PART
SEVENTY-ONE
The
Lambeth and Bermondsey Colletts
Updated February 2024
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71L1 |
John Collett, about whom no details are known, may
have belonged to one of the many Collett families originating in
Gloucestershire. He was born around
1739 and was 30 years old when he married widow Sarah Shaw at St Mary’s
Church in Lambeth on 13th November 1769. John was a bachelor working as a bricklayer
at that time in his life, while Sarah came from St Giles parish in
Camberwell, where the couple settled after they were married. All that is believed to be known about them,
is that their marriage produced at least two sons; Timothy who was born in 1775
and John born in 1776. John Collett
senior was said to be seventy when he died in 1820, although this conflicts
with his age at the time of his marriage.
So, there is a possibility this may be another John Collett who was
buried in the ground of St Nicholas’ Church in Deptford, within the London
Borough of Greenwich, on 24th January 1820. His last address was stated to be Flagon
Row, which is now McMillan Street. |
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Towards the end of 2023, we were
grateful to receive from Dayna Collett her family details starting with John
and Sarah’s younger son John William Collett.
She also reported that on Ancestry in Canada, it states that the
parents of John William Collett were John Collett and Martha Harris. That cannot be correct, since the marriage
of John and Martha was recorded at the Church of St Luke in Chelsea on 2nd
July 1781 five and six years after the births of John and Sarah’s two
sons. |
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71M1 |
Timothy Collett |
Born in 1775
at Camberwell, Surrey |
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71M2 |
John William Collett |
Born in 1776 at
Camberwell, Surrey |
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71M1 |
Timothy Collett was born at Camberwell during 1775 and
baptised at St Giles Church in Camberwell, within the London Borough of
Southwark, on 21st January 1776, when his parents were named as
Jno and Sarah Collett. Just over
twenty-four years later, according to the Bishop’s Transcript, he married
Susannah Pearson within the London Borough of Westminster, in the parish of
St George Hanover Square, on 30th May 1800. One of the witnesses at their wedding was
Susannah’s mother Grace Pearson, the other being John Honey, Susannah’s
brother-in-law, the husband of her sister Sarah Pearson. Susannah was born on 9th April
1781, the daughter of William Pearson and his wife Grace. |
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It
is interesting that married Susannah Collett Pearson was baptised at the
Church of St Mary in Lambeth on 14th May 1802, when she was
confirmed as the daughter of William Pearson and his wife Grace. That event took place just over a year
after the baptism, at the same church, of her eldest known child. One unanswered question relates to one of
the couple’s six known children, their eldest son William, who was the only
one for whom no baptism record has been found. Even more curious, in the later census
records, William stated that he had been born at Liverpool in Lancashire,
while all the other children were baptised at Lambeth, when the parents were
confirmed as Timothy and Susannah or Susan or Susanna Collett. |
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Susannah
Collett nee Pearson was 59 when she died on 31st January 1841,
following which she was buried at St Mary’s Church in Lambeth on 8th
February 1841. Four months later, on
the day of the first national census conducted during June 1841, Timothy was
a widower living at Carlisle Street in Lambeth with his two youngest daughters;
his place of birth was Surrey. Also
living with them was Ann Rice who, ten years later, was a visitor at the home
of Timothy’s son William in 1851. In
that first census adult ages were rounded to the nearest five years, so
Timothy Collett had a rounded age of 65.
His daughter Sarah was 30 and his daughter Jane was 25. It was five years and four months later
that Timothy Collett aged 69 years, died on 9th October 1846,
following which he was buried at the Church of St Mary in Lambeth on 15th
October 1846. |
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An
inscription at the Church of St Mary Lambeth contains the following
information: “To the memory of Mr
William Pearson who died September 22nd 1821 aged 85 years / Also
Mrs Grace Pearson, wife of the above who died 9th of July 1824 in
her 85th year / Also Mrs Sarah Honey daughter of the above who
died September 14th 1824 aged 57 years / Also Mrs Susannah Collett
wife of Timothy Collett, daughter of the above Wm Pearson, who died 31st
Jan 1841 aged 59 years / Also Mr Timothy Collett who died 9th Oct
1846 aged 69 years” |
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71N1 |
Susannah Collett |
Born in 1801
at Lambeth |
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71N2 |
William Pearson Collett |
Born in 1807
at Liverpool |
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71N3 |
Sarah Collett |
Born in 1809
at Lambeth |
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71N4 |
John Collett |
Born in 1811
at Lambeth |
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71N5 |
Ann Hosier Collett |
Born in 1814
at Lambeth |
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71N6 |
Jane Collett |
Born in 1817
at Lambeth |
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71M2 |
John Collett was born at Camberwell in 1776 and was
baptised as Jno Collett at St Saviour’s Church in Southwark on 15th
November 1779, the younger son of John Collett and Sarah Shaw. His amended date of birth stems from the
fact that he was 73 when he died in 1849 (below), meaning he was around three
years old when he was baptised. John would
therefore have been around twenty-three when he married (1) Sarah Harrison at
St Giles Church in Camberwell on 6th January 1801, with whom he
had at least four daughters over fifteen years and all of them born and
baptised at Camberwell. Within the
burial records at Camberwell, after the baptism of their fourth daughter in
1820, there are three for Sarah Collett; 14th June 1821, 13th
September 1822, and 23rd December 1827, the last perhaps being the
wife of John. It was on 31st
May 1830 when John Collett, a widower aged 41, married the much younger (2) Frances
Holyman at St Peter’s Church in Walworth, Walworth being within the London
Borough of Newington. Frances had been
born on 3rd May 1811 in London and was baptised at St George the
Martyrs in Southwark on 22nd September 1811, the daughter of
William and Rebecca Holyman. The
couple’s first child was born exactly one year after they were married. |
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Once
married the couple initially settled in Walworth, and later at Bermondsey,
while it was during the first decade that they were together when Frances
presented John with six children. On
the day of the census in 1841, the large family was residing at Ann’s Place
within the London Borough of Bermondsey.
John Collett had a rounded age of 60 and Frances Collett was 30, while
their children were listed as Mary who was ten, Henry who was nine, Frances
who was seven, Betsey who was six, John who was three years of age, and
Richard Collett who was only five months old.
Apart from Frances and her eldest daughter Mary, all the other members
of the family had been born in the County of Surrey, south of the River
Thames. Four more children were added
to the family during the next nine years, all of them living with the family
in 1851. Sadly, by then, John Collett
had already died and had passed away, prior to the birth of his last
child. John Collett died from Asiatic Cholera
on 24th July 1849 at the age of 73, his death recorded at
Bermondsey (Ref. iv 76) during the third quarter of 1849. |
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The
census return in 1851 listed his family as living at Russell Street in
Bermondsey, where widow Frances Collett was head of the household at the age
of 40, when her occupation was that of a shoe binder. Seven of her ten children were still living
with her and they were Mary Collett who was 21 and Frances Collett who was 17
– both born at Walworth, John Collett who was 15, Edward Collett who was
eight, Sarah Collett who was six, Emily Collett who was four years of age,
and James Collett who was fourteen months old - every one of them born at
Bermondsey. Curiously, their mother’s
place of birth was recorded as Bermondsey, when she was born north of the
River Thames. |
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After
a further ten years Frances was still living in Bermondsey, but at Hickman’s
Folly. Frances Collett from Bethnal
Green was 48 years of age and earning a living as a laundress. Living with her that day were just her four
youngest Bermondsey born children, Edward Collett who was 18 and working as a
labourer, Sarah Collett who was 16 and a domestic servant, as was Emily Collett
who was 14, and James who was 11 and still attending school. By the time of the next census in 1871 only
two of Frances’ children were still living with her at Bermondsey and they
were Emily Collett who was 24 and James Collett who was 21 and employed as a
warehouse man, when head of the household Frances Collett from St Giles
Camberwell was 58 and still working as a laundress. In 1851 it was Bermondsey, in 1861 it was
Bethnal Green and in 1871 it was Camberwell.
Interestingly, it was Bethnal Green that was named as her place of
birth in 1881 when she was 70 years of age and working as a charwoman, while
residing at 1 Frean Street in Bermondsey. |
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Frances
Collett, the widow of John Collett, was not listed within the next census of
1891, and that was because she had died just prior to that day. Her death was recorded at St Olave
Southwark (Ref. 1d 199) during the first three months of 1891 when she was 79
years old. However, that was the only
time in her life that she was recorded as Frances Ann Collett. |
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The
Story of John Collett, as told by Reginald D Squires – grandson of John’s
youngest daughter Emily Collett, focuses on his military career leading up to
the Battle of Waterloo, as reproduced below. John Collett was a
Private in the 1st Battalion of the 1st Foot Guards,
which he joined in October 1803. He
served at Corunna and was later transferred to the 2nd Battalion 1st
Foot Guards in June 1813. He also saw
action at the Decisive Battle of Quartres Bras on 16th June 1815,
where he was wounded and subsequently evacuated, first to Brussels and then
home to Great Britain. The Battle of
Waterloo inflicted horrendous losses on the 2nd Battalion with
almost 500 of John’s comrades being killed. Private John Collett continued his career with
the 2nd Battalion up until he was discharged from duty on 12th
April 1823. He received an army
pension as an ‘out-pensioner’ of the Royal Hospital Chelsea and his discharge
papers stated his conduct had been ‘good’ and that the reason for his
discharge was because he had ‘diseased lungs.’ |
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71N7 |
Mary Collett |
Born in 1805
at Camberwell |
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71N8 |
Sarah Elizabeth Collett |
Born in 1808
at Camberwell |
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71N9 |
Emma Collett |
Born in 1814
at Camberwell |
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71N10 |
Caroline Collett |
Born in 1820
at Camberwell |
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The
following are the children of John Collett by his second wife Frances
Holyman: |
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71N11 |
Mary Ruth Collett |
Born in 1831
at Walworth, Newington |
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71N12 |
John Henry Collett |
Born in 1832
at Walworth, Newington |
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71N13 |
Frances Ann Collett |
Born in 1834
at Walworth, Newington |
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71N14 |
Elizabeth Priscilla Collett |
Born in 1836
at Walworth, Newington |
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71N15 |
John William Collett |
Born in 1838
at Bermondsey |
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71N16 |
Richard Collett |
Born in 1841
at Bermondsey |
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71N17 |
Edward Collett |
Born in 1842
at Bermondsey |
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71N18 |
Sarah Collett |
Born in 1845
at Bermondsey |
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71N19 |
Emily Collett |
Born in 1847
at Bermondsey |
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71N20 |
James Thomas Collett |
Born in 1849
at Bermondsey |
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71N1 |
Susannah Collett was born at Lambeth in 1801, the
eldest known child of Timothy Collett and Susannah Pearson. She was baptised at St Mary’s Church in
Lambeth on 19th April 1801 when her parents were confirmed as
Timothy and Susannah Collett. |
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71N2 |
William Pearson Collett was born at Liverpool in 1807, the son
of Timothy Collett and Susannah Pearson.
He was married twice in his life, his first wife being (1) Mary
Thomson, with whom he had a daughter, his wife perhaps not surviving the
ordeal, or dying shortly thereafter. It is established that his daughter did
survive and would have been two years old when William was married for a
second time early in 1839. |
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That
marriage, between William Pearson Collett and (2) Amelia Eustace, was recorded
at Newington in London (Ref. iv 251) during first three months of 1839. Amelia was baptised at Christ Church in
Southwark on 15th October 1809, having been born on 28th
February 1809, the daughter of William and Mary Eustace. The couple’s first and only child was born
later in the same year they were married.
By the time of the census in 1841 William and Amelia Collett, aged 32,
had with them their son William who was eighteen months old when they were
living on Great Charlotte Street in Christ Church. |
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According
to the census in 1851, the family was living at Cornwall Road in Lambeth
where William P Collett from Liverpool was 44 and working as a clerk to a
proctor, his wife Amelia from Christchurch in Surrey was 42, and their son
William E Collett was 11 years of age.
Visiting the family was annuitant Ann Rice who was a spinster at 62 who
was also born at Lambeth. Ten years
later their son had left the family home which, by 1861 was at Kennington
Oval where William Collett, a visitors’ clerk, was 54 and Amelia was 50. The death of Ann Rice at the age of 79, was
recorded at Lambeth (Ref. 1d 257) during the last three months of 1868, when
she was living at 6 Clayton Street in Kennington (aka Clayton Street,
Lambeth), following which she was buried at Lambeth on 16th
October 1868. Her Will was proved at
the Principal Registry on 28th April 1869, when William Pearson
Collett was named as the sole beneficiary. |
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After
a further decade, the 1871 census included William P Collett from Liverpool
who was 64 and a proctor’s clerk, and his wife Amelia Collett who was 62 and
from Blackfriars in London. Four years
later the death of Amelia Collett aged 66 was recorded at Lambeth (Ref. 1d
333) during the last quarter of 1874. Widower
William P Collett from Liverpool was 74 in 1881 when living at Clayton Street
in Lambeth where he was described as living on income from dividends. His servant/housekeeper that day was Martha
Dunn who was 54 and from Lambeth. |
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On
the day of the next census in 1891, William P Collett was 84 and was staying
with his daughter-in-law Hannah Collett, the wife of his son William, at the
family home on Camberwell New Road, which today is the trunk road A202
running between Kennington and Camberwell.
It was seven years later that William P Collett passed away on 1st
June 1898, with his death recorded at Lambeth register office (Ref. 1d 258)
at the age of 93. It was at Lambeth
that he was buried on 6th June 1898. Three weeks later his Will was proved in
London on 27th June, the probate documentation confirming that his
last known address was 52 Aytoun Road in Stockwell, Surrey. |
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The
sole executor of the estate of William Pearson Collett, amounting to £3,129 8
Shillings and 5 Pence, was his grandson Francis Glenister Collett, a bank
clerk, of 52 Aytoun Road in Stockwell. It therefore seems that grandfather William
was living with his grandson at the end of his life. And why that was, and why was it not his son
William who was named as the executor of his father’s estate. It may have been something to do with the
fact that William Eustace Collett appears to have separated from his family
during the 1880s. |
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71O1 |
Julia Anne Collett |
Born in 1836
at Lambeth |
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The only
known child of William Pearson Collett by his second wife Amelia Eustace: |
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71O2 |
William Eustace Collett |
Born in 1839
at Lambeth |
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71N3 |
Sarah Collett was born at Lambeth, possibly on 8th
January 1809 and it was there that she was baptised at the Church of St Mary
on 11th June 1809 when her parents were confirmed as Timothy and
Susan Collett. |
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71N4 |
John Collett was born at Lambeth in 1811 and was
baptised there at St Mary’s Church on 12th May 1811, the fourth
known child of Timothy and Susanna Collett.
He was twice married the first time to (1) Katherine Elizabeth – the
named used at the baptism of their first child - with whom he was living in
1841. The census that year listed John
Collett with a rounded age of 30 and his wife Catherine having a rounded age
of 25. At that time in their lives,
they were living in an institution at Charles Street in the Covent Garden
area of London and by then Catherine had presented John with three
children. They were John who was five,
Catherine who was three and Ellen who was one year old. Just over two years later Catherine Collett
died, possibly during the birth of the couple’s fourth child, after which her
younger daughter was known as Ellen Wilmshurst Collett, perhaps indicating that
Catherine’s maiden-name was Wilmshurst.
The death of Catherine Collett was recorded at St Pancras during the
third quarter of 1843 (Ref. i 205). |
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John
Collett was still listed as a widower in the census of 1851 when he was 39
years of age and residing at Britannia Street in Shoreditch. Under occupation it simply said
‘theatrical’ when his place of birth was said to be Westminster. Still living with him were his three
children Jno P Collett who was 14, Kate S Collett who was 13 and Julia
Collett who was eight years old and born around the time of the death of her
mother. The place of birth for the two
older children was recorded as St Pancras, while the youngest one was described
as having been born at Clerkenwell. |
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Sometime
during the 1850s widower John Collett married (2) Elizabeth Hadcock, a widow
from Norwich who already had at least one child from her first marriage. By 1861 the census that year placed John
and his family at Richmond Grove in Islington. John Collett from Lambeth was 49, his wife
Elizabeth from Norwich was also 49 and with the couple that day was
Elizabeth’s daughter Elizabeth Hadcock who was 27 and from Great Yarmouth,
together with John’s unmarried daughter Julia Collett from Islington who was 18. Staying with the family that day was John’s
married daughter Ellen W Morley who was 21 and born at Islington. She had with her, her husband John S Morley
who was 25 and from Kingston-Upon-Hull in Yorkshire, together with his sister
Salome Morley who was 28 |
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Three
years later the couple’s youngest daughter left the family home to be married
and on her marriage certificate her father’s occupation was stated to be that
of a comedian, also confirmed in the subsequent census returns. In the census of 1871 John, aged 59, and
Elizabeth, aged 58, were living as lodgers at a house in Islington. John was again earning a living as a
comedian, so it therefore seems highly likely that it may have been his work
that resulted in him travelling around the country, making it more difficult
to identify him in the earlier census returns. |
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According
to the next census in 1881, comedian John Collett from Lambeth was 69 and a
lodger at 45 Hunter Street in Bloomsbury, the home of Alfred Brennan and his
wife Mary Brennan. Still accompanying
John on his travels was his wife Elizabeth who was also 69. |
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71O3 |
John Pearson Collett |
Born in 1836
at St Pancras |
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71O4 |
Catherine Sarah Collett |
Born in 1837
at St Pancras |
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71O5 |
Ellen Wilmshurst Collett |
Born in 1839
at Islington |
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71O6 |
Julia Collett |
Born in 1843
at Islington |
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71N5 |
Ann Hosier Collett was born at Lambeth on 27th
February 1814, where she was baptised eighteen months after at the Church of
St Mary on 3rd September 1815, another daughter of Timothy and
Susannah Collett. It was also at St
Mary’s Church that she married Joseph Groom on 3rd April 1838,
when her family was confirmed as Timothy Collett and Joseph’s father was
named as John Groom. Their marriage
produced at least eight children over the following fifteen years. On the day of the census in 1841 Joseph and
Ann were staying at the home of widow Mary Morgan at Mount Row in Lambeth
with their eldest daughter Jane Groom who was five months old. Where the couple’s first child was that day
is not known, but their son Alfred Groom would have been two years of age. |
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Ten
years later Alfred was living with his family at Lavina Grove in
Islington. Joseph from Clerkenwell was
39 and a clerk working for a solicitor.
His wife Ann H Groom from Lambeth was 37 and their six children that
day were listed as Alfred who was 12, Jane who was 10, Mary who was eight,
Susannah who was five, Charles who was four and Joseph who was two years
old. Employed by the family was
servant Margaret Flynn from Ireland who was 21. Curious on the day of the census in 1861
Joseph Groom was living on Richmond Crescent in Islington, but not with his
family which was also living in the same street. By then he was 49 and a solicitor’s
managing clerk. |
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Living
nearby was his wife Ann H Groom who was 47 with seven of Joseph’s
children. There were Alfred H Groom
aged 21, Mary Anne Groom aged 17, Susan Groom aged 15, Charles
Collett Groom aged 14, Joseph Groom aged 12, George Groom
aged nine, and Frederick Groom who was seven. The family’s servant that day was Eleanor
Sophia Tasker from Bethnal Green who was 24.
After a further ten years the reduced family was still in residence in
Islington, where clerk Joseph Groom was 59, his wife Ann was 57, and their
sons were Charles who was 24, Joseph who was 22 and Frederick who was
17. Harriet Mason aged 19 and from
Marylebone in London was their servant that year. |
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It
was very likely at Richmond Crescent that the family was living in 1871,
since it was at 5 Richmond Crescent in Islington that they were still living
on the day of the census of 1881. Joseph
Groom from Clerkenwell who was 69 was again described as at solicitor’s
managing clerk and his wife Ann H Groom from Lambeth was 67. Only two of
their children and one servant were recorded with them that day, and they
were daughter Mary A Groom who was 38, son George Groom who was 29, and
servant Emma Joulson who was 23. |
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71N6 |
Jane Collett was born at Lambeth in 1817 and was
the youngest child of Timothy Collett and Susannah Collett Pearson. She was baptised at the Church of St Mary
in Lambeth on 30th March 1817 when she was confirmed as the
daughter of Timothy and Susannah Collett.
Following the death of her widowed father in 1846, with whom she had
been living together with her older sister Sarah at Carlisle Street in
Lambeth, Jane married James Owen Tomkins at St Mary’s Church on 12th
August 1848. The marriage register
confirmed that Jane was the daughter of Timothy Collett, while James
described as the son of William Tomkins. |
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71N7 |
Mary Collett was born at Camberwell on 7th
March 1805 and was baptised there at St Giles Church on 15th April
1805, the eldest known child of Jno Collett and Sarah Harrison. |
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71N8 |
Sarah Elizabeth Collett was born at Camberwell on 8th
February 1808 and it was there at St Giles Church where she was baptised on
18th April 1808, the second child of John and Sarah Collett. |
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71N9 |
Emma Collett was born at Camberwell in 1814, the
third daughter of John and Sarah Collett who was baptised at St Giles Church
in Camberwell on 3rd July 1814. |
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71N10 |
Caroline Collett was born at Camberwell in 1820 and was
the last known child of John Collett and Sarah Harrison. She was baptised at St Giles Church,
Camberwell, on 2nd April 1820 and was only a few years old when
her mother died, following which her father married Frances Holyman who was
half his age. |
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71N11 |
Mary Ruth Collett was born at Walworth on 22nd
May 1831 but was not baptised until she was nearly three years old. She was the first child of John Collett and
Frances Jane Holyman and was baptised at St Mary’s Church in Newington,
London in a joint ceremony with her brother John (below) on 29th
January 1834. In June 1841 Mary
Collett was 10 years old when she and her family were living at Ann’s Place
in Bermondsey. She was 21 in 1851 when
she was living with her mother at Russell Street in Bermondsey after the
passing of her father in 1849. |
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71N12 |
John Henry Collett was born at Walworth on 10th
August 1832 and was baptised with his sister Mary (above) on 29th
January 1834 at the Church of St Mary in Newington when their parents were
confirmed as John and Frances Collett.
The census of 1841 included Henry Collett aged nine years living with
his family at Ann’s Place in Bermondsey.
On leaving school, it was as John Collett, date of birth 1832, that he
joined the Merchant Navy, but sadly he may have suffered some tragic accident
because his death was recorded at Bermondsey (Ref. iv 76) during the third
quarter of 1849. |
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71N13 |
Frances Ann Collett was born at Walworth in 1834 and was
baptised at the Church of St John the Evangelist in Lambeth on 17th
December 1834, the daughter of John and Frances Collett. As simply Frances Collett she was seven
years of age in the Bermondsey census of 1841 living with her family at Ann’s
Place. After her father died in 1849
the family moved to Russell Street in Bermondsey where Frances Collett was 17
in 1851, although she had left home by 1861 when she may have been married. |
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71N14 |
Elizabeth Priscilla
Collett was born at
Walworth during 1836 and was baptised on 20th November 1836 at St
John the Evangelist Church in Lambeth, another daughter of John and Frances
Collett. It was as Betsey Collett aged
six years that she was living with her family at Ann’s Place in Bermondsey in
1841. There was no child named
Elizabeth or Betsey living with the family in 1851, but seven years later she
married Joseph Legg at St James Church in Shoreditch on 14th
November 1858, the event recorded at Shoreditch (Ref. 1c 308) during the final
quarter of that year. Elizabeth and
Joseph were both 22 years old, and the bride’s father was named as John
William Collett, the groom’s father named as Henry Legg. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71N15 |
John William Collett was born at Bermondsey in 1838, where
he was baptised at St Mary Magdalen on 26th August 1838, the son
of John and Frances Collett. John
Collett was three years of age in the June census of 1841 when he and his
family were recorded at Ann’s Place in Bermondsey. As simply John Collett, he was recorded as
aged 15, rather than 13, having left school.
Under occupation on the census return for 1851, were the words “at
home”. That may have been because, as
the eldest son, living with his widowed mother at Russell Street in
Bermondsey, he may have been assisting his mother with domestic chores
following the death of his father two years earlier. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
John eventually ended up married with
him and his wife and two children emigrating to Canada. Their daughter was born around 1860, before
the family moved abroad. Louisa’s
married name was Louisa Cousins, and it was on 28th October 1919
that she died in Toronto and was buried at
St John’s Cemetery. The record
of her death, confirmed that she was 59 and residing at 37 Morse Street in St
Johns, had been born in England and was the daughter of William John Collett
and Mary Messenger. The cause of her
death was a cerebral haemorrhage over the previous three days. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
From this initial information about
the family, it was revealed that William John Collett married Mary Hannah
Messager during the summer of 1857, with their wedding recorded at Bermondsey
(Ref. 1d 82). As Mary Anna Messenger,
the daughter of Samuel and Anna Messenger, she was baptised on 28th
January 1838 at the Church of St Mary Magdelene in East Ham, Newham,
London. The baptism record also
confirmed that she was born on 1st January that same year. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In total the couple gave birth to six
children when they were still living England, the eldest being their only
son, who was very likely a honeymoon baby. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
By
1871 all eight members of the family were recorded at York Township in the
Canadian census for East York, Toronto, York County. On that day, it was as John William Collett,
a labourer, that he was 33, as was his wife Mary H Collett, when the six
children were listed as Henry James Collett 13, Louisa Collett 11, Amelia
Collett was eight, Mary Ann Collett who was seven, Emily Collett who was
four, and Hannah Collett who was one year old. The four eldest children were attending
school. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Sometime
after that census day, baby Hannah did not survive, while four further
children were added to the family which, by 1881, was residing within the St
Lawrence Ward of the City of Toronto.
Head of the household John Collett was 43 and still working as a
labourer, Mary H Collett was also 43, Henry J Collett was 23 and another
labourer, Amelia Collett was 19 and a domestic servant, so too was Mary Ann
Collett aged 17, and Emily Collett who was 15. The four new children were Ellen Collett
who was nine, Alfred Collett who was seven, Charles Collett who was four, and
Samuel Collett who was two years old. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
71O7 |
Henry
James Collett |
Born in 1858 at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71O8 |
Louisa
Collett |
Born in 1859 at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71O9 |
Amelia
Collett |
Born in 1861 at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71O10 |
Mary
Ann Collett |
Born in 1865 at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71O11 |
Emily
Collett |
Born in 1867 at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71O12 |
Hannah
Collett |
Born in 1869 at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71O13 |
Ellen Collett |
Born in 1872 at Toronto |
||||
|
71O14 |
Alfred Collett |
Born in 1874 at Toronto |
||||
|
71O15 |
Charles
Collett |
Born in 1877 at Toronto |
||||
|
71O16 |
Samuel Collett |
Born in 1879 at Toronto |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71N16 |
Richard Collett was born at Bermondsey in January
1841, the son of John and Frances Collett, whose birth was recorded at
Bermondsey (Ref. iv 2) during the first quarter of that year. He was five months old in the census of
1841 but tragically died in 1848 when he was seven years old and was buried
in Bermondsey on 8th November 1848. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71N17 |
Edward Collett was born at Bermondsey towards the end
of 1842, his birth recorded there (Ref. iv 13) during the last three months
of the year. It was on 15th
March 1843 that he was baptised at the Church of St James in Bermondsey, the
son of John and Frances Collett. His
father died when Edward was seven years old, following which he was living
with his widowed mother at Russell Street in Bermondsey in 1851 when he was
eight years old. By 1861 the family
home was at Hickman’s Folly in Bermondsey where Edward was 18 and working as
a labourer, the eldest of the four children still living with his
mother. It was seventeen months later
when the marriage of Edward Collett and Mary Ann Charlotte Pearcey from the
St Lukes area of London was recorded at St Bartholomew’s Church in Moor Lane
in the City of London on 22nd September 1862. Mary was 19 and the daughter of Richard
Pearcey and Edward was 21 and confirmed as the son of John Collett. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Perhaps
it was his work as a labourer that was the reason why their children were
born at different locations within the London area. However, the couple had returned to
Bermondsey by 1871 when the census that year described the family as
follows. Edwd Collett who had been
born at Bermondsey was 30 and still working as a labourer, Mary Ann was 28,
Edwd junior was eight, John was six, Mary Ann junior was four and Thos
Collett was two years of age. Another
four children were born into the family over the next decade during a period
of stability in their life, as all four were born at Bermondsey. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In
1881 the extended family was residing at Salisbury Street in Bermondsey where
Edward Collett, aged 40, was a dock worker, his wife Mary was 39, and their
eight children were Edward aged 19, John aged 17, Mary aged 15, Thomas aged
12, Louisa who was nine, Joseph who was six, James who was four and Richard
who was one year old. Edward’s
occupation was still that of a dock worker ten years later in 1891, when he
and his family were living at Marigold Place in Bermondsey. He was 50 years of age and had fathered a
further two children by then. His wife
Mary A Collett was also described as being 50, which was incorrect, while
they still had seven of their ten known children living there with them. They were Thomas aged 22, Louisa aged 19,
Joseph aged 16, James aged 13, Richard aged 11, Daniel who was nine and
Frances who was six. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Almost
exactly nine years later Edward Collett, the father, passed away, his death
recorded at Southwark St Olave (Ref. 1d 135) during the second quarter of
1900. Having lost her husband, Mary
Ann was staying at the home of her married daughter Louisa Matthews at Abbey
Street in Bermondsey within the Southwark St Olave registration
district. Mary A Collett from St
Lukes, whose age was incorrectly entered as 50, instead of 58 or 59, was
described as a widow and the mother-in-law of head of the household James
Matthews. Also living at the property,
in addition to Mary Ann’s two Matthews grandchildren, were Mary Ann’s three
youngest children, Richard who was 19, Daniel who was 18 and Elizabeth who
was 16. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
From
the Electoral Register for 1907 Mary Ann Collett was residing at 229 Abbey
Street, although there was no one by the name of Matthews living in the
street at that time. Four years later
Mary Ann Collett, a widow of 68 from London St Lukes, was described as a
grandmother when she was living with the eight-strong Smith family of William
Henry Smith and his wife Margaret at 21 Litlington Road in Rotherhithe. Very shortly after that census day death of
Mary A Collett aged 67 was recorded at Southwark St Olave register office
(Ref. 1d 96) during the second quarter of 1911. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
71O17 |
Edward Charles James Collett |
Born in 1862
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71O18 |
John Henry Collett |
Born in 1864
at Poplar |
||||
|
71O19 |
Mary Ann Collett |
Born in 1867
at Rotherhithe |
||||
|
71O20 |
Thomas Collett |
Born in 1869
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71O21 |
Louisa Jane Collett |
Born in 1872
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71O22 |
Joseph M Collett |
Born in 1875
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71O23 |
James Collett |
Born in 1877
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71O24 |
Richard Collett |
Born in 1880
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71O25 |
Daniel Charles Collett |
Born in 1882
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71O26 |
Frances Elizabeth Collett |
Born in 1885
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71N18 |
Sarah Collett was born at Bermondsey in early 1845,
the birth recorded at Bermondsey (Ref. iv 11) during the first quarter of
that year. Sarah was baptised at St
James Church in Bermondsey on 13th July 1845, when her parents
were confirmed as John and Frances Collett.
Sarah was six in 1851 and was 16 in 1861, on both occasions she was
living with her widowed mother, first at Russell Street in Bermondsey and then
at Hickman’s Folly. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71N19 |
Emily Collett was born at Bermondsey on 11th
January 1847 and her birth was recorded there (Ref. iv 7) during the first
quarter of that year. She was baptised
at Bermondsey on 12th February 1847, the ninth child and youngest
known daughter of John and Frances Collett.
She was four years old in 1851 when living with her widowed mother at
Russell Street in Bermondsey following the death of her father two years
earlier. In 1861 Emily was 14 and a
servant when she was one of the four children living with her mother at
Hickman’s Folly in Bermondsey where she was one of only two children still
living with her in 1871 at the age of 24. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
At
that time in her life Emily may have been ‘going steady’ since it was during
the following year that she became a married woman. The marriage of Emily Collett and James
Aslett Clark took place at St John’s Church in Walworth on 11th
March 1872. The church register
confirmed that Emily’s father was John Collett, while James was named as the
son of Jesse Aslett Clark. Once
married they had six children, the last of which was Phoebe who was born at
Bermondsey on 10th February 1890.
Phoebe Aslett Clark married Albert Thomas Squires on 26th
December 1912 and that union produced five children, all born at Bermondsey,
the youngest being Reginald D Squires who was born during October 1929, and
the author of the earlier report on the military life of his great
grandfather John Collett |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71N20 |
James Thomas Collett was born at Bermondsey during December
1849 and was fourteen months old in the census of 1851. His birth was recorded at Bermondsey (Ref.
iv 6) during the first three months of 1850, the last known child of John Collett,
who had died before he was born, and his wife Frances Jane Holyman. James was fourteen months old in the census
of 1851 when living with his widowed mother at Russell Street in Bermondsey. During the next decade the family moved to
Hickman’s Folly in Bermondsey where James was 11 years of age in 1861. After a further ten years James, at the age
of 21, was a warehouse man and one of only two children still living with his
mother in Bermondsey. Just over one
year later, James Thomas Collett was 22 and a shopman when he was married by
banns to Esther Tatum, aged 19, at Christ Church on 7th July
1872. Father of the groom was John
Collett, an oil boiler, and the father of the bride was Hiram Tatum
(deceased). |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Esther
Tatum was born at Raydon in Suffolk, the eldest child of Hiram and Mary Tatum
who moved to Bermondsey not long after Esther was born, where the family was
living in 1861 and 1871. By 1881
Esther had given birth to five children, the fourth child having already
suffered an infant death, and the census that year confirmed that the family
of James Collett was residing 18 Frean Street in Bermondsey, the same street
where his mother Frances was also living that year at 1 Frean Street. James R Collett was 29 and a storeman at a
marine store (general dealership).
Esther was 27 and their four children were Esther Collett who was
seven, George T Collett who was six, Frances M Collett who was four, and
Edith Collett who was not yet one year old, each of them born at a different
location in London. Esther could
easily have been expecting the birth of her fifth child on the day of the
census in 1881, as another son was born not long after, and he was followed
by a further five children before the end of the decade. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
It
is likely that James took over the management of the marine store because,
according to the next census of 1891, he and his family were residing at
Marine Street, off Jamaica Road, in Bermondsey, not far from the south bank
of the River Thames. Their previous
home at Frean Street was also only a very short distance away, while the
census return in 1891 described James Collett from Bermondsey as 39 years of age
and a marine store dealer. Wife Esther
was 37, from Shelley near Raydon, and the ten children were Esther aged 17,
George aged 16, Frances aged 14, Edith aged 10, James who was nine, John who
was seven, Ernest who was five, William who was three, Florence who was two,
and Albert who was only five months old.
It is very interesting that also
in 1891, the family of Alfred George Collett was living at Marine Street,
although no direct connection between the two families has been found. The details relating to the known family of
Alfred George Collett, born Bermondsey in 1861, can be found in Appendix
One at the end of this file. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Just
three more children were added to the family at Marine Street, where they
were still living in March 1901.
However, on that occasion only eight of their thirteen children were
still at the family home with James and Esther, with son Ernest Hiram Collett already in the navy. James was 51 and a general merchant, Esther
was 47, Frances was 24, Edith was 20, John was 17, William was 13, Albert was
11, and the three new children were Arthur Collett who was nine, Gertrude
Collett who was six, and Leonard Collett who was four years of age. The Electoral Register published for
Bermondsey in 1907 and again in 1910 confirmed that James Thomas Collett was
residing at 1 Marine Street. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The
next census in 1911 reveals some interesting facts. The family was once again confirmed as
being the occupants of the five-roomed property that was 1 Marine Street in
Bermondsey when, for some reason, the census return was signed by son William
Collett on behalf of his father. For
the previous version of this family line, only thirteen children were
credited to James and Esther. During
2023 the couple’s previously missing fourth children has been added to complete
the list below, thanks to information received from James’ great
grandson. The 1911 census return
confirmed that Esther had given birth to that number of children during 39
years of being married to James, of whom only eleven were still living. Whilst it is established that their
previously undiscovered daughter Rose died prior the 1881, the other two
children who did not survive may have come from James, Ernest, and Florence,
all of whom were absent from the household after 1891. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The
complete list of those living at 1 Marine Street in April 1911 comprised
James T Collett who was 60 and a marine store dealer and an employer, Esther
Collett who was 58 and from Raydon in Suffolk – just east of Shelley, William
Collett who was 24 and a journeyman butcher, Albert Collett who was 20 and a
lithograph printer’s apprentice, Arthur H Collett who was 17 and a
stockbroker’s clerk, Gertrude G Collett who was 16 with no occupation, and
Leonard Collett who was 14 and a factory boy working for a tea salesman. Eleven years following that census day,
James T Collett was 72 when he died in 1922, his death recorded at St Olaves
London (Ref. 1d 163) during the second quarter of that year. According to the electoral rolls, James Thomas Collett was a resident at 91A Lower Road in Rotherhithe in 1919 through to 1922,
although it was at 48A Lower Road where he died. Following his passing, his wife continued
to live there until 1934 and, after eighteen years as a widow,
the death of Esther Collett was recorded at Lewisham register office (Ref. 1d
1852) during the quarter of 1940, when she was 86. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
71O27 |
Esther Julia
Collett |
Born in 1873
in the City of London |
||||
|
71O28 |
George
Thomas Collett |
Born in 1875
at Clerkenwell |
||||
|
71O29 |
Mary
Frances Collett |
Born in 1876
at St Pancras |
||||
|
71O30 |
Rosina
(Rose) Collett |
Born in 1878
at Clerkenwell |
||||
|
71O31 |
Edith Elizabeth Collett |
Born in 1880
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71O32 |
James Edward Collett |
Born in 1881
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71O33 |
Henry John Collett |
Born in 1883
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71O34 |
Ernest Hiram Collett |
Born in 1885
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71O35 |
William Collett |
Born in 1887
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71O36 |
Florence Grace Collett |
Born in 1888
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71O37 |
Albert Collett |
Born in 1890
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71O38 |
Arthur Henry Collett |
Born in 1893
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71O39 |
Gertrude Grace Collett |
Born in 1894
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71O40 |
Edward Leonard Collett |
Born in 1896
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O1 |
Julia Anne Collett was born at Lambeth in 1836, where
she was baptised at the Church of St John the Evangelist on 27th
July 1836, the only know child of William Pearson Collett and Mary Thomson. Either during the birth or just after, her
mother died, and when Julia was two years old her father married Amelia
Eustace, that second marriage producing a half-brother for young Julia. She was twenty years old when the marriage
of Julia Anne Collett and John Calvert
/ Joseph James Harrison was recorded at Lewisham (Ref. 1d 968) during the
third quarter of 1856. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
By
1861 the couple was residing at Green Street in the Christchurch area of
Southwark, south of the River Thames, and very close to Lambeth. John Calvert from Hull was 32 and a
blacksmith, and his wife Julia Calvert was 27 and she was born within that
area of South London. Twenty years
later, the childless couple was living at Church Row in Limehouse, Middlesex
from where John was 52 and ‘a smith’, and Julia was 46. Once again, their respective birthplaces
were recorded as Hull and Surrey.
Staying at the same address that day were the four members of the
Collins family, the two adult children having been born at Limehouse. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
After
a further twenty years, Julia A Calvert aged 65 and her husband John Calvert
aged 72, were the owners of a lodging house at Tweddell Street in Hartlepool
who, on that census day in 1901, had thirteen tradesmen staying on the
premises, mostly dock workers. Julia
from Surrey was 65, and John was 72 and from Hull, who described himself as a
lodging house keeper and former blacksmith.
Prior to that day, the couple had adopted Ethel Long who was twelve
years of age and from Southampton. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O2 |
William Eustace Collett was born at Lambeth on 24th
September 1839 and was the only known child of William Pearson Collett from
Liverpool and Amelia Eustace from Southwark.
His birth was registered at St Saviour Southwark (Ref. iv 420). He was baptised at Christ Church in
Southwark on 8th March 1840 when his parents were confirmed as
William Pearson Collett and his wife Amelia.
The marriage of William Eustace Collett to Hannah London was recorded
at Newington (Ref. 1d 310) during the third quarter of 1859. Hannah was born in 1837 and was the
daughter of Francis London and Hannah Glenister. According to the census in 1871 the family
of William E Collett was residing at 48 Clayton Street, Kennington (aka
Clayton Street, Lambeth) within the London Borough of Lambeth. William was 32 and employed as a
solicitor’s clerk who had been born at Lambeth, like all the other members of
his family. His wife Hannah was 33 and
their seven children were named as William E Collett who was 11, Francis G
Collett who was eight, Henry P Collett who was six, Percy J Collett who was
five, Frederick A Collett who was four, Sidney N Collett who was three, and
Septimus E Collett who was one year old. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Just
two more children were added to their family over the following three years
and it was also during that decade when William ceased working in a
solicitor’s office, since his occupation by 1881 was that of a proctor’s
clerk, most likely at a university nearby.
Also, the family was still living on Clayton Street, but had moved
from number 48 to number 3 sometime during the intervening years. One of the children, scholar Frederick, was
not recorded as living at the family home, but instead was included with a
family nearby at number 6 Clapham Road in Lambeth. The Collett family recorded at 3 Clayton
Street was listed as William E who was 41, Hannah who was also 41, William E
who was 21, Francis G who was 18, Henry P who was 16, Percy J who was 14,
Sidney H who was 13, Septimus E who was 11, Clarence A who was nine, and
Amelia H who was six years old. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Staying
with the large family on that census day in 1881 was Hannah’s unmarried
sister Martha London who was 34 with no stated occupation, so was perhaps
helping Hannah look after her family.
On the day of the census in 1891 William was absent from the family
home at 104 Camberwell New Road in Brixton, to the south-east of Kennington,
leaving Hannah Callett (sic) who was 53 and the head of the household. Four of her sons and her only daughter were
the only children with her, together with her widowed father-in-law William P
Collett who was 84. The five children
of William and Hannah were listed as Francis G who was 28, Percy J who was
25, Fredk A who was 24, Sidney H who was 23 and Amelia H who was 15. The Electoral Registers from 1890 through
to 1901 confirmed the address of William Eustace Collett as 104 Camberwell
New Road, Brixton but, shortly after publication of the 1901 listing, the
family left Camberwell New Road. The
census that year placed William and Hannah as living at separate addresses,
with William described as a lodger at nearby St Agnes Place to the east of
Kennington and his wife as head of the household at St Stephen’s Terrace in
South Lambeth. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
According
to the census in 1901 Hannah Collett was 63 who, had living with her, her
daughter Amelia H Collett who was unmarried at 25, and her grandson Clarence
H Collett who was 12 years of age.
Clarence was the third child of Hannah’s eldest son William Eustace
Collett and his wife Emma Caroline Thomson.
On that same day William E Collett, also aged 63, was living on his
own means as a boarder at the home of Mary E Emmett at St Agnes Place in
Walworth. Mary from Greenwich was the
sister-in-law of William’s son Francis Glenister Collett and had living with
her, her six-year-old daughter Edith M Emmett. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
It
is apparent that William and his wife Hannah lived apart for the last
fourteen years of their life. It was
not surprising, that three years later, after the death of William Eustace
Collett was recorded at Lambeth register office (Ref. 1d 170) during the
second quarter of 1904, that the sole beneficiary under the term of his Will
proved in Surrey on 14th June 1904, was Mary Eliza Emmett. He had passed away six weeks earlier and
was buried at Lambeth on 5th May 1904, aged 66. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
71P1 |
William Eustace Collett |
Born in 1859
at Kennington |
||||
|
71P2 |
Francis Glenister Collett |
Born in 1862
at Kennington |
||||
|
71P3 |
Henry P Collett |
Born in 1864
at Kennington |
||||
|
71P4 |
Percy John Collett |
Born in 1865
at Kennington |
||||
|
71P5 |
Frederick Arthur Collett |
Born in 1867
at Kennington |
||||
|
71P6 |
Sidney Herbert Collett |
Born in 1868
at Kennington |
||||
|
71P7 |
Septimus E Collett |
Born in 1869
at Kennington |
||||
|
71P8 |
Clarence Alfred Collett |
Born in 1872
at Kennington |
||||
|
71P9 |
Amelia Hannah Collett |
Born in 1875
at Kennington |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O3 |
John Pearson Collett was born at St Pancras in 1836, the
eldest child of John and Catherine Collett.
It was as John Pearson Collett that he was baptised at St Pancras on
13th July 1836, the son of John Collett and Katherine Elizabeth
Collett. Simply as John Collett, he
was five years old in 1841 when he was living at Charles Street in Covent
Garden with his family. Ten years
later he was described as Jno P Collett from St Pancras in 1851, when he was
14 and living at Britannia Street in Shoreditch. It was towards the end of the following
decade that he married school teacher Rosalind Huntley Nicholls Howitt from
Cheltenham. By the time of the census
in 1861 the childless couple was living at Selattyn within the parish of
Hengoed in Shropshire. John P Collett
was from London was 24 and a railway station master and his wife Rosalind was
23. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
From
the information provided by Gordon Howitt in 2018, his great great aunt Rosalind
was born in 1836 and baptised at St Mary's Cheltenham, the illegitimate
daughter of Felix Huntley Howitt and possibly Eliza Preedy of the parish of
St Nicholas in Gloucester. It would
appear her early years were spent in the care of her paternal grandparents
William and Sarah Howitt. In 1841 Rosa
Howitt was four years old when she was living with her grandparents at the
Spa and Pump Rooms in the village of Hempsted, to the south-west of the City
of Gloucester. Rosalind Howitt from
Cheltenham was 14 in the next census of 1851 when she was still living with
her grandparents, lay clerk William Howitt and his wife Sarah at their home
on Princes Street in the Barton St Mary district of Gloucester. |
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|
|
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|
During
the 1860s Rosalind gave birth to three daughters, the first of them born at
High Wycombe, the other two in Shropshire, although the middle child was not
living with John or Rosalind in 1871.
The other two girls were living with their father on the day of the
census that year, while their mother was a governess and a boarder at a
nearby school in Drayton Magna, now a part of Market Drayton. John P Collett from London was 33 and was
still employed as a railway station master.
His two daughters were Katherine E Collett who was six and from
Buckinghamshire and Edith Collett who was two years of age and born at Market
Drayton. Staying with the family, most
likely to look after the two girls while John was at work, was his sister
Catherine S Collett (below), also from London, who was 32. The girls’ mother, Rosalind Collett from
Cheltenham, was also 32 and described as a daily governess and a boarder at
the home of master blacksmith John Bruckshaw and his wife Elizabeth. That probably means she returned to the
Bruckshaw home at the end of each school day, which raises two
questions. Had Rosalind separated from
her family by then and where was her missing daughter Rosalind Mary? |
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|
|
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|
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|
|
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|
John
P Collett from London was 40 (rather than 44) and was still working on the
railway. Still helping John look after
his daughters was his sister Catherine Collett who was 30 (rather than 43),
while the two girls were Mary Collett and Edith Collett who was 12, both them
born at Market Drayton. One decade
later the same four members of this Collett family were still residing in
Melcombe Regis, but at a dwelling in Cobourg Place. As in the earlier census return the ages of
all of them were at odds with their real ages. Widower John P Collett was continuing to
work as a railway station master and was recorded as being 50 instead of
54. His sister Catherine, listed as K
S Collett, said she was 45 instead of 53, and John’s daughters were described
as Rosalind M Collett who was 22 and not 24 and Edith Collett who was
recorded as 20 years of age instead of 22. |
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|
|
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|
It
was a very similar situation ten years later when, according to the census in
1901, John Pearson Collett from St Pancras and a widower was again recorded
as still living in Melcombe Regis. Also,
once again his age was incorrectly entered on the census return as 60 and not
64. Still living with him was his
sister Katherine Sarah Collett who was 55 and his daughter Rosalind Mary
Collett who was 31. Their live-in
domestic servant was Elizabeth Alice Harren who was 19 years of age. John Pearson Collett was residing at 4
Gloucester Road in Weymouth when he died on 8th February 1909 at
the age of 70 (sic). He was buried at
Melcombe Regis on 10th February and it was his eldest daughter
Catherine Eliza Collett, a spinster, who was granted administration of his
personal estate valued at £468 19 Shillings and 9 Pence. |
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|
|
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|
71P10 |
Catherine Eliza Collett |
Born in 1865
at High Wycombe |
||||
|
71P11 |
Rosalind Mary Collett |
Born in 1867
at Market Drayton |
||||
|
71P12 |
Edith Collett |
Born in 1868
at Market Drayton |
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|
|
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|
|
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71O4 |
Catherine Sarah Collett was born at St Pancras in 1837 and was
the second child and eldest daughter of John and Catherine Collett. Her birth was recorded at St Pancras (Ref. i
151) during the final quarter of 1837 and she was baptised at Old Church in
St Pancras on 3rd December 1837, the baptism record also
confirming that she was the daughter John and Catherine and had been born on
12th November 1837 who were residences of the parish of St Peter’s
Camden Town. It is possible that she
never married because from 1871 through to 1901 she was living with her
brother John Pearson Collett (above), looking after his three daughters. It was at Drayton Magna in Shropshire that
she was 32 in 1871 and at Melcombe Regis in Weymouth in 1881 when she was
said to be 30 (?) and 45 in 1891 when she would have been around 53. Ten years later the next census in 1901
described unmarried Katherine Sarah Collett from St Pancras as being 55, when
she was really 63, and still living at the home of her brother in Melcombe
Regis. |
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|
|
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|
|
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71O5 |
Ellen Wilmshurst Collett
was born at Islington
at the end of 1839, a daughter John Collett and his first wife Catherine who
died when Ellen was four years old. It
is possible she was born when her parents were living on Charles Street in Covent
Garden, where the family was living in 1841 when Ellen was one year old. However, it was at St Pancras where her
birth, as simply Ellen Collett, was recorded (Ref. i 256) during the first
three months of 1840. Where she was on
the day of the census in 1851 remains a mystery, as she was not living with
her widowed father, a theatrical performer, and the rest of her family at
Britannia Street in Shoreditch. |
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|
|
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|
Eight
years later, as Ellen Wilmshurst Collett, she married omnibus conductor John
Septimus Morley from Hull during the second quarter of 1859, the event
recorded at Lambeth (Ref. 1d 539). Two
years later, on the day of the census in 1861, Ellen and her husband were
staying with Ellen’s parents at Richmond Grove in Islington. Ellen W Morley was 21 and her husband John
was 25. John’s older sister Salome
Morley aged 28 was also living there at that time and she later married to
become Salome Newman. |
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|
|
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|
By
1871 the couple had no children when they were still living in Islington
where John was 34 and a travelling salesman and Ellen was 31. Also living at that same address was
Ellen’s younger married sister Julia (below) with her base-born
daughter Mary Collett. On that
occasion Ellen may well have been due to give the birth because, tragically
not long after, the death of Ellen Wilmshurst Morley nee Collett, aged 31,
was recorded at Islington (Ref. 1b 143) during the second quarter of
1871. Following the premature death of
his wife John returned to Yorkshire and was living at Patrington to the east
of Hull where his death was recorded three years later during the first
quarter of 1874 when he was 37. |
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|
|
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|
John
Septimus Morley was born Kingston-upon-Hull on 28th January 1836,
the son of Josephus and Sarah Morley.
He was two months old when he was baptised at the Ebenezer Chapel in
Dagger Lane in Hull on 22nd March 1836, when his parents were once
again confirmed and Josephus and Sarah Morley. He was the third of four children born to
clerk Josephus who work eventually took the family to live in London when
John was around four years old. It was
at City Road in the St Luke’s district of Middlesex that John was 15 years of
age and still attending school, when living there with his family in
1851. By 1871 Josephus and Sarah, both
64, were living in Islington with their married daughter Salome Newman who
was 38. |
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|
|
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|
|
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71O6 |
Julia Collett was born at Islington in 1843 and was
the youngest child of John Collett and his first wife Catherine who
tragically did not survive the ordeal of her birth. She was eight years old in the census of
1851 when she was living with her widowed father at Britannia Street in
Shoreditch. On that day her place of
birth was recorded as Clerkenwell.
During the following years her father remarried and it was with him
and her stepmother that Julia was living in 1861 at Richmond Grove in
Islington when she was 18. The census
return that year gave her place of birth as Islington. Three years later at St James’ Church in
Clerkenwell, when Julia Collett was 21, she married John Richardson Dighton
who was 24 on 20th March 1864.
John was named as the son of Dighton, while Julia was confirmed as the
daughter of John Collett, a comedian.
In the Islington census of 1871 Julia Dighton, aged 28, was described
as the sister-in-law of John Septimus Morley, the husband of Julia’s sister
Ellen (above). Where John
Dighton was on that day is not known. |
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|
|
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|
John
R Dighton was born at Cambridge Street in Godmanchester, Huntingdonshire, in
1839 and was the son of police constable John Dighton and his wife Joanna
Weldon. Shortly after the census in
1871 John and Julia settled in London and it was at Battersea that their only
known child was born. However, by 1881
the family was recorded living in Palmerston Road in Wimbledon. John R Dighton was 41 and a railway engine
fitter, Julia was 38 and their son Ernest was six years of age. Visiting the family was Kate Collett from
High Wycombe who was 16, the daughter of Julie’s brother John Pearson Collett
(above). |
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|
|
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|
It
was at Merton Road in Wimbledon that the family of three was living in 1891,
by which time John R Dighton was working on a farm as a farm engineer. He was 51, Julia was 47 and Ernest J
Dighton was 16. Another change of
address occurred in the next few years since it was at Latimer Road in
Wimbledon that they were recorded in the census of 1901. John R Dighton was 61 and his occupation
was that of a steam engine maker and fitter, Julia was 57 and Ernest J C
Dighton was 26. At that time in their
life the employed a servant, Caroline Mitchell from Battersea who was 23. |
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|
|
||||||
|
It
was just less than six years later that Julia died, with the death of Julie
Dighton recorded at Kingston-on-Thames register office (Ref. 2a 312) during
the first quarter of 1907. Four years
after being widowed, John Richardson Dighton from Godmanchester was 71 and
living in Wimbledon when his only companion was his housekeeper and
sister-in-law 66-year-old Emily Le Marshall from Mile End in London. John R Dighton survived his wife by fifteen
years and was still living in the Wimbledon area when he died in 1922, with
his death at the age of 83 also recorded at Kingston-on-Thames register
office (Ref. 2a 465) during the last three months of that year. |
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|
|
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|
|
||||||
71O7 |
Henry James Collett was born at
Bermondsey in 1858, the first-born child of William John Collett and Mary
Hannah (Anna) Messenger. His birth was
registered at Bermondsey (Ref. 1d 71) during the first quarter of that year, around
nine months after his parents’ wedding day.
It was around 1870 that his whole family sailed to a new life Canada,
as confirmed in the Toronto census of 1871 when Henry James from England was
13 and still at school, when living with his family at York Township. Henry James Collett married Lilian Cutmore
and their son Arthur Thomas Collett was born in Toronto in 1889, and was
followed two years after with the birth Alfred Wildale Collett. |
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|
|
||||||
|
Henry was only 38 years old when his
life ended, when he was an express driver, so there is the possibility that
he died on 4th March 1897 as the result of an accident at
work. The record of his death
confirmed he had been born at London in England and had died at The Beaches in
Toronto and was buried at St John’s Norway Cemetery & Crematorium. |
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|
|
||||||
|
71P13 |
Arthur Thomas Collett |
Born in 1889 at Toronto |
||||
|
71P14 |
Alfred
Wildale Collett |
Born in 1891 at Toronto |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O8 |
Louisa Collett was born at Bermondsey in 1860,
where her birth was register (Ref. 1d 54) during the third quarter of 1859. She was the eldest of the five daughters of
William and Mary Collett. Louisa’s
married name was Louisa Cousins, and it was on 28th October 1919
that she died in Toronto and was buried at
St John’s Cemetery. The record
of her death, confirmed that she was 59 and residing at 37 Morse Street in St
Johns, had been born in England and was the daughter of William John Collett
and Mary Messenger. The cause of her
death was a cerebral haemorrhage over the previous three days. |
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|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O9 |
Amelia Collett was born at Bermondsey on 31st
October 1862, where her birth was registered (Ref. 1d 67) during the last
three months of that year, another daughter of William and Mary Collett. No record of her or her family has been
found in 1861 while, by 1871 the whole family was living at York Township in
Toronto, Canada, where Amelia was eight years of age. It was the same situation in 1881, except
it was within St Lawrence Ward in the City of Toronto that they were
residing, when Amelia Collett was 19 and working as a domestic servant like
two younger sisters. Shortly after
that census day Amelia married Alfred Edward Herington and their Toronto born
children were Florence Edith Maud Herington in 1884, Herbert
Charles Herington in 1886, Gordon Herington in 1887, Clifford
Herington born on 14th October 1888, Bertha Collett
Herington in 1892, Harold Percy Herington in 1895, and Claude
Jeffery Herington in 1897. Amelia
Herington, nee Collett, died in Toronto on 30th August 1954. |
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|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O10 |
Mary Ann Collett was the fourth
child of William and Mary Collett and was born at Bermondsey in 1865. It was also at Bermondsey that her birth was
registered (Ref. 1d 58) during the second quarter of the year. She was five or six years old when her
family left London for a new life in Toronto, Canada, where Mary Ann was
seven years old in 1871, and was 17 and a domestic servant in 1881. |
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|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O11 |
Emily Collett was born at Bermondsey in 1867, with
her birth registered there (Ref. 1d 58) during the last three months of the
year. By 1871 Emily was four years old
and living with her family was York Township in Toronto where, in 1881 she
was 15 and a domestic servant still living with the family within the St
Lawrence Ward of the City of Toronto. |
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|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O12 |
Hannah Collett was the last child of William and
Mary to be born in England in March 1869 before the family emigrated to
Canada, where they were recorded in the Toronto census of 1871, at York
Township where Hannah was one year old.
Her birth, like those of her older siblings, was registered at
Bermondsey (Ref. 1d 83) during the second quarter of 1869. She was only nine years and ten months when
she died on 3rd May 1879.
The cause of her premature death was consumption of the bowels with
which she had suffered for four months prior. |
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|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O15 |
Charles Collett was born at Toronto
on 2nd June 1877, another child of John (William) and Mary Collett
from London, England. Tragically, he
was another son who died while in his thirties, when he died on 29th
November 1911 at Thessalon in Algoma County, Ontario. He was 34 years of age and working as a
cook, with the record of his passing confirming he was the son of William
John Collett and Mary Hannah Messenger. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Edward
Charles James Collett was born at Bermondsey near the end of
1862 and was the first child born to Edward and Mary Ann Collett. It was also at Bermondsey (Ref. 1d 85) that
his birth was recorded during the first quarter of 1863. Although the family moved around the south
London area during the years following his birth, they were once again living
in Bermondsey in 1871 when Edward Collett was eight years of age. After that census day, all four of Edward’s
youngest siblings were born at Bermondsey where, ten years later, the
extended family was residing at Salisbury Street in Bermondsey where Edward
Collett was 19 and a dock labourer working with his father. |
|||||||
|
|
||||||
|
During
the 1880s, his family moved to Marigold Place in Bermondsey where they were
all living in 1891, although, by that time Edward was a married man. Edward C Collett was 28 and still employed
as a dock labourer. His wife Alice
Collett was also from Bermondsey and was 26, while their three children were
Edward Collett who was five, James Collett who was two and John Collett who
was around five months old. Three
daughters were added to the family during the last decade of the
century. However, by the time of the
birth of the last child, the death of Edward Collett, aged 36, had already
been recorded at St Olave Southwark (Ref. 1d 182) during the first three
months of 1899. |
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|
|
||||||
|
Two
years after he died, his family was living at Llama Place in Bermondsey on
the day of the census in 1901, where Alice Collett, aged 38, was head of the
household. Only five children were
living there with her, and they were Edward who was 15, James who was 12,
Ellen who was nine, Alice who was six, and Lily who was one year old. Ten years later, it was just Alice Collett,
a widow at the age of 48 who was a furrier working in the fur trade, and her
three daughters who were living in Bermondsey in 1911. Ellen Collett was 19, Alice Collett was 16,
and Lily Collett was 11 years of age. |
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|
|
||||||
|
The
only other information currently known about this family, is that the eldest
son Edward Collett was still residing in the London area when he died, with his
death recorded at Camberwell register office (Ref. 1d 954) during the first
three months of 1942, when he was 56.
The death of son James Collett was recorded at Bermondsey register
office (Ref.1d 44) during the first quarter of 1944, when he was 55. |
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|
|
||||||
|
71P15 |
Edward Collett |
Born in 1886 at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71P16 |
James Collett |
Born in 1888 at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71P17 |
John Collett |
Born in 1890 at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71P18 |
Ellen Collett |
Born in 1892 at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71P19 |
Alice Collett |
Born in 1894 at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71P20 |
Elizabeth Lily Collett |
Born in 1899 at Bermondsey |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O18 |
John Henry Collett was born at Poplar at the end of 1864
but his birth was recorded at Rotherhithe (Ref. 1d 638) during the first
quarter of 1865 when the family moved there shortly after he was born. He was another son of Edward and Mary Ann
Collett who in 1871 were living in Bermondsey where John was six years of
age. It was at Salisbury Street in
Bermondsey that John, aged 17, was with his family in 1881. His father was a docker and by 1901 John
Collett from Rotherhithe was working as a waterside labourer at the age of
37. By that time, he had been married
for around eight years, the marriage having given him and his wife Mary two
children. Fulford Street in
Rotherhithe was where the family was living in 1901 when John’s wife Mary
from Bermondsey was 28. Their two sons
were named as John Collett who was seven and born at Rotherhithe and James
Collett who was four and born at Bermondsey. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The
census return for 1911 contains some interesting information, insofar that it
states Mary had given birth to fourteen children of which only nine were
still living. Curiously though, only
four of those nine surviving children were recorded with couple that year,
one of which, their daughter Mary, was not living with the couple and their
two sons ten years earlier. This
therefore means that there are five children missing from the family home in
April 1911. The remainder of the
household at 11 Hargrave Place in Bermondsey was listed as follows: John H
Collett was 46 and a dock labourer, his wife Mary was 39, daughter Mary
Collett was 18 and a tin box maker, John Collett was 17 and a car man at a
sawmill, James Collett was 14 and an errand boy also the sawmill, and Timothy
Collett was six years of age and attending school. All four children had been born at
Bermondsey. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
John
survived for just over two more decades, when the death of John H Collett
aged 68 was recorded at St Olave register office (1d 112) during the third
quarter of 1933. The birth of his
eldest child Mary, was recorded at St Olave Bermondsey register office (Ref.
1d 230) during the third quarter of 1892, as it was for James (Ref. 1d 255)
during the third quarter of 1896. In
between them, a record of the birth of son John has not been found, nor has
the one for Timothy. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Knowing
the couple had a total of 14 children, a search for the five who did not
survive has revealed just two who could be the deceased children of John and
Mary. They are Thomas Collett
born in 1899 who was buried at Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey on 18th
August 1899, and Margaret Collett born in 1907 who was buried on 11th
September 1907. They both died at
Bermondsey with their deaths recorded at St Olave Southwark register office
(Ref. 1d 162) during the third quarter of 1907, and (Ref. 1d 89) during the
summer of 1907. That still leaves
three passed children unaccounted for, plus the surviving five not identified
in the 1911 Census. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
71P21 |
Mary Collett |
Born in 1892
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71P22 |
John Henry Collett |
Born in 1894
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71P23 |
James Collett |
Born in 1896
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71P23 |
Timothy
Collett |
Born in 1904
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O19 |
Mary Ann Collett was born at Rotherhithe very early in
1867 and it was at Rotherhithe where her birth was recorded (Ref. 1d 692)
during the first three months of 1867, the third child and eldest daughter of
Edward and Mary Ann Collett. In 1871
her family was living in Bermondsey where Mary Ann was four years of age and
they were still living there at Salisbury Street in 1881 when Mary was 15. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O20 |
Thomas Collett was born at Bermondsey in 1869, the
birth recorded there (Ref. 1d 52) during the third quarter of the year. ‘Thos’ the son of Edward and Mary Ann
Collett was two in 1871 and as Thomas Collett was 12 in 1881 at Salisbury
Street in Bermondsey. Thomas was 22 on
the day of the next census in 1891, by which time he and his family were
recorded at Marigold Place in Bermondsey.
That may have been a busy time in the Collett household, as both
Thomas and his sister Louisa (below) were very likely preparing for
their respective wedding days later that year. It was four months later when Thomas
married Mary Ann Elizabeth Warnock at the Church of St John in Walworth. The wedding took place on 2nd
August 1891 when Thomas was (still) 22 and confirmed as the son of Edward
Collett and Mary from Rotherhithe was 19 and the daughter of John Warnock. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
After
ten years of marriage the couple only had one child which had survived,
although there may have been others who suffered infant deaths. It was at Paradise Street, near the south
bank of the River Thames and between Bermondsey and Rotherhithe that the
family of three was living in 1901 when Thomas Collett was 30 and a carman
from Bermondsey, Mary Ann Collett from Rotherhithe was 28, when their son
Thomas Collett was five years of age and born at Rotherhithe. The Electoral Register for 1907 also
confirmed that Thomas Collett was residing at 54 Paradise Street. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Sometime
after 1907 the family of three left Paradise Street and in April 1911 they
were residing at 23 Tranton Road in Bermondsey. Today Tranton Road is almost adjacent to
Collett Road. Thomas Collett, aged 41
and from Bermondsey, was a waterside labourer, his wife Mary Ann Collett from
Rotherhithe was 38, and their son Thomas Benjamin George Collett was 14 and
his place of birth was also confirmed as Rotherhithe. Staying with the family that day in 1911
was George Bridges who was 39. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
71P25 |
Thomas Benjamin George Collett |
Born in 1895
at Rotherhithe |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O21 |
Louisa Jane Collett was born at Bermondsey in 1872, most
likely in December, while it was during the early weeks of 1873 that her
birth was recorded at Bermondsey St Olave (Ref. 1d 276). Louisa was nine years old in the 1881
census when living with her family at Salisbury Street in Bermondsey. In the next decade the family left
Salisbury Street when they moved to Marigold Place in Bermondsey from where
Louisa J Collett aged 19 was preparing for her wedding day in April
1891. Later that same year the marriage
of Louisa Jane Collett and James Robert Matthews took place at St Philip’s
Church in Camberwell on Christmas day, 25th December 1891. Louisa was 20 and the daughter of Edward
Collett, and James was 22, the son of William Henry Matthews. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Louisa
gave birth to at least two children over the next ten years, towards the end
of which her father died. At that
tragic time Louisa’s widowed mother and Louisa’s three youngest siblings were
taken in by Louisa and James. James
Matthews from Bermondsey was 30 and described as a dustman and a cycle
repairer in the evenings. His wife
Louisa Matthews was 29 and their two daughters were Louisa Jane Matthews who
was nine and Frances Matthews who was two years of age. Completing the household was James’ mother-in-law,
Mary A Collett, and her three children Richard Collett, Daniel Collett and
Elizabeth Collett. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O22 |
Joseph M Collett was born at Bermondsey in 1875 the son
of Edward and Mary Ann Collett, his birth recorded at Bermondsey St Olave
(Ref. 1d 287) during the last three months of that year. Joseph was six years old in the 1881 census
when he and his family were living at Salisbury Street in Bermondsey, while
when he was 16 in 1891 the family home was at Marigold Place in
Bermondsey. Towards the end of the old
century Joseph married Charlotte Bygraves, the daughter of John Bygraves, at
the Church of St Mary Magdalen in Southwark on 17th October
1897. Curiously the marriage register
gave the name of the groom’s father as John Collett, rather than Edward,
which raises the question was the entry made in error and was he not the son
of Edward and Mary Ann. Certainly, the
census in 1901 (below) suggests he was the brother of John Henry
Collett the son of Edward and Mary Ann. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
By
March 1901 they had a one-year-old son.
The census that year revealed the family living in a room at 8 Dunlop
Place in Bermondsey, the home of Arthur Hutchings. Joseph Collett was 25 and a waterside
labourer like his older brother John Henry Collett (above), and
Charlotte was 23. Joseph and Charlotte
were both described as being deaf and dumb.
The birth of their son was recorded at Bermondsey St Olave (Ref. 1d
256) during the first quarter of 1900.
What happened to the family after that day is not known, as no record
of any of them has been found in the census of 1911. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
71P26 |
Edward
Collett |
Born in 1900
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O23 |
James Collett was born at Bermondsey, another son of
Edward and Mary Ann Collett, whose birth was recorded at Bermondsey St Olave
(Ref. 1d 327) during the first three months of 1878. In 1881 the family was residing at
Salisbury Street in Bermondsey when James was four years of age and, ten
years later, he was 13, by which time he and the family were living at
Marigold Place in Bermondsey. In 1899
the Electoral Register identified a James Collett listed at 180 Long Lane in
Bermondsey, although there appears to be no record of him within the census
of 1901. However, it is known that
James Collett, aged 21 and a bricklayer, the son of Edward Collett, married
Emily Sarah Pooley, the daughter of Richard Pooley, at St James Church in
Bermondsey on 7th May 1899. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
It
was the census in 1911 that revealed James had been married to Emily for
eleven years, who had presented him with six children by April that
year. Sadly, only three of them were
still alive and living with the couple at 34 Stockton Street by that
time. James, who was 33 and a
bricklayer’s labourer, stated he had been born at Paradise Street in
Rotherhithe, where his older brother Thomas Collett (above) had been
living in 1901 and 1911. Emily was 32
from Horsleydown in Bermondsey, while their three children had all been born
at Salisbury Street off Jamaica Road (where
James had lived as a child), and they were James junior who was eight,
Julia who was six, and Mary who was four years old. Boarding with the family was carman Daniel
Leonard from Rotherhithe. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
What
may be significant in the census return that year, is that it was Emily
Collett who signed the form and not her husband. Just over four years later the death of
James Collett at the age of 37 was recorded at Southwark register office
(Ref. 1d 52) during the last three months of 1915, when it was stated that he
died at Southwark. A check for the three children
who had died prior to 1911 has only revealed Ellen Collett born at the end of
1900, her birth recorded at St Olave Bermondsey register office (Ref. 1d 280)
at the start of 1901, who died on 23rd January 1901, when she was
only a few weeks old. The other two
were possibly still with no birth or death reported. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
71P27 |
James
Collett – alive in
1911 |
Born in 1902
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71P28 |
Julia Ann Collett –
alive in 1911 |
Born in 1904
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71P29 |
Mary Collett
– alive in 1911 |
Born in 1906
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O24 |
Richard Pearson Collett was born at Salisbury Street in
Bermondsey in 1880 and was one year old in the census of 1881. His birth was recorded at Bermondsey St
Olave (Ref. 1d 276) during the second quarter of that year. It may have been just after he was born
that his parents, Edward, and Mary Ann, took their family to Marigold Place
in Bermondsey, where they were living in 1891 when Richard was 11. Upon the death of his father in 1900
Richard’s widowed mother moved in with Richard’s married sister Louisa
Matthews (above), taking Richard and his two younger siblings with
her. And it was there, at Abbey Street
in Bermondsey, that Richard Collett aged nineteen years was living in 1901,
from where he was working as a carman. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Two
years later, at Kingston-upon-Thames in Surrey register office (Ref. 2a 885),
a Richard Pearson Collett became a married man, the event recorded during the
third quarter of 1903. Pearson was a
name from an earlier generation of this family line, and it does seem highly
likely that this does relate to Richard Collett, the son of Edward and Mary
Ann. The wife of Richard Pearson
Collett was either Elizabeth Jane Rumbelow or Elizabeth Langsdon. Furthermore, no obvious record of Richard
Collett or Richard Pearson Collett has been unearthed in the census of 1911,
even though the Electoral Register in 1907 included the name of Richard
Collett as a resident of 35 East Lane in Rotherhithe, who was still living
there in 1910. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O25 |
Daniel Charles Collett was born at Bermondsey in 1882, his
birth recorded there (Ref. 1d 268) during the fourth quarter of the year, the
youngest son of Edward and Mary Ann Collett.
Unless mistaken in a later census return, Daniel Charles Collett may
have been born after his family left Salisbury Street and settled in Marigold
Place. Upon the occasion of the census
in 1891 Daniel was nine years of age when he and his family were living at
Marigold Place in Bermondsey. On
leaving school he became a cycle maker, as confirmed in the next census of
1901, by which time his father had passed away, with Daniel aged 18 and two
of his siblings and their widowed mother living at the home of James Matthews
and Louisa Matthews nee Collett, Daniel’s married older sister. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Over
the following years, perhaps even after the death of his mother, unmarried
Daniel became a lodger at the home of William Henry Pitts, a labourer with a
tent maker, at 57 Gedling Street in Bermondsey. His wife Jessie Elizabeth Pitts was 33 and
their only child was William Robert Pitts who was nine. Daniel Collett, aged 28, was a pot man
working for a licenced victualler whose place of birth was stated as being
Marigold Place in Bermondsey. However,
just over four years later Daniel married Elizabeth Pitts, who was presumably
related to William Henry Pitts, and may have even been his wife, the wedding
taking place at St Luke’s Church in Victoria Docks, London, on 25th
December 1915. Two years later Daniel
Charles Collett from Bermondsey, aged 34 years and residing in London,
entered military service with the Army Service Corps during 1917. He was attached to the Second depot Company
and assigned the service number T/278989.
His time in military service was very short-lived, since it was on 24th
February 1917 that he was deemed to be no longer fit for service, due to
chronic bronchitis and emphysema. His
address at the time of discharge was 33 Lansdown Road, Tidal Basin Road,
close to Victoria Docks. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O26 |
Frances Elizabeth
Collett was born at
Marigold Place in Bermondsey in 1885.
On the registration of her birth at Bermondsey St Olave (Ref. 1d 256)
during the first quarter of 1885 she was named as Frances Elizabeth Collett
but in the later census returns she was either referred to as Frances or
Elizabeth Collett, the last child born to Edward and Mary Ann Collett. It was in 1891, at Marigold Place in
Bermondsey, that Frances Collett was six years old. She was around fifteen years of age when
her father died, following which her widowed mother took Frances and her two
brothers Richard and Daniel (above) to live with their married sister
Louisa Jane Matthews at Abbey Street in Bermondsey. After completing her education Frances took
up factory work, Elizabeth Collett was 16 and a machinist in the census of
1901. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O27 |
Esther Julia Collett was born in London in 1873 and was the first of the
fourteen children of James Thomas Collett and his wife Esther Tatum. Her birth was
registered at London City as Julia Collett (Ref. 1c 26) during the second
quarter of 1873, having been born on 12th May at 39 Bartholomew
Close. At the age of seven
years, Esther was living with her family at 18 Frean Street in Bermondsey,
when her place of birth was recorded as the City of London. After a further ten years Esther was 17
with no stated occupation and residing at Marine Street in Bermondsey with
her family, presumably helping her mother with domestic chores. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Upon
becoming a married woman, she was named as Esther
Julia Collett whose husband was Joseph Robert Gilmour Forster when their
wedding was recorded at St Olave Southwark register office (Ref. 1d 558)
during the last three months of 1893.
Their four children were: Joseph Forster born in 1895; Esther Dorothy Forster born in
1899; Ernest John Gilmour Forster born in 1904; Amy Beatrice
Forster who was born in 1909. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O28 |
George Thomas Collett was born on 16th
December 1874 at 20 John Street in Holborn, and not at St John Street in
Clerkenwell as stated in error in the census returns in 1881 and 1901. He was the eldest son of James and
Elizabeth Collet, whose birth was registered at Amwell with Holborn (Ref. 1b
725) during the first three months of the following year. Over many years his two forenames were
reversed in census returns and electoral registers. In 1881, as George T Collett he was six
years of age and living with his family at 18 Frean Street in
Bermondsey. By 1891 George was 16 and
had completed his education but did not have a job of work, when once again
he was living with his family which was living at Marine Street in Bermondsey
by then. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Five
years after that census day, as George Collett, he married Hannah Haley on 6th June 1896 at the Church of
St John Horsleydown in Southwark.
Hannah, who was from Bermondsey and was known as Anna, gave birth to
eight children between 1897 and 1912.
George was recorded in the next census as Thomas Collett from
Clerkenwell (sic) who was 26 and employed as a carman while living at
Drappers Road in Bermondsey with his wife and their second child. Anna Collett was 27, with daughter Florrie
Collett being two years of age, both of whom had been born at Bermondsey. By that time, the couple’s first-born
child, son George, and their third child, daughter Hannah, had already suffered
infant deaths. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Even
though the children were born at Bermondsey, with their births recorded at St
Olave Bermondsey register office either side of the next census in 1911, no
census record of any member of the family has been found. Over forty years after the birth of their
last child, the death of George Thomas Collett (aka Thomas George Collett) was
recorded at London register office (Ref. 5c 93) in 1954 at the age of 79. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
71P30 |
George John Collett |
Born in 1897
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71P31 |
Florence
Collett |
Born in 1898
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71P32 |
Hannah
Esther Collett |
Born in 1900 at
Bermondsey |
||||
|
71P33 |
Ellen Rose
Collett |
Born in 1901 at
Bermondsey |
||||
|
71P34 |
Edith
Elizabeth Collett |
Born in 1903 at
Bermondsey |
||||
|
71P35 |
John James
Collett |
Born in 1906 at
Bermondsey |
||||
|
71P36 |
Esther Collett |
Born in 1908 at
Bermondsey |
||||
|
71P37 |
James
Collett |
Born in 1912 at
Bermondsey |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O29 |
Mary Frances Collett was born at St Pancras on 3rd August 1876,
with her birth registered there (Ref. 1b 71) during the third quarter of the
year. She was four years old in the
census of 1881 when, as Frances M Collett, she and her family were residing
at 18 Frean Street in Bermondsey.
Sometime after that day the family moved to Marine Street in
Bermondsey where Frances Collett from St Pancras was 14 in 1891, having
finished school by then, but was not employed that day. According to the next census in 1901,
24-year-old Frances Collett still had no occupation when she was still living
with her family at Marine Street. In
that census return her place of birth was recorded in error as Clerkenwell,
where the family had initially settled immediately after Mary was born. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Just over one year after the census in 1901, Mary Frances
Collett married Henry Dumphreys, with their wedding recorded at St Olave
Southwark during the third quarter of 1902.
The marriage produced two daughters for Mary and Henry and they were Henrietta Grace
Dumphreys born at Croydon in 1903,
who married Charles M Beeson at Lewisham in the summer of 1926, and Irene
Phyllis Dumphreys born at Lewisham in 1908, who married Bertram L P
Anthony at Woolwich during the summer of 1928 |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O30 |
Rosina Collett
was born at Bermondsey during the month of September in 1878, as registered
at Bermondsey St Olave (Ref. 1d 255), and tragically died there at 18 Frean
Street on 10th February 1880, her death as Rose Collett recorded
at St Olave Southwark (Ref. 1d 230).
She was the first of the three children of James Thomas Collett and
Esther Tatum who did not survive, the others being Florence and James Edward (below). |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O31 |
Edith Elizabeth Collett was born at 18 Frean Street in Bermondsey
in 1880, with her birth registered at Bermondsey St Olave (Ref. 1d 294)
during the second quarter of 1880, another daughter of James and Esther
Collett. And it was at 18 Frean Street
that Edith’s family was still living nine months later. During the next decade the family moved to
a more permanent home at Marine Street in Bermondsey, where Edith Collett
from Bermondsey was ten years of age. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
After a gap of nineteen years, there being no record of the
family found in 1900, it was during the third quarter of 1909 when the
marriage of Edith Elizabeth Collett and James Richard Howard was recorded at
St Olave Bermondsey, sometimes transcribed as St. Olave Southwark. Two daughters were born into the family,
the eldest being Edith Mary Howard who was born nine months later, on
3rd May 1910, followed by Nellie Frances Howard on 24th
September 1915. Upon the later death
of James Thomas Collett, Edith’s father, James Howard, son-in-law, was named
as the informant of his death. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O32 |
James Edward Collett was born at 18 Frean Street,
Bermondsey in 1881, with his birth registered at Bermondsey St Olave (Ref. 1d
283) during the second quarter of 1881, the sixth child of James Thomas
Collett and his wife Esther. During
the next few years, the family moved within Bermondsey to Marine Street,
where James Collett was nine years old in 1891. It was James who was the third child of the
family to suffer a premature death, when the death of James Edward Collett
was recorded at St Olave Southwark register office (Ref. 1d 129) during the
second quarter of 1899 at the age of just 18. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O33 |
Henry John Collett, who was known as Jack, was born at
Bermondsey on 28th July 1883 at 2 Victoria Place, Marine
Street. His birth was recorded at
Bermondsey St Olave (Ref. 1d 274) during the third quarter of 1883, another
son of James and Esther Collett.
Although no further record of him has been found in the subsequent
census returns, it was on 27th February 1910 at St James Church in
Bermondsey that he married Elizabeth Harriet Phillips,
the daughter of James Richard Phillips, who was born on 12th May 1889. The father of the groom was confirmed as
James Collett. It was seven months
after their wedding that when the couple’s first child was born at Willesden,
with the family of three recorded as living at 80 Delaford Road, Rotherhithe
New Road in South Bermondsey in April 1911.
Henry John Collett from Bermondsey was 27 and working as a carpenter
in the house building trade, his wife Elizabeth H Collett was 21, and their
daughter Doris Collett was seven months old. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Within
the present-day family, members remember ‘Granny Collett’ saying that in
addition to Henry and Elizabeth having eight children, Elizabeth was pregnant
on two other occasions. One of them
went full-term but was still born, and the other
sadly was miscarried. It was after the
birth of their fourth child that Henry joined the Royal Fly Corps. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
His
military record completed on 22nd June 1916 provided the following
details. He was 32 years of age on
enlistment, when he was working as a carpenter and a joiner, and was assigned
the military service number 33476. He
was married on 27th February 1910, his wife confirmed as Elizabeth
Harriet, and their four children’s dates of birth were recorded as 16th
August 1910, 10th June 1912, 11th January 1914, and 25th
November 1915. On the recording of the
births of the couple’s seven youngest children, the mother’s maiden-name was
confirmed as Phillips. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Henry and Elizabeth's last four
children were all born at 437 Southwark Park Road in Bermondsey, after Henry
had returned home from serving King & Country during the Great War, from January
1920 through to June 1926. When the
last child was around two years old, the family moved to 91A lower Road in
Rotherhithe, the home of Henry’s widowed mother Esther Collett, as confirmed
by the electoral registers for the period 1928 to 1933. It was during that latter year when Henry
John Collett purchased 38 Laleham Road in Catford to where the family moved
and where they stayed until the younger children were marriage. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
And
it was at 38 Laleham Road, Catford, in the London Borough of Lewisham, where
the couple, and unmarried daughter Hilda, were still living when Henry was
taken into Guys Hospital in London, where he died on 27th March
1954. Administration of his personal
estate, amounting to £1,388 and 8 Shillings, was granted to his widow
Elizabeth Harriet Collett. Eighteen
years after being widowed, Elizabeth, and daughter Hilda being the last
Collett occupiers of 38 Laleham Road, sold the property and left Catford,
when they moved to Whitstable in Kent where, ten years later, Elizabeth
Harriet Collett died on 3rd July 1981. Her death was recorded at Kent register office (Vol. 16 0146) at the
age of 92. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
71P38 |
Doris Mavis
Collett |
Born in 1910
at Willesden, London |
||||
|
71P39 |
Hilda
Elizabeth Collett |
Born in 1912
at Camberwell |
||||
|
71P40 |
John Henry
Collett |
Born in 1914
at Lewisham |
||||
|
71P41 |
Elsie
Margery Collett |
Born in 1915
at Lewisham |
||||
|
71P42 |
Francis
James Collett |
Born in 1920
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71P43 |
Alec
Leonard Collett |
Born in 1922
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71P44 |
Eileen
Grace Collett |
Born in 1924
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71P45 |
Audrey
Irene Collett |
Born in 1926
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O34 |
Ernest Hiram Collett was born at Bermondsey in 1885, his
birth recorded at Bermondsey St Olave (Ref. 1d 266) during the final quarter
of that year, but minus the Hiram. He
was the eighth child of James Collett and Esther Tatum. There has been a difficulty in tracing his
life as he chose to refer to himself as Ernest Hiram Collett, his maternal grandfather being Hiram Tatum. Ernest was born
on 11th October 1885 at 2 Victoria Place, Marine Street in
Bermondsey when, for his birth and baptism, he was recorded simply as Ernest
Collett, with Hiram being adopted a few years later. Again, as Ernest Collett, he was five years
old in the Bermondsey census of 1891 when he and his family were living at
Marine Street off Jamaica Road. After completing his education, Ernest became a member of the Royal
Navy and, by the time of the next census in 1901, 16-year-old Ernest Hiram
Collett from Bermondsey was described as a Boy – 2nd Class and
part of the (ship’s) complement at Harwich St Nicholas in Essex. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
During the spring of 1910, when he was 24, Ernest Hiram Collett
married (1) Kathleen Hannah Carpenter at Bermondsey, with their wedding day recorded at St Olave
Southwark register office (Ref. 1d 271).
Within the next twelve months Kathleen gave birth to the first of the
couple’s eight children, when they were residing at New Cross in Deptford,
near Greenwich. The census in 1911
recorded the three members of the family at Deptford, where Ernest from
Bermondsey was 25 and employed by London County Council as a tram conductor.
His wife Kathleen was also from Bermondsey and aged 25, when their daughter
Ivy was just two weeks old and born at New Cross, Deptford. Visting the family that day was Eliza Davis
from Rotherhithe, a widow and a nurse who was 58. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
All their children were
born at Deptford, perhaps even at New Cross, with all their births recorded
at Greenwich register office, where their mother’s maiden-name was confirmed
as Carpenter. After Kathleen died at Greenwich in 1930,
one year later the marriage of Ernest and (2) Maud Long was recorded at
Deptford register office during the first three months of 1931, Maud having
been born on 29th March 1899.
It is interesting
that daughters Ivy and Phyllis were both married in Devon, within a few years
of each other. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
71P46 |
Ivy
Kathleen Collett |
Born in 1911 at New Cross, Deptford |
||||
|
71P47 |
Ronald
Ernest Collett |
Born in 1912 at Deptford |
||||
|
71P48 |
Stanley
Collett |
Born in 1913 at Deptford |
||||
|
71P49 |
Lily
Florence Collett |
Born in 1915 at Deptford |
||||
|
71P50 |
Alfred Henry Collett |
Born in 1917 at Deptford |
||||
|
71P51 |
Phyllis Rose Collett |
Born in 1919 at Deptford |
||||
|
71P52 |
Victor Arthur Collett |
Born in 1921 at Deptford |
||||
|
71P53 |
Margaret
Collett |
Born in 1924 at Deptford |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O35 |
William Collett was born on 1st September 1887
at 27 West Street in Bermondsey. His
birth was recorded at Bermondsey St Olave (Ref. 1d 240) during the final
quarter of that year. He was 27 years
old when he married Florence White on 6th September 1914 at St
James, Bermondsey, Florence having been born on 9th August
1887. Over next eleven years the
couple moved around London and the South East, with their four sons all born
at different locations. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
71P54 |
Arthur
Leonard Collett |
Born in 1915
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71P55 |
Charles
William Collett |
Born in 1916
at Greenwich |
||||
|
71P56 |
Henry
George Collett |
Born in 1920
at Orsett, Essex |
||||
|
71P57 |
Walter
James Collett |
Born in 1925
at Billericay, Essex |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O36 |
Florence Grace Collett was born at Bermondsey, either at the
end of 1888 or early in 1889 and it was at Bermondsey St Olave (Ref. 1d 270)
that her birth was recorded during the first quarter of 1889. She may have been born at Marine Street in
Bermondsey where her family was living in 1891 when Florence Collett was two
years of age. Within days of that
census day young Florence died, following which her death was recorded at St
Olave Southwark register office (Ref. 1d 195) during the second quarter of
1891. She was the second of the
fourteen children of James Thomas and Esther Collett not to survive. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O37 |
Albert Collett was born at 1 Marine Street in Bermondsey
on 3rd November 1890, his birth recorded at Bermondsey St Olave
(Ref. 1d 245 37) during the final quarter of that year. At the age of 22, Albert married Jessie
Smith, when their wedding was recorded at St Olave Southwark register office
during the third quarter of 1912.
Following that day, the couple settled in Bermondsey where their three
children were born. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
71P58 |
Gladys E
Collett |
Born in 1913
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71P59 |
Albert E
Collett |
Born in 1915
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71P60 |
Edna Jessie Collett |
Born in 1920
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O38 |
Arthur Henry Collett was born at 1 Marine Street in
Bermondsey on 19th June 1893, another son of James and Esther
Collett whose birth was recorded at Bermondsey St Olave (Ref. 1d 245 30)
during the third quarter of that year.
He entered military service on 18th February 1915 at the
age of 21 when, as Albert Henry Collett from Bermondsey, he joined the Third
14th Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment service number 291354 while
being a resident at 50 Reculver Road in Rotherhithe, Surrey. It was just after he enlisted, that the
marriage of Arthur Henry Collett and Beatrice Maude Holland was recorded at
St Olave Southwark at the end of 1915.
It was only after returning from the Great War that they started a
family, with first the birth of a daughter, following two years later by the
arrival of a son. The much later death
of Arthur Henry Collett aged 74, was recorded at Surrey South Western
register office (Ref. 5g 565) during the first three months of 1968. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
71P61 |
Vera I
Collett |
Born in 1919
at Greenwich |
||||
|
71P62 |
Leslie
James Collett |
Born in 1921
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O39 |
Gertrude Grace Collett was born at 1
Marine Street in Bermondsey on 6th December 1894, the last
daughter and penultimate child of James Thomas Collett and his wife Esther. Her birth was recorded at Bermondsey St
Olave (Ref. 1d 257) during the first quarter of 1895. Gertrude Grace Collett married George
Samuel Newcombe on 4th September 1920. After four years together, their only child
was born on 24th December 1924 at 48A
Lower Road in Rotherhithe, the same address where Gertrude’s father
James Thomas Collett died in 1922, presumably leaving the house to his
daughter. The only child of George and
Gertrude was Eva Olga Newcombe. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71O40 |
Edward Leonard Collett was born at Bermondsey on 22nd
June 1896, where his birth was recorded at Bermondsey St Olave (Ref. 1d 236)
during the third quarter of that year.
He was last child born to James Thomas Collett and his wife Esther
Tatum. It was at 1 Marine Street in
Bermondsey that he was living with his family in 1901, when he was four years
old, and again in 1911, when he was 14 and a factory boy working for a tea
salesman. On both occasion he was
named as Leonard Collett. The marriage
of Edward Leonard Collett, aged 25, and Florence Alice Kilner, aged 28, was
recorded at St James Church in Bermondsey on 20th August
1921. Edward was a porter and the son
of James Collett, a marine store dealer, while Florence was a cigarette
packer and the daughter of William Kilner.
In the Electoral Register for 1928, Leonard Collett was listed as
living at 91A Jolly Sailor in the Southwark Ward of Bermondsey. Tragically, Florence Alice Collett was
killed during the blitz on London during the Second World War, her death
recorded on 13th July 1944, when she and Edward were residing at
352 Bromley Road in Lewisham. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
It
was at St Olave Bermondsey register office that the birth of the couple’s three
children was recorded, when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as
Kilner. The three daughters were subsequently married,
while nothing further is about their father, except that the death of Edward
Leonard Collett was recorded many years later at Lewisham register office
(Ref. 5d 776) during December 1971 when he was 75. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
71P63 |
Jane Frances
Grace Collett |
Born in 1923
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71P64 |
Yvonne Rose
Lilian Collett |
Born in 1926
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71P65 |
Daisy May
Florence Collett |
Born in 1930
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71P1 |
William Eustace Collett was born at Kennington in 1859, the
first child of William Eustace Collett and Hannah London, whose birth was
recorded at Lambeth (Ref. 1d 377) during the first three months of 1860. As William E Collett aged 11 years he was
living with his family at 48 Clayton Street in Kennington/Lambeth in 1871, as
he was in 1881 but, on that occasion, the family was recorded at 3 Clayton
Street in Kennington/Lambeth when William was 21 and working as a clerk. Exactly four years after that census day
William Eustace Collett married Emma Caroline Thomson at Kennington on 31st
March 1885. William was described as
25 years of age and the son of William Eustace Collett, while Emma was 30 and
the daughter of Francis William Thomson.
The event was recorded at Lambeth (Ref. 1d 421) and the couple’s first
child was born one year later. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Emma
was nearly seven years older than William, with her birth registered at
Lambeth (Ref. 1d 297) during the summer of 1853. Whether it was an enumerator error when
completing the census return for 1891, or whether it was William himself who
misinformed him of his much younger age, to cover his embarrassment, or
perhaps even an error reading the handwriting because, instead of being 31,
William was said to be 37. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Not
long after the birth of the couple’s fourth child the family moved to a house
in Balham, and it was at Roman Hurst on Cavendish Road that the couple was
living in 1891 with just two of their three sons, and their baby daughter. Absent from the family that day was the
couple’s eldest son Francis, when William Eustace Collett was 37 (sic), his
wife Emma Caroline Collett was 38, Denzil P E Collett was three, Clarence H E
Collett was two, and Emma Eustace Collett was just one month old. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Tragically,
it was during the following year that the death of Emma Caroline Collett nee
Thomson, aged 39, was recorded at Wandsworth register office (Ref. 1d 433)
during the second quarter of 1892. By
that time, their son Clarence had not been baptised, and it was delayed
further when his father died three years after being widowed, who was
eventually baptised when he was nearly ten years old at Stockwell Green,
midway between Balham and Kennington. No actual death record has been found for William
Eustace Collett, while the death of William Collett was recorded at
Kennington register office (Ref. 1a 105) during the third quarter of 1895. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Following
the death of their mother the eldest son and the only daughter of the family
were looked after and brought up by their grandparents, the elderly parents
of their late mother Emma Caroline and it was with them that they were living
in 1901. When the grandparents passed
away during the first six years of the new century, the two of them, Francis,
and Emma, continued to live with their mother’s sister at the same dwelling
at 17 Old Town in Clapham. What
happened to the remaining two sons, Denzil, and Clarence, at that stage in
their lives is not clear. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
71Q1 |
Francis William Eustace Collett |
Born in 1886
at Kennington |
||||
|
71Q2 |
Denzil Percy Eustace Collett |
Born in 1887
at Kennington |
||||
|
71Q3 |
Clarence Herbert Eustace Collett |
Born in 1889
at Kennington |
||||
|
71Q4 |
Emma Agnes Eustace Collett |
Born in 1891
at Balham, London |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71P2 |
Francis Glenister
Collett was born at
Kennington in 1862, another son of William and Hannah Collett, whose birth
was recorded at Lambeth (Ref. 1d 348) during the third quarter of the
year. In 1871 the family was living at
48 Clayton Street in Kennington where Francis G Collett was eight years of
age. Ten years later Francis G Collett
was 18, by which time he was working as a clerk when he was still living with
his family but at 3 Clayton Street in Kennington. Francis was still unmarried and living with
his mother in 1891, although the family name was recorded in error as
Callett. It was at 104 Camberwell New
Road that they were living, from where Francis was still working as a clerk
in a local bank at the age of 28. Two
years later the Electoral Register in 1893 included the names of Francis and
his younger brother Percy (below) when each of them was occupying a
room at 104 Camberwell New Road, where their mother Mrs H Collett was their
landlady. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
What
is very interesting is that Francis Glenister Collett was an adult when he
was baptised at St Mark’s Church in Kennington on 6th May 1885,
the son of William Eustace and Hannah Collett, unless of course there is an
error in the year, with 1865 being more realistic. Just over three years after the census in
1891 the marriage of Francis Glenister Collett and Eleanor Eunice Emmett was
recorded at Lambeth (Ref. 1d 755) during the third quarter of 1894. The details of their wedding were recorded
as follows: Francis Glenister Collett was 32 and the son of William Eustace
Collett when he married 24-year-old Eleanor Eunice Emmett on 3rd
September 1894 at St Mary’s Church in Lambeth. The bride’s father was named as Jonathan
Christopher Emmett. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The
Electoral Register for 1895 and 1896 located Francis Glenister Collet (sic)
and his wife at 59 Aytoun Road in Stockwell, where they were still living in
the summer of 1898. Staying with the
couple at that time was Francis’ grandfather William Pearson Collett who died
at that address in June 1898. However,
by the time of the census in 1901 the couple and their first child were
residing at 37 Cook’s Road in Walworth to the east of Kennington, as also
confirmed by the electoral roll published for that year. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Eleanor
was most likely expecting the arrival of the couple’s second child on the day
of the census, which was born later that year. The family of three recorded at Cook’s Road
comprised Francis G Collett who was 38 and a bank clerk, his wife Eleanor E
Collett from Newington who was 31, together with their son Frank G Collett
who was two years old and born within the London Borough of Newington which
included Walworth. Living with the
family was Martha London, aged 57, who was the sister of Francis’ mother
Hannah Collett nee London. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Later
that year Eleanor gave birth to a daughter and two years later she presented
Francis with the couple’s third and last child while the family was still
living at 37 Cook’s Road. Sometime
during the following few years, the family moved to the larger eight-roomed
property that was 23 Narbonne Avenue in Clapham, near Clapham Common and
within the London Borough of Wandsworth, where they were living in 1908,
through to at least 1912, according to the electoral rolls. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In
the census conducted in April 1911 the larger family was living at 23
Narbonne Avenue. At number 34 Narbonne
Avenue in 1911 was Francis’ brother Percy John Collett (below), while
their younger brother Frederick (below) had been living at 19 Narbonne
Avenue in 1901. Rather oddly, every
member of Francis’ family was recorded as having been born at Kennington,
rather than Newington. They were listed
as Francis Glenister Collett who was 48 and a bank clerk, Eleanor Eunice
Collett who was 42, Frank Gerald Collett who was 12, Eleanor Evelyn Collett
who was nine and Arthur Glenister Collett who was seven years of age. The census return also confirmed that the
couple had been married for sixteen years, during which time three children
had been born. Still staying with the
family was Martha London, who was described as an unmarried aunt of 67 years
who was living on private means. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The
death of Francis G Collett at the age of ninety was recorded at the
Mid-Eastern register office in Surrey (Ref. 5g 356) during the first three
months of 1953. Properties at Narbonne
Avenue and the nearby Cavendish Road and Abbeville Road, all in Clapham Park
and close to Clapham Common, were owned or occupied by many other members of
this family line around the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning
of the twentieth century. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The
notice of his death produced by the probate office in London revealed that
Francis Glenister Collett died at his home at 9 Quarry Rise in Cheam, Surrey,
on 2nd January 1953.
Probate was resolved on 11th February 1953 in favour of his
eldest son Frank Gerald Collett, a bank clerk, for an estate valued at £6,
612 and 1d. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
71Q5 |
Frank Gerald Collett |
Born in 1898
at Walworth, Newington |
||||
|
71Q6 |
Eleanor Evelyn Collett |
Born in 1901
at Walworth, Newington |
||||
|
71Q7 |
Arthur Glenister Collett |
Born in 1903
at Walworth, Newington |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71P3 |
Henry P Collett was born at Kennington in 1864, a son
of William and Hannah Collett. It was
at 48 Clayton Street that Henry P Collett was living with his family when he
was six years old in 1871 and in 1881 it was at 3 Clayton Street in
Kennington that carpenter Henry P Collett, aged 16, was still living with his
parents. What happened to Henry after
that time is unclear, as no positive records for him have been
unearthed. The death of Henry P
Collett was recorded at Canterbury register office (Ref. 2a 2610) during the
final three months of 1939. He was 75
years of age, which would place the year of his birth around 1864, so this
could well be Henry P Collett from Kennington. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71P4 |
Percy John Collett was born at Kennington in 1865,
another son of William and Hannah Collett, whose birth was recorded at
Lambeth (Ref. 1d 382) during the fourth quarter of 1865. Percy J Collett was five years old in 1871
when living at 48 Clayton Street in Kennington and was 14 in 1881 having
moved to 3 Clayton Street in Kennington, from where he was employed as a
clerk, like two of his older brothers William and Francis (above). After a further ten years unmarried Percy J
Collett was 25 and a stationer’s clerk still living at the family home which,
by 1891, was at 104 Camberwell New Road near Kennington. Two years later the Electoral Register in
1893 included the names of Percy and his older brother Francis (above)
when each of them was occupying a room at 104 Camberwell New Road, where
their mother Mrs H Collett was their landlady. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
After
a further three years Percy John Collett married Emma Sharpington, the event
recorded at Lambeth (Ref. 1d 693) during second quarter of 1894. In 1898 the family home was 34 Narbonne
Avenue in Clapham, as detailed in the electoral roll that year, while in the
listing published in 1900 gave the address as 36 Narbonne Avenue. The marriage of Percy and Emma had produced
three children by the time the census was conducted in March 1901 when the
family of five was living at Narbonne Avenue in Clapham. And it was there at 19 Narbonne Avenue that
Percy’s younger brother Frederick Arthur Collett (below) was living in
1901, with his older brother Francis Glenister Collett living at 23 Narbonne
Avenue in 1911, close to where Percy’s family was also living in 1911. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Percy
J Collett was 35 and a stationer’s traveller in 1901, Emma Collett was 34 and
their three children were Jessie M Collett who was five and from Newington,
Doris S Collett who was one year of age and Harold P Collett who was only two
months old, both born at Clapham.
Employed as a servant at the house was Phoebe F Butcher from Greendale
in Kent who was 19. After a few more
years three further children were added to the family, although only two of
them survived. The next census in 1911
located the family residing at the eight-roomed property that was 34 Narbonne
Avenue. Curiously though, the Electoral
Register of 1908 contained the name of Percy John Collett living at 121
Narbonne Avenue, while in 1908 and 1909 he and his family were listed at 12
Streathbourne in Balham. It was then
in 1910 that the electoral roll gave his address as 34 Narbonne Avenue, the
same as in 1912. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In
1911 Percy John Collett from Kennington, which was crossed out and replaced
by Lambeth on that year’s census return, was 45 and a commercial traveller
working for a stationery and printing company. His wife of sixteen years, Emma Collett
from Lambeth was 44 and had given birth to six children, five of which were
still alive. Those five children were
listed as Jessie Mirabel Collett from Camberwell who was 15, Doris Sybil Collett
from Clapham who was 11, Harold Percy Collett who was 10, who were all attending
school, plus Betty Marjorie Collett who was three, and Stanley John Collett
who was two, both born at Wandsworth.
The death of Percy John Collett at the age of 88 was recorded at
Hertford register office (Ref. 4b 74) during the third quarter of 1954. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
71Q8 |
Jessie Mirabel Collett |
Born in 1895
at Camberwell |
||||
|
71Q9 |
Doris Sybil Collett |
Born in 1899
at Clapham |
||||
|
71Q10 |
Harold Percy Collett |
Born in 1901
at Clapham |
||||
|
71Q11 |
Betty Marjorie Collett |
Born in 1907
at Wandsworth |
||||
|
71Q12 |
Stanley John Collett |
Born in 1908
at Wandsworth |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71P5 |
Frederick Arthur Collett
was born at
Kennington in 1867, the son of William E Collett and Hannah London, whose
birth was recorded at Lambeth (Ref. 1d 420) during the first quarter of that
year. For the census in 1871 Frederick
A Collett was four years of age when he and his family were living at 48
Clayton Street in Kennington, while ten years later he was still attending
the local school but staying with his widowed uncle at 6 Clapham Road in
Lambeth. Head of the household,
Meshach J Turtle from Lambeth, was 51 and a fruiterer, whose late wife was
the sister of either Frederick’s father or his mother. In addition to nephew Frederick A Collett,
aged 14, Meshach’s niece Elizabeth M Buchanon, who was 16, was also staying
at the property together with Meshach’s older unmarried sister Mary A Turtle
who was 52. The final member of the
household was Emily Thatcher, 19 and a domestic servant. All the occupants of the premises had been
born at Lambeth. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Unmarried
Fredk A Callett (sic) from Kennington was 24 in the census of 1891 when he
was a clerk, living at the home of his mother at Camberwell New Road in
Lambeth. It was during the third
quarter of that same year when he married Amy Matilda Butler, the event
recorded at Lambeth (Ref. 1d 648). Amy
was the daughter of metropolitan police inspector James Butler and Mary Ann
Roberts, her birth register at Chelsea (Ref. 1a 215) during the last three
months of 1864. At the age of six
years Amy Matilda Butler was living with her family within the St George
Hanover Square census registration district of London, the third of the seven
children of James and Mary. Ten years
later, the census in 1881, placed the family residing at 12 Meadow Road in
Lambeth where Amy was 16 and a draper’s apprentice, the second eldest child
still living with her parents. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Just
months prior to her wedding day Amy M Butler, aged 26 and a draper’s
assistant, was the eldest of the six children of James and Mary still living
with them at Trigon Road in Kennington, not far from the Kennington Oval. Amy and Frederick were married at St Marks
Church in Kennington on 22nd September 1891 when Amy was 26 and
Frederick was 25 and confirmed as the daughter of James Butler and the son of
William Eustace Collett. During their
first decade together, Amy presented Frederick with five children, all of
them born at Clapham, where the family was residing in March 1901. Around the time of the birth of sons Harry
and Frederick the Electoral Registers in both 1896 and 1897, for the Vauxhall
Ward within the Registration District in Kennington, listed their father as
living at 57 Binfield Road in Clapham. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On
the day of the census that year the family was recorded at 19 Narbonne Avenue
in Clapham, within the London Borough of Wandsworth, the same street where
his older brother Percy John Collett was also living in 1901. Frederick A Collett was 34 and a commercial
clerk whose place of birth was Kennington.
His wife, Amy M Collett, was 36 and from Chelsea, with their five
children all confirmed as having been born at Clapham. They were Winifred A Collett who was eight,
Reginald A Collett who was six, Harry F Collett who was four, Frederick J
Collett who was three and Kathleen M Collett who was one year old. Employed by the family as a general
domestic servant was Matilda Everett from St Helier in Jersey who was said to
be single and “around 20 years”. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Sometime
during the following years, the family moved from Clapham to Beckenham, where
they were living in April 1911. The
six-roomed property at 11 MacKenzie Road, Kent House in Beckenham, leads off
the A234 Beckenham Road. Frederick
Arthur Collett from Kennington was 44 and a commercial clerk who had been
married to Amy for nineteen years. Amy
Matilda Collett from Chelsea was 46 and during her married life she had given
birth to five children, all of whom were still living. Of those five children, only four were
still living at the family home and they were Reginald Arthur Collett who was
16 and a junior clerk working at the telephone engineer’s office, Harry
Francis Collett was 14 and still attending school, as were his younger
siblings Frederick James Collett aged 13 and Kathleen Maud Collett who was
11. The census return also confirmed
that all the children had been born at Clapham. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Although
confirmed as still being alive in 1911, no record of the couple’s eldest
child, Winifred, has been identified in that year’s census. And it was at that same address in
Beckenham that Frederick and Amy were still living when they received the
tragic news of the death of their youngest son Freddie. Frederick passed away in 1956, his wife Amy
having died twelve years earlier in 1944.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
71Q13 |
Winifred Amy Collett |
Born in 1892
at Clapham, London |
||||
|
71Q14 |
Reginald Arthur Collett |
Born in 1894
at Clapham, London |
||||
|
71Q15 |
Harry Francis Collett |
Born in 1896
at Clapham, London |
||||
|
71Q16 |
Frederick James Collett |
Born in 1897
at Clapham, London |
||||
|
71Q17 |
Kathleen Maud Collett |
Born in 1899
at Clapham, London |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71P6 |
Sidney Herbert Collett was born at Kennington in 1868, the
sixth child of William Eustace Collett and Hannah London, whose birth was
recorded at Lambeth (Ref. 1d 419) during the second quarter of 1868. In error, he was named as Sidney N Collett
aged three years in the census of 1871 when he and his family were recorded
at 48 Clayton Street in Kennington.
Ten years later he was correctly described as Sidney H Collett who was
13 and still living with his family, but at 3 Clayton Street in
Kennington. Upon leaving school he
followed others in his family who became clerks, and at the age of 23 in the
census of 1891 Sidney H Collett was working as a bank clerk. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Sidney
Herbert Collett married Jessie Woolnough in 1895, the event recorded at
Islington (Ref. 1b 391) during the second quarter of that year. Their son was born at Holloway and in March
1901 the family of three was settled at Seymour Road in Harringay within the
London parish of Hornsey, where thirty-two-year-old Sidney H Collett from
Kennington was a junior cashier at a stock bank. His wife Jessie Collett from Islington was
also 32 and their son Sidney T Collett was four years of age. Helping Jessie was domestic servant Kate
Bartlett from Somerset who was 18. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
It
was at 66 Seymour Road in Harringay that the family was living in 1911. The census return that year described
Sidney Herbert Collett as being 42 and born at Kennington, whose occupation
was that of an accountant working at a bank at 20 Eastcheap in the City of
London. He had been married to Jessie
Collett from Clerkenwell, who was also 42, for fifteen years during which
time she had presented her husband with just the one child. Their son Sidney Thomas Collett was 14 and
still attending school, while the place of his birth was confirmed as
Holloway. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The
death of Sidney H Collett, who was born around 1868, was recorded at
Southend-on-Sea register office (Ref. 4a 717) during the final three months
of 1954 when he was 86 years of age. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
71Q18 |
Sidney Thomas Collett |
Born in 1896
at Holloway, London |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71P7 |
Septimus E Collett was born at Kennington in 1869,
another son of William and Hannah Collett, whose birth was recorded at
Lambeth (Ref. 1d 427) during the first quarter of 1870. Septimus E Collett was one year old in the
census of 1871 when he was living with his family at 48 Clayton Street in
Kennington, while ten years later Septimus was 11 years of age when he and
his family were recorded at 3 Clayton Street in Kennington. He was still unmarried on the day of the
next census in 1891 when he was 22 and a coachman lodging with John Short at
his home on Stannary Street midway between Kennington and Walworth. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Septimus
E Collet was 65 years old when he died at Camberwell, his passing recorded
there (Ref. 1d 949) during the first three months of 1936. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71P8 |
Clarence Alfred Collett was born at Kennington in 1872, the
last son born to William and Hannah Collett.
His birth was recorded at Lambeth (Ref. 1d 438) during the second
quarter of the year and as Clarence A Collett he was nine years old in the
census of 1881 when living with his family at 3 Clayton Street in Kennington.
By the spring of 1891 Clarence had left home and was working as a room boy
while living at an address in Fleet Street in the City of London. His employer, who completed the census
return, entered his name as Clorence Alfred Collet and gave his age as 16
when he was nearer 18 or 19. After a
further ten years the census in 1901 located Clarence A Collett aged 28 as
working as a club steward at Old Broad Street in the London parish of St
Peter le Poer. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Historical
Note: The Church of St Peter le
Poer on Old Broad Street in the City of London was established to serve the
poor of London. It was demolished in
1907 and the land sold for development, with the money raised from the sale used
to build two new churches in North London, one of them being a new St Peter
le Poer at Muswell Hill. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
It
is expected that Clarence Collett never married since he was still a bachelor
in April 1911. The census that year
recorded Clarence Alfred Collett from Kennington as being 39 when he was
living at 3 Abbeville Mansion in Abbeville Road in Clapham Park within the
London Borough of Wandsworth. It was
just over twenty years later that Clarence A Collett passed away while he was
still living in London, his death recorded at the City of London register
office (Ref. 1c 21) during the last three months of 1931. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
It
was the probate notice that confirmed C A Collett of 4 Bonneville Road in
Clapham Park died at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London on 21st
November 1931. On 15th
January 1932 probate was granted in London to Alfred Stanley Harvey, a clerk
for the personal estate amounting to £315 4 Shillings and 9 Pence. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71P9 |
Amelia Hannah Collett was born at Kennington in 1875 and was
the last child of William Eustace Collett and Hannah London. Her birth, like those of her eight brothers
(above) was recorded at Lambeth (Ref. 1d 483) during the first three
months of 1876. Amelia H Collett was
six years old in 1881 at 3 Clayton Street in Kennington and was 15 and still
in education in 1891 when the family home was at 104 Camberwell New Road to
the south-east of Kennington. Around
the time of the next census Amelia’s mother left Camberwell New Road and in
March 1901 mother and daughter were living at St Stephen’s Terrace in South
Lambeth. Unmarried Amelia H Collett
from Kennington was 25 and the only other occupant of the house was Amelia’s
nephew Clarence H Collett aged 12 years and the son of her eldest brother
William. Amelia’s father was a lodger
at St Agnes Place in nearby Walworth. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
It
is possible that Amelia never married, and certainly in the census of 1911
there was an Amelia Collett aged 35 who gave her place of birth as Clapham
who was living in Long Ditton near Kingston-upon-Thames in Surrey. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71P10 |
Catherine Eliza Collett was born at High Wycombe in 1865, her
birth as the daughter of John Pearson Collett and Rosalind Huntley Nicholls
Howett was recorded there (Ref. 3a 422) during the second quarter of that
year. Not long after she was born her
father’s work on the railway took the family to Shropshire and in 1871
Katherine E Collett from Buckinghamshire was six years old. Ten years later, and following the death of
her mother, Kate Collett from High Wycombe was visiting her father’s youngest
sister, her married aunt Julie Dighton at Palmerstone Road in Wimbledon where
she was 16 and already working as a school teacher, the same occupation as
her late mother and her younger sister Edith (below). |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
After
a further ten years Kate Collett from Buckinghamshire was 26 and unmarried,
presumably still working as a school teacher, when she was a visitor at the
home of spinster Sarah James at Hungerford Road in Islington, London. No trace of her has been found within the
census of 1901 but in February 1909 Catherine Eliza Collett, a spinster, was
named as the administrator of her late father’s estate of £468 19 Shillings and
9 Pence. He was a resident of Melcombe
Regis, but died at 4 Gloucester Road in nearby Weymouth which may have been
where Catherine was living at that time.
Two years after, the census in 1911, spinster Catherine E Collett from
High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire was 46 and was a boarding house proprietor
having her own account. At that time
in her life, she was a visitor at the home of Birmingham born Rosina Agnes
Nash who 51 and a widow, the sub-postmistress at Manning Terrace Post Office
in Felixstowe. With her were her three
Wimbledon born children, perhaps an indication that Catherine Collett knew
Rosina Nash from earlier in her life. |
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71P11 |
Rosalind Mary Collett was born at Market Drayton in either
late 1867 or early 1868 and was the second known child of John and Rosalind
Collett who was baptised there on 16th March 1868. Rather curiously she was not living with
her mother or her father in the census of 1871, when both of her parents were
living apart from each other, while both were still living and working in
Drayton Magna. Following the premature
death of her during that decade her father took the family south to Dorset
and in 1881 ‘Mary Collett’ from Market Drayton was 14 and living at Ranalagh
Terrace in Melcombe Regis, Weymouth.
Looking after Rosalind and her sister Edith (below), while
their father was at work was the girl’s aunt Catherine Collett, their
father’s sister. It was a similar
situation ten years later when Rosalind M Collett aged 22 (sic) was still
living with her father, his sister, and Rosalind’s sister, in 1891 but at Cobourg
Place in Melcombe Regis. |
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|
Rosalind
Mary Collett was recorded as being 31 on the day of the census in 1901, when
she would have been around 33 or 34.
On that day, as ten years earlier, she was still living with her
widowed father and his sister Katherine Sarah Collett at Melcombe Regis. By the time of the next census in April
1911 Rosalind Mary Collett aged 44 and from Market Drayton was still a single
lady living at 12 Granville Road in Boscombe Park, Bournemouth. At that time in her life she was working as
a governess. She was still a spinster
seventeen years later when her death was recorded at Dorchester register
office in Dorset (Ref. 5a 344) during the last three months of 1938, Rosalind
M Collett being 72 years of age. |
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71P12 |
Edith Collett was born at Market Drayton in 1868
where her birth was recorded (Ref. 6a 779) during the second quarter of that
year. She was still living at Drayton
Magna in 1871 but with her father John Pearson Collett and her older sister
Catherine (above), and her maiden aunt Katherine Collett. Her mother Rosalind Collett nee Howett was
a live-in governess at a nearby school in Magna who tragically passed away
during the 1870s. That sad event
resulted in the family moving to Weymouth on the south coast where Edith from
Market Drayton was 12 years old in the census of 1881 when she was living
with her widowed father and his sister Katherine Collett at Ranalagh Terrace
in Melcombe Regis just north of the centre of Weymouth. |
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|
It
was at Cobourg place in Melcombe Regis that she was still living with her
father and her maiden aunt in 1891 when Edith was 20, rather than 22. Curiously no record of any member of her
Collett family was been discovered with the next census of 1901, but in April
1911 unmarried Edith Collett from Market Drayton was 42 and living in a
14-roomed property at 4 Gloucester Row in Weymouth. The premises was a school for young ladies,
where Edith was the owner and school mistress employing three governesses to
look after the education of one female student aged 16 and four pupils aged
11 to 14. |
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71P14 |
Alfred Wildale Collett was born at Toronto in 1891, the
second son of Henry James Collett and Lilian Cutmore, and was only six years
old when his father suffered a premature death at just 38 years of age. Alfred later married Ada Holding with whom
he had seven children. The couple’s youngest
son, Albert Cecil Collett, was the great grandfather of Dayna Collett who
kindly provided the new details in 2023 and 2024 for this family line to be
updated early in 2024. Shortly after
Albert was born, Alfred Wildale Collett died resulting in his seven children
being placed within the care system because Ada was unable to look after them. |
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|
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|
71Q19 |
Willard Collett |
Born
in 1917 at Toronto |
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|
71Q20 |
Lydia Collett |
Born
in 1919 at Toronto |
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|
71Q21 |
Arthur Collett |
Born
in 1921 at Toronto; died in 1921 |
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|
71Q22 |
Kathleen Collett – not verified |
Born
in 1923 at Toronto |
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|
71Q23 |
Rose Collett |
Born
in 1926 at Toronto |
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|
71Q24 |
Roy Collett |
Born
in 1927 at Toronto |
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|
71Q25 |
Albert Cecil Collett |
Born
in 1928 at Toronto |
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71P15 |
Edward Collett was the eldest of the
five children of Edward
Charles James Collett and his wife Alice, whose birth was registered at St Olave
Bermondsey (Ref. 1d 297) during the second quarter of 1886. He was five years old in 1891 when the
family home was at Marigold Place in Bermondsey, and in 1899 his father died. That made Edward aged 15 as the sole
breadwinner in 1901 when he was living at Llama Place in Bermondsey
where his widowed mother was head of the household at 38. On leaving school Edward took up employment
with a local chemist where, in 1901 he was described as a chemist’s and a
druggist’s assistance. It was nine
years later when the marriage of Edward Collett and Sarah L Clark was recorded at St Olave
Bermondsey register office (Ref. 1d 266) during the fourth quarter of
1910. Sarah was also born at
Bermondsey, with her birth registered at St Olave Bermondsey (Ref. 1d 266) as
Sarah Louise Clark during the month of March in 1887. It was also at St Olave Bermondsey that the
births of the couple’s six children were recorded when their mother’s
maiden-name was confirmed as Clark. |
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For
whatever reason, just a few months into their married life together, no trace
of Edward has been found in Britain 1911, when his wife Sarah Louisa Collett
from Bermondsey was 24 and a mineral water bottler who was living at
Bermondsey with her parents Thomas Clark and Sarah Clark, whose son Alexander
Clark, aged 14,
was the only other member of the family living there. Tragically, not long after the birth of her
last child, the death of Sarah L Collett at St Olave Bermondsey was recorded
at the London register office (Ref. 1d 121) in March 1925 aged 38. With young children to care for, it is
possible that Edward was subsequently married for a second time. Four years later, Sarah’s brother Alexander Clark married Edward’s
young sister Elizabeth Lily Collett (below). The only possible recording of the death of
Edward Collett was at Camberwell register office (Ref. 1d 954) during the
first three months of 1942, at the age of 56. |
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|
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|
71Q26 |
Edward J Collett |
Born in 1912
at Bermondsey |
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|
71Q27 |
Thomas James Collett |
Born in 1915
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71Q28 |
Francis Alexander Collett |
Born in 1917 at
Bermondsey |
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|
71Q29 |
Sarah L Collett |
Born in 1920
at Bermondsey (Ref. 1d 468) Qrt1 |
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|
71Q30 |
Alice E Collett |
Born in 1921
at Bermondsey |
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|
71Q31 |
Henry S Collett |
Born in 1924
at Bermondsey |
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|
|
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|
|
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71P16 |
James Collett
was born at Bermondsey in 1888 and was another son of Edward and Alice
Collