PART THIRTY-EIGHT

The Oxford Stonemasons Line

Updated May 2024

This is the family line of Anthony Collett from Earls Barton in Northamptonshire, the line of descent denoted by the names in capital letters.
By May 2010 the size of this file was such that it was too large for emailing, so it was therefore decided to separate the details and provide two files, one for the village of Wolvercote and one for the village of Combe.
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 Wolvercote and Combe. There are clues that perhaps suggest the families in these two villages are related but for now they are shown as two separate families.
The information in the revised version issued in May 2010 was kindly provided by Brian Taylor and relates to Mary Anne Collett (Ref. 38N8), about whom nothing was previously known
It is thanks to Sue Massen, the daughter of Helen Annie May Collett (Ref. 38R8), that this file was previously updated with new details going back to Henry Collett (Ref. 38P4)
Part 37 – The Oxford City Line is the family line of Kevin Mark Collett (Ref. 37S4) who, on 2^nd September 2006 married Lynda Davies whose own family had early Collett ancestors. This second Oxford Line is therefore an attempt to prove the earlier link between the two families
Thanks therefore go to Lynda’s father Martin Davies (Ref. 38Q34) of Stourton in the West Midlands who provided the initial family information that has enabled this line to be developed, the line denoted by the underlined names.
SECTION ONE – WOLVERCOTE (1784 to 1945)
	James Collett (Ref. 38M8), who starts this family line, was the youngest son of Thomas (Ref. 38L1) and Elizabeth Collett of Combe, whose complete Combe family feature in Section Two – Combe
38M8		JAMES COLLETT was born at Combe in 1784 and it was there that he was baptised on 7^th November 1784. 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.
		In the first national census of 1841 the family living at Wolvercote was recorded as James Collett who was 57, his wife Mary Collett who was 55, and just four of their nine children. They were Matthew, who was 19, Charles, who was 15, Mary, who was 13, and Emma who was eight years old. Over the next decade, all bar one of their child left the family home in Wolvercote so, in 1851, it was just James aged 66, with his wife Mary who was 65, and their youngest child Emma who was 18. Sadly, it was four year later that their daughter Emma died and was buried at Wolvercote in 1855.
		Unfortunately, it would seem that, no records for Wolvercote, and in particular for any member of the Collett family, are available from the census conducted in 1861 when it is well established that there were many of them living there on that occasion. However, it is known that James Collett had been killed in a tragic accident just three months before the day of that census, although his wife Mary may still have been alive. James was still working as a stonemason when he fell to his death from scaffolding on which he was still working. He died during December 1860 and the Wolvercote parish burial record stated that he was buried in the parish churchyard on 19^th December 1860 at the age of 76.
		38N1	Elizabeth Collett				Baptised on 15.04.1810 at Wolvercote
		38N2	James Collett				Born in 1812 at Wolvercote
		38N3	Joseph Collett				Baptised on 02.12.1815 at Wolvercote
		38N4	Ann Collett				Baptised on 05.05.1818 at Wolvercote
		38N5	William Collett				Baptised on 31.10.1819 at Wolvercote
		38N6	Matthew Collett				Baptised on 01.09.1822 at Wolvercote
		38N7	CHARLES COLLETT				Baptised on 18.09.1825 at Wolvercote
		38N8	Mary Anne Collett				Baptised on 22.06.1828 at Wolvercote
		38N9	Emma Collett				Born in 1832 at Wolvercote
38N2		James Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1812 where he was baptised on 17^th May 1812 and where he worked as a stonemason like his father and his brothers. He married Sarah Woodward at Wolvercote on 7^th October 1833. Sarah was also born at Wolvercote in 1812 and it was there that they lived all of their life and where their eight children were born and baptised.
		That was just one of four marriages between the Collett and the Woodward families, the other three being listed in SECTION TWO - COMBE. They were Phoebe Woodward, who was born in 1801, who married (1) William Collett (Ref. 38n5), who later married (2) Richard Collett (Ref. 38n9), and Rachel Woodward, who was born in 1822 who also married the aforementioned Richard Collett (Ref. 38n9)
		In 1841 James, a mason, and Sarah were both 29 when they were living at Wolvercote with their first three children, William who was six, Joseph who was four, and Ann who was just one year old. According to the same census record, living in the house next door to James and Sarah were William Collett (below) and his wife Sarah, William being James’ brother.
		By the time of the 1851 Census for Wolvercote, the family was still living there and had increased in size by the addition of four more children. Head of the household was named as Jas Collett aged 39, who was a mason, and his wife Sarah was also 39. Six children were living with them and they were Wm Collett who was 16, Jos Collett who was 13, Jas Collett who was seven, Anne Collett who was five, Eliza Collett who was three, and Emma Collett who was only eleven months old. Every member of the family was listed as having been born at Wolvercote.
		Sometime during the year following the 1851 Census Sarah gave birth to the couple’s last child Julia. However, it seems very curious that no member of the family has been positively identified within the next census of 1861, particularly as they were back living in Wolvercote in 1871. On that occasion James Collett was 59 and a stonemason, Sarah was also 59, and by then just two of their children were still living with them. They were Sarah A Collett, who was 25 and a domestic servant, and Julia Collett who was 18. Ten years later the census in 1881 confirmed that all of the children of James and Sarah had left the family home except for their youngest child Julia.
		The census return that year stated that stonemason James Collett and his wife Sarah were both 69. Both were confirmed as having been born at Wolvercote, while they were living in a house on the main road through the village simply referred to as ‘village street’. Living with them was the aforementioned daughter Julia Collett, who was unmarried at 28, who appeared to be looking after her elderly parents as she was not credited with an occupation. Also listed in the 1881 census with them were two grandchildren of head of the household James. Joseph Collett was 21 and a stonemason, while his sister Mary A Collett was 16, and both of whom had been born at Wolvercote.
		Joseph Collett (Ref. 38P3) and Mary A Collett (Ref. 38P6) were two of the fourteen children of James’ and Sarah’s eldest son William Collett who lived close by in Wolvercote. It was very likely due to overcrowding in William’s home, together with the fact his wife was due to give birth to the couple’s last child, that had forced Joseph and Mary to go and live with their grandparents.
		Over the following entries in this family line, it will be noted that eight individual Collett families were recorded as living in houses along the main ‘village street’ in Wolvercote in 1881, indicating the prominence of the family within the local community.
		38O1	William Collett				Born in 1834 at Wolvercote
		38O2	Joseph Collett				Born in 1836 at Wolvercote
		38O3	Ann Collett				Born in 1839 at Wolvercote
		38O4	James Collett				Born in 1843 at Wolvercote
		38O5	Sarah Anne Collett				Born in 1845 at Wolvercote
		38O6	Eliza Collett				Born in 1847 at Wolvercote
		38O7	Emma Collett				Born in 1850 at Wolvercote
		38O8	Julia Collett				Born in 1852 at Wolvercote
38N3		Joseph Collett was baptised at Wolvercote on 2^nd December 1815. And it was there that he died and was buried on 22^nd March 1835, nine months before his twentieth birthday.
38N4		Ann Collett was baptised at Wolvercote on 5^th May 1818 and where, later that same year she died and was buried on 22^nd September 1818.
38N5		William Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1819 and was baptised there on 31^st October 1819. His occupation was that of a stonemason just like his brothers. It was just prior to June 1841 that he married Sarah Ann Langford, a young lady who was a year older than William, having been born at Wolvercote during 1818. The couple lived the majority of their life in Wolvercote, where all of their children were born and where in 1841 William and Sarah were living right next door to William’s brother James Collett (above) and his wife Sarah.
		The 1851 Census for Wolvercote revealed that William Collett was 32 and a stonemason, while his wife was recorded as S A Collett who was 32, both of them born at Wolvercote. By that time their marriage had produced three children, daughter M Collett who was four, J W Collett who was two, and E Collett who was ten months old. Over the next decade three more children were added to their family and they were Daniel, Henry and Rhoda, although as with William’s older brother James (above), no record of either family has been located within the census of 1861. After a further ten years stonemason William Collett was 51, Sarah A Collett was 52, and the only children living with them Wolvercote were Daniel Collett who was 18 and also a stonemason, Henry Collett who was 13, and Rhoda Collett who was nine years old, all born at Wolvercote. The couple’s three oldest children Mary, James and Frederick had already left the family home by then. Living just one house away at that time was William’s brother Matthew (below).
		By the time of the next census in 1881, when every member of the household had been born at Wolvercote, William Collett was 61 and a stonemason, Sarah A Collett was 62, while their two youngest and unmarried children were Henry Collett who was 23 and a master carpenter, and Rhoda Collett who was 19 and a dressmaker. Also living with the family at Wolvercote that day were two of the couple’s grandchildren, and they were Lydia Robinson who was nine and the child of their married daughter Mary, and Horace J Collett who was one year old and the base-born son of the couple’s youngest daughter Rhoda.
		Sadly, it was five years later that Sarah Ann Collett nee Langford died at Wolvercote, the event recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 583) during the first quarter of 1886 when her age was noted as being 67. William Collett survived his wife and was still living at Wolvercote, on the High Street in 1891 at the age of 71, when he was a dairyman who had living with him his two unmarried daughters Emma Collett who was 39 and Rhoda Collett who was 29. Also living at the same address were two of William’s grandchildren, Frederick W Robinson aged 29 and another dairyman, and Horace J Collett who was 11, who had been one year old ten years earlier. Frederick was the son of William’s eldest married daughter Mary. Just less than three years after that, the death of William Collett was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 147) during the first quarter of 1894, when he was 74.
		38O9	Mary E Collett			Born in 1846 at Wolvercote
		38O10	James William Collett			Born in 1848 at Wolvercote
		38O11	Emma Collett			Born in 1850 at Wolvercote
		38O12	Daniel Collett			Born in 1852 at Wolvercote
		38O13	Emily Collett			Born in 1857 at Wolvercote
		38O14	Henry Collett			Born in 1858 at Wolvercote
		38O15	Rhoda Collett			Born in 1861 at Wolvercote
38N6		Matthew Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1822 where he was baptised on 1^st September 1822, the son of James Collett and his wife Mary Ladson. He was 19 in the census of 1841 when he was the oldest of the four children still living at Wolvercote with his parents. He too followed in the family tradition by becoming a stonemason and it was just over six years later that he married Ann Collett, from Combe, their wedding recorded at the Headington (Ref. xvi 22) during the last quarter of 1847.
		For details of the family of Ann Collett of Combe see Section Two – Combe (Ref. 38o11)
		Ann Collett was born at Combe and was baptised there on 29^th October 1820, her marriage to Matthew Collett of Wolvercote proving to be another link between the two villages. Ann was the daughter of Thomas Collett and Sophia Smith who were married at Combe, just nine days before Ann was baptised and presumably just prior to the birth. Matthew and Ann lived all their life in the village of Wolvercote, where all of their children were born. By the time of the census in 1851 Ann had presented Matthew with their first two children. The census return that year recorded the young family as Mathew Collett aged 28 and a mason, Ann Collett who was 30 and from Combe, T J Collett who was two and born at Summertown, and J Collett who was three months old and born at Wolvercote, where the family of four was living that day.
		With no census information available for Wolvercote in 1861, the family had greatly increased in size by 1871, even though the couple’s eldest daughter, who was 17, was living and working within the city of Oxford by then. Still together in Wolvercote were Matthew, aged 48 who was a stonemason, his wife Ann who was 50 and of Combe, Thomas J Collett aged 22, Joseph aged 20 and a stonemason, Alfred aged 15 and a servant, Annie S Collett who was 13, John who was 10, and Edwin who was eight. Their youngest son Benjamin, who was four years old, was not with his family that day but was with them in 1881. The census in 1871 also revealed that Matthew and his family were living just one house away from his brother William (above) and his family in Wolvercote.
		Within the next ten years another three of their children left the family home so, by the time of the 1881 Census, the family had reduced to being just Matthew and Ann and their four youngest sons. At that time in April 1881 the family was living at ‘village street’ just a few doors along the road from Matthew’s brother William and his son Frederick. Matthew was 59, Ann was 60, while their sons were Alfred who was 25, John who was 20, Edwin who was 18 and Benjamin who was 14 years of age.
		Matthew and Ann were still together in 1891, by which time all of their children had left the family home in Wolvercote and Matthew was 68 and Ann was 70. Ann must have died sometime during the last decade of the century, since Matthew was still living at Wolvercote in March 1901 when he was a widower and a retired stonemason at the age of 78. It was not long after that when Matthew Collett also passed away.
		38O16	Thomas James Collett				Born in 1848 at Wolvercote
		38O17	Joseph Collett				Born in 1850 at Wolvercote
		38O18	Elizabeth Mary Collett				Born in 1853 at Wolvercote
		38O19	Alfred Collett				Born in 1855 at Wolvercote
		38O20	Annie Sophia Collett				Born in 1858 at Wolvercote
		38O21	John Collett				Born in 1860 at Wolvercote
		38O22	Edwin Collett				Born in 1862 at Wolvercote
		38O23	Benjamin Collett				Born in 1866 at Wolvercote
38N7		CHARLES COLLETT was born at Wolvercote in 1825 and it was there that he was baptised on 18^th September 1825. He was 15 at the time of the census in 1841 when he was still living with his parents in Wolvercote, by which time he had left school and had taken up the occupation of a stonemason. It may have been through his work that Charles met his future wife in the neighbouring county of Northamptonshire, where Ann Bell was baptised at Benefield on 6^th March 1825, the daughter of Robert and Susanna Bell. As a result, the marriage of Charles and (1) Ann was recorded at Oundle, near Benefield, during the second quarter of 1848 (Ref. xv 35). Ann presented Charles with six children, before her untimely death in 1863, when she was buried at Wolvercote in September that year. However, it was only the first two of those six children that had been born by the time the census was conducted in 1851. The Wolvercote census return that year, listed the family as Charles Collett who was 25 and a mason, Ann Collett from Benefield who was also 25, Fk Collett who was one year old and Charles Collett (junior) who was only one month old. All three male members of the household had been born at Wolvercote.
		The next four children were also born at Wolvercote, after which their mother died, perhaps even during the birth of a seventh child, who also did not survive. All six children were baptised at Wolvercote, when the parents were confirmed as Charles Collett, a mason, and his wife Ann. Unfortunately, no record of the family at Wolvercote has been found in 1861. Widowed Charles Collett, with six children to care for, then married (2) Elizabeth Butler Simms, who was made a widow when her twenty-nine-year-old husband died at The Friars in Oxford on 15^th May 1864, with whom she already had a son. The marriage of Charles and Elizabeth was recorded at Oxford (Ref. 3a 229) during the third quarter of 1866. Elizabeth was originally an Oxford girl, and the former wife of cellarman Robert Simms, who was born Elizabeth Butler Harris, the daughter of Joseph and Maria Harris of Lucas’ Yard, and baptised at St Giles on 22^nd June 1836. Prior to marrying Charles, Elizabeth had been living at Camden Town in London when her son John Simms was born on 14^th March 1861 and baptised there on 12^th May 1861.
		In 1871 Charles Collett from Wolvercote was still living there at the age of 45, when his occupation was confirmed as being that of a mason. Living with him was his much younger wife Elizabeth from Oxford who was 35, with her son John Simms who was 10 years old and described as son-in-law (stepson) to head of the household Charles. Also living with the family were Charles’ two sons, Charles Collett junior, who was 20 and a mason, and Walter Collett, who was 16 and a carpenter and a joiner, together with his daughter Eliza Collett, who was nine years old. All three children born at Wolvercote. Living in the adjoining dwellings, one on both sides of Collett home, were other members of the Collett family. On one side was Charles’ eldest son Frederick Robert Collett with his wife Elizabeth and their son Frederick junior, while on the other side was Charles’ nephew James Collett (Ref. 38O4) and his young wife Elizabeth.
		After a further ten years, according to the census in 1881, Charles Collett was 55 and a stonemason of Wolvercote who was living at ‘village street’ with wife Elizabeth aged 44. Living with them was Charles’ stepson John Simms aged 19, who was working at one of the university colleges as a domestic servant. Also listed with them was one-year-old Alfred Collett who had been born at Wolvercote and was described as the grandson of Charles Collett. He was the base-born son of Charles and Ann’s unmarried daughter Emily Collett and continued to live with his grandfather, even after he was widowed, until he was old enough to make his own way in life.
		Ten years later, Charles Collett was 65 in the Wolvercote census of 1891 when he and his wife Elizabeth aged 54, still had their eleven-year-old grandson Alfred Collett living with them. In March 1901 Charles and Elizabeth were still living at Wolvercote. By then Charles was 76 and Elizabeth from the Parish of St Giles in Oxford was 64, by which time the couple’s grandson had left their home a few years earlier. It was just a few months later, that same year, when the death of Charles Collett was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 307) during the third quarter of 1901. When his Will was proved at Oxford on 2^nd October 1901, the three beneficiaries were named as Elizabeth Collett, his widow, Frederick Robert Collett, his son, and John Sims stepson. The probate documents also confirmed that he passed away on July 19^th August 1901. By the time of the census in 1911, Elizabeth Collett aged 74 and a widow was still residing at Lower Wolvercote. Fifteen years after that census day, the death of Elizabeth B Collett was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 1277) during the first three months of 1926, when she was still 89.
		38O24	Frederick Robert Collett				Born in 1849 at Wolvercote
		38O25	CHARLES THOMAS COLLETT				Born in 1851 at Wolvercote
		38O26	Clara Ann Collett				Born in 1852 at Wolvercote
		38O27	Walter Collett				Born in 1854 at Wolvercote
		38O28	Emily Collett				Born in 1857 at Wolvercote
		38O29	Eliza Collett				Born in 1861 at Wolvercote
38N8		Mary Anne Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1827 where she was baptised on 22^nd June 1828, the daughter of James Collett and Mary Ladson. It was simply as Mary Collett aged 13, that she was just one of four children still living with her parents at Wolvercote in 1841. Ten years later Mary was 23 when she was again living in the village, although by then her father had been dead for just three months. Mary Anne Collett was 24 when she married William Saxton at Wolvercote on 29^th November 1852. William was a blacksmith and a farrier and worked at the paper-mill in the village.
		The marriage produced ten children for the couple, one of whom was Annie Saxton who was born in 1865, who later married Charles Taylor at Wolvercote on 18^th September 1897. This is the family line of Brian Taylor who kindly provided the details of the life of his great grandmother Mary Anne Collett and her family. At the time of the census in 1871 the family was listed as William Saxton, age 46, Mary who was 41, and their children William Saxton aged 18, Henry Saxton aged 17, Eliza Saxton aged 11, Sarah Saxton who was eight, Edith Saxton who was seven, Annie Saxton who was five, and Kate Saxton who was three. During the following year Mary Anne presented William with their last child Albert Saxon.
		By 1881 the majority of the children had left the family home which, by that time was at Mill Road in Wolvercote. William was 56 and was described as a blacksmith at the paper-mill, his wife Mary was 53 and was a paper sorter at the mill, and just three of their children were still living with them. They were Mary Saxton 23, an unemployed domestic servant, Kate Saxton 13, and Albert Saxton who was nine.
		During their later life together at Wolvercote, Mary Anne and William lived at 93 Godstow Road where William had a forge in the outbuildings. Mary Anne Saxton nee Collett died during April 1889 and was buried at Wolvercote on 22^nd April 1889. William survived for another seventeen years, but on his death in 1906 the house at 93 Godstow Road was taken over by Charles and Annie Taylor nee Saxton who raised their family there. Curiously the census in 1901 placed William Saxton of Wolvercote living in the Cowley area of Oxford at the age of 76.
		At a later time, on the occasion of the marriage on Charles’ and Annie’s son, the outbuildings were demolished and replaced with a new home that was 95 Godstow Road, which today stands on the corner of Rowland Close. In addition to the forge at 93 Godstow Road, the Saxon family of blacksmiths also operated a forge at the Red Lion Public House in Wolvercote. All of the above information on the life and family of Mary Anne Saxton has been kindly provided by her great grandson Brian Taylor.
38N9		Emma Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1832 or 1833 and was baptised there a little later during June 1834, the youngest child of James Collett and Mary Ladson. She was eight years old in the census of 1841, and was 18 in 1851 when she was still living at Wolvercote with her elderly parents. It was just over four years later that she tragically died at Wolvercote, where she was buried on 29^th October 1855.
38O1		William Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1834, the eldest child of James Collett and his wife Sarah Woodward. As Wm Collett, aged 16, he was still living with his family in 1851, following which he eventually entered the family business and became a stonemason. He married Mary Ann Jones at Wolvercote on 5^th January.1856, where Mary had also been born during 1836 the daughter of shoemaker William Jones. The marriage produced sixteen children for the couple, although only fifteen are listed below. All of the children were born at Wolvercote, and they all lived at ‘village street’ in Wolvercote until they left the family home, as confirmed by the census returns for 1871, 1881 and 1891.
		According to the census of 1871 William Collett was 36 and Mary A Collett was 34. Their children at that time were William aged 14, Ellen aged 13, Joseph aged 11, Henry aged 10, George who was eight, Mary A Collett who was six, Edward who was five, Vincent who was two, and Emma who was one year old. Ten years later Mary was pregnant with the couple’s last, having already given birth to a further five children during the 1870s. The census therefore recorded the family in 1881 as William, who was 46, his wife Mary A Collett, who was 44, together with ten of the fourteen children up to that time. They were Henry aged 20, George aged 18, Edward aged 15, Vincent aged 12, Emma aged 11, Ellis who was nine, Lydia who was seven, Edith who was five, Thomas who was four, and Agnes who was two.
		The two eldest children, William and Ellen, had already left the family home prior to April 1881, William to be married, and Ellen who was employed in domestic service in Oxford. The other two missing children were Joseph and Mary A Collett who were both living nearby in Wolvercote with their grandparents to ease the overcrowded Collett household. Ten years later in 1891 the family was somewhat reduced. William was 56 and Mary was 54, and the only children still living with them at Wolvercote were Edward who was 24, Ellis who was 19, Lydia who was 18, Thomas who was 13, Agnes who was 11, and latest arrival Gertrude, who was nine years old. By that time William’s daughter Emma had given birth to a base-born son during 1889, but was married by 1891, although she had not married the boy’s father.
		By March 1901 William was 66 and was still working as a stonemason at Wolvercote. There was no record of his wife in the census that year, so it is assumed that William had been widowed sometime during the 1890s. It would appear that William passed away sometime during the next few years since no record of him has been found in the census of 1911. It is interesting that the brother of Mary Ann Collett nee Jones, Henry, was living with her eldest son William James Collett from before 1891 until after 1911, first at Wolvercote and then at Bampton.
		38P1	William James Collett				Born in 1856 at Wolvercote
		38P2	Ellen Collett				Born in 1858 at Wolvercote
		38P3	Joseph Collett				Born in 1859 at Wolvercote
		38P4	Henry Collett				Born in 1860 at Wolvercote
		38P5	George Collett				Born in 1862 at Wolvercote
		38P6	Mary A Collett				Born in 1864 at Wolvercote
		38P7	Edward Collett				Born in 1865 at Wolvercote
		38P8	Vincent Collett				Born in 1868 at Wolvercote
		38P9	Emma Collett				Born in 1869 at Wolvercote
		38P10	Ellis Collett				Born in 1871 at Wolvercote
		38P11	Lydia Collett				Born in 1873 at Wolvercote
		38P12	Edith Collett				Born in 1875 at Wolvercote
		38P13	Thomas Herbert Collett				Born in 1876 at Wolvercote
		38P14	Agnes E Collett				Born in 1878 at Wolvercote
		38P15	Gertrude Doris Collett				Born in 1881 at Wolvercote
38O2		Joseph Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1836, the son of James and Sarah Collett, who by 1851 was 13 and was recorded with his family as Jos Collett from Wolvercote. It is more than likely that he was a stonemason like his father, the profession also being taken up by his eldest son. When in his early twenties he met and married Lavinia Lindsey who was born at Witney in 1836. The wedding ceremony took place around 1858 and by 1871 the marriage had produced four children for Joseph and Lavinia and all of them born while the family was living at nearby Summertown in north Oxford.
		In April 1871 Joseph and Lavinia were living in the Headington & St Clements area of Oxford where they were both 33 years old. Lavinia was expecting the imminent birth of their fourth child on the day of the census, while their three previous children were listed as Henry J Collett, who was 11, Samuel T Collett, who was seven, and Ernest H Collett who was five years old. Tragically for the family, it was around his fortieth birthday, that Joseph Collett died on 13^th November 1876 from cirrhosis of the liver while living at Rose Cottage on Banbury Road in Summertown.
		Approximately one year after the death of her husband, Lavinia married another stonemason, Richard Stroud. Richard was fifteen years older than Lavinia and had been born at Wootton, north of Woodstock in Oxfordshire. Shortly after they were married Richard and Lavinia were living within the Iffley area of south Oxford, where their son Frank Stroud was born in 1878. Just after he was born the family had moved again, that time to Howard Street in the Cowley district of the City of Oxford where they were living in 1881. Howard Street runs between Iffley Road (A4158) and Cowley Road to the east and is virtually the same today as it was at that time.
		Living with Richard, aged 59, and Lavinia Stroud, aged 44, and their son Frank Stroud, who was two years old, were two of the children of the late Joseph Collett, they being his son Samuel Collett and his daughter Lavinia Collett. Of his other two children missing from the 1881 census return, his son Ernest was serving in the navy, but it is not known what had happened to Henry. Lavinia was expecting the birth of Richard Stroud’s second child on the day of the census in 1881, which was confirmed in the following census of 1891. The family was still living within the Headington St Clements district of Oxford where Richard Stroud was 71, Lavinia Stroud was 53, and their two sons were Frank R Stroud aged 12 and George W Stroud who was nine.
		38P16	Henry J Collett				Born in 1859 at Summertown, Oxford
		38P17	Samuel Thomas Collett				Born in 1863 at Summertown, Oxford
		38P18	Ernest Henry Collett				Born in 1865 at Summertown, Oxford
		38P19	Lavinia J Collett				Born in 1870 at Summertown, Oxford
38O3		Ann Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1839 but died in 1842 and was buried at Wolvercote on 3^rd September 1842, the daughter of James and Sarah Collett.
38O4		James Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1843, his birth recorded at Woodstock (Ref. xvi 1) during the third quarter if the year. It was as Jas Collett, that he was seven years old in the census of 1851. Unlike other members of his family who had entered the traditional family business of being a stonemason, James took up the profession of clock and watch maker. It was at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 85) during the second quarter of 1870, when James Collett married Elizabeth who was eight years younger than James, having been born at Woodstock in 1851. Once married they settled in Wolvercote, where they were living in 1871 when James was 27 and a watch and clock maker and his wife was 19. Elizabeth was already awaiting the birth of their first child who was born shortly after the census day that year. The two adjacent dwellings on one side of the home of James and Elizabeth Collett were occupied by the families of James’ uncle Charles Collett (Ref. 38N7) right next door, and Charles’ eldest son, cousin Frederick Robert Collett (Ref. 38O24).
		At least two more children were born to the couple during the following decade, with the larger family still living in Wolvercote in 1881. According to the census that year James was 37 and Elizabeth was 29 when they were living with their three children at Woodview Cottages in Wolvercote, where Elizabeth was employed at the local paper-mill in Wolvercote as a rag cutter. Their children on that occasion were their daughters Blanche, who was nine, and Evelyn, who was seven, and their son Charles James who was one year old. The fact that no further children were added to the family for almost another ten years raises an interesting possibility, bearing in mind what happened next to the family.
		With Elizabeth being eight years younger than James, there is a chance that a liaison with another man resulted in the birth of her last child. On discovering that his wife had been unfaithfully, James may have assaulted the gentleman concerned, and it may have been that action which caused him to be jailed during the first few years of the child life. All of this is purely supposition in the absence of anything more positive.
		What is known for sure, is that by the time the child was born in 1889, Elizabeth had been moved to the Oxford Union Workhouse following the family’s eviction from the house in Woodview Cottages, when her husband was incarcerated in jail. Due to his misdemeanour, hereto not confirmed, James Collett spent time in the Oxford H M Prison on New Road in the city and was recorded as still being there at the time of the census of 1891 when he was 47. At that same time in their lives, James’ wife Elizabeth was an inmate at the Oxford Union Workhouse, where she was recorded as Elizabeth Collett who was 39. Listed there with her, at the workhouse in the St Clement area of the city, was her son Roland who was two years old, who was described as Roland of Summertown.
		As regards to the couple’s eldest child, Blanche Collett was 19 and was employed as the only general domestic servant at the home of baker William Lanburn and his seamstress wife Elizabeth at 3 St Mary's Road in the Cowley district of Oxford.
