PART
SIXTY-SEVEN
The Collett Family
of Cleobury Mortimer in Shropshire
Updated June 2024
The details in this family line have been
kindly gather by Jennie Cordner in England and arose from an enquiry by Les
Durham in Italy regarding Ronald W Collett and his parents William E Collett
and Olive Maud Bilboe, Olive being related to Les
Prior to the first named member in this family
line, the village of Claverley near Bridgnorth in Shropshire, had George
Collett living there, where his daughter Mary Collett was baptised
there on 15th March 1700.
Thirty years later another George Collett was baptised there on
30th August 1730 and he was the son of George Collett and his
wife Mary. Sadly, their son George died
three months later at Claverley on 6th December 1730. Eight years after that Mary Collett
was baptised at Claverley on 10th July 1738 and she was the daughter
of George Collett and his wife Elizabeth, who may have been George’s second
wife
This
family line commences with Richard Collett [2M46], whose
earlier family members can be found in Part 2 – The Second Gloucestershire
Line, and beyond that through Part 1 – The Main Gloucestershire Line back to
the 1400s
Richard
Collett [67M1<2M46] was born at Cold Aston
(Aston Blank) in 1792, where he was baptised on 16th December 1792, the son of Joseph Collett and Betty
Beauchamp. Richard, an agricultural
labourer, was also the uncle of William Collett [67M2<2N53] who was also
born at Aston Blank and an agricultural labourer, both of whom later raised
families in Shropshire. Richard
Collett married (1) Mary Humphries at Guiting Power on 30th
September1822 and, nine months later, their first child was born at Cleobury Mortimer. Mary was the daughter of James and Sarah
Humphries and was baptised at Hazelton, two miles west of Cold Aston, on 8th
September 1805. Therefore, she was over
ten years younger than Richard, with whom she had a total of eight children,
the first four baptised at Cleobury Mortimer, the next at nearby Ludlow, with
the remainder born and baptised at Neen Savage, just north of Cleobury Mortimer
The Neen Savage census in June 1841, within the
Cleobury Mortimer registration district, recorded the family living at Stone
House, as Richard Collett who was 48, Mary Collett who was 38, Samuel Collett
who was 18, Mary Collett who was 15, Esther Collett who was 13, Joseph Collett
who was eight, Elizabeth Collett who was five and Susan Collett who was three
years of age, her birth recorded under the name of Louisa Collett. Missing from the family that day was their
son John who had suffered an infant death shortly after he was born. Also, on
that census day, Mary was over halfway through the pregnancy of her eighth
child, who was born just a couple of months later in 1841 when, at the
child’s baptism, Richard’s occupation was that of a waggoner. Having already suffered the loss their son
John, there followed four further deaths within the family, the first of them
being the couple’s last child Abraham, who was two months old when he died at
the end of November 1841
Just over two months after the death of his
youngest child, Richard was made a widower, when Mary Collett of Stone House in
Neen Savage, died and was buried there on 9th February 1842. At every baptism, except that of son Joseph,
the child’s mother was confirmed as Mary Collett, whereas for Joseph it was
Mary Ann Collett, the name given to her eldest daughter. The next death in the family, was that of son
Joseph, who was approaching his twelfth birthday when he died in 1843. Ten months later daughter Louisa, aged six
years, died and was buried at Neen Savage with her
siblings
What happened to Richard and his four surviving
children after 1844 is not known, because it was not until around nine years
after losing his wife that Richard was married for a second time. To achieve that, Richard had returned to
Gloucestershire and it was at Stow-on-the-Wold that the marriage of widower
Richard Collett and (1) Sarah Gillett was recorded (Ref. xi 12) during the
first three months of 1851. Just after their wedding day, Richard Collett from
Cold Aston was 55 and an agricultural labourer residing in Bourton-on-the
Water, while his wife Sarah Collett was 47, whose place of birth was recorded
as Pinnock (?) in Gloucestershire. Still living with her father and her
stepmother, was Richard’s youngest surviving daughter Elizabeth Collett who was
16 and born at Neen Savage (Salop)
The other three surviving
children of Richard Collett, for whom further details have been found, were his son
Samuel Collett, married daughter Mary Anne Tavener nee Collett, and unmarried
daughter Esther Collett. After another ten years, Richard Collett from
Aston Blank was 67 and a coal dealer who was living at Sherborne Street in
Bourton-on-the-Water with his wife Sarah Collett from Pinwall (?) Glos, who was
57, while it was nine years later, that the death of Richard Collett was
recorded at Stow-on-the-Wold (Ref. 6a 275) during the second quarter of 1870,
when he was 77 years old. By the time of
his passing, nearly all his children had died so, when his Will was proved at
Gloucester on 5th July 1870, following his death on 22nd
June 1870, the sole beneficiary was Richard Boswell Belcher
67N1 – Samuel Collett was born in 1823 at Cleobury
Mortimer, Salop
67N2 – Mary Ann Collett was born in 1825 at
Cleobury Mortimer, Salop
67N3 – Esther Collett was born in 1828 at
Cleobury Mortimer, Salop
67N4 – Joseph Collett was born in 1831 at
Cleobury Mortimer, Salop
67N5 – John Collett was born in 1834 at
Ludlow, Salop
67N6 – Elizabeth Collett was born in 1835 at
Ludlow, Salop
67N7 – Louisa Collett was born in 1838 at
Neen Savage, Salop
67N8 – Abraham Collett was born in 1841 at
Neen Savage, Salop
William
Collett [67M2<2N53] was born at Aston Blank in 1815 and was
baptised at Ashton-under-Hill on 22nd October 1815, the son of John
Collett and Hannah Leech. William was
therefore the nephew of Richard Collett (above), both of whom travelled
to Shropshire from Gloucestershire, either separately or together. William married Sara Deuce at Neen Savage on
2nd July 1837 and it was only then, and on the birth of her first
child, that her name was recorded as Sara.
In the Neen Savage census of 1841 William Collett had a rounded age of
25, Sarah Collett had a rounded age of 30, and their daughter Ann Collett was
one year old, their son having presumably died by then, when they were living
at Wilkes Cottage. Tragically Sarah gave
birth to her third child later in 1841 and it seems he too suffered an infant
death. During the next decade two more
children were added to their family and, by the time of the Neen Savage census
in 1851, when the family was residing on The Common, they were listed as
William Collett from Aston Blank who was 36 and an agricultural labourer, Sarah
Collett from Stottesden (Salop) was 35, Ann Collett was 11, Eliza Collett was
nine, and Alice Collett was five, all three girls had been born at Neen Savage
During the next two decades William Collett
passed away, after which Sarah married for a second time to become Sarah Taft
or Toft. Although no record of William
or Sarah has been found in 1861, by 1871 Sarah Taft, aged 61 and from Cleobury
Mortimer was a widow living at 63 Bromsgrove Street in Kidderminster. Living there with her was her married
daughter Alice Oakley, who was 24 and also from
Cleobury Mortimer, together with her husband Samuel Oakley a carpenter from
Upton-on-Severn who was 30. The couple’s
only child at that time was their daughter Agnes Oakley who was five months old
and born at Kidderminster. Also living
at the same address was Sarah’s unmarried Eliza Collett who was 28 and a
domestic servant from Cleobury Mortimer
67N9 – John Collett was born in 1837 at
Neen Savage, Salop
67N10 – Ann Collett was born in 1839 at
Neen Savage, Salop
67N11 – a male Collett was born in 1841 at
Neen Savage, Salop
67N12 – Eliza Collett was born in 1842 at
Neen Savage, Salop
67N13 – Alice Collett was born in 1845 at
Neen Savage, Salop
67N14 – Sarah Jane Collett was born in 1853 at
Neen Savage, Salop
67N15 – Harriet Collett was born in 1857 at
Neen Savage, Salop
For the earlier details
of the Gloucestershire family of William Collett [67M2]
go to [2N53] in Part
Two – The Second Gloucestershire Line
Samuel
Collett [67N1] was
born at Cleobury Mortimer on 4th July 1823, the eldest child of
Richard Collett and Mary Humphries who was baptised there on 20th
July 1823. He was 18 in 1841, by which
time he and his family were living at Stone House in Neen Savage, to the north
of Cleobury Mortimer. Less than three
years later Samuel was convicted of the crime of larceny during a Shropshire
trial held on 1st January 1844, when his age was recorded as 20
years, as a result of which he was imprisoned for one
month. According to the census in 1851
he was married and was living in the village of Stottesdon which is midway
between Cleobury Mortimer and Ditton Priors.
