PART FIFTY-SIX

The Alcester & Bidford-on-Avon District line

Updated October 2024

This majorly amended family line now includes information original created as an appendix at the end of Part 5 - The Tewkesbury Line using information received from Marilyn Stoddard in December 2009 relating to the family of Samuel Collett who was born at Upper Slaughter circa 1732. Those details were based on an earlier family tree produced by Betty Judge. New information received from Kate Harding five years later in 2014 confirmed that the marriage of William Collett and Susannah Bowne, previously shown in error in Part 1 – The Gloucestershire Main Line (Ref. 1L6), relates to William (Ref. 56L3), the earlier ancestor of her great grandmother Edith Collett (Ref. 56P3).

The villages of Bidford-on-Avon, Broom and Cleeve Prior, to the south of Alcester, were also the homes of other members of the Collett family but, because no direct connection has yet been found to this line, their details are included in Appendix A at the end of this file. In addition to this, Appendix C traces back to the Appendix A family line of Sarah Collett (Ref. 56m7) of Stanway in Gloucestershire, whose base-born son John Collett created a major family at the village of Broom. Appendix B provides details of a another Collett family of Cleeve Prior.

56F1

Thomas Collett was born around 1560

56G1

Paris Collett

Born circa 1588

56G1

Paris Collett was born in 1588 and in military inventory ‘Men & Armour 1608’ he was described as the son of Thomas Collett, around twenty years of age and of short stature suitable for calyver. It seems he married around 1615 and over the next eleven years he is known to have had at least three children, all of whom were baptised at Upper Slaughter. A fourth child has been credited to Paris based purely on the birth of a grandson Paris Collett who was baptised at Upper Slaughter on 2^nd November 1663, the son of John Collett by his wife Joan.

56H1

Margaret Collett

Baptised on 01.03.1617 at Upper Slaughter

56H2

Richard Collett

Born in 1620 at Upper Slaughter

56H3

Alice Collett

Baptised on 09.04.1626 at Upper Slaughter

56H4

John Collett – married to Joan

Born after 1626 at Upper Slaughter – not proved

56H2

Richard Collett was baptised at Upper Slaughter on 24^th December 1620, the son of Paris Collett. It was previously recorded here in error that Richard had married Elizabeth Hunt, when it is now established that Elizabeth Hunt was the wife of Richard Collett (Ref. 2H22). He was born at Lower Slaughter and was baptised at Bourton-on-the-Water on 3^rd December 1627, the last child of Anthony Collett and Margaret Perratt. In addition to this, the three children previously listed here were already included amongst the eight children of Richard Collett and Elizabeth Hunt, so have been removed.

56H4

John Collett may have been the youngest child of Paris who is known to have had a grandson named Paris, the son of John and Joan Collett. John was very likely born at Upper Slaughter in the 1630s who later married Joan, with son Paris born in 1663.

56I1

Paris Collett

Born in 1663 at Upper Slaughter

56I1

Paris Collett was born at Upper Slaughter and baptised there on 2^nd November 1663, the known son of John Collett and his wife Joan and a grandson of Paris Collett (Ref. 56G1). Thomas Collett, the son of Paris was born in 1705 when his father was in his early forties.

56J1

Thomas Collett

Born in 1705 at Upper Slaughter

56J1

Thomas Collett was born at Upper Slaughter during the month of January in 1705, the son of Paris Collett. He was in his mid-twenties when he married Sarah and their four known children were baptised at Upper Slaughter. The later death of Sarah Collett occurred in 1762 after which she was buried at Upper Slaughter on 14^th October, when she was confirmed as the wife of Thomas Collett senior. Just over a year after losing his wife, his youngest daughter died and was buried with her mother and twin-sister at Upper Slaughter on 30^th November 1763.

56K1

Samuel Collett

Baptised on 06.08.1732 at Upper Slaughter

56K2

Thomas Collett

Baptised on 13.12.1733 at Upper Slaughter

56K3

Frances Collett

Baptised on 04.04.1736; buried 15.06.1738

56K4

Mary Collett

Baptised on 04.04.1736 at Upper Slaughter

56K1

Samuel Collett was born at Upper Slaughter, where he was baptised on 6^th August 1732, the son of Thomas and Sarah Collett. However, it was at Upper Swell that Samuel Collett married Anne Clifford on 9^th June 1767 with whom he had six known children who were all baptised at Upper Slaughter. Anne Clifford was the daughter of Thomas Clifford and Anne Taylor and she was born at Stow-on-the-Wold in 1729. It was also there, at Stow Church, that she was baptised on 25^th July 1729. Anne was only recently married when her father died, although his Will was written in 1761, six years before her marriage to Samuel Collett. Thomas Clifford died in 1768 and in his Will proved that same year, he left daughter Anne the house at the East End, which was occupied by tenant Marcie Martin, for the rest of her life and after her death the ownership of the house would pass to his grandson John Garner.

Anne also received her father’s feather bed and bedstead, curtains, and everything he had to lay in the chest that was marked for Anne, together with three dishes of pewter and his best warming pan. And all the rest of the inventory was divided equally between his children, who were Elizabeth, Christine, Anne, and William. Any money left after settlement of debts was to be shared by all four of his children. In addition to that, Anne was to receive ten shillings per year for “waiting on me every year since her mother has been dead”. The executors to the Will were Anne and her brother William.

It seems highly likely that Samuel was the Samuel Collett mentioned in the history of Upper Slaughter on the subject of charities. The following is a passage taken from that document: “In 1587 and 1589 the Crown granted to people, who appear to have been trustees, a tenement by the church in Upper Slaughter and land, which in 1591 was conveyed in trust for church purposes and the relief of the poor. The trust was known as the Church Lands Trust, or after the grantor of 1591, as the Bagehott Charity. At enclosure, the land was exchanged for 57 acres, the rent from which was the main income of the trust. Dwellings built on the tenement by the church were let to the overseers. Sums of £10 each given by Elizabeth Guise before 1684, by Ralph Hulles in 1688, and by Samuel Collett in 1773, together with accumulated interest, were borrowed by the churchwardens for the repair of the church and the interest on the loan was treated as a charge on the church lands for the distribution of bread to the poor.”

56L1

Thomas Collett

Born in 1769 at Upper Slaughter

56L2

Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1770 at Upper Slaughter

56L3

William Collett

Born in 1771 at Upper Slaughter

56L4

Samuel Collett

Baptised on 25.10.1773 at Upper Slaughter

56L5

James Collett twin

Born in 1774 at Upper Slaughter

56L6

Henry Collett twin

Born in 1774 at Upper Slaughter

56L1

Thomas Collett was baptised at Upper Slaughter on 12^th February 1769, the eldest son of Samuel Collett and Anne Clifford. Thomas was forty years old when he married Hannah Boulton at Upper Slaughter on 9^th October 1809. During the following year Hannah presented her husband with a daughter Sarah who was baptised at Upper Slaughter when her parents were confirmed as Thomas and Hannah Collett.

56M1

Sarah Collett

Born in 1810 at Upper Slaughter

56L2

Elizabeth Collett was baptised at Upper Slaughter on 22^nd April 1770, the only known daughter of Samuel Collett and Anne Clifford. Elizabeth was still residing at Upper Slaughter when she married John James on 24^th June 1789. That date may indicate that she could have been around one or two years old when she was baptised.

56L3

William Collett was baptised at Upper Slaughter on 12^th May 1771, the third known child of Samuel and Anne Collett. He later married Susannah Bowne at Northleach on 7^th August 1792, Susannah having been baptised at Northleach on 12^th October 1773, one of the nine children of Thomas Bowne and Mary Westmancott. Once married the couple initialled settled in Broadway, just across the county boundary in Worcestershire, where their children were baptised. The family later moved to Alcester in Warwickshire, twenty-five miles north of Broadway, and it was there that William Collett died when he was 40 years old during the month of February in 1812, and where he was also buried, most likely with his younger daughter.

Shortly after she was made a widow ‘Susanna Collett’ was a beneficiary under the terms of the Will of her widowed mother Mary Bowne of Stow-on-the-Wold, which was made on 20^th April 1810 and proved on 24^th April 1812. Within the same Will her property, known as The White Hart at Stow, was left to Susanne’s two brothers Robert and Richard Bowne. However, by the time of the publication of the Pigot’s Directory for Stow-on-the-Wold in 1830 the innkeeper at the White Hart was listed a certain ‘William Bown’. The same directory also included the names of Thomas Bown, a grocer of Stow, and Robert Collett, a miller from Bourton. Robert Collett (Ref. 14L7) was very likely the father of Thomas Shelburn Collett (Ref. 14M7) who was born at Upper Slaughter in 1811 who, as the son of Robert Collett miller of Bourton, was charged on 22^nd December 1831 with trespassing with a gun and a dog at Sherborne while in pursuit of game.

By the time of the first national census in June 1841, Susannah Collett was a widow living with her son William Collett at Alcester. Susannah had a rounded age of 60, while her son’s rounded age was 40. Ten years later, in the census of 1851, Susannah Collett, a victualler from Northleach in Gloucestershire, was recorded as being 74 years old when she was still living in Alcester. Living with her at 14 Henley Street on that occasion was her granddaughter Mary Collett, aged 13 and from West Bromwich, who was the daughter of Susannah’s son Thomas Collett. It was just less than seven years after that when Susannah Collett died at Alcester, where she was buried with her husband on 13^th January 1858. Her death certificate confirms that she was the widow of William Collett and an obituary written at the time of her death stated that she had been running the Red Horse Inn at Alcester since about 1808. It is interesting to note that the address of the Red Horse Inn was 25 Henley Street with the stables next door at number 27.

56M2

Samuel Collett

Born in 1793 at Broadway

56M3

William Collett

Born in 1795 at Broadway

56M4

Thomas Collett

Born in 1797 at Broadway

56M5

Mary Ann Collett

Baptised on 29.06.1800 at Broadway

56M6

Susannah Collett

Born in 1802 at Broadway

56L5

James Collett was very likely the twin brother of Henry (below) as they were baptised in a joint ceremony on 1^st November 1774 at Upper Slaughter, the two youngest children of Samuel Collett and Anne Clifford. Tragically, neither twin survived, with the death of James Collett recorded at Upper Slaughter just over one month later, on 4^th December 1774.

56L6

Henry Collett was baptised at Upper Slaughter on 1^st November 1774, the same day as his twin brother James (above). Sadly, just like his twin brother, Henry did not survive, with his death recorded at Upper Slaughter on 18^th June 1775.

56M2

Samuel Collett was baptised at Broadway on 16^th July 1793. He was the eldest child of William Collett and Susannah Bowne who moved their family to Alcester around 1808, where Samuel’s father died in 1812. There is a possibility that Samuel may have been married twice, but what is known is that he was around thirty-seven years old when he married Ann Layton at St Martin’s Church in Birmingham on 27^th January 1830. Once married Samuel and Ann initially settled within the Arrow area of Alcester where, almost exactly eight months later, Ann gave birth to daughter, and just over four years after that Ann presented Samuel with a son. It is very likely that other children were born into the family but, by the time of the census in 1841, there were just the four of them living within the Alcester registration district.

In June 1841 Samuel Collett and his wife Ann Collett were both recorded with rounded ages of 45, while their two children were listed at Alcester with them as Ann Collett who was ten, and Thomas Collett who was five years old. The family was still living there in 1851 when Samuel was 57, Ann was 58, daughter Anne was 19 and son Thomas was 16. Judging by the next census in 1861, Ann had died during the 1850s with Samuel then moving out of Alcester to settle in Bidford-on-Avon, where he was recorded at the age of 67 as Samuel Collett from Broadway.

56N1

Ann Collett

Born in 1830 at Alcester

56N2

Thomas Collett

Born in 1835 at Alcester

56M3

William Collett was baptised at Broadway on 18^th May 1795, the son of William and Susannah Collett. In 1808 the family made the journey north to Alcester where William was still living at the time of the census in 1841. By that time unmarried William Collett was still living with his widowed mother Susannah Collett, when he was recorded with a rounded age of 40.

56M4

Thomas Collett was baptised at Broadway on 5^th December 1797, the son of William and Susannah Collett. It is established that he was a journeyman carpenter and appears to have travelled around a great deal, presumably to seek and secure employment. It is also possible it was a trade carried out by his father who moved the family to Alcester in 1808 when Thomas would have been around ten years old. He later married Mary Ann Skinner in the parish of St John Bedwardine in the City of Worcester on 26^th May 1828. The marriage is believed to have produced at least six children for Thomas and Mary Ann, they being Robert, George, Samuel, Mary Ann, Edward, and Sarah Skinner Collett. Following their wedding day the couple may have initially settled in Birmingham, since it was there that their first four children were born. However, it was eight years after the birth of their first child, that Thomas and Mary Ann arranged to have all four children baptised in a joint ceremony at St Peter’s & St Paul’s Church in the Aston (juxta Birmingham area of the city), which took place on 30^th September 1838.

Two years later their fifth child was born at Great Bridge, near Tipton to the west of West Bromwich. And it was within the West Bromwich registration district that Mary was living at the time of the census in June 1841. No record of Thomas has been found, so it seems likely that he was working away from his family on that occasion. Living with Mary, who had a rounded age of 40, were just four of her five children. They were George Collett who was eight, Samuel Collett who was six, Mary Collett who was three and Edward Collett who was one year old. Her missing son and eldest child Robert, was staying with his maternal grandparents on that day.

Not long after the census that year Mary Ann produced the last of her six children, who was born while the family was still living at West Bromwich. At the time of the next census in 1851 the family was once again recorded as not being together, with Thomas in lodgings when he was working in the Wolverhampton area with his two eldest sons, while his wife Mary had returned to her home town of Worcester with three of the four youngest children.

Thomas, with sons Robert and George. was staying at The Prince of Wales Inn on Compton Road in Wolverhampton St Marks, where they were recorded as lodgers not having separate rooms. Thomas Collett was married and was 51, Robert Collett was 20 and George Collett was 18. All three of them were carpenter journeymen from Warwickshire although, where the name of the town or village would have been, the initials N K (not known) were written. Sharing the same room with them was unmarried agricultural labourer Michael Connor, aged 24, from Mayo in Ireland. The licenced victualler at The Prince of Wales was Robert Brant who employed no hands to help him manage the inn. His wife Sarah did have a house servant, in the form of thirteen-year-old Sarah Jennings.

At that same time, when half her family were away on business, Mary Ann Collett, aged 46 and from Worcester, was living at 26 Boughton Street in the St John Bedwardine district of Worcester, where she married Thomas twenty-two years earlier. It was simply as Mary Collett that she was listed as being married and working as a housekeeper, presumably for her husband and their family. The three children living with her were Samuel Collett, aged 14 and from Birmingham, Edward Collett, aged 11 and from Great Bridge and Sarah S Collett who was nine years old and from west Bromwich.

Also, in the census return of 1851, Thomas’ and Mary Ann’s missing daughter Mary Ann Collett was living with her grandmother Susannah Collett, aged 74, at her home at 14 Henley Street in Alcester from where, at the age of 13, she was still attending school. On that occasion the birth place of Mary Ann Collett was given by her grandmother in error as West Bromwich, rather than Birmingham, probably because she knew the family was living there for some years after Mary Ann was born.

It is understood that Mary Ann Collett nee Skinner died prior to 1860, although no record has yet been found to confirm this. Certainly, by the time of the census in 1861, her husband Thomas was described as a widower at the age of 60 when he was living at 62 Bransford Road within the parish of Worcester St John, near to where he had married Mary in 1828. His occupation was that of a carpenter, while still living with him were his two youngest children Edward Collett who was 21 and Sarah Collett who was 19. Apparently lodging not far away at the Royal Oak Inn in Worcester, was his son Samuel Collett who was 25.

With his advancing years Thomas was eventually living on his own and it was then that his eldest son Robert, who was married in the early 1850s, invited Thomas to go and live with him and his second wife and their family in Birmingham. That move from Worcester to Birmingham was confirmed in the census of 1861 when Thomas Collett, aged 70, was living with Robert and Mary Ann Collett and Robert’s four children at Market Hall in Erdington. It was just nineteen months later, on 1^st November 1873, that Thomas Collett died at the home of his son Robert Collett in Birmingham. The cause of death was recorded as senile decay over the preceding eighteen months. The informant of the death was Thomas’ other son Samuel Collett.

56N3

Robert Collett

Born in 1830 at Birmingham

56N4

George Collett

Born in 1832 at Birmingham

56N5

Samuel Collett

Born in 1835 at Birmingham

56N6

Mary Ann Collett

Born in 1837 at Birmingham

56N7

Edward Collett

Born in 1840 at Great Bridge, near Tipton

56N8

Sarah Skinner Collett

Born in 1842 at West Bromwich

56M6

Susannah Collett was baptised at Broadway on 7^th January 1803, the last child born to William Collett and Susannah Bowne. She was around five years when her family left Broadway when they travelled north to Alcester where Susannah Collett died and was buried in 1810.

56N1

Ann Collett was born at Alcester during September 1830, the same year in which her parents Samuel Collett and Ann Layton were married. It was as Ann Collett that she was baptised at Holy Trinity Church in Arrow, to the west of Alcester on 20^th September 1830, when her parents were confirmed as Samuel and Ann Collett. However, Ann and her family were correctly recorded as Collett in the Alcester census of 1841. Ann Collett aged ten years, was living there with her parents and her younger brother Thomas (below). Ten years later, at the time of the Alcester census of 1851, the same family of four was still living there except, on that occasion, Ann was recorded as Anne Collett aged 19. Following the death of her mother during the next decade, it is likely that Ann was eventually married in the 1850s since, by 1861 her widowed father had left Alcester and was living in the Bidford-on-Avon area, three miles to the south.

56N2

Thomas Collett was born at Alcester, possibly in late 1834, and it was there also that he was baptised on 22^nd February 1835, the son of Samuel Collett and his wife Ann Layton. According to the June census in 1841, Thomas Collett was five years old when he was living with his parents and his sister Ann (above) in the town of Alcester. Thomas was still living with his family by the time of the Alcester census in 1851, by which time he was 16 years old. During the 1850s his mother died and in 1861 his widowed father Samuel was living alone in the Bidford-on-Avon, three miles south of Alcester.

Sometime during the late 1850s Thomas Collett left Warwickshire when he moved south to London, presumably for better work prospects. It was there, at Goswell Street in Clerkenwell, that he was living in 1861 at the age of 26, when his place of birth was given as Alcester. Although not proved or verify, but Thomas married Mary Jane and once they were married the couple returned to Alcester where their son was born. The parish record at Alcester confirmed that Fred Collett was baptised there on 13^th March 1864, the son of Thomas and Mary Jane Collett. Tragically it was just two days later that he died, the parish register confirming the date as 15^th March 1864. What happened to the couple after the death of their son is not known, since no further record of Thomas or Mary Jane has been located to date.

56O1

Fred Collett

Born in 1864 at Alcester

56N3

Robert Collett was born at Birmingham on 15^th December 1830, the eldest child of Thomas Collett of Alcester and Mary Ann Skinner of Worcester. He was nearly eight years old when he was baptised in a joint ceremony with his three siblings at the Church of St Peter & St Paul in Aston on 30^th September 1838. At the time of the first national census in 1841, Robert and his father were both absent from the family home in West Bromwich. However, by 1851, and at the age of 20, Robert was a carpenter journeyman working with his father and his brother George (below) in Wolverhampton. On that occasion the three of them were sharing a room at The Prince of Wales Inn on Compton Road.

It was during the next couple of years that Robert married (1) Sophia Bradley, and by the time of the census in 1861 the marriage had produced three children for the couple. The census that year recorded the family living within the Aston & Erdington registration district of Birmingham, where Robert was 30, Sophia was 31, and their three children were Frances E Collett who was six, Frederick W Collett who was three, and Emma S Collett who was one year old. It seems highly likely that Sophia may have been expecting the arrival of the couple’s fourth child later that same year. However, tragically Sophia died during 1863, possibly at the time of the birth of a fifth child, who also did not survive. So, with four young children to look after, Robert later married (2) Mary Ann Evans from Worcester in 1865.

That was confirmed in the census of 1871 when Robert and his family were living at Market Hall in Erdington. By that time Robert was 40, his new wife Mary Ann was 36, and with the couple were the four children from Robert’s first marriage. And they were Frances who was 15, Frederick who was 14, Emma who was 11, and Alice who was nine years old. Living with the family was Robert’s father, the ailing Thomas Collett, who passed away just over eighteen months later. Before the death of his father, Mary Ann presented Thomas with his fifth grandchild, Robert’s only known child by his second wife.

According to the census in 1881, all the children from Robert’s first marriage had left the family home to make their own way in the world. The only child still living with the couple at 36 Butler Street in the Aston area of Birmingham, was their daughter Edith. Curiously Robert’s age was recorded in error as 46, instead of 50, although his occupation was still that of a carpenter, and his place of birth was correctly recorded as Birmingham. His wife Mary A Collett from Worcester was 45, so he may have said 46 out of embarrassment of being a few years older than his wife. Their daughter Edith Collett was nine years old and had been born at Birmingham.

Even more curious is the fact that ten years later, both Robert and Mary Ann were recorded as being 60 years old in the Solihull (Birmingham) census of 1891. The census return confirmed that the couple was living at a dwelling in George Street within the Hay Mills, South Yardley district of Birmingham, with their daughter Edith Collett who was 19. The birth place of Robert Collett was also confirmed as Birmingham, when he was still working as a carpenter at that time. Staying with the family on that day was Robert’s granddaughter Edith Collett, who was five years old and the daughter of his son Frederick William Collett who had died just three years earlier.

It was at that same address, just less than two years later, that Robert Collett died on 4^th February 1893, at the age of 62, following which he was buried in a common grave at Yardley Cemetery. Following his death Mary Ann married Lambert Longmore, after which her granddaughter Edith Collett continued to live with the couple. Edith even continued to live with Lambert Longmore at Aston after Mary Ann had died, and only left when she married Charles Lee in 1909.

56O2

Frances Emily Collett

Born in 1855 at Erdington

56O3

Frederick William Collett

Born in 1857 at Erdington

56O4

Emma Sophia Collett

Born in 1859 at Erdington

56O5

Alice Mary Ann Collett

Born in 1861 at Erdington

The only child from the second marriage of Robert Collett with Mary Ann was:

56O6

Edith Collett

Born in 1871 at Birmingham

56N4

George Collett was born at Birmingham on 3^rd February 1832, the second son of Thomas and Mary Ann Collett. He was over six years old when he was one of four children of Thomas and Mary Ann to be baptised at the Church of St Peter & St Paul in Aston on 30^th September 1838. Nearly three years later, in June 1841, George Collett was eight years old when he was living in West Bromwich with his mother and the rest of his family, while his father may have been away on business.

Ten years after that, in 1851, when George was 18, he was already working as a carpenter with his father and his older brother Robert. On the day of the census that year, the three of them were lodging at The Prince of Wales Inn on Compton Road in the Wolverhampton parish of St Marks. All three of them were sharing a room at the inn, and all three were described at a journeyman carpenter. Rather oddly though, the census form stated that their place of birth was simply Warwickshire, perhaps because it was completed by the publican Robert Brant, while the three were at work. Just three years after the census day, George Collett married Jane Gould at St John Bedwardine in Worcester on 6^th July 1854. Jane was baptised at Alrewas, north of Lichfield, on 3^rd June 1828, the daughter of William and Charlotte Gould. William may have been related to John Gould, the father of John Gould who married George’s youngest sister Sarah Skinner Collett (below) in the 1870s.

Once married, the couple appear to have settled in Worcester, where the first of their three children was born during the following year. The actual location may have been Claines just two miles north of Worcester, where the family was living at the time of the census in 1861. The census return listed the family as Collitt, with George 28, his wife Jane 32, and their children Thomas who was five, George who was three, and Charles G Collitt who was one-year old. Tragically, two years later in October 1863 Jane Collett died during childbirth, the child also not surviving the ordeal. Just one month earlier the family had suffered the loss of their youngest child when Charles Gould Collett had died of a severe burning in an accident at home. Jane was buried at St Stephen’s Church in Brabourne on 18^th October 1863 which was just over the road from the family home.

It would appear from the later records that George did not re-married, and in 1871, according the census that year, George Collett, widower, was living in lodgings within the parish of St Martin Birmingham with his two surviving children. George was 38, Thomas was 15, and George, who was referred to as Samuel, was 13. During the next decade his eldest son became a married man, and so by 1881, George Collett, aged 48 and a carpenter from Worcester, was living with his son Thomas and his family at Court 2, No. 1 Vaughton Street in the Deritend district of Birmingham.

Perhaps with the family of Thomas Collett growing larger it was not possible for George to continue living with his son, and by 1891, when Thomas and his family were living still in Deritend, George, at the age of 58, was once again living in the St Martin parish of Birmingham where his occupation was still that of a carpenter. Just after the turn of the century George was back living in the Deritend area of the city, but not with his son Thomas and his family who were also still living there in March 1901. By then carpenter George Collett from Birmingham was 68 years of age, and ten years later in 1911 he was 78, when yet again he was recorded as being a carpenter. With the lack of any further information, it is assumed that he died during the next decade, when he was in his eighties.

56O7

Thomas Collett

Born in 1855 at Worcester

56O8

George Collett

Born in 1857 at Worcester

56O9

Charles Gould Collett

Born in 1859 at Worcester

56N5

Samuel Collett was born at Birmingham on 4^th September 1835, the son of Thomas and Mary Ann Collett, and was nearly three years old when he was baptised at Church of St Peter & St Paul in Aston on 30^th September 1838 in a joint ceremony with three of his siblings. In June 1841 he and his family were living within the West Bromwich area, when Samuel was six years old. Missing from the family home on the day of the census that month was Samuel’s father and older brother Robert. Ten years later, the census in 1851, placed Samuel Collett, aged 14, once again living with his mother but, on that occasion, they were residing at 26 Boughton Street in the St John Bedwardine district of Worcester, while Samuel’s father was away working in Wolverhampton. With the death of his mother sometime during the 1850s, bachelor Samuel Collett was recorded as being 25 in Worcester census of 1861, when he was living not far from his widowed father and his two youngest siblings Edward and Sarah. It is unclear as to what happened to Samuel after 1861, because no record of him has been found in the census of 1871.

However, in November 1873, it was Samuel who informed the authorities of the death of his father, who was living with Samuel’s brother Robert in Birmingham at that time. The address Samuel gave, and which appeared on his father’s death certificate, was Lombard Street in the Deritend area of Birmingham. Eight years later, in 1881, Samuel was in lodgings at Rea Street South in Deritend, a road that was only a few yards from Lombard Street and Vaughton Street, where his brother George (above) was living at the home of his son Thomas Collett. The census in 1881 recorded that Samuel Collett from Birmingham was 45, unmarried, and his occupation was that of a carpenter. Where he was staying was the home of widow Mary Hall, aged 44, and her three children, which included a married his and his baby daughter. Although it is established that Samuel Collett died in 1898, no record of him has been discovered within any census of 1891.

56N6

Mary Ann Collett was born at Birmingham on 29^th September 1837, the eldest daughter of Thomas and Mary Ann Collett. It was one year later that she was baptised at Church of St Peter & St Paul in Aston on 30^th September 1838 with three of her siblings. She was also listed in 1841 census as simply Mary Collett, being three years old, when she was living at West Bromwich with just her mother and three of her four brothers. Ten years after that in 1851, Mary Ann Collett who was 13 was living at 14 Henley Street in Alcester, the home of her grandmother Susannah Collett of Northleach who was 74. Mary Ann was still attending school at that time in her life, so it was very likely her grandmother who gave her place of birth as West Bromwich where her sister Sarah (below) was born, rather than Birmingham. With no further record of Mary or Mary Ann Collett after 1851, it is assumed that she was married by the time of the next census in 1861.

56N7

Edward Collett was born at Great Bridge, near Tipton, in 1840, the son of Thomas and Mary Ann Collett. He was one year old in the June census of 1841, when he was living at West Bromwich with his mother and three siblings. Ten years later, the census in 1851, placed Edward Collett as 11 years of age, living at 26 Boughton Street in the St John Bedwardine district of Worcester with his mother, his brother Samuel (above), and his sister Sarah (below). Following the death of his mother during the 1850s, Edward Collett was 21 in 1861 when he was living with his widowed father and his sister Sarah at 62 Bransford Road in Worcester.

After a further ten years, according to the census in 1871, he was 31 and was living alone within the Deritend district of Birmingham, not far from the other members of his family. It may have been his work that took him north during the 1870s, since by the time of the census in 1881 he was living in Macclesfield, where he was working as a joiner, while also and running the Old Kings Head Inn. No record of him has been found in 1891, but sadly by 1901, he was a patient at the Salford Union Infirmary in Pendleton, Lancashire, when he was described as a pauper and retired joiner/carpenter. It was at the Salford in 1908 that the death of Edward Collett was registered.

56N8

Sarah Skinner Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1842, the youngest of the six known children of Thomas Collett and his wife Mary Ann Skinner. It was in West Bromwich that her parents had been living for the census in June 1841, but by the time of the next census in 1851, when Sarah S Collett was aged nine years, she was living at 26 Boughton Street within the St John Bedwardine parish of the city of Worcester, near to where her mother had been born, and where Sarah’s parents were married. It was during the latter years of the next decade that Sarah’s mother died, so by 1861 Sarah was still living in Worcester at 62 Bransford Road with her widowed father and her brother Edward (above). Whilst her father gave his correct place of birth as Alcester, for both Edward and Sarah he stated that they had been born in Worcester rather than the West Bromwich area. Sarah Collett was 19 and was described as a servant, presumably indicating that she was keeping house for the two men.

No obvious record of Sarah has been found in 1871, when she would have been 29, but just over eighteen months after that census day, the marriage of Sarah Skinner Collett and John Gould was conducted at the Manchester Cathedral on 8^th October 1872. John was born at Stramshall near Uttoxeter and had recently been widowed by the death of his first wife Mary. He was baptised in Uttoxeter on 23^rd June 1839, the son of John and Ellen Gould. From his marriage to Mary, he had two sons who were both born in Manchester and who were living with their father John and their stepmother Sarah in 1881.

That census day John Gould from Stramshall was 41 and a licenced victualler residing at 16 Lancashire Hill in Heaton Norris, Stockport. His wife was Sarah Skinner Gould from Worcester who was 38, and his two children were John Chadwick Gould, aged 13, and William Alfred Gould who was 12. Also living with the family was Alice M A Collett (Ref. 56O5), aged 19 and from Worcester, who was employed by the family as a domestic servant but, in addition to which, she was described as the niece of John Gould, being a child of an older brother of Sarah Skinner Gould, nee Collett.

After a further decade, the couple was still living in Stockport where head of the household John was 51, Sarah was 49, and the only other person at their home was John Gould junior who was 23. When John junior left home, John Gould aged 61 and a retired inn keeper, together with his wife Sarah S Gould aged 60, were residing at Woodbine Crescent, Cale Green, within the Davenport area of South Stockport in 1901. Two years later Sarah died, with her death recorded at Stockport register office (Ref. 5a 36) during the second quarter of 1903 at the age of 62, after which Sarah Skinner Gould was buried at Christ Church in Heaton Norris on 2^nd June 1903. The Church’s Burial Record provide a description as her last abode as 11 Woodbine Crescent.

56O2

Frances Emily Collett was born at Erdington in 1855 and was the first-born child of Robert Collett and Sophia Bradley. She later married George Barton, a haulier, during 1879 with whom she gave birth to nine children. In 1891 the family comprised George aged 35, Frances aged 36, Frederick W Barton who was eight, Ethel E Barton who was seven, Amelia A Barton who was four, George R Barton who was two, and Violet Barton who was under one year. Further children were added to the family although only four children were still living with Frances in 1911, by which time she may have been a widow or her haulier husband was away on business. The census that year listed Frances as 56, Violet as 19, Herbert Barton who was 17, John Barton who was 15, and Daisy May Barton who was 13. Frances Emily Barton nee Collett died in 1933 with her death, at the age of 78, recorded at Warwickshire register office (Ref. 6d 155).

56O3

Frederick William Collett was born at Erdington in 1857, the second child and eldest son of Robert Collett and Sophia Bradley. He and his family were still residing in the Erdington area in 1861 when Frederick was three, and again in 1871 when he was 14. On that latter census day, the family was living in the Market Hall district of Erdington. It has not been discovered where he was in 1881, when he would have been around 23 or 24, but two years later, during the first few months of 1883, he married Alice Maria Herbert from Abberley in Worcestershire, with whom he had five children before the end of the decade.

The couple only enjoyed just over five years of married life together, during which time they saw their first child suffer an infant death when he was still only a few weeks old. Further tragedy struck the family when Frederick William Collett died of epilepsy on 24^th July 1888, at the age of 31. By that time Alice was already pregnant with his fifth child, who was born over five months after his death, when he was buried in a common grave at Yardley Cemetery. Two years after the death of her husband, Alice married (2) Edward McHugh in 1890. This photo of the three surviving children of Frederick and Alice was taken around the time Alice married for a second time. During the next year the couple were listed in the Solihull registration district in 1891 as living at Hay Mills in the South Yardley district of Birmingham. Living with them were two of Alice’s Collett children who were recorded as Elsie McHugh, who was six, and Fred McHugh who was three. Edward McHugh was 34, while his wife Alice was only 25. At the time of the census that year, Alice’s daughter Edith Collett, who was five years old, was staying with her paternal grandparents at their home, which was also in Hay Mills.

Bad luck continued to haunt Alice since, just over a month after the census day in 1891, her second husband Edward McHugh died, following which she married (3) William Henry Mack, by whom she had another six children. The first of them was born at Hay Mills, after which the family moved to Leicester where the next two were born, before the family finally moved back to Yardley.

In March 1901 the Mack family was confirmed as living in Yardley, where William, aged 43 and from Harborne, was a brick maker and setter. His wife Alice M Mack was 34, and by then they had three children Sidney who was seven, Beatrice who was four, and Lilian who was one year old. Still living with the family was Alice’s son from her first marriage, Frederick William Collett, who was listed as Frederick W Mack aged 13, who was learning engineering. Ten years later William Henry Mack was 52, and Alice Marie Mack was 45, when they were still living in Yardley. With them on that occasion was Sidney James Mack aged 17, Beatrice Ann Mack aged 14, Lilian Irene Mack aged 11, Arthur Henry Mack who was eight, Horace Charles Mack who was four and Walter Harold Mack who was one year old.

56P1

William Collett

Born in 1883 at Birmingham

56P2

Elsie Collett

Born in 1884 at Small Heath

56P3

Edith Collett

Born in 1886 at Birmingham

56P4

Frederick William Collett

Born in 1887 at Birmingham

56P5

Alice Collett

Born in 1889 at Yardley

56O4

Emma Sophia Collett was born at Erdington in 1859, the third child of Robert Collett and his first wife Sophia Bradley. She was recorded as being one year old in the Aston & Erdington census of 1861, and was 11 years old in 1871 when she was living with her father and his second wife at Market Hall in Erdington. Upon leaving school Emma entered domestic service and, according to the census in 1881, she was employed as a general servant by hotel keeper Henry C Gill at the Pack Horse Hotel at Jordangate in Macclesfield. Emma Collett was 21, but strangely she gave her place of birth as Worcester, as did her sister Emma (below), that same year.

Emma Sophia Collett was married just over five years later when her marriage to Frederick James Kennerley was recorded at Aston register office (Ref. 6d 552) during the last quarter of 1866 with the two witnesses being Martha Dawes and William Ellis. The Kennerley family later emigrated to New Zealand, sometime before 1890. They lived in the Bendigo area of Victoria and had eight children. The second child, Thomas Kennerley, died at Gallipoli, while his mother Emma Sophia Kennerley nee Collett died at Bendigo during 1945.

56O5

Alice Collett was born at Erdington in 1861 not long after the census day on 7^th April. She was the daughter of Robert Collett, and his first wife Sophia who would appear to have died either during the birth or shortly thereafter. Following the death of her mother, her father re-married, and so by 1871 Alice Collett, aged nine years, was living at Market Hall in Erdington with her father and stepmother. Alice was around two years old when her elderly grandfather, who had been living with her father for some time, passed away. Like her older sister Emma (above), Alice also worked in domestic service when she left school and, also like Emma, she also moved north to gain employment.

The census in 1881 placed Alice M A Collett, aged 19 and from Worcester (sic) working as a domestic servant for her aunt Sarah Skinner Gould, nee Collett of Worcester, the youngest sister of her father. Sarah’s husband was licenced victualler John Gould, whose home was at 16 Lancashire Hill in Heaton Norris, Stockport, just ten miles from where Alice’s sister Emma was working in Macclesfield. It was eight years after that when Alice married George Wattrus during 1889 with whom she had five children. The Birmingham census of 1911 listed the completed family as George who was 50, Alice who was 49, Emily Wattrus who was 21, Alice Wattrus who was 18, Thomas Wattrus who was 13, James Wattrus who was 10, and Frederick Wattrus who was five years old. Alice Wattrus nee Collett died in 1938 at the age of 76.

56O6

Edith Collett was born at Birmingham in 1871, but after the census day on 2^nd April that year, the only known child of Robert Collett and his second wife Mary Ann Collett. In 1881, at the age of nine years, Edith was the only child living with her parents at 36 Butler Street within the Aston area of the city, all of Robert’s children from his first marriage having left home by then. Sometime after 1881, Edith’s parents left Aston and moved from the north side of Birmingham to the south side of the city. By 1891, when Edith from Birmingham was 19, she was still living with her parents at George Street in Hay Mills, South Yardley. It was there also there two years later that her father died in early 1893. However, he did live long enough to attend his daughter’s wedding when Edith married William Henry Bingham, the event being recorded at Aston register office (Ref. 6d 420) during the second quarter of 1892. The witnesses were Martha Emma Eldred and Thomas Gilmore.

Edith had presented William with two children by the end of the century although William himself was absent from the family’s home in 1901, perhaps because he was serving with the British Army in South Africa on that occasion. Edith Bingham from Warwickshire was 27 rather than 29 and was living within the St Luke district of Birmingham with her two children and William’s sister. Herbert Bingham was three, Lily E Bingham was one year old, and Lily Bingham was 19. Two more children were added to the family after 1901 and on the day of the next census in 1911 the full family was residing at 32 Coventry Road in Hay Hills, Yardley. William Henry Bingham was 38, Edith was 37, Herbert was 13, Lily was 11, Doris Bingham was five, and George Bingham was three. It was over forty years later that William Henry Bingham of Coventry Road in Birmingham passed away when administration of his personal effects valued at £838 17 Shillings and 10 Pence was granted to Edith Bingham.

56O7

Thomas Collett was born at Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, in 1855, his birth recorded there during the second quarter of the year (Ref. 6c 7). He was the eldest child of George Collett and Jane Gould who was baptised at Bromsgrove on 6^th July 1855. At the time of the census in 1861, when Thomas was five years old, he and his family were living at Chestnut Walk in the village of Claines, to the north of the city of Worcester. A double tragedy hit the family two years later, when Thomas’ mother and baby brother Charles both died, leaving Thomas and his brother George living alone with their widowed father in 1871, by which time the three of them were living in Birmingham St Martin, where Thomas was 15.

It was around six or seven years later that Thomas Collett married Sarah Ann from Birmingham, with whom he had a total of eight children, and all of them born in Birmingham. The census in 1881 placed the family living at Court 2, No. 1 Vaughton Street, Highgate within the Birmingham parish of Aston, and not far from Highgate Park. At that time in his life Thomas Collett, aged 25 and from Worcester, was a nail caster, and living there with him was his wife Sarah A Collett, who was 24 and from Birmingham, and their first two children Thomas who was two years old, and George who was seven months old. Also living with the family was Thomas’ widowed father George Collett, a carpenter from Worcester. Three more children were added to the family during the next decade, during which time Thomas’ father left the family home, to be replaced by Thomas’ brother George, who was living with the family in 1891.

The census return that year recorded the family again residing at Vaughton Street in Aston (Deritend), sub-described as 2 Court, 1 House. Thomas Collett from Bromsgrove was 36 and his occupation was that of a nail caster. His wife Sarah A Collett from Birmingham was 35 and their five children were listed as Thomas Collett who was 12, George Collett who was 10, Charles Collett who was seven – all three of them attending the local school, plus Florence Collett who was four and Alice Collett who was two years old. Thomas’s unmarried younger brother, George Collett was 30, who was another nail caster, most likely working alongside his older sibling.

During the final decade of the century another three children were born into the family. By the time of the census in March 1901, the whole family was together and still living in the Aston area of Birmingham, not far from where Thomas’ brother George (below) was also living with his family. On that occasion Thomas Collett from Bromsgrove, aged 45, was a retired nail caster, so he may have been forced to retire through some injury or ailment. All the other members of his family were recorded as having been born in Birmingham, and they were his wife Sarah Ann aged 45, Thomas who was 22 and a bricklayer, George who was 20 and a gun-barrel parts driller, Charles who 17 and working at a cycle factory, Florence who 14 and a tailoress, Alice who was 12, William who was nine, Harold who was three and Sydney who was one month old. Thomas had obviously been quite successful during his life, because the family employed a servant.

Another family move took place during the first few years of the new century since, by April 1911, Thomas and Sarah Ann were living with the four youngest members of their family in Balsall Heath within the Kings Norton registration district to the south of Birmingham. Thomas Collett from Bromsgrove was 56 and a retired nail caster when, as before, every one of the other members of the household had been born in Birmingham. They were his wife Sarah Ann Collett who was 54, and their children Alice Collett who was 22, William Collett who was 19 and an apprentice at a granite works, Harold Collett who was 13, and Sydney Collett who was 10 years old, both still attending school.

Thirty-one-years later, Thomas was still living the Birmingham area of the country, when his death was recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 6d 140) during the last quarter of 1942 at the age of 87. When his Will was proved at Birmingham on 26^th January 1943, the two beneficiaries were Alice Levein and Mark Levein, his youngest daughter, and her husband. The documentation confirmed that date that he died was 23^rd November 1942.

56P6

Thomas Collett

Born in 1878 at Birmingham

56P7

George Edmund Collett

Born in 1880 at Birmingham

56P8

Charles Collett

Born in 1883 at Birmingham

56P9

Florence Collett

Born in 1886 at Birmingham

56P10

Alice J Collett

Born in 1888 at Birmingham

56P11

William Collett

Born in 1891 at Birmingham

56P12

Harold John Collett

Born in 1897 at Birmingham

56P13

Sydney Albert Collett

Born in 1901 at Birmingham

56O8

George Collett was born at Worcester in 1857. In the census of 1861, he was recorded as George Collitt, who was three years old and who was living with his parents George and Jane Collitt in the Claines area of Worcester. George was only a few years old when his mother died and, around that same time, his youngest brother Charles (below) also passed away. Rather oddly George was recorded as Samuel Collett, aged 13, in the Birmingham St Martin census of 1871, when he was living there in lodgings with his widowed father George, and his older brother Thomas (above). When his brother Thomas later became a married man, their father George went to live with him, as confirmed in the census of 1881. However, no record of George or Samuel Collett aged around 23 has been found in the same census.

What is known is that, as George Collett, he was living with his brother Thomas Collett at his home in Vaughton Street in Aston, Deritend, at the time of the census in 1891, but instead of his age being recorded as 33, it was written as 30, when he was a nail caster working with his brother Thomas. It was during the last three months of that census year, when the marriage of George Collett and Alice Walker was recorded at Birmingham (Ref. 6d 150) during the final quarter of 1891. The later census return revealed that George and Alice had already produced five or six children by 1901, although not all of them had survived. That year the family was living at 7 Leopold Street in Deritend, where George Collett from Worcester, aged 44, was managing his own fish shop, as indicated by the words “fish shop keeper having his own account”. His wife Alice was 37 and his three surviving children had all been born in Birmingham. They were children were Thomas who was six, William who was four and George who was three years old.

It was again at 7 Leopold Street, Deritend in Birmingham that the family was living ten years later, by which time George and Alice had added a daughter to their family. Once again though, as in previous years, George’s stated age did not correspond exactly with the year of his birth. On that day George Collett from Worcester said he was 55, when he was working as an iron caster. His wife Alice Collett from Birmingham said she was 50 instead of 47, having said she was 37 in the previous census return. The census return in April 1911 confirmed that she and George had been married for 22 years, during which time Alice had given birth to eight children, although only four of them were still living. Those four children were recorded as Thomas Collett who was 16, and William Collett who was 14 – both working as a plumber’s assistant, George Collett who was 13 and still at school, and Florence Collett who was only five years old.

Having searched the births and infant deaths at the Aston register office in Birmingham, it seems highly likely that two of the deceased four children were Elsie Collett and Sarah Ann Collett, the details for which are as follows. Elsie was born in 1893 and was six years of age when her death was recorded at Birmingham register office (Reg. 6d 14) during the last three months of 1899. The birth of Sarah Ann Collett was recorded at Aston (Ref. 6d 17) during the third quarter of 1902 and she was three years old when her death was recorded (Ref. 6d 309) during the third quarter of 1905, just a few months before the birth of George and Alice’s last child was born.

56P14

Thomas Collett

Born in 1895 at Birmingham

56P15

William Collett

Born in 1896 at Birmingham

56P16

George Collett

Born in 1897 at Birmingham

56P17

Florence Collett

Born in 1905 at Birmingham

56O9

Charles Gould Collett was born at Worcester in 1859, the youngest of the three sons of George Collet and his wife Jane Gould. And it was in Worcester that he and his family were living at the time of the census in 1861. Tragically, Charles Gould Collett was three years old when he died at North Barbourne in Worcester, the same year that his mother Jane also died. It was on Tuesday 15^th September 1863 that he died after sustaining severe burns due to picking up a burning piece of wood that had fallen from the fire. He was buried at St Stephen’s Church in the Barbourne area of Worcester on 18^th September. His mother Jane and an older brother received bad burns to the hands while trying to extinguish the flames. A newspaper report (reproduced below) of the event also stated that his mother had been ‘recently confined’ so confirming that there was another child for the family, although neither mother nor child survived. The family was residing in a dwelling opposite St Stephen’s Church in North Barbourne at that time, and it was there that Charles’ mother Jane was buried exactly a month later, on 18^th Oct 1863.

“A shocking accident, which has since terminated fatally, happened to a child named Charles Gould Collett aged three years and eight months, at Worcester, on Tuesday morning last. The child’s father, George Collett is a carpenter residing opposite St Stephen’s Church, North Barbourne. The little fellow came down stairs with an elder brother, who proceeded to light the fire. Some lighted wood fell out of the grate and the deceased laid hold of one of the pieces which, by some means, set fire to his night clothes, and he was soon enveloped in flames. He then ran into the back kitchen, screaming for his mother. The mother, who had recently been confined ran down stairs, and with the assistance of the elder brother extinguished the flames. The child’s night clothes were completely consumed. The father, who was at work near at hand, and a neighbour immediately conveyed him to the infirmary, where his injuries were promptly attended to, but he was found to be so dreadfully burned that not the slightest hopes were entertained from the first of his recovery. The hands of the mother and the elder brother were badly burned in extinguishing the flames. The poor child died about five o’clock that same day.”

56P1

William Collett was born at Birmingham in 1883, the first-born child of Frederick William Collett and his wife Alice Marie Herbert, but sadly he died that same year.

56P2

Elsie Collett was born at Birmingham in 1884, the eldest surviving child of Frederick and Alice Collett. Else was only four years old when her father died, two years later her mother married Edward McHugh. By the time of the census in 1891 Elsie was living at Hay Mills, in South Yardley with her mother and her brother Fred (below) at the home of her stepfather Edward McHugh. On that occasion she was recorded as Elsie McHugh aged six years, but just over one month later Edward McHugh died, after which Elsie’s mother married William Henry Mack. This photograph of Elsie was taken around 1930.

The family then remained living at Hay Mills, where Elsie’s half-brother Sidney Mack was born, before the family moved to Leicester, where they lived for the next five years before returning to Yardley in Birmingham. Elsie Collett (Elsie McHugh in 1891) had also gone with the Mack family when they moved to Leicester, but remained there when her mother and Henry Mack went back to Birmingham. That was confirmed in the census of 1901, when Edith Collett was recorded as being 16 and from Small Heath, near Yardley in Birmingham, who was working as a general domestic service at a house in Chancery Street in Leicester.

It may be significant that also living in that same area of Leicester, at that time, but not with Edith, was 25 years old Gertrude Annie Collett, also from Small Heath in Birmingham. So, the question might be, were they related, such as being cousins. No other person listed in the census that year, either male or female, was recorded as having been born at Small Heath. Just less than eight years later, Elsie returned to where her mother was living, when she married Harry Grainger on 20^th February 1909, at Christ Church, the parish church in Yardley. Once married the couple continued to reside in Leicester, first living at Mountcastle Road, and later at Raymond Road. During those years Elsie presented Harry with five children.

At the time of the census in April 1911, Elsie Grainger, aged 26, was living in Leicester with her husband Harry who was 28, when she was expecting the birth of their first child. Lilian Grainger was born during the month of May 1911, and was followed by Henry George Grainger (born December 1912), Frank Leslie Grainger (born September 1917), and then twins Harold Walter Grainger and Arthur Herbert Grainger, who were born during November 1920. Elise Grainger nee Collett died during October 1944 at the age of 60.

56P3

Edith Collett was born at Birmingham in 1886, the second daughter of Frederick and Alice Collett. Following the death of her father when Edith was just two years old, and the subsequent marriage of her mother to Edward McHugh two years later, Edith went to live with her paternal grandparents Robert and Mary Ann Collett at their home in George Street, Hay Mills in South Yardley. At the time of the census in 1891 she was recorded with them at five years of age. This photo was taken with her husband on their wedding day in 1909.

After her grandfather Robert died, Edith continued to live with her grandmother Mary Ann, who eventually married Lambert Longmore, and it was with him that she continued to live after her grandmother died. It was only on the occasion her wedding in 1909 that she gave up living with the elderly Lambert Longmore. Edith Collett married Charles Lee who was a grocer, whose shop was at Devon Street in the Saltley district of Birmingham up to 1922. By April 1911 Edith Lee, aged 25, and Charles Lee, aged 30, were living there with their first child Edith Elizabeth Lee who was one year old. Over the following years a further four children were added to their family, but tragically only Edith and her brother Frederick Lewis Lee, who was born in January 1919, survived beyond infancy.

Charles Lee (pictured on the right on the day of his wedding) suffered with a weak chest, so he finally sold the family shop. He and Edith and their two children then left Birmingham and moved Naunton, near Tewkesbury, in 1922 with all their possessions piled onto a horse and cart. Once settled in Naunton, Edith and Charles set up a village shop, which Edith continued to run with the help of her daughter. Edith Lee nee Collett died on her eighty-seventh birthday 1973, following which she was buried in the churchyard at Ripple just north of Tewkesbury. Her daughter Edith Elizabeth Lee died in 1996, while her son Frederick Lewis Lee passed away in November 2009 at the age of 91.

It was Frederick Lewis Lee who was the grandfather of Kate Harding, with whose help and assistance this family line has been established.

56P4

Frederick William Collett, who was known as Fred was born at Birmingham in 1887, the only surviving son of Frederick William Collett and his wife Alice Marie Herbert. He was barely one year old when his father died, at which time his mother was expecting the birth of her next child. Two years later Frederick’s mother married Edward McHugh, and according to the census for Hay Mills in South Yardley, Frederick was listed with his mother and stepfather as Fred McHugh aged three years. This photograph of Frederick was taken around the time of his wedding day in 1913, and was kindly supplied by Kate Harding.

So far, no positive identification has been made of Frederick in the census of 1901, when he would have been 13 years old. However, it is known that he became a merchant sailor and that it was during 1907 that he first went to sea. He sent many postcards back to his family, requesting newspapers and commenting on the football scores. He also had an interest in pigeons, some of which he had in cages at home. It was during the first three months of 1913, when the marriage of Frederick W Collett and May A Andrews was recorded at Kings Norton register office (Ref. 6d 112). Their rather short marriage produced two daughters for the couple. Later that same year, and with the approaching World War, Frederick enlisted with the Royal Navy in 1913, and became Able Seaman F W Collett, SS/1669, and was assigned to the cruiser HMS Good Hope.

Tragically on 1^st November 1914, Frederick William Collett died when the HMS Good Hope was sunk by two German cruisers, the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, off the coast of Chile during the Battle of Coronel. His naval records gave his father’s name as Frederick William Collett of Worcester, while his wife was stated as being May A Collett of 41 Alfred Street in Kings Heath in Birmingham. His name is amongst those listed on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial, ref. 2.

Sadly, just a few weeks prior to his death, his wife May gave birth to their second child, Edna, the happy event taking place at Alfred Street in Kings Heath. Edna was known as Maidie for most of her life. Although nothing much is so far known about what happened to May Angelina Collett and her two girls after the death of their father, this delightful picture of Lily and Maidie was taken during 1915/1916, and was kindly provided by Kate Harding, as were all the pictures in this family line. What is known is that May Angelina Andrews was born on 7^th July 1893, following which her birth was recorded in Worcestershire at King’s Norton register office (Ref. 6a 409) during the third quarter of that year.

It is known that May never remarried after losing Fred, but that she did have a gentleman friend for much of the second half of her life, who was some years younger than her. He was a fireman during the Second World War and they met when her house was bombed. The death of May Angelina Collett was recorded at the Dorset Poole register office (Ref. d15e) during the third quarter of 1994 when she was 101 years old. As regards her two daughters, the birth of Lily, as she was known, was recorded as Lilian M Collett at Bromsgrove register office (Ref. 6c 70) during the third quarter of 1913, while the birth of Edna M Collett was recorded at Kings Norton register office (Ref. 6d 118) during the last quarter of 1914. The birth record for both girls confirmed the mother’s maiden-name was Andrews. Neither of them ever married, when Lily died during 2004, and Maidie passed away three years later in 2007.

56Q1

Lilian M Collett (Lily)

Born in 1913 at Kings Heath

56Q2

Edna M Collett (Maidie)

Born in 1914 at Kings Heath

56P5

Alice Collett was born at Yardley in 1889, just over five months after her father Frederick William Collett had died in July 1888. Having already lost her husband, Alice’s mother then had to endure the agony of seeing her youngest daughter die not long after she was born, the second of her five to perish while still a baby.

56P6

Thomas Collett was born at Birmingham near the end of 1878, and that may have occurred when his parents Thomas and Sarah Ann were living at No. 1 Vaughton Street, Highgate in the Deritend area of Birmingham. The birth of Thomas Collett was recorded at Aston (Ref. 6d 259) during the first quarter of 1879. It was there at Court 2, that he and his family were living in 1881, when Thomas was two years old. His family was since living in that area ten years later when Thomas was 12, and by March 1901 he and his entire family were still living in the Deritend area, to the south of Birmingham city centre. At that time in his life Thomas Collett, aged 22, was a bachelor who was employed as a bricklayer. Shortly after the census day he married Lilian, although a record of their marriage has not yet been found. However, when their daughter Lilian was born, her name was recorded as Lily, while the marriage of Thomas Collett and Lily Wright was recorded at Kings Norton register office (Ref. 6c 207) during the fourth quarter of 1901. And, as with their daughter’s switch of names, so too was wife Lily recorded as Lilian in 1911. On this basis, and the fact that the family was living at Kings Norton in 1911, it has been assumed that Thomas and Lilian were, in fact Thomas and Lily Wright. Furthermore, the birth of the first child was recorded at Deritend, to parents Thomas and Lily Collett.

During the nine years following the couple’s wedding day, their marriage produced six children, and all of them born while the family was living in Birmingham. Following the birth of the fourth child, the family was recorded at Balsall Heath, within the parish of Kings Heath, which subsequently absorbed into the expanding county borough of Birmingham. According to the census in 1911, Thomas Collett was 32 and a bricklayer and a builder, his wife Lilian Collett was 28, and their four children were Thomas Collett who was nine, Lilian Collett who was seven, Alfred Collett who was four, and Muriel Collett who was two years old. All six members of the household were confirmed as having been born in Birmingham. By that time, the family had suffered the loss of son Daniel, whose birth and death were recorded at Aston register office (Ref. 6d 346 and 6d 69) during the third and fourth quarters of 1905.

Lilian may also have been expecting the arrival of the couple’s last child on that day, with the birth of Susan E Collett recorded at Aston register office (Ref. 6d 122) during the second quarter of 1911. Tragically, she suffered an infant death, with her passing also recorded at Aston (Ref. 6d 84) during the third quarter of 1913. Thomas appears to have lived all his life in the Birmingham area of the country, since it was during the last three months of 1931 that the death of Thomas Collett was recorded at the Birmingham South register office (Ref. 6d 54), when he was 52 years old.

56Q3

Thomas Collett

Born in 1902 at Birmingham

56Q4

Lily (Lilian) Collett

Born in 1903 at Birmingham

56Q5

Daniel Collett

Born in 1905 at Birmingham; died 1905

56Q6

Alfred Herbert Collett

Born in 1907 at Birmingham

56Q7

Muriel Collett

Born in 1909 at Birmingham

56Q8

Susan E Collett

Born in 1911 at Birmingham; died 1913

56P7

George Edmund Collett was born at Birmingham during September 1880, his birth recorded at Aston (Ref. 6d 254) during the last quarter of the year. It is very likely that he was born at Court 2, No. 1 Vaughton Street, Highgate in the Deritend area of Birmingham, where he and his family were living in April 1881. The census at that time recorded George Collett as seven months old. Ten years later he was still living in the same area of Birmingham with his family when he was 10 years old. It was the same situation at the time of the next census in 1901, when the Collett family was still living in the Deritend of Birmingham but, by which time George Collett, aged 20, was working as a gun barrel parts driller in the Aston area of the city.

Three years later, the marriage of George Edmund Collett and Ellen Elizabeth Weale was recorded at Kings Norton register office (Ref. 6c 108) during the second quarter of 1904. In the census of 1911, George Edmund Collett from Birmingham was 30 and a commission agent working for a turf accountant, when he was living in the Deritend area of Birmingham with his wife Ellen Elizabeth Collett who was also 30, and their son George Edmund Collett who was five years old. Both were recorded as having been born at Birmingham. Two more children were added to their family, the first of them later that same year, which confirmed the family home was on Alcester Street in Deritend. George E Collett was 68 when he died, his birth recorded at Birmingham (Ref. 9c 99) during the last three months of 1948. Nine years after being widowed, the death of Ellen E Collett was also recorded at Birmingham (Ref. 9c 55) during the final quarter of 1957.

56Q9

George Edmund Collett

Born in 1905 at Birmingham

56Q10

Evelyn Frances Sarah Ann Collett

Born in 1911 at Birmingham

56Q11

Hilda Florence Collett

Born in 1916 at Birmingham

56P8

Charles Collett was born at Birmingham in 1883, the third child of Thomas and Sarah Ann Collett. He was seven years old in the 1891 census for Deritend, and was 17 years old in 1901, when he and his family were living in Aston, when he was working for a cycle maker. Ten years later, Charles was no longer living with his family, instead he was described as the cousin of head of the household general post office postman Sidney Ernest Tapworth of Aston Manor who was 31, and his wife Charlotte Maria Tapworth of Birmingham who was 23. Bachelor Charles Collett from Birmingham was 26 and a general labourer, who was staying with the couple and their two very young children at Aston Manor.

Charles remains to be a mystery man, whose birth may well have taken place on 25^th December 1883, when the birth was recorded at Aston (Ref. 6d 258) during the first three months of 1884, but as Arthur Charles Collett. Upon his death, recorded at Birmingham (Ref. 32 34) in the spring of 1977, when he was 93 years old, his name was recorded as Charles Arthur Collett.

56P9

Florence Collett was born at Birmingham in 1886, the fourth child and eldest daughter of Thomas and Sarah Ann Collett, whose birth was recorded at Aston (Ref. 6d 195) during the fourth quarter of the year. She was probably born at Vaughton Street in Highgate, Deritend, and it was still in that area of Birmingham that she was living with her parents in 1891 when she was four years old. Ten years later, in March 1901, she had already left school and had started work as a tailoress. Florence Collett, aged 14, was still living with her parents on that occasion, although the family have moved a few miles north into the Aston area of Birmingham. Just over three years later, the marriage of Florence Collett and Albert Ernest Elkington was recorded at Aston register office (Ref. 6d 356) during the third quarter of 1904. And it was within the Aston district of Birmingham that the childless couple was living in 1911 when Albert E Elkington was 28 and working at a cycle accessories shop as an engineer sharpener. His wife Florence was also recorded as being 28 when, in fact, she was 24 years old, with them both born in Birmingham.

56P10

Alice J Collett was born at Birmingham towards the end of 1888, her birth recorded at Aston (Ref. 6d 232) during the first quarter of 1889. She may have been born at Vaughton Street in Aston (Deritend), where her family was living in 1891, 2 Court, 1 House, when Alice was two years old. She was 12 years of age in 1901 and 22 in 1911, when she had no occupation and was unmarried and still living at the family home which, by then, was in Balsall Heath. It was towards the end of 1915 that the marriage of Alice J Collett and Mark L Levein was recorded at Kings Norton register office (Ref. 6d 130) during the last three months of that year. Mark had been born at Kimberley in South Africa and was the son of Joseph and Yetta Levein of Birmingham. He was 24 years old and was working as a clerk for a hardware merchant in 1911, when he was still living at Balsall Heath with his family. During the following year, the couple’s only known child was born, the birth of Marcus H T C Levein was recorded at Kings Norton (Ref. 6d 115) during the last quarter of 1916, when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett. Upon the death of Alice’s father in 1942, his Will was proved at Birmingham on 26^th January 1943, when the two main beneficiaries were Alice Levein and Mark Levein.

56P11

William Collett was born at Birmingham in 1891, his birth recorded at Aston (Ref. 6d 354) during the third quarter of 1891. He was nine years old in the Aston census of 1901 and was 19 and an apprentice at a granite works in 1911, when he was still living with his family at Balsall Heath. Ten years later, the marriage of William Collett and Alice Moore was recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 6d 45) during the second quarter of 1921. Once they were married, they set up home on Ravenhurst Street in the Deritend area of Birmingham, where their children were born. William and Alice most likely lived all their life together in Birmingham, since it was there, during the last three months of 1944, that the death of William Collett was recorded (Ref. 6d 148), when he was 53 years of age.

56Q12

Leslie Thomas Collett

Born in 1922 at Birmingham

56Q13

Edna Alice Collett

Born in 1926 at Birmingham

56Q14

Albert John Collett

Born in 1928 at Birmingham

56P12

Harold John Collett was born at Birmingham in 1897, his birth recorded at Aston register office (Ref. 2d 257) during the last quarter of the year. In addition to that, it was at the Church of St John the Baptist in Deritend that the birth of Harold John Collett was written in the parish register as 15^th October 1897, a son of Thomas and Sarah Ann Collett. In the Aston census of 1901, Harold was three years old and was 13 years of age in the Balsall Heath census of 1911, when he was still at school.

56P13

Sydney Albert Collett was born at Birmingham on 16^th February 1901, the last child of Thomas and Sarah Ann Collett, his birth recorded within the registers held at the Church of St John the Baptist in Deritend, and at the register office in Aston (Ref. 6d 149). He was one month old in the Aston census of 1901 and was ten years old in 1911, by which time the family was living at Balsall Heath. It was twenty years later, that the marriage of Sydney A Collett and Blanche L Lackey was recorded at Birmingham South register office (Ref. 6d 29) during the second quarter of 1930. Around thirty months after their wedding day, Blanche presented Sydney with their only child, with the tragic loss of her husband when their son was only two years old. The premature death Sydney A Collett was recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 6d 51) during the second quarter of 1935.

56Q15

Ronald S T Collett

Born in 1932 at Birmingham

56P14

Thomas Collett was born at Birmingham in 1895 and was very likely the second child of George Collett and Alice Walker, but only one of four to survive. His birth was recorded at Aston register office (Ref. 6d 175) during the second quarter of 1895. By the time he was six years old, he and his family were living at 7 Leopold Street in Deritend, where they were still living in 1911, when Thomas Collett was 16 years of age and already working as a plumber’s assistant. Around 1926, Thomas appears to have entered in a relationship with Charlotte Griffin who then discovered she was with-child. Prior to the birth of the first of their two children, the marriage of Thomas Collett and Charlotte Griffin was recorded at Birmingham South register office (Ref. 6d 147) during the third quarter of 1926. It was during the following quarter of 1926 that the birth of daughter Mary was also recorded at Birmingham South (Ref. 6d 61), when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Griffin. Both daughters were later married in the Solihull area of the West Midlands, where perhaps Thomas and Charlotte had later taken the family.

56Q16

Mary D Collett

Born in 1926 at Birmingham

56Q17

Sylvia A Collett

Born in 1934 at Birmingham

56P15

William Collett was born at Birmingham in 1896 and was another son of George and Alice Collett, his birth recorded at Aston (Ref. 6d 231) during the third quarter of that year. He was four years old in 1901 and 14 years of age in 1911 when, on both occasions he was with his family at 7 Leopold Street in Deritend, where William was a plumber’s assistant in the latter census, working alongside his older brother Thomas (above).

56P16

George Collett was born at Birmingham in 1898, the son of George and Alice Collett. It is likely that he was born at 7 Leopold Street in Deritend where he and his family were living in 1901. His birth was recorded at the Aston register office (Ref. 6d 348) during the first quarter of 1898 and he was three years of age in the March census return of 1901. He was still living at 7 Leopold Street in Deritend with his family ten years later in 1911 when George Collett was 13. In 1922 George Collett aged 24 was arrested and taken in to custody as being the perpetrator of a crime at Towcester in Northamptonshire. He was later convicted by the judge at court in Birmingham, as published on 19^th April 1922.

56P17

Florence Collett was born at Birmingham on 15^th December 1905, the last of the eight children of George Collett and Alice Walker, who was five years old in the Deritend census of 1911. Her birth was recorded at Aston register office (Ref. 6d 230) during the first three months of 1906. Florence was very nearly twenty-one-years of age when her marriage to William Hancox was recorded at Birmingham South register office (Ref. 6d 91) during the fourth quarter of 1926. William and Florence had five children the birth of whom were all recorded at Birmingham, their mother’s maiden-name confirmed as Collett. They were James T Hancox in 1927, Patricia Hancox in 1930, Irene Hancox in 1932, Margaret R Hancox in 1935, and William L Hancox in 1938. Florence Hancox was still residing within the Birmingham area when she died towards the end of 1973, her death recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 9c 10).

56Q3

Thomas Collett was born at Birmingham on 2^nd April 1902, around nine months after his parents Thomas Collett and Lily Wright were marriage, and was baptised at the Church of St John the Baptist in Deritend. He was nine years old in 1911, when he was living with his family at Balsall Heath in 1911.

56Q4

Lily Collett, who was also known as Lilian, was born at Birmingham in 1903, her birth recorded at Aston register office (Ref. 6d 283) during the third quarter of the year. She was the second of the six children of Thomas and Lily Collett. Curiously, in the Balsall Heath census of 1911, both mother and daughter were recorded as Lilian Collett, when Lilian was seven years of age.

56Q6

Alfred Herbert Collett was born at Birmingham in 1907, where his birth was recorded (Ref. 6d 318) during the last three months of the year, another son of Thomas Collett and Lily Wright. It was simply as Alfred Collett aged four years that he was included in the census of 1911, when he and his family was residing within the Balsall Heath area of Birmingham.

56Q7

Muriel Collett was born at Birmingham on 17^th August 1909, and was two years old in the census of 1911, by which time the family was living in the Balsall Heath area of Birmingham, where she may have been born. She never married and was still living in the Birmingham area when she died, her death recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 32 146) during the spring of 1982.

56Q9

George Edmund Collett was born at Birmingham on 15^th November 1905 and was baptised at Deritend on 6^th December 1905, and was the first-born child of George Edmund Collett and Ellen Elizabeth Weale.

56Q10

Evelyn Frances Sarah Ann Collett was born at Birmingham later in the census year of 1911. It was at Aston register office (Ref. 6d 69) where her birth was recorded during the fourth quarter of 1911, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Weale. She was baptised at Deritend on 3^rd December 1911, the record of the baptism also confirming that she had been on born on November 1991, the daughter of George Edmund Collett and his wife Ellen Elizabeth of Alcester Street in Deritend.

56Q11

Hilda Florence Collett was born at Birmingham in 1916, the last child of George and Ellen Collett, her birth recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 6d 89) during the third quarter of the year, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Weale. As with her two older siblings, Hilda was also baptised at Deritend on 19^th June 1916, when her date of birth was recorded at 27^th May 1916.

56Q12

Leslie Thomas Collett was born at Birmingham in 1922, where his birth was recorded (Ref. 6d 10) during the second quarter of the year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Moore. Upon being baptised at Bordesley (Deritend) on 30^th April 1922, his date of birth was confirmed as 11^th April 1922, and his parents as William and Alice Collett of Ravenhurst Street in Deritend.

56Q13

Edna Alice Collett was born at Birmingham in 1926, with her birth recorded at the Birmingham South register office (Ref. 6d 50) during the last quarter of the year, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Moore. She was subsequently baptised in Birmingham on 20^th October 1926, and confirmed as the daughter of William and Alice Collett.

56Q14

Albert John Collett was born at Birmingham in 1928 and his birth was also recorded at the Birmingham South register office (Ref. 6d 9) during the third quarter of the year. His mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Moore and he was baptised in Birmingham on 12^th September 1928, another son of William and Alice Collett.

56Q15

Ronald S T Collett was born in 1932 at Birmingham, where his birth was recorded (Ref. 6d 127) during the fourth quarter of the year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Lackey. He was twenty-one-years old when the marriage of Ronald S T Collett and Marjorie M Payne was recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 9c 11) during the first quarter of 1954. Their marriage produced two children, both born at Birmingham and, in each case, the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Payne. The birth of their son was recorded at Birmingham

56R1

Estelle R Collett

Born in 1955 at Birmingham

56R2

Timothy R Collett

Born in 1958 at Birmingham

56Q16

Mary D Collett was born at Birmingham in 1926, the first of the two daughters of Thomas Collett and Charlotte Griffin, her birth recorded at Birmingham South register office (Ref. 6d 61) during the last three months of the year, and only a few months after her parents were married there. It was at Solihull register office (Ref. 9c 131) that the marriage of Mary D Collett and Edmund Kitowski during the fourth quarter of 1949. No record of any child has been found.

56Q17

Sylvia A Collett was born at Birmingham in 1934, her birth recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 6d 49) during the third quarter of the year, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Griffin. Like her sister Mary (above), the marriage of Sylvia A Collett and Colin L Johnson was also recorded at Solihull (Ref. 9c 10) during the third quarter of 1956.

56R1

Estelle R Collett was the eldest of the two children of Ronald and Marjorie Collett, her birth recorded at Birmingham (Ref. 9c 3) during the second quarter of 1955, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Payne. She was twenty-three-years of age when the marriage of Estelle R Collett and Junior P Williams was recorded at Birmingham early in 1979 (Ref. 32 32).

56R2

Timothy R Collett was born at Birmingham in 1958, where his birth was recorded (Ref. 9c 93) during the second quarter of 1958, and when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Payne. It was much later in his life when the marriage of Timothy R Collett and Lalage R F John was recorded at High Peak register office in Derbyshire (Vol. 359) during the second quarter of 1997.

Appendix A – The Collett families of Bidford-on-Avon, Broom, and Cleeve Prior

The small settlement that is Broom, lies immediately north of Bidford-on-Avon where the parish church is the Church of St Laurence. It is interesting that some of the Collett children, who were baptised at Bidford-on-Avon, were later recorded in the various census records as having been born at Broom, which may be an indication that the Church of St Matthew in Broom did not exist at the time of their birth. Cleeve Prior is about two miles south of Bidford-on-Avon.

In a sub-section to this appendix, details are provided regarding John and Mary Collett (Ref. 56Bl1), whose three children were William, who was born at Cleeve Prior, George, who was born at Aston Cantlow, and Sarah. The structure of that family in 1841 was very similar to the family below of John Collett (Ref. 56Al2) and his wife Mary from Littleton who were living at Aston Cantlow in 1851, although the ages of the individual members of the family are not compatible.

56Al1

William Collett was born around 1775. He was married to Jane, according to the baptism records for their two known sons, who were baptised at Binton, about three miles to the east of Broom. At the time of the first national census in June 1841 William Collett was 65, and his wife Jane was 60, when they were living alone in Binton. During the 1840s William Collett died, leaving Jane to be recorded as a widow from Wellesbourne who still living at Binton in 1851 when she was 77. Staying with her on that occasion was her youngest son William from Binton who was a farm labourer of 41.

56Am1

John Collett

Born in 1808 at Binton

56Am2

William Collett

Born in 1809 at Binton

56Al2

In addition to the John Collett born at Binton in 1808, another John Collett from Binton has been discovered, and he was born there around 1820. By 1851 he was a married man of 30 who was living with his family at Aston Cantlow, three miles north of Binton, where he was an agricultural labourer. His wife was Mary from Littleton in Worcestershire who was also 30, and their two children were William Collett who was born at Cleeve Prior, and Sarah Collett who had been born at St Martins in Birmingham. The ages of the two children appear to have been defaced on the census return so cannot be deciphered, but were presumably under ten years.

56Am3

William Collett

Born in 1845 at Cleeve Prior, recorded at Evesham

56Am4

Sarah Collett

Born circa 1848 at Birmingham

56Am1

John Collett was the brother of William Collett (below) and was baptised on 20^th March 1808 at the Church of St Peter in Binton, the son of William and Jane Collett. However, in every census from 1851 onwards, he was living at Broom near Bidford-on-Avon when he said that he had been born at Throckmorton in Worcestershire. Other Colletts with a connection to Throckmorton, can be found in Part 48 – The Dudley West Midlands Line. It was twenty-one years later that he married Mary Ann Tail at the parish church of St Laurence at Bidford-on-Avon on 27^th July 1829 and, just over one year later, their first child was born at nearby Broom, where the couple initially settled.

During their first eleven years of their marriage Mary presented John with four known children although, according to the census in June 1841, only three of them were living with the couple at Broom. The census recorded the family as John and Mary, who were both 33, their son John Collett who was 10, their daughter Elizabeth Collett who was two, and baby son Thomas Collett who had only just been born. The child who was absent was Mary, who would have been five years of age, who was living with the family again in 1851. Living with the family at Bidford was William Hitchman who was 20, and Ellen Grizzel who was 12.

In 1851 the family was recorded as residing in Bidford-on-Avon where John Collett from Throckmorton was 43 and working as a cordwainer. Working with him was his son John and two apprentices were George Luteman and Alfred Green, both 16 years of age. His wife Mary A Collett from Cropthorne in Worcestershire was 44 and their five children had all been born at Broom. They were listed as John Collett, aged 20, Mary A Collett, aged 15, Elizabeth Collett aged 13, Eli Collett who was six and I Richard Collett who was three years old. The latter child (Iddo) has been difficult to trace in the following years since he had used his second name of Richard later in his life. Missing from the family was son Thomas who died at the age of two years.

Ten years later, in 1861, John Collett from Throckmorton was 53 and a cordwainer and a farmer, who was still living at Bidford with his with wife Mary A Collett who 54 and born at Cropthorne. Only their two youngest children were still living there with them, and they were Eli Thomas Collett who was 16, and Iddo Collett who was 13, both born at Broom. The name of the youngest son cannot be easily deciphered on the census return. Once again, John Collett had an apprentice working with him, John Burkins, who was 17. Living nearby in Broom, on that day, was John and Mary Ann’s eldest son John, with his young family.

The elderly couple were still living in the same place in 1871, when shoemaker John Collett was 63, and Mary Ann Collett was 62. Yet again, their place of birth was recorded as Throckmorton and Cropthorne respective, only a short distance from each other. Staying with the couple that day were two members of their extended Collett family. They were their niece Mary Collett from Dudley who was 17 years of age and grandson Thomas Collett who was 16 and born at Broom, the eldest child of John and Mary Ann’s son John Collett. After a further ten years John Collett was 73 and a retired shoemaker, and Mary Ann Collett was 74. They were still living in Broom village, where they were running a boarding house which had two paying boarders and three visitors staying with them on that occasion.

One of the three visitors, one was married Emma Smith, aged 40 and from Alcester, who had with her Charles Henry Smith, aged 14 and from Rugby, and Fanny Field who was 13 and from Alcester. Charles and Fanny were described as the nephew and the niece of John Collett. Footnote: John’s niece, Mary Collett from Dudley, forms a direct link with the Collett family depicted in Part 48 – The Dudley West Midlands Line. She was the eldest child of farmer Richard Collett (Ref. 48M17) and his second wife Hannah Day. An earlier male member of Mary’s family was born at Throckmorton, and thereby lies the link between Part 48 and Part 56.

56An1

John Collett

Born in 1830 at Broom

56An2

Mary Anne Collett

Born in 1835 at Broom

56An3

Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1838 at Broom

56An4

Thomas Collett

Born in 1841 at Broom

56An5

Eli Thomas Collett

Born in 1844 at Broom

56An6

Iddo Richard Collett

Born in 1847 at Broom

56Am2

William Collett was born in 1809 and was baptised on 11^th August 1809 at St Peter’s Church in Binton, the son of William and Jane Collett. It was on 3^rd June 1830 that William married Elizabeth Jennings at Ilmington. Elizabeth was baptised at Alcester on 10^th September 1815, the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Jennings. Elizabeth was very likely pregnant with the couple’s first child on their wedding day, as their daughter was born towards the end of that same year. Both William and his brother John Collett (above) were married by the time of the census in June 1841, when they were living near to each other within the Broom & Bidford registration district.

It was in Bidford-on-Avon that William Collett, aged 30, was living with his wife Elizabeth who had a rounded age of 25 when she was most likely nearer thirty, since she already had a daughter who was ten years old. Their three children on that occasion were Elizabeth Collett who was 10, George Collett who was eight, and Charles Collett who was three years old. Following the birth of their son Alfred later that same year, Elizabeth presented William with a final child after a further two years. What happened to the family prior to 1851 remains a mystery, since by then William and Elizabeth were not living together, with Elizabeth living at Bidford with just her four sons that year.

In the census return, Elizabeth Collett said she was 40 and a widow from Ilmington. Her occupation was that of a glover, while her four children were George Collett, aged 17 and a labourer, Charles Collett, aged 14 another labourer, Alfred Collitt who was 11 and had left school but was not working, and scholar David Collett who was seven. The two eldest boys were noted as having been born at Cleeve [Cleeve Prior], while Alfred and David had been born at Bidford. Her absent daughter Elizabeth Collett, aged 20, was still living and working nearby within the Bidford area, as was William’s brother John Collett (above) and his family. On the same day that Elizabeth was with her sons in Bidford, her departed husband was recorded living with his widowed mother Jane Collett in the village of Binton, where farm labourer William Collett, aged 41, had been born. The census return also recorded that he was unmarried. The only member of the family found after that time was William’s son David – see details below.

56An7

Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1830 at Broom

56An8

George Collett

Born in 1833 at Cleeve Prior

56An9

Charles Collett

Born in 1837 at Cleeve Prior

56An10

Alfred Collett

Born in 1841 at Bidford

56An11

David Collett

Born in 1843 at Bidford

56Am7

Sarah Collett, who was baptised at Stanway in Gloucestershire on 16^th November 1813, was the daughter of John and Sarah Collett. By the time she was 37, according to the census in 1851, she was unmarried, but had three sons and was living at Badsey near Evesham. The family has not been identified in the census of 1841, but in 1851 the family was living at Silk Mill in Badsey where her two eldest sons were already working as farm labourers. John Collett was 13, had been born at Pershore and was a farm labourer, George Collett was 11 and was also a farm labourer, and Charles Collett was eight years old, both of then born at Stanway, which was referred to as Church Stanway.

See Appendix C for further details of Sarah’s descendants back to 1692

Around the middle of the next decade, Sarah’s eldest son John left the family home to be married, when he and his wife settled in the village of Broom, within the Alcester & Bidford-on-Avon area. It was also around that same time that Sarah and her two remaining sons also moved into that same area, to be near her son and his family. That was confirmed by the Alcester & Bidford census in 1861, when all members of her family were living within that area.

Sarah Collett was 47, her son George Collett was 21, while Charles Collett was 19. What happened during the next ten years is not known for sure, but by 1871 Charles Collett aged 27 was living alone in the Alcester & Studley area, so his mother Sarah may have died by then.

The family of Sarah Collett can be traced back through the generations in the village of Stanway. She was the fifth child of John and Sarah, her other siblings being Mary, William, Elizabeth, John, Ann, George, and Leah, who were born between 1804 and 1818. Sarah’s father John, was the son of John Collett who was born at Stanway around 1782, the son of John Collett who was baptised at Stanway on 18^th April 1762, the son of George and Mary Collett. Where George was born has not been determined, but he had a brother William who also married a Mary and who also lived at Stanway. George and Mary had four children who were baptised at Stanway, while William and Mary had three children baptised there.

56An12

John Collett

Born in 1837 at Pershore

56An13

George Collett

Born in 1839 at Stanway

56An14

Charles Collett

Born in 1842 at Stanway

56An1

John Collett was born at Broom in 1830 and was baptised at Bidford-on-Avon on 19^th September 1830, the son of John Collett and Mary Ann Tail. He was 10 years old and 20 years old at the time of the Bidford census of 1841 and 1851. For the latter he was working with his father as another cordwainer. Three years later the marriage of John Collett and Emma Houghton from Bidford took place at St Philip’s Cathedral in Birmingham on 25^th September 1854, where it was also recorded (Ref. 6d 213). All their children were born at Broom, but it was at Bidford that they were living in 1861, by which time their daughter Bertha had already suffered an infant death two years earlier. That year his family was recorded as John Collett of Broom who was 30 and a cordwainer, Emma his wife from Bidford who was also 30, their son Thomas Collett who was five and their daughter Mary Ann Collett who was four years old.

The family was living in Broom in 1871, but had increased in size by the arrival of five new children although, the first of them John, did not survive. John Collett from Broom was 40 and a baker, Emma Collett from Bidford was 40, and their five children that day were Mary Ann Collett who was 14, Ada Elizabeth Collett who was seven, Esther Emma Collett who was five, and Eli Collett who was three, and Frank Richard Collett who was two years of age, all born at Broom. Their eldest son, Thomas Collett, who was 16, was staying nearby in Broom, at the home of John’s parents, John, and Mary Ann Collett.

By the time of the next census in 1881, when the family was recorded as living in a dwelling in Broom Lane in Bidford, it was only the three youngest children who were still living at the family’s home with John and Emma who were both then 50. John’s occupation was that of a boot maker and his place of birth was Broom. With the three eldest children having already left home, the three other children were recorded as Esther Emma Collett, aged 15, Eli Collett who was 13 and an agricultural labourer, and Frank Collett who was 12 and still attending school. The couple’s missing daughter Ada was 17 and was living and working in Leamington Prior.

Having already lost two of their children, John and Emma suffered the death of their teenage daughter Esther that same year. Further tragedy hit the family in the middle of the next year, when the death of John Collett was recorded at Alcester (Ref. 6d 357) during the third quarter of 1882, at the age of 52. What happened to Emma after that day is not known.

56Ao1

Thomas James Collett

Born in 1855 at Broom

56Ao2

Mary Ann Collett

Born in 1856 at Broom

56Ao3

Bertha Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1858 at Broom

56Ao4

John Collett

Born in 1861 at Broom

56Ao5

Ada Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1863 at Broom

56Ao6

Esther Emma Collett

Born in 1865 at Broom

56Ao7

Eli Richard Collett

Born in 1867 at Broom

56Ao8

Frank Richard Collett

Born in 1869 at Broom

56An2

Mary Anne Collett was born at Broom in 1835 and was baptised at nearby Bidford on 20^th March 1836, the eldest daughter of John Collett and Mary Ann Tail. Curiously Mary was not with her family on the day of the census in 1841, but was with them ten years later when she was 15. By the time of the next census in 1861 it is assumed that she was married with no record found for Mary Anne Collett, aged 25.

56An3

Elizabeth Collett was born at Broom in 1838, and was baptised at St Laurence’s Church in Bidford on 30^th September 1838, the daughter of John and Mary Ann Collett. Elizabeth was listed with her parents at Broom in both 1841, when she was 10 (sic), and again in 1851, when she was more accurately aged as being 13. As with her older sister Mary Anne (above), it is assumed that Elizabeth was married before the census in 1861.

56An4

Thomas Collett was born at Broom in 1841, with his birth recorded at Alcester (Ref. xvi 157) during the second quarter of that year. He was under two years of age when the death of Thomas Collett was recorded at Alcester (Ref. 16 121) during the first three months of 1843.

56An5

Eli Thomas Collett was born at Broom in 1844 and his birth was also recorded at Alcester (Ref. xvi 144) during the last three months of the year. He was given the second forename after his older brother who passed away before he was born. Eli was six years old in the Bidford census of 1851 and was 16 in 1861 at Broom. Tragically, he was only twenty years of age when the death of Eli Thomas Collett was recorded at Alcester (Ref. 6d 324) during the second quarter of 1865. Following his passing at Broom, Eli was buried at Bidford-on-Avon on 22^nd April 1865.

56An6

Iddo Richard Collett was born at Broom in 1847, his birth recorded under that name at Alcester (Ref. xvi 147) during the last three months of that year. In 1851 he was listed with his parents at Broom, simply as I Collett aged three years. Although, not positively identified within the census of 1861, it was eight years later, on 19^th September 1869 that Iddo Richard Collett was married by banns at Bidford-on-Avon to Susan Stanton. It is therefore curious that the marriage was recorded at Pershore in Worcestershire (Ref. 6c 473). The census day following their wedding day confirmed that the couple had initially settled in Broom where, in 1871, Iddo Richard Collett was 23 and an agricultural labourer, his wife Susan Collett was 25. By that time Susan had presented Richard with the couple’s first child, their daughter Susan Amelia Collett, who was not yet one-year old and had been born at Broom.

Not long after that census day, the family moved into Bidford-on-Avon, where two further children were added to their family. Shortly after the birth of their third child, the family left Warwickshire and made the long journey north to Brightside at Sheffield in Yorkshire, where Richard was offered employment with the Midland Railway. During their short time at Brightside, the couple’s fourth child was born, following which, around 1877, the family headed further north to South Kirkby, near Hemsworth, in North Yorkshire, when Richard was offered the post of railway station master. And it was at South Kirkby where their remaining children were born.

Richard and his family were residing in South Kirkby when the next census was conducted in 1881. That recorded the family as Iddo R Collett, aged 35 from Bidford who was confirmed as a station master, Susan Collett aged 35 from Alcester, and their five children, Susan A Collett who was 10, Elizabeth A Collett who was nine, Martha E Collett who was six, Clara J Collett who was four, and John H R Collett who was one year old. Also living with the family was William Calter, aged 21, who was a railway porter from Wilshamstead in Bedfordshire. Within the next eighteen months, Susan gave birth to another daughter, who was baptised with her two older siblings, Clara, and John, on the same day in October 1882, when the father was named as Richard Iddo Collett.

The family continued to live at South Kirkby, where their last two children were born, until around the middle of the 1880s, when the family moved further north to the parish of Ingleton, because of Richard’s work on the railway. It was at High Bentham, on the main line railway between Skipton and Carnforth, that the family was living at The Bank in 1891. Iddo R Collett from Warwickshire was 43 and a station master with the Midland Railway, Susan was 45, and it was their five youngest children who were still living with them. They were Martha E Collett 16, Clara J Collett 14, John H Collett 11, Ethel M Collett who was nine, and Albert R Collett who was six years old.

It is not clear where their daughter Elizabeth was at that time, even though the couple’s eldest daughter Susan A Collett, from Broom, was working and living near to her parents at the age of 20, when she was a servant at the home of Ward Summersgill and his family. One other Collett was living in the Ingleton area of North Yorkshire, and that was Charles Collett, aged 25, a railway signalman from Huntingdonshire, who was a lodger at the home of William and Nellie Bendall at Salt Lake in Ingleton.

By the time of the census in 1901, Richard had dropped his first name, and that decision may have been taken around the time he became the railway station manager at Bentham. The census at the end of March that year recorded him and his reducing family as Richard Collett, who was 53 and from Broom, who was a station master with the Midland Railway. His wife Susan Collett from Alcester was 55, and their two children were Ethel M Collett from South Kirkby who was 19, and Albert R Collett who was 16, a joiner’s apprentice from South Kirkby. On that occasion Richard and Susan’s eldest son John was living and working in Leeds.

Ten years later Richard and part of his family was still living at Bentham near Ingleton. Once again, he was simply listed in the census of 1911 as Richard Collett who was 63 and a retired station master. By then his wife Susan was 65 and, living with the couple that day, were three members of the family. The first of them was their unmarried daughter Clara Jane Collett, aged 34, who had returned to the family home, while still living there with them was their married son Albert Richard Collett who was 26. The last of them was Albert’s wife, Martha Collett, who 28 and born in Lancashire, and described as daughter-in-law. That same day, Richard’s eldest son, John, was a married man living in Lancashire with his wife. Four years later, the death of Iddo R Collett was recorded at Settle register office (Ref. 9a 14) in the West Riding of Yorkshire during the first quarter of 1915, when he was 67.

56Ao9

Susan Amelia Collett

Born in 1870 at Broom nr Bidford-on-Avon

56Ao10

Elizabeth Ann Collett

Born in 1872 at Bidford-on-Avon

56Ao11

Martha Ellen Collett

Born in 1874 at Bidford-on-Avon

56Ao12

Clara Jane Collett

Born in 1876 at Brightside, Sheffield

56Ao13

John Henry Richard Collett

Born in 1879 at South Kirkby, Yorks.

56Ao14

Ethel May Collett

Born in 1881 at South Kirkby, Yorks.

56Ao15

Albert Richard Collett

Born in 1884 at South Kirkby, Yorks.

56An8

George Collett was born at Cleeve Prior in 1833, where he was baptised on 19^th January 1834, the eldest son and second child of William Collett and Elizabeth Jennings. He was eight years old in the Bidford-on-Avon census of 1841 when he was living there with his parents, and was still there in 1851, by which time he was 17 and a labourer. On that occasion, it was only his mother and his three younger brothers with whom he was living under the name of Charles Collitt.

56An9

Charles Collett was born at Cleeve Prior in 1837, and it was there that he was baptised on 24^th June 1838, the son of William and Elizabeth Collett. By 1841, when he was three years old, he and his family were living in Bidford where he was living with his mother and three brothers again in 1851. By that time Charles Collett had left school and was 14 years of age and working as a labourer. No record of any member of the family, apart from his brother David (below), has been found after 1851, which may indicate that they left England for one of the colonies.

56An11

David Collett was born at Bidford in 1843, the last child thought to have been born to William Collett and Elizabeth Jennings. He was recorded as David Collett who was seven years old in the Bidford census of 1851, but said he was 19 when the next census in 1861 was completed. At that time no trace of any member of his family has been found, when he was a lodger in the town of Bidford. No record for him has been found within the census of 1871, but by 1881 David Collett from Bidford was a gardener at the age of 35, when he was living and working from a dwelling on Stratford Road at Yardley in the Solihull registration district.

It was also at Yardley, in the Sparkhill district of Solihull, that he was living ten years later, when he was married to Ellen. David Collett from Bidford was 46 and his wife was 44. By March 1901 David was living on his own again, when the census that month listed David Collett from Bidford as being aged 59 and a non-domestic gardener living and working in Yardley. After a further ten years David was 71 (sic) and an inmate at an institution in Solihull, when yet again his place of birth was confirmed as Bidford-on-Avon.

56An12

John Collett was the base-born son of Sarah Collett and was born around 1837 at Pershore to the west of Evesham. No record of him has been identified in the census of 1841 but, by 1851, he was living at the family home at Silk Mill in Badsey near Evesham. By that time his unmarried mother Sarah Collett was 37, while John Collett was 13 and his brother George Collett was 11, when both were employed as farm labourers. Completing the family was John’s younger brother Charles Collett who was eight years old.

It was seven years later that John Collett married Mary Ann Brewer on 13^th February 1858 at Bidford-on-Avon. Mary Ann had been born at nearby Harvington and was baptised at Salford Priors on 20^th May 1838, the daughter of John and Mary Brewer. Three years after they were married, the childless couple was lodging at a house on Pig Street in Broom in the census of 1861, when John Collett was 23 and a labourer, and his wife Mary Ann Collett was 22 and awaiting the birth of their first child. Interestingly, John gave his place of birth as Bidford. Over the following ten years the couple gave birth to four children while they continued to live at Broom, and all four of them were listed with John and Mary Ann in the next census of 1871.

The census return that year, for the village of Broom, within the parish of Bidford, recorded the family as John Collett aged 33 from Broom who was an agricultural labourer, when his wife Mary Ann aged 32 and from Broom was a glove maker. Their children were Emma Collett who was ten, Thomas Collett who was seven, Sarah Ann Collett who was four, and daughter Phoebe Collett who was twelve months old. All four children were born at Broom and baptised at the Church of St Laurence in Bidford-on-Avon.

The fact that both John and Mary Ann were recorded as having been born at Broom, may just be an enumerator’s error, since every one of the entries on the top half of the census return were covered by ditto marks. That certainly conflicts with the information presented to the enumerator at the time of the next census in 1881, as detailed below. However, before that day, a further three more children were born into the family although, by the time of the census in 1881, the couple’s eldest daughter Emma had already left the family home to make her own way in the world.

The census on that occasion, recorded the family as agricultural labourer John Collett, aged 44, but from Pershore, while his wife Mary Ann, who was 43, gave her place of birth at Harvington, which is just west of Salford Priors. She was no longer making gloves but was, by then, working as a charwoman. The six children living with them that day were Thomas Collett who was 17 and an agricultural labourer like his father, Sara Ann Collett who was 15, Phoebe Collett who was 12, Harriet Collett who was seven, Elizabeth Collett who was five, and Rose Collett who was two years old, and all of them again confirmed as having been born at Broom.

Within a year of the census in 1881, the family moved to the north-east of Alcester, and settled in Great Alne, where the couple’s last child was born. Sometime after that, the family moved again, that time nearer to Warwick. And it was there they were living in 1891, but with only three children still living with John and Mary Ann. John Collett was 53, Mary Ann Collett was 54, and the three children were Harriet Collett who was 17, Rose Collett who was 12, and Esther Collett who was seven years of age.

Another moved eventually took John and Mary Ann to the village of Hampton-on-the-Hill, south of Budbrooke, to the west of Warwick. John Collett from Pershore was still working as an agricultural labourer at the age of 63, when the two children still living at the family home were unmarried Harriet Collett from Broom who was 27, and Esther Collett from Great Alne who was 17, who were both currently working as general domestic servants. At that same time, John’s wife was working as a domestic servant and a charwoman at another Budbrooke home, when Mary Ann Collett, from Salford Priors was also 63. Just over four years later, the death of John Collett was recorded at Alcester register office (Ref. 6d 73) during the last three months of 1905, when he was 68 years of age. As a result of his passing, Mary Ann Collett, aged 72 and from Salford Priors, was a widow who was still living at Hampton-on-the-Hill with her daughters Harriet Collett, aged 39, and Esther Collett who was 26, on the day of the Budbrooke census of 1911, when none of whom was credited with an occupation. It was thirteen years later, when the death of Mary Ann Collett was recorded at Alcester (Ref. 6d 88) during the third quarter of 1924 at the age of 85.

56Ao16

Emma Collett

Born in 1861 at Broom

56Ao17

Thomas Collett

Born in 1863 at Broom

56Ao18

Sarah Ann Collett

Born in 1867 at Broom

56Ao19

Phoebe Collett

Born in 1869 at Broom

56Ao20

Harriet Collett

Born in 1873 at Broom

56Ao21

Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1875 at Broom

56Ao22

Rose Collett

Born in 1878 at Broom

56Ao23

Esther Collett

Born in 1883 at Great Alne, near Alcester

56Ao1

Thomas James Collett was born at Broom in 1855, his birth recorded at Alcester (Ref. 6d 467) during the third quarter of the year. He was then baptised at the parish Church of St Laurence in Bidford-on-Avon on 2^nd September 1855, the eldest child of John Collett and Emma Houghton, with whom he was living at Broom in 1861 at the age of five years. Ten years later Thomas, as the eldest child, was staying with his elderly grandparents John and Emma Collett at their home in Broom, from where he was already working as a railway porter at the age of 16. On that same census day in 1871, his family was still living close by in the Broom and Bidford area of Warwickshire.

His railway employment records confirm that his first post was that of porter at Wixford Station, on the Evesham to Redditch line of the Midland Railway, from 9^th March 1870 when he was 15, and was still there on 31^st March 1874. His next appointment was that of ticket collector, a little further to the south west on the main line at Ashchurch from 5^th October 1875. It was while he was employed at Ashchurch that he became a married man, before becoming a porter in charge at Kelston Station, further south-west again, near Bath.

It was on 16^th September 1877 that Thomas James Collett married Emily Harriet E Townsend at Bedford, where the event was recorded (Ref. 3b 715). Emily Harriet Elizabeth Townsend was the daughter of Charles and Ellen Townsend of Stonehouse in Gloucestershire, her birth recorded at Stroud (Ref. 6a 258) during the first quarter of 1853. It was Thomas’ job with the railway that was the reason why he was married in Bedford and his first child was born in Somerset, before the family finally settled in Yorkshire. His appointment in that county, as the station master at Oxenhope, took place on 2^nd September 1879, where he and his family lived at Back Leeming, just south of the centre of Oxenhope. It was during that time in his life, when Emily gave birth to two sons, Martin, and Walter.

It was at Back Leeming that the family was recorded in the Haworth district census of 1881. Thomas J Collett from Bidford was 25 and was a railway station master, his wife Emily H E Collett was 28 and from Stonehouse in Gloucestershire, and their first two children were Ellen Collett who was two and born at Saltford in Somerset, and Martin Collett who was one year old. His place of birth that day, was said to be Haworth, rather Back Leeming or Oxenhope while, twenty years later, it was recorded as Oxenhope. Towards the end of the following year, the couple’s third and last child was added to the family, the birth recorded at Keighley. On leaving Oxenhope, Thomas was appointed as the station master at Cononley, north-west of Keighley, on 24^th September 1885, and given the Station House for him and his family. He was still there in 1890, when he moved to be the station master at Kirkstall Forge Station on 19^th June 1890 where, again, the family lived in the house attached to the station.

Nine months later, in 1891, the family was recorded as living at Cliff View in the Bramley St Peters area of Leeds, just a short distance due south of Kirkstall Forge. Thomas J Collett from Warwickshire was 35 and a railway station master, Emily H E Collett from Gloucestershire was 38, Ellen Collett from Somerset was 13, Martin Collett was 11, and Walter Collett was eight years old, both simply recorded as having been born in Yorkshire, but stated to be Oxenhope in 1901. Staying with the family was Sarah Watkins aged 61 and from Gloucestershire, who was described as an aunt.

Seven years after that day, a further move for the family happened when, on 19^th May 1898, Thomas Collett was appointed to the post of station master at Wombwell, south-east of Barnsley. The station there lies just off Hough Lane. It was whilst he was working there, that he fell from a crane and injured his shoulder. Three years later, the Wombwell census in 1901, recorded the family living there, where Thomas was confirmed as the railway station master. Thomas J Collett from Bidford–on-Avon was 45, his wife Emily H E Collett from Stonehouse was 48, and living with the couple were their two sons, Martin Collett who was 21 and a college student, and Walter Collett who was 18 and a railway clerk. Whether by coincidence or not, but also living in Wombwell in 1901 was Thomas Emanuel Collett (Ref. 31O4) who was 24 and from South Wraxall in Wiltshire, who was also employed by the Midland Railway, as a railway goods guard. His details can be found within Part 31 – The New Wiltshire Somerset Line.

Thomas was still in post as the Wombwell station master in 1912, again confirmed in the census of 1911. Thomas James Collett of Bidford was 55, when his wife of 33 years was Emily Harriet Elizabeth Collett of Stonehouse who was 57. By that time, their eldest child and unmarried daughter, had returned to the family home, when Ellen Collett from Saltford was 32, and their unmarried son Walter Collett was 28 and an assistant teacher at a county council school, where his sister was also working. The couple’s other unmarried son Martin Collett of Haworth was 31 and was living and working at Bethnal Green in London.

What happened to Thomas and Emily after 1912 is not recorded in the railway records, perhaps initially, following his retirement, the couple returned to Gloucestershire. Certainly, six years after the census day in 1911, the death of Emily H E Collett was recorded at Gloucester register office (Ref. 6a 502) during the first three months of 1917, when she was 64 years old.

56Ap1

Ellen Collett

Born in 1878 at Saltford, Somerset

56Ap2

Martin Collett

Born in 1879 at Oxenhope, nr Haworth

56Ap3

Walter Collett

Born in 1882 at Oxenhope, nr Haworth

56Ao2

Mary Ann Collett was born at Broom in 1856, her birth recorded at Alcester (Ref. 6d 490) during fourth the quarter of the year. She was four years of age in the Broom census of 1861 and was 14 in 1871, when she was still living with her family at Broom.

56Ao3

Bertha Elizabeth Collett was born at Broom in 1858 and her birth was recorded at Alcester (Ref. 6d 541) at the end of the first quarter of the year. It was later that same year that she was baptised at Bidford-on-Avon on 23^rd May 1858, another daughter of John and Emma Collett. Tragically, she never reached her first birthday, when she died at Broom and was buried at Bidford on 20^th March 1859. The death of Bertha Collett was recorded at Alcester (Ref. 6d 372).

56Ao4

John Collett was born at Broom in 1861 and was baptised at Bidford-on-Avon on 6^th October 1861, a son of John Collett and Emma Houghton. His birth was recorded at Alcester (Ref. 6d 518) which, interestingly, immediately followed the entry for Emma Collett (6d 517), the daughter of John Collett and Mary Ann Brewer (Ref. 56An12). Sadly, he was six years old when he died, the death of John Collett recorded at Alcester (Ref. 6d 383) during the last months of 1867. It was on 9^th December 1867 that he was buried with his sister Bertha (above) at the Church of St Laurence in Bidford-on-Avon.

56Ao5

Ada Elizabeth Collett was born at Broom in 1863, her birth recorded at Alcester (Ref. 6d 519) during the third quarter of that year. She was seven years old in 1871 and, in 1881 Ada Collett, aged 17, was employed as a domestic cook at 10 Avenue Road in Leamington Priors (Spa), the home of nurseryman Edward Perkins and his large family. Twenty years later she was recorded in the census of 1901 as Ada Elizabeth Collett, aged 37 and from Broom, who was working as a domestic nurse at Mottingham in Kent.

56Ao6

Esther Emma Collett was born at Broom in 1865, her birth recorded at Alcester (Ref. 6d 555) during the second quarter of the year. When she was baptised at Bidford-on-Avon on 5^th November 1865, she was confirmed as the daughter of John and Emma Collett from Broom. As Esther Emma Collett she was living with her family at Broom in 1871, when she was five years old, and again in 1881 when she was 15. However, just a few months later she died, the death of Esther Emma Collett being recorded at Alcester (Ref. 6d 381) during the last three months of 1881.

56Ao7

Eli Richard Collett was born at Broom in 1867, the son of John and Emma Collett, his birth recorded at Alcester (Ref. 6d 567) during the second quarter of that year. It was simply as Eli Collett that he was baptised at Bidford-on-Avon on 30^th June 1867, when his parents were confirmed as John and Emma Collett. In 1871 Eli was three years old when living at Bidford with his family, and was 13 ten years later, at the time of the Bidford census in 1881 when he was still living with his parents at Broom Lane, from where he was working as an agricultural labourer.

Towards the end of the 1880s Eli entered a relationship with Annie Nicholls from Fishponds in Bristol, and they were married at St Mary’s Church in Fishponds on 17^th March 1889, the event recorded at Barton Regis (Ref. 6a 182). Eli’s father was confirmed as John Collett, while Annie’s parents were John and Ann Nicholls. It was within the first year they were married that Annie presented Eli with the first of their two children, both born at Fishponds. By the time of the census in 1891 the family of three was living at Overndale Road in Stapleton (Fishponds) within the Stapleton & Barton Regis district of the city, the home widow Ann Nicholls, aged 56, who was described as Eli’s mother-in-law, head of the household, and a laundress from Chard in Somerset. Eli Collett, aged 23 and from Broom, was employed as a railway porter. Annie Collett was 22 and from Fishponds. Curiously both she and her husband were described as single, rather than married. Completing the family was their son Frederick John Nicholls Collett who was one year old and born at Fishponds.

Only one other child was added to the family, a second son who was born at Fishponds in 1897. Tragically at the end of the next year Eli Collett suffered a premature death when he was only 31, his passing recorded at Barton Regis register office (Ref. 6a 115) during the fourth quarter of 1898. For that reason, widow Annie was again living at the Fishponds home of her mother Ann Nicholls at Overndale Road in 1901. Annie Collett was 32 and was working at home as a laundress, while the only other person living at the address was Annie’s younger son Harold Collett who was four years old. Where her eldest son was on that day is not currently known, although it is now established that it was just seven years later that his death was recorded in Bristol at the beginning of 1908.

Three years after that second tragedy in her life, Annie Collett aged 41 and Harold Collett aged 14 were still residing at 4 Overndale Road in Fishponds with Annie’s elderly mother Ann Nicholls. Mother and daughter were both employed as laundry workers, while Harold was working as an office boy. On that occasion, Harold’s place of birth was given as Stapleton, rather than Fishponds, as in the previous census return. The same census return also confirmed that Annie Collett had given birth to two children, with only one still alive.

56Ap4

Frederick John Nicholas Collett

Born in 1890 at Fishponds, Bristol

56Ap5

Harold Collett

Born in 1897 at Fishponds, Bristol

56Ao8

Frank Richard Collett was born at Broom in 1869, his birth recorded at Alcester (Ref. 6d 541) during the second quarter of that year, the youngest son of John Collett and Emma Houghton. He was recorded living with his family in 1871, when he was two years old, and ten years when he was 13 and still attending school in Bidford-on-Avon, while living at the family home there in Broom Lane. The marriage of Frank Richard Collett and Lydia Edith Mellors took place towards the end of 1890, the event recorded at Worksop (Ref. 7b 47) during the final quarter of that year. Lydia was the daughter of Joseph and Annie Mellors and it was at the home of her parents that Lydia and Frank were living in 1891. The census that year included railway signalman Frank Collett aged 22 and from Warwickshire, the son-in-law of Joseph Mellors, living with him and his family at Langwith within the Worksop registration district. His wife Edith Collett, born at Langwith, was 19 and was shortly to announce that she was with-child, the birth of the couple’s first child taking place eight months after the census day at the Cotton Mill in Langwith.

Two years later the family was living at Carlton-in-Lindrick north of Worksop when the couple’s second child was born but by the mid-1890s the family had moved again to Sutton-in-Ashfield where their only son was born, before finally settling in Mansfield. On the day of the census in 1901, Frank and his family were living at 79 Berry Hill Road, just south of Mansfield town centre. Frank R Collett from Broom was 32 and a railway signalman and his wife Lydia E Collett from Langwith, north of Mansfield, was 29. Their three children were confirmed as Ethel who was nine, Annie who was seven and John who was four.

According to the next census in 1911, the family was still living in the Mansfield area of Nottinghamshire, where Frank R Collett from Broom was 42, Lydia E Collett was 39, and their four children were Ethel Collett who was 19 and from Langwith like her mother, Annie Collett who was 17 and from Carlton, John F Collett who was 14 and born at Sutton-in-Ashfield and Nellie Collett who was nine years old and born at Berry Hill Road in Mansfield. Twenty-four years after that census day Frank R Collett was 66 when he died in Mansfield, his death recorded at Mansfield register office (Ref. 7b 138) during the second quarter of 1935.

Another branch of the Collett family was also residing in the Mansfield registration district during the first decade of the twentieth century, and details of that family can be found in Part 47 – The Fyfield & Eastleach Martin Line.

56Ap6

Ethel Collett

Born in 1891 at Langwith, Notts.

56Ap7

Annie Collett

Born in 1893 at Carlton, Notts.

56Ap8

John Frank Collett

Born in 1896 at Sutton-in-Ashfield, Notts.

56Ap9

Nellie Collett

Born in 1901 at Mansfield, Notts.

56Ao9

Susan Amelia Collett was born at Broom, near Bidford-on-Avon, at the end of 1870, the eldest child of Iddo Richard Collett and Susan Stanton, whose birth was recorded at Alcester (Ref. 6d 605) during the first few months of 1871. She was described as under one year old in the Bidford census of 1871. She was around five years old when her parents took the family to Yorkshire and, it was at South Kirkby, that the family was living in 1881, when Susan A Collett was 10 years of age. By the time she was 20, she was recorded in the census of 1891 as living and working in the town of Ingleton in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Again, it was as Susan A Collett from Broom that she was employed as a domestic servant at the home of Ward Summersgill and his family.

Six years later, the marriage of Susan Amelia Collett and Reginald Line was recorded at Settle register office (Ref. 9a 25) during the second quarter of 1897, as part of a double wedding with her sister Elizabeth A Collett (below). Once married, the couple left Yorkshire and travelled south to the town of Nottingham where their son was born, and where the three of them were living in 1901, at Grove Road. Reginald Line from Newport Pagnell was 32 and a casher, Susan A Line from Broom was 30, and their two-year-old son was Reginald Harry C Line. No record of the family has been found after that day.

56Ao10

Elizabeth Ann Collett was born at Bidford-on-Avon in 1872, another daughter of Richard and Susan Collett. Her birth was recorded at Alcester (Ref. 6d 622) during the quarter of the year and, before she was four years old, her family had moved to Yorkshire. The census in 1881 recorded the family residing at South Kirkby, where schoolgirl Elizabeth A Collet from Bidford was nine years of age. Although she has not so far been identified within the census of 1891, it was during the second quarter of 1897, that Elizabeth was married to Thomas Charles Stamp, sharing the occasion with the marriage of her older sister Susan (above), the double wedding recorded at Settle register office (Ref. 9a 25). After their wedding day, Elizabeth and Thomas made their home in the City of York where, at Wolds View Terrace, Thomas C Stamp from Sunderland was 31 and a civil engineer, while his wife Elizabeth A Stamp from Broom was 29. No further record of the couple has been found after 1901.

56Ao11

Martha Ellen Collett was born at Bidford-on-Avon in 1874, the third daughter of Richard and Susan Collett. Her birth, like those of her two old sisters, was recorded at Alcester (Ref. 6d 612) during the third quarter of the year, and prior to her family’s move to Yorkshire, where her fourth younger siblings were born. It was at South Kirkby that the family was living in 1881, when Martha E Collett from Bidford was seven years of age. Ten years later, Martha and her family were residing at The Bank High Bentham near Ingleton, from where 16-year-old Martha E Collett from Warwickshire was working as a milliner. It is possible that she was married before the next census in 1901, since no record of Marth E Collett has been found after 1891.

56Ao12

Clara Jane Collett was born at Brightside, near Sheffield in 1876, another daughter of Richard and Susan Collett. Her birth was recorded at Sheffield (Ref. 9c 539) during the fourth quarter of the year. Clara J Collett was four years old in 1881, when she and her family were living at South Kirkby, to where they had moved just after she was born. Just eighteen months later, Clara and her two younger siblings, John, and Ethel, were baptised on the same day at All Saints Church in South Kirkby on 26^th October 1882. It was at The Bank in High Bentham that she was living with her family in 1891 when, at the age of 14, she had finished her schooling but had no stated occupation. Although absent in 1901, Clara was once again living with her elderly parents in 1911, when she was described as assisting at home, when unmarried Clara Jane Collett from Brightside was 34.

56Ao13

John Henry Richard Collett was born at Moorthorpe near South Kirkby in Yorkshire in 1879, the eldest son and fifth child of Iddo Richard Collett and Susan Stanton. His birth, as John Henry R Collett, was recorded at Hemsworth (Ref. 9c 144) during the last three months of the year. He was described as John H R Collett, aged one year, in the South Kirby census of 1881 and was John H Collett aged 12 years in 1891, when he and his family were residing at High Bentham near Ingleton. Between those two dates, the baptism of John Henry Richard Collett, the son of Richard Iddo Collett and Susan Stanton, took place on 6^th October 1882, together with two of his sisters, Clara (above) and Ethel (below). By 1901 he had left the family home which, by then was again at Bentham, within the parish of Ingleton, when John H Collett from South Kirkby was 21. His occupation was that of a printer’s compositor, when he was working in Leeds and a boarder at the home of the Hague family on West Hillary Street in West Leeds. It was in Leeds, five years later, that the marriage of John H R Collett and Mabel Gertrude Brooke was recorded (Ref. 9b 583) during the first three months of 1906.

Their wedding took place at the Church of St John the Evangelist in Leeds on 4^th January 1906, when their respective fathers were confirmed as Richard Collett and Charles Brooke. Mabel was born at Dewsbury (Ref. 9b 642) on 23^rd December 1883 and baptised there on 6^th February 1884, the daughter of Charles and Sarah Brooke. By April 1911 John and Mabel had left Leeds and were living at 39 Ruskin Avenue in Rusholme, just south of Manchester city centre. The census return that year confirmed the property had six rooms and may have been provided as part of John’s job as a cathedral lay clerk with the established church. John Henry Richard Collett was 31 and from Moorthorpe, while his wife of five years was Mabel Gertrude Collett who was 27 and from Dewsbury, the form stating that the marriage had not produced any children. Staying with the couple was John’s mother-in-law Sarah Brooke aged 59 and from Wakefield, who was still married and had given birth to four children, one of which had not survived.

By the time John enlisted with the Royal Engineers Railway Operating Division of the British Army in 1915 he was 36 and he and Mabel were residing at 44 Bishops Mansion Street in Fulham. His trade at the time of his enlistment was curiously recorded as a vocalist, whilst his military record stated that he and Mabel had no children.

After taking an active part in the First World War, John received a letter dated 12^th March 1920 from Captain W J King of the Royal Engineers Record Office. The contents of the letter comprised a query relating to his rank on leaving the army which stated “you are shown as having the rank of A/Sergeant on demobilisation. There is, however, no trace of this appointment having been reported through Part II Orders. So, can you furnish confirmation of this from your late OC for this appointment, or failing that, will you furnish details on the reverse that will enable this office to complete your documents. Kindly treat this matter as urgent, as the information is required by the Medals Department here.” John’s reply was dated 14^th March 1920 in which he confirmed that he had been given the rank of Acting Sergeant by Colonel Slaughter at about the time of the armistice.

John Henry Richard Collett died in Lancashire during the last three months of 1954, his passing recorded at Manchester Register Office (Ref. 10e 385) at the age of 75. Just over a year later the death of Mabel G Collett, nee Brooke, was recorded at Manchester register office (Ref. 10e 489) during the first quarter of 1956 when she was 71. Her address at that time, according to probate, was 7 Boardman Road in the Crumpsall area of Manchester, which also described her as a widow, while it was Vaughan Dalley, chartered accountant, who was named as the executor of her estate of £870 12 Shillings and 9 Pence.

56Ao14

Ethel May Collett was born at South Kirkby in 1881, another child of Richard and Susan Collett, who was baptised on 26^th October 1882 at All Saints Church in South Kirkby. The birth of Ethel May Collett was recorded at Hemsworth (Ref. 9c 146) during the final quarter of 1881. Ten years later, Ethel was attending school, at the age of nine years, when she and her family were living at The Bank in High Bentham, near Ingleton. She was still living at Bentham with her parents in 1901, when she was 19 but with no stated occupation. No obvious record of her has been unearthed in 1911, while it was possibly her death, as Ethel M Collett, which was recorded at Dewsbury register office (Ref. 9b 1211) during the first three months of 1919.

56Ao15

Albert Richard Collett was born at South Kirkby towards the end of 1884, the youngest son and last child of Iddo Richard Collett and Susan Stanton, with his birth was recorded at Hemsworth (Ref. 9c 159) during the first quarter of 1885. He was around two years old, when the baptism of Albert Richard Collett, son of Richard and Susan Collett, was conducted at All Saints Church in South Kirkby on 2^nd March 1887. Shortly after that day, the family moved to The Bank in High Bentham, near Ingleton, where they are living in 1891, when Albert R Collett from South Kirkby was six years old. On leaving school, Albert took up an apprenticeship as a joiner and, in 1901, Albert R Collett was 16 when he was still living with his parents at Bentham.

Seven years after that day, Albert married Martha, the wedding of Albert Richard Collett and Martha Bowen recorded at Settle register office (Ref. 9a 15) during the last three months of 1908, Settle lying midway between Ingleton and Skipton. In 1891, sisters Martha and Emeline Bowen were eight and six respectively, when living at Marton Street in Lancaster with their elderly grandparents John and Mary Jackson. The years later, Martha was a dressmaker at the age of 18, when she was living with her aunt, widow Mary Smith, at Lindow Square in Lancaster, her birth recorded at Lancaster (Ref. 8e 753) during the second quarter of 1883. In 1911, Albert and his wife were staying with his parents at Bentham, when Albert Richard Collett from South Kirkby was 26 and Martha Collett from Lancaster was 28 and a housewife. Albert was still living in the Bentham area when he passed away, the death of Albert R Collett recorded at Ewecross register office (Ref. 2c 725) during the last three months of 1958, when he was 74.

56Ao16

Emma Collett, who was born at Broom in 1861, shortly after the census day and, just over one year later, she was baptised at the parish church in Bidford-on-Avon on 15^th June 1862, the daughter of John Collett and Mary Ann Brewer. The birth of Emma Collett was recorded at Alcester (Ref. 6d 517) during the third quarter of 1861. The next entry in the register of births was that of John Collett (Ref. 6d 518), the son of John Collett and Emma Houghton (Ref. 56An1). Emma was 10 years old in the census of 1871 when she and her family were again living in Broom. After a further ten years, 19-year-old Emma Collett from Broom, working as a domestic servant at the Rose & Crown Inn at 15 Sheep Street in Stratford-upon-Avon. Her employer was licenced victualler John Atkins, aged 63, and his wife Frances Atkins who was 55. Just over three years after that census day, Emma was still living and working in Stratford when she died. The death of Emma Collett was recorded at Stratford-upon-Avon (Ref. 6d 411) during the third quarter of 1884, at the age of 23.

56Ao17

Thomas Collett was born at Broom towards the end of 1863, and was the third child of John Collett and Mary Ann Brewer, his birth recorded at Alcester (Ref. 6d 123) during the first quarter of 1864. The census records for Broom during the next two decades indicate that he was born in 1863, as he was seven in 1871 and was 17 in 1881, by which time he was still living with his parents at Broom, where he was an agricultural labourer. However, he was around three years old when he was baptised at Bidford-on-Avon in a joint ceremony with his younger sister Sarah Ann (below) on 13^th October 1867. Shortly after the census in 1881 the family left Broom when they moved to Great Alne, to the north of Alcester.

It was during the third quarter of 1885, when the marriage of Thomas Collett and Sophia Poole was recorded at Alcester (Ref. 6d 91). Sophia was baptised at Bidford on 5^th July 1863, the daughter of James and Hannah Poole of Bidford. At the age of 17 Sophia was still living with her family in Broom, where she was working as a seamstress. Over the following years Sophia presented Thomas with the first of their four children who was born at Bidford-on-Avon. By April 1891 the family of three had settled in Broom where Sophia was expecting the birth of their second child on the day of the census. Thomas was 27 and an agricultural labourer, Sophia was 28, and their daughter Elsie May Collett was five years old. Their son Thomas was born later that same year and during that same decade the couple’s last two children were born at Broom. Tragically though, Sophia died during the birth of the couple’s fourth child, leaving her widowed husband with four young children to look after.

The death of Sophie Collett was recorded at Alcester register office (Ref. 6d 30) during the fourth quarter of 1899, when she was 37 years old, after which she was buried at Bidford-on-Avon on 14^th December 1899. Unable to cope with looking after every member of his family, Thomas sought the help of his elderly parents, who took his son eldest John into their care, while baby Thomas was taken into the home of Thomas’ recently married and younger sister Elizabeth (below), who had no children of her own. The family of widower Thomas Collett of Broom was still living there in 1901, when he was 38 years of age and a tractor engine driver. Living there with him that day was his daughter Elsie Collett who was 15 and his housekeeper, and his son Albert Collett who was seven years old and described as ‘deaf and dumb from childhood’.

During the following years, Elsie May left home to be married, at which time Thomas continued to live at Broom, where he was after the return of his eldest son John, who was living with him once again in 1911. Thomas Collett was 48 and a farm labourer while, working alongside him, was his son John Collett who was 19 and a farm labourer. The birthplace for both was confirmed as Broom. Eight years after that day, the death of Thomas Collett was recorded at Alcester register office (Ref. 6d 39) during the fourth quarter of 1919 when he was 56.

56Ap10

Elsie May Collett

Born in 1885 at Bidford-on-Avon

56Ap11

John Thomas Collett

Born in 1891 at Broom

56Ap12

Albert George Collett

Born in 1893 at Broom

56Ap13

Thomas Collett

Born in 1899 at Broom

56Ao18

Sarah Ann Collett was born at Broom in 1867 and was baptised at nearby Bidford on 13^th October 1867, the same day that her brother Thomas was also baptised there. The parents of both siblings were recorded as John and Mary Ann Collett, with Sarah being four years old in the Broom census of 1871, and 15 in 1881.

56Ao19

Phoebe Collett was born at Broom during 1869, but was baptised in the neighbouring village of Bidford on 20^th November 1869, the daughter of John and Mary Ann Collett, who was nearly two years old in the Broom census of 1871, and was 12 in 1881.

56Ao20

Harriet Collett was born at Broom in 1873, and was only a few months old when she was baptised at Bidford-on-Avon on 20^th July 1873, the daughter of John and Mary Ann Collett.

56Ao21

Elizabeth Collett was born at Broom in 1876, the youngest known child of John Collett and Mary Ann Brewer, and was baptised at Bidford on 21^st August 1876. Her birth was recorded at Alcester (Ref. 6d 3) during the third quarter of the year. She was five years old in the Broom census of 1881 and not long after that her family moved to Great Alne, although Elizabeth was not living with her family at Budbrooke near Warwick in 1891 when she would have been fifteen. However, living in that same vicinity was William Hinson who Elizabeth married in 1898, when William Hinson from Hatton near Warwick was 26 and she was 23. Their marriage was recorded at Warwick (Ref. 6d 316) during the third quarter of that year. By March 1901, the childless couple was residing in Hampton-on-the-Hill, the next village to Budbrooke, where Elizabeth’s parents were also living at that time. Fifteen months earlier, Elizabeth was approached by her older brother Thomas (above), his wife having died during the birth of their last child, who survived. As he had four children, he asked Elizabeth if she would be prepared to take on the care of his baby son Thomas Collett junior. Ironically, Elizabeth and William had no children of their own.

The census in 1901 therefore included one-year-old Tom Collett from Broom, living with William Hinson, from Hatton who was 28 and a waggoner working on a local farm, and his wife Elizabeth from Broom who was 25. It was again at Hampton-on-the-Hill that the couple was still living in April 1911, when waggoner William was 38, and Elizabeth was 35. The census return stated that the couple had been married for thirteen years, and that living with them was Elizabeth’s nephew Tommy Collett from Broom who was 11 and still attending school. One other person was staying with them, and that was another waggoner, Walter Bourton from Budbrooke who was 34. The death of Elizabeth Hinson was recorded at Warwick register office (Ref. 9a 80) during the first quarter of 1949, when she was 72 years of age.

56Ap1

Ellen Collett was born at Saltford in Somerset in 1878, the eldest of the three known children of Thomas James Collett and Emily Harriet Elizabeth Townsend. The birth of Ellen Collett was recorded at Keynsham, near Bristol, (Ref. 5c 665) during the last three months of that year. Not long after she was born, her father’s work took the family to Yorkshire where, in 1891, Ellen from Saltford was two years of age and living with her parents at Oxenhope. After a further ten years, when Ellen was 13 and still attending school, she and her family were living at Cliff View in the Bramley district of Leeds.

Upon leaving school, Ellen went into teaching and by 1901, at the age of 22, Ellen Collett from Saltford was a teacher at a boarding school, living with the Nichols family as a boarder at Simpson Street in the Armley district of Leeds. By that time in her life, her family was living at Wombwell, south-east of Barnsley. And it was also at Wombwell that unmarried Ellen Collett, aged 32 and from Saltford, Somerset, was living in 1911 and from where she was employed as an assistant school teacher at a county council school. On that day she may have been working alongside her younger brother Walter Collett (below), when both were living at the home of their parents in Wombwell.

56Ap2

Martin Collett was born at Oxenhope, near Haworth in Yorkshire, with his birth recorded at Keighley (Ref. 9a 219) during the fourth quarter of 1879. On the day of the census in 1881, Martin’s place of birth was recorded at Haworth, when he was one year old, but later recorded as Oxenhope where, it is established from the railway staff records, he was the station master. Sometime after the birth of his brother Walter (below), the family moved to Cliff View in Bramley, Leeds, where Martin Collett from Yorkshire was 11 years old. During the following years the family moved again, that time to Wombwell near Barnsley where Martin Collett from Oxenhope was a college student at the age of 21 when he was still living with his parents in 1901.

On completing his course of studies, presumably in theology, Martin Collett took up the position of an established clergyman, which was how he was described in the census of 1911. At that time, he was living and working in Bethnal Green, London when, at the age of 31, his place of birth was again confirmed as Oxenhope, Haworth. On that day, he was living with unmarried William John Collett aged 44, another established clergyman whose father and three younger siblings were also recorded at that address.

56Ap3

Walter Collett was born at Oxenhope during 1882, the youngest of the three known children of Thomas James Collett and Emily Harriet Elizabeth Townsend. His birth, like that of his older brother Martin (above), was also recorded at Keighley (Ref. 9a 195) during the last quarter of the year. In 1891 he and his family were residing at Bramley, Leeds, when Walter Collett was eight years old. Ten years later, the census conducted in March 1901, identified the family living at Wombwell, just south-east of Barnsley, by which time Walter Collett from Oxenhope was 18 and working as a railway clerk, most likely with his station master father. He was still unmarried and living with his parents in Wombwell in April 1911 when he was 28 and an assistant teacher like his sister Ellen (above) who both held positions at the local county council school. It may have been his mother’s connection with the County of Gloucestershire, where she died in 1917, that resulted in Walter being married there in 1921.

The marriage of bachelor Walter Collett, a schoolmaster from Rugby, aged 39 and the son of retired railway official Thomas James Collett, and widow Alice Smith aged 42, the daughter of farm labourer William Cooper, took place at St Peter’s Church in the Leckhampton district of Cheltenham on 27^th December 1921. The witnesses were T Cooper, Thos J Collett (father of the groom) and Martin Collett (older brother of the groom). Alice was baptised at Blackburn, Lancashire, on 7^th March 1879, the daughter of William and Elizabeth Cooper. Although not confirmed, it seems likely that the death of Walter Collett was recorded at Southampton register office (Ref. 2c 46) during the last quarter of 1937, when he was 56. Ten years after losing her husband, the death of Alice Collett was recorded at the Hampshire Petersfield register office (Ref. 6b 55) during the first quarter of 1947, at the age of 71.

56Ap4

Frederick John Nicholas Collett was born at Fishponds in Bristol during 1890, the base-born son of unmarried Eli Collett and Annie Nicholls from Fishponds in Bristol. His birth was recorded at Barton Regis register office (Ref. 6a 188) during the first three months of 1890. He was baptised at St Mary’s Church in Fishponds on 26^th November 1890, the son of Eli and Annie. By the time of the census in 1891 Frederick was living with his parents at Overndale Road in Stapleton (Fishponds) within the Stapleton & Barton Regis district of Bristol. That was the home of his widowed grandmother Ann Nicholls aged 56, who was described as the head of the household. His parents were both described as unmarried even though his mother was named as Annie Collett, while under his full name Frederick was listed as being one year old and born at Fishponds.

Six years later a brother for Frederick was added to the family but, during the following year their father died in 1898. Three years after that tragic event, Frederick’s mother, and brother (below) were again staying with the boys’ widowed grandmother Ann Nicholls at Overndale Road in Fishponds, while no obvious record of Frederick has been found in 1901. However, it was only seven years later that the death of Frederick John N Collett, aged 18 years, was recorded at Bristol register office (Ref. 6a 154) during the first three months of 1908. It would therefore seem likely that seven years earlier, when he was 11, that he was attending school somewhere.

56Ap5

Harold Collett was born at Fishponds in 1897, the second son of Eli Collett and Annie Nicholls. His birth was recorded at Barton Regis (Ref. 6a 191) during the first quarter of 1897 and he was baptised at St Mary’s Church in Fishponds on 15^th September 1897. Around the time of his first birthday his father died or was killed in an accident, so in 1901 when he was four years of age, he and his widowed mother were living with Harold’s grandmother Ann Nicholls at 4 Overndale Road in Fishponds. After a further seven years Harold’s older brother (above) suffered a premature death and three years after that he and his mother were again recorded living at 4 Overndale Road from where Harold was working as an office boy. On that occasion, Harold’s place of birth was given as Stapleton, rather than Fishponds, as in the previous census return. It was also at Bristol register office (Ref. 6a 262) where the death of Harold Collett, aged 19, was recorded during the first quarter of 1916.

56Ap6

Ethel Collett was born at Langwith in Nottinghamshire, her birth recorded at Worksop (Ref. 4b 49) during the last three months of 1891. However, it was at Staveley, just over the county boundary in neighbouring Derbyshire, where she was baptised on 10^th January 1892. The baptism record also stated that she had been born at Cotton Mill in Langwith on 13^th November 1891, the daughter of Frank Richard Collett and his wife Lydia Edith Mellors. Ethel was nine years old in 1901 when she and her family were living at 79 Berry Hill Road in Mansfield and she was still living there with them ten years later when Ethel was 19. On both occasions her place of birth was given as Langwith. Just over three years after that census day in 1911, the marriage of Ethel Collett and Cyril J Webster was recorded at Mansfield register office (Ref. 7b 167) during the third quarter of 1914. The couple’s first child was born the following year, with the birth of John C Webster recorded at Mansfield register office (Ref. 7b 118) during the last quarter of 1915 when the maiden-name of the child’s mother was recorded as Collett. The birth of another child whose mother was a Collett, Nellie Webster, was also recorded at Mansfield (Ref. 7b 141) during the third quarter of 1923.

56Ap7

Annie Collett was born at Carlton-in-Lindrick, Nottinghamshire towards the end of 1893, her birth recorded at Basford (Nottingham) register office (Ref. 7b 267) during the first three months of 1894. It was as Langwith where she was baptised on 31^st January 1894, another daughter of Frank and Lydia Collett. The baptism record gave her place of birth simply as Carlton. Annie was seven in 1901, when living with her family at 79 Berry Hill Road in Mansfield, and was 17 years old in the Mansfield census of 1911. Once again, her birth place was confirmed as Carlton. During the third quarter of 1916 Annie Collett married Walter E Smith, the event recorded at Mansfield register office (Ref. 7b 131). Their son was born around a year after they were married, when the birth of Frank R Smith was recorded at Mansfield (Ref. 7b 255) during the third quarter of 1917, his mother’s maiden-name confirmed as Collett.

56Ap8

John Frank Collett was born at Sutton-in-Ashfield in Nottinghamshire in 1896, the only son of Frank Richard Collett and Lydia Edith Mellors. Curiously, no record of the birth of John Frank Collett has been found in Nottinghamshire, while the birth of John J Collett was recorded at Mansfield register office (Ref. 7b 92) during the last three months of 1896, who may have been this John. He was four years old in 1901 and was 14 on the day of the census in 1911, when living at 79 Berry Hill Road in Mansfield with his family.

56Ap9

Nellie Collett was born at Mansfield in Nottinghamshire in 1901, most likely at 79 Berry Hill Road where her family was recorded in the census that year. Her birth was recorded at Mansfield register office (Ref. 7b 135) during the last quarter of 1901, the youngest of the four children of Frank Richard Collett and Lydia Edith Mellors who was nine years old in the Mansfield census of 1911. It was during the second quarter of 1927 when Nellie Collett married Ernest Leivers, the event recorded at Mansfield register office (Ref. 7b 231). Their daughter Edith M Leivers was born in 1936 at Mansfield (Ref. 7b 214) when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett. Curiously in 1960 a Nellie Collett married Ernest Leivers at Mansfield (Ref. 3c 491).

56Ap10

Elsie May Collett was born at Bidford-on-Avon during 1885, shortly after which her parents Thomas Collett and Sophia Poole moved to Broom, where her father had been born. It was at Alcester that the birth of Elsie May Collett was recorded (Ref. 6d 167) during the last quarter of the year. She was five years old in the Broom census of 1891, when she was living there with her father and mother who were expecting a new addition to the family. Her brother John was born later that same year, and was followed by two more brothers for Elsie, but tragically during the birth of the last child her mother died.

At the age of 15 in 1901, Elsie was carrying out the duties of housekeeper for her widowed father at Broom and, just less than eight years later, she married Joe Manders. The marriage of Elsie May Collett and Joseph Henry Manders was recorded at Alcester register office (Ref. 6d 296) during the first quarter of 1909. Once married the couple initially made their home in Bidford-on-Avon, where Elsie gave birth to two children, after which the family resided in Broom, not far from her father, where they were living in 1911. On that day, Joseph Henry Manders was 25 and a farm labourer, as was Elsie May Manders from Bidford, while their children were Joseph Henry Manders junior who was three, and Emma Sophia Manders who was one year old and named after her late grandmother.

A second son was added to their family at the start of the First World War, followed by a four-year gap before the couple’s fourth child was born. Thereafter, four more children were born into the family, which eventually totalled eight. Walter J Manders was born in 1914, Albert T Manders was born in 1918, William C Manders was born in 1919, Elsie M Manders was born in 1922, Frederick J Manders was born in 1924, and George H Manders was born in 1925. In all cases, the births were recorded at Alcester register office, when the children’s mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett.

56Ap11

John Thomas Collett was born at Broom in 1891, with his birth recorded at Alcester (Ref. 5d 374) during the second quarter of the year, the second child and eldest son of Thomas and Sophia Collett. Again, using his full name, he was baptised at the parish Church of St Laurence in Bidford-on-Avon on 14^th June 1891. His mother did not survive the ordeal of giving birth to John’s youngest brother (below), after which John’s sister became the family’s housekeeper, and John himself went to live with his late mother’s parents. In addition, his baby brother was placed in the care of his aunt and uncle. All of this was confirmed in the census conducted in 1911. On that day, grandson John Collett of Broom was nine years old and living at the Broom home of elderly James Poole and his wife Hannah, the parents of John’s deceased mother.

Sometime during the following decade, John’s grandfather passed away, and that may have been when John returned to live with his widowed father, with whom he was still living at Broom on the day of the census in 1911. By then, John Collett from Broom was 19 and a farm labourer, working alongside his father. As far as can be determined, John Thomas Collett never married and was still living in the Alcester area of Warwickshire when he died. The death of John T Collett was recorded at Alcester register office (Ref. 9c 132) during the second quarter of 1947, when he was 55 years old. Upon the proving of the Will of John Thomas Collett on 19^th June 1947, his married sister and her husband were named as the two main beneficiaries. They were Elsie May Manders and Joseph Henry Manders, and the legal documentation also gave the date of his passing as 15^th April 1947.

56Ap12

Albert George Collett was born at Broom in 1893 and it was during the third quarter of that year, when his birth was recorded at Alcester (Ref. 6d 28). He was baptised at St Laurence’s Church in Bidford-on-Avon on 10^th September 1893, another son of Thomas and Sophia Collett. He was six years old when his mother died giving birth to his youngest brother, which left Albert and his older sister Elsie, the only two children still living at Broom with their widowed father in 1901. The two missing siblings had been sent to live with other members of the family. By 1911, it was Albert Collett from Broom who was 16 and an agricultural labourer, who was living with his elderly maternal grandmother, the widow Hannah Poole and her unmarried thirty-six-year-old son Joseph Poole, a plate-layer with the railway. Like his older brother John (above), Albert also appears not to have married and continue to live in Warwickshire, with his death again recorded at Alcester (Ref. 9c a) during the last quarter of 1965. His passing may have been reported by someone who did not know his date of birth, because his age was recorded as 70, instead of 72.

56Ap13

Thomas Collett was born at Broom in 1899 and his birth was not the happy event the family was expecting, when his mother died during the ordeal or shortly thereafter. The birth of Thomas Collett, the last child of Thomas Collett and Sophia Poole, was recorded at Alcester register office (Ref. 6d 30) during the last three months of 1899, the same three months being also when his mother’s death was recorded there. With already three older siblings in the family, and his father needing to work to make ends meet, baby Thomas was placed with his father’s younger married sister Elizabeth Hinson and her husband, waggoner on a farm, William. The census in 1901 identified the three of them residing at Hampton-on-the-Hill near Budbrooke, when Tom Collett was one-year-old and Elizabeth and William nephew from Broom. It was as Tommy Collett, nephew aged 11, that he was again living with William and Elizabeth Hinson at Hampton-on-the-Hill in 1911.

Appendix B – Another Cleeve Prior Family

More Cleeve Prior Colletts can be found in Appendix A (above) and in Part 57 – The Bakers of Abbots Morton Line

56Bl1

John Collett was born around 1805, and was married to Mary who was considerably older. According to the census of 1841 John Collett was 35, while his wife Mary was 55. By that time in their lives, their marriage had produced at least three children who were living with the couple within the Alcester registration district. They were William Collett who was 13, George Collett who was 11, and Sarah Collett who was seven years old. It would appear from the baptism records for their two sons that John and Mary were living at Cleeve Prior, south of Alcester for the first child, and at Aston Cantlow, to the north of Alcester, for the second. Ten years later in 1851 another John Collett (Ref. 56l2) from Binton was living in Aston Cantlow with his wife Mary from Littleton and their son William, who was also born at Cleeve Prior, and their daughter Sarah. See John and Mary Collett (Ref. 56Al2) in Appendix A. Less than five years later, the death of Mary Collett was recorded at Alcester (Ref. 6d 289) when she was 74 years old and living in Aston Cantlow, where she was buried on 20^th January 1856.

56Bm1

William Collett

Born in 1827 at Cleeve Prior

56Bm2

George Collett

Born in 1829 at Aston Cantlow

56Bm3

Sarah Collett

Born in 1833

56Bm1

William Collett was born at Cleeve Prior in 1827, where he was baptised on 10^th February 1828 the son of John and Mary Collett. He was 13 years old in 1841 when he was living with his family within the Alcester registration district which included the village of Cleeve Prior. He was in his teenage years when he married Elizabeth, presumably at Cleeve Prior where their three sons were baptised. It is also possible that the family lived in Broom, where their eldest son said he was born in 1901. No member of the family has been identified within the census of 1851, while their son Charles was only listed in 1901 and 1911, Alfred’s only appearance was in 1861, and Fred was only recorded in 1881.

56Bn1

Charles Collett

Born in 1845 at Cleeve Prior

56Bn2

Alfred Collett

Born in 1847 at Cleeve Prior

56Bn3

Frederick Collett

Born in 1852 at Cleeve Prior

56Bm2

George Collett was born in 1829 at Aston Cantlow and was baptised there on 13^th June 1830, the son of John and Mary Collett.

56Bn1

Charles Collett was born during 1845 and that may have taken place at Broom, although it is known that he was baptised at Cleeve Prior on 25^th January 1846, the son of William and Elizabeth Collett. Like other members of his family, no record of Charles has been found during the next fifty years, and he only reappeared again in the census of 1901. By that time Charles Collett, aged 53 and from Broom (just south of Cleeve Prior), was living at Goldcliff in Newport, Monmouthshire in South Wales, where he was working as a gardener. He was the only Collett living within that registration district at that time and he was still living there ten years later in 1911. On that occasion Charles Collett, aged 65 and from Warwickshire, was a servant and a farm labourer at the home of William Hicks at Clifton Court in Goldcliff. William Hicks was only 34 and had only been married to Jane for six years.

56Bn2

Alfred Collett was born in 1847 and was baptised at Cleeve Prior on 21^st April 1849, the son of William and Elizabeth Collett. No record of him or his family has been found within the census of 1851. In 1861 Alfred Collett, aged 14 and from Cleeve Prior, was living with a family in the hamlet of Marlcliff within the parish of Bidford-on-Avon. Alfred was described as a plough boy and a lodger at the home of George Freeman of Marlcliff, who was 44 and an agricultural labourer. George’s wife was Hannah Freeman who was 42, and living there with them were their two youngest children Mary A Freeman aged 10, and Thomas Freeman who was six. Both children had been born at Bidford Marlcliff.

Ten years earlier in 1851 the Freeman family had been living in Marlcliff and comprised George and Hannah, both 35 years old, and their first three children. They were Betsey Freeman who was nine, Jane Freeman who was six, and Mary A Freeman who was three months old. By 1861 the couple’s eldest daughter Betsy, aged 20, had left the family home and was working as a dairymaid for farmer Joseph Crump on his 39-acre holding at nearby Wixford. It is reputed that young Alfred Collett took a shine to the older Betsy Freeman, and that he was the father of her two base-born children.

However, neither of the two children were ever credited to Alfred Collett, and they were William Freeman who was born during 1865, and Walter Freeman who was born in 1867. On 19^th November 1870 at Bidford-on-Avon Betsy Freeman married labourer George Vincent with whom she had a large family, although her two illegitimate sons continued to be raised by her parents. That was confirmed in the Bidford Marlcliff census of 1871 when William Freeman, aged five, and Walter Freeman, aged three, were living with their grandparents George Freeman, a waggoner, and his wife Hannah, who still had their son Thomas, aged 16, staying with them.

At that same time in 1871 unmarried Alfred Collett, who was 25, was a lodger at a house in Stratford-on-Avon. With that being the last record of Alfred found in Great Britain it is possible that he eventually emigrated to one of the colonies, perhaps being reunited with other missing members of his family. On the day of the marriage of Walter Freeman he entered the word ‘Dead’ in the box where his father’s name should have been written, perhaps indicating that he never knew who he was. And it was the granddaughter of Walter Freeman, Brenda Graham, who has been instrumental in providing the brief details relating to the life of Alfred Collett and his two Freeman sons.

In 1881 William Freeman, the eldest of the two ‘possibly’ sons of Alfred Collett by Betsy Freeman, was working on a farm at Harbury, the home of John Barrett, aged 41 and from Tachbrook, a farmer of 64 acres. His wife was Mary Barrett, aged 31 from Butlers Marston, while William Freeman, aged 15 and from Bidford-on-Avon, was employed as a farm hand. Four years later he married Kezia Davis at Darleston in Stafford. Kezia was born during 1866 and she died at Itchington in 1897 after producing four children. Following her death William married the widow Rachel Constable in 1899, with whom he had a further six children. William and his family were living in Bishops Itchington in both 1901 and 1911, where he was a farmer worker on both occasions.

Walter Freeman, the younger of the two ‘possibly’ sons of Alfred Collett and Betsy Freeman, was a lodger in 1891 at the Bishops Itchington home of Richard and Lucy Holtham, by which time he was 23 and was employed at the local lime works where his brother William also worked. He was still single and his place of birth was recorded as Marlcliff Bidford. It was during the following year that he married Beatrice, and by 1901 he had three children and was still living at Bishops Itchington. By 1911 Walter had taken his family to Hebburn-on-Tyne, where he was employed as a labourer at the copper works.

56Bn3

Frederick Collett was born at Cleeve Prior in 1852, according to the census in 1881. Unfortunately, no earlier record of him has been located which might indicate who his parents were, nor has any record been found after that census day. In 1881 he was Fred Collett from Cleeve Prior, and was still a bachelor at 28. That year he was working as a general labourer, while staying at a licenced lodging house in Bleachfield Street in Alcester run by Abraham Evans, who was also a fishmonger.

Appendix C – The Family of Sarah Collett (Ref. 56Am7)

The details in this sub-appendix have been drawn purely from the IGI, and therefore may require further validation. Sarah Collett was the mother of three known base-born sons, John, George, and Charles. Of interest was son John who later had nine children, eight of whom were born at Broom.

In 2022 Andrew Collett (Ref. 74S7), of Part 74 - The Suffolk to South Africa Line, provided brief details of a possible branch off from this family line to South Africa, with an entire family emigrating there in the early 1890s. In the years leading up to that, Andrew had been contacted by Clynton Collett, and wife Dora, who believed his grandfather was a William Collett buried at Bethulie, Transvaal. The 2024 update of this file confirmed that Francis William Collett (Ref. 56Co3) 1856-1909 did sail from England to South Africa and settled his family in the Bloemfontein-Bethulie area of Orange Free State, with that the new branch line now well established and verified. However, no positive connection between Clynton and the various men named William Collett has been found.

56Ch1

This line starts with the brothers John and William Collett who were very likely born during the last decade of the seventeenth century, and who were both living in the north Gloucestershire village of Stanton, just two-miles south-west of Broadway in Worcestershire.

56Ci1

Johannis Collett

Born circa 1692

56Ci2

Gulielmus Collett

Born circa 1694

56Ci1

Johannis Collett may have been born at Stanton around 1692, although the exact date and the name of his parents are not known, except that he had a brother William Collett (below). What is known is that eight of the children of Johannis Collett were baptised at Stanton, and one at Snowshill, in Gloucestershire, just two miles north of the village of Stanway.

56Cj1

Johannis Collett

Baptised on 29.12.1714 at Stanton

56Cj2

Gulielmus Collett

Baptised on 17.09.1716 at Stanton

56Cj3

Ann Collett

Baptised in August 1720 at Stanton

56Cj4

Margaretta Collett

Baptised in October 1722 at Stanton

56Cj5

Gulielmus Collett

Baptised in October 1724 at Stanton

56Cj6

Richardus Collett

Baptised in January 1726 at Stanton

56Cj7

Georgius Collett

Baptised on 28.09.1729 at Snowshill

56Cj8

David Collett

Baptised in Dec. 1730 at Stanton

56Cj9

Robertus Collett

Baptised on 16.11.1731 at Stanton

56Ci2

Gulielmus Collett was very likely born around 1694, the brother of Johannis Collett (above). The only later record for Gulielmus (William) Collett was the death or burial of his son of the same name, which took place at Stanton in 1718.

56Cj10

Gulielmus Collett

Buried on 11.02.1718 at Stanton

56Cj2

Gulielmus Collett was baptised at Stanton on 17^th September 1716, the second child of Johannis Collett. From the fact that the next son born to Johannis was also named Gulielmus, very likely indicates that the first William Collett died between 1716 and 1720.

56Cj4

Margaretta Collett was baptised at Stanton during October 1722, the daughter of Johannis Collett. She was thirty-three years old when she married John Winter at Stanton on 4^th October 1755.

56Cj5

Gulielmus Collett was baptised at Stanton during October 1724, the son of Johannis Collett. It is possible, although not proved, that as William Collett he was married to Mary, by whom he had at least three children, his son named after his father. His daughter Mary Collett, who was baptised at Stanway, died there on 19^th April 1760 aged four years.

56Ck1

Elizabeth Collett

Baptised on 18.08.1751 at Stanway

56Ck2

Mary Collett

Baptised on 23.11.1755 at Stanway

56Ck3

John Collett

Baptised on 30.11.1760 at Stanway

56Cj7

Georgius Collett was baptised at Snowshill, just two miles from Stanton, on 28^th September 1729, the son of Johannis Collett. He was in his mid-twenties when as George Collett he married Mary Bennett at Stanway on 2^nd July 1754 when Mary was already well advanced with the couple’s first child who was born around two months later. That child, like the following three, were all baptised at Stanway which was just one mile south of Stanton.

56k4

Margaret Collett

Baptised on 22.09.1754 at Stanway

56k5

Mary Collett

Baptised on 27.06.1756 at Stanway

56k6

George Collett

Baptised on 08.10.1758 at Stanway

56k7

John Collett

Baptised on 18.04.1762 at Stanway

56Cj8

David Collett was baptised at Stanton during December 1730, the son of Johannis Collett. Tragically, he only survived for a few weeks, when he died at Stanton on 30^th January 1731.

56Ck6

George Collett was baptised at Stanway on 8^th October 1758, the eldest known son of George and Mary Collett. He was nearly thirty years old when he married Elizabeth Webb at Stanway on 17^th November 1788 and all their children were also baptised at Stanway. Tragically, their first son George died when he was just over two years of age. It is therefore highly likely that the next child born to the couple was also named George, although no record of a birth or baptism has been located. The reasoning behind that assumption stems from the census in 1841, when a George Collett was living in Church Stanway with his wife Sara and their two children.

56Cl1

Ann Collett

Baptised on 27.12.1789 at Stanway

56Cl2

Elizabeth Collett

Baptised on 01.01.1792 at Stanway

56Cl3

Patience Collett

Baptised on 12.01.1794 at Stanway

56Cl4

Frances Collett

Baptised on 17.05.1796 at Stanway

56Cl5

George Collett

Baptised on 12.09.1798 at Stanway

56Cl6

Francis Collett

Baptised on 04.01.1801 at Stanway

56Cl7

George Collett – not verified

Born circa 1803 at Stanway

56Ck7

John Collett was baptised at Stanway on 18^th April 1762, the youngest known son of George and Mary Collett. It is assumed, and not yet verified, that he married and had a son of the same name, while he and his wife were still living at Stanway.

56Cl8

John Collett

Born circa 1783 at Stanway

56Cl1

Ann Collett was baptised at Stanway on 27^th December 1789, the eldest child of George Collett and Elizabeth Webb. She never married and in 1851 she was a visitor at the Stanton home of her married sister Frances Sharp (below). On that census day she was 58 and an annuitant from Stanway, while ten years later the census in 1861 recorded Ann Collett, aged 69 from Stanway, as living at Alderton near Winchcombe, with her widowed sister Elizabeth Smith (below). And it was the same situation in 1871, by which time Ann was 79. Just over two years later the death of Ann Collett was recorded at Winchcombe (Ref. 6a 245) during the second quarter of 1873 when she was 83.

56Cl2

Elizabeth Collett was baptised at Stanway on 1^st January 1792, another daughter of George and Elizabeth Collett. On being married she became Elizabeth Smith and by the day of the census in 1861 she was a widow living at Alderton within the Winchcombe registration district at the age of 67. Her place of birth was confirmed as Stanway and staying with her was her unmarried older sister Ann Collett (above), also from Stanway, who was still living with her in 1871 when Elizabeth was 77.

56Cl3

Patience Collett was born at Stanway and was baptised there on 12^th January 1794, the third child of George and Elizabeth Collett. She was only nineteen years of age when she married the older Thomas Bradley, a farmer from nearby Worcestershire, at St Peter’s Church in Stanway on 3^rd December 1814, as recorded in the Bishop’s Transcripts. They had a great many children and in June 1841 the family of seven was recorded in the census at Stanley Pontlarge to the north of Winchcombe. Ten years later they were living in Staunton to the north of Gloucester where Thomas Bradley was 65 and Patience Bradley from Stanway was 57. Thomas had been born at Blockley, where at least three of the couple’s older children had been born. They were daughters Ann Bradley aged 33, and Frances Bradley who was 28, and George Bradley who was 26. The other three children still living at the family home had all been born at Stanway, and they were Elizabeth Bradley 22, Frederick Bradley 18, and Henry Bradley who was 15.

According to the next census in 1861 it was at Malvern Road in Staunton that the family was residing, when Thomas, a farmer of 30 acres, was 76, his wife Patience was 67, and five of their children were again living with them. They were George 36, Elizabeth 32, Frederick 28, Henry 24, and Ellen Bradley who was 22 – absent in the census of 1851. During the next few years Thomas Bradley passed away so, Patience Bradley was described as a widow and a farmer aged 77 in the Staunton census of 1871. At that time in her life, she had living with her two daughters and two sons, Frances and Ellen, and Frederick and Henry.

56Cl4

Frances Collett was born at Stanway, where she was baptised on 17^th May 1796, the daughter of George and Elizabeth Collett. At some time later in her life she married William Sharpe, who was a farmer at Stanton. In the Stanton census of 1851 William Sharpe, aged 53, was a maltster and a farmer, and living there with him was his wife Frances Sharpe, aged 53 from Stanway, together with their daughter Ann Sharpe who was 17, and Frances’ unmarried sister Ann Collett (above), who was 58 (sic). The whole family was supported by a servant, Charlotte Taylor, who was 25. Also living nearby in Stanton, at that time, was Elizabeth Collett, aged 25 and from Stanway, who was employed as a servant at the Stanton home of farmer William Hyatt of Snowshill. It is possible that she may have been the daughter of one of Frances’ brothers, either George or Francis Collett (above).

56Cl5

George Collett was born at Stanway where he was baptised on 12^th September 1798, the eldest son of George Collett and Elizabeth Webb. He was nearly two and half years old when he died, his death recorded at Stanway on 24^th March 1801, following which he was buried that same day in the graveyard at St Peter’s Church.

56Cl6

Francis Collett was born at Stanway, where he was baptised on 4^th January 1801, a son of George and Elizabeth Collett. At the time of his death there during February 1840 when he was 39, his abode was described as Church Stanway. It was also at St Peter’s Church in Stanway where he was buried on 11^th February 1840. The death of Francis Collett was recorded at Winchcombe (Ref. 11 418) during the first three months of that year.

56Cl7

George Collett was born at Stanway around 1803 and may have been the son of George Collett and Elizabeth Webb, whose fifth child and their first son George died in 1801. By the time of the census in 1841 George was married to Sarah, with whom he had a son and a daughter. The Winchcombe registration district census that year placed the family residing at Church Stanway within the parish of Stanway, where George Collett was 37, his wife Sarah was 28 and their two children were George who was eight and Laura who was six. Living with the family was teenager Charles Stanley who may well have been related to John Stanley the future husband of Laura Collett.

What happened to George and Sarah after 1841 is not known but, according to the next census in 1851, it was their son George, at the age of only 17 who was named as the head of the household. By then his occupation was that of a miller and a baker, while it was stated his place of birth was Stanton, rather than Stanway. Living at Stanway with him was his sister Laura who was 15 and also from Stanton. Although she was not credited with an occupation, the two siblings were being supported with their domestic chores by two servants, William Day aged 21 and Mary Broadiss who was 17.

It was just over six years later that Laura Collett married John Stanley, with the event recorded at Winchcombe (Ref. 6a 647) during the second quarter of 1857. After a gap of thirty years in the life Laura’s brother he was next identified in the census of 1881 when he was unmarried and a domestic coachman boarding at the Cheltenham home of Elizabeth Roberts at Albion Street in the town when, once again his place of birth was given as Stanton. Buried in the grounds of St Peter’s Church in Stanway during December 1886 is George Collett, but who he was or his age at death have still to be determined.

56Cm1

George Collett

Baptised on 13.02.1834 at Stanton

56Cm2

Laura Collett

Born in 1835 at Stanton

56Cl8

John Collett may have been born around 1783, the son of John Collett and the grandson of George Collett and Elizabeth Webb. On 7^th July 1803 John Collett was married by banns to Sarah Webb, both of the parish of Stanway, with whom he had eight children who were all baptised at same church in Stanway. John signed the marriage register, while Sarah made the mark of a cross. By the time of the census in 1841 John had died, leaving his widow Sarah Collett, aged 65, living in the Winchcombe & Guiting registration district. The only one of her children still living with her was her unmarried daughter Elizabeth, who was 30, who around nine years earlier had given birth to a base-born son George.

56Cm3

Mary Collett

Baptised on 03.06.1804 at Stanway

56Cm4

William Collett

Baptised on 23.11.1806 at Stanway

56Cm5

Elizabeth Collett

Baptised on 19.03.1809 at Stanway

56Cm6

John Collett

Baptised on 07.04.1811 at Stanway

56Cm7

Sarah Collett – see Ref. 56Am7

Baptised on 16.11.1813 at Stanway

56Cm8

Ann Collett twin

Baptised on 28.01.1816 at Stanway

56Cm9

George Collett twin

Baptised on 28.01.1816 at Stanway

56Cm10

Leah Collett

Baptised on 28.06.1818 at Stanway

56Cm3

Mary Collett was born at Stanway and it was there also that she was baptised on 3^rd June 1804, the eldest child of John Collett and Sarah Webb. When she was around twenty years of age, Mary gave birth to a base-born daughter a few years before she married Thomas Lock of Withington in Gloucestershire in either 1830 or 1831, with whom she had at least five further children. Thomas Lock was baptised at Withington on 5^th January 1806, the son of Robert and Ann Lock and, in census of 1841, he and his family were living in Stanway. Thomas had a rounded age of 30, Mary’s rounded age was 35, and their three children that day were listed as Mary Lock who was 11, Sarah Lock who was 10, and Thomas Lock who was five. Mary’s daughter Elizabeth Collett was recorded living with the family with a rounded age of 15.

More children were added to the family during the following decade and in 1851 the family was still living in Stanway, where Thomas Lock, aged 40, was a gardener’s labourer, his wife Mary Lock was 46 and from Stanway, where their five children were also born. Only four of them were living there at that time, and they were Mary A Lock, aged 21 and a silk winder, Thomas Lock, aged 15 and a farm labourer, Charlotte Lock who was eight, and Henry Lock who was five years old. Their daughter Sarah was absent on that occasion, as was Mary’s eldest child Elizabeth Collett who was a domestic servant living and working in nearby Stanton.

Ten years after that, in 1861, Thomas 50 and Mary Lock 57 had living with them four of their five children, and they were Sarah A Lock 28, Thomas Lock 23, Charlotte Lock 19 and Henry Lock who was 16. Also living with the Lock family was William Collett who was six years old and born at Stanway, the base-born son of Mary’s daughter Elizabeth Collett. Living next door was Mary’s brother John Collett (below) with his with Ann. According to the next Stanway census in 1871 labourer Thomas Lock was 64, his wife Mary was 67, while staying with them was Mary’s unmarried daughter Elizabeth Collett with her base-born son William who was six.

After a further ten years, and following the death of her husband, Mary Lock nee Collett, aged 76 and a pauper of Stanway, was living with her brother George Collett (below) and his wife Harriet in Stanway. Living in the adjacent cottage in 1881 was Mary’s sister, spinster Betty Collett (below) from Stanway, who was 72 and pauper, and who had staying with her that day her grandson George Collett, also of Stanway, who was 19 and an agricultural labourer.

56Cn1

Elizabeth Collett

Born circa 1825 at Stanway

56Cm4

William Collett was baptised at Stanway on 23^rd November 1806. He was the eldest son of John and Sarah Collett, but sadly died when he was only eighteen months old on 7^th June 1808.

56Cm5

Elizabeth Collett was born at Stanway and was baptised there on 19^th March 1809, the daughter of John and Sarah Collett. Although not yet confirmed, it would appear from the census returns in 1851 and 1881 that she had two base-born children, both born at Stanway and with about ten years between them. The first of them was her son George, while the second was her daughter Lydia, who was living at Stanway with Elizabeth in 1851. Unmarried Elizabeth Collett was 42, she had been born at Stanway, and her occupation was that of a charwoman. Her daughter was eight years old. Ten years earlier, in 1841, Elizabeth Collett, aged 30, had been living there with her widowed mother Sarah Collett in Stanway, prior to the birth of her daughter.

Ten years later in 1861, unmarried Elizabeth Collett, aged 51, was still living in Stanway, but on that occasion she had her brother George’s family living there with her. Just five dwellings from the residence of Elizabeth Collett, living and working at the home of farmer John Holder and his family, was her niece the unmarried Elizabeth Collett, aged 32 from Stanway, who was a dairymaid. She was the base-born child of Mary Lock, formerly the unmarried Mary Collett (above) and eldest sister of Elizabeth. In 1871 Elizabeth, aged 62, was staying at the Stanway home of her married brother John Collett (below) and his wife Ann. After a further ten years, according to the census in 1881, unmarried Betty Collett, aged 72 and a pauper from Stanway, was still living there, and living with her was her grandson George Collett who was 19 and an agricultural labourer from Stanway. His father was Betty’s only son George. Six years after that, the parish register at Stanway recorded that Elizabeth Collett was buried there on 8^th January 1887 at the age of 78.

56Cn2

George Collett

Born in 1832 at Stanway

56Cn3

Lydia Collett

Born in 1842 at Stanway

56Cm6

John Collett was born at Stanway in 1810, where he was baptised on 7^th April 1811, the son of John and Sarah Collett. It was around the time he was twenty-two, that John married Ann Cook, from Swindon, at Sevenhampton in Gloucestershire on 26^th June 1833, and their daughter was born nearly two years later. Ann Cook was the daughter of Charles Cook from Withington and his with Elizabeth from Stow-on-the-Wold, and it was at Sevenhampton near Swindon where her four siblings were born and, where very likely, the family was living when Ann married John Collett.

No record of the new Collett family has been found in 1841. However, in 1851, John Collett, aged 40 and from Stanway, was living at Stanway with his wife Ann, aged 38 and from Swindon. Living with the couple was Sarah Simmons, who was five and from Cheltenham, who was described as the niece of John Collett. By that time their own daughter Ann Collett, aged 15 and from Stanway, was already working nearby as a servant for sawyer William Harris and his wife Elizabeth.

Ten years later in 1861 John Collett from Stanway was 49 and his occupation was that of a labourer, while his wife was Anne Collett from Swindon who was 48. Still living with the couple was their niece Sarah Simmons from Cheltenham who was 15 and working as a labourer with her uncle. Living next door to the Collett family was the Lock family which included Mary Lock (above), who was John’s sister, and her unmarried daughter Sarah Lock who was 28.

At that same time in 1861, John’s and Ann’s daughter Ann Collett, aged 25 and from Stanway, was working as a dairymaid on the 850-acre farm of her maternal grandfather Charles Cook at Taddington Farm within the parish of Stanway, just one mile south of Snowshill. And ten years after that the couple was listed in the census of 1871, when John Collett was 60, and his wife Ann was 58. Also listed with the couple were two members of the extended family, and they were John’s older sister Elizabeth (above) who was 62, and the couple’s niece Lucy Simmons who was nine. No record of the couple has been found within the next census of 1881 and, in the case of Ann’s husband, it has been confirmed that John Collett aged 69 died at Stanway where he was buried on 1^st May 1880 in the grounds of St Peter’s Church. His death was recorded at Winchcombe (Ref. 6a 241) during the second quarter of that year. Rather curiously also recorded at Winchcombe (Ref. 6a 246) at that same time, was the death of Ann Collett but, instead of her age being recorded as 67, it was stated (perhaps in error) as 76.

56Cn4

Ann Collett

Born in 1835 at Stanway

56Cm9

George Collett, was a twin with his sister Ann, and was born at Stanway where he was baptised on 28^th January 1816, the youngest son of John Collett and Sarah Webb. George later married Harriet Woodward at Stanton on 3^rd November 1842, where Harriet had been born and where the couple was living when their daughter was born. By the time of the birth of their son, the family was living at Stanway. Just eighteen months prior to his wedding day, bachelor George Collett was 25 years old in the 1841 census for the Winchcombe & Guiting area of north Gloucestershire. Ten years later he was living in Stanway with his family, when George, an agricultural labourer from Stanway, was 34, his wife Harriet from Stanton was 28, daughter Fanny from Stanton was seven, and son John of Stanway was three years old.

It was a similar situation in 1861, except that the family was living with George’s unmarried sister Elizabeth (above), when labourer George Collett was 45, Harriet was 40, Fanny was 17 and John was14. The family was then living together in Stanway, by which time daughter Fanny was a gloveress and son John was employed as an under-carter. Sometime during the 1860s, Fanny left home to be married since, in 1871, it was only John aged 23 who was still living at Stanway with George who was 55 and Harriet who was 45.

By the time of the Stanway census in 1881, George Collett, aged 66 and from Stanway, was a labourer working on the district’s roads. On that occasion he was living in a cottage in the village of Stanway with his wife Harriet, aged 55 and from Stanton, and living with the couple was pauper and widow Mary Lock of Stanway, who was 76 and described as a boarder. She was George’s sister Mary Collett (above), while in the property right next door was another sister, unmarried Betty Collett aged 72 and from Stanway who was another pauper who had her grandson George Collett aged 19 staying with her.

George’s and Harriet’s son John was married with a family of his own by that time, and was living nearby in Stanway. It was also in Stanway that they were all still living in 1891, when George was 75 and his occupation was that of a roadman, and Harriet was 67. Lodging with the couple on the day of the census was John Childes, a general labourer of 38. Living next door to the couple in Stanway, was their son John and his family. It was four years later that first Harriet and then George passed away within a few months of each other. Harriet Collett nee Woodward aged 72 died at Church Stanway during the first three months of 1895, her death recorded at Winchcombe (Ref. 6a 336). The death of George Collett, aged 79, was also recorded at Winchcombe (Ref. 6a 247) but during the second quarter of that same year. Both of them were buried at Stanway Church, Harriet on 23^rd March 1895 and George on 21^st June 1895. The burial records stated that their place of residence was Church Stanway.

56Cn5

Fanny Collett

Born in 1843 at Stanway

56Cn6

John Collett

Born in 1847 at Stanway

56Cn1

Elizabeth Collett was born at Stanway around 1825 and was the base-born daughter of Mary Collett by an unknown father. Not long after she was born her mother married Thomas Lock, and Elizabeth retained the Collett surname, and it was with the Lock family at Stanway that Elizabeth Collett was living in June 1841 when she was 15. On leaving school Elizabeth entered domestic service and in 1851, at the age of 25, she was a servant at a home in Stanton. The census return confirmed she had been born at Stanway and was still unmarried. It was three years later that she gave birth to a base-born son. Where Elizabeth was on the day of the census in 1861 has yet to be discovered, while her son was staying with his maternal mother Mary Lock and her family at their home in Stanway. Ten years later the next census in 1871 recorded unmarried Elizabeth Collett, aged 40 (sic) and from Stanway, living with the Lock family at Stanway, where he son William was still residing. No further record of Elizabeth has been found after 1871, which may mean that she was married during the 1870s.

56Co1

William Collett

Born in 1854 at Stanway

56Cn2

George Collett was born at Stanway around 1832. It is understood that he first married the daughter of David and Sarah Chambers, with whom he had a daughter Emma, shortly thereafter. The tragic death of young Sarah Collett was recorded at Tewkesbury (Ref. 6a 8) during the last three months of 1853, daughter Emma having been born earlier that year. Following the death of his first wife, George later married (2) Mary Ann Court at Stanway on 22^nd April 1856, the event recorded at Winchcombe (Ref. 6a 600). Mary Ann was born at Stanway in 1832, the daughter of farmer Jeremiah Court of Stanway and his wife Ann who was from Gotherington. In the Stanway census of 1851 Mary Court, aged 17, was still living with her parents and her brother Francis Court who was 11.

George and Mary had given birth to four children by the time of the census in 1861 but, on that day, Mary was living with three of them at the Stanway home of her parents, even though she was described as married and not widowed. The couple’s eldest child was very likely named in remembrance of Mary’s younger brother who appears to have died during the 1850s.

At that same time in 1861, Mary’s husband George Collett, aged 27 and from Stanway, and his daughter Emma Collett, aged seven from Stanway, were living with, or just visiting, the parents of George’s first wife, David, and Sarah Chambers in Stanway. The census return listed the group as David Chambers from Scotland, who was a woodman of 61, his wife Sarah, aged 51 from nearby Kineton, George Collett, son-in-law, who was 27 and a former miller of Stanway, and granddaughter Emma Collett who was seven years old.

On that same day in 1861, George’s wife Mary Ann Collett, who was 28, had with her the couple’s other three children, Francis W Collett who was four, George J Collett who was two years old and Hannah E Collett who was just one month old. All the children and their mother, were confirmed as having been born at Stanway, when head of the household was Jeremiah Court of Stanway who was 67 and a farmer, together with his wife Ann Court who was 60 and from Gotherington. Two years after that census day, Mary Ann presented George with their last child, their daughter Lavinia.

No record of George Collett has been found within the next census in 1871 and, on that day, his wife was again staying with her parents. The census for Wood Stanway recorded her as Mary A Collett who was 38 and married, the daughter of Jeremiah Court aged 76 and from Stanway and his wife Ann who was 67 and from Bishops Cleeve. On that same day Mary’s eldest son Francis W Collett was 14 and still attending school, while a boarder with the Booth family at their home in Aston-on-Carrant, just north-east of Ashchurch, near Tewkesbury. Her two youngest children, Hannah and Lavinia were boarders at the Winchcombe home of schoolmaster Charles Lapworth and his wife Lucy, where presumably they were being educated. It was eight years later that Mary Ann Collett nee Court died and was buried in the churchyard of St Peter’s Church in Stanway during 1879, when she was around 45 years old.

56Co2

Emma Collett

Born in 1853 at Stanway

The children of George Collett and his second wife Mary Ann Court were:

56Co3

Francis William Collett

Born in 1856 at Stanway

56Co4

George Jeremiah Collett

Born in 1858 at Stanway

56Co5

Hannah Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1861 at Stanway

56Co6

Lavinia Ann Collett

Born in 1863 at Stanway

56Cn5

Fanny Collett was born in 1843 at Stanway and later married John Lucas Bleby, the wedding recorded at Winchcombe (Ref. 6a 813) during the last three months of 1865, John having been born there in 1840 (Ref. 11 486). They had four children, all born at Winchcombe, and John Bleby died in 1915 and his widow Fanny died the following year.

56Cn6

John Collett was born at Stanway in 1847, the son of George and Harriet Collett. He was three years old in 1851, 14 years of age in 1861 and working as an under-carter, and 23 in 1871 when he was a labourer and, on each occasion, he was living in Stanway with his parents. Within a few months of the census day in 1871, John married Emma Green from Snowshill, the event recorded at Winchcombe (Ref. 6a 663) during the third quarter of 1871. The couple’s first of their eight children was born nine months later and by 1881 they had five children living with them in a cottage in the village of Stanway, not far from John’s parents. However, by that time the couple had lived through the premature deaths of two children, Ada, and William.

It may be of interest to note that two separate Collett families were living in Snowshill and Stanway over one hundred earlier. At Snowshill it was John Collett and his wife Rachel Collett and their daughter Margaret Collett who was baptised there on 24^th November 1751, about whom nothing is currently known, whilst at Stanway there was George Collett (Ref. 56Cj7) and his wife Mary.

According to the census in 1881, John Collett was 33 and an agricultural labourer from Stanway, Emma was 35 and from Snowshill, where their first four children had been born, before the family settled in Stanway. Albert was nine, Kate was seven, Emily was four, Ada was two, and Mary A Collett was one-year-old. Only four of their children were still living with the couple by 1891, and that included the latest addition to the family, their daughter Myra.

John Collett was 43 and a general labourer, his wife Emma was 44, their son Albert was 19 and working as a general labourer, while their daughters were Ada Collett who was 13, Mary A Collett who was 11, and Myra who was only five years old. The family’s missing daughter Kate Collett aged 18 and from Stanway, was still living within the same parish when she was a servant at the home of farmer Mark Gurton and his family, while daughter Emily was the third child not to survive.

By March 1901 it was only their youngest daughter who was still living with her parents at Stanway. John Collett was 54, and at that time in his life he was working on the local estate, where he was employed as a woodman and general labourer. Emma was 56, and daughter Myra was 15.

By April 1911 John’s daughter Myra was married and was living in the Crickhowell area of Wales, but by then his unmarried son Albert had returned home from his travels. The family was still living at Stanway, where John Collett from Stanway was 63 and working as an estate general labourer, Emma from Snowshill was 65, and Albert Collett, also from Snowshill, was 39 and a farm labourer. The census return also confirmed that the family was living at Church Stanway, Winchcombe, and that John and Emma had been married for 39 years, during which time they had given birth to eight children, with five of them still living in 1911. The couple’s youngest child, Myra, was Myra Dudley in 1911, when she was described as 25 and from Stanway, living at Beaufort with her husband Walter Julian Dudley who was 31.

56Co7

Albert Collett

Born in 1872 at Snowshill

56Co8

Ada Collett

Born in 1872 at Snowshill

56Co9

Kate Annie Collett

Born in 1873 at Snowshill

56Co10

William Collett

Born in 1875 at Snowshill

56Co11

Emily Collett

Born in 1876 at Stanway

56Co12

Ada Collett

Born in 1878 at Stanway

56Co13

Mary A Collett

Born in 1880 at Stanway

56Co14

Myra Collett

Born in 1885 at Stanway

56Co1

William Collett was born at Stanway in 1854 and was the base-born son of Elizabeth Collett, the illegitimate daughter of Mary Lock – formerly Mary Collett (Ref. 56Cm3). His birth was recorded at Winchcombe (Ref. 6c 327) during the third quarter of that year. When he was baptised at Stanway Church on 17^th September 1854 his sole parent was named as unmarried Elizabeth Collett. In 1861 William was six years old when he was living with the family of his grandmother Mary Lock at Stanway. Where his mother was at that time is not yet known. It was the same situation in 1871, except that his mother Elizabeth was also staying with him at the Lock family home in Stanway.

According to the next census in 1881, William Collett, aged 26 from Stanway, was a groom living and working at 37 Exeter Street in London, just off The Strand. His status was that of a married man and, although he was head of household, there was no wife or family living there with him at that time. Instead, the other occupants of the house were John James Temple 59 and his wife Mary Ann Temple 60 – who was William’s housekeeper, and Catherine Mitchell 66 – William’s domestic servant, with her 18 months old granddaughter Catherine Mitchell. Where or who William’s wife was at that time is not known, but the marriage of William Collett and Ellen Elizabeth Gibson was recorded at Stow-on-the-Wold (Ref. 6a 829) during the final three months of 1875. Whether that was William Collett from Stanway is not known.

56Co2

Emma Collett was born at Stanway in 1853, her birth recorded at Winchcombe (Ref. 6a 13) during the first three months of that year. She was the only known child of George Collett by his first wife Sarah Chambers who died towards the end of 1853. When Emma was around three years old, her father was married for a second time and, on the day of the census in 1861, she was seven years and was with her father who was visiting his first wife’s parents at their home in Stanway. What happened to Emma after that day is not known, perhaps she remained living with her Chambers grandparents, because she was not with her Collett family ten years later. However, the marriage of Emma Collett and Thomas Page was recorded at Winchcombe (Ref. 6a 729) during the second quarter of 1877.

56Co3

Francis William Collett was born at Stanway towards the end of 1856, the eldest child of George Collett and his second wife Mary Ann Court, whose birth was recorded at Winchcombe (Ref. 6a 34) during the first quarter of 1857. And it was at Stanway that the family was living in 1861, when Francis W Collett was four years and living at the home of his maternal grandfather Jeremiah Court, a farmer, and grandmother Ann Court. Following the deaths of both of his parents during that decade, Francis W Collett from Stanway was 14 years old in 18871 when he was still attending school, while described as a boarder at the Aston-on-Carrant, Ashchurch home of retired wheelwright Frederick Booth and his wife Ann Booth. His three younger siblings were also taken in by other members of the extended family.

By 1881 Francis and his sister Hannah were recorded as living at a dwelling in The Green at Twyning, a village to the north of Tewkesbury. By that time in his life, Frank Collett was 23 and a butcher from Stanway. His sister Hannah, who was 20 and from Stanway, was very likely performing the role of housekeeper, since she was not credited with an occupation. Living there with them, was William Bennett, aged 14 from Twyning, who was employed by Frank as a non-domestic butcher’s boy.

Not long after 1881, Francis married Mary Tabitha Green, with whom he had four children prior to the next census in 1891. Mary’s birth was registered at Pershore in Worcestershire (Ref. 6c 31), following which she was baptised at Strensham on 31^st October 1858, the daughter of James and Charlotte Green. On the day of the census of 1891, Francis W Collett aged 34 and from Stanway, was a butcher who was living with his wife and their four children within the village of Mathon, north of Ledbury and west of Great Malvern in the county of Herefordshire. Mary T Collett was 33, William J Collett was eight, Mary L Collett was seven, Francis J Collett was four, and Lizzie G Collett who was three years old. Also included in the household were two male servants, the older one being a butcher’s slaughterman, the young being a butcher’s apprentice. There was also one female servant, who was very likely helping Mary care for the needs of her family.

Sadly, apart from the children’s birth records, that record of the family in 1891 is the only detail known about the family in Great Britain which emigrated to South Africa shortly thereafter. The Will of Francis William Collett was proved in London on 25^th May 1910, which stated that he died at Bloemfontein in Orange Free State on 21^st December 1909, when the main beneficiaries were Mary Tabitha Collett and William Jeremiah Collett. He was buried the following day in the churchyard of the parish church in Bethulie within the diocese of Bloemfontein.

56Cp1

William Jeremiah Collett

Born in 1882 at Tewkesbury

56Cp2

Mary L Collett

Born in 1884 in Gloucestershire

56Cp3

Francis James Collett

Born in 1886 at Mathon, Ledbury

56Cp4

Lizzie Gertrude Collett

Born in 1888 at Mathon, Ledbury

56Co4

George Jeremiah Collett was born at Stanway near the end of 1858, another son of George and Mary Ann Collett, his birth recorded at Winchcombe (Ref. 6a 15) during the first quarter of 1859. At the age of two years, George J Collett was living with his mother and two siblings in Stanway at the home of his maternal grandparents, farmer Jeremiah Court and his wife Ann. Where his father was at that time has not been determined. Between the birth of his sister Lavinia (below) and the census of 1871, both of his parents died, resulting in the splitting up of their four children.

In 1881 agricultural labourer George Collett of Stanway was 19 (sic), when he was living at Stanway with his unmarried grandmother Betty, Elizabeth Collett of Stanway, who was 72 and a pauper. It was later that same decade, around 1886, that George married Ann Vincent who was born at Lye near Stourbridge. Although no record of the couple has been found in the census of 1891, it is established that by that time they had a daughter, while the family was living with Ann’s widowed father at Handsworth in 1901. It is also known that, at the time of the baptism of their son in 1895, George was working as a carter.

In the Handsworth census of 1901, William Vincent was 65 and a fitter’s labourer from Alvechurch near Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, who was living at 52 Brewery Street in Handsworth. His son-in-law George Collett, aged 40 and from Stanway, was a gas stoker, while his daughter Annie Collett was 36 and from Lye in Worcestershire. The couple’s four children, listed as grandchildren to William Vincent, were Ethel Collett who was 13, Lydia Collett who was nine, Charles R Collett who was six, and Albert W Collett who was two years old, and all of them born at Handsworth. A visitor at the house, was Edith A Neale, aged 15 and from Cam Green in Gloucestershire.

During the following years, a further two children were added to the family at 52 Brewery Street, which was also where they were still living in April 1911 but, by which time, George and Annie’s eldest daughter had left the family home, perhaps to be married. The remainder of the family at Handsworth, within the West Bromwich registration district, were recorded as George Collett from Stanway who was 49 and a gas stoker employed by the borough council, Annie Collett from Lye was 47, Lydia Collett was 19 with no stated occupation, Charles Collett was 16 and a brass caster at a nearby metal works, Albert Collett was 12 and still at school, Alfred Collett was four and Dora Collett was two years old. George was still alive in 1919 and again in 1921, as confirmed at the weddings of his two eldest sons, but had passed away before 1933, when his youngest son was married during that year.

56Cp5

Ethel May Collett

Born in 1888 at Handsworth

56Cp6

Lydia Collett

Born in 1891 at Handsworth

56Cp7

Charles Randall Collett

Born in 1895 at Handsworth

56Cp8

Albert William Collett

Born in 1898 at Handsworth

56Cp9

Alfred Percy Collett

Born in 1906 at Handsworth

56Cp10

Dora K Collett

Born in 1908 at Handsworth

56Co5

Hannah Elizabeth Collett was born at Stanway in March 1861, the eldest of the two daughters of George and Mary Collett. At the age of 10 years Elizabeth H Collett and her sister Lavinia were attending school in Winchcombe in 1871.

56Co6

Lavinia Ann Collett was born at Stanway in 1863, the youngest child of George Collett and Mary Ann Court. Her birth, under her full name, was recorded at Winchcombe (Ref. 6a 370) during the second quarter of 1863. It is likely that her father died before the end of the decade and by 1871 her mother was staying with Lavinia’s grandparents in Stanway. On the day of the census that year Lavinia, aged seven, and her older sister Hannah (above) were at the Winchcombe boarding school of Charles Lapworth and his wife Lucy. Lavinia’s mother died in 1879 and, on completing her education, Lavinia went to live with her widowed maternal grandmother Mary Ann Court at Aston Cross near Ashchurch. The census in 1881 recorded the pair of them residing at Laurel Villa, where Lavinia Collett from Wood Stanway was 17 and described as the companion of Ann Court from Gotherington who was 77 and an annuitant.

56Co7

Albert Collett was born at Snowshill in early 1872, the birth recorded at Winchcombe (Ref. 6a 417) during the first three months of that year. He was the eldest child of John Collett of Stanway and his wife Emma from Snowshill and was baptised at Snowshill on 9^th June 1872. Around the mid-1870s, and most likely after the death of two of his younger siblings, Albert and his family moved to Stanway, and it was there that they were living in 1881 when Albert was nine years old. He and his family were still in Stanway in 1891 when Albert, aged 19, was working as a general labourer like his father. The 1901 census entry for Albert Collett from Stanway curiously described him as a professional cricketer at the age of 28, when he was a boarder at the Sheep Street home in Stow-on-the-Wold of stonemason and beer house keeper Charles Clifford Webb and his wife Jane. There are two earlier Collett/Webb connections within this family line, which begs the question, was Charles a member of the extended family.

After a further ten years Albert Collett from Snowshill was employed as a labourer on a local farm within the Winchcombe registration district. The census conducted in April 1911 confirmed he was 39 years of age and still a bachelor, while once again living with his parents at Church Stanway. It is understood within the extended family that he was later married, although no record to prove or deny this has so far been found.

56Co8

Ada Collett was born in 1872 at Snowshill and was the first of two children of that name born to John and Emma Collett. Her birth was recorded at Winchcombe (Ref. 6a 387) during the last three months of 1872, while her absence from the family in 1881 indicates that she was the first of the three children to suffer a premature death. The birth of her namesake and younger sister Ada in 1878 might suggest that the first Ada died after the birth of her sister Emily in 1876.

56Co9

Kate Annie Collett was born at Snowshill in 1873, her birth recorded under the name Kate Collett at Winchcombe (Ref. 6a 390) during the third quarter of that year, the daughter of John and Emma Collett. When she was just a few years old her parents moved back to her father’s home village of Stanway. And it was there that the family was living in 1881 when Kate Collett was seven years old. By the time of the next census in 1891 Kate had left the family home in Stanway, when she would have been seventeen. It was twenty years later in April 1911 that Kate was next identified in the census returns. By that time in her life, she was married to James Edward Hobbs, and the childless couple were living in Cheltenham. James Edward Hobbs was thirty-three, while Kate was thirty-seven and described as Kate Annie Hobbs from Snowshill.

56Co10

William Collett was born at Snowshill in 1875 another son of John and Emma Collett. His birth was recorded at Winchcombe (Ref. 6a 309) during the second quarter of 1875, where his death was also recorded (Ref. 6a 287) during that same three-month period.

56Co11

Emily Collett was born at Stanway in 1876, a daughter of John and Emma Collett whose birth was recorded at Winchcombe (Ref. 6a 415) during the last three months of that year. And it was at a cottage in the village of Stanway that four-year old Emily was living with her family in 1881. However, it was just four years after that when the death of Emily Collett was recorded at Winchcombe (Ref. 6a 313) during the first three months of 1885 when she was eight years old. Tragically, she was third child of John and Emma Collett not to survived.

56Co12

Ada Collett was born at Stanway in 1878, her birth recorded at Winchcombe (Ref. 6a 418) during the second quarter of that year. She was two years of age in the Stanway census of 1881 and was 13 in the same census of 1891. Included here are the details for Edith Collett from Stanway who was 22 in 1901 and a domestic housekeeper for the Dicks family in Cheltenham. Whether she was Ada Collett is not known, although no alternative record for any other female born in Stanway around that time has been found. That same Edith Collett was still unmarried in 1911 when the census that year continued to confirm she was 32, born at Church Stanway, and a domestic employee in Cheltenham.

56Co13

Mary Ann Collett was born at Stanway in 1880 another daughter of John and Emma Collett, her birth recorded at Winchcombe (Ref. 6a 413) during the first quarter of 1880. It was also as Mary A Collett that she was included with her family in the next two Stanway census returns, when she was one-year old and 11 years of age. On leaving school she entered domestic service and within the census of 1901 there was an Annie Collett from Stanway who was 21 and a parlour-maid living and working at the home of the Griffiths family at Bishops Cleeve to the north of Cheltenham.

56Co14

Myra Collett was born at Stanway in 1885, the youngest child of John and Emma Collett whose birth was recorded at Winchcombe (Ref. 6a 401) during the third quarter of 1885. In 1891 she was five years old and was living with her family at Stanway. Ten years later in 1901 she was the only child still living with her parents at Stanway at the age of 15, when her place of birth was confirmed as Stanway. It was just six years later that Myra Collett married Walter Julian Dudley during the early months of 1907, the event at Stanway was recorded at Winchcombe register office (Ref. 6a 633) during the first quarter of that year.

Walter was born in the village of Hardwick, just north of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire where his birth was recorded (Ref. 3a 597) during the first three months of 1876. He was the son of Matthew Dudley from nearby North Marston and his wife Sarah. On the day of the census in 1881 the large Dudley family was living in the hamlet of Shipton-Lee within the parish of Quainton. Matthew Dudley aged 45 and a domestic gardener, had been an inn keeper and a publican at Granborough near Winslow twenty and ten years earlier, his baptism recorded at North Marston on 23^rd September 1832, the son of William and Anne Dudley. Matthew’s wife was Sarah Price from North Marston, whom he married at Winslow (Ref. 3a 619) during the third quarter of 1857. She was 42 in 1881, while the couple’s nine children were Elizabeth who was 22; Sarah who was 17; Frederick who was 15; Alfred who was 13; Katie who was 10; William who was eight, and Arthur who was six – all born at Granborough, plus Julian who was five and born at Hardwick; and May who was one-year-old and born at Doddershall.

After a further ten years, the census in 1891 described Walter J Dudley as being 15 and a stable boy/domestic servant living with his family at Upper Street in Quainton. By then his father Matthew, aged 53, was still working as a gardener, his mother Sarah was 50, and his siblings were Frederick who was 23, William who was 18, Florence who was 10, and Albert who was six. According to the next census in 1901 Walter Julian Dudley was staying in lodgings at Doncaster, from where he was working on the railway.

Following their wedding day in 1907, Walter and Myra moved to South Wales and Ebbw Vale, where Myra presented Walter with their first child. Tragically, that child did not survive so, on the day of the census conducted in April 1911, the childless couple was living at 13 The Rise in Beaufort within the Crickhowell registration district of Breconshire. Walter Julian Dudley was thirty-one-years-old and a mechanic/fitter with a public works contractor, who gave his place of birth as North Marston (where his father had been born). His wife of four years Myra Dudley was twenty-five and once again her place of birth was confirmed as Stanway in Gloucestershire. It was the census return that year which confirmed the loss of their only child.

Sometime later Walter became a caretaker at the local waterworks and in 1914 Myra presented him with the first of two sons, Ronald Dudley, who was followed by John Collett Dudley who was born during 1915. Ronald, who had two daughters, was the father of Monica Dudley who, upon being married to George, became Monica Hunter. And it was Monica who made contact in 2016, which resulted in this family line being updated. It is also known that John Collett Dudley was a married man, but had no offspring.

During her life Myra held the Family Bible which had belonged to her grandfather George Collett. The Bible contained the details for Myra’s father John and his sibling, and was a valuable resource used by Myra’s granddaughter Monica Hunter when she was researching the family tree. Myra Dudley nee Collett was 97 years old when she died in 1982. The last twenty-three years of her life she was a widow, following the death of Walter Julian Dudley at Beaufort, Blaenau, Gwent on 30^th December 1958, who was buried in the grounds of the Church of St David in Beaufort.

56Cp1

William Jeremiah Collett was born at Tewkesbury on 2^nd May 1882 and was the eldest of the four known children of Francis William Collett and Mary Tabitha Green. His birth was registered at Tewkesbury (Ref. 6a 466) during the second quarter of the year, and it is established that he was known as Billy within his family. It was as William J Collett that he was eight years of age in the Herefordshire census of 1891, by which time the family was living in the village of Mathon between Malvern and Ledbury. Shortly after that day the family sailed to a new life in South Africa, where William Jeremiah Collett was 30 years of age, a bachelor, and a farmer, when he was married by banns to 22-year-old Renee Evelyn Collins at Bethulie in South Africa’s Orange River Colony on 17^th October 1911. One of the witnesses was E Collins, a likely member of Rene’s family.

Over the next fifteen years Renee presented Billy with five children when the couple was still living in Bethulie in Orange Free State (aka Orange River Colony), whose dates of births were provided in the death notice for their father. William Jeremiah Collett was 51 years old when he died on 1^st June 1933 at Bethulie in Orange Free State in South Africa. His death notice and the subsequent probate process revealed many details of his family, as repeated below:

His late father was Francis William Collett, while his mother Mary Tabitha was still alive and living in South Africa at Randfontein, Transvaal; his occupation and place of residence being an auctioneer’s clerk, and Bethulie; his surviving spouse was confirmed as Rene Evelyn Collett, nee Collins, to whom he was married at Bethulie and was “married out of community of property”; he died at the home of B J Corgllbrecht. In addition to all of this, his children’s names and dates of birth were recorded as: Francis Ralph Collett - 27.05.1913; Richard Neville Collett - 08.02.1916; William Eric Collett - 17.08.1917; Stuart Keith Collett – 08.09.1919; and Joan Mary Collett – 25.05.1926.

The memorial gravestone for Renne Evelyn Collett, nee Collins, laid adjacent to that of her husband, confirms she was born on 24^th March 1889, and died on 18^th September 1981. That same grave also contained the body of her daughter Joan Mary Collett, with a separate gravestone with the following inscription. “Joan Mary Fainsinger, nee Collett, born 25 5 1926 died 5 8 1992, a Child of Bethulie, a Woman of God, Loved by All” The grave of William Jeremiah Collett (Billy) also contains the body of his son Eric.

56Cq1

Francis Ralph Collett

Born in 1913 at Bethulie, South Africa

56Cq2

Richard Neville Collett

Born in 1916 at Bethulie, South Africa

56Cq3

William Eric Collett

Born in 1917 at Bethulie, South Africa

56Cq4

Stuart Keith Collett

Born in 1919 at Bethulie, South Africa

56Cq5

Joan Mary Collett

Born in 1926 at Bethulie, South Africa

56Cp2

Mary Lavinia Collett was born in 1883 and was the eldest daughter of Billy and Mary Collett, whose birth was registered at Tewkesbury (Ref. 6a 433) during the third quarter of the year. Sometime after she was born, and prior to the birth of her younger brother Francis (below), her family moved across the county boundary into neighbouring Herefordshire. And it was as Mary L Collett that she was seven years old and living with her family at Mathon near Ledbury in 1891. Just after that day Mary’s family left England when they sailed to South Africa.

That move was confirmed in 1904 when 21-year-old Mary Lavinia Collett was married by banns to bachelor Gilbert Thomas Collett, aged 26 and a farmer, at the Church of St Peter in Bethulie, Orange Free State, on 24^th November 1904. The first witness was Mary’s father Francis William Collett (Billy), with the second witness named as Edward Fletcher Roberts. It is not currently known whether there were any children, while one record suggests that Mary Lavinia died in Transvaal in 1971.

56Cp3

Francis James Collett was born at Mathon, Herefordshire, in 1886 with his birth registered at nearby Ledbury (Ref. 6a 415) during the third quarter of that year. He was four years old in the Mathon census of 1891 and not long after that day he and his family emigrated to South Africa. After less than twenty years at their new home, Francis James Collett died at Bethulie in Orange Free State on 1^st February 1911, just over a year after his father had died at Bloemfontein. The Death Notice incorrectly stated that he had been born at Malvern in Worcestershire, but that his father was stock farmer Francis William Collett deceased, that his mother was Mary Tabitha Green, and that he was 24 years and 6 months old, a bachelor and a farmer living in his own house at Neet te Weet. The cause of death was the result of an accidental gunshot after which he only survived for just three hours, the tragic event the subject of a coroner’s inquest.

56Cp4

Lizzie Gertrude Collett was born at Mathon in 1888, the youngest of four siblings, when her birth was also registered at Ledbury (Ref. 6a 462) during the first three months of the year. As Lizzie G Collett she was three years of age in 1891 when the family was still residing in the village of Mathon, near Ledbury, after which the whole family sailed to South Africa. Once settled in that country the family lived at Bloemfontein where Lizzie’s father Francis William Collett (Billy) died at the end of 1909. It may have been after that sad event, that the family moved to Randfontein where, certainly her mother Mary Tabitha Collett (Green), was living later in her life.

Lizzie was married twice in her life and, on both occasions, it was at Randfontein in Transvaal. The first marriage of Lizzie Gertrude Collett and Sydney John Henry Moses was conducted on 12^th April 1927 after the reading of banns, when they were both 39 years old. Sydney was a widower and an electrician, while Lizzie was a spinster. Despite their advanced year, their daughter Elizabeth Mary Moses was born at Randfontein on 3^rd September 1929, after which she was baptised on 27^th October 1929.

Sydney was born at Dartmouth in Devon, England, the son of Sydney and Elizabeth Anne Moses. He was 52 years and 5 months old, and a foreman electrician living at 19 North Married Quarters in Randfontein, whose surviving spouse was Lizzie Gertrude Collett married out of community of property, and whose previous wife was Violet Bradford who has died in 1922. It was while he was a patient at Robinson Hospital that he died on 29^th October 1940.

When Lizzie was made a widow, she married Henry Smith on 10^th June 1943 at St John’s Church Randfontein when she was 55 and he was 59. Their entry of the parish register referred to it as a Special Marriage Licence 101522, when widower Henry was cyanide foreman residing at 75 Millside Married Quarters in Randfontein, and Lizzie was a widow and a housewife living at 30 Railway Street, Randfontein.

56Cp5

Ethel May Collett was said to be born at Handsworth, where all the other children of George and Annie Vincent were later born, although it was at Worcester (Ref. 6c 201) where her birth was recorded during the fourth quarter of 1888. No record of the family has been found in 1891 but then years later, Ethel Collett of Handsworth was 13, when she and her family were residing at her maternal grandfather’s home, at 52 Brewery Street in Handsworth. By 1911, Ethel had left her grandfather’s home, where most of her family was still living, and was described as a domestic servant age 23, from Handsworth, who was employed by George Leonard Hill at his Walmley home midway between Sutton Coldfield and Castle Bromwich.

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Lydia Collett was born at Handsworth in 1891, the second child of George Collett and Annie, her birth recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 27) during the last quarter of the year. She was baptised at St James’ Church in Handsworth on 31^st January 1892, when she was confirmed as the daughter of George and Annie Collett. It was at 52 Brewery Street in Handsworth where Lydia and her family were living in 1901 and 1911, when nine and 19 years of age respectively, having no occupation in the latter census. She was still a single lady when she gave birth to a base-born daughter on 15^th September 1913, with Agnes Pauline Collett baptised at St James’ Church in Handsworth two weeks later, on 1^st October 1913. Tragically, the death of Lydia Collett was recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 85) during the fourth quarter of 1918, when she was only 26 years of age.

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Charles Randall Collett was born at Handsworth in 1895 and was baptised there at St James’ Church on 3^rd March 1895, the third child and eldest son of George Collett and Annie Vincent of 52 Brewery Street. It was as Charles R Collett aged six in 1901 and as Charles Collett aged 16 in 1911 that he was still living with his family at 52 Brewery Street in Handsworth. Whether he saw active service during the Great War is not currently known, but it was just after the end of the war that he became a married man. Charles Randall Collett, aged 24 and the son of George Collett, married Dora Wilson, aged 25 and the daughter of Harry Wilson, at St James’ Church in Handsworth on 2^nd August 1919. Incredibly, Charles was still living at 52 Brewery Street at the time of his passing when he was 62. The death of Charles R Collett was recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 9c 639) during the last three months of 1956. The report by the Probate Office confirmed that Charles Randall Collett of 52 Brewery Street, Birmingham, died at 77 Dudley Road in Birmingham, leaving his widow Dora Collett as the administrator of his personal estate of £609 6 Shillings and 7 Pence.

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Randall Stewart Collett

Born in 1921 at Handsworth

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Marjorie D J Collett

Born in 1923 at Handsworth

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Kenneth Percy Collett

Born in 1925 at Handsworth

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Albert William Collett was born at 52 Brewery Street in Handsworth on 8^th July 1898, the second son of George and Ann Collett, who was baptised at St James’ Church on 14^th September 1898. Two-year old Albert W Collett was still living at 52 Brewery Street in 1901, where he was also staying with his family in 1911 when, as simply Albert Collett, he was 12. It was at the same church where he was baptised that Albert William Collett, aged 23 and the son of George Collett, married Emily Clarke, aged 24 and the daughter of William Henry Clarke, on 24^th September 1921. Whether the couple had any children is not known, but it is known that Albert William Collett was 73 years old when he died in Birmingham, his death recorded there (Ref. 9c 1444) during the final three months of 1971.

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Alan J Collett

Born in 1924 at Birmingham

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Alfred Percy Collett was born at 52 Brewery Street in Handsworth on 18^th April 1906, the third son and the fifth of six children of George Collett and Ann Vincent. He was one month old when he was baptised at St James’ Church in Handsworth on 20^th May, the church record confirming his parents as George and Annie Collett. He was recorded as being four years old in the census of 1911 when his family was still residing at 52 Brewery Street just two weeks before his fifth birthday. It was on 7^th August 1933 at the Church of St James in Handsworth that Alfred Percy Collett, aged 27 and the son of the late George Collett, married Ethel Deeming who was 25 and the daughter of William Henry Deeming, a safe maker.

The birth of Ethel Deeming was recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 938) during the second quarter of 1908 and it was there that she was living with her family in 1911 when she was three years of age. Ethel Collett nee Deeming was 57 when she died, her death recorded at Birmingham (Ref. 9c 765) during the first three months of 1966. It was thirteen years after losing his wife when Alfred Percy Collett passed away on 6^th March 1979, his death also recorded at Birmingham register office (Vol. 32 1584). Probate of his estate of £4,224 was settled at Birmingham on 27^th September 1979. The documents also confirmed that he had resided at Flat 1, Holly Road in Birmingham, while the lack of a named descendent may indicate he and Ethel never had any children.

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Cynthia D A Collett

Born in 1936 at West Bromwich

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Melvyn R Collett

Born in 1939 at West Bromwich

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Christopher A Collett

Born in 1943 at Birmingham

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Anthony W Collett

Born in 1945 at Birmingham

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Dora K Collett was born at 52 Brewery Street in Handsworth during 1908 and was two years of age in the Handsworth census of 1911. She was the last known child born to George Collett and Ann Vincent and was just four years old when she suffered a childhood death which was recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 795) during the last quarter of 1912.

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Francis Ralph Collett was born at Bethulie in Orange Free State, South Africa, on 27^th May 1913, the first-born child of William Jeremiah Collett and Rene Evelyn Collins.

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Richard Neville Collett was at Bethulie in Orange Free State on 8^th February 1916, another son of William and Rene Collett. It was also at Bethulie where Richard Neville Collett aged nearly 27 and a corporal with the military living at Randfontein who was married by Special Licence, granted by his Commanding Officer, to Lydia McDonald on 23^rd January 1943. Lydia was 27 and a hairdresser, while one of the witnesses was Richard’s younger brother Stuart Keith Collett. Richard had just celebrated his 90^th birthday when he died at Bethulie on 23^rd February 2006.

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William Eric Collett was born at Bethulie in Orange Free State on 17^th August 1917, although an alternative source suggests it was at Bloemfontein that he was born. It was certainly at Bethulie where he was baptised on 14^th November 1920, when he was three years of age, in a joint ceremony with his brother Stuart (below), and confirmed as the sons of William Jeremiah Collett and Renee Evelyn Collett. It was on 6^th May 1995 when William Eric Collett died at Parys in Transvaal.

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Stuart Keith Collett was born at Bethulie in Orange Free State on 8^th September 1919 and was the youngest of the four sons of William and Rene Collett. He was fourteen months old when he was baptised Bethulie with his brother William (above) on 14^th November 1920, the youngest of the four sons of William and Renee Collett. His wife was Mary Joan as confirmed at the birth and baptism of the couple’s three children at Randfontein, Transvaal. The youngest child was fifty years old when her father died at Durban, Kwazulu-Natal on 20^th May 2003.

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Glynis Joan Collett

Born in 1948 at Randfontein, SA

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Stuart James Collett

Born in 1950 at Randfontein, SA

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Marylin Jean Collett

Born in 1952 at Randfontein, SA

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Joan Mary Collett was born at Bethulie in Orange Free State on 25^th May 1926, the only daughter and fifth child of William Jeremiah Collett and Rene Evelyn Collins. On being married, she became Joan Mary Fainsinger. She died three years after her mother passed away, with whom she was laid to rest in the same grave, immediately next to that of Joan’s father and brother Eric (above). The memorial gravestone states “Joan Mary Fainsinger, nee Collett, born 25 5 1926 died 5 8 1992, a Child of Bethulie, a Woman of God, Loved by All”

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Randall Stewart Collett was born at Handsworth on 14^th July 1921, his birth recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 4) during the third quarter of that year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Wilson. He was the eldest of the three children of Charles Randall Collett and Dora Wilson. The marriage of Randall S Collett and Kathleen M Gantley was recorded at Worcestershire register office (Ref. 9b 1313) during the third quarter of 1949, when he was 28. No child has been found, and later the death of Randall Stewart Collett was recorded at Sandwell register office (Vol. 33 1128) in Staffordshire during the spring of 1984, when he was 62 years old. Within the previous six months, Kathleen Mary Collett, nee Gantly had died at the age of 66, with her death recorded at Birmingham register office (Vol. 32 1201) during the last three month of 1983. She was born at Roscrea in Tipperary, Ireland, on 7^th April 1918 (Vol. 3 421).

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Marjorie D J Collett was born at Handsworth in 1923 and her birth was also recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 82) during the first three months of the year, when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Wilson. She was 21 years old when her marriage to Stanley L Garner was recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 125) during the third quarter of 1944.

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Kenneth Percy Collett was born at Handsworth on 10^th March 1925, the last child of Charles Randal Collett and Dora Wilson. As just Kenneth Collett, his birth was recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 45) during the second quarter of that year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Wilson. Upon his death near the end of 1990, he was recorded as Kenneth Percy Collett, aged 65, at the Sandwell register office (Vol. 33 1106), where the death of his older brother (above) was also recorded six years earlier.

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Alan J Collett was born at Birmingham in 1924 was the only known child of Albert William Collett and Emily Clarke. His birth was recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 6d 12) during the second quarter of that year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Clarke. He was 25 when the marriage of Alan J Collett and Eileen T Clancy was recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 9c 99) during the third quarter of 1949. The birth of the couple’s only known child was recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 9c 33) during the last quarter of 1950, when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Clancy.

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Ann M Collett

Born in 1950 at Birmingham

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Cynthia D A Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1936 and was the first of the four children of Alfred Percy Collett and Ethel Deeming. Her birth was recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 40) during the first three months of the year, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Deeming.

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Melvyn R Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1939 and was the eldest of the three sons of Alfred and Ethel Collett. Melvyn’s birth was recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 11) during the first three months of the year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Deeming.

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Christopher A Collett was born at Birmingham in 1943, with his birth recorded there (Ref. 6d 44) during the last three months of the year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Deeming.

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Anthony W Collett was born at Birmingham in 1945 and was the last child of Alfred Percy Collett and Ethel Deeming. His birth was also recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 6d 58) during the fourth quarter of that year, when once again the mother’s maiden-name was Deeming.

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Glynis Joan Collett was born at Randfontein, Transvaal in South Africa on 5^th January 1948, and was baptised there on 27^th March 1948, the eldest of the three children of Stuart Keith and Mary Joan Collett.

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Stuart James Collett was born at Randfontein on 23^rd January 1950, the second child and only son of Stuart and Mary Collett. He was baptised at Randfontein on 19^th August 1950.

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Marylin Jean Collett was the youngest of the three children of Stuart Keith Collett and his wife Mary Joan. She was born at Randfontein on 3^rd October 1952 and baptised there on 7^th March 1953.