		Just after the start of the new century, James and Elizabeth were living at Littlemore in the Rose Hill area of Cowley, two miles south of Oxford city. According to the census return for 1901, James Collett, aged 57 and from Wolvercote, was continuing to work as a watch and clock matcher, while Elizabeth was 49 and a laundress also from Wolvercote. Still living with the couple were two of their children and they were Evelyn Collett, who was 27 and from Wolvercote who was a packer at a laundry, and Roland H Collett who was 11 and born at Summertown in Oxford. During the next decade Elizabeth passed away, and by 1911, James Collett of Wolvercote was 67 when he was still living at Littlemore with his unmarried daughter Evelyn who was 37, and his youngest son Roland who was 21 years of age. James was described as a widower and a former watch and clock maker, who was currently unemployed. Five years later, the death of James Collett, of Wolvercote, was recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 1270) during the last three months of 1916, when he was 73.
		38P20	Blanche Collett				Born in 1871 at Wolvercote
		38P21	Evelyn Collett				Born in 1874 at Wolvercote
		38P22	Charles James Collett				Born in 1880 at Wolvercote
		38P23	Roland Herbert Collett				Born in 1890 at Summertown
38O5		Sarah Anne Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1845, the daughter of James and Sarah Collett. At the time of the Wolvercote census in 1851 her parents informed the census enumerator that she was Anne Collett who was five years old and born Wolvercote. No record of the family has so far been found in 1861, but they were still living in Wolvercote in 1871, when Sarah A Collett, aged 25, was a domestic servant and one of only two children still living there with their parents. It seems very likely that she was married prior to 1881, since there was no record of a Sarah Anne Collett of Wolvercote at that time.
38O7		Emma Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1850 and was baptised there on 19^th May 1850. She was eleven months old in the census of 1851. Her location in 1871 has not been determined, but when she was 30, she was unmarried and was working as a live-in housemaid and servant at the homes of 68-year-old master draper John C Cavell at his extensive properties at 11 to 12 Magdalen Street and 1 to 2 Friars Entry in the St Mary Magdalen district of Oxford. Both addresses were just off Cornmarket Street and Broad Street in the centre of the city centre and are still there today - see note below. In the mid-1900s, and perhaps for many decades earlier, there was a large and very grand departmental store in the centre of Oxford at the intersection of Cornmarket Street, Broad Street and George Street that was Ellison & Cavell. It can therefore safely be assumed that draper John Cavell may have been the co-founder of the emporium, which was later taken over by Debenhams.
		At the age of 39 in 1891 and 49 in 1901 Emma Collett was still a spinster, but at that time she was a shopkeeper selling dairy produce in the St Giles district of Oxford. The census return for 1901 described Emma as the aunt of head of the household Joseph F Richardson from Leake in Lincolnshire who was only 20 years of age and a civil engineer. A third person living at the property was Emma’s niece Lydia Robinson from Wolvercote who was 31 and also a shopkeeper selling dairy produce, the daughter of Emma’s sister Mary Robinson nee Collett (below). However, no record has been found for Emma after that time which might mean that she had married late in her life, or that she had died during the years between 1901 and 1911.
38O8		Julia Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1852 and was 18 years old in 1871 when she was just one of two children still living with her parents in Wolvercote. It was the same ten years later in 1881 when she was still living with her parents at their home in ‘village street’ in Wolvercote. The census that year indicated that she was 28 and was unmarried with no stated occupation or employment. It can perhaps therefore be assumed that her role in life was to care for her elderly parents James and Sarah Collett who were both approaching their seventieth birthdays.
		Sometime during the following twenty years her parents James and Sarah passed away and by the time of the census of 1901 Julia Collett was listed as being unmarried at 47, while being a boarder at a house in Wolvercote from where she was working as a paper sorter at the Wolvercote paper-mill. Early in the new century Julia Collett of Wolvercote married John Carey of Launton near Bicester and by April 1911 the couple were living within the Woodstock area where Julia was 57 and John was 54. In 1901 John had been living at Launton and was employed as a platelayer on the railway.
38O9		Mary E Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1846. She later married Mr Robinson, probably in Wolvercote, with whom she had a son and a daughter before he died prior to 1881. Both of the children were born at Wolvercote. According to the 1881 Census, Mary E Robinson, a widow of 34, was still in Wolvercote where she was living and working at the vicarage for the unmarried Reverend Henry A Redpath who was 32 and of Forest Hill in Kent. Living at the vicarage with Mary was her son Frederick W Robinson aged 12 who, whilst still at school, was listed in the census record as being a servant at the house, supporting his mother with her domestic and general servant duties.
		Mary’s other child, Lydia Robinson who was nine years old, was living with her grandparents William and Sarah Collett in ‘village street’ in Wolvercote. From other information within the census of 1881, it is likely that Mary’s husband was the brother of cattle dealer and farmer of 56 acres William Robinson, aged 29 of Ramsden north of Witney, who was living with his wife Fanny in ‘village street’ in Wolvercote at that time. By 1901 Mary’s daughter Lydia was 31 and was still a spinster living and working with her maiden aunt Emma Collett (above) in the St Giles area of the City of Oxford, where they were both described as shopkeepers selling dairy produce.
38O10		James William Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1848 and was the second child and eldest son of stonemason William Collett and his wife Sarah Ann Langford. In the 1851 census for Wolvercote he was simply listed with his family as J W Collett aged two years. No record of James or any member of his family has been identified in the following census of 1861 and by 1871 James was no longer living in the family home at Wolvercote and may have been living and working in the Aston district of Birmingham where a James Collett from Oxfordshire was 23. Ten years later stonemason James Collett, aged 33 and from Oxfordshire, was single and a lodger at 12 Market Place in Hinckley, the Leicestershire home of cowman John Linney and his family. What happen to him after that time is not yet known.
38O11		Emma Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1850, the third child of William Collett and Sarah Ann Langford. Her birth was recorded at Woodstock (Vol. 6) during the second quarter of the year, and was ten months old on the day of the census in 1851 when, like all of her family, she was recorded just using her initial letter, E Collett. With no census available for the village of Wolvercote in 1861, by 1871 Emma Collett of Wolvercote was working as a domestic servant at a property on Queens Lane, just off the High Street, in the centre of Oxford, at the age of 19. The younger servant at the same address was Emily Collett from Wolvercote, Emma’s younger sister who was 13. Eight years after that, it would appear that Emma married John Margetts, a carpenter from Chipping Norton, their wedding recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 24) during the second quarter of 1879.
		Two years after their wedding day, carpenter John Margetts was 30, Emma Margetts was 29 and a washerwoman, when there were two children living at New Yard in Salford, near Chipping Norton in 1881. The older child was three-year-old Thomas Margetts, who may have been the child of a previous marriage, while Emily Margetts was still under one year old. At the end of that decade, the family was again residing in Salford, where two more children had been added to the family. The 1891 census return for Salford recorded the family as John who was 44, Emma who was 40, Thomas who was 14, Emily who was 10, George who was eight and Harry who was five. The Chipping Norton census in 1901, recorded at family as John Margetts aged 56, Emma Margetts aged 49, and their four children as Emily Margetts 20, George Margetts 17, Henry Margetts 15, and William Charles Margetts who was 10 years of age. All of the children had been born in the nearby village of Salford. Emma Margetts died during the next decade, leaving widow John, aged 69 and a carpenter, still living in Chipping Norton with his three sons George, Henry and William Charles.
38O12		Daniel Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1852, the son of William and Sarah Collett, whose birth was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 19) during the third quarter of that year. He was 18 in 1871, by which time he had entered the family business as a stonemason. Two years later, when he was around twenty years old, he met nineteen-year-old Ellen Trinder who was born in Abingdon-on-Thames at the end of 1853, the youngest child of William and Martha Trinder. The marriage of Daniel Collett and Ellen Trinder was conducted at Abingdon on 7^th July 1874, and was recorded there (Ref. 2c 271), when Daniel’s father was confirmed as William Collett and Ellen’s father was confirmed as William Trinder. Like the vast majority of the Colletts of Wolvercote, the couple lived in a house in ‘village street’ where all of their children were born. At the time of the census in 1881, the family still living in Wolvercote comprised Daniel Collett was 28 and a stonemason, his wife Ellen Collett from Abingdon was 27, William Collett who was five, Albert Collett who was four, Percy Collett who was three, and Sidney Collett who six months old.
		Ten years later, more children had been added to the family which, by then, was residing on the High Street in Wolvercote. Stonemason Daniel Collett was 38, Ellen Collett was 37, William J Collett was 15, Albert E Collett was 14, Percy T Collett was 13, Sidney H Collett was 10, Ethel M Collett was seven, Augustus D Collett was five, Helen E Collett was four, and Lilian M Collett was just one year old. The birth of Ethel Mary Collett was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 187) during the first month of 1883, following her birth at Wolvercote just before then of 1882. Curiously, no further record of her has been found after the census in 1891.
		According to the 1901 Census, most of Daniel and Ellen’s children were still living in the village of Wolvercote with them, although the three oldest sons had left the family home by then. Still living with mason Daniel Collett, aged 48, and his wife Ellen Collett from Abingdon, who was 47, were Albert Ernest Collett aged 24, Sidney H Collett aged 20, Augustus D Collett aged 15, Helena E Collett aged 14, Lillian M Collett aged 11, Harry T Collett who was nine, Merrick F Collett who was eight, and Rose E Collett who was five.
		By April 1911, the family had moved the very short distance from Wolvercote to Godstow on the banks of the River Thames. Daniel Collett was 58 and still working as a stonemason, together with his unmarried sons who were still living with him, Ellen Collett was 57, Sidney Collett was 30, Augustus Collett was 25, Lillian Collett was 21 and assisting her mother in the family home, Harry Collett was 19, Merrick Collett was 18, and Rose Collett was 15. Only Daniel’s daughter Helena had left home during the previous decade. Daniel Collett was still living in Wolvercote, at Providence House, when he died on 29^th April 1933 at Whitehouse Road in Oxford. Probate for his estate of £1,816 7 Shillings and 1 Penny was granted at Oxford on 7^th June 1933 in favour of his two sons Sidney Henry Collett and Augustus Daniel Collett, both of whom were described as stonemasons.
		38P24	William John Collett				Born in 1875 at Wolvercote
		38P25	Albert Ernest Collett				Born in 1876 at Wolvercote
		38P26	Percy Thomas Collett				Born in 1877 at Wolvercote
		38P27	Sidney Henry Collett				Born in 1880 at Wolvercote
		38P28	Ethel Mary Collett				Born in 1882 at Wolvercote
		38P29	Augustus Daniel Collett				Born in 1885 at Wolvercote
		38P30	Helen Elsie Collett				Born in 1886 at Wolvercote
		38P31	Lilian May Collett				Born in 1889 at Wolvercote
		38P32	Harry Trinder Collett				Born in 1891 at Wolvercote
		38P33	Merrick Frederick Collett				Born in 1892 at Wolvercote
		38P34	Rose Edna Collett				Born in 1895 at Wolvercote
38O13		Emily Collett was born in 1857 at Wolvercote, her birth recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 40) during the second quarter of that year, another daughter of William and Sarah Collett. No census records for Wolvercote are available for 1861 and by 1871, Emily Collett from Wolvercote was 13, when she was a general domestic servant working alongside her older sister Emma Collett, at a property in the centre of the City of Oxford. Eight years later, on reaching full age, it is possible that Emily Collett from Wolvercote was married, the event recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 127) during the last quarter of 1879. However, no record of her has been found thereafter.
38O14		Henry Collett was born at Wolvercote near the end of 1857, his birth as the youngest son of William and Sarah Collett was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 12) during the first quarter of 1858. He was 13 years old and still at school in 1871, while living with his family at Wolvercote. Ten years later he was a master carpenter at the age of 23, when he was unmarried and still living at home with his parents at ‘village street’ in Wolvercote. Nothing further is known about Henry, or though no death record for him has been found.
38O15		Rhoda Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1861 and was nine years old in 1871, the last child born to William Collett and Sarah Ann Langford. On leaving school she became a dressmaker, as confirmed in the census of 1881 when Rhoda was 19 and was still living at home with her elderly parents at ‘village street’ in Wolvercote. Also living there, with her, was her base-born son Horace J Collett, who was one year old. Five years later, Sarah Ann Collett nee Langford died at Wolvercote, leaving Rhoda aged 29, living with her widowed father and her son Horace aged 11, and her older unmarried sister Emma Collett in 1891, by which time they were living on the High Street in Wolvercote. One other member of the family was living there, and was Rhoda’s nephew Frederick W Robinson, a son of Rhoda’s eldest married sister Mary (above). Around fourteen months after that census day, Rhoda Collett was married, her wedding recorded at Headington (Ref. 3a 108) during the second quarter of 1892.
		38P35	Horace James Collett				Born in 1880 at Wolvercote
38O16		Thomas James Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1848, the eldest child of Matthew Collett of Wolvercote and Ann Collett from Combe, whose birth was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. xvi 25) during the last three months of the year. In the census of 1851, it was only his father’s name that was recorded in full, whereas his mother and himself and his brother were simply included with the initial letter of their first names, when T Collett was two years old. However, in the census of 1871, he was recorded as Thomas J Collett, aged 22 and born at Summertown, when he was still living at the family home in Wolvercote from where he was working as a compositor for a printing company. No record of Thomas James Collett has been found anywhere after that census day.
38O17		Joseph Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1850, with his birth registered at Woodstock (Ref. xvi 158), while it was at Wolvercote that he was baptised on 29^th December 1850, the second child of Matthew and Ann Collett. He was three months old in the census of 1851 when he was listed with his family as J Collett. The next census in 1871 confirmed that Joseph Collett, aged 20, was a stonemason who had been born at Wolvercote, when he was still living there with his family. Although he continued to follow in the family tradition of being a stonemason, for some reason he left home in Wolvercote at an early age and moved to the neighbouring county of Buckinghamshire.
		Towards the end of the 1870s he met Ellen who was born at Waddesdon, west of Aylesbury, who was eleven years younger than Joseph. The birth of Ellen Marlow was registered at Aylesbury (Ref. 3a 424) during the last three months of 1861, after which she was baptised at Waddesdon on 29^th December 1861. That difference in their ages may have been the reason for the split from his own family, and may have even been the reason for the later separation from his wife and only known surviving child. It was also at Waddesdon where Joseph Collett married Ellen Marlow, the daughter of Benjamin Marlow and Alice Saunders, on 14^th April 1879 when she was only seventeen years old, with their wedding recorded at Aylesbury (Ref. 3a 743).
		This family would seem to have a difficult back story about which we may never know the full details, with the next census in 1881 being the only time that Joseph and Ellen were recorded under the same roof. By that time they had a daughter whose place of birth was reported to be Bow in London, although no record of her birth has been found anywhere. It is possible that Ellen was already with-child on her wedding day, and the move to London, if in fact that was where Alice was born, may have been the opportunity to secretly present Joseph with the child away from both families.
		Either way, by the time of the census conducted on the third of April in 1881, all three of them were living at Wharf Row in the village of Buckland between Aylesbury and Tring. Wharf Row backs onto the Grand Union Canal and is still there today. The census return listed stonemason Joseph Collett as being 30 years old and from Wolvercote in Oxford, Ellen Collett his wife was 19 and from Waddesdon, while their daughter Alice Collett was said to be one year old and from Bow in Middlesex. After a further seven years the birth of their son was registered at Headington in Oxford, maybe an indication that the family had moved there from Buckinghamshire during the intervening years. No obvious births have been found for the couple during those years. However, by 1891, it was only Ellen and her son who were recorded in the census that year, when they were living at Percy Street, off the Iffley Road in Oxford.
		Ellen Collett from Waddesdon was 29, married, but with no stated occupation, when her relationship to the absent head of the household was wife. Two others were recorded at her Percy Street home, and they were her son Frederick J Collett who was three, and her niece Clarisa M Cripps who was seven and also from Waddesdon, the likely child of one of her married sisters. On that same day in 1891, Joseph Collett from Wolvercote was married and a 40-year-old stonemason who was a lodger at Rutland Street in the Mile End Old Town district of London, Middlesex, the home of joiner Thomas Ansell, his wife and grown up son. It was a similar situation in 1901 when married Joseph from Wolvercote was 50 and continuing to work in London as a stonemason, by which time he was described as a boarder at the Stewart’s Road, Battersea home of masonry machinist Arthur Hazel.
		On that occasion his wife Ellen Collett from Waddesdon was residing at Magdalen Road, between Iffley Road and Cowley Road in south Oxford, just a few yards from Percy Street where she had been living ten years earlier. She was 39 and described as a housekeeper who was married, but now the head of the household, confirming the separation from her husband. Still living with her was her Oxford born son Fred Collett who was 13 who had left school, but was not credited with a job of work. Curiously living with them that day, was Alice M Cripps from Waddesdon who was also 13 and unlike Clarisa M Cripps in 1891, Alice was not recorded as a niece, but was a servant and general domestic labourer.
		Joseph’s younger brother John Collett (below) was a journeyman stonemason and in April 1911 the two brothers were staying at the Royal Oak Inn in West Dean on the county boundary between Wiltshire and Hampshire, from where they were most likely working somewhere in the local area. Joseph Collett from Wolvercote was 60 and his brother John Collett from Wolvercote was 50, both of them described as stonemasons working at a stone quarry, and both of them married, when the family home of John Collett was at Summertown in Oxford. Less than three years after that census day, the death of Joseph Collett was recorded at London Lambeth register office (Ref. 1d 440) during the first three months of 1913, at the age of 63.
		No record of Ellen Collett has been found within the census of 1911, who was still living in Oxford when she died, when the death of Ellen Collett aged 91, was recorded at the Oxfordshire register office (Ref. 6c 1315) in 1951.
		38P36	Alice Collett				Born in 1879 at Bow, London
		38P37	Frederick J Collett				Born in 1888 at Oxford
38O18		Elizabeth Mary Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1853, her birth recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 27) during the second quarter of the year. She would have been seven years old in the census of 1861, even though no records that year have been found for Wolvercote or the Collett families who lived there. On completing her schooling Elizabeth found work in domestic service within the city of Oxford, where she was recorded as Elizabeth M Collett who was 17 and from Wolvercote, one of four servants with elderly Thomas and Martha Combe. After a further ten years, unmarried Elizabeth M Collett from Oxfordshire was a lodger at the home of the large Bostell family, in Regency Square, Brighton, from where Elizabeth was working as a nurse at the age of 27 in 1881.
		According to each of the three census returns in 1891, 1901 and 1911 she was confirmed as having been born at Wolvercote, when she was still unmarried and living and working at the Grantchester, Cambridge, home of Francis P Willington from Tamworth in Staffordshire. Elizabeth Mary Collett was his housekeeper who was 37, 47 and 57, on each of those census days. Just over thirty years later Elizabeth Mary Collett was residing at 348 Banbury Road in Oxford when she was taken into the North Oxford Nursing Home where she died on 2^nd January 1942. The death of Elizbeth M Collett was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 128), when she was 88 years of age. Administration of her personal effects amounting to £105 15 Shillings and 1 Penny was granted at Oxford on 23^rd March 1942 in favour of John Collett, a retired stonemason, Elizabeth’s younger brother (below).
38O19		Alfred Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1855, his birth recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 40) during the third quarter of the year and, also immediately after, she was baptised at Wolvercote on 19^th August 1855, another son of Matthew Collett of Wolvercote and Ann Collett of Combe. He was 15 in the Wolvercote census of 1871 when he was still living in the village with his family. By the time he was 25 he was a carpenter and a joiner, but was not married and was still living at the family home in Wolvercote. Seven years later, on 30^th April 1888, Alfred Collett married Alice Moore by the reading of banns at Worth in Sussex. Alfred was 32 and a carpenter, the son of stonemason Matthew Collett, while Alice was 23 and the daughter of farmer George Moore. Alfred’s address was St Michaels and All Angels in Paddington, with Alice of Worth, who was born at Burgh near Louth in Lincolnshire in 1865. One of the witnesses was John Collett, Alfred’s younger brother (below). The marriage produced three children for Alfred and Alice and all of them were born at Wolvercote.
		He and his young family were recorded in the Wolvercote census of 1891 when Alfred Collett was 35 and a carpenter and a joiner, his wife Alice Collett was only 25, and their daughter was Dorothy F Collett who was eleven months old. By 1901 Alfred was 45 and Alice was 34, when they were living with their three children at Wolvercote. Alfred was continuing with occupation of a carpenter and a joiner and was working for a local building company, while his three children were Dorothy Collett who was 10, Herbert Collett who was nine, and Wilfred Collett who was two years old.
		During the next ten years the family moved to nearly New Marston within the Headington district of Oxford, where they were living in 1911. Alfred Collett was 55 and was a carpenter and joiner, his wife Alice Collett was 45, and their three children were confirmed again as Dorothy Collett aged 20, who was a daily governess, Hubert Collett aged 19, who was working with his father as a carpenter and joiner, and Wilfred G Collett who was 12. All members of the household had been born at Wolvercote, except Alice, whose place of birth was said to be Burgh in Lincolnshire. The death of Alfred Collett, aged 81, was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 37) during the third quarter of 1936.
		38P38	Dorothy Frances Collett				Born in 1890 at Wolvercote
		38P39	Hubert John Collett				Born in 1892 at Wolvercote
		38P40	Wilfred George Collett				Born in 1898 at Wolvercote
38O20		Annie Sophia Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1858 where she was baptised on 14^th March 1858, her birth recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 588) during the first three months of the year. She was one of the children of Matthew Collett of Wolvercote and his wife Ann from Combe whose maiden-name was also Collett. It was as Annie S Collett, aged 13 and still attending school, that she was living at Wolvercote with her family in 1871. After a further ten years, and at the age of 23, she was working as a cook for the Vicar of St Philip & James Church, the Rev. Edward C Denner of Lambeth in Surrey in his home at 24 Leckford Road in the St Giles district of Oxford. By 1891 Annie Collett was 32 and employed as a cook domestic servant at a house on Winchester Road in the St Giles district of the city of Oxford.
		It was during the third quarter of 1892 that the marriage of Annie Sophia Collett and Tom Morris was recorded at Headington (Ref. 3a 88). within the Cowley area of south Oxford that the couple was living in 1901, when cemetery superintendent Tom Morris from Uffingham in Berkshire was 50 and Annie S Morris from Wolvercote was 42. From an earlier marriage, Tom had a son George H Morris who was born at Guildford in Surrey in 1883. He was still living with his father that day, the family completed by Tom M Morris who was not yet one year old, being the son of Tom and Annie. The couple’s daughter was born at Rose Hill almost a year later, four years after which the death of Annie Sophia Morris was recorded at Headington (Ref. 3a 336) during the first quarter of 1906, when she was only 48 years of age. Widower Tom Morris, with two very young children, then married Edith, as confirmed in the Cowley census of 1911, when Tom Morris was 58, Edith Agnes Morris was 38, Tom Morris Morris was 10, and Edith May Morris was nine years old.
38O21		John Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1860 and was baptised there on 9^th September 1860, the son of Matthew and Ann Collett. It was earlier in the year, when John’s birth was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 163) during second quarter of 1860. He was 10 years old in the Wolvercote census in 1871 when he was recorded with his family, and according to the new census in 1881 he was 20 and an unemployed stonemason who was still living at ‘village street’ in Wolvercote with his parents and his two brothers. In order to secure employment, John took up being a journeyman stonemason and in 1891 there was a John Collett at Christchurch in Hampshire who was 30 years old and recorded as a journeyman stonemason. It may have been John’s occupation that took him to Kent during the 1890s, since it was there that he was married in 1897.
		The marriage of John Collett and Ellen Goldup took place in the village of Wye, just a few miles north-east of Ashford in Kent, on 31^st July 1897. Both the bride and the groom were 37 years of age, John confirmed as the son of Matthew Collett, and Ellen the daughter of George Goldup. Ellen had been born at Wye, as confirmed in the subsequent census returns, and she presented John with two sons after the couple had initially made their home in Wolvercote. However, following the birth of their second child, the family left Wolvercote when they moved the few miles to Summertown in the St Giles district of north Oxford, where they were living in March 1901. John Collett was 40 and was confirmed as being a journeyman stonemason from Wolvercote, his wife Ellen Collett from Wye in Kent was 41, and their two sons were David J Collett who was two, and Christopher B Collett who was six months old. Their address at that time was 26 Thorncliffe Road in Summertown.
		John’s work continued to involve travelling round the country and in April 1911 he was working with his older brother Joseph Collett (above), when the pair of them were recorded as stonemasons working at a stone quarry, while staying at a boarding house at West Dean between Wiltshire and Hampshire. John Collett was 50 and from Wolvercote, while his brother was 60 and also from Wolvercote. Back home in Summertown was his wife Ellen Collett, aged 50, together with their sons David John Collett who was 12, and Christopher Betts Collett who was 10. Once again Ellen’s place of birth was stated as being Wye in Kent, while the birthplace of her sons was Wolvercote.
		By the time of the death of his unmarried sister Elizabeth Mary Collett (above) at Oxford in early 1942 John Collett was described as a retired stonemason when he was the sole administrator for his sister’s personal effects. Four years after losing his sister, the death of John Collett was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 44) during the second quarter of 1946, when he was 86 years old.
		38P41	David John Collett				Born in 1898 at Wolvercote
		38P42	Christopher Betts Collett				Born in 1900 at Wolvercote
38O22		Edwin Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1862 and was baptised there on 12^th October 1862, having been born only a short while before the day of his baptism, his birth recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 140). He was eight years old in 1871 and was still living in Wolvercote with his family ten years later. Edwin Collett, aged 18, and his family were residing in a dwelling on ‘village street’ when, like his older brother John (above), he too was described as an unemployed stonemason in 1881. Towards the end of that decade, Edwin Collett married Sarah Ann Walne, the event recorded at Headington (Ref. 3a 259) during the second quarter of 1889. The marriage produced four children for Edwin and Sarah before the start of the new century.
		By 1891 Edwin and his wife and their first child were living in the Summertown district of Oxford, when Edwin Collett was 28 and a stonemason, Sarah A Collett was 35, and William G E Collett was one year old. Sarah was with-child on the day of the census that year, and gave birth to the couple’s second son just a few months after. The family was completed during the next five years following the births or their last two children, all four of them born in Oxford. The family was residing within the Cowley St John district of Oxford in 1901, when the census return listed them as Edwin aged 38 and a stonemason from Wolvercote, and his wife Sarah, who was 45 and from Blackwall in Kent. Their four children were William who was eleven, Francis who was nine, Sidney who was eight, and Florence who was three.
		Ten years later, the family was living at New Marston, still within the Cowley area, where stonemason Edwin Collett was 49, Sarah Ann Collett was 55, William George Edward Collett was 21, Francis Arthur Collett was 19, Sidney Thomas Collett was 18, and Florence May Collett was 14 years old. Also staying with the family at that time was Edwin’s 17-year-old nephew from Berkshire, Alfred George Clinhard, a railway porter with the Great Western Railway. Midway through the First World War it is established that Edwin and Sarah were living at 50 Argyle Street off the Iffley Road in Cowley. It was while living here that they received the tragic news that their son Sidney had been killed in action during the Battle of the Somme. It was during the second quarter of 1940, that the death of Edwin Collett was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 27), when he was 77 years old,
		38P43	William George Edwin Collett				Born in 1889 at Oxford
		38P44	Francis Arthur Collett				Born in 1891 at Oxford
		38P45	Sidney Thomas Collett				Born in 1893 at Oxford
		38P46	Florence May Collett				Born in 1896 at Oxford
38O23		Benjamin Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1866 and was the youngest child born to Matthew Collett and his wife Ann. For some peculiar reason Edwin was not recorded with his family in 1871 when he was living in the same area at the age of four. He was still attending the village school in Wolvercote in 1881 when he was 14 and when he and his family were recorded at ‘village street’ in Wolvercote. However, having left school shortly after that census day, he eventually left Oxfordshire and was living and working in Leicester by the time he was 24, when the census in 1891 confirmed he was from Wolvercote. On that day, Benjamin was an elementary teacher at a Leicester school, who was a boarder at the boarding house on Berners Street run by William and Selina Gotheridge. Ten year after that, in March 1901, he was living and working at a school in Caverswall, near Stoke-on-Trent, where his occupation was that of a school master.
		Between three and six months later, the marriage of Benjamin Collett and Nellie Marguerite Carter was recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 266) during the third quarter of 1901. Three of their four children were born in Derbyshire, within the area known as Derby Hills, which lies to the south of the town of Derby. However, by the time the next census was conducted in 1911, the family had settled at Calne in Wiltshire, where Nellie was anticipating the birth of her fourth and last child. According to that census, Benjamin Collett from Wolvercote was 44 and the Head Teacher with the Wiltshire County Council Education Authority. His wife Nellie Marguerite Collett was 34 and from the Kings Heath area of Birmingham, and their three children were Eric John Cyril Collett who was eight, Mary Elizabeth Collett who was four, and Robert Charles Collett who was three years old.
		There is one unanswered puzzle surrounding the family, in that, while the 1911 stated the first three children were born in Derbyshire, all of their births were recorded at Calne register office. One logical suggestion could be that Benjamin was offered the position at the Calne school soon after being married, but before the birth of the couple’s first child. In that way, the birth would have been recorded by Benjamin at Calne, his family later joining him there, after the birth of son Robert. Other than that, the question might be, was the 1911 Census incorrect in recording they were born in Derby Hills.
		For completeness, the registration details for the births of Eric, Mary and Thomas, are as follows: Eric John C Collett during the fourth quarter of 1902 (Ref. 5a 135); Mary Elizabeth Collett during the first three months of 1907 (Ref. 5a 345); and Thomas G Collett, with weeks of the day of the census in 1911, during the second quarter of that year (Ref. 5a 125).
		38P47	Eric John Cyril Collett				Born in 1902 at Derby Hills, nr Derby
		38P48	Mary Elizabeth Collett				Born in 1906 at Derby Hills, nr Derby
		38P49	Robert Charles Collett				Born in 1908 at Derby Hills, nr Derby
		38P50	Thomas George Collett				Born in 1911 at Calne, Wiltshire
38O24		Frederick Robert Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1849, where he was baptised in July that year, the first-born child of mason Charles Collett and Ann Bell. In the Wolvercote census of 1851, Fk Collett was one year of age when living there with his parents and his younger baby brother Charles (below). It is a great shame that no details are available for the Wolvercote census in 1861, which would have confirmed Frederick was eleven years old and hopefully still living with his family. What is known, is that it was during the third quarter of 1870 when the marriage of Frederick Robert Collett and Elizabeth Ann Chamberlain was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 63). Around seven months later, the couple was recorded residing at ‘village street’ in the Wolvercote census of 1871. Frederick Robt Collett was 21 and a stonemason, Elizabeth Collett was 19 and their son Frederick C Collett was just five months old. All three of them had been born at Wolvercote, as were all of the couple’s subsequent children. Living in the dwelling next door to the family that year, was Fredrick’s father Charles Collett (Ref. 38N7) with his second wife Elizabeth Simms, and in the dwelling next door to them was Frederick’s cousin, watch and clock maker, James Collett (38O4), who had only just married his much younger wife Elizabeth.
		Ten years later, in the Wolvercote census of 1881, the extended family of stonemason Frederick R Collett, aged 31, was listed as Elizabeth A Collett who was 29, Fredrick C Collett who was ten, Walter Collett who was six, Philip Collett who was two, and an unnamed Collett baby who was just one month old, who was given the name Arthur. Even though she was the mother of five children, Elizabeth earned income for the family by working as a rag sorter for the nearby paper-mill, the major employer in the area. It seems very likely that she carried out her duties at home, enabling her to care for her young family at the same time.
		By 1891 the even large family had possible left village street for a larger home on the High Street. On that census day, the family comprised Frederick R Collett was 41 and continuing his work as a stonemason, his wife Elizabeth A Collett was 39, and six of their nine children, who were Frederick C Collett who was 20, Walter Collett who was 17, Philip Collett who was 12, Arthur Collett who was 10, Ralph Collett who was six, and Ernest E Collett who was three years old.
		Frederick R Collett was 51 in the March census of 1901 when, just for a change, he said he was a mason. His wife Elizabeth Ann Collett was 49, when both of them were still living at Wolvercote with the seven youngest members of their family. Walter Collett was 27, Philip Collett was 22, Arthur Collett was 20, George Collett was 17, Ralph Collett was 16, Ernest Collett was 13, and Leah Collett was six years of age. Just six years later, the death of Frederick Robert Collett was recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 141) during the second quarter of 1907, when he was 57 years old. The Will of Frederick Robert Collett was proved at Oxford on 2^nd July 1907, when the sole beneficiary was his widow. The probate office documentation also gave that date that he died as 22^nd May 1907. After nearly four years as a widow, Elizabeth Ann Collett was living in the neighbouring hamlet of Godstow in 1911, with three of her children. Elizabeth from Wolvercote was 59, Ralph Collett was 26, Ernest Edward Collett was 23, and her daughter Leah Collett was 16.
		38P51	Frederick Charles Collett				Born in 1870 at Wolvercote
		38P52	Walter George Collett				Born in 1873 at Wolvercote
		38P53	Philip Collett				Born in 1878 at Wolvercote
		38P54	Arthur Collett				Born in 1881 at Wolvercote
		38P55	George Mitchell Collett				Born in 1883 at Wolvercote
		38P56	Ralph Collett				Born in 1885 at Wolvercote
		38P57	Ernest Edward Collett				Born in 1887 at Wolvercote
		38P58	Leah Collett				Born in 1894 at Wolvercote
38O25		CHARLES THOMAS COLLETT was born at Wolvercote in 1851, with his birth recorded at Woodstock (Ref. xvi 3) during the second quarter of the year. Not long after, he was baptised at Wolvercote on 20^th April 1851, the eldest of the two sons of Charles and Ann Collett. Two years after his youngest sibling was born, his mother died, and his father was married for a second time. That new relationship was confirmed by the Wolvercote census in 1871, when unmarried Charles Collett was 20 and a mason who was living with his father and his new wife Elizabeth, his brother Walter and his youngest sister Eliza. Also living with them was Charles’ stepmother’s son, from her previous marriage, John Simms from Camden Town.
		Just under five years later, the marriage of Charles Thomas Collett and Eliza Cross was recorded at Oxford (Ref. 3a 189) during the first three months of 1876. Eliza was born at Marcham, to the west of Abingdon-on-Thames, on 1^st September 1856. Once married, the young couple temporarily settled in Wolvercote, where their first child was born but, within a couple of years, had moved into the City of Oxford. And it was there that they were living at 1 Clarendon Buildings on Walton Crescent in the Jericho area of the city within the Parish of St Thomas, where their next two children were born.
		That situation was confirmed by the census in 1881, in which stonemason Charles T Collett from Wolvercote was 30, Eliza Collett was 25 and from Marcham in Berkshire, and their three children were Thomas W Collett who was six, Francis C Collett who was four, and Clarice L A Collett who was just nine months old. By that day, two of their un-named children had already died. Also living with the family in 1881, was lodger and medical nurse, 61-year-old Eliza Wood of Oxford. Further children were added to the family during the following ten years and, on the day the census was conducted in 1891, the family was still living at 1 Clarendon Buildings on Walton Crescent in the Jericho area of Oxford. Charles Collett from Wolvercote was 40 and a mason, his wife Eliza from Marcham was 36, and their children were named as Thomas Collett from Wolvercote who was 16 and a domestic house porter, Francis Collett who was 14 with no stated occupation, Charles Collett who was six years old and attending school, as was Bertha Collett who was four. Three further children had died by then, including son Francis and daughter Clarice. Lodging with the family was Jane Boyd, a widow of 73, from Hinton in Berkshire.
		By the end of the century just one more child had been added to the family, which had moved across the city from Jericho in the west to the parish of St Barnabas, to the east of the city centre. According to the census in March 1901 the Collett family was residing at 35 Union Street, which runs between Cowley Road and Morrell Avenue. Charles Collett from Wolvercote was 50 and employed as a stonemason, his wife Eliza from Marcham was 46, and it was just their three youngest children who were still living with them. They were Charles Collett who was 16 and an apprentice print compositor, Bertha Collett who was 14 and working as a domestic housemaid, and Agnes Collett who was five. Still living with the family was boarder Jane Boyd from Hinton, a widow at 83. Hinton was very likely Hinton Waldrist, which lies a few miles west of Marcham, so Jane may have been related in some way to Eliza Collett nee Cross.
		Charles and Eliza were still living in the 5-roomed dwelling that was 35 Union Street in the St Barnabas area of Oxford in April 1911 and still living there with them were just two of their children. Charles Thomas Collett from Wolvercote was 60 and a mason working in the building trade. His wife of thirty-eight years, Eliza Collett from Marcham, was 56 and during their years together Eliza had given birth to nine children, only four of whom were still alive. The two children still living with the couple were Charles Collett who was 26, unmarried and a compositor working at Oxford University Press, and Agnes M L Collett who was 15 and working as a dressmaker at a business in the local area. Curiously under ‘Birthplace’, both of the children were said to have been born at 35 Union Street, when clearly Thomas had been born at 1 Clarendon Building in Jericho.
		At that same time in April 1911, Charles’ eldest son Thomas was a married man with a family of his own, who was also living in the Cowley area of Oxford, just a few streets away from his parents. Although only six of their recorded nine children are named below, the four who were still living in 1911 were Thomas, Charles, Bertha and Agnes. Daughter Bertha, absent from the family home in 1911 was, at that time in her life, employed by an elderly lady to the north of the city centre. The three un-named children in the list below could, it would appear, have been born around 1878, 1882 and 1888 or shortly thereafter. After a further twenty years, the death of Charles T Collett was recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 109) during the third quarter of 1931, when he was 80 years of age. Two years after being made a widow, the death of Eliza Collett was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 104) during the third quarter of 1933, at the age of 77.
		38P59	THOMAS WALTER COLLETT				Born in 1876 at Wolvercote
		38P60	Francis Charles Collett				Born in 1877 at Oxford
		38P61	a Collett child – infant death				Born in 1878 at Oxford
		38P62	Clarice Lena A Collett				Born in 1880 at Oxford
		38P63	a Collett child – infant death				Born in 1882 at Oxford
		38P64	Charles Collett				Born in 1884 at Oxford
		38P65	Bertha Mary Collett				Born in 1886 at Oxford
		38P66	a Collett child – infant death				Born in 1890 at Oxford
		38P67	Agnes Margaret L Collett				Born in 1895 at Oxford
38O26		Clara Ann Collett was born at Wolvercote near the end of 1852, the only daughter of Charles Collett and his first wife Ann Bell, her birth recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 10) during the first month of 1853. She was then baptised at Wolvercote in January 1853 but tragically, two years after her youngest sister Eliza (below) was born, her mother died. Sometime after that sad event, her father re-married. By 1871 Clara had left the new family home, and had moved into Oxford, where she was working as a domestic servant at 73 Banbury Road, the St Giles home of elderly couple Thomas and Mary Cousins, when she was 18 years old and the younger of two servants at the house.
		Just under seven years later, the marriage of Clara Ann Collett and Alfred Eugene Goodall was recorded at Oxford (Ref. 3a 337) during the first quarter of 1878, when her father was confirmed as Charles Collett, a stonemason. One of the witnesses was Clara’s sister Emily Collett (below). Two years later the pair was residing at Clarendon Street within the Oxford parish of St Thomas, where Alfred E Goodall was 26 and a tailor from Oxford, and Clara Ann Goodall from Wolvercote was 28. By that time, Clara had given birth to two children, Eugene Charles Goodall who was two, and Georgina E Goodall who was only a few months old.
		Four more children were added to the family during the 1880s although, by the time of the census in 1891, the couple’s eldest son was not listed with the family. On that day, the family was living on Hayfield Road, just north of the Jericho area of Oxford, where tailor Alfred was 36, Clara was 38, Georgina was ten, Frederick was seven, Florence was four, Elsie was two, and Lilian had only just been born. Only the five youngest children were still living with their parents in Oxford by 1901, when Alfred Goodall was still working as a tailor aged 47, Clara Goodall was 48, Frederick Goodall was 17 and a tailor’s apprentice working alongside his father, Florence Goodall was 14, Elsie Goodall was 12, Lilian Goodall was 10, and Nellie Goodall was two years old.
		The family was still living in that same area of Oxford in 1911, by which time only the two youngest daughters were again recorded with Alfred, aged 56 and born at Great Clarendon, and Clara, aged 58 from Wolvercote. Elsie was 22 and Nellie was 20, both of them said to have been born at Hayfield Road. Rather curiously, Alfred was described being a tailor waisteral hand, while Elsie was working as a domestic general servant, with Nellie still attending. Twenty-seven years after that census day, the death of Alfred E Goodall was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 4) during the second quarter of 1938, when he was 83 three years old. When his Will was proved at Oxford on 21^st May 1938, it was perhaps surprising that his widow was not named as the main beneficiary. Instead, that was Frederick Ernest Goodall, his only surviving son, together with John Fathers.
		John Fathers (Jack) was the husband of daughter Florence Clara E Goodall, whose marriage was recorded at Oxford’s Headington register office (Ref. 3a 157) during the first quarter of 1909. After their first child, Eric Fathers, was born in Oxford, the family moved to Wolvercote, where the three of them were recorded in 1911. Jack Fathers from Summertown was 24 and a grocer’s assistant, Florence Fathers was also 24, and son Eric was one year old. Three more children were added to the family over the following years, Reginald S J Fathers in 1912, Robert A Fathers in 1915, and Florence D Fathers in 1923, all of the births recorded at Headington when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Goodall. Alfred’s widow survived him by just over five years when, the death Clara A Goodall was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 105) during the third quarter of 1943, at the age of 90.
		After Alfred Goodall passed away in 1938, Clara Ann eventually moved to East Oxford to live with her married son Frederick Ernest Goodall and his wife Alice White. Having spent the last five years of her life as a widow, Clara was 90 years old when she died in Oxford, where her death was recorded there (Ref. 3a 105) during the third quarter of 1943. Frederick’s wife Alice also died four years later at the same address, when she was 67. Frederick and Alice Goodall were the grandparents of Marian E Cambanakis, nee Goodall, who was born at Oxford in 1949, where her mother’s maiden-name was Korassidou, and it was at Oxford in 1980 that Marian E Goodall married Demostheris-Andreas Cambanakis. A big thank goes to Marian for being the catalyst for the update of this file in 2021, having generously provided a tremendous number of new details about members of this branch of the Collett family.
		It is fascinating that a party celebration of the Goodall family of Wolvercote brought together two branches of the Collett of Oxfordshire. The owner of the photograph, the aforementioned Marian Cambanakis, relates that the picture includes her great great grandmother Clara Ann Goodall, nee Collett (Ref. 38O26), with her husband Alfred Eugene Goodall, next is Frederick Jesse Collett (Ref. 37O17) with his wife Edith May Collett, nee White. On the other side of Clara and Alfred are Edith Collett’s sister Alice Goodall, nee White, and her husband Frederick Goodall, who are Marian’s grandparents.
38O27		Walter Collett was born at Wolvercote near the end 1854, the son of Charles Collett, a mason, by his first wife Ann Bell. He was baptised at Wolvercote in December 1854, with his birth later recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 29) during the first three months of 1855. He was eight years old when his mother died, after which his father re-married. Upon leaving school, he initially became a carpenter and a joiner, which was how he was described in the Wolvercote census of 1871, when he was 16 and was living with his father and his stepmother. It was eight years later during the first three months of 1879 that he married Elizabeth Ann Hearn at Brackley (Ref. 3b 349) in Northamptonshire, close to Finmere, where she was born in 1852. Eight years earlier, dressmaker Elizabeth Hearn of Finmere was 18, when she was living at Brackley with her widowed father Luke, a butcher, and her younger brother Frederick Hearn. Just over a year after they were married, Elizabeth gave birth to a son when the couple was living in Oxford.
		The family of three was recorded in the Oxford census of 1881 as living at 43 Nelson Street in the St Thomas district of the city, where Walter was 26 and a carpenter from Wolvercote and his wife Elizabeth was 28 and from Brackley. Their son Albert Collett was just ten months old having been born in Oxford during the summer of the previous year, and may have been born at 43 Nelson Street. It is established the at least one other child was added to their family, although there may have been others who did not survive.
		By 1891 Walter Collett was 36 and a carpenter living at Hayfield Road, the same address as his older married sister Clara Ann Goodall (above). His wife Elizabeth was 38, and their two children were Albert H Collett who was 10, and Emily M Collett who was six years old. At that time in their lives the family was recorded in the Jericho area of Oxford, close to the Church of St Philip & St James. Staying with the family, was Elizabeth’s father, Luke Thomas Hearn, who was 65. No more children appear to have been born into the family which, by the time of the census in March 1901, was residing within the St Giles district of Oxford. Walter from Wolvercote was still working as a carpenter at the age of 46, his Elizabeth from Brackley was 48, and their two children Albert aged 20, and Emily who was 16, were still living with them. Walter’s son was very likely working with him, as he too was a carpenter.
		Sometime during the first decade of the new century, their son Albert left the family home, perhaps to go abroad, since no record of him has been found anywhere in Great Britain in 1911. Instead, at that same time, the remaining members of the family had moved to New Marston in north Oxford, where Walter Collett was 56 and continuing his occupation of a carpenter, Elizabeth Collett was 58 and had been born at Finmere near Brackley, and their daughter Emily Maud Collett was 26 and a dressmaker. It was just over twenty-one years later that the death of Walter Collett was recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 99) during the third quarter of 1932, when he was 77. By that time in his life, he had already been a widower for the previous five years, following the death of Elizabeth Ann Collett on 31^st March 1927, at the age of 75. Her Will was proved at Oxford on 24^th May 1927, the main beneficiary being Walter Collett.
		38P68	Albert Hearn Collett				Born in 1880 at Oxford
		38P69	Emily Maud Collett				Born in 1884 at Oxford
38O28		Emily Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1857 and her birth was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 40) during the second quarter of the year, following which, she was baptised at Wolvercote in June 1857. Emily was the penultimate child of Charles Collett and Ann Bell and when she was almost twenty-one years old, Emily was one of the witnesses at the marriage of her older sister Clara Ann Collett and Alfred Eugene Goodall early in 1878, when her father was confirmed as Charles Collett, a stonemason. It was during the following, when Emily gave birth to a son when she was not married, the child raised by his grandfather Charles Collett at Wolvercote, where he was one-year-old in 1881 and eleven years of age in 1891. Emily was in domestic service on the day of the national census was conducted in 1871 and again in 1881.
		It is thanks to contributions from Marian Cambanakis, nee Goodall, in 2020, that Emily has been confirmed as the mother of son Alfred, and that she married Edwin Judd in 1888, when Alfred continued to be looked after by Emily’s father Charles Collett and his second wife. We also now know that Edwin Judd died in 1897, after which Emily continued to work in domestic service as a cook and a housekeeper in order to survive. At the time of her passing in 1939, Emily was recorded as residing at Godstow Road in Wolvercote, most likely following many years living there at the home of her son and his wife. When probate was resolved, the personal effects of Emily Judd were bequeathed to Alfred Collett, a joiner. It is also interesting to note that, on the later death of Alfred Collett, he was living at the address where his mother was when she passed away.
		38P70	Alfred Collett				Born in 1879 at Wolvercote
38O29		Eliza Collett was born at Wolvercote around 1860 and was the last child of mason Charles Collett and his first wife Ann Bell, whose birth was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 25) during the second quarter of the year. It was during the month of July 1861 that she was baptised at Wolvercote. Eliza Collett was nine years old in the census of 1871 when she was living in Wolvercote with her widowed father and two older brothers Charles and Walter Collett, and John Simms the son of her father’s second wife. On leaving school she entered into domestic service and, by 1881, when she was 21, Eliza was working as a live-in servant and housemaid at the home of 80-year-old widower and clergyman Richard Greswell at 39 St Giles Street in Oxford, where she was one of six servants. In 1911 Bertha Mary Collett (Ref. 38P65) was a parlour for Helen Margaret Greswell at 70 Woodstock Road in Oxford, not far from St Giles Street. Bertha was Eliza’s cousin, their fathers being brothers.
		It was six years after the census in 1881, that the marriage of Eliza Collett and Josiah Charles Watson was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 216) during the second quarter of 1887. Josiah was a civil servant employed as a rural post messenger and the son of James and Susanna Watson of Islip Hill in the Oxfordshire village of Noke, where he was born during the summer of 1857. Shortly after they were married the pair left Oxfordshire, when they moved to London, where their son was born and where they were living in 1891, 1901 and 1911. Josiah Charles Watson had switched from being a postman, to being a tram conductor, as confirmed in 1891 when he was 33 and living at Olinda Road in Hackney. Eliza Watson from Wolvercote was 29, and Frederick Josiah Watson was two years of age, whose birth was recorded at Hackney. Eight years later the death of their 10-year-old son was also recorded at Hackney, where Josiah and Eliza were still living in 1901.
		According to the census that year, Josiah C Watson from Islip was 43 and still employed as a tram conductor, while his wife Eliza from Wolvercote was 39. Ten years after that, the couple was recorded in the Stoke Newington area of Hackney, with exactly the same details when they were 53 and 49 respectively, the only addition information being tram conductor Josiah was working for the London County Council. Twenty-six years later, when Eliza was 76, she passed away. However, at some time during those years, maybe with the outbreak of war in 1914, the couple returned to Oxford, where the death of Eliza Watson was recorded (Ref. 3a 110) during the second quarter of 1937. Just less than seven years after being widowed, the death of Josiah C Watson was also recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 86) during the first three months of 1944, when he was 86 years old. The Will of Josiah Charles Watson was proved at Oxford on 25^th September 1944, when the only beneficiary was his sister Ada Edith Faulkner. The legal documents also confirmed that he had passed away six months earlier, on 16^th March 1944.
38P1		William James Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1856, the eldest child of William Collett and Mary Ann Jones. William was another member of the family to take up the occupation of stonemason and lived on village street in Wolvercote like many of his relatives. It was around 1880 that he married Ann Marie Corke who had been born as Ann Marie Collett at Bampton, south of Witney, towards the end of 1856 or early in 1857. Ann Maria Collett (Ref. 47O8) was one of the four base-born children of unmarried mother Esther Elizabeth Collett of Bampton, the later wife of Alfred Corke. Further details of Ann’s family can be found in Part 47 – The Fyfield & Eastleach Martin Line.
		According to the census in 1881 William J Collett, aged 24 and from Wolvercote, was a stonemason residing in a dwelling on village street in Wolvercote with his wife Annie M Collett. She was also 24 and was described as a former domestic servant who had been born at Bampton in Oxfordshire. On the day of the census that year Annie’s youngest half-sister Edith M Corke, who was nine years old and also of Bampton, was described as a visitor in the Collett household. It was the stating of Ann’s recent occupation, and the fact that they had no children, which suggests that she and William were only very recently married. However, it was later that same year that Ann presented William with their first child.
		Over the next decade the marriage produced a total of three children. So, by the spring of 1891 the family comprised William J Collett and Annie M Collett, both 34 years of age, and their children Alfred T Collett, who was nine and born at Wolvercote, William H Collett, who was five and born at Sunnymead, and Percy V Collett who was two years old and also born at Wolvercote. Sunnymead is situated very close to Wolvercote and lies just north of the Summertown district of Oxford. Also staying as boarders with the family that day in 1891 at their home in Meadow View were (a) Alma L Corke from Bampton who was 25 and the younger half-sister of Ann Marie, (b) Vincent Collett aged 25 from Wolvercote, William’s younger brother (below) and (c) Henry Jones, the brother of William’s mother, who was an army pensioner who was still living with the Collett family ten years later and with whom a reduced Collett family was still living ten years after that.
		During the middle of the 1890s the family left Wolvercote and moved away from Oxford to settle in Bampton, where Ann had been born some forty years earlier. Also, during that decade two further children were added to family, the first was born before the move to Bampton, with the second born after the family had settled there.
		By the turn of the century William’s and Ann’s eldest son Alfred had already left the family home and was a soldier based in London. In addition to that, head of the house William was also missing from the Bampton based family according to the census return for 1901. The family on that occasion, residing at Church View in Bampton, comprised Annie Collett who was 44, her sons William aged 15 of Sunnymead and Percy aged 12 of Wolvercote, and her daughters Marion, who was eight and also of Wolvercote, and Florence who was two and born at Bampton. For the past ten years the family had living with them, both at Wolvercote and Bampton, Henry Jones who was described as a widower and an uncle, being the brother of William’s mother.
		In 1911 it was the reverse situation, insofar that it was Ann who was missing from the family still living in Bampton, while her husband William had returned and was listed in the census that year. That was because the death of Ann Marie Collett nee Corke, formerly Ann Marie Collett, was recorded at Witney register office (Ref. 3a 729) during the first quarter of 1909 when she was 51. Her eldest son Alfred was married by then and was living nearby in Bampton, while living with 54 years old widower William Collett in 1911 at Church Street in Bampton were his two daughters Marion who was 17 and Florence who was 13. On that occasion the head of the household was Henry Jones from Wolvercote who was 67, with the three members of the Collett family described as boarders.
		It is assumed that family group remained together until Henry Jones passed away four years later, his death recorded at Witney (3a 1361) during the second quarter of 1915. It was six years later that the death of William J Collett was recorded at Witney register office (Ref. 3a 1232) during the first three months of 1921 when he was 64.
		38Q1	Alfred Thomas Collett				Born in 1881 at Wolvercote
		38Q2	William Henry James Collett				Born in 1885 at Sunnymead
		38Q3	Percy Victor Collett				Born in 1888 at Wolvercote
		38Q4	Marion Collett				Born in 1893 at Wolvercote
		38Q5	Florence Collett				Born in 1897 at Bampton, Oxon
38P2		Ellen Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1858, the eldest daughter of William Collett and Mary Ann Jones. Like so many young girls at that time, Ellen entered into domestic service upon leaving school. At the age of twenty-two in 1881 she was not married and was working as a live-in servant and cook for forty-five years old annuitant Anne Petch in her home at 6 Wellington Square in the St Giles district of the City of Oxford. It was towards the end of the following year that Ellen married George Giles, a rural messenger, carrier and postman in Wolvercote. The marriage produced ten children for the couple, the most notable being their first child, Alice Agnes Giles who was born in Headington.
		The couple’s next two children where Henry Giles and George Giles who were both born while the family was living within the St Clements area of Oxford, after which the family moved to Beckley where their family was completed with a further seven children.
		Once their children had grown up and left their Beckley home, Ellen and George went to live at St Mary’s Road in Oxford, the same road where Ellen’s niece Blanche Collett was living and working in 1891. It was while at their St Mary’s Road home that Ellen and George provided a meeting ground for their large extended family and where Ellen always served fresh doughnuts to her grandchildren seated around a table covered with a snowy white cloth.
		The family built a theatre in the basement of the house, complete with seating, stage curtains and lighting, for which the children devised endless performances. Ellen found them hugely entertaining and would laugh soundlessly, her body trembling and with tears rolling down her cheeks.
		Such was Ellen’s prominence within the family that it is completely understandable she was seen by all as the real matriarch of the Collett family. And so, to return to her most notable child, that being Alice Agnes Giles who was born at Headington in 1884. She married her cousin Henry William Collett who was the eldest son of Ellen’s younger brother Henry Collett. See Ref. 38Q12 for further details of their life and family.
38P3		Joseph Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1859 and was baptised there on 24^th July 1859. According to the census of 1871 he was 11 and was living with his family at Wolvercote. Joseph was one of a family of fifteen children and prior to being married he was living with his stonemason grandfather James Collett (Ref. 38N2) in Wolvercote. The reason why may simply have been to relieve the already overcrowded living conditions in the house of his parents.
		That was confirmed by the census of 1881 in which Joseph was recorded as being 21 and a stonemason from Wolvercote, living with his grandparents just a few yards from his parents’ house. Also staying there at the same time was Joseph’s younger sister Mary A Collett (below). Also in 1881, the family of Joseph’s future wife, Charles and Sarah Gessey and their four children were living next door to Joseph’s older brother William J Collett (above). Charles’ occupation was that of a general labourer with the railway, while his daughter Esther was a rag cutter at the Wolvercote paper-mill.
		On 16^th September 1883 at Wolvercote Joseph married Esther Ann Gessey who was born in 1854. The parish marriage register recorded that Joseph and his father William Collett were both stonemasons and that Esther’s father Charles Gessey was a labourer. During the first seven years of their marriage Esther presented Joseph with three children as confirmed by the Wolvercote census of 1891. The census return listed the family as Joseph aged 31, Esther A Collett was 34, while their three children were Berty who was six, Esther A Collett who was four, and baby Joseph C Collett who was not yet one year old. Over the next decade another three children were added to their family while they were still residing in Wolvercote.
		By 1901 Joseph was 41 and was a stonemason living at Cyprus Terrace in Wolvercote with his wife Esther A Collett who was 44. Living there with them were five of their six children, and they were Bertie aged 16, Joseph aged 10, Fred who was eight, Eliza who was six, and Kate M Collett who was just three years old. Every member of the household had been born at Wolvercote. Also staying with the family was Esther’s elderly widowed father Chas Gessey from Hanborough in Oxfordshire who was 81. Joseph’s and Esther’s eldest daughter Esther, who was 14 and from Wolvercote, had already left school and had begun working for a family in the neighbouring village of Wytham, just over the River Thames from Wolvercote.
		The family was still living in Wolvercote in 1911, albeit named on the census return as Wolvercote. By that time Joseph Collett was 52, Esther Ann Collett was 56, Bertie Collett was 26, Esther Ann Collett was 24, Joseph Charles Collett was 21, Frederick James Collett was 19, Eliza Sarah L Collett was 17, and Lily Mary Collett – previously Kate M Collett was 10, and all of them born at Wolvercote. Joseph and Esther also had two grandchildren living with them and they were Maggie Collett of Wolvercote who was three, and Mary R Collett who was eleven months old, who were more than likely the base-born children of their daughter Esther Ann Collett who had returned to live with her family after her absence in 1901.
		38Q6	Bertie Collett				Born in 1884 at Wolvercote
		38Q7	Esther Ann Collett				Born in 1886 at Wolvercote
		38Q8	Joseph Charles Collett				Born in 1890 at Wolvercote
		38Q9	Frederick James Collett				Born in 1892 at Wolvercote
		38Q10	Eliza Sarah L Collett				Born in 1894 at Wolvercote
		38Q11	Lily (Kate) Mary Collett				Born in 1901 at Wolvercote
38P4		Henry Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1860. On leaving school Henry worked with his stonemason father William Collett and was employed as a stone sawyer, as confirmed by the 1881 Census for Wolvercote when he was 20 years old. It was during the following year that he married Annie Mabel Parsons on 27^th May 1882 at St Peter’s Church in Wolvercote. Annie was the daughter of James Parsons and was born in 1861 at Kennington in Berkshire just to the south of Oxford. Shortly after they were married Henry and Annie were living at Summertown where their first three children were born.
		In Summertown at that time there was a great deal of building work going on, and it is assumed that Henry was gainfully employed in the building programme. A little while later, the family moved back to Wolvercote where their next five children were born. In 1891 Henry was 30 and listed with him in the census return was his wife Annie, aged 29, and their five children. Henry was seven, Agnes was six, Harold was four and Laura was two, while their so far unnamed baby daughter was just three days old, the child later being given the name Ada. The family was living at Meadow View in Wolvercote from where Henry was employed as a builder’s labourer.
		However, towards the end of the 1890s the family had returned to live at Summertown, where their penultimate child was born. Another family move took place shortly after the birth, since by March 1901 the majority of the family was living at William Street in New Marston, to the east of Summertown. The 1901 Census recorded the family as Henry, aged 40 and a bricklayer’s labourer, his wife Annie, who was 39, and their seven children. They were Harold aged 14, Laura aged 12, Ada aged 10, Alice who was eight, Ernest who was six, Frederick who was four, and Rose who was two years old. On the day of the census that year Annie was expecting the couple’s tenth child.
		The couple’s eldest son Henry may have been with the British Army, perhaps in South Africa, as he has not been traced in the census of 1901. The couple’s only other missing child was Agnes who was 16 and who was working as a general domestic servant in the St Peter le Bailey district of Oxford. From a stone sawyer in 1881 to a bricklayer’s labourer twenty years later might seem a backward step, particularly as most of the other male members of this Collett family had gone onto become fully fledged stonemasons. This therefore raises the question as to whether Henry and his father had a ‘falling out’.
		What may be interesting to note at that time, was that there were no Colletts living at Summertown during the recording of the 1881 Census. However, in addition to Henry and his family, there was another Collett family living in William Street in New Marston in 1901. That was the family of Arthur Collett, aged 29 and from Banbury, who was a telephone wireman. His wife was Alice I Collett, who was also 29, and with them was their son Herbert W A Collett who was three years old and from Birmingham like his mother.
		It seems very likely that some personal tragedy struck the family during the next decade, and that may have coincided with, or happened not long after, the birth of Henry’s and Annie’s last child in 1904, when Annie would have been in her early forties. It is certainly known that she physically survived the ordeal, although no record of her has been found in the census of 1911, nor was she living with Henry on that occasion, although his status was still that of a married man.
		Members of a later generation of the family recall visiting ‘Grandma Annie Collett’ just before the start of the First World War, and at that time she was living in Wolvercote with her husband. So it points more to a temporary break-down in their marriage, perhaps resulting from a health issue which required a period of institutional care for Annie. It was granddaughter Helen Collett who remembered visiting her grandparents at Wolvercote. From her memory as a very young child, she told the tale that Annie wore strangely old-fashioned black clothes and a poke bonnet. She also recalled that everything and everywhere in the house smelled of snuff.
		What is known for sure is that in 1908, under the powers of the Oxford Board of Guardians, a report was written in which it was recommended that four of Henry’s and Annie’s children be admitted into the workhouse in the Headington area of Oxford. They were Laura, the eldest at 19, who would have been charged with looking after Rose, who was nine, Leonard, who was seven, and Minnie who was just four years old. In addition to caring for her siblings, Laura was either with-child or had already given birth to a base-born child of her own in 1908. At that same time Henry’s two sons Ernest and Frederick were sent to The Boys School in Bath.
		By April 1911, Henry Collett was on his own and was recorded in the census as being 50 years old and married, while living at 10 Carters Yard in St Aldates Oxford, with no trace of his wife. His two youngest children were still living at the workhouse on that occasion, while his daughter Laura had left with her baby daughter, as had Henry’s daughter Rose, who was living with a family in Headington by then.
		The only other member of Henry’s and Annie’s family still living in Marston was their daughter Ada Hannah Collett who was 22. Their daughter Alice Mary Collett, who was 19, was living and working in the Wandsworth area of London, while their son Ernest James was 16 and was living and working in Pembroke, and Frederick was still at The Boys School in Bath.
		Annie Mabel Collett may have died at Wolvercote in 1917, although the death was recorded at the Headington Registry Office. Therefore, it must be assumed that she suffered some form of physical or mental break-down prior around 1908 which resulted in her becoming an inmate at an institution, a hospital, or a similar establishment where she was very likely staying at the time of the census in 1911. Henry Collett was around eighty years of age when he died during 1940.
		38Q12	Henry William Collett				Born in 1883 at Summertown
		38Q13	Agnes Annie Collett				Born in 1884 at Summertown
		38Q14	Harold Frank Collett				Born in 1887 at Summertown
		38Q15	Laura Lilian Collett				Born in 1888 at Wolvercote
		38Q16	Ada Hannah Collett				Born in 1891 at Wolvercote
		38Q17	Alice Mary Collett				Born in 1892 at Wolvercote
		38Q18	Ernest James Collett				Born in 1894 at Wolvercote
		38Q19	Frederick Peter Collett				Born in 1896 at Wolvercote
		38Q20	Rose Clara Collett				Born in 1898 at Summertown
		38Q21	Leonard Percival Collett				Born in 1901 at New Marston
		38Q22	Minnie Lavinia Collett				Born in 1904 at New Marston
38P5		George Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1862 and on leaving school, rather than join his father in the stonemason business, he was employed at the nearby Wolvercote paper-mill as a papermaker. He married Elizabeth Ann Warwick towards the end of 1887, their wedding recorded at Wallingford (Ref. 2c 715) during the last three months of the year. It was at South Moreton in Berkshire that she was born, her birth also registered at Wallingford (Ref. 2c 301) during the third quarter of 1867, a daughter of Joseph and Caroline Warwick. Once married, George and Elizabeth made their home on Mill Road in Wolvercote, where their five children were born. By the time of the Wolvercote census in 1891 George and Elizabeth already had their first child and, on the day of the census, the couple was expecting the imminent birth of their second child. Head of the household at Mill Road in Wolvercote was George Collett from Wolvercote who was 28 and a paper maker, his wife Elizabeth A Collett from Berkshire was 26 and a paper sorter, when their son George A Collett was two years old.
		Just over five years later, during June in 1896, George Collett was one of the witnesses at the Wolvercote wedding of his younger sister Lydia Collett (below), who married baker Sidney Gardner. Between 1891 and 1901 Elizabeth presented George with three more children, and by March 1901 the census that month recorded George, at the age of 38, still living at Mill Road in Wolvercote and still working at the nearby paper-mill, where he was then employed as a machine minder. Elizabeth was 36 and had been born at South Moreton near Wallingford, and their four children were George A Collett who was 12, Reginald Collett who was nine, William J Collett who was seven, and Elizabeth A Collett who was one year old, all of them born at Wolvercote.
		Just one more child was added to the family four years later, so by April 1911 George and his complete family were recorded again as living at Mill Road in Lower Wolvercote, where George was 48 and was still employed as a paper making machine man. His wife of twenty-three years and six months was Elizabeth Ann Collett aged 46 and from South Moreton, and their five children were George Alfred aged 22, Reginald aged 19, William J P H Collett aged 17, Elizabeth Ann who was 11, and Cyril Edward who was five years old. The photograph of George, with his family, as supplied by his granddaughter Wendy Rattray nee Collett, was taken in the winter months around 1920, when he would have been in his mid to late fifties. All of the men were wearing flowers in their buttonholes, so the occasion may have been a wedding.
		38Q23	George Alfred Collett				Born in 1888 at Wolvercote
		38Q24	Reginald Collett				Born in 1891 at Wolvercote
		38Q25	William Joseph P H Collett				Born in 1893 at Wolvercote
		38Q26	Elizabeth Ann Collett				Born in 1899 at Wolvercote
		38Q27	Cyril Edward Collett				Born in 1905 at Wolvercote
38P6		Mary A Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1864 and was recorded as being was six years old in the census of 1871 when she was living in Wolvercote with her family. Due to overcrowding in the family home Mary and her older brother Joseph (above) moved out during the 1870s and went to live with their grandparents James and Sarah Collett (Ref. 38N2). And it was with James and Sarah in Wolvercote that Mary A Collett, aged 16, was still living in April 1881.
38P7		Edward Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1865 and was listed as unemployed in April 1881 even though he was only 15 years of age. Ten years after that, when he was 24, he was still living with his family in Wolvercote. At the time of the next census in1901 Edward was 35 and was still living at Wolvercote where he was working as a general labourer. However, by 1911 his absence from the census that year may suggest that he was no longer living in Great Britain, as may have been the case with his brother Ellis Collett.
38P8		Vincent Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1868, his birth recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 658) during the second quarter of that year. He was two years old and was 12 years of age in the next two census returns when he was living at Wolvercote with his family. By 1891 he had left the family home and was unmarried at 22 when he was an agricultural labourer living as a boarder with his older married brother William James Collett (above) and his family at Meadow View in Wolvercote. However, shortly after that he married Prudence Annie Simmonds who had been born within the St Thomas district of Oxford during 1864, who already had a son from her first marriage. The wedding was recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 933) during the first three months of 1892.
		The marriage had produced four children before the end of the decade and, according to the census in 1901, Vincent was 32 and a dairyman’s assistant, who gave his place of birth as Lower Wolvercote. Prudence A Collett was 36, and their four children were Ernest Collett, who was eight, Kate Collett, who was six, Frank Collett who was one, and baby Dora who was under one. All the children were also described as having been born at Lower Wolvercote. Living with the family was Prudence’s son Reginald A Simmonds from North Hinksey who was 12 years old, while living in the house next door was Vincent’s younger sister Lydia Gardner nee Collett (below) with her young family.
		The family was also confirmed in the census of 1911 as still living in Wolvercote within the Woodstock registration district when it was made up of Vincent Collett of Wolvercote aged 42, his wife Prudence Annie Collett who was 45, and their four children Kate Collett aged 16, Frank Collett aged 11, Dora Collett who was 10, and Leslie Vincent Collett who was eight years old. The couple’s absent son Ernest had already left the family home by then. The later death of Vincent Collett, aged 77, was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 2059) during the first quarter of 1946.
		38Q28	Ernest Collett				Born in 1892 at Wolvercote
		38Q29	Kate Collett				Born in 1894 at Wolvercote
		38Q30	Frank Collett				Born in 1899 at Wolvercote
		38Q31	Dora Collett				Born in 1900 at Wolvercote
		38Q32	Leslie Vincent Collett				Born in 1903 at Wolvercote
38P9		Emma Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1869, the daughter of William and Mary Collett, and was just under one year old in the Wolvercote census of 1871. Ten years later she was 11, and when she was nearly twenty years old, she gave birth to a base-born son, the father of whom was probably named Bowman. However, during the last three months of 1890 Emma Collett married John Mortimer, a bricklayer’s labourer from Stanton St John in Oxfordshire, the event recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 1439). On the day of the census just a few months later the newly married couple was residing at Godstow Road in Wolvercote when John Mortimer was 23, Emma Mortimer was 21, and Emma’s son Henry J Collett who had been born at Wolvercote and who was one year old.
		Emma gave birth to two children during the next few years, so in the Wolvercote census conducted in March 1901 the family was living at Church Road in the village, where John Mortimer was 36 and his wife Emma was 32. John was confirmed as being a labourer for a bricklayer, while Emma was working as a rag cutter at the Wolvercote paper-mill. Living with them was Emma’s son Henry J Bowman Collett, who was 11, and the first five of the nine children that she had by her husband John. They were Annie May Mortimer who was nine, Ellen E Mortimer who was eight, John Alfred Mortimer who was seven, Lydia Louisa Mortimer who was five, and Edith Elsie Mortimer who was four, all of them born at Wolvercote.
		Ten years later the couple’s eldest daughter had left the family home in Wolvercote, when she was 19 and living and working in the Headington area of Oxford. No record has been found of daughter Ellen, whereas the family had been extended by the birth of a further three children. So, the Mortimer family comprised John, age 45, Emma, age 42, John Alfred who was 16, Lydia who was 15, Edith who was 13, Ada who was nine, Cyril, who was seven, Percy Thomas who was five, and Daisy Gertrude who was one year old. By that time Emma’s base-born son was a married man.
		38Q33	Henry Jesse Bowman Collett				Born in 1889 at Wolvercote
38P11		Lydia Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1873. At the age of 18 years, she was still living in Wolvercote and five years later it was there that she married Sidney Ernest Gardner on 14^th June 1896. The witnesses at their marriage were Lydia’s older brother George Collett (above) and her younger sister Edith Collett (below). Sidney was born at Bampton in 1875 and by the turn of the century he and Lydia were living at Wolvercote. According to the 1901 Census for Wolvercote, Sydney E Gardner was 25 and his occupation was that of a baker. His wife Lydia was 27 and the census confirmed she was born at Lower Wolvercote and that her husband was born at Bampton in Oxfordshire.
		Their children at that time were Annie A Gardner who was four, Sydney T Gardner who was three, Dorothy May Gardner who was one year old, and the family’s latest arrival baby Prudence A Gardner who was only a few months. All four children were born at Lower Wolvercote. In the house right next door to where Lydia and Sidney were living at Wolvercote in 1901 was her brother Vincent Collett and his family (above).
		In the years after 1901 Lydia presented Sidney with a further six children, so by 1911 the family living in the Woodstock registration district comprised Sydney aged 35, Lydia aged 37, Dorothy who was 11, Prudence who was 10, Lucy Gardner who was five, Alice Gardner who was three, and Millie Gardner who was ten months old. Lydia Gardner nee Collett died at Oxford during 1950. It was Lydia’s and Sidney’s daughter Dorothy May Gardner born in 1899 who was the mother of Violet Bell who kindly provide the information about her grandmother’s family that enabled this family’s details to be updated.
38P12		Edith Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1875. In June 1896 Edith was one of the witnesses at the Wolvercote wedding of her older sister Lydia (above) and at the turn of the century she was still living at the family home in Wolvercote, where she had the role of housekeeper. Edith was later married to William Henry Elger who was many years old than Edith. In April 1911 she and her family were living within the Cowley area of Oxford where Edith Elger from Wolvercote was 37, her husband William was 55, and their children were William Vincent Elger who was four, Cyril Henry Elger who was three, Edith Gertrude Elger who was two, and Albert Charles Elger who was two months old.
38P13		Thomas Herbert Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1876. He was a general labourer and in 1901 at the age of 24 he was still a bachelor living at Wolvercote. Sometime during the next few years Thomas married Lucy and in 1911 the childless couple was living at Lower Wolvercote, within the Woodstock registration district, where Thomas Herbert Collett was 34 and his wife Lucy Collett was 37.
38P14		Agnes E Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1878. According to the 1901 Census Agnes was 22 and was not married and was still living with her parents at Wolvercote. Her occupation at that time was a paper-layer and would have been employed at the local paper-mill in the village. By April 1911 Agnes was 33 and still a spinster. Her place of birth was confirmed as Wolvercote but by that time she had left the village and was recorded as living within the Woodstock area.
38P15		Gertrude Doris Collett was born at Wolvercote not long after the third of April in 1881 and was nine years old in the Wolvercote census of 1891 when she was living there with her parents. Ten years later in 1901, and at the age of nineteen, she was working as a general domestic servant in the St Giles district of Oxford. She later married Thomas Preedy and in 1911 the childless couple were living in Cowley where Gertrude Doris Preedy of Wolvercote and her husband Thomas were both 30.
38P16		Henry J Collett was born at Summertown in 1859. Very little is known about Henry except that he was eleven years old in the Summertown census of 1871 when he was listed as living there with his family.
38P17		Samuel Thomas Collett was born at Summertown in 1863, the birth being registered in the three months of April to June that year. In 1871 he was recorded as living with his family in the St Clements & Headington area of Oxford at the age of seven. Ten years later at the age of eighteen he was employed as bookseller’s assistant. At that time, he was living at Howard Street in Cowley with his younger sister Lavinia (below) and his mother Lavinia who had married Richard Stroud following the unexpected death of his father Joseph about five years earlier.
		On 21^st July 1885 Samuel married Catherine Ann Perrin who was believed to have been born around 1860. Catherine was actually born on 24^th November 1859 at Brightwell near Wallingford in Berkshire and was the daughter of police constable William Perrin and his wife Catherine Ann Bishop, both of Rousham in Oxfordshire, which is a village less than five miles north of Woodstock. The wedding took place at the church of St Mary & St John in Cowley. The marriage register confirmed that Samuel Thomas, aged 22, was the son of stone carrier Joseph Collett deceased, while Catherine Ann was 25 and the daughter of policeman William Perrin. The marriage certificate was signed in the presence of William Perrin and Catherine’s sister Mary Emma Perrin and also confirmed that Samuel was living at Howard Street.
		For whatever reason, there was no record for Catherine in the 1881 Census, although her parents were living at Bury Lane in Appleton with their daughter Mary Emma Perrin, aged 21, a dressmaker who had also been born at Brightwell. So, it is possible that Mary Emma was a twin sister to Catherine Ann. Furthermore, both daughters were listed as living with their parents in the 1861 and 1871 censuses.
		By the time of the 1901 Census the marriage had produced a daughter for Samuel and Catherine and the family of three was then living at Lambeth in London where their six years old daughter had been born and where Samuel Collett 37 and from Summertown was a foreman and a stockman for a stationery company. A further move took the family from Lambeth to Epsom in Surrey where they were living in April 1911. Samuel Thomas Collett was 47, his wife Catherine Ann was 51, and their daughter Dorothy Lavinia of Lambeth was 16.
		Catherine Ann Collett nee Perrin, being older than Samuel, passed away before her husband, sometime after 1911 and up to 1923. At the time of the death of Samuel Thomas Collett on 2^nd January 1924, he was residing at a dwelling named Sunningdale at 4 Woodstock Road in Carshalton, Surrey. His Will proved in London on 28^th February 1924 resulted in his entire estate of £4,372 19 Shillings and 1 Penny being bequeathed to clothing buyer Arthur Edwin White.
		During the summer of 2023 Norman Perrin kindly provided a copy of the 1921 Census, Catherine Ann Perrin being his great-great-aunt. The census details confirmed that the three members of the family were residing in a six-room property from where Samuel Thomas Collett aged 58 years and 2 months, from Summertown in Oxford, was employed as a stationer manager by the Army & Navy Cooperative Society Limited in their store at 105 Victoria Street in Westminster, London. His wife Catherine Ann from Brightwell in Berkshire was 61 years and 6 months, while daughter Dorothy Lavinia from South Lambert, London, was single and 26 years and 5 months. Mother and daughter were both described as undertaking home duties.
		38Q34	Dorothy Lavinia Collett				Born in 1894 at South Lambeth
38P18		Ernest Henry Collett was born at Summertown in 1865 and was five years old in the St Clements & Headington census of 1871 when he was living there with his family. As a young man, after leaving school, he enlisted to join the Royal Navy. By the time he was seventeen he was serving on board HMS Alexandra as ‘boy’. The 1881 Census listed him as Ernest H Collett who was 17 and from Summertown in Oxford, who was described as being situated “at sea or in a foreign port”. His enhanced age may have been for the purpose of him joining the navy.
		On leaving the navy, Ernest returned to Oxford and in the census of 1891, he was reunited with his sister Lavinia Collett (below) when they were both living in the St Clements area of Headington. The census return recorded him as Ernest H Collett aged 25 and from Summertown. Living nearby was their mother who had remarried following the death of Ernest’s father in 1876.
		Just after the turn of the century Ernest Collett of Summertown was living in the Cowley St John area of Oxford where he was working as a domestic gardener. On that occasion he gave his age as being 35, when living with him was his married sister Lavinia Ireland. Ten years later in April 1911 the same Ernest Collett who was been born at Summertown was living in the Headington registration district of Oxford when he gave his age as being 45. It would appear that he was not married as he was living alone in the Cowley area of the city.
38P19		Lavinia J Collett was born at Summertown in 1871, the birth taking place just after the census day that year which was the second of April. She was the youngest of the four children of Joseph Collett and his wife Lavinia, and was just five years old when her father died in 1876. A year later, her mother remarried and in 1881, Lavinia Collett aged 10 years was living with her mother Lavinia Stroud and her brother Samuel Collett (above) at Howard Street in Cowley, the home of her stepfather Richard Stroud.
		Ten years later in 1891, when Lavinia was 20, she was living with her brother Ernest (above) within the St Clements area of Headington in Oxford near to where their mother was still living. By the end of March in 1901 Lavinia had married Thomas James Ireland who was not listed with her in the census that year. Instead, Lavinia Ireland, aged 29 and from Summertown, was again staying with her brother Ernest in the Cowley St John area of Oxford.
		It seems likely that Thomas James Ireland may have been a soldier and was away in Africa or elsewhere in 1901. However, on his return the couple moved to London and in April 1911 Thomas and Lavinia were living in the St Olave Bermondsey area, by which time they had two sons. Thomas James Ireland was 48, Lavinia J Ireland was 41, and with them was Arthur Edmund Ireland who was five years old, and Alfred Ernest Ireland who was four.
38P20		Blanche Collett was born at Wolvercote on 3^rd December 1871, the first child of James and Elizabeth Collett. In 1881 the youngest family was living at Woodview Cottages in Wolvercote when Blanche was nine years old. During the next ten years Blanche’s father fell foul of the law and as a result of which he was convicted and was sentenced to spend time in Her Majesty’s Prison at New Road in Oxford. That would appear to have forced the family out of their Wolvercote home, where upon Blanche’s mother entered the Oxford Union Workhouse.
		So by the time of the Oxford census of 1891, Blanche’s father was in prison, and her mother and brother Roland were in the workhouse. By that time in her life Blanche was nineteen and was working as a general domestic servant at the home of baker William Lanburn and his seamstress wife Elizabeth, and their three children at 3 St Mary’s Road in Cowley. It was during the first three months of 1897 when the marriage of Blanche Collett and George Bampton was recorded at the Headington register office (Ref. 3a 953). Four years later, the pair was residing at Littlemore, just west of Oxford, where George Bampton from Littlemore was 27 and working as a shoemaker, Blanche Bampton from Wolvercote was 29, when their daughter was Alice Elizabeth Bampton who was three years of age and also born at Littlemore. George was recorded as George Bampton junior, because nearby in Littlemore was his father George Bampton senior and his mother Sarah, and his eight younger siblings, George being their first-born child.
		The Littlemore census in 1911, confirmed that George and Blanche had been married for fourteen years and had given birth to three children, all of them living, although only the two younger ones were living with them. Bootmaker George was 37, Blanche was 39, and their two children were George Kenneth Bampton aged seven years, and Hilda Mary Bampton who was around nine months old. The couple’s absent daughter had already finished her schooling and was working close by in Littlemore, at the home of elderly spencer Edith Mary Allin of Littlemore who was a boarding house keeper, where Alice Elizabeth Bampton was employed as the kitchen maid.
		Just before the start of the Second World War, the 1939 Register included George and Blanche Bampton living at dwelling in Bullingdon, south of Oxford, with the name ‘3 Littlemore’, where Blanche was described as undertaking domestic duties. The Register also confirmed her date of birth, now shown above. By then, their eldest daughter was married and was Alice Elizabeth Cole. Upon the death of her father on 24^th December 1958, George was living at 3 Spring Lane in Littlemore and Alice Cole was a widow. The Will of George Bampton was proved at Oxford on 15^th January 1959, his personal effects valued at £2,242 10 Shillings and 4 Pence, the two beneficiaries being George Kenneth Bampton, a gardener, and Alice Elizabeth Cole, a widow. The fact that his wife was not mentioned, is because the death of Blanche Bampton was recorded at the Bicester Ploughley register office (Ref. 6b 742) during the third quarter of 1949, when she was said to be 77 years old.
38P21		Evelyn Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1874 and by the time of the census of 1881 she was seven years old and was living with her family at Woodview Cottages in Wolvercote. During the latter part of the following decade Evelyn’s family was torn apart, when her father James spent sometime in the Oxford prison and her mother Elizabeth, together with baby brother Roland, left Wolvercote to spend time in the Oxford Workhouse, both as confirmed by the census of 1891. However, it has not yet been determined where Evelyn was at that time, when she would have been seventeen years old.
		According to the next census in March 1901, Evelyn was 27 and was still a spinster, while she was living with her family at Littlemore just south of Oxford. Her occupation was that of a packer at a local laundry, while her mother Elizabeth was a laundress, so perhaps they worked together. Following the death of her mother between 1901 and 1911, the family returned to Oxford and New Marston, as confirmed by the census of 1911. Evelyn was still unmarried at 37 and was then looking after her aging father James who was 67. Also living with Evelyn and her father was her much younger brother Roland Herbert Collett (below).
38P22		Charles James Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1880. He was listed as being one year old in the census of 1881 when he was living with his family at Woodview Cottages in Wolvercote. By the time he was nine years old he had been separated from his family, with his father serving time in Oxford prison, and his mother living in the Oxford Workhouse in the St Clements district of the city. It is possible that he was adopted after that time, since no record of a suitable Charles Collett of Wolvercote has been found in either of the census returns for 1901 or 1911.
38P23		Roland Herbert Collett was born at Summertown in 1890, the son of James and Elizabeth Collett, whose birth was recorded at Headington (Ref. 3a 76) during the second quarter of the year. The fact that his parents had left Wolvercote by the time he was born, may be an indication that his family had already been sentenced to serve time in the Oxford Prison. It is also known that when that happened, James’ family was forced to leave their Wolvercote home, with Elizabeth and Roland being recorded in the census of 1891 as living in the Oxford Union Workhouse. The census return recorded that Rowland Collett of Summertown was just two years old.
		By 1901, Roland’s parents were reunited and were living in the village of Littlemore, south of Oxford. Roland H Collett from Summertown was eleven and was living with them, as was his older sister Evelyn (above). Following the death of his mother during the next decade, the family of three continued to residing at Littlemore. By the start of April in 1911, Roland Herbert Collett was 21 years of age, when he was again living with his widowed father and his unmarried sister Evelyn. At that time in his life, Roland’s occupation was that of a jeweller’s porter.
		Within two years, Roland became a married man, when the marriage by reading of banns of Roland Herbert Collett and (1) Florence Elsie Lee took place at the parish church in Cowley on 30^th January 1913, the event recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 119). Their marriage certificate stated that Roland was 22 and a porter of Cowley, the son of James Collett, a watchmaker. Florence was 21 and also of Cowley, who was the daughter of Harry Lee, deceased. The two witnesses were both members of the Lee family. Subsequent research has revealed that just one child was born to Roland and Florence, and that was daughter Greta M Collett, whose birth was recorded at Headington (Ref. 3a 2) three years after their wedding day, during the first quarter of 1916. Another record in the Oxford register office, may indicate that Roland was married for a second time to (2) Edith A Cowley, her marriage to Roland H Collett recorded during the third quarter of 1956 (Ref. 6b 4).
		Florence Elise Collett of 11 Holloway in Cowley died on 10^th July 1954, following which her Will was proved at Oxford 27^th August 1954. Her personal effects were valued at £2,064 16 Shillings and 7 Pence, with the main beneficiary being Roland Herbert Collett, a railway cloakroom attendance. Nineteen years later, Roland was still living at the same address in Cowley, when he passed away on 17^th September 1973. The Will of Roland Herbert Collett was proved at Oxford on 3^rd December 1973, when his personal estate was valued at £3,465.
		38Q35	Greta M Collett				Born in 1916 at Headington
38P24		William John Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1875, and was the eldest child of stonemason Daniel Collett of Wolvercote and his wife Ellen from Abingdon-on-Thames. His birth was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 336) during the second quarter of that year. Unlike others in his family, William did not follow his father by becoming a stonemason but, instead he became a butcher. The marriage of William John Collett and Emma Saxon was conducted at Wolvercote on 3^rd October 1899, where she was also born, in 1874. The marriage certificate confirmed that William was 24 and the son of Daniel Collett, and that Emma was the daughter of John Saxon. It was also while the couple was still living at Wolvercote that their two sons were born.
		The first of their two children was confirmed in the census of 1901, which also confirmed that the family of three was still residing in Wolvercote. Head of the household William J Collett was 25 and a butcher from Wolvercote, his wife Emma Collett, aged 26, was also from Wolvercote, as was their son William J Collett who was still under one year old. Three years later Emma presented William with their second son. The next census in 1911 confirmed that William John Collett, aged 35, had been married to Emma, aged 36, for eleven years. Living with the couple at their home in the High Street in Lower Wolvercote on that occasion were their two sons, William John Collett who was 10, and Cyril Sidney Collett who was six years old, both confirmed as having been born at Wolvercote.
		38Q36	William John Collett				Born in 1901 at Wolvercote
		38Q37	Cyril Sidney Collett				Born in 1904 at Wolvercote
38P25		Albert Ernest Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1876, his birth recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 31) during the second quarter of the year. It was at Wolvercote that he was living with his family in 1881 aged four years, and again in 1891 when he was 14. On leaving school he did not follow in his father Daniel’s footsteps by entering the world of stonemasonry, but instead he became a greengrocer. That was confirmed by the census of 1901 when Albert was still a bachelor at 24 and his occupation was stated as being that of a greengrocer while he was still living within the village of Wolvercote.
		Within a year or so of the 1901 Census, Albert married Mary Emmeline who was born in 1877 and with whom he had two children by the time of the next census in 1911. Both children were born at Wolvercote and by April 1911 Albert’s family was the only one with the Collett name still living in Wolvercote. However, the census that year revealed the tragic news that Albert Ernest Collett had died sometime during the five years between the birth of the couple’s second child in 1906 and the census in 1911.
		The census return for Wolvercote placed his 33 years old widow Mary Emmeline Collett as living with her two children at Abbey View in Upper Wolvercote. Mary’s place of birth was given as Syresham in Northamptonshire and under occupation it simply read ‘None’. Mary’s and the late Albert’s two children were listed as Alfred Ernest Collett who was seven, and Arthur Henry Collett who was four years old, both children confirmed as having been born at Wolvercote.
		Although relatively young to be a widow while still in her earlier thirties, it would appear from Mary’s son’s military records that she never remarried. Further tragedy was to strike the family thirty-two years later when Mary received the sad news that her youngest son Arthur had been killed during the Second World War, at which time she was still living in Wolvercote.
		38Q38	Alfred Ernest Collett				Born in 1903 at Wolvercote
		38Q39	Arthur Henry Collett				Born in 1906 at Wolvercote
38P26		Percy Thomas Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1877, his birth recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 218) during the last three months of the year. He was three years old in the Wolvercote census of 1881, when he and the family were living there on village street. He was also recorded as Percy T Collett in 1891, when he was 13 and still attending school, while living on the High Street in Wolvercote. He was another son of stonemason Daniel Collett, who did not take up the family trade. Instead, he worked as a dairyman in his younger years. It was during the second quarter of 1900 when the marriage of Percy Thomas Collett and Gertrude Hall was recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 280). Gertrude was born in 1876 at Yarnton, just north of Wolvercote, the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Hall. According to the census of 1901, dairyman Percy T Collett was 23 and was living at Wolvercote with 24-year-old Gertrude and their new baby son Vernon V Collett who was around nine months old.
		Over the next ten years a further three children were born to Percy and Gertrude while they were still living at Wolvercote, which was where the family was still residing in 1911. The family at that time comprised Percy Thomas Collett, who was 33 and again working as a dairyman, Gertrude Collett who was 34, Vernon Victor Collett who was 10, Edna Elsie Collett who was eight, Eva Amelia Collett who was three, and young Percy Thomas Collett who was not yet one year old. Staying with the family that day was Gertrude’s sixty-two-year-old widowed father Thomas Hall from Yarnton, who was a market gardener.
		Around the time of the Second World War, and perhaps for all the intervening years, Percy and Gertrude were living at 34 Elmthorpe Road in the village, where Percy Thomas Collett died on 18^th October 1948. He left no Will, so his estate was subject to administration in Oxford on 15^th December that same year, when his widow Gertrude Collett was named as the administrator for his personal effects amounting to £1000.
		38Q40	Vernon Victor Collett				Born in 1900 at Wolvercote
		38Q41	Edna Elsie Collett				Born in 1902 at Wolvercote
		38Q42	Eva Amelia Collett				Born in 1907 at Wolvercote
		38Q43	Percy Thomas (James) Collett				Born in 1910 at Wolvercote
38P27		Sidney Henry Collett was born at Wolvercote in either September or October 1880 and was six months old at the time of the 1881 Census. Twenty years later, he was 20 and was still living at the family home in Wolvercote where he was working as a masoner with his stonemason father Daniel and brother Augustus (below). Sidney was still a bachelor in 1911 and was still living with his parents at Wolvercote, where he was listed as being 30 and a stonemason. Just over twenty years after that day, Sidney Henry Collett and his brother Augustus Daniel Collett (below), were the joint executors of their father’s estate following his death in 1933, when they were both described as being stonemasons.
38P28		Ethel Mary Collett was born at Wolvercote towards the end of 1882, her birth recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 187) during the first quarter of 1883. The later marriage of Ethel M Collett was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 134) during the third quarter of 1905.
38P29		Augustus Daniel Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1885 and by the turn of the century he had left school and, at the age of 15, was working as a mason with his father and his brother Sidney (above). Augustus was also still a bachelor in 1911 and, like his brother Sidney, was still living with his parents at Wolvercote, where he was recorded as being 25 and a stonemason. During the following year, on 5^th August 1912, at St Peter’s Church in Wolvercote, Augustus Daniel Collett married Ella Ada Florence Forty, the event recorded at Woodstock register office. He was a member of the Royal Engineers, service number 4128, and it was in 1916 that he enlisted with the army. His military record confirmed that he and Ella had three children, as listed below. He and his brother Sidney were again still both working as stonemasons at the time of the death of their father in 1933, when they were joint executors of his Will.
		Although the three children were more than likely born at Wolvercote, the birth of the first one was recorded at Headington, the third at Woodstock, and on both occasions the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Forty. However, no suitable birth of their son Owen has been identified anywhere, either Oxford or beyond, so that remains an unsolved mystery. Curiously though, the death of Owen P Collett was recorded ten miles away at the register office in Abingdon-on-Thames (Ref. 2c 73) during the last quarter of 1927, when he was only 13 years old. The birth of Phyllis F Collett was recorded during the quarter of 1913 (Ref. 3a 75), while for Lilian Rose Collett it was the quarter of 1916 (Ref. 3a 136). Tragically, two years later, the death of Lilian R Collett was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 145) during the third quarter of 1918.
		Having lost two of his three earlier children, Augustus and Ella gave birth to a second son in November 1922, with the birth of Dennis Harold Collett recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 68) during the first quarter of the following year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Forty. Augustus Daniel Collett died at Oxford on 30^th April 1962, his Will proved there on 20^th August that same year. His home address at that time was 68 Godstow Road in Wolvercote, but it was while he was a patient in the Radcliffe Infirmary that he passed away. His personal effects, valued at £3,521 14 Shillings, that was left to his widow Ella Ada Florence Collett.
		During his working life, Augustus was involved in maintainence of the stonework at Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, where a memorial flag stone can be found in one of the paved areas. The inscription reads as follows: “The names of these men are recorded here for their work on these terraces from 1925 to 1931 by Charles Duke - A D Collett, E F Tompkins, W J Penney, W J Brown”
		38Q44	Phyllis Margaret Collett		Born in 1913 at Wolvercote (Headington)
		38Q45	Owen Price Collett		Born in 1914 at Wolvercote (not found)
		38Q46	Lilian Rose Collett		Born in 1916 at Wolvercote (Woodstock)
		38Q47	Dennis Harold Collett		Born in 1922 at Wolvercote (Woodstock)
38P30		Helen Elsie Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1886 and was four in the census of 1891 and 14 ten years later and, on both occasions, she was living with her parents in Wolvercote. However, by April 1911 Helena Collett of Wolvercote was unmarried at 24 and living and working in Gloucester.
38P31		Lilian May Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1889, whose birth was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 340) during the third quarter of the year. She was living with her family in 1901 and 1911, while four years later, the marriage of Lilian May Collett and Arthur F Willoughby was also recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 104) during the third quarter of 1915.
38P32		Harry Trinder Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1891, his second forename from his mother’s maiden-name. His birth was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 370) during the second quarter of that year. and in March 1901 he was still living there with his family when he was nine years old. Over the following few years, the family left their long-term home in Wolvercote and moved the very short distance to nearby Godstow, where they were living in 1911 when Harry was 19 and a stonemason like the majority of his family. Thirty months after that day, the marriage of Harry T Collett and Daisy O Ward was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 55) during the final quarter of 1913. Their marriage produced a total of five children, although there was a gap between the first and second, most likely due to Harry’s absence during the First World War, the first and last birth recorded at Woodstock, the middle three at Headington. In all five cases, the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Ward. Harry was 62 when he died, his death recorded at the Bicester Ploughley register office (Ref. 6b 113) during the last three months of 1953, as Harry T Collett.
		38Q48	Daniel Harry Collett					Born in 1914 at Wolvercote
		38Q49	Harry R Collett					Born in 1919 at Headington
		38Q50	Sidney J Collett					Born in 1921 at Headington
		38Q51	Ronald Eldred Collett					Born in 1922 at Headington
		38Q52	Beryl Olive Collett					Born in 1927 at Wolvercote
38P33		Merrick Frederick Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1892 and was the tenth of the eleven known children of Daniel Collett and Ellen Trinder. He was eight years old in the Wolvercote census of 1901 when he was listed with his family as Merrick F Collett, while ten years later he and his family were living in nearby Godstow, where Merrick Collett was 18 and another stonemason. When the war started in 1914 Merrick enlisted with the British Army, service number 201671, and saw active service with the Oxford & Bucks Regiment but was discharged during 1917 when he was no longer fit for war service. For his time fighting for King and Country, when presumably his was injured, he received the King’s Certificate. His stated address at enlistment was Providence House in Wolvercote from where he had worked as a stonemason for the past six years. His status at that time was that of an employer and a member of the Heart of Oak Friendly Society.
		It was just over five years later that Merrick F Collett married Rebecca Esther Sawyer when the event was recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 1760) during the first three months of 1923. The marriage produced a child for the couple, although it is not confirmed whether this was a son (Aubrey) or a daughter (Audrey). Merrick Frederick Collett died at Oxford on 19^th January 1951 following which his death was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 1325) when his age was incorrectly noted as being 57. His Will was proved at Oxford on 12^th February that year in the substantial sum of £2,377 5 Shillings and 7 Pence. The probate process revealed that Merrick Fred Collett of 19 White Road in Cowley died as a patient at the Radcliffe Infirmary on Woodstock Road in Oxford and that the joint executors of his estate were his widow Rebecca Esther Collett and Audrey Merrick Collett, a timekeeper.
		38Q53	Audrey Merrick Collett				Born circa 1925 at Wolvercote
38P34		Rose Edna Collett was born at Wolvercote on 12^th April 1895, her birth recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 172) during the second quarter of the year, the last child of Daniel Collett and Ellen Trinder. She was five and fifteen in the two Wolvercote returns for 1901 and 1911, respective, when living there with her family. It was during the third quarter of 1920, that the marriage of Rose E Collett and Arthur Branston was recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 51). Three years later their only child was born, the birth of Arthur F Branston was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 45) during the fourth quarter of the 1923. Many years later, Rose and Arthur may have been living in Warwickshire, since the death of Rose Edna Branston was recorded at Rugby register office (Ref. 9c 31) during the spring of 1972, when she was nearly 77 years old.
38P35		Horace James Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1879, his birth recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 100) during the third quarter of the year, the base-born son of unmarried Rhoda Collett. He and his mother were living with his maternal grandparents William and Sarah Collett (Ref. 38N5) in 1881, and again in 1891, by which time his grandmother Sarah Collett had died. For the first of them, Horace was recorded as being one year old, when he would have been around thirty-six weeks old and was living with his mother at the Wolvercote of William and Sarah Collett. Ten years later, Horace J Collett was 11 and attending school in Wolvercote, where he was still living at the High Street home of his widowed grandfather, together with his mother Rhoda. Just over a year after the census in 1891, Horace’s mother was married, although no record of her married life has been found so far. Not long after that, Horace’s grandfather passed away, and those two factors may be the reason why no record of Horace has been found within the census of 1901.
		However, it was later that same year, during the third quarter of 1901, that the marriage of Horace James Collett and Annie Barker from London was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 272). Their marriage produced five children before the next census in 1911, the first and last of them born at Wolvercote. Two of the children were born at nearby Sunnymead, north Oxford, with the penultimate child born at Reading although the birth was registered at Oxford, prior to the family making a permanent return to Wolvercote.
		By April 1911, Horace Collett from Wolvercote was 31 years of age and was working as a life assurance agent. Horace’s wife was Annie Collett was 32 and from Lambeth in London, and their five children were Ellen Collett who was eight, Horace Collett who was seven, Marjorie Collett who was five, Frederick Collett who was three, and baby Leonard who was only seven months old having been born around August 1910. The couple’s last child’s birth was recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 61) during the third quarter of 1910 although, rather curiously, nothing of him has been discovered after 1911. Horace J Collett was 73 years old when he died, his death recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 71) during the first quarter of 1953.
		38Q54	Ellen Annie Collett				Born in 1902 at Wolvercote
		38Q55	Horace James Collett				Born in 1904 at Sunnymead, Oxford
		38Q56	Marjorie Ethel Collett				Born in 1905 at Sunnymead, Oxford
		38Q57	Frederick Thomas Collett				Born in 1907 at Reading (Oxford)
		38Q58	Leonard Collett				Born in 1910 at Wolvercote
38P37		Frederick John Collett was born on 6^th January 1888 and that may have been at Percy Street, off the Iffley Road in Oxford, where he was three years of age in 1891. His birth was registered at Headington (Ref. 3a 810) during the first three months of the year, the younger of the two children of Joseph Collett, a stonemason, and his wife Ellen Marlow. He was almost three months old when he was baptised at the Cowley Church of St Mary & St John on 1^st April 1888, the son of Joseph and Ellen Collett. Curiously, on the day of the census in 1891, Frederick J Collett was the only one of the two children who was living with his mother, when his father was living and working in London. It was the same situation in 1901 when 13-year-old Fred Collett was recorded with his mother at Magdalen Road, not far from Percy Street.
		After a further decade, Frederick Collett from Oxford was 23 and a tailor who was boarding at 17 Adelaide Street off Walton Street within the Norham Manor area of Oxford, the home of Jessie and Elizabeth Fletcher. Maybe it was the intervention of war that resulted Frederick being in Lancashire where, on 6^th February 1917 at the Beswick Church of St Mary, to the east of Manchester, he was married by licence to Ivy Louisa Druce. Frederick was 28 and a tailor residing at 22 Philips Park Road, and confirmed as the son of Joseph Collett, a mason. Ivy had been born at Eynsham in Oxfordshire, with her birth recorded at Witney register office (Ref. 3a 879) during the third quarter of 1892. She was 24 and staying at The Vicarage in Rochdale, the daughter of Ernest William Samuel Druce, an Oxfordshire farmer. Both the bride and the groom signed the register in their own hand, when neither of the two witnesses appear to be related to the couple. The event was recorded at Prestwich register office (Ref. 8d 307).
		Eighteen months after their wedding day, Ivy gave birth to a son, whose birth was recorded at the Oxford Headington register office (Ref. 3a 1467) during the third quarter of 1918, and it was there also, seven years later that their daughter was born (Ref. 3a 1588), either at the end of 1925 or at the start of 1926. By the time the 1939 Register was compiled, he was confirmed as the Frederick John Collett who was born in January 1888, residing at 473-475 Halliwell Road in Bolton Lancashire, where he was employed as a driver at Garments Central Ordnance Department Store.
		It was during 1971 that the death of Frederick John Collett was recorded at Yorkshire register office (Ref. 2d 1998), which also confirmed he had been born in January 1888. And it was at York that he was buried at the age of 83. However, for the last eight years of his life he was a widower, the death of Ivy Louisa Collett also recorded at Yorkshire register office (Ref. 2d 718) during 1963, when she was 71. They were both laid to rest in one grave in York. Their son, born on 25^th July 1918, died on 1^st January 2002 and was also buried at York.
		38Q59	Hubert Frederick Collett				Born in 1918 at Oxford
		38Q60	Iris J Collett				Born in 1926 at Oxford
38P38		Dorothy Frances Collett was born at Wolvercote on 15^th April 1890, the eldest of the three children of Alfred Collett and Alice Moore. Her birth was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 55) during the second quarter of the year, making her two weeks short of her first birthday on the day of the Wolvercote census in 1891. She was still there, with her family in 1901, at the age of ten years. By the time she was 20, Dorothy was employed as a daily governess, but was still living with her family, which had move to New Marston in north Oxford. She never married and was 80 years old when the death of Dorothy Frances Collett was recorded at Oxford (Ref. 6b 24) during the summer of 1970.
38P39		Hubert John Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1892, his birth recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 345) during the first three months of the year, the second of the three children of Alfred and Alice Collett. He was nine years old in 1901 and was 19 in 1911, when he was working with his father as a carpenter and a join. By that time the family had left Wolvercote and were residing in the New Marston area of north Oxford. No record has been found to indicate that he was ever married. The death of Hubert J Collett was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 103) during the last three months of 1960, when he was 68 years old.
38P40		Wilfred George Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1898, the youngest of the three children of Alfred Collett and Alice Moore. The birth of Wilfred George Collett was recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 103) during the last three months of 1898, having been born at Wolvercote on 22^nd October 1898. That date was revealed upon his death certificate at Oxford at the start of 1987. In between those years, the marriage of Wilfred G Collett and Hilda M Pavier was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 24) during the third quarter of 1928, following which Hilda gave birth to twins in the third quarter of 1932; Mary A Collett (Ref. 3a 67) and Michael A Collett (Ref. 3a 68). Both records at Headington register office, confirmed that the mother’s maiden-name was Pavier.
		38Q61	Mary Annie Collett twin				Born in 1932 at Headington
		38Q62	Michael A Collett twin				Born in 1932 at Headington
38P41		David John Collett was born at Wolvercote at the end of 1898, the first-born son of John Collett and Ellen Goldup. His birth was recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 176) during the first three months of 1899. After the birth of his brother (below), the family of four moved from Wolvercote and nearer to the centre of the City of Oxford, ending up in the St Giles district. He was two years old and 12 years of age in the St Giles census returns in 1901 and 1911. It was at Oxford, seventeen years later where David J Collett married Gladys M Smith, their wedding recorded there (Ref. 3a 87) during the second quarter of 1928. Over the following years, their marriage may have resulted in the birth of two daughters. The first of them Janet M G Collett, had her birth recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 111) towards the end 1929, while the birth of Suzanne M Collett was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 45) during the second quarter of 1933. In both cases, the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Smith.
		38Q63	Janet M G Collett				Born in 1929 at Headington
		38Q64	Suzanne M Collett				Born in 1933 at Oxford
38P42		Christopher Betts Collett was born at Wolvercote in Sept 1900, the younger of the two sons of John Collett and Ellen Goldup, his birth recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 272) during the last quarter of the year. As Christopher B Collett from Wolvercote, he was six months old in the Oxford census for the St Giles area of the city in 1901 and was 10 years of age in 1911, when he was still attending school while living with his family, again in St Giles. Tragically, he died on 1^st March 1932, after which his Will was proved at Oxford on 28^th May 1932, the two beneficiaries being his father John and mother Ellen Collett.
38P45		Sidney Thomas Collett was born in Oxford in 1893, although it has not been determined exactly where in the city the birth took place. In 1901 at the age of eight years he was living with his parents in the Cowley. By the outbreak of the Great War in 1914 he had not married and enlisted to join the British Army. He became Private Collett 2868 with the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and saw active service on the front line. Tragically he was just one of thousands of servicemen who were killed during the Battle of the Somme. He died on 23^rd July 1916 and his name appears on the Thievpal Memorial in France. At the time of his death his parents were living at 50 Argyle Street in Cowley.
38P49		Robert Charles Collett was born in 1908 at Derby Hills, a few miles south of Derby, the third child of Benjamin Collett from Wolvercote and Nellie Marguerite Carter from Kings Heath in the West Midlands. His birth, just like the births of his Derbyshire born sibling, was curiously recorded at Calne register office (Ref. 5a 140) during the second quarter of 1908. That might suggest his father was already working as a head teacher in Calne, in advance of his family joining him there after 1908, and perhaps in 1910 when his mother knew she was expecting a fourth child. It seems likely that Robert never married, while the death of Robert C Collett was recorded at Swindon register office (Ref. 7c 146) early in 1969, when he was 61 years of age.
38P51		Frederick Charles Collett was born at Wolvercote during November 1870, the first child born to Frederick and Elizabeth Collett, who was five months old in the census of 1871. It seems likely, although yet to be proved, that he married Amelia Catherine sometime during the 1890s. Amelia was born at Appleton in Berkshire in 1873, and Frederick and Amelia were both living at Wolvercote in 1901, where Amelia was a paper sorter at the paper-mill in the village and Frederick was a carpenter working in the building trade. Ten years later, according to the census in 1911, the childless couple was living at Lower Wolvercote, where Frederick Charles Collett of Wolvercote was 40, and his wife Amelia Kate Collett was 38 years of age.
38P52		Walter George Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1873, his birth recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 332) during the last three months of the year. He was the second child in the large family of Frederick Robert Collett and his wife Elizabeth Ann Chamberlain. He was six years old in the Wolvercote census of 1881, when living with his family as village street. It was also there, at the High Street, that he was still living with his family in 1891 at the age of 17, when he was a mason’s apprentice working with his father. By the time he was 27, he was still unmarried and still residing at the family home in Wolvercote, when he was a mason in 1901. His life changed considerable during the first decade of the new century, when first he was married, and then he was the father of three children before the census day in 1911. Although his marriage to Eliza has not been found, the later census return confirmed that she had been born at nearby Wytham. Therefore, she could not be the Elizabeth A M Way who married Walter George Collett during the second quarter of 1904 at Headington, because she was from Buckinghamshire and died at Bicester in 1954. It has been assumed that she was Eliza Caroline, which was how she was named at the timer of her death. By the day of the next census in 1911, Walter Collett from Wolvercote was 36 and a stonemason working in the building industry, his wife Eliza Collett, aged 37, was from the nearby hamlet of Wytham, just west of Wolvercote and Godstow, and their three children were Dorothy Collett who was six, and twins Elsie Collett and Frederick Collett, who were three years of age. At that time in their life, the family was living in the New Marston area of north Oxford.
		The death of Walter Collett was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 41) during the first three months of 1944, when he was 70 years old. Eight years later, the death of Eliza Caroline Collett was recorded at Oxford (Ref. 6b 111) during the second quarter of 1952, when she was 78. It was on 21^st July 1952 that Ernest Edward Collett (Ref. 38P57), a retired accountant, was named as the executor to the Will of widow Eliza Caroline Collett of 46 Stretfield Road in Summertown who died there on 26^th June 1952, when her estate was worth £846 9 Shillings and 8 Pence. Ernest Edward Collett was the younger brother of her late husband. The couple’s eldest daughter was born on 8^th August 1904, which was recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 45). She was in her mid-thirties when she married Francis J Collins, their wedding recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 60) during the second quarter of 1939. Dorothy Annie Collins was 75 when she died, her passing recorded at Oxford during the spring of 1980 (Vol. 20 7). The birth of daughter Elsie Leah Collett was also recorded at Oxford (Ref. 3a 282) during the third quarter of 1907. Tragically, at the age of only 19 years, the premature death of Elsie Leah Collett was recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 27) early in 1927.
		38Q65	Dorothy Annie Collett				Born in 1904 at Oxford
		38Q66	Elsie Leah Collett				Born in 1907 at Oxford; died 1927
38P53		Philip Collett was born at Wolvercote during the first quarter of 1879, his birth recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 759). In March 1901 at the age of twenty-two, Philip was still living at Wolvercote where his occupation was that of a tailor. During the second quarter of 1908 Philip Collett married Annie Gertrude Woodward, their wedding recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 2013), where Annie’s birth was recorded in 1882. Their marriage had produced a daughter for the couple by April 1911 when the family was recorded as living at Lower Wolvercote. Philip of Wolvercote was 32 and still working as a tailor, his wife Annie Gertrude was 28 and was born at Combe, and their daughter Hilda May was two years old when her place of birth was recorded in the census return as Sunnymead in Oxford. At the time of the death of Philip Collett, he was living in the Ploughley rural area near Bicester. The register office record (Ref. 6b 994) confirms that he passed away during the second quarter of 1962. It was also at Ploughley register office that the marriage of his daughter was recorded in 1936.
		38Q67	Hilda May Collett				Born in 1909 at Wolvercote
38P54		Arthur Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1881 and was one month old at the time of the census that year, which took place on the third of April. That would place his month of birth as February or March. By the time of the census in 1901 Arthur was 20 and was still living at the family home where he was employed as a commercial clerk. Around 1905 he married Kate Lavinia with whom he had two children prior to the census of 1911. The census that year recorded the family as living at Lower Wolvercote where Arthur and Kate were both 30. Living there with them were their two children who were Annie Sophia Collett, who was four, and Kate Lavinia, who was one year old, both of them born at Wolvercote.
		38Q68	Annie Sophia Collett				Born in 1906 at Wolvercote
		38Q69	Kate Lavinia Collett				Born in 1909 at Wolvercote
38P55		George Mitchell Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1883 and by March 1901 he was 17 and was working as a stone carter while he was still living in the village of Wolvercote with his family. It is unclear what happen to George after 1901 since he was not listed anywhere in the census of 1911.
38P56		Ralph Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1884 and was six years old in the Wolvercote census of 1891 when he was living there with his family. He was still there ten years later in 1901 and, at the age of 16, he was working as an apprentice carpenter. During the next few years Ralph’s father died and the family left Wolvercote and moved the short distance west to the hamlet of Godstow where Ralph at 26 was living with his widowed mother in 1911.
38P57		Ernest Edward Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1887 and was three years old by 1891 and was 13 in 1901 when he still living at Wolvercote with his family. However, following the death of his father the family moved to the neighbouring hamlet of Godstow where in 1911, Ernest Edward Collett was 23 and was living with his mother and brother Ralph (above) and sister Leah (below). It seems unlikely that he ever married since, in 1939, Ernest E Collett was living at the Oxford home of his younger married sister Leah Matthews (below). Thirteen years later, on 21^st July 1952, Ernest Edward Collett, a retired accountant, was named as the executor to the Will of widow Eliza Caroline Collett of 46 Stretfield Road in Summertown who died there on 26^th June 1952. Her estate was worth £846 9 Shillings and 8 Pence. Eliza Caroline Collett was born at Wytham near Wolvercote in 1874 and was the former wife of Ernest’s older brother Walter George Collett (Ref. 38P52), who died in 1944.
38P58		Leah Collett was born at Wolvercote on 15^th November 1894, the last child born to Frederick Robert Collett and Elizabeth Ann Chamberlain. She was six years old in 1901 when she was still living with her parents in Wolvercote. It was very likely the subsequent death of her father that prompted a move to Godstow, where Leah was living with her mother in 1911 at the age of 16. The later marriage of Leah Collett and Charles Henry Matthews was conducted at St Peter’s Church in Wolvercote on 12^th July 1919, and was recorded at Headington register office. Leah was 24 and the daughter of Frederick Robert Collett, deceased, a mason, while Charles was 22 and a store-keeper of Wolvercote, the son of Christopher Charles Matthews, a gardener. The bridge and the groom signed the register, when one of the witnesses was Leah’s eldest brother Frederick Charles Collett.
		The 1939 Register, compiled with the war pending, included the Matthews household at Oxford as Charles H Matthews, Leah Matthews, Jane Matthews, Ernest E Collett (Leah’s brother), and Josiah C Watson. Charles Henry Matthews died in 1974 and was buried in Oxford on 22^nd November, at the age of 79. For the last three years of his life, he had been a widower, following the death of Leah Matthews at Oxford early in 1971, when she was 76.
38P59		THOMAS WALTER COLLETT was born at Wolvercote in 1874, according to the census returns for 1881 and 1891, the eldest of the nine children of Charles Thomas Collett and Eliza Cross. In the first of these Thomas W Collett was six years of age when he was living with his parents at 1 Clarendon Buildings on Walton Crescent just off Walton Street in the Jericho suburb of Oxford City, within the parish of St Thomas. It was there also that he was still living with his family in 1891 when he was simply recorded as Thomas Collett from Wolvercote who was 16 and working as a domestic house porter. Curiously no record of him has so far been located within the census of 1901 when he would have been 26, so he may have been overseas with the military at that time.
		However, it was seven years later in 1908, when he became a married man, the same year that the first of his two children were born at 33 Magdalen Road in Oxford when his occupation was that of a labourer. Earlier that year Thomas Walter Collett had married Emily Bayliss the daughter of college servant Frederick Bayliss from Woodstock and his wife Elizabeth from Cowley. By the time Emily was 11 she had left school and was already working as a telegraph messenger when she was still living with her family at 45 Princes Street in the Cowley area of Oxford. It is interesting that Princes Street is adjacent to Union Street where Thomas’ family was living in 1901. Emily’s father, who was 46 in 1881, appears to have died during the 1880s since, in the census of 1891, it was only Emily’s mother who was still living in the Cowley area with just her two youngest children Arthur Bayliss who was 18 and Walter Bayliss who was 16. No record of Emily Bayliss has been positively identified in 1891 or 1901.
		By the time of the census in April 1911 Thomas and his young family were staying at 38 Stanley Road, which runs between Cowley Road and Iffley Road, the 5-roomed home of house painter George East, aged 34, and his wife and child. It seems likely that lodger Thomas Walter Collett, aged 36 and a general labourer, may have been working with George East, as they were both described as working in the building trade. The census return that year also confirmed that he had been married to Emily for just two years, who had presented him with two children, both living. Emily Collett was 41 years old, and their two children were recorded as Leslie Robert Collett who was two years of age and Hilda Emily Collett who was one year old. The birthplace of all of the occupants of the house, with the exception of George East’s daughter Dorothy May East who had been born at nearby Abingdon, was simply stated as being Oxford.
		During his later life it is established that Thomas Walter Collett lived at 159 Howard Street within the Cowley district of Oxford, which lies between Cowley Road and Iffley Road and runs parallel with and close to Stanley Road and Magdalen Road, the two previous addresses for the family, which are all still there in 2015.
		38Q70	LESLIE ROBERT COLLETT				Born in 1908 at Oxford
		38Q71	Hilda Emily Collett				Born in 1910 at Oxford
38P60		Francis Charles Collett was very likely born at 1 Clarendon Buildings on Walton Crescent in the Jericho area of Oxford during 1876, the second child of Charles and Eliza Collett. His birth was recorded at Oxford (Ref. 3a 48) during the second quarter of that year. It was there also that he was living with his family in 1881 and again in 1891. As Francis C Collett he was four years of age in 1881 and was 14 in 1891, by which time he had left school, but had no occupation. The reason for that may have been ill-health, because within the next nine months the death of Francis Charles Collett was recorded at Oxford (Ref. 3a 53) during the last quarter of 1891.
38P62		Clarice Lena A Collett was born during the month of July in 1880 at 1 Clarendon Buildings on Walton Crescent in Jericho, Oxford. She was nine months old by the time of the census the following year, when she and her family were still residing at 1 Clarendon Buildings. However, she was within a few months of her sixth birthday, when the premature death of Clarice Lena A Collett was recorded at Oxford (Ref. 3a 290) during the second quarter of 1886. She was one of five child deaths in the family, as confirmed by the census in 1911, which revealed her parents had given birth to a total of nine children, with only four of them still living at that time.
38P64		Charles Collett was born in 1884 at 1 Clarendon Buildings, Walton Crescent, Jericho in Oxford, from where he was attending school in 1891 at the age of six years. During the next few years, the family left Jericho when they moved to the Headington and Cowley side of Oxford where they were living at 35 Union Street in March 1901. By that time Charles had left school and was working as an apprentice print compositor at the Oxford University Press. He was still living with his parents at 35 Union Street ten years later, when the census in 1911 confirmed that he was unmarried, aged 26, and born in Oxford, and that his occupation was that of a compositor with the Oxford University Press. It has still to be discovered if he ever married.
38P65		Bertha Mary Collett was born at 1 Clarendon Buildings, Walton Crescent, Jericho in Oxford during1886. She was still living at 1 Clarendon Buildings in 1891 when she was four years old, but by 1901 it was at 35 Union Street to the east of the city centre that she was living with her family when she was 14 and working as a domestic housemaid. After a further ten years, the Oxford census in 1911 recorded her living and working at the 15-roomed home of Helen Margaret Greswell, a spinster of 70 living on her own means at 70 Woodstock Road. Bertha Mary Collett from Oxford was unmarried at 24 and was employed as a parlour maid, alongside cook Ellen Andrews, a widow of 48, and housemaid Sarah Williamson who was 59. Thirty years earlier in 1881, Eliza Collett (Ref. 38O29), Bertha’s cousin, was working as a live-in servant and housemaid at the home of 80-year-old widower and clergyman Richard Greswell at 39 St Giles Street in Oxford, very close to Woodstock Road.
38P67		Agnes Margaret L Collett was born at 35 Union Street in Oxford during 1895, the youngest of the four surviving children from a total of nine born to Charles Thomas Collett and Eliza Cross. Her birth was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 14) during the third quarter of 1895. It was simply as Agnes Collett that she was recorded with her family in the census of 1901 while, ten years later when they were still residing at 35 Union Street, she was listed with her parents as Agnes M L Collett aged 15 who was working as a dressmaker.
38P68		Albert Hearn Collett was very likely born at 43 Nelson Street in Oxford during summer of 1880 and was living there with his parents in the census of 1881 when he was ten months old. The birth of Albert Hearn Collett was recorded at Oxford (Ref. 3a 357) during the third quarter of the year, the eldest of the two children of Walter Collett and Elizabeth Ann Hearn. Ten years later the next census in 1891 included Albert H Collett, aged 10, living with his family at Hayfield Road in the Jericho area of the city. After a further ten years he and his family were still living in the St Giles district of the city, where he was working with his father as a carpenter at the age of 20. Five years later, Albert H Collett from Oxford was in Liverpool, boarding the ship Majestic on 7^th March 1906, arriving at Ellis Island, New York, on 15^th March 1906. On the passenger list he has was described as being single, aged 25 years and 10 months, whose occupation was that of a joiner, and whose destination was 711 Walden Avenue in Buffalo City, in Upstate New York, the home of a friend, Mr Fleet. How long he was in America is not currently known, but it is possible that it was there where he met his future wife, with whom he may have returned to England.
		It was at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 59) that the marriage of Albert H Collett and Marie Courivaud during the second quarter of 1920. It must be assumed that Marie was much younger than Albert since, seven years after their wedding day, the couple’s only child was born when Albert was forty-seven years old. The birth of Albert R Collett was recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 99) during the second quarter of 1927, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Courivaud. The later death of Albert H Collett was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 49) during the first three months of 1954, when he was 73 years of age.
		38Q72	Albert R Collett				Born in 1927 at Oxford
38P69		Emily Maud Collett was born in 1884 at Oxford, with her birth recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 296) during the fourth quarter of the year. She was six years of age in 1891, when the family was living at Hayfield Road in Jericho, where she was 16 in 1901. Emily was still living with her parents in 1911, but at New Marston in north Oxford, where she was a dressmaker. She never married, with the death of Emily M Collett recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 102) during the second quarter of 1954, when her age was said to be 73.
38P70		Alfred Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1879 and was the base-born son of unmarried Emily Collett, one of the daughters of Charles Collett and his first Ann Bell. When Alfred was baptised at Wolvercote during the month of September in 1879, the parish register confirmed that the child’s mother was Emily Collett, the father not named. According to the census in 1881, Eliza Collett was a domestic servant living and working in Oxford, while her likely son Alfred was being looked after her his grandparents Charles and Elizabeth at their home in Wolvercote, where Alfred was one year old. Ten years later, Alfred was 11 and was still living with his grandparents at Wolvercote. His mother Emily eventually married, when she became Emily Judd and, upon her death in 1939, she left her personal effects to Alfred Collett, a joiner.
		Upon leaving school it seems that he entered into the world of carpentry since, by March 1901, he had left Oxfordshire and was living and working on the east coast, at Cromer in Norfolk. That year’s census return recorded him as Alfred Collett of Wolvercote who was 22 and that his occupation was that of a joiner. Just over six years later, he had returned to Oxfordshire, where the marriage of Alfred Collett and Alice May Fisher was recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 195) during the third quarter of 1907. Once married, the couple settled down in Wolvercote, where the couple’s first two children were born. According the census in April 1911, the family was living in Lower Wolvercote. Alfred Collett of Wolvercote was 31 and a carpenter and a joiner working in the building industry, when his wife Alice Collett from Bristol was 32. Living there with them were their two children Alfred Collett who was two and Emily Collett who was one year old.
		On that census day, Alice was nearing the birth of the couple’s third child, whose birth was recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 115) during the second quarter of 1901. Two years after that, Alice gave birth to their fourth and last child, whose birth was also recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 1) during the second quarter of 1913, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Fisher. The birth of their older daughter was also recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 369) during the last quarter of 1909. It is believed that, when his mother Emily Judd, was widowed in 1897 or sometime thereafter, she moved into the Wolvercote home of Alfred and Alice on the Godstow Road in the village, the address that was given when she died in 1939 and again in 1951, at the time of the death of Alfred Collett.
		38Q73	Alfred Claude Collett				Born in 1908 at Wolvercote
		38Q74	Emily Jeanetta Collett				Born in 1909 at Wolvercote
		38Q75	Percy J Collett				Born in 1911 at Wolvercote
		38Q76	Mabel F Collett				Born in 1913 at Wolvercote
38Q1		Alfred Thomas Collett was born at Wolvercote on 16^th January 1882 and was the eldest child of William James Collett and Ann Marie Corke, the former Ann Marie Collett (Ref. 47O3). By the time of the census in 1891 Alfred T Collett was nine years old and was still living at Wolvercote with his family. On leaving school he enlisted with the army and by time of the 1901 Census he was listed as 20-year-old Alfred Collett from Wolvercote who was a soldier living at barracks in London with the Coldstream Guards. While serving in London it would appear that he entered into a relationship with Edith Smith from Lambeth who was born on 10^th December 1879. The couple’s first three children were born out of wedlock, with the second and third child born at Bampton Weald near Witney in Oxfordshire, as confirmed by the census in 1911.
		The census that year recorded the family residing with a two-roomed property in the hamlet of Weald within the parish of Bampton as Alfred Thomas Collett who was 30 (sic) and from Wolvercote who was an agricultural labourer, Edith Collett was also 30 but born in Wiltshire, and their children were Edith Collett who was six and born at Clapham in London, Marion Annie Collett who was four and William Henry Collett who was three, both born at Bampton. Daughter Marion was named after Alfred’s sister, while William was named after Alfred’s father and his brother who was also another William Henry Collett. The census return stated that the couple had been married for seven years, during which time Edith had given birth to just the three children living with them that day.
		When the First World War began, Alfred was 32 years of age and, two years later, he resurrected his military career with his renewed army record drawn up in 1916. That document provided the following information. Alfred Collett born 1882 and aged 34 on enlistment was attached to the Royal Garrison Artillery with the service number 284359. The same record gave his address as Weald, Bampton and the date of his marriage at Chelsea register office as 15^th February 1914. It also a list of the members of his family, they being Edith Smith (spouse), Edith Collett born Lambeth (?), Marion Annie Collett born 6^th June 1906 at Witney and William Henry Collett born 23^rd January 1908 at Witney.
		Two years after the war Edith presented Alfred with a fourth child when Doreen Loos Collett was born at Bampton on 9^th January 1920. Edith Collet nee Smith passed away during the second quarter of 1956, while her husband Alfred Thomas Collett died twelve years later, his death recorded during the second quarter of 1968.
		38R1	Edith Collett				Born in 1904 at Clapham, London
		38R2	Marion Annie Collett				Born in 1906 at Bampton, Witney
		38R3	William Henry Collett				Born in 1908 at Bampton, Witney
		38R4	Doreen Loos Collett				Born in 1920 at Bampton, Witney
38Q2		William Henry James Collett was born at Sunnymead in Summertown in 1885 and by 1901 his family had moved to Bampton near Witney where William’s mother had been born. William was a baker at the age of fifteen and was living with his family in Bampton, although his father was not listed with the family.
38Q3		Percy Victor Collett was born at Wolvercote on 9^th September 1888, the son of William James Collett and his wife Ann Marie Corke, formerly Collett. His birth, using his full name, was recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 822) during the last three months of 1888. In 1891 he was living with his family at Meadow View in Wolvercote and was listed as Percy V Collett who was two years old, and by 1901 he was recorded simply as Percy Collett aged 12 and of Wolvercote, who was living with his family which, by that time, were residing at Church View in Bampton. On leaving school Percy chose the occupation of butcher and, according to the census in April 1911, unmarried butcher Percy Victor Collett from Oxford was 21 and a boarder at Priory Street in Burford, the home of tailor Frank Elijah Eley and his wife Louisa.
		Percy remained a bachelor for another ten years, but eventually the marriage of Percy V Collett and Celia K Smith was recorded at Witney register office (Ref. 3a 1662) during the first three months of 1922. Percy was approaching his ninetieth birthday when he passed away, his death recorded at Chipping Norton register office (Vol. 20 2276) during the second quarter of 1978.
38Q6		Bertie Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1884 and was six years old in April 1891 and was 16 and without a stated occupation by the time of the Wolvercote census of 1901. On both occasion he was living with his family, as he was ten years later at the age of 26.
38Q7		Esther Ann Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1886 and was four years old at the time of the Wolvercote census of 1891. By the time she was 14 she had completed her schooling and in March 1901 she was working as a domestic servant for a family in the nearby village of Wytham. Some years later Esther returned to live with her parents in Wolvercote by which time it seems highly likely she had already given birth to two base-born children. The census in 1911 placed her with her family at Wolvercote as unmarried Esther Ann Collett aged 24. Also listed with the family on that occasion were her parents’ two grandchildren who were Maggie Collett who was two years old and had been born at Wolvercote, and Mary R Collett who was one year old.
		38R5	Maggie Collett				Born in 1908 at Wolvercote
		38R6	Mary R Collett				Born in 1909 at Wolvercote
38Q8		Joseph Charles Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1890 and was under one year old for the census of 1891 and was 10 in March 1901. His family left Wolvercote during the next few years and in 1911 when Joseph was 21, he was still living with his parents within the Woodstock registration district.
38Q12		Henry William Collett was born at Summertown in 1883, the eldest son of Henry Collett of Wolvercote and his wife Annie Mabel Parsons. By 1891 Henry was seven years old and he and his family were living at Meadow View in Wolvercote. No record of Henry has been found anywhere in Great Britain in March 1901 when he would have been seventeen years old. So, he may have been abroad with the army. What is known is that seven years later he married his first cousin Alice Agnes Giles of Beckley at Oxford on 22^nd May 1909.
		The photograph of Henry was taken around 1926 and has been extracted from the larger family picture presented below. Alice was the daughter of George Giles and Ellen Collett and was born at Headington in 1884. Ellen Collett was the sister of the father of Henry William Collett. In 1901 Alice was 17 when she was living and working in the Cowley St John area of Oxford, where she was employed as a housemaid.
		By the time of the census in April 1911 Henry William Collett of Summertown was twenty-seven and was living in the Cowley area of Oxford with his twenty-seven years old wife Alice Agnes Collett. During the two years since their wedding day, Alice had presented Henry with the first two of their four children. They were Alice who was one year old, and baby Helen who was only one month old. At that time Henry was working as a labourer and he and his young family were living at 1 Pipemakers Yard within the Parish of St Aldates near the Oxford city centre. Three years later, when his younger brother Harold (below) joined the army at the start of the war, it was his brother Henry William Collett, a builder in Wales, who was named as his next-of-kin, rather than the boys’ parents.
		However, with the start of the Great War Henry joined the Royal Engineers and was away from home and fighting in France for the duration of the campaign. His absence therefore meant that the couple’s following two children were born many years later. The photograph on the right shows Henry’s wife Alice Agnes Collett nee Giles, together with his daughters Alice Dorothy Collett (standing) and Helen Annie May Collett (seated). The youngest child would appear to be around three years old and that therefore places the timing of the photograph to be in 1914, and most likely it was a ‘keepsake’ for Henry, as a reminder of his family back home, while he was away fighting for his country.
		During his time in the army, Henry specialised in the communication networks used in the trenches. He took part in the First Battle of Ypres in September 1916 and was injured and was sent to recover in the Military Convalescent Hospital at Clifton Park in Blackpool. From there he wrote a letter about his youngest brother, which is reproduced below. Henry was eventually demobbed from the army at the end of the war, when he received his campaign medals, irreverently referred to as ‘Pip, Squeak and ‘Wilfred’, so named after the cartoon strip in the Daily Mirror. The three medals were in fact the ‘The Mons Star’, ‘The British Military Medal’, and the ‘British Victory Medal’.
		Many young men took up the call to arms in 1914 to fight for King and Country, and many of them were under the required age, but were accepted by giving a false date of birth. One such of these was Henry’s younger brother Leonard. The letter from sapper Henry Collett of the Royal Engineers to Leonard’s regiment was sent on 12^th November 1916 and read as follows: “Sir, I enclose the birth certificate of my brother No 9504 Private Leonard Percival Collett of your battalion. He is only fifteen years of age and I should esteem it a great favour if you could send him back to England. I remain, Sir, your obedient servant, H Collett.”
		Following the declaration of peace in 1918, Henry Collett returned to civilian life, and for about two or three years worked in the building trade as his father had before him. But that did not give him the life he craved, so in 1920 he utilised his communications experience and joined the newly created Royal Air Force. As a result, he was posted to the North-West Frontier on what is now the Pakistan-Afghan border, but was then India. He was a wireless communications instructor and since he would be there for at least six years he was allowed to have his wife and family join him. Although initially reluctant to take her four children off to a foreign land, Alice Collett was eventually persuaded by the family doctor, who informed her that the climate would be beneficial for her daughter Dorothy who suffered with valvular disease of the heart
		And so it was during 1922, that Alice and her four children, ranging from Alice who was thirteen to baby Henry who was still under one year old, boarded the troopship HMS Glengorm Castle at Southampton and headed off for India. The voyage took two weeks, passing through the Suez Canal and stopping at Iraq, before arriving in Karachi. The family rested at the Karachi Cantonment at Drigh Road at the same time that Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) was working there, following which they then set off for the Royal Air Force base at Bharian in the foothills of the Himalayas.
		The photograph (above), possibly taken around 1926, shows the complete Collett family on the verandah of their bungalow in India (now Pakistan) on the North-West Frontier. Eldest daughter Alice is on the left, with Helen on the right. Standing with his father is son Henry, and with her mother is daughter Ethel. Included in the picture is the family’s head servant. The family eventually returned to England in 1935.
		Henry William Collett of 12 Surrey Road in Dagenham, Essex, died there on 3^rd February 1952, following which the administration for his personal effects of £517 3 Shillings and 6 Pence was processed at Oxford on 18^th March that year. It was his daughter Ethel Margaret Barnard, the wife of Percy Francis Barnard, who was named as the administrator for her father’s estate.
		38R7	Alice Dorothy Collett				Born in 1909 at St Aldates, Oxford
		38R8	Helen Annie May Collett				Born in 1911 at St Aldates, Oxford
		38R9	Ethel Margaret Collett				Born in 1919 at Headington
		38R10	Henry R Collett				Born in 1921 at Headington
38Q13		Agnes Annie Collett was born at Summertown in 1884. When she was around three years old her family left Summertown and moved the very short distance back to Wolvercote, where her father had been born. And it was there they were living in 1891, at Meadow View, when Agnes A Collett was six years old. Ten years later she had left school and had also left the family home, which by then was at New Marston in Headington. Instead, Agnes was living in the St Peter le Bailey district of Oxford, where she was 16 and was working as a general domestic servant.
		It was during the last three months of 1908 that the marriage of Agnes Annie Collett and Ernest Bateman was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 1886), when the witnesses were named as Walter Charles Cranmer and Ethel Kate Margetts. By the time of the next census in 1911 Agnes had already presented Ernest with two children. On that occasion the family of four was residing within the Summertown area of Oxford where Samuel Ernest Bateman was 32, Agnes Bateman was 26, Ernest Leonard Bateman was two, and Violet Annie Bateman was nine months old. Agnes was the only member of the family born at Summertown. Agnes Annie Bateman nee Collett was eighty years of age when she died at Oxford, where her death was recorded (Ref. 6b 1303) during the first three months of 1966.
38Q14		Harold Frank Collett was born at Summertown on 24^th January 1887, and shortly after he was born his parents left Summertown and settled in nearby Wolvercote. In 1891 he and his family were living at Meadow View in Wolvercote when he was four years old. Nearly ten years later his family moved again, that time to William Street in New Marston where they were living in 1901 when Harold was 14. No positive record of Harold has been found so far in the next census in April 1911 when he would have been twenty-four.
		At the outbreak of war Harold Frank Collett enlisted with the British Army and joined the 3^rd Battalion Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light infantry with the service number 16465. His age on 23^rd November 1914 was recorded as being 27 years and 10 months and his place of residence was 4 Rowe Place in the St Aldates district of the City of Oxford. Whilst it is established that both of his parents were still alive in 1914, it is curious that he gave as his next-of-kin his eldest brother Henry William Collett, a builder living in Wales, perhaps a result of the earlier break-up of the family. Upon his discharge from the army on 27^th March 1919 as a lance corporal his address was recorded as ℅ Mrs Scarrett at New Marston in Oxford. Eight years later, when he was thirty, Harold F Collett married Lilian Jacques at Oxford (Ref. 3a 2548) during the second quarter of 1927. Whether they had any child is not known at this time. What is known is that the death of Harold Frank Collett was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 3098) during March 1971 when he was 84. For the last thirty years of his life, he was a widower, following the death of Lilian Collett nee Jacques at Oxford (Ref. 3a 3379) during the first quarter of 1941.
38Q15		Laura Lilian Collett was born on 10^th October 1888 at Wolvercote shortly after her parents had moved there from Summertown. Her birth was recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 524) during the last quarter of that year. Laura Collett was two years old in 1891 when she was living with her family at Meadow View in Wolvercote and after another ten years she was again simply named as Laura Collett who was 12, by which time she and her family were living at William Street in New Marston. Upon leaving school she took up duties as a domestic servant, as confirmed in 1908 by the Oxford Board of Guardians Reports when she was 19 years old.
		The family was placed in turmoil that year, resulting from health problems for her mother, at which time the family was split up. Laura was admitted into the workhouse in the Headington district of Oxford where she was charged with looking after three of her younger siblings, Rose, Leonard, and Minnie. In addition to caring for her three siblings, Laura also gave birth to a base-born daughter in 1908 and that may have been the real reason why she was admitted into the workhouse, rather than just to look after her brothers and sisters. However, three-year-old daughter Laura Collett was buried on 21^st January 1910.
		By that time in April 1911, Laura Collett from Wolvercote was 22 and was employed as a servant at the home of elderly William Parker and his wife Sarah Jane at 36 Airedale Road in Balham within the Wandsworth area of south-west London. Also, on that same day Laura’s three younger siblings were still living at the workhouse in Headington. Shortly after the census in 1911, Laura married Frederick Charles Floyd with whom she had a daughter Cynthia May Harriet Floyd who was born in 1913 and who died in 1987, a son Frederick W Floyd who was born in 1915, who died in 1949, and a second daughter Margaret Minnie Floyd who was born in 1916 and who passed away in 2011. Frederick Charles Floyd died in 1949 at the age of 76, his death recorded at Abingdon register office (Ref. 6a 2) during the second quarter of 1949. By the time of the death of Laura Floyd nee Collett she was once again living in Oxford, and it was there that she died on 5^th May 1962.
		38R11	Laura Collett				Born in 1907 at Oxford; died in 1910
38Q16		Ada Hannah Collett was born at Wolvercote on 2^nd April 1891. The census that year took place on the fifth of April at which time she was recorded as being three days old, but with no name yet chosen for her. She was around nine years old when her parents left Wolvercote and moved to nearby New Marston, where the family was living at William Street in March 1901. Seven years later the family was split apart when four of her siblings were admitted into the local workhouse in Headington. That did not apply to Ada who, as Ada Hannah Collett, aged 22 (sic), was still living and working in the Marston area in April 1911.
38Q17		Alice Mary Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1892. Toward the end of the century her parents left Wolvercote and moved to the New Marston area of Headington, and it was there that she was living with them at William Street in 1901 at the age of eight years. Ten years after, according to the census of 1911, Alice had moved to London and, at the age of 19, she was living and working in the Wandsworth area of the city.
38Q18		Ernest James Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1894 and by 1901 he was six years old and was living with his family at William Street in New Marston to the north of Oxford city centre. It was around 1908, on the occasion of the breakdown of his mother, that Ernest and his brother Frederick (below) were sent from Oxford to attend The Boys School in Bath. However, by April 1911 when Ernest was 16, he was living and working in the Pembroke area of Wales, where he was later joined by his brother Frederick (below).
38Q19		Frederick Peter Collett was born at Wolvercote on 12^th March 1897 and by the time he was four years of age his family had lived at Meadow View in Wolvercote, Summertown, and William Street in New Marston. At the time of the census of 1911, Frederick Collett who was 14 and was born at Wolvercote, was recorded as residing at The Boys School in Bath. His move from Oxford to Bath took place in 1908, when he was accompanied to Bath by his older brother Ernest (above). It was also at that same time when another four of his siblings were admitted into the workhouse in the Headington area of Oxford in 1908, following a breakdown by Frederick’s mother.
		Also listed at the school was a Thomas Collett who was 60 and from Somerset, and an Ellen Collett who was 47. To date, their identity has not been linked to any known Collett family.
		On completing his education Frederick was reunited with his brother Ernest working on a farm in Pembrokeshire. At the outset of the war in 1914 he was enlisted into the British Army and eventually joined the Welsh Regiment as Private F P Collett 45551, with whom he was later sent to France. During his frontline action, and towards the end of the conflict, he was shot by a sniper, as a result of which he lost a leg. He was discharged from duty on 19^th November 1919. After the war he trained as a carpenter, from which he progressed to being a cabinet maker. However, having a peg-leg and being unable to stand for long periods, he subsequently re-trained as a tailor, a job he held until he retired.
		It was at Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, during the first three months of 1921, that Frederick married Bridget Mary O’Mara who was born in Ireland on 24^th June 1897. It was at the end of that same year when the first of the couple’s two children was born at Pensons Gardens, just across the River Cherwell from Magdalen College, off St Clements Street (A420) in the Headington district of south Oxford. Seven years later their second child was born, with both births recorded at the Oxford Headington register office. By 1945 Frederick and his wife were living at Cumberland Road in the Cowley area of Oxford, where they stayed for virtually the rest of their lives and where Bridget died in 1960, following which Frederick Peter Collett moved into a residential home in nearby Horspath. It was on 21^st March 1973 that Frederick Peter Collett died at the Cowley Road Hospital in Oxford at the age of 76.
		38R12	Annie Bridget Collett							Born in 1921 at Oxford
		38R13	Frederick James Collett							Born in 1928 at Oxford
38Q20		Rose Clara Collett was born at Summertown in 1898 and was just two years old at the time of the census of 1901. By that time her family had left Summertown and had moved the short distance to New Marston, where they were living in William Street. In 1908 and after the birth of her younger sister Minnie (below), Rose’s mother was taken ill, and that may well have been the reason why Rose, Minnie, and their brother Leonard (below), were admitted into the workhouse in the Headington area of Oxford under the care of their older sister Laura (above).
		The Oxford Board of Guardians Reports, (reference OPI-46311), confirmed that the three young Collett children, together with their older sister Laura, who was 19, were admitted into the workhouse. By the time of the census in April 1911, Laura and Rose were no longer with her younger siblings, who were listed as Leonard who was 11, and Minnie who was seven. Instead Rose Clara Collett was residing at 242 William Street in Old Headington in Oxford, when her age was given in error as 14.
38Q21		Leonard Percival Collett was born at William Street in New Marston in Oxford on 4^th August 1901. Within the next six years the family was pulled apart by a health problem for his mother, at which time Leonard and three of his sisters, Laura and Rose (above) and Minnie (below), were taken into the local workhouse in the Headington area of Oxford. His older brothers Ernest and Frederick (above) were also sent away around that same time and ended up in a home in Bath.
		Leonard was still living at the workhouse at Headington in April 1911 when his age was stated as being as 11, rather than 10. By that time his older sister Laura had left the workhouse, but Leonard still had with him his two sisters Rose and Minnie. It would appear that Leonard remained at the workhouse for another four years and only left in 1915 to join the army. He travelled down to London and presented himself at the Southwark Army Recruitment Office where he enlisted on 30^th July 1915. He was not yet fourteen years old and was therefore a little more than four years below the minimum entry age.
		According to the website www.1914-1918.net/recruitment the recruit had to be taller than five feet three inches and be aged between eighteen and thirty-eight, although he would not be eligible to be sent overseas until he was nineteen. In his enlistment statement Leonard gave his age as nineteen, and said he was living at 279 Old Kent Road in Bermondsey in London. He also stated that he was working as a barman, when in fact he had only left school two weeks earlier and had probably never yet completed a day’s work.
		Desperate for recruits to fight in France and Belgium, Leonard was taken on and joined the 10^th Queens Battalion of the Royal West Surrey Regiment on the third of August 1915. He gave his next-of-kin as Henry Collett of Penroych (?) in South Wales, the same next-of-kin used by his older brother Harold Frank Collett (above). While it is known their mother had been hospitalised by then, their father was still alive, although contact with him may have been severed by then following the break-up of the family a few years earlier.
		During the following year, and upon completion of his basic training, Leonard was sent to France where he served on the front-line for just over six months from the fifth May to the twenty-first November 1916. It was during that six-month period when he passed his fifteenth birthday. It was on 12^th November 1916, from his sick bed in the Military Convalescent Hospital at Clifton Park in Blackpool, that Leonard’s eldest brother Henry wrote a letter to Leonard’s regiment to inform then that his younger brother was only fifteen (see letter above). As a result, on 21^st November 1916, Leonard was withdrawn from the regiment, so ending his six months and two weeks on the front-line.
		However, on being discharged, Leonard did not leave the army but instead he transferred to the D Corps, 4th Battalion, 2/4th The Royal Scots Guard. That took place just six days after his discharge, when he joined The Royals on the 27^th November 1916. Whatever his duties were, they did not result in Leonard making a return to the front-line because he was still under the age of nineteen years and therefore not permitted to serve on overseas duty. What happened to him after the war is not known at this time, although the death of Leonard Percival Collett was recorded at Ipswich register office (Ref. 10 2342) during the month of September 1981 when he was 80 years of age.
38Q22		Minnie Lavinia Collett was born at William Street in New Marston on 7^th January 1904. Sadly, within the next few years, it would seem a tragedy hit the family which resulted in Minnie and three of her older siblings being placed in the workhouse. According to the census of 1911, Minnie who was seven, and her sister Rose and brother Leonard (above) were all still residing at the workhouse within the Headington registration district of Oxford, although by then their older sister Laura had left. Minnie Collett married John E Cox at Eton during the Spring of 1928. Eton was in Buckinghamshire at that time but today, and following the local government reorganisation that took place in 1974 which affected most county boundaries, it lies within the Royal County of Berkshire.
38Q23		George Alfred Collett was born at Mill Road in Wolvercote in 1888, the eldest of the five children of George Collett and Elizabeth Ann Warwick. His birth was registered at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 811) during the third quarter of the year. In 1891 he was recorded with his parents at Mill Road in Wolvercote as George A Collett aged two years. Ten years later he was 12 years old and was still living with his family at Mill Road in Wolvercote. According to the next census in 1911, George Alfred Collett, aged 22 and born at Wolvercote, was living at Mill Road in Lower Wolvercote, the home of his parents, from where he was employed as a grocer’s assistant. Photograph supplied by Wendy Rattray nee Collett
		The photograph above of George in his army uniform was taken after the First World War, and possibly as late as the winter of 1920. By that time in his life George Alfred Collett was married, and standing next to him in the larger family group picture was his wife Maggie Collett. The flowers being worn by the men, in their buttonholes, suggest that the occasion was a family wedding. The earlier marriage of George Alfred Collett and Alice Margaret Jarvis was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 1619) during the first three months of 1915.
		It seems very likely that immediately after their wedding day, soldier George was sent straight away into action, and perhaps did not return until after peace in Europe was achieved. It was not until the spring of 1920, that Maggie presented George with a son, with the birth of Ronald George Collett recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 2420) during the second quarter of that year. Tragically, son Ronald was only twenty-seven when he died, with his death recorded the Oxfordshire register office (Ref. 6c 705) during 1947. Thirteen years later the death of George Alfred Collett was recorded at Oxfordshire register office (Ref. 6b 887) in 1960 when he was 71 years old.
		38R14	Ronald George Collett							Born in 1920 at Oxford
38Q24		Reginald Collett was born at Mill Road in Wolvercote on 4^th September 1891, with his birth recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 839) during the last three months of that year. He was nine years old in March 1901 when he was living with his family at Mill Road in Wolvercote. Just over five years later he commenced employment with the Great Western Railway on 27^th August 1906 but that only lasted for less than three months when he was discharged from his duties on 15^th November that same year. In 1908 he enlisted with the British Army at the age of 17 and was assigned the service number 7067 with the Oxfordshire Infantry. At that time in his life his occupation was that of a fishmonger.
		By the time of the census in 1911, Reginald and his complete family were living at Mill Road in Lower Wolvercote when, at the age of 19, Reginald was simply recorded as being a labourer at the paper mill, so perhaps he was a part-time soldier prior to the start of hostilities. Two years later on 30^th April 1913 Reginald Collett was married to Florence Pyke, with their wedding day recorded at Bicester register office (Ref. 3a 1907). Just over five months later, the birth of their first child was recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 2037) that same year, indicating that Florence was already with-child on their wedding day, hence why it was recorded eleven miles away at Bicester. That child, and possibly the next two children, was born at 3 Godstow Road in Wolvercote, with all three births recorded at Woodstock, when their mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Pyke.
		During the First World War, Reginald saw active service in France and was wounded in the shoulder and back while advancing through ‘no man’s land’. His injuries resulted in his early discharge from duties on 10^th May 1915 when it was stated he was no longer fit for war service. Curiously he was the only member of the family of George and Elizabeth Collett who was missing from the family photograph taken after the war, around 1920. By that time he and Florence had three children, while it was during 1969 that the death of Reginald Collett was recorded at Berkshire register office (Ref. 6a 539) when he was 78 years old.
		38R15	Gilbert Collett						Born in 1913 at Wolvercote
		38R16	Aubrey Collett						Born in 1915 at Wolvercote
		38R17	Sylvia Collett						Born in 1919 at Wolvercote
38Q25		William Joseph P H Collett was born at Mill Road in Wolvercote in 1893, with his birth recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 840) as William Joseph Collett during the last three months of that year. He was recorded as William J Collett, aged seven years, in the census of 1901. On leaving school William took up work as a draper’s apprentice, as confirmed in the census of 1911 when he was 17 and still living at the family home in Mill Road, Lower Wolvercote. It was on that occasion when he was recorded as William J P H Collett of Wolvercote. It seems likely that he saw active service during the Great War, and this picture of him in his uniform was taken after the war, and when he was back at home.
		Perhaps, during a period of leave, he became a married man, when the marriage of William Joseph Collett and Elsie Earl was recorded at the Oxford Headington register office (Ref. 3a 1935), during the first three months of 1918. It was a few years later that Elsie gave birth to a daughter, whose birth was recorded at Oxford in 1925, with her mother’s maiden-name confirmed as Earl. The Headington office primarily covers the south side of the city of Oxford, which includes Iffley, where the family of three was living twenty years later when daughter Beryl was married there. The death of William Joseph Collett was recorded at the Oxfordshire register office (Ref. 6b 1049) in 1964 when he was 71. It was also there, sixteen years after being widowed, that the death of Elsie Collett was recorded (Vol. 20 2820) in 1980 at the age of 86.
		It may be of interest that William and Elsie’s marriage was the first of three such marriages between the Collett and Earl families, all three located within the same area of Oxford. The second marriage was another recorded at Headington between Percival James Collett (Ref. 46P94) and Mabel Earl in 1932 at the same church where Beryl Jean Collett was married in 1945, while the third marriage was that of Ronald Eldred Collett (Ref. 38Q51) and Maureen E Earl at Oxford in 1948, all three weddings (excluding William and Elsie) were conducted at the Church of St Mary the Virgin on Mill Lane in Iffley, Oxford.
		38R18	Beryl Jean Collett						Born in 1925 at Iffley, Oxford
38Q26		Elizabeth Ann Collett was born at Mill Road in Wolvercote during 1899 and was one year old in the census of 1901 when she was living there with her family. Ten years later, at the age of 11, Elizabeth Ann Collett was living at the family home in Mill Road in Lower Wolvercote when she was still attending school. The photograph of Elizabeth on the right has been extracted from a larger family group picture in which the men are wearing flowers in their buttonholes, and which may have been taken around 1920. The larger photograph was provided by Wendy Rattray nee Collett, the daughter of Cyril Edward Collett and Kathleen Grace Ellen Collett (below).
		It would therefore seem that Elizabeth Ann Collett may have been around twenty years of age when the picture was taken, although no more recent information about her later life is available at this time.
38Q27		Cyril Edward Collett was born at Mill Road in Wolvercote on 26^th May 1905, the youngest of the five children of George Collett and Elizabeth Ann Warwick, with his birth recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 1097) during the third quarter of the year. At the time of the census in 1911, Cyril was five years old when he was already attending school, while living at Mill Road in Lower Wolvercote with the rest of his family.
		Upon leaving school nearly ten years later, Cyril took up employment with Webbers on the High Street in Oxford. This photograph (from a larger family picture) was very likely taken after the First World War, and included two of Cyril’s older brothers in their military uniforms, plus his parents and sister Elizabeth (above). Webbers of Oxford Limited was established in 1905 at No. 11 High Street in the city centre, and remained in business until 1971. Over the years, the successful business of drapers, milliners, furriers, costumiers, outfitters, and house furnishers was extended both ways along the High Street, eventually taking up premises from No. 9 to No. 15.
		It was in Oxford on 4^th December 1930 that Cyril Edward Collett, aged 25, married (1) Kathleen Grace Ellen Collett, aged 24, from Cowley in Oxford, with the event recorded at the Headington register office (Ref. 3a 2711). Kathleen’s Collett family originated in the Oxfordshire village of Combe, the same village where Cyril’s ancestors had lived. For more details on Kathleen Grace Ellen Collett (Ref. 38q61) and her family go to Part 38 – The Oxford Stonemasons Line (Combe).
		Once married Cyril and Kathleen initially settled in the Headington area of Oxford, where their daughter was born in 1933. The family later moved to Fairacres Road in Oxford where the couple were blessed with a second daughter who was born there in 1943. Fairacres Road is situated on the east side of the River Thames, and is off Iffley Road (A4158), not far from Stanley Road (off the Iffley Road) where Kathleen was living with her parents in 1911, and Howard Street where they were living in 1901.
		Later in his life, Cyril had his own radio and television business which operated out of Summertown in north Oxford. In addition to that, he later he became very interested in photography and became a freelance photographer. Cyril Edward Collett died from a heart attack while he was at home in early 1977, at the age of 72, his death recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 20 2728) during the first quarter of the year. His widow survived him by twenty-six years, when Kathleen Grace Ellen Collett nee Collett died during May 2003 at the age of 97.
		38R19	Wendy Kathleen Collett				Born in 1933 at Headington, Oxford
		38R20	Hazel Margaret Collett				Born in 1943 at Iffley, Oxford
38Q28		Ernest Collett was born at Lower Wolvercote on 3^rd June 1892, the eldest child of Vincent Collett and Prudence Simmonds, whose birth was recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 871) during the third quarter of the year. He was eight years of age in the Wolvercote census of 1901 and by 1911 Ernest had joined the armed forces and was 18 years old and based at Topsham Artillery Barracks in the Heavitree district of Exeter in Devon. Eighteen years after that census day the marriage of Ernest Collett and Emma E Wheeler was recorded at Elham (Kent) register office (Ref. 2a 3481) during the third quarter of 1929.
		On publication of the 1939 Register, Ernest Collett born on 3^rd June 1892 was married, his wife being Emma Collett, who were living in Oxford where he was an iron foundry labourer at the Eagle Ironworks of W Lucy & Company Limited in the Jericho district of the city. Ernest Collett died at Bridge, south-east of Canterbury in Kent during the month of October in 1957.
38Q30		Frank Collett was born at Lower Wolvercote in 1899 and was one year old and 11 years of age respectively in the Wolvercote censuses of 1901 and 1911 when he was living there with his parents Vincent and Prudence Collett. It was just nine years later that Frank, aged 21, married Annie M Pratley at Chipping Norton where the wedding was recorded (Ref. 3a 2033) during the first three months of 1920. Twelve months later their son was born at Wolvercote, the child named after Frank’s youngest brother (below).
		38R21	Leslie Vincent Collett				Born in 1921 at Wolvercote
38Q32		Leslie Vincent Collett was born at Wolvercote early in 1903, with his birth recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 1039) during the first three months of that year. He was eight years of age in the Wolvercote census of 1911, the last child born to Vincent Collett and Prudence Ann Simmonds. It was during the second quarter of 1925 that Leslie V Collett married Emily M Knight at Wolvercote, with whom he had three children. The marriage was recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 2590), where the birth of the couple’s first child was also recorded, while the births of the two later children were recorded at Headington register office. The death of Leslie V Collett was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 1261) during the first few days of 1961 when he was fifty-eight, following which he was buried at Rose Hill Cemetery in Oxford on 4^th January 1961.
		38R22	Leonard Frederick Collett				Born in 1926 at Wolvercote
		38R23	Donald Collett				Born in 1929 at Wolvercote
		38R24	Mary E Collett				Born in 1932 at Wolvercote
38Q33		Henry Jesse Bowman Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1889, the base-born son of unmarried Emma Collett. When he was around one year old his mother married John Mortimer with whom he was living in 1891, the census that year confirmed that Henry J Collett was one year old. Ten years later, at the age of 11, Henry J Bowman Collett was still living at Church Road in Wolvercote with his mother, his stepfather and one half-brother and four half-sisters. It was exactly ten years later when Henry J Collett married Eunice J Godwin during the first three months of 1911, the event recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 1291). On the day of the census that year Jesse Collett from Wolvercote was 22 and a brick maker at the local brick works, living at Church Lane in Upper Wolvercote with his wife of less than one year, Eunice Collett from Oxford who was also 22.
38Q34		Dorothy Lavinia Collett was born at South Lambeth in London in 1894 and was living there with her parents in 1901 at the age of six. Ten years later the family of three was living in the Epsom area of Surrey where Dorothy Lavinia Collett was 16 and her parents were confirmed as Samuel and Catherine Collett. Dorothy’s second name was given to her in honour of her grandmother Lavinia and after her father’s sister of the same name. She was the grandmother of Martin Davies whose daughter Lynda June Davies married Kevin Mark Collett (Ref. 37S4) in 2006. Kevin’s family line is the subject of Part 37 – The Oxford City Line 1820 to 2006. It was Kevin’s wife Hazel who provided the sad news of his premature death on 8^th January 2016, just three weeks before his sixtieth birthday on 30^th January.
		Thanks to Norman Perrin, in 2023, the great-great nephew of Dorothy’s mother Catherine Ann Collett, nee Perrin, we now know that Dorothy was still unmarried on the day of the census in 1921, when she was still living with her parents Samuel Thomas Collett and Catherine Ann, when she was undertaking home duties at the age of 26 years and 5 months, when her place of birth was recorded as South Lambert.
38Q37		Cyril Sidney Collett was born at Wolvercote on 1^st December 1904, the younger of the two sons of William John Collett and Emma Saxon, who was six years of age and attending school in Wolvercote in 1911. Twenty years later, the marriage of Cyril S Collett and Dorothy Vera Johnson was recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 57) during the third quarter of 1931. No record of any children has been found, while both Cyril and Dorothy were still residing in the Oxford area when they passed away. The death of Dorothy Vera Collett was recorded at Oxford register office (Vol. 20) early in 1992 at the age of 83, the date of her birth reported to be 12^th June 1908. Two years later, when he was living at 49 Hayfield Road in the Walton Manor area of Oxford, between Jericho and Summertown, Cyril Sidney Collett died on 31^st January 1995. When his Will was proved at Oxford in March that same year, his estate was simply said to be not exceeding £125,000.
38Q39		Arthur Henry Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1906, but within a short time of his birth his father Albert Ernest Collett of Wolvercote died leaving his mother Mary Emmeline Collett in her early thirties to bring up two young boys. The April census of 1911 confirmed that Arthur, who was four years old and of Wolvercote, was living at Abbey View in Upper Wolvercote with his mother and his older brother Alfred Ernest Collett.
		It is not known whether Arthur ever married, although it would appear that perhaps he did not. Tragically he was captured by the Japanese during World War Two while serving with the Royal Artillery in the Far East. He died on 17^th August 1943 at the age of 40 (sic) when he was Gunner Arthur H Collett 1094173 with 148^th Field Regiment of the Bedfordshire Yeomanry. He was buried at Chungkai War Cemetery and his next of kin were recorded as being his parents Albert Ernest and Mary Emmeline Collett of Wolvercote. Chungkai War Cemetery is one of three war cemeteries at Kanchanaburi on the River Kwai which were built for the 13,000 prisoners of war that died during the construction of the Burma to Sian Railway.
38Q40		Vernon Victor Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1900, the eldest of the four known children of Percy Thomas Collett and his wife Gertrude Hall. His birth was recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 290) during the third quarter of that year. He was around nine months old and named as Vernon V Collett when the census was conducted at Wolvercote at the end of March 1901, which was where he was still living with his family in 1911 when he was 10 years of age and recorded under his full name of Vernon Victor Collett. It was during the third quarter of 1921 that Vernon V Collett married Cecilia Wells, the event recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 2857). The marriage produced two sons, whose births were both recorded at the Headington register office in Oxford, the first of them born only a few months after they were married. The Headington office catchment area included Wolvercote, which is where the two sons may have been born and most likely where they lived with their parents at the family home.
		Vernon’s parents were still living at 34 Elmthorpe Road in Wolvercote when his father died in 1948, and it was at 35 Elmthorpe Road that Vernon’s brother Percy James Collett was living when he died in 1955. On that occasion, it was Vernon Victor Collett, a printer’s storekeeper, who was named as the joint executor with his sister Eva (below). Five years later, Vernon Victor Collett died at Wolvercote on 22^nd December 1960, the death recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 110). Probate for his Will was granted at Oxford to his widow Cecilia Collett on 3^rd March 1961, when it was revealed that Vernon Victor Collett of 17 Rosamund Road in Wolvercote had died as a patient at the Radcliffe Infirmary. He was 60 years old and his personal effects were valued at £2,518 8 Shillings and 3 Pence.
		38R25	Basil Victor Collett				Born in 1921 at Wolvercote
		38R26	Roy Vernon Collett				Born in 1925 at Wolvercote
38Q42		Eva Amelia Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1907 at Wolvercote and was three years old in the Wolvercote census of 1911. Later in her life she was married to become Eva Amelia Warmington, which was how she was named as one of the joint executors of her younger brother Percy James Collett’s Will in 1955, the other being her older brother Vernon Victor (above).
38Q43		Percy Thomas (James) Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1910, the youngest of the four known children of Percy Thomas Collett and his wife Gertrude. In 1911 as Percy Thomas Collett junior he was under one year old. Later in his life it would appear that he was known as Percy James Collett, since that was how he was recorded at the time of his premature death on 21^st November 1955. Although it was at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford where he died, his home address was 35 Elmthorpe Road in Wolvercote, the next house to where his parents had been living seven years earlier. His Will was proved on 21^st December 1955 when his older brother Vernon Victor Collett, a printer’s storekeeper, and his married sister Eva Amelia Warmington were named as the executors. That very likely indicates that Percy never married, and was perhaps he was still living with his widowed mother at Elmthorpe Road.
38Q47		Dennis Harold Collett was born at Wolvercote on 23^rd November 1922, with his birth recorded at Woodstock (Ref. 3a 68) during the first quarter of 1923, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Forty. He was the fourth child of Augustus Daniel Collett and Ella Ada Florence Forty, who had already suffered the loss of two of their children before Dennis was born. He was twenty-two years old when the marriage of Dennis H Collett and Beatrice K Higgs was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 41) early in 1944. Five years into married life, Beatrice presented Dennis with a daughter, whose birth was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 102) during the third quarter of 1949. Dennis Harold Collett was 65 years old when he died at Oxford, where his passing was recorded (Vol. 20) during the summer of 1988.
		38R27	Gillian R Collett				Born in 1949 at Oxford
38Q48		Daniel Harry Collett was born at Wolvercote on 26^th July 1914, the first of the five children of Harry Trinder Collett and Daisy Olive Ward. His birth was recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 117), where his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Ward. Although no record of him ever being married, or having any children, he had a long life and was still residing in Oxfordshire when he died near the end of 1993, his passing recorded at the West Oxfordshire register office (Vol. 2071). The archive records for Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, now held in the British Museum, provide evidence that Daniel Harry Collett was a stonemason who was employed there, helping to maintain the stonework on the stately home and in its grounds, including the Column of Victory.
		The building of Blenheim Palace was undertaken between 1705 and 1722, and was a gift from Queen Anne to John Churchill, 1^st Duke of Marlborough, as a grateful thank you from the nation for his victory at the Battle of Blenheim on 13^th August 1704 in the fourth year of the War of the Spanish Succession. A few years after construction of the palace was completed, Lord Herbert, 9^th Earl of Pembroke, decided to erect a monument to the victory in the grounds of Blenheim Palace using a design by architect Nicholas Hawksmoor. Hawksmoor had worked alongside men like Christopher Wren and John Vanbrugh.
		At 134 feet tall, the monument was erected in the Doric style at the entrance to the Great Avenue from 1727 and was finished in 1730. The impressive column was topped off with a statue of the Duke of Marlborough by renown sculpture Sir Henry Cheere. The lead statue was modelled on the figure of Julius Caesar, together with Roman eagles at his feet. That all happened nearly two hundred years ago, during which it was noted the lead statue was no longer vertical, but was leaning to one side. This caused great concerned to the then current Duke in 1936, who instigated an investigation. His first idea was to arrange for a man on a kite to fly up to assess the damage. Experts in such matters were called in, and they estimated the cost to rectify the problem would be around £500. But who would do such dangerous work all those feet above the ground.
		Up stepped stonemason Daniel Harry Collett from Wolvercote, the eldest son of stonemason Harry Trinder Collett who, at that time, was employed by the Oxford company of Messrs Kingerlee. Kingerlee Limited is still operating today, from new offices in nearby Kidlington, and most likely, I should think, with a maintenance contract to look after the fabric of Blenheim Palace. An article later published in Country Life magazine in 1951, regarding the Column of Victory, included an interview with Dan Collett, as follows:
		“The figure was eleven inches out of the upright, owing to the rusting of the iron band let into the stone cap into which the cloak of the lead figure was fixed. The figure itself is six foot eleven inches. I had to find a way of lifting it, so I had a square gantry made and used three sets of chains, one eight ton and two three ton, for the arms. Before I lifted it, I didn’t know how it was anchored and when I got my tensions on it, I lifted about three courses of stone with the figure.
		As soon as ever I lifted them, I saw how deep the iron was. Then I got a hammer and chisel and dropped first one and then another of the stone courses. The iron had to be soldered off. After I had got him suspended up there, I cut off all the stonework and rebuilt it back. Then I got three lengths of delta metal, fixed them into the stone cap and pushed them up into the hollow part of the figure., up to about his middle. I cut a bit of lead out of his back and filled him up with concrete to where the delta metal came.
		The two eagles were tumbled over a bit, so I anchored them back with the delta metal and restored the lead. The masonry I restored in Clipsham stone came from Rutlandshire. Apart from that, the pillar is in a splendid condition. It doesn’t sway in the least. I stood buckets of water up there and the water didn’t even ripple. The figure must weight about six to eight tons. I always reckoned, with the stone, I picked up (lifted) ten to twelve tons. No, there was no accident” Mr Collett concluded, “but the figure fell on me ever so many times – in my bed.”
38Q49		Harry R Collett was born in 1919 with his birth recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 6) during the first three months of the year. Little else is currently known about him apart, that is, from the end of his life which was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 95) during the last three months of 1962, when he was only 43 years of age.
38Q50		Sidney J Collett was born on 20^th February 1921 and his birth was recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 142), when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Ward. He was twenty-years old when his marriage to Evelyn R Grace was recorded in Oxford (Ref. 3a 136) during the second quarter of 1942. Their marriage resulted in the birth of two daughters, the births of both children recorded at Oxford register office, the first during the third quarter of 1943 (Ref. 3a 68) and the second during the fourth quarter of 1948 (Ref. 6b 11). In each case, the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Grace. Sidney J Collett was still living in the Oxford area when he passed away during the start of 2006.
		38R28	Christine M Collett				Born in 1943 at Oxford
		38R29	Diane E Collett				Born in 1948 at Oxford
38Q51		Ronald Eldred Collett was born on 11^th July 1922, with his birth recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 66), where his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Ward. His later married ceremony was conducted at the Church of St Mary the Virgin on Mill Lane in the Iffley area of south Oxford on 23^rd December 1948. The marriage register provided the information that Ronald E Collett was 27, the son of Harry Trinder Collett, and that his bride was Maureen Eva Earl who was only 17. The event was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 1774), after which the couple was blessed with a daughter and a son. They were born within the Bicester area of the county, with their birth’s recorded at Ploughley register office when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Earl. However, at the time their daughter was baptised the St Mary’s Church, the church record gave the family’s address as 3 Court Farm in Iffley, on the south side of Oxford. The later death of Ronald Eldred Collett was recorded at Oxfordshire register office (Vol. 20 2920) during the spring of 1986, when he was 63 years old.
		38R30	Angela Rose Marie Collett				Born in 1952 at Ploughley, Bicester
		38R31	Stephen E Collett				Born in 1960 at Ploughley, Bicester
38Q52		Beryl Olive Collett was born at Wolvercote on 25^th August 1927, the last child of Harry Trinder Collett and Daisy Olive Ward. She later married Bernard J Rowe, their wedding recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 75) during the first quarter of 1951. The death of Beryl Olive Rowe was also recorded at Oxford during the spring of 2006.
38Q54		Ellen Annie Collett was born on 30^th August 1902 at Wolvercote, the first-born child of Horace James Collett and his London-born wife Annie Barker, her birth recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 132) during the last three months of the year. As Ellen Collett she was eight years old in Wolvercote census of 1911, having previously lived in Reading and before that Sunnymead in Oxford. The marriage of Ellen A Collett and Charles W G Tarry was recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 61) during the third quarter of 1931. Ellen Annie Tarry was 84 years old when her death was recorded at Oxford register office towards the end of 1986.
38Q55		Horace James Collett was born on 2^nd March 1904 at Sunnymead in Oxford, the eldest son of Horace James Collett and Annie Barker. His birth was recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 350) during the second quarter of the year, and he was seven years old in the Wolvercote census of 1911. Horace J Collett, junior, was twenty-one years old when his marriage to Dorothy G G Fidler was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 47) during the quarter of 1925. As far as is known, Horace and Dorothy only had the one child, whose birth was also recorded at Oxford early in 1930. Her father was seventy-one years old in 1975, when the death of Horace James Collett was recorded at Oxford during the first months of the year.
		38R32	Verona A Collett				Born in 1930 at Oxford
38Q56		Marjorie Ethel Collett was born in 1905 at Sunnymead north Oxford, with her birth recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 84) during the second quarter of 1905, another daughter of Horace and Annie Collett. She was five years old in the Wolvercote census of 1911 and, she never married. The death of Marjorie E Collett was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6a 37) during the third quarter of 1967, when she was 62.
38Q57		Frederick Thomas Collett was born in 1907 and, whilst the event took place at Reading, it was at the Oxford Headington register office (Ref. 3a 290) that his birth was recorded during the third quarter of 1907. He was three years of age in the Wolvercote census of 1911, while he was thirty years old when the marriage of Frederick T Collett and Betty L Blackwell was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 37) during the third quarter of 1937. The birth of the couple’s only known child was recorded at the Oxfordshire register office (Ref. 3a 2543) in 1945, when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Blackwell. Sometime after the birth of their son, the family appears to have moved to Lincolnshire, where the later death of Frederick Thomas Collett was recorded (Ref. 3b 55) in 1968, when he was 61.
		That Lincolnshire connection may be confirmed by the fact that it was at Spalding where the marriage of Michael J C Collett and Wendy C Botterill was recorded during the third quarter of 1970 (Ref. 3b 203). No record of any children has been found, whilst a second marriage for Michael J C Collett was recorded in nearby Peterborough (Vol. 9 1425) during the spring of 1985, the bride being Gay Lillicrap.
		38R33	Michael J C Collett				Born in 1945 at Oxford
38Q67		Hilda May Collett was born at Sunnymead in Oxford on 9^th March 1909, the only child of Philip Collett and Annie Gertrude Woodward, her birth recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 1051) during the first three months of 1909. She was two years of age in census of 1911, by which time Hilda and her parents were living in Lower Wolvercote. Just over twenty-five years later Hilda May Collett married Richard S Day, the event recorded at the Bicester Ploughley register office (Ref. 3a 4887) during the third quarter of 1936. No record to indicate the couple had any children, has been found.
38Q70		LESLIE ROBERT COLLETT was born at 33 Magdalen Road in Oxford on 27^th December 1908, the only son and eldest child of Thomas Walter Collett and Emily Bayliss, whose birth was recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 1040) during the first three months of 1909. Magdalen Road lies between Cowley Road and Iffley Road and runs parallel with Stanley Road where Leslie and his parents were living when his sister Hilda (below) was born and where the family was staying on the day of the census in 1911. Leslie later worked as a shop manager and on 24^th July 1937 he married Norah Florence Selway in Brill on the Oxfordshire border with Buckinghamshire. The event was recorded at Aylesbury register office (Ref. 3a 47). Norah was the daughter of Henry James Selway deceased. After they were married the couple settled in St Albans where all three of their children were born. Leslie Robert Collett died on 17^th April 2001, aged 92.
		38R34	PETER COLLETT				Born in 1938 at St Albans
		38R35	Sheila Collett				Born in 1943 at St Albans
		38R36	Geoffrey Collett				Born in 1949 at St Albans
38Q71		Hilda Emily Collett was born at 38 Stanley Road in the Cowley area of Oxford on 19^th March 1910. She was the second child and only daughter of Thomas Walter Collett and Emily Bayliss, and was one year old in the census of 1911 when she and her family were lodging with the East family at 38 Stanley Road. She later married Leslie Hornblow and suffered a premature death in 1944 when she was only 34.
38Q73		Alfred Claude Collett was born at Wolvercote on 13^th July 1908, with his birth recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 1115) during the third quarter of 1908, the eldest of the four children of Alfred Collett and Alice May Fisher. He was twenty-six years of age when the marriage of Alfred C Collett and Lilian I Lewis was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 123) during the second quarter of 1935. The births of their two children were recorded at Oxford where, at the age of 84, the death of Alfred Claude Collett was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 7021d d41d) early in 1993. During his life Alfred Claude Collett was a company director living at Hunsdon Road, Rose Hill in the Iffley area to the south of the City of Oxford.
		38R37	Beryl May Collett				Born in 1936 at Oxford
		38R38	Gordon A L Collett				Born in 1938 at Oxford
38R4		Doreen Loos Collett was born at Bampton Weald near Witney on 9^th January 1920, the last child of Alfred Thomas Collett by his wife Edith Smith. It was at Summertown in Oxford where she married Herbert Edwin Kitching on Saturday 5^th April 1947 and to whom she was married until she was widowed nearly twenty-nine years later. Herbert Edwin Kitching died at Oxford on 15^th February1976. After twenty years as a widow Doreen Loos Kitching nee Collett passed away at Bampton on Friday 23^rd February 1996 at the age of 76. It would appear that there was no issue from their marriage since, nor had Doreen made a Will. So, upon her death, an official government notice was published seeking anyone who may have been related to Doreen, to contact Bona Vacantia (Ref. BV9601406/1).
38R8		Helen Annie May Collett was born at 1 Pipemakers Yard in the Parish of St Aldates in Oxford, either in later February or early March 1911, since she was just one month old at the time of the census on the second April that year, when she was described using all of her names. Her birth was recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 103) during the third quarter of the year. From the age of eleven she lived on the Royal Air Force base at Bharian in India, where her father was a communications engineer. The marriage of Helen A M Collett and (1) Edward Batterham was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 48) during the last three months of 1938. Perhaps widow by the Second World War, Helen A M Batterham married (2) William R Ricks at Bristol in 1947. Her time in India enabled her to become fluent in Urdu, and she happily conversed with people in that way whenever she could. Helen died in 1993, but in the years prior to her passing she was very interested in family research and often spent time with her sister, and her daughter Susan Massen talking over their life and their ancestors. It is thanks to Helen’s daughter Sue that the story of her family back to Henry Collett (Ref. 39P4) has been included in such detail in this family line.
38R9		Ethel Margaret Collett, who was known within the family as Peg, was born during 1919 and very likely at Oxford like her older sisters. Certainly, her birth was recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 48) during the third quarter of the year, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Giles. She later married Percy Francis Barnard and, around the time of the death of her father Henry William Collett of Dagenham in Essex, she was possibly still living in Oxford where the administration of his personal effects was processed on 18^th March 1952. It was as Ethel Margaret Barnard, the wife of Percy Francis Barnard, that she was named as the administrator for her father’s estate.
38R10		Henry R Collett was born in 1921, his birth recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 139) during the third quarter of the year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Giles. He was the last child of Henry William Collett and Alice Agnes Giles.
38R12		Annie Bridget Collett was born on 9^th November 1921 at Pensons Garden off St Clements Street within the Headington area of Oxford. She was the eldest of the two children of Frederick Peter Collett and his wife Bridget Mary O’Mara, with her birth recorded at Oxford Headington register office (Ref. 3a 1796), when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as O’Mara. She was twenty-four when she married Arthur Soilleux at St Peters Church in Shipton Bellinger, Hampshire on 26^th December 1945. The marriage produced a daughter, Jean Mary Soilleux, who was born during December 1946, and she later married to become Jean Newman. And it was Jean who kindly provided the details of her family. Annie Bridget Soilleux nee Collett died in 2008.
38R13		Frederick James Collett was born in Oxford on 12^th January 1928, the second of the two children of Frederick Peter Collett and Bridget Mary O’Mara from Ireland. His birth was also recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 1679), when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as O’Mara. It was during the spring of 1950 when the marriage of Frederick J Collett and Jean M Bond was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6c 1754). Jean Mary Bond had also been born in Oxford, but in 1929, with her birth also recorded at Headington (Ref. 3a 1778) when her mother’s maiden-name was Sparrowhawk. During the first five years of their life together Jean gave birth to two daughters, the first of the in Oxford, with the second born in or around Bicester.
		Frederick James Collett was 74 years old when he died in the Cowley area of south Oxford on 1^st October 2001, with his death recorded at the Oxfordshire register office (Vol. 6951l 110d).
		38S1	Maralyne Collett				Born in 1952 at Oxford
		38S2	Alison Collett				Born in 1954 at Bicester
38R15		Gilbert Collett was born at 3 Godstow Road in Wolvercote on 11^th October 1913 less than six months after his parents were married at Bicester. His birth was recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 2037) during the last quarter of the year, the first-born child of Reginald Collett and Florence Pyke. It seems likely that Gilbert was around 27 years old when he married Edith B Andrew, with their wedding recorded at Wallingford register office (Ref. 2c 1361) during the second quarter of 1940. Once married the couple left Berkshire and settled in Oxfordshire, where the birth of their only child was recorded (Ref. 6b 1397), and where the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Andrew.
		38S3	Jennifer A Collett				Born in 1949 in Oxfordshire
38R16		Aubrey Collett was born 3 Godstow Road in Wolvercote near the end of 1915, with his birth recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 1827) during the last quarter of the year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Pyke.
38R17		Sylvia Collett was the last child of Reginald Collett and Florence Pyke of 3 Godstow Road in Wolvercote, where she was born in 1919. Her birth, like those of her two older siblings was recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 1614) during the summer of that year, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Pyke.
38R18		Beryl Jean Collett was possibly born in the Iffley area of south Oxford, with her birth recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 1674) during the first three months of 1925, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Earl. Beryl was the only child of William Joseph Collett and Elsie Earl and it was at St Mary’s Church, Mill Lane in Iffley that she was married on 8^th September 1945. According to the church records Beryl Jean Collett was 20 years of age and employed as an aircraft inspector, the daughter of William Joseph Collett of Iffley. The groom was 26-year-old soldier Laurence Weatherby. As Lawrence Weatherby, his birth was recorded at the Warwickshire Foleshill register office (Ref. 6d 990) at the end of 1918, having been born on 11^th December 1918. It was also as Lawrence Weatherby that he was residing in the Coventry area of Warwickshire when he died, with his passing recorded at Coventry register office (Vol. 0631e e64a) at the start of 2001 at the age of 82.
		Certainly for at least the first decade of their married life together, Lawrence and Beryl continued to live in Oxfordshire, where the births of their first to children were recorded, while the birth of their last child recorded in the City of Oxford. They were Janet M Weatherby in 1946 (Ref. 3b 1361), Graham W Weatherby in 1950 (Ref. 6b 1082), and Vivian A Weatherby in 1956 (Ref. 6b 1263). In all three cases, the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett.
38R19		Wendy Kathleen Collett was born at Headington in Oxford during 1933, the eldest of the two daughters of Cyril Edward Collett and Kathleen Grace Ellen Collett. Her birth was recorded at Oxford (Ref. 3a 1862) during the second quarter of 1933, where her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed at Collett. The marriage of Wendy K Collett and Thomas K C Rattray was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 2150) during the third quarter of 1954. Our thanks go to Wendy for providing the details of the marriage of her parents, which forms a present-day link between the two Collett families of Wolvercote and Combe, as depicted in the two sections of Part 38 – The Oxford Stonemasons Line.
		During the summer of 2023, a member of Wendy’s family, Christine Pascoe, informed us of the death of Wendy Kathleen Rattray in Devon on 14^th July, with her passing recorded at Exeter register office on 19^th July 2023.
38R20		Hazel Margaret Collett was born in 1943 at Iffley, Oxford, her birth recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 2520) during the fourth quarter of that year, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett. It was also at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 2113) during the first three months of 1964 that the marriage of Hazel M Collett and Michael J Adams. Although not proved, it is possible that the marriage produced three children, the births of which were also recorded at Oxford. The births of the first two, Susan Adams (1967) and Paul Charles Adam (1968), were very close together, albeit that both of them included a reference to their mother’s maiden-name being Collett. The third child, Claire Elizabeth R Adam, was born in 1972, when once again the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett.
38R21		Leslie Vincent Collett was born at Wolvercote during the first three months of 1921, the son of Frank Collett and Annie Pratley. His birth was recorded at Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 1958) in the first quarter of that year as Leslie V Collett, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Pratley. Les, has he was known, lived most of his life in Wolvercote, where he was a prominent figure in the local community. Apart from that, there was a very short period just after the war when he was a chef in Brighton. It was a few years earlier that he married Gladys Clarke, the event recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 4382) during the first three months of 1942 when Les was 21. Over the following years Gladys gave birth to a son and a daughter.
		Once he and his family were again residing in Wolvercote, Leslie took up employment with Morris Motors where he was a car sprayer, a job he held for almost forty years and from which he eventually retired. The following article concerning his time in the Second World War was published in the Oxford Mail in November 2010.
		70 years ago, on a beach in Northern France, Les Collett thought he would never get home. He said: “I joined up to the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in 1936 when I was 16 and so we were one of the first to be sent to France when war broke out. We fought a lot there, trying to keep the Jerries back, and were then the first into Belgium. The Germans had far superior weaponry – all I had was my rifle, bayonet and knife – and we were always on the retreat.” At one point, Mr Collett was captured by German troops. He said: “I was taken with a few others into some woods near a churchyard and we were kept there for four or five days. The Germans took all my possessions, but I met up with a few Gloucester chaps and we decided to make a break for it. We split into two separate groups of two, took our opportunity and ran for it. The other two did not get very far. We had not been going long before we heard the machine gun fire.”
		Mr Collett escaped and used a small map taken from a calendar in a French farmhouse to guide him back northwards, where he met some allied troops and joined them. He keeps the map, now bloodstained and watermarked from fighting at Dunkirk, with other possessions from his time in the army. Over the following weeks, he fought his way back to the northern coast, where the retreat from Dunkirk was in full swing. He said: “There was quite a battle going on there, I can tell you. We were just trying to get as many men off the beach as we could. The German planes were circling overhead, dive bombing us with their machine guns.” Mr Collett was shot in the back trying to keep the Germans back, but he managed to get on to a rowing boat in the sea and was taken to a large steamboat. The bullet was later removed at a hospital in Kent. Mr Collett never returned to France, but was instead posted to Northern Ireland and later trained as a commando in Scotland.
		Three months after that article appeared in the Oxford Mail, another article was printed in the same newspaper concerning the impending closure of the branch of the Royal British Legion in Wolvercote. The brief item published in February 2011 read as follows; Dunkirk veteran Les Collett, 90, has been a member of the Royal British Legion branch since the 1940s, including when the club opened 51 years ago. In the 1960s, while working at Cowley motor works, he was one of eight members who gave £100 towards the dance room extension. He said: “I wheel my wife down here in a wheelchair every week. It would be terrible if it closed. It might even give me a heart attack.” Les was speaking about plans to demolish a Wolvercote social club to make way for houses.
		It was eight months later that the death of Leslie Vincent Collett was reported in The Oxford Times on Wednesday 26^th October 2011 under the headline “Final Salute for Dunkirk Veteran”. The obituary read as follows: Standing on the beach at Dunkirk 71 years ago, Les Collett never thought he would live to see his old age. Being pounded by German artillery after a miraculous escape through Flanders, the battle-weary soldier with a bullet-hole in his back, managed to get on a rowing boat and head for home. On Monday 24^th October 2011 Mr Collett passed away at the John Radcliffe Hospital aged 90 – three weeks after suffering a heart attack. A veteran too of the Morris Motors factory in Cowley for 37 years, Mr Collett leaves his wife of the past 68 years Gladys, children Michael and Gillian, who are in their mid-60s, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. Mr Collett, of Wolvercote, last year told the Oxford Mail his family members “were too many to count”.
		He joined the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry’s 4^th Battalion in 1940. The young private was sent to France, where he fought in the hilltop town of Mont Cassel during the desperate rear-guard action as British and French troops retreated to Dunkirk. He was captured by the Germans 20 miles south of Dunkirk but managed to escape. Speaking to the Oxford Mail last November, he said: “We were just trying to get as many men off the beach as we could. “The German planes were circling overhead, dive-bombing us with their machine guns.” His experiences led him to stress how important it is to get to the Remembrance Day services each year. Mr Collett led prayers each year at the Wolvercote Remembrance Day service and campaigned to save the local Royal British Legion. He said: “A lot of my friends never made it back that day. A lot of men died. And we should never forget them.”
		Friend Linda Wharton, of Wolvercote, said: “Les and Glad were the soul of Upper Wolvercote and much loved by so many. “He will always be remembered with love and affection. We all remember his stories which had us in fits of laughter many many times.” Following the war, Mr Collett worked as a chef in Brighton before returning to his home in Wolvercote and worked for Morris Motors. He helped to form the Wolvercote branch of the Royal British Legion and earlier this year fought to save it from the threat of demolition. Wolvercote British Legion chairman Ken Bampton said: “I knew Les for 35 years and he was such a character. “I’d say he was a happy rascal. Apparently, he was a bit of a terror in his younger days, but he was very funny. “We’ll be giving him a full British Legion funeral with The Last Post, a minute’s silence and we will parade in front of the coffin. “It’s not a service I’m looking forward to, but we’ll give him a proper send-off. He’d have been proud of that.” A date for his funeral has not yet been set.
		38S4	Michael Collett				Born in 1944 at Wolvercote
		38S5	Gillian Collett				Born in 1948 at Wolvercote
38R22		Leonard Frederick Collett was born at Wolvercote on 27^th May 1926, the eldest child of Leslie Vincent Collett and Emily M Knight, the birth recorded at the Woodstock register office (Ref. 3a 1785) when the mother’s maiden-name was stated as Knight. What happened to Leonard during his life is not currently known, except that his death was recorded at Oxford register office (Vol. 20 2306) during the month of April 1986 at the age of 60 years.
38R23		Donald Collett was born in 1929 at Wolvercote, with his birth recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 1745) during third quarter of the year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Knight. He was the second of the three children of Leslie Vincent Collett and Emily M Knight. The marriage of Donald Collett and Gladys E White was conducted at the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Mill Lane in Iffley on 28^th March 1953, when the groom was 23 and the bride only 19, with Donald’s father confirmed as Leslie Vincent Collett. The event was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 1877) at the end of the first quarter that year. The marriage resulted in the birth of twin boys, their only known issue, who were baptised at St Mary’s Church in Iffley when the family’s home address was 5 Rowney Place in the Rose Hill/Iffley area of south Oxford.
		38S6	Paul Leslie Collett				Born in 1955 at Iffley, Oxford
		38S7	Peter William Collett				Born in 1955 at Iffley, Oxford
38R24		Mary E Collett was born at Wolvercote in 1932, the last child of Leslie Vincent Collett and Emily M Knight. Her birth was recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 1730) during the first quarter of 1932, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Knight. Mary E Collett was 21 years of age when she married Beverley R Howard, with their wedding recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 1941) during the first three months of 1953. On that day, Mary was very close to giving birth to the couple’s possible only child, with the birth of Ellen M Howard also recorded at the same register office (Ref. 6b 1256) during the same three month period, when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett.
38R25		Basil Victor Collett was born at Wolvercote on 14^th December 1921, his birth recorded at Headington register office in Oxford (Ref. 3a 128) during the first month of 1922, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Wells. His parents Vernon Victor Collett Cecilia Well had only been married a few months before he was born. He was twenty-eight, when the marriage of Basil V Collett and Christine M Facer was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 80) during the second quarter of 1950. The birth of Christine M Facer was recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 76) during the first quarter of 1927, her mother’s maiden-name Goodall. Their son was born at Oxford in May 1971. Basil Victor Collett was in Barnstaple, north Devon, when he passed away in January 1994, his death recorded there (Vol. 40 41a), at the age of 72.
		38S8	Stephen Victor Collett				Born in 1971 at Oxford
38R26		Roy Vernon Collett was born at Wolvercote on 4^th April 1925, his birth recorded at Headington register office in Oxford (Ref. 3a 51), when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Wells. He was in his mid-thirties in June 1960 when he married widow Irene D M Thornett, nee Gibson, during the second quarter of 1960 at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 36). Prior to being married, Roy was still living with his parents at 17 Rosamund Road in Wolvercote, where his father died near the end of 1960. Nine months after their wedding day, Irene presented Roy with a daughter, their only known child. She may have been born at Wolvercote, while her birth was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 83) during the last three months of 1960, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Gibson. The death of Roy Vernon Collett was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 20 101) during September 1981, when he was 56 years of age.
		38S9	Nicola D Collett				Born in 1960 at Wolvercote
38R30		Angela Rose Marie Collett was born within the Bicester area of Oxfordshire on 3^rd May 1952, the first of the two children of Ronald Eldred Collett and his wife Maureen Eva Earl. It was at the Bicester Ploughley register office (Ref. 6b 1348) that her birth was recorded, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Earl. During the next few weeks, following her birth, her parents moved from that part of the county to the Iffley district of south Oxford. That situation was confirmed by the baptism record for daughter Angela when she was baptised using her full name at the Iffley Church of St Mary the Virgin on Mill Lane on 29^th June 1952, when the family was residing at 3 Court Farm in Iffley. Eight years later the family appear to have returned to the Bicester area, which was where the birth of Angela’s brother Stephen was recorded.
38R31		Stephen E Collett was born in 1960 with his birth recorded at the Bicester Ploughley register office (Ref. 6b 14) during the third quarter of that year when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Earl. When his sister Angela (above) was baptised the family home was a 3 Court Farm in Iffley, Oxford. Just following his twenty-first birthday, the marriage of Stephen E Collett and Linda A Brabner was recorded at Wantage register office (Vol. 20 1757) during the first quarter of 1982. Linda had been born in the Wantage area early in 1963, so was only 19 years of age. Eight months after their wedding day, Linda gave birth to the first of the couple’s two children, with the birth recorded at Oxford register office (Vol 20 2817) during the third quarter of 1983. The birth of their next child was recorded at Wantage, perhaps indicating that Linda was visiting her parents at that time in the summer of 1985 (Vol. 20 3738).
		38S10	Gemma Ann Collett				Born in 1983 at Oxford
		38S11	Fay Mary Collett				Born in 1985 at Wolvercote
38R32		Verona A Collett was born in 1930, her birth recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 95) during the first three months of that year, the only child of Horace James Collett and Dorothy G G Fidler. Twenty-four years later, the marriage of Verona Collett and Alan S Newbold was recorded at Oxford (Ref. 6b 15) during the first quarter of 1954.
38R34		PETER COLLETT was born at St Albans on 27^th December 1938, the eldest of the three children of Leslie Robert Collett and Norah Florence Selway. His birth was recorded at St Albans register office (Ref. 3a 12) during the first of 1939, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Selway. It was on 24^th October 1964 when Peter married Margaret Lane, and during July of the following year the couple moved north to settle in the Northamptonshire village of Earls Barton, famous for its Saxon Church Tower. It was also at Earls Barton that their son was born and where Peter and Margaret were still living in 2015. Having known Peter since 2009, it was wonderful to eventually meet up with him and Margaret in March 2015 when much of the new information provided in this update to Part 38 was discussed. At that time, son Anthony was preparing for his wedding day with Susi which took place later that same year.
		38S12	ANTHONY COLLETT				Born on 15.09.1975 at Earls Barton
38R35		Sheila Collett was born at St Albans on 1^st June 1943, her birth recorded there (Ref. 3a 41), when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Selway. Sheila was still living in St Albans during 2015.
38R36		Geoffrey Collett was born at St Albans on 3^rd March 1949, the youngest of the three children of Leslie Robert Collett and Norah Florence Selway, whose birth was recorded there (Ref. 4b 62) before the end of the month, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Selway. He was very nearly twenty-two when the marriage of Geoffrey Collett and Vivien Childs was recorded at St Albans register office (Ref. 4b 54) during the first quarter of 1971. Their marriage produced three children, as listed below. Later in his life, Geoffrey lived at Mold in North Wales, where he served a term as the Mayor of Mold.
		38S13	Jennifer Ceris Collett	Born in 1975 at Chester & Ellesmere Port
		38S14	David Robert Collett	Born in 1978 at Chester & Ellesmere Port
		38S15	Christopher Martin Collett	Born in 1982 at Chester & Ellesmere Port
38R37		Beryl May Collett was born in 1936 at Oxford, where her birth was recorded (Ref. 3a 37) during the first three months of the year, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Lewis. She was the first-born child of Alfred Claude Collett and Lilian I Lewis. At the time she was married, the family home was at Hunsdon Road, Rose Hill in Iffley, and it was at Iffley Church where the marriage of Beryl May Collett, aged 22 and daughter of Alfred, and Kenneth W Tyson, also 22 and residing at 18 Court Road in Iffley, was conducted on 21^st May 1958. Their two children were also born there, the birth of Nigel P Tyson recorded at Oxford (Ref. 6b 70) during the second quarter of 1960, and Cindy-Jane Tyson (Ref. 6b 165) during the second quarter of 1963 and, on each occasion, the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett.
38R38		Gordon A L Collett was born in 1938 at Oxford and it was there also that his birth was recorded (Ref. 3a 38) during the first quarter of the year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Lewis. It was early in 1961, that the marriage of Gordon A L Collett and Christina E J Cooper took place in Surrey and was recorded at the Surrey North Western register office (Ref. 5g 1158) during the first quarter of 1961. As far as can be determined, they had no issue.
38S1		Maralyne Collett was born in Oxford where her birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 1230) during the first three months of 1952, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Bond. She was the eldest of the two daughters of Frederick James Collett and Jean Mary Bond. The later marriage of Maralyne Collett and Rodney S Mawer was recorded at the south Oxford Bullingdon register office (Ref. 6b 2483) during the second quarter of 1973. The only records for Mawer children born after 1973, whose mother was a Collett were Alan Stephen Mawer who was born at Hanover in Germany on 28^th February 1976, and Amanda Jayne Mawer who was born at Dusseldorf in Germany on 3^rd July 1979. Their birth records confirmed that they were the children of British Nationals born overseas.
38S2		Alison Collett was the younger of the two daughters of Frederick and Jean Collett, whose birth in 1954 was recorded at the Bicester Ploughley register office (Ref. 6b 1333) during the third quarter of that year, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Bond. Not long after her old sister was married in the spring of 1973, the marriage of Alison Collett and Andrew S Rennie was also recorded at Bullingdon (Ref. 6b 2155) during the last three months of the same year. They only had one child, Stewart Ivan Rennie whose birth was recorded at Abingdon-on-Thames register office (Vol. 20 2422) at the start of 1976.
38S6		Paul Leslie Collett was born at Iffley in Oxford on 21^st October 1955, the twin brother of Peter (below) and the son of Donald Collett and Gladys Elizabeth White, with his birth recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 1166-87), when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as White. Two months later the twins were baptised at St Mary’s Church, Mill Lane in Iffley on 26^th December 1955, when the family home was at 5 Rowney Place, Iffley. Paul was twenty-five years of age when his marriage to Victoria A Grayson was also recorded at Oxford register office (Vol. 20 3144) during the summer of 1980.
		Three years later their family was complete, following the birth of a son and then a daughter. Both births were recorded at Oxford register office, when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Grayson. Brian’s birth was recorded during the second quarter of 1982 (Vo. 20 2841), with twelve months later Diane’s (Vol. 20 3089) also during the spring of that year.
		38T1	Brian Anthony Collett		Born in 1982 at Oxford
		38T2	Diane Lesley Collett		Born in 1983 at Oxford
38S7		Peter William Collett was the twin brother of Paul (above), the only children of Donald and Gladys Collett. They were born at 5 Rowney Place in Iffley, Oxford, on 21^st October 1955, and were baptised together on 26^th December 1955 at the Church of St Mary the Virgin on Mill Lane in Iffley. Peter’s birth followed that of his marginally older brother in the records at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 1166-88), when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as White. Three years after the wedding of his twin brother, the marriage of Peter William Collett and Denise Moffatt was recorded at Oxford register office (Vol. 20 1542) early in 1984. So far, it would appear that they had no children.
38S8		Stephen Victor Collett was born at Oxford during the month of May in 1971, and was the only child of Basil Victor Collett and Christine M Facer. His birth was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 111), when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Facer. Thanks go to his wife Emma who, in 2020/21 generously provided details of Steve’s family. Steve and Emma have created their own Collett story now, after Emma gave birth to a grandchild for Basil and Christine.
		APPENDIX
		Previously included in error within this family line was Eric Collett, whose details have been added to this appendix in the hope that one day his family will be identified. In addition, his twin sister and two other siblings have also been identified and included here in 2021.
38A/1		Ernest F E Collett was born in 1913 with his birth recorded at Bicester register office (Ref. 3a 2218) during the second quarter of the year, his mother’s maiden-name confirmed as Webb. It is possible that he married Jane Willoughby, with the marriage of Ernest E Collett and Jane recorded at the Bicester Ploughley register office (Ref. 3a 2233) during the first three months of 1938, when he was nearly 25 years old. Just over three years later, Jane presented Ernest with a son.
		38A/1/1	John E J Collett				Born in 1941 at Bicester
38A/2		Elsie M Collett was born in 1915, one half of a set of twins for Mrs & Mrs Frederick Collett. Her birth recorded at Bicester register office (Ref. 3a 1930/53) during the second quarter of the year, her mother’s maiden-name confirmed as Webb. She was 25 years of age, when she married Leonard C Ryman, the event recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 3a 5174) during the first quarter of 1940.
38A/3		Eric Collett was born in 1915, a slightly older twin brother of Ethel Collett (above). His birth recorded at Bicester register office (Ref. 3a 1930/54) during the third quarter of the year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Webb. During the Second World War his parents were residing in the Summertown area to the north of the centre of the City of Oxford. Like many young men in the early 1940s, Eric went to war for his king and country. He joined the 2^nd Airborne Battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, in which he was as Private Collett 5381343.
		Tragically, on 24^th March 1945, he was killed in action crossing the Rhine and was buried at the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery near Kleve in Germany. The cemetery was created after the war for the 7,594 Commonwealth servicemen killed during the crossing on the Rhine, of which only 176 burials are unidentified. Eric’s parents (Mr and Mrs F Collett) were notified by the authorities of his death while living at Summertown.
38A/4		George N Collett was born towards the end of 1919 or early in 1920. As with his three older siblings, his birth was also recorded at Bicester register office (Ref. 3a 2574) during the first quarter of 1920, when again, his mother’s maiden-name confirmed as Webb. Three years after peace in Europe was declared, the marriage of George N Collett and Henrietta Exley was recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 2392) during the third quarter of 1948.
38A/1/1		John E J Collett was born in 1941 at Bicester and was the only known child of Ernest Collett and Jane Willoughby. His birth, like that of his parents wedding, was recorded at Ploughley register office (Ref. 3a 2834) during the third quarter of 1941, when the mother’s maiden-name was Willoughby. It was towards the end of 1966, that the marriage of John E J Collett and Lilian M Parsloe was recorded at Ploughley (Ref. 6b 2357) during the last quarter of the year. Their son, Simon was born twelve months later, his birth recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 1556) during the last three months of 1967.
		38A/1/1/1	Simon John Collett				Born in 1967 at Oxford