett		Born in 1894 at Leafield, near Witney
	38q20	Grace Powell Collett		Born in 1896 at Leafield, near Witney
	38q21	Bessie Collett		Born in 1903 at Leafield, near Witney


38p21	Mary Ann Collett was born at Little Wolford, Burmington and may have been unwell and unable to attend her baptism at the Church of St Barnabas & St Nicholas in Burmington, since she was privately baptised at home on 4^th January 1862, the eldest daughter of farmer William Collett and his wife Betsy. It was as Mary Ann Collett aged nine years that she appeared in the Shipston-on-Stour census of 1871, when she was living with her parents a Powells Cottage. With her mother being Betsy Powell, it is assumed that Mary Ann’s mother and father inherited the cottage upon the death of her grandparents.

	On leaving school some six years later Mary entered into domestic service and by 1881 she had left the family home and moved into the city of Oxford where was working at the home of master ironmonger William Wyatt. The connection with the Wyatt family seems most likely through the wife of William Wyatt since she was from Cherington where two of Mary Ann Collett’s younger siblings were born.

	The census return for 1881 confirmed that Mary A Collett was 19 and from Burmington and that she was a general domestic servant at the Wyatt house ‘Canterbury’ on the Kingston Road in the St Giles district of Oxford city centre. William Wyatt’s wife was Edith Wyatt who had two very young children at that time, a daughter who was one year old and a son who was only one week old. She was formerly Edith Wheeler who was born at Cherington in 1852 and the daughter of forty-nine-year-old widow Sarah J Wheeler who was also living with the Wyatt family on that occasion.

	Just over eight years after that census day, the marriage of Mary Ann Collett and William Ferriman was recorded at Chipping Norton (Ref. 3a 1310) during the third quarter of 1889. William was born in 1863 at Leafield and was the older brother of Jane Ferriman who married Thomas William Collett (Mary Ann’s brother - above) in 1891. William and Mary Ann continued to live in Leafield after they were married, and it was there that their five children were born and raised. The first of those five children was born just prior to the following census in 1891, by which time their farm at Lower End in Leafield had another member of Mary Ann’s family with the couple to welcome their first-born child.

	Farmer William Ferriman was 27, Mary Ann Ferriman was 28 and the post mistress, their daughter Alice Mary Ferriman was six months old, with the visitor at the farm being Mary Sophia Collett aged 24 and from Burmington.

	The completed census return for 1901 identified the entire young family residing on Witney Road in Leafield, where William Ferriman was 38 and a farmer, while Mary Ferriman from Burmington was 39. With the couple that day were all five of their children, and they were Alice M Ferriman aged ten, Frederick William Ferriman who was eight, Edith Sarah Ferriman who was four, Albert Ferriman who was two, plus just-born but no yet named, baby Ferriman, who years old. A visitor with the family that day was 24-year-old Lucy Mills, a dressmaker.

	Just to add a little confusion in 1901, there was another William Ferriman of Leafield who was also still living at the age of 39. However, he was a stonemason, whose wife was Kate Ferriman aged 38 and from Herefordshire, and most likely the cousin of William the farmer. The two men were still living in Leafield in 1911, when farmer William Ferriman was 47, as was his wife Mary Ann, when their children were confirmed as Frederick William who was 19 and a farmer’s son working on the farm, Edith Sarah who was 14, Albert who was 12 and at school, as was Mary Sophia Ferriman who was 10 years old.


38p22	William Thomas Collett was born at Little Wolford near Burmington, where he was baptised at the Church of St Barnabas & St Nicholas on 28^th June 1863. Like his older brother Thomas (above), he too was named after his father and his grandfather. In 1871 William and his family were living in nearby Cherington where William was seven years old, and ten years later in 1881 the family had moved to Shipston-on-Stour and were living at Powells Cottage. The census return that year recorded that William T Collett of Burmington was ‘ill in bed’ at the age of 17.

	And since no further record of him has been revealed in any subsequent census, it seems likely that he never recovered from the illness and passed away. Whenever ailment William suffered with, may have been the same cause of the death of his younger sister Betsy Powell Collett (below) who was no longer with the family by 1881 when she would have been just ten years old.


38p23	Alice Powell Collett was born at Little Wolford near Burmington and was privately baptised at home on 22^nd September 1865, the parish record confirming that she was the daughter of farmer William Collett and Betsy Powell. A ‘private baptism’ indicated that she was too poorly to attend a church service. It was at Shipston-on-Stour that the birth of Alice Powell Collett was recorded (Ref. 6d 551) during the third quarter of 1865. By 1871 her family had moved the short distance to the village of Cherington where Alice Powell Collett was recorded as being aged five years. Just prior to the next census in 1881, Alice left the family home to take up employed as a domestic servant in Shipston-on-Stour, to where her parents had also recently moved. The census return confirmed that Alice Powell Collett of Cherington was 15 and that she was working at the home of retired draper William Roberts at the family’s house on London Road in Shipston.

	Sometime during the next decade, Alice’s work took her into the city of Oxford where she was recorded as living and working in 1891. On that occasion she described herself in the St Clements & Headington area census as Alice P Collett aged 25 and from Burmington. So far, no record of Alice has been found in either the census returns for 1901 or 1911, so it seems likely that she was married sometime after 1891.


38p24	Mary Sophia Collett was born on 16^th April 1867 at the hamlet of Little Wolford in the Parish of Burmington, the daughter of farmer William Collett and his wife Betsy . She was named after her paternal grandmother Sophia Smith of Combe and was baptised at the Church of St Barnabas & St Nicholas in Burmington on 12^th May 1867. By the time of the census in 1871 her family had moved to nearby Cherington, where she was listed as Mary Sophia Collett aged three years. The next census in 1881 confirmed that Mary and her family had moved again, that time to Powells Cottage in Shipston-on-Stour which had been the former home of her maternal grandparents. The census return also confirmed that Mary Sophia Collett was 13 and had been born in Burmington.

	Mary S Collett was still single in 1891 at the age of 24, when she was recorded at the Lower End, Leafield home of her brother-in-law William Ferriman, a farmer, and her older sister Mary Ann Ferriman (above). After a further five years, the marriage of Mary Sophia Collett and Leonard Hadland of Leafield was recorded at Chipping Norton register office (Ref. 3a 1633) during the second quarter of 1896. Not long after their wedding day, Mary Sophia gave birth to a son, the couple’s only known child. The three of them were subsequently recorded in the Leafield census of 1901 as Leonard Hadland who was 35 and an inn keeper, his wife Mary S Hadland who was 34 and from Burmington, and their four-year-old son William C Hadland. The family eventually left Oxfordshire and moved to south Wales where in 1911, they were recorded as living within the Merthyr Tydfil area of Glamorgan. Leonard Hadland was 45 and from Leafield, Mary Sophia Hadland was 44 and from Burmington, and their son William C Hadland was 14 and from Leafield.


38p25	Betsy Powell Collett was born at Cherington Hill, Cherington and baptised there on 30^th January 1870, another daughter of William Collett, labourer, and Betsy Powell. Betsy Powell Collett of Cherington Hill was one year old in the Cherington census of 1871. Two years later, when she was three years of age, the death of Betsy Powell Collett was recorded at Shipston-on-Stour (Ref. 6d 408), and was buried at Cherington on 4^th January 1873.


38p26	Eli Powell Collett was born at Cherington on 5^th February 1875, where he was baptised on 9^th May 1875, the last child of labourer William Collett and his wife Betsy Powell. At the time of the census of 1881, Eli was six years old and was living with his parents at Powells Cottage in Shipston-on-Stour, the former home of his maternal grandparents. He was attending school at that time ad his birthplace was confirmed as Cherington. Ten years later he was one of only two children still living with his parents at Upper Side in Leafield north of Witney, when he was 16 years old and was working on his father’s farm, previously managed by the Powell family.

	By March 1901, when Eli P Collett was 25, he was the only member of his family still living with his parents who, by then had moved south-west of Witney to Alvescot, where many other Colletts also lived, as detailed in Part 28 – The Faringdon Line. In the census return Eli P Collett of Cherington was described as a farmer’s son, while he and his father worked the farm known as Kenn’s Farm at Carterton near Alvescot. Kenn’s Farm is still there to this day, and until very recently was owned by Thomas Edmonds of Alvescot. This information was received from Barbara Edmonds during August 2010.

	During the following years Eli’s father died and by April 1911 he was still a bachelor and was still living at Kenn’s Farm with his mother Betsy Collett. At that time Eli Powell Collett was 37 and his mother was 74. In 1919 when he was 45, and presumably following the death of his mother, Eli married Louisa Jane Pratt, the union being registered in Witney. It is established that the couple continued to live in Alvescot after they were married and that it was there that Eli Powell Collett died, following which he was buried in the churchyard there, where a headstone marks the grave. At some time in his life he was the landlord at The Chequers Inn at Brize Norton, the inn previously managed by Louisa’s parents at the start of the new century, where Louisa assisted her mother run the inn after her father died. Following the death of her mother Jane Pratt, Louisa’s married brother took over The Chequers, and it was after he passed away that Eli and Louisa stepped in as landlord and landlady.


38p27	Thomas George Collett was born at Woodstock in 1862, his birth under his full name was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 551) during the third quarter of the year. By the time of the census in 1871, Thomas G Collett, aged nine years, was living with his family at New Hinksey, to the south of St Aldates in Oxford. At the age of 18, Thomas Collett was an unemployed mason living with his parents at 25 Stockmore Street in the St Clements district of Oxford. During the next half decade, he became a married man, although no record of the marriage has been found, either as Thomas or George. By 1891, he and his wife, and their daughter, were living in the Headington St Andrew area of north Oxford. The census return that year recorded the family of three residing at William Street in Headington, where George Collett was 28 and a stonemason. His wife Helen Collett was also 28 and their daughter Hilda was seven years old. Also living in William Street was Thomas’ married brother Alfred (below).

	Ten years later he was once again recorded as George Collett who was 38 and of Woodstock, who was a stonemason living at Princes Street in the Cowley St John area of Oxford. His wife was confirmed as Helen Collett aged 38 who was born at Abingdon-on-Thames, and their daughter Hilda Collett was 17 and born in Oxford, who was not credited with an occupation. The family’s home was at New Marston back in the Headington area of Oxford in 1911.

	On the census day that year Helen and her daughter were the only occupants of the dwelling, Helen Collett from Abingdon being 48 and Hilda Collett, from Oxford and with no occupation, was curiously recorded as being only 23 years of age, unless it was an error for 28. That same day in 1911, Helen’s husband was away working in Fyfield in Berkshire, where George Collett from Woodstock was 48 and a stonemason. Fourteen years later, the death of George Collett was recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 1356) during the first three months of 1925, when he was 62.

	Knowing that his daughter never married, it is assumed that Helen and Hilda continued to live together in Oxfordshire where, the much later death of ‘Ellen Collett’ aged 89 was recorded at the county’s register office (Ref. 6b 783) in 1952. Less than eight years after losing her mother, the death of Hilda Collett was recorded at the Bicester Ploughley register office (Ref. 6b 1137) during the first three months of 1960, when she was 76.

	38q22	Hilda Collett		Born in 1883 at Oxford


38p28	William Charles Collett was born at Woodstock in 1864, his birth recorded there (Ref. 3a 638) during the first quarter of the year. His father Thomas was absent on the day of the census in 1871, most likely for work reasons. Instead his mother Elizabeth Collett was living in the New Hinksey area of Oxford to the south of the city centre, who had with her all four of her children including William C Collett who was seven years old. Nothing further is known about what happened to him, since he was not living with his family at Cowley in 1881, nor has any other record of him has been found.


38p29	Alfred Henry Collett was born at Woodstock, perhaps at the end of 1865, with his birth also recorded there (Ref. 3a 630) during the first three months of 1866. Alfred H Collett was five years of age in 1871 when living at New Hinksey in south Oxford with his family. By the time of the census of 1881 Alfred’s family was living at 25 Stockmore Street off the Iffley Road in the St Clements district of Oxford, by which time Alfred was 15. The place of his birth was confirmed as having been Woodstock. Just under five years later the marriage of Alfred H Collett and Elizabeth Louisa Saker was recorded at Headington (Ref. 3a 747) during the first quarter of 1886 and, by the end of that year, the first of the couple’s five daughters had been born. At that time the family was residing at 11 High Street in St Clements, while it was at 86 Charles Street when they were living on the baptism of their second child.

	On the day of the next census in 1891 they had three daughters living with them at William Street, off the Marston Road in Headington, where his Alfred’s brother Thomas George Collett (above) was living with his wife and their daughter. Alfred Collett was 25 and a stonemason, Elizabeth Collett from Kent was 24, Kate Collett was four, Rose Collett was three and Ada Collett was one year old. The couple’s final two children were born during the next decade

	At the start of the new century, Alfred was working still working as a stonemason, by which time he had moved his family to the Cowley area of Oxford. On the census day in 1901 Alfred Collett was 35 when living with his family at Hurst Street, not far from the Iffley Road Sports Ground. On that occasion his wife Elizabeth was 34 and her place of birth was given as Shoreham in Kent. The couple’s five daughters were confirmed as Kate Collett who was 14, Rose Collett who was 13, Ada Collett who was 11, Lily Collett who was eight and Eva Collett was two years old. Also living with them was Alfred’s widowed mother Elizabeth Collett who was 64.

	In April 1911 Alfred and his family were again residing at 72 Hurst Street in Cowley St Clements, when Alfred was 45 was a stonemason from Woodstock. His wife Elizabeth, to whom he had been married for twenty-five years, was 44 and from Sundridge near Sevenoaks in Kent. Still living with the couple were three of their five daughters. Rose Collett was 23 and a dressmaker, Lilian Collett was 18 and was working as a domestic day girl, while Eva Collett was 12 and still attending school. Although the births of all five children were recorded at Headington, it seems likely that Lilian was born at nearby Marston/New Marston, with Eva possibly born after the family settled in Hurst Street. Unfortunately, neither of the two census returns clearly identifies where in Oxford the births took place.

	Eleven years later, the death of Alfred H Collett was recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 1515) during the first three months of 1922, when he was 55 years of age.

	38q23	Kate Louisa Collett		Born in 1886 at Oxford/Headington
	38q24	Rose Elizabeth Collett		Born in 1888 at Oxford/Headington
	38q25	Ada Hannah Collett		Born in 1890 at Oxford/Headington
	38q26	Lilian Gertrude Collett		Born in 1892 at Marston/Headington
	38q27	Eva May Collett		Born in 1899 at Cowley/Headington


38p30	Elizabeth Mary Collett was born in 1868 at Hinksey in Oxford, but south of the River Thames, which means she was born in the county of Berkshire. Therefore, her birth was recorded at Abingdon-on-Thames (Ref. 2c 289) during the last three months of 1868, the last child of Thomas and Elizabeth Collett. Elizabeth M Collett, from Hinksey, was two years of age in the New Hinksey census of 1871. Ten years later it was at Stockmore Street in Cowley area of Oxford that the family was recorded in the census of 1881, when Elizabeth M Collett was 12 years old. After completing her education, Elizabeth entered domestic service and, in 1891, she was a live-in general domestic servant aged 22 from Oxford who was employed at the Hendon home of George Bowles, a civil servant, and his family. It was in London that she met her future husband.

	Just over three years later, she was back in her home town of Oxford, where she became a married lady. The marriage of Elizabeth Mary Collett and Walter John Franklin was recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 1391) during the third quarter of 1894. The birth of Walter J Franklin was recorded at Holborn in London in 1866, having been born at nearby Bloomsbury. He was a son of printer Lewis Franklin and his wife Sarah. According to the census in 1901, when the Franklin family was living at Leopold Street in the Cowley area of Oxford, Walter was absent, may have been overseas with the British Army. His wife was not described as a widow but was named as head of the household. Elizabeth Franklin from Hinksey was 32 and working as a charwoman and her two Oxford born children were Walter Franklin who was six, and Winifred Franklin who was five.

	Living with the family in 1901 was Elizabeth’s widowed mother Elizabeth Collett, who was still living with them in 1911, by which time Elizabeth Franklin was confirmed as being a widow. Elizabeth was 42 and was still earning a living charring, in order to look after her two children, Walter who was 16 and Winifred who was 15. The death of Elizabeth M Franklin was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 782) during the second quarter of 1953, when she was 84 years old.


38p31	Frederick Charles Collett was born at Combe, perhaps at the end of 1860 or early in 1861, since his birth was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 565) during the first three months of 1861. By 1871 he was 10 years old, by which time his family had settled in Bletchingdon. It would appear that he moved out of the overcrowded family home in the spring of 1880, when the family at Bletchingdon had been expanded by the birth of a baby brother and the ninth child of the family. According to the census record for the following year, Frederick Charles Collet was 20 and a bricklayer, a lodger at the house of widower, 52 years old William Palmer who was a boot and shoe maker. The house was only five houses from the home of Frederick’s family in the village of Bletchingdon.