It was at Ditton Priors, ten miles north of Cleobury Mortimer, that
Samuel Collett married Elizabeth Garbett on 9th June 1850
In the Stottesdon census of 1851 Samuel Collett
was 27, while his wife Elizabeth was recorded as being 38. It is highly likely that they never had any
children, because by 1861 the childless couple had moved north to Much Wenlock
between Bridgnorth and Shrewsbury where Samuel Collet from Ditton Priors was 37
and an agricultural labourer from Cleobury Mortimer, while his wife Elizabeth
Collett from Ditton Priors was 48.
Living with them, and described as a house servant, was Elizabeth’s
niece Eliza Garbett who was 14 and also from Ditton
Priors. Towards the end of the following
year Samuel was again brought before the judge, on that occasion the charge was
one of horse stealing. At the court case
held in Shropshire on 13th October 1862 Samuel Collett was sentenced
to four years imprisonment for horse stealing and being previously convicted
for felony. No record of him has been
found in any subsequent census, which might indicate he was subject to
transportation
Mary Anne
Collett [67N2] was
born at Cleobury Mortimer on 21st August 1825, the daughter of
Richard and Mary Collett who was baptised there on 4th September
1825. As Mary Collett, she was 15 years
old in the Neen Savage census of 1841, when she was living there with her
family at Stone House. Nine years later,
during the third quarter of 1850, Mary Anne Collett married John Tavener, their
wedding day recorded at Wolverhampton (Ref. xvii 15). Mary was already expecting the birth of the
couple’s first child on the day, daughter Jane Tavener baptised at St
John’s Church in Wolverhampton on 30th October 1850. Tragically, both Jane and the couple’s next
child, did not survive, following the baptism of Reginald Tavener at St
George’s Church in Wolverhampton on 9th May 1852, both children’s
parents confirmed as John and Mary Anne Tavener. However, four more children were born into
the family which was living at Tettenhall Road in Wolverhampton by 1861. The census that year confirmed that John
Tavener was 37 and a stonemason from Bradford-on-Avon, Mary A Tavener from
Cleobury Mortimer was 35, and their two children were Rhoda Tavener who
was six and James Tavener was four years old, both born at Wolverhampton
The completed family was still living in
Wolverhampton in 1871, where stonemason John was 47, Mary Anne was 45 and a
laundress, Rhoda was 16, James was 14, Sidney Tavener was nine and John
Tavener was seven years of age. John
Tavener junior was baptised at St Mark’s Church in Wolverhampton on 31st
January 1864. Living with the family in
1871, was Sarah Collett, who was described as a laundress, being 16 years old
and from Cleobury Mortimer, and the niece of John Tavener. That was because Sarah was a daughter of Mary
Anne’s younger unmarried sister Esther Collett (below). The Tavener children lost both of their
parents during the next seven years, with the death of John Tavener, aged 49,
recorded at Wolverhampton (Ref. 6b 276) during the last three months of that
census year. Just over six years after
losing their father, the death of Mary Anne Tavener, nee Collett, was also
recorded at Wolverhampton (Ref. 6b 136) during the first quarter of 1878, when
she was 50 years of age
Esther
Collett [67N3]
was born on 28th June 1828 at Neen Savage (according to the census
in 1861), although it was at Cleobury Mortimer that she was baptised on 13th
July 1828, another daughter of Richard and Mary Collett. Coincidentally, in the Neen Savage census of
1841, Esther Collett was 13 years old when living there with her family. When Esther was nineteen years of age, she
gave birth to the first of her four base-born children by an unknown
father. That was confirmed in the
Cleobury Mortimer census of 1851 where unmarried Esther Collett was 24 and her
daughter Mira Collett was five years of age when they were living at the home
of the family of Nathaniel and Hannah Patchet.
On the day of the census Esther was heavily pregnant with her second
child who was born within the following weeks, while two more children were
added to her family in the mid-1850s, with all of them born at Cleobury
Mortimer
In 1861 when Esther was a spinster at the age
of 33 and from Neen Savage, she was a house servant at the Cleobury Mortimer
home of confectioner and baker James Pric,e aged 49,
and his wife Mary Price who was 52 and also born at
Neen Savage. Staying with Esther at the
Price’s home and baker’s shop in the High Street, next door to the grocer’s
shop, were three of her four Cleobury Mortimer born children. They were George Collett who was nine, Sarah
Ann Collett who was six, and Charles Collett who was four. Living nearby in 1861, having already left
school and started work, was Esther’s eldest child Mira Collett who was 14
Esther Collett died in 1868 at the age of 40,
when her death was recorded at Cleobury Mortimer (Ref. 6a 367) during the
second quarter of that year. Curiously
so far, only Esther’s eldest daughter Mira, and youngest son Charles, have been
identified within the next census of 1871, so the whereabouts of Esther’s two
other children has still to be discovered.
What is also surprising is that, upon the marriage of Charles Collett in
1881, he gave his father’s name as James Collett, a confectioner, which was most
likely a reference to James Price, confectioner and
baker, who may have
adopted Charles who was nine years old when his mother died
67O1 – Mira Collett was born in 1846 at
Cleobury Mortimer, Salop
67O2 – George Henry Collett was born in 1851 at
Cleobury Mortimer, Salop
67O3 – Sarah Anne Collett was born in 1854 at
Cleobury Mortimer, Salop
67O4 – Charles Collett was born in 1857 at
Cleobury Mortimer, Salop
Joseph
Collett [67N4] was
born at Cleobury Mortimer during 1831 and was baptised there on 1st
December 1831, the son of Richard and Mary Ann Collett. He was eight years old in 1841, when he and
his family were residing at Stone House in Neen Savage. However just over two years later he
tragically died and was buried there on 23rd July 1843. The death of Joseph Collett of Neen Savage
was recorded at Cleobury Mortimer (Ref. xviii 140) during the third quarter of
that year
John Collett [67N5] was born in 1834 at
Ludlow, to the west of Cleobury Mortimer, where his family had been living up
to 1832. It was also at Ludlow where he
was baptised on 7th March 1834, another son of Richard and Mary
Collett. He was around nine months old
when he died and was buried at Ludlow on 16th December 1834, the
first of four children to suffer a premature death
Elizabeth
Collett [67N6] was
born at Ludlow in 1835 and it was there also that she was baptised on 7th
October 1835, a daughter of Richard and Mary Collett. Her family moved the short distance to Neen
Savage during the years after she was born, where Elizabeth Collett was five
years old in 1841, when living at Stone House with her family. Just a few weeks prior to the next census in
1851. her father was married for a second time, following the death of
Elizabeth’s mother nine years earlier, at the beginning of 1842
Louisa
Collett [67N7] was
born at Neen Savage in 1838, with her birth recorded at Cleobury Mortimer (Ref.
xviii 37) during the second quarter of the year. It was also at Neen Savage that she was
baptised on 20th May 1838, another daughter of Richard and Mary
Collett. For some reason, when she was
three years old, she was named as Susan Collett in the 1841 census of Neen
Savage, at the time she and her family were living at Stone House in the
village. Three years later, Louisa
Collett died at Neen Savage, where she was buried on 9th May 1844,
when she was six years of age
Abraham
Collett [67N8] was
born at Neen Savage after June in 1841 and was baptised there on 9th
October 1841, the last known child of Richard Collett and his wife Mary
Humphries. There may well have been an
illness in the family home because Abraham Collett, of Stonehouse in Neen
Savage, was only thirteen weeks old when he was buried on 1st
December 1841, and two months later his mother Mary Collett, also of Stone
House in Neen Savage, was buried in the churchyard there at the start of the
second week of February in 1842
John
Collett [67N9]
was born at Neen Savage in 1837, his birth recorded at Cleobury Mortimer (Ref.
xviii 27) during the third quarter of the year.
It was at Neen Savage where he was baptised on 7th August
1837, the eldest child of William Collett and Sara Deuce who were only married
during the previous month. It seems
highly likely that John suffered an infant death because he was not listed with
his family at Neen Savage in 1841 or 1851
Ann
Collett [67N10]
was born at Neen Savage in 1839, the first of five daughters of William and
Sarah Collett, who was baptised at Neen Savage on 16th June 1839 as
Ann Collet. Her birth was recorded at
Cleobury Mortimer (Ref. xviii 19) during the third quarter of 1839. She was one year old in the Neen Savage
census in June 1841 and was 11 in 1851 when she was the eldest of the three
children living with her family at Cleobury Mortimer. Where she was in 1861 has still to be
revealed, but during the next decade she gave birth to four base-born children
and by 1871 Ann and the four children were inmates at the Union Workhouse in
Cleobury Mortimer. Ann Collett from Neen
Savage was 31, Harriet Collett was nine and born at Cleobury Mortimer, Sarah
Collett was seven and born at Farlow four miles north of Cleobury Mortimer, and
John Collett was four and from Farlow.
The fourth child was Mary A Collett who was one year old whose place of
birth was dittoed as Farlow, but was later revealed to be Cleobury Mortimer
It was during mid-November in 1872 that Ann
took her children north to the village of Quatt Malvern to the south of
Bridgnorth, although the move happened just after her youngest child Mary Ann
was baptised at Cleobury Mortimer on 7th November 1872, when she was
confirmed as the daughter of Ann Collett.
After the family’s arrival at Quatt Malvern Ann arranged for her three
older children to be baptised on the same day at the Church of Andrew, that day
being 26th November 1872. In
each case it was just the children’s mother who was named in the parish
register as Anne Collett
It was nearly five years later that Ann
Collett, the daughter of William Collett, married John Bridgewater the son of
James Bridgewater. The wedding took
place at Cleobury Mortimer on 18th October 1877 when Ann was 40 and
John was 46 and was recorded there (Ref. 6a 1249). On the day of the next census in 1881, Ann
Bridgewater from Neen Savage was 42 and had given birth to a daughter Fanny
Bridgewater who was three years old who had been born at Burford in
Shropshire. The census return confirmed that Ann was married and that she was had
been a former field worker and agricultural labourer who was then an inmate
with her daughter at the Cleobury Mortimer union Workhouse. Her husband John Bridgewater, a farm labourer
from Cleobury Mortimer who was 48, was employed by farmer Thomas Turner at 48
Harwood Street in West Bromwich
It is not known what happened to Ann’s eldest
child Harriet, while her three younger children were all recorded at three
separate locations, although daughter Sarah had also returned to Cleobury
Mortimer, presumably with her mother, and was also an inmate at the Union
Workhouse there. Ann’s only son John was
working on a farm at Rock in Worcestershire, while Ann’s youngest Collett
daughter Mary Ann was an inmate at the school for the children of paupers in
Quatt Malvern
67O5 – Harriet Collett was born in 1862 at
Cleobury Mortimer
67O6 – Sarah Collett was born in 1863 at
Farlow, Salop
67O7 – John Collett was born in 1867 at
Farlow, Salop
67O8 – Mary Ann Collett was born in 1869 at
Cleobury Mortimer
A Collett
[67N11]
son was born to William and Sarah at Neen Savage after the census in 1841, the
birth being recorded at Cleobury Mortimer (Ref. 18 37) during the third quarter
of that year. It would
appear that he died shortly after
Eliza
Collett [67N12] was
born at Neen Savage in 1842 and was baptised there on 6th November
1842 the daughter of William and Sarah Collett.
By the time of the census in 1851 Eliza was nine years old and she and
her family were still living in Neen Savage.
Following the death of her father, Eliza’s mother re-married and by 1871
she had been made a widow for the second time, leaving unmarried Eliza Collett
aged 28 and from Cleobury Mortimer were with her elderly mother at 63
Bromsgrove Street in Kidderminster when she was described as a domestic
servant. Also living with them was
Eliza’s younger married sister Alice (below) with her husband and their
first child. Ten years later Eliza
Collett from Neen Savage was 39 and still a spinster when she was an inmate at
the Kidderminster Union Workhouse. Also
listed as inmates at the same workhouse was Stephen Collett [45O1] and his
family, who were all born in Walsall. See
Part 45 – The Worcestershire connection
Alice
Collett [67N13] was
born at Neen Savage in 1845, while it was as Alice Collet that she was baptised
at Neen Savage on 6th July 1845 the daughter of William and Sarah
Collet. She and her family were recorded
in the 1851 census for Neen Savage when Alice Collett was five years old, but
sometime thereafter her father died and her mother re-married, although no
record of them has been found in 1861.
By 1871 Alice Collett was married to Samuel Oakley and had just given
birth to their first child by the time of the census that year, at which time
the young family was residing at 63 Bromsgrove Street in Kidderminster, the
home of Alice’s twice married and twice widowed mother Sarah Taft
The census on that occasion recorded the family
as Eliza Oakley who was 24 and from Cleobury Mortimer, her husband Samuel
Oakley, a carpenter from Upton-on-Severn who was 30, and their daughter Agnes
Oakley who was five months old and born at Kidderminster. Also living at the same address was Alice’s
older unmarried sister Eliza Collett (above) a domestic servant from
Cleobury Mortimer. Five more children
were added to the Oakley family at Kidderminster during the 1870s which, by the
time of the next census in 1881, was living at 78 Bromsgrove Street in
Kidderminster. Alice Oakley from
Cleobury Mortimer was 39, Samuel Oakley was 43, Agnes Oakley was 10, Mary Jane
Oakley was eight, Charles Henry Oakley was five, William Oakley was four,
Thomas Samuel Oakley was two and Kate Ellen Oakley was one year old
Sarah
Jane Collett [67N14] was
born at Neen Savage in 1853, and baptised there on 15th May 1853,
the daughter of William and Sarah Collett.
It was simply as Jane Collett from Neen Savage that she was recorded in
the census of 1871 at the age of 18, when she was an inmate at the Cleobury
Mortimer Union Workhouse. Three years
later she gave birth to a base-born son while she was still at Cleobury
Mortimer, where the child’s birth was recorded (Ref. 6a 582) during the last
quarter of that year
67O9 - Clement Collett was born in 1874 at
Cleobury Mortimer
Harriet
Collett [67N15] was
born at Neen Savage in 1857 and it was there also that she was baptised on 31st
May 1857, the last of the six children of William Collett and Sarah Deuce. Her birth was recorded at Cleobury Mortimer
(Ref. 6a 512) during the second quarter of 1857
Mira
Collett [67O1] was
born at Cleobury Mortimer on 20th December 1846, the first of the
four base-born children of Esther Collett from nearby Neen Savage. Her birth was recorded at Cleobury Mortimer
(Ref. xviii 37) as Mira Collett during the last few days of that year. As Mira Collett aged five years, she was
living with her mother at Cleobury Mortimer in 1851 and, ten years later, she
had left school and her family, and had already started work in Cleobury
Mortimer, not far away from her family.
Once again, as Mira Collett, she was 14 years of age when she was a
domestic servant employed by widow Maria Hare, a proprietor of houses, at her
home on the High Street in the census of 1861.
By 1871 unmarried Mira Collett from Cleobury Mortimer was recorded in
Hertfordshire where, at the age of 24, was employed as a domestic servant at
the Rickmansworth home of John and Sophia Taylor and their family
George
Collett [67O2] was
born at Cleobury Mortimer in 1851 where he was baptised on 20th May
1851, the son of Esther Collett. His
birth was recorded at Cleobury Mortimer (Ref. xviii 43) during the second
quarter of that year. According to the
census in 1861 George, at the age of nine, was living with his unmarried mother
at the baker’s shop on the High Street in Cleobury Mortimer where his mother
was a house servant for the Price family of confectioners and bakers. Following the premature death of his mother in 1868, it is possible
that George and his two younger siblings (below) may have been adopted
by James and Mary Price
Sarah
Anne Collett [67O3] was
born at Cleobury Mortimer in 1854, where her birth was recorded (Ref. 6a 12)
during the third quarter of that year, another child of unmarried Esther
Collett. And it was also there that she
was baptised on 27th August 1854, the daughter of Esther
Collett. As Sarah Ann Collett she was
six years old in the census of 1861 when her mother was a live-in domestic
servant for baker James Price and his wife Mary at their High Street premises
in Cleobury Mortimer. Seven years later Sarah’s mother
died, after which she and her two brothers, George and
Charles, were very likely adopted by James and Mary Price
Charles
Collett [67O4]
was born at Cleobury Mortimer in 1857, the birth recorded there (Ref. 6a 532)
during the first quarter of that year.
He was the fourth child of unmarried mother Esther Collett, and was
baptised there on 26th April 1857
He was four years old in 1861 and was the youngest of the three children
living with their unmarried mother, a house servant at the High Street home of
James and Mary Price in Cleobury Mortimer.
His mother died in 1868 and by 1871 Charles had left school and, at the age
of 14, was an apprentice tailor working and living with tailor Joseph Hopkins
and his family at Westbury-on-Severn. It was at the Church of St
James-the-Great in Pensax on 7th February 1881 that he was married
following the reading of banns
to Alice Morris. The parish register
confirmed that bachelor Charles was 24 and a tailor at Pensax. Rather curiously, the same record stated that
his father was James Collett, a confectioner, most likely a reference to James
Price, the confectioner and baker, with whom he was living up to the day his
mother died, who may have
adopted the three youngest siblings.
Alice Morris was described as a spinster of 24, the daughter of James
Morris, a labourer. The two witnesses were William
Postans and Mary Morris
The
birth of Alice Morris was registered at Tenbury Wells, west of Kidderminster,
(Ref. 6c 271) during the first three months of 1857, when she was born in the
hamlet of Menithwood within the Worcestershire parish of Pensax. As simply Alice Morris, she was baptised at
the Church of St Lawrence in Lindridge on 18th January 1857, the
daughter of James and Marianne Morris. By
the time she was 14, Alice and her family were living in Pensax
It was at New Road in Cleobury Mortimer that
the couple settled once they were married, and it was there that the majority
of their fourteen children were born, of which three did not survive and with
one of them is missing from the list below.
The first child was born one month before the census in 1881 but she was
not the only child listed with Charles and Alice in the census return that
day. Charles and Alice Collett were 24
and, in addition to baby Alice M Collett, completing the family was scholar Elizabeth
Morris who was seven and a
visitor from Menithwood, so she may have been the younger sister of
Charles’ wife. The couple’s first three
children had a delayed baptism, when they were all baptised on the same day in
1885, not long before the birth of the couple’s fourth child
By the time of the census in 1891 tailor
Charles and his young family were living on the High Street in Cleobury
Mortimer. Charles and his wife Alice
from Pensax were both 34, Alice M Collett was ten, Hetty J Collett was eight,
Beatrice M Collett was seven, George H Collett was five, Elizabeth M Collett
was three, and Charles J Collett was two years of age. After the birth of a further three children
and around 1898, the family left Cleobury Mortimer and moved approximately four
miles south to a new home on Clows Top Road, running south-east from the
village of Clows Top
According to the census in 1901 the family was
recorded at a dwelling on Clows Top Road passing midway between the villages of
Rock and Pensax, where Charles was a tailor having his own account working at
home at the age of 44, his wife Alice from Tenbury Wells (?) was also 44, and
their children were George Collett who was 15 and a tailor like his father,
Elizabeth M Collett who was 13, Charles J Collett who was 12, Edith W Collett
who was seven, William E Collett who was five, and Sarah A A
Collett who was three. All the children,
and their father, had been born at Cleobury Mortimer. However, shortly after that census day, the
family moved to nearby Pensax, and it was there that the couple’s last two
children were born
In April 1911 the reduced family was residing
at 31 Leswell Street in Kidderminster which was a six-roomed property. Charles Collett was 54 like his wife of
thirty-one years Alice. During those
years together, the census return confirmed that the
couple had given birth to fourteen children, with only eleven of them still
alive in 1911. Working at home with
tailor maker Charles were three members of his family. His wife Alice was a sewing machinist and his
sons Charles James aged 22, and William Ernest aged 15, were described as
tailor’s sons assisting in the family business, while undertaking domestic
duties was his daughter Edith Winifred who was 17. Attending school were the three youngest
children Sarah Ann who was 13, Albert Edward who was nine, and Elsie who was
six. The census return
also confirmed that Charles senior, Charles junior, Edith, William and Sarah
were all born at Cleobury Mortimer, while Alice and her two youngest children
had been born at Pensax
Eleven
years after that census day Charles and Alice were still residing in
Worcestershire when first the death of Alice Collett, nee Morris, at the age of
65, was recorded at Worcestershire register office (Ref. 6c 110) in 1922. Charles was only a widower for two years by
the time he died, with his passing also recorded at Worcestershire register
office (Ref. 6c 98) during 1924 when he was 66
67P1 – Alice Mary
Collett
was born in 1881 at Cleobury Mortimer
67P2 – Hetty Jane
Collett
was born in 1882 at Cleobury Mortimer
67P3 – Beatrice Myra
Collett
was born in 1883 at Cleobury Mortimer
67P4 – George Henry
Collett
was born in 1885 at Cleobury Mortimer
67P5 – Elizabeth May
Collett
was born in 1887 at Cleobury Mortimer
67P6 – Charles James
Collett
was born in 1889 at Cleobury Mortimer
67P7 – Percy Albert
Collett
was born in 1890 at Cleobury Mortimer
67P8 – Jessie Adelaide
Collett
was born in 1891 at Cleobury Mortimer
67P9 – Edith Winifred
Collett
was born in 1893 at Cleobury Mortimer
67P10 – William Ernest
Collett
was born in 1895 at Cleobury Mortimer
67P11 – Sarah Ann
Amelia Collett
was born in 1897 at Cleobury Mortimer
67P12 – Albert Edward Collett was born in 1901 at
Cleobury Mortimer
67P13 – Elsie May Collett was born in 1904 at
Pensax
Harriet
Collett [67O5] was
born at Cleobury Mortimer in 1862, her birth recorded there (Ref. 6a 550)
during the last three months of the year when her mother was confirmed as Ann
Collett. Harriet was the oldest of the
four base-born children of Ann Collett and was nine years old in 1871 when the
young family were all inmates at the Cleobury Mortimer Union Workhouse. The baby of the family, Mary Ann (below)
was baptised at Cleobury Mortimer at the end of the first week of November in
1872 and within the next few days Harriet’s mother took the four children to
the village of Quatt Malvern near Bridgnorth where Harriet was baptised in a
joint ceremony with her two other siblings on 26th November, the
service taking place at St Andrew’s Church.
Harriet’s mother eventually married at the age of forty, but unlike her
three younger siblings, no record of Harriet has been discovered within the
census of 1881
Sarah
Collett [67O6] was
born at Farlow four miles to the north of Cleobury Mortimer in 1863, her birth
recorded at Cleobury Mortimer (Ref. 6a 555) during the second quarter of that
year. Sarah was seven in 1871 when she
and her mother Ann and her three siblings were inmates at the Union Workhouse
in Cleobury Mortimer. They were still
living there in early November the following year for the baptism of Sarah’s
youngest sister but during the fourth week of that month Sarah Collett, the
daughter of Anne Collett was baptised at the Church of St Andrew in Quatt
Malvern just south of Bridgnorth. It was
on 26th November 1872 that Sarah, her older sister Harriet (above)
and her brother john (below) were baptised in a joint naming ceremony
By 1877 Sarah and her mother (and perhaps her
brother John Collett below) had returned to Cleobury Mortimer where her mother
married John Bridgewater that year.
Shortly thereafter Sarah’s mother gave birth to a half-sister for Sarah
and by 1881 all three of them were recorded as inmates at the Cleobury Union
Workhouse. At that time in her life
Sarah Collett was 17 and described as formerly being a general servant who had
been born at Farlow in Shropshire. That
would appear to indicate that she had previously been in employment, most
likely at a private house, but had been dismissed from the job, as a result of which she had therefore been made homeless
John
Collett [67O7] was
born at Farlow in 1867 although his birth was registered at Cleobury Mortimer
(Ref. 6a 577) during the third quarter of the year. He was the base-born son of Ann Collett with
whom he was living at the Cleobury Mortimer Union Workhouse in 1871 at the age
of four years. Twenty months later John
Collett, the son of Anne Collett, was baptised at St Andrew’s Church in Quatt
Malvern near Bridgnorth on 26th November, the same day that his two
older sisters Harriet and Sarah were baptised there. By 1881 John Collett from Farlow was 14 when
he was employed as an indoor farm servant at the home of farmer George Hingley
and his family at their 150-acre farm at Lane End in the Worcestershire village
of Rock. Ten years later, the census in
1891, identified John Collett from Cleobury Mortimer as being 23 and living and
working within the town of Pershore
It has yet to be determined where John was in
March 1901, since no record of him has been found in the census that year. However, during his absence he became a
married man and in April 1911 he and his wife were recorded within the census
for Ipswich. John Collett from Cleobury
Mortimer was 42, the same age as his wife Jessie Collett, to whom he had been
married for fifteen years, during which time they had not given birth to any
children
Mary Ann
Collett [67O8] was
born at Cleobury Mortimer either at the end of 1869 or at the beginning of
1870, since her birth was registered there (Ref. 6a 613) during the first
quarter of 1870. In the census of 1871,
when Mary A Collett was one year old, she was listed with her mother and her
three siblings were inmates at the Cleobury Mortimer Union Workhouse. She and her family were still in Cleobury
Mortimer on 7th November 1872 for the baptism of Mary Ann Collett,
the daughter of Ann Collett. However,
not long after that day the family moved north to Quatt Malvern near Bridgnorth
where Mary Ann’s three older siblings were baptised on 26th November
1872. Just over eight years later, on
the day of the census in 1881 Mary Ann Collett aged 11 and from Cleobury
Mortimer was attending the Southeast Shropshire District School for the
children of paupers at Quatt Malvern, where she was one of the 170
inmates. Her cousin Clement Collett (below)
was also an inmate there. The large
house that was the school up to early 1900s is still there, but as a private
residence
Clement
Collett [67O9]
was born at Cleobury Mortimer in 1874 and was baptised there on 25th
August 1874, the only known child of unmarried Jane (Sarah Jane) Collett from
Neen Savage. By the time he was seven
years old he was an inmate at the paupers’ school, which was the Southeast
Shropshire District School at Quatt Malvern near Bridgnorth. Another inmate at the school in 1881 was his
cousin Mary Ann Collett (above).
By 1891 Clement Collett from Cleobury Mortimer was 15 and the only
Collett recorded within the Kidderminster & Wolverley registration
district. Ten years later he had
returned to the village of his birth when the 1901 Census described him as
being unmarried at the age of 27 and employed as a carter on a farm in Cleobury
Mortimer. After a further ten years he
was still a bachelor, although by then he was listed in the Stottesdon census
of 1911 as Clement Collett who was 36.
Nothing more is known about his life after that time, except that the
death of Clement Collett was recorded at Kidderminster register office (Ref. 9d
95) during the third quarter of 1947 when he was 74
Alice
Mary Collett [67P1] was
born at Cleobury Mortimer during March 1881 and her birth was registered there
(Ref. 6a 609) during the second quarter of that year. She was one month old in the census that year
when she was living with her parents at New Road in Cleobury Mortimer. However, she was four years old when she was
baptised in a joint ceremony with her two sisters Hetty and Beatrice (below)
at Cleobury Mortimer on 5th April 1885. The three sisters were confirmed as the
daughters of Charles and Alice Collett.
At the time of the census in 1891 Alice M Collett was 10 and living at
Cleobury Mortimer with her large family, while by 1901 she and her two sisters
Hetty and Beatrice were in domestic service in the City of Worcester. Alice M Collett from Cleobury Mortimer was 20
and was employed as a general domestic servant.
It was while she was in Worcester that she met her future husband whom
she married during the first decade of the new century. Alice Mary Collett and her husband Edward
White, the son of Gloucestershire farm labourer Herbert White and Lucy White,
were living in Pershore in 1911 where Alice Mary White from Cleobury Mortimer
was 30 and Edward White was 28
Hetty
Jane Collett [67P2] was
born at Cleobury Mortimer in 1882 where her birth was recorded (Ref. 6a 587)
during the last three months of that year.
She was also baptised there in a joint ceremony with her two sisters
Alice (above) and Beatrice (below) on 5th April 1885,
the daughters of Charles and Alice Collett.
Hetty J Collett was eight years old in 1891 but left Cleobury Mortimer
on leaving school to join her sisters in Worcester where in 1901 she was
recorded in error as Hellen Collett aged 18 from Cleobury Mortimer who was a
general servant. Just over six years after that census day the
marriage of Hetty Jane Collett and Alfred Davies was recorded at St Asaph in
Denbighshire (Ref. 11b 503) during the third quarter of 1907. With no record of the couple in 1911, it
might be that by then they already had issue.
However, after that census day, three births for Alfred and Hetty were
recorded at St Asaph, when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as
Collett. They were Maurice A I Davies
in the summer of 1911 (Ref. 11b 599), George M Davies in 1913 (Ref. 11b
589), and Ronald A Davies in 1916 (Ref. 11b 513). It is possible that Hetty had returned to
Shropshire towards the end of her life, with her likely death as Jane H Davies
recorded at Shropshire register office (Ref. 9a 118) in 1951 when she was 69,
with her year of birth reported as 1882
Beatrice
Myra Collett [67P3] was
born at Cleobury Mortimer on
22nd March 1883 and her birth was registered there (Ref. 6a
612) during second quarter of the year.
It was there also where she was baptised with her two older sisters on 5th
April 1885, the daughter of Charles and Alice Collett. As Beatrice M Collett she was seven years old
in 1891, while by march 1901 she was reunited with her two older sisters who
were in domestic service in Worcester when Beatrice Collett from Cleobury
Mortimer was 17 and a general domestic servant.
It was nearly ten years later that Beatrice married the younger (1) James
Albert Falconer. James was born at
Birmingham during the
summer of 1889 (Ref. 6d 149) and was the son of James Falconer, a
silversmith from Scotland and his Sheffield born wife Sarah. The following year the childless couple was
living in Birmingham where Beatrice Myra Falconer from Cleobury Mortimer was 26,
having no stated job of work, and her husband James Albert Falconer was 21 and employed at a local dairy as
a milk delivery man
It was
much later in their married life that Beatrice presented James with two
daughters after the First World War.
They were Dorothy B Falconer born in mid-1920 (Ref. 6d 1100), and
a year later Muriel J Falconer (Ref. 6d 1087). Both births were recorded at Aston register
office, when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett. It is debatable as to whether James ever saw
his youngest daughter, since the premature death of James A Falconer was
recorded at Warwickshire register office (Ref. 6d 617) during 1921 when he was
31 years of age. Nine years after being
widowed the marriage of Beatrice M Falconer married (2) Fredrick Evans was
recorded at Birmingham North register office (Ref. 6d 1265) during the third
quarter of 1930. That second marriage
had lasted for forty years when Beatrice died, with her passing recorded at
Warwickshire register office (Ref. 9c 1808) in 1970, when the year of her birth
was reported as 1883
George
Henry Collett [67P4]
was born at Cleobury Mortimer on 5th August 1885, the son of tailor
Charles Collett and Alice Morris, and his birth was registered there (Ref. 6a
595) during the third quarter of 1885.
It was also there that he was baptised on 6th June 1886 when
his parents were confirmed as Charles and Alice Collett. As George H Collett he was five years old in
the Cleobury Mortimer census of 1891 and sometime after the birth of his
youngest sibling George’s parents took the family to the village of Rock near
Bewdley in Worcestershire. The census in
1901 confirmed the family was residing at a dwelling on Clows Top Road in Rock,
where George Collett from Cleobury Mortimer was 15 and a tailor like his father
Charles. It was on 3rd August
1908 at Christ Church in Battersea, London, that George Henry Collett married (1)
Olive Huggins of Kensington in London, with their first child born at Battersea
during the following year. The couple’s
marriage certificate confirmed that bachelor George was 22 and a tailor, the
son of Charles Collett, and that spinster Olive was 19 and the daughter of
Thomas Huggins, a cabman. The same
address was given for both the bride and the groom, which was 22 Lubech Street
in Battersea, both signing the register in their own hand, when the witnesses
were Olive’s father and her brother Thomas
According to the next census in 1911, the young
family was residing at 89 Kingston Road in New Malden, Surrey. Living at the six-roomed property was
employer and tailor George Collett aged 25 and from Cleobury Mortimer, his wife
of two years Olive Collett who was 23, and their daughter Alice Collett who was
one year old and born at Battersea.
Staying with the family was Olive’s brother James Huggins who was 17 and
a boot repairer from Fulham while, on the day of the census, George and Olive
were expecting the birth of their second child, with four more added to the
family over the following decade. At some time after the birth of
their last child in 1922, the family moved out of London and settled within the
Croydon area of Surrey, as confirmed by the later death of George’s wife and
the subsequent marriages of his three youngest daughters. The first of those four events happened
during the summer of 1934, when the death of Olive Collett, nee Huggins, was recorded
at Croydon register office (Ref. 2a 482) during the third quarter of 1934 when
she was 45. And it was during the following year that daughter
Edith was married there, with the two youngest daughters married there five
years later in 1940
It was two years after losing his wife that
George Henry Collett, a widower and a tailor of 51, the son of Charles Collett
deceased, married 45-year-old (2) Gertrude Gladys Condon, the daughter of
Ambrose Edward Kendall Condon. The
wedding took place at the Church of All Saints and St Margaret in Upper Norwood,
Surrey. George and Gertrude had been
married for thirty-five years when George was made a widower for the second
time. Gertrude Gladys Collett nee Condon
was born on 24th June 1892 and her death was recorded at Croydon
register office (Ref. 5a 1717) during the third quarter of 1969 when she was 77. It was just less than five years later that
the death of George Henry Collett was also recorded at Croydon (Vol. 11 1954)
during the first three months of 1975 at the age of 89
In an earlier version of this family tree, it
was listed that during the second quarter of 1919 at Kidderminster, George
Collett married Eva M Churchett, although it is now known that gentleman was
not George Henry Collett
67Q1 – Alice Georgina F
Collett
was born in 1909 at Battersea
67Q2 – Arthur J Collett was born in 1911 at St
Pancras
67Q3 – Edith W Collett was born in 1912 at
Southwark
67Q4 – George Henry Collett was born in 1915 at
Southwark
67Q5 – Ivy Doris Collett was born in 1917 at
Southwark
67Q6 – Gladys H Collett was born in 1922 at
Southwark
Elizabeth
May Collett [67P5] was
born at Cleobury Mortimer in 1887, her birth recorded there (Ref. 6a 590)
during the second quarter of the year, while it was on 2nd October
1887 that she was baptised there, the daughter of Charles and Alice
Collett. In the census of 1891 for the
village Elizabeth M Collett was three years old when she was still living there
with her large family. Before the end of
the century Elizabeth’s family moved to Rock near Bewdley and in 1901 they were
living at Clows Top Road in that village where Elizabeth M Collett was 13. When Elizabeth was twenty-one, she married
John Bunce at Kidderminster where the event was recorded (Ref. 6c 382) during
the second quarter of 1908, in front of witnesses William Henry Davies and
Ethel May Harradine
By 1911 Elizabeth had presented John with two
children. The family that year living at
the two-roomed premises that was 3 Foundry Street in Stourport-on-Severn,
within the Lower Mitton sub-district of Kidderminster, comprised John Bunce who
was 25 and an electric tramcar conductor from Astley near Stourport, Elizabeth
May Bunce from Cleobury Mortimer who was 23 and a tailoress, and their children
were Olive Barbara Beatrice Bunce who was two, and Wallace Eric
Charles Bunce who was four months old.
Both children had been born at Stourport-on-Severn
Tragically, Elizabeth May Bunce nee Collett was
only 31 when she died in 1918, her death being recorded at Kidderminster
register office (Ref. 6c 69) during the second quarter of that year. Almost eight years after the premature death of his wife, the second
marriage of John Bunce to Ida Lewis was recorded at Bromsgrove register office
(Ref. 6c 303) during the first three months of 1926. Upon the later death of John Bunce in Worcestershire
on 11th October 1955, probate was granted to his son Wallace Eric Charles
Bunce following the proving of his Will at Birmingham on 6th
December 1955
Charles
James Collett [67P6] was
born at Cleobury Mortimer very early in 1889, since it was during the first
three months of 1889 that the birth was recorded there (Ref. 6a 568). He was also baptised there on 5th
May 1889 when his parents were confirmed as Charles and Alice Collett. By the time of the census in 1891 Charles J
Collett, aged two years, was the youngest member of his family, meaning his
baby brother Percy had already passed away by then. Just before the start of
the new century Charles’ family settled between the villages Pensax and Rock
where they were living in March 1901 at Clows Top Road where Charles J Collett
was 12. Just after the census day that
year the family moved again, the short distance to Pensax where Charles two
youngest siblings were born before settling at 31 Leswell Street in
Kidderminster. It was at that address
that Charles James Collett aged 22, was still living with his family in 1911,
when he was described as the son of a tailor, assisting with the family
tailoring business
No
obvious record has been unearthed that would suggest that he ever married,
although the death of Charles Collett born in 1889 was recorded at
Worcestershire register office (Ref. 9d 70) during 1967 when he was 78 years
old
Percy
Albert Collett [67P7] was born at Cleobury Mortimer in October 1890 whose birth
was registered there (Ref. 6a 516) during the last three months of the
year. He was still a baby when he was
baptised there on 20th October 1890 when he and his parents were
recorded as Percy Albert Collette the son of Charles and Alice Collette. Five days later Percy was buried at Cleobury Mortimer on 25th
October and his infant death was recorded there (Ref. 6a 393) as Percy Albert
Collett
Jessie
Adelaide Collett [67P8] was born at Cleobury Mortimer and may have been born at the
end of 1891 or during the first few weeks of 1892. Her birth was registered there (Ref. 6a 551)
during the first quarter of 1892 and she was baptised there on 6th
March 1892, the daughter of Charles and Alice Collett. Sadly, she was one of the three children of
Charles and Alice Collett who did not survive, with her death recorded at
Cleobury Mortimer (Ref. 6a 448) during the first quarter of 1894 when she was
just two years old
Edith
Winifred Collett [67P9] was born at Cleobury Mortimer in 1893 and her birth was
recorded there (Ref. 6a 651) during the final quarter of 1893. Her baptism took place almost two years later
when she was baptised there in a double christening with her baby brother
William (below) on 17th November 1895, the daughter of
Charles and Alice Collett. By the time
of the census in 1901 the family was living at Clows Top Road when Edith W
Collett was seven years old, while in 1911 as Edith Winifred Collett aged 17,
she was still living with her family, who by then were living at 31 Leswell
Street in Kidderminster. With her family
heavily involved in the family tailoring business it was Edith who was
undertaking domestic duties. The later marriage of Edith
Winifred Collett and Thomas Frederick Rooke was conducted at Kidderminster on
30th September 1925, with the event recorded at Worcestershire
register office (Ref. 6c 147). Their
marriage was blessed by a very late arrival, with the birth of Margaret E
Rooke recorded at Kidderminster (Ref. 6c 139) at the end of 1936, when the
mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett
William
Ernest Collett [67P10] was born at Cleobury Mortimer in 1895 and was baptised
there with his sister Edith (above) on 17th November
1895. His birth was also recorded there
(Ref. 6a 578) during the third quarter of that year. After the birth of his sister Sarah (below)
the family left Cleobury Mortimer and moved to Clows Top Road, where William E
Collett was five in 1901. It was as
William Ernest Collett aged 15, a tailor’s son assisting with the family
business, that he was still living with his family in 1911 but, at that time,
they were residing at 31 Leswell Street in Kidderminster. It was during 1918 that William Ernest
Collett married Olive Maud Bilboe, the wedding recorded at Kidderminster
register office (Ref. 6c 133) during the last three months of that year
Olive was born at Kidderminster on 19th
February 1896 (Ref. 6c 242) and died there in 1971 when she was 75, her passing
recorded at the Kidderminster register office (Ref. 9d 303) during the first
quarter of that year. Interestingly, her
husband was not listed in the Register of 1939, perhaps because he was may have
been hospitalised, as his death was recorded at Worcester register office (Ref.
6c 463) during the first few weeks of 1940.
The Register included Olive and her son living at 89 Mill Street in Kidderminster. Olive was working as a carpet passer and
Ronald was a carpet creeler at the age of 15, both working at a local carpet
works. Olive’s date of birth was
recorded as 19th February 1896.
Living in the adjoining property was married Ethel M Collett, born on 10th
May 1901, carrying out unpaid domestic duties, with her unmarried son James A
Collett, another carpet creeler who was born on 22nd November 1922 –
see below
Further information regarding the family of
Olive Maud Bilboe can be found on the Les Durham website at http://digidownload.libero.it/DURHAM_FAMILY/DURHAM-MARTIN-BILBOE-1.htm, Les already being connected to the Collett family depicted in Part 1 –
The Main Gloucestershire Line 1480 to 1800
The birth of the aforementioned
James A Collett was recorded at Kidderminster register office during the
fourth quarter of 1922, when his mother’s maiden-name was stated as being
Davies. It was during the previous year,
that the marriage of William’s youngest
brother Albert Edward Collett (below) and Ethel May Davies was recorded at Kidderminster
during the first quarter of 1921
67Q7 – Ronald William
Collett
was born in 1924 at Kidderminster
Sarah Ann
Amelia Collett [67P11] was born at Cleobury Mortimer at the end of 1897 with her
birth being registered there (Ref. 6a 555) during the first three months of
1898. It was also there that she was
baptised on 1st May 1898, the daughter of Charles and Alice
Collett. Not long after she was born the
family spent a short period in their life at Clows Top Road, between the
villages of Rock and Pensax, where Sarah A Collett was three in 1901, before
they moved to nearby Pensax where Sarah’s two younger siblings were born. From Pensax the family then settled in
Kidderminster and in 1911 Sarah Ann Collett was 13 when with her family at 31
Leswell Street. Seventeen years later, during
the final quarter of 1928, the marriage of Sarah Ann Amelia Collett and Albert
Ernest Price was recorded at Kidderminster register office (Ref. 6c 203)
What is particularly interesting is that
Sarah’s father Charles Collett, on the day he was married, stated that his
father was James Price, which begs the question, was Albert Ernest a member of
that family. What is known is that
Albert Ernest Price died at Kidderminster on 18th September 1965,
following which his Will was proved in London on 9th December
1965. At that time in his life, he was
already a widower residing at 17 Lyndhold Road in Kidderminster, when probate
of his personal effects of Ł6,261 was granted to Jeffrey James Harold, credit
draper. It was only five years earlier that the death of Sarah A A Price, nee Collett, was recorded at Kent register office
(Ref. 5b 318) in 1960 aged 63. Why she
was in Kent is a mystery that has yet to be resolved
Albert
Edward Collett [67P12] was born at Pensax on 31st
December 1901 although, according to his death certificate he was born one year
earlier on 31st December 1900.
However, his birth
was recorded at the Worcestershire Martley register office (Ref. 6c 269) during
the first three months of 1902, and was therefore not recorded with his family
at Clows Top Road in 1901. In
fact, he was nine years of age in the following census in 1911, when he was the
youngest son of Charles Collett and Alice Morris, with whom he was living at
Kidderminster, when the census return confirmed his place of birth was Pensax. Just less than ten years later, the marriage
of Albert E Collett and Ethel M Davies was recorded at Kidderminster register
office (Ref. 6c 171) during the first quarter of 1921
Ethel May Davies was born on 10th May 1901,
the daughter of William and Sarah Davies.
The birth of the couple’s only known child was recorded at Kidderminster
in 1922, when his mother’s maiden-name was stated as being Davies. When the Register of 1939 was compiled, the
family home was at Mill Street in Kidderminster, when Ethel was undertaking
unpaid domestic duties and her unmarried son James A Collett was a carpet
creeler. Living next at 89 Mill Street
was Ethel’s sister-in-law Olive Collett and her son Ronald (above). Where Albert was that day has not been
established. Ethel May Collett, nee Davies, was 72 years old
when she died, with her death recorded at Worcestershire register office (Ref.
9d 334) in 1973. Thirteen years
after losing Ethel, the death of Albert Edward Collett was recorded at Evesham
register office (Vol. 29 237) during the month of May in 1986, when he was 85
67Q8 – James A Collett was born in 1922 at
Kidderminster
Elsie May Collett [67P13] was born at Pensax in
1904 and was six years old in the Kidderminster census of 1911. The birth of Elsie May Collett was recorded at Martley register office
(Ref. 6c 264) during the second quarter of 1904. She was the youngest of the fourteen children
of Charles Collett and Alice Morris, although only thirteen of them have been
positively identified in this family history.
Elsie was eighteen
years old when her mother died, and within two years her father had also passed
away. At the age of 23, the marriage of
Elsie M Collett and Herbert J Longmore was recorded at Kidderminster register
office (Ref. 6c 210) during the spring of 1927.
Tragically, five years later she was dead, with the death of Elsie May
Longmore recorded at Worcestershire register office (Ref. 6a 82) in 1932. Four years after being widowed, the second
marriage of Herbert J Longmore and Emily W Yeomans was recorded at the Martley
register office (Ref. 6c 403) during the spring of 1936. Herbert was born in 1907 and died in 1953
Alice Georgina F Collett [67Q1] was born Battersea in
1909, her birth recorded at Wandsworth register office (Ref. 1d 520) during the
third quarter of the year, the first of the six children of George Henry
Collett and Olive Huggins. Eighteen months
later Alice and her parents were living at 89 Kingston Road in New Malden,
Surrey, where they were awaiting the arrival of Alice’s brother Arthur (below). She was in her late twenties when the
marriage of Alice G F Collett and Alfred R Bone, the event recorded at
Battersea during the third quarter of 1938 (Ref. 1d 108). The marriage provided the couple with four children, with all the births
recorded at Surrey register office. They
were Carol M Bone in 1945, Andrew T Bone in 1946, Jeffrey S
Bone in 1951, and Edward W Bone in 1953, when their mother’s maiden-name
was confirmed as Collett
Arthur J Collett [67Q2] was born at 89
Kingston Road in New Malden within six months of the census day in 1911, the
second child and eldest son of tailor George Henry Collett and Olive
Huggins. His birth was recorded at St
Pancras register office (Ref. 1b 25) during the third quarter of 1911, when his
mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Huggins.
Arthur was twenty-three years old when his marriage to Winifred A Port
was recorded at Woolwich register office (Ref. 1d 127) during the second
quarter of 1935. Winifred was born at Greenwich during the summer
of 1914, when her mother’s maiden-name was Taylor. Two years into their marriage, Winifred gave
birth to their only child, whose birth was recorded at Uxbridge in 1937
67R1 – Adrian George
Collett
was born in 1937 at Uxbridge
Edith W Collett [67Q3] was born in South
London in 1912 and was the third child of George and Olive Collett and the
first one born after the family had moved to Southwark where her birth was
recorded during the fourth quarter of 1912 (Ref. 1d 8) and when her mother’s
maiden-name was confirmed as Huggins. It was during the spring of 1935
that the wedding of Edith W Collett and Ernest H Smith was recorded at Croydon
register office (Ref. 2a 1735). Over the
next fifteen years Edith gave birth to five children, whose births were all
recorded in Surrey, with the first two at Croydon, when their mother’s maiden
name was confirmed at Collett. They were
Anne Olive Smith in 1936, Paul B Smith in 1940, Brian Ernest
Smith in 1945, Terence R Smith in 1947, and Martyn C Smith in
1950. Martyn was fifteen years old when Edith
died at the age of 53, with the death of Edith W Smith recorded at Surrey
register office (Ref. 5a 813) in 1965
George Henry Collett [67Q4] was born in South London
on 26th March
1915, when his birth was recorded at Southwark register office (Ref. 1d
54) during the second quarter of the year.
He was the fifth of the six children of George and Olive Collett, with
his mother’s maiden-name confirmed as Huggins at the time of his birth. It was at Kensington register office in
London, that his marriage to Evelyn J Petley was recorded (Ref. 5c 2220) during
the last quarter of 1949. George was 34 and Evelyn was
only 21, with her birth also recorded at Kensington register office (Ref. 1a
127) during the first three months of 1928, when her mother’s maiden-name was
recorded as Marshall. Just over two
years after their wedding day, Evelyn gave birth to a daughter, whose birth was
recorded at Lambeth in London. Her
father was still residing within the County of Surrey when he passed away at
the age of 87, with the death of George Henry Collett recorded at Surrey
register (Vol. 2251c c84b) in 2002
67R2 – Valerie J
Collett
was born in 1952 at Lambeth
Ivy Doris Collett [67Q5] was born in South London on 19th January 1917,
another daughter of George and Olive Collett, whose birth was recorded at
Southwark register office (Ref. 1d 65) during the first three months of that
year, and her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Huggins. The marriage of Ivy Doris Collett and Cecil T C Carter was recorded at
Croydon register office (Ref. 2a 2441) during the summer of 1940. Cecil Thomas T Carter was born on 19th
December 1915 within the Wandsworth area of London. Their first child was Jeannette Ivy O
Carter whose birth was recorded at Croydon register in 1942 (Ref. 2a 1587)
when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett. Another two child were born after the family
moved from Surrey to Essex, and they were Alan E Carter in 1952, and Janice
A Carter in 1954, and again their mother’s maiden-name was Collett
Towards
the end of her life Ivy was living in Essex, and it was at Essex register
office (Ref. 4a 1789) that the death of Ivy Doris Carter was recorded in 1972
when she was only 55. He husband
survived her by twenty-one years, when the death of Cecil Thomas T Carter also
recorded at Essex register office (Vol. 4721b b10) in 1993, after he had died
in Harlow aged 77
Gladys H Collett [67Q6] was born in South
London in 1922, the sixth and last child of George Henry Collett and Olive
Huggins. As with three of her five older
siblings, her birth was also recorded at Southwark register office (Ref. 1d 64)
during the first quarter of the year, when her mother’s maiden-name was
confirmed as Huggins. It was inevitable, after her two
older sisters Edith and Ivy (above) were married in Croydon, when they were
both 23 years old, that Gladys was also married there. However, she was only eighteen when the
wedding of Gladys H Collett and Robert J Cousins was recorded at Croydon
register office (Ref. 2a 2200) during the last three months of 1940. Within the first six months of 1941, Gladys
gave birth to the first of the couple’s two children, when the birth of Spencer
J Cousins was recorded at Croydon (Ref. 2a 1466). Two years later their family was completed
with the birth of Sandra A Cousins also recorded at Croydon (Ref. 2a
1277) during the spring of 1943. On both
occasions the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett
Ronald
William Collett [67Q7] was born at
Kidderminster on 20th August 1924 and his birth was recorded there
(Ref. 6c 147) during the third quarter of the year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as
Bilboe. It was at the Church of St John-the-Baptist
in Kidderminster that he was baptised on 7th October 1924,
the only known child of William Ernest Collett and Olive Maud Bilboe. In 1939, Ronald W Collett was a carpet
creeler working in a carpet works, where his mother Ethel was a carpet
passer. At that time in their lives, the
pair of them were residing on Mill Street in Kidderminster. Ronald’s father was absent from the family
home and died during the early part of the following year
It was during the first three months of 1962
that Ronald W Collett married Jean Hodges, with the event recorded at
Kidderminster register office (Ref. 9d 382).
As far as can be determined Ronald and Jean had just one child, when the
birth of their daughter was recorded at Kidderminster three years later. It was also at Kidderminster that the death
of Ronald W Collett was recorded (Ref. 29d 199) during the summer of 1996, at
the age of 72. On the website
ancestry.com the name of Ronald William Collett of Kidderminster is linked to
the Adcock family
67R3 - Julie A Collett was born in 1965 at
Kidderminster
James A Collett [67Q8] was born at
Kidderminster on 22nd November 1922, the only known child of Albert
Collett and Ethel Davies. His birth was
recorded at Kidderminster register office (Ref. 6c 147) during the fourth
quarter of 1922, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Davies. At the age of 17 years, the 1939 Register
recorded James with his mother at Mill Street in Kidderminster, where James A
Collett was a carpet creeler. The possible
death of James A Collett, at the age of 65, was recorded at Worcester (Vol. 29
882) towards the end of 1987, except that it was recorded simply as James
Collett. Furthermore, no record of any
marriage for him has been discovered
Adrian George Collett [67R1] was born in 1937, his
birth recorded at Uxbridge register office (Ref. 3a 241) during the third
quarter of that year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Port. It was also at Uxbridge where his marriage to
Sheila W Plested was recorded (Ref. 5f 379) during the fourth quarter of
1960. Sometime after that, the family
appear to have settled in Easthampstead, Berkshire, where the birth of their
son was recorded in 1973
67S1 – Matthew Richard Collett was born in 1973 at
Easthampstead
Valerie J Collett [67R2] was born in London
during 1952 and was the only child of George Henry Collett and Evelyn J
Petley. Her birth was recorded at
Lambeth register office (Ref. 5c 1767) in the first quarter of year, when her
mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Petley.
Later on there were three marriages of Valerie J Collett in
England, but only one within the London area of the country, the others being
in Oxfordshire and Lincolnshire.
Therefore, included here, is the marriage of Valerie J Collett and
Kenneth C Ingram which was recorded at the Middlesex Hillingdon register office
(Ref. 5c 759) during the spring of 1971 when she was 19 years old. The births of the only Ingram/Collett children
were recorded in Berkshire, to the west of Hillingdon, in 1973 and 1973. They were Scott Ingram (Ref. 6a 868)
during the first quarter of 1973 at Reading register office, and fifteen months
later Kelly Louise Ingram (Vol. 19 0774) during the second quarter of
1974 at the Reading & Wokingham register office. In both cases, the mother’s maiden-name was
confirmed as Collett
Julie A Collett [67R3] was born in 1965 at
Kidderminster, the only known child of Ronald William Collett and Jean
Hodges. It was at Kidderminster register
office that her birth was recorded (Ref. 9d 60) during the third quarter of that
year, with her mother’s maiden-name confirmed as Hodges. Julie was 21 years of age when she was married to Steven J Conder, with
their wedding day recorded at Kidderminster register office (Vol. 29 537)
during the second quarter of 1987
Matthew Richard Collett [67S1] was born in 1973, the
only known child of Adrian and Sheila Collett, his birth recorded at
Easthampstead register office in Berkshire (Ref. 6a 142) during the summer of
1973, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Plested. Also born at Easthampstead at that same time
was Caroline Ann Oxspring, who perhaps attended the same schools as Adrian
since, it was when they were both twenty-six years of age, that their marriage
was recorded at Pershore register office in Worcestershire (Vol. 523 1069)
during the spring of 2000
APPENDIX
During the investigation into this family a
further birth and death has been revealed at Cleobury Mortimer, but at this
time it has not been determined who the parents of the child may have
been. It was in 1908 that Richard John Collett was born, his
birth record there (Ref. 6a 501) during the last three months of that year,
while his death was also recorded there (Ref. 6a 351) during the same quarter
of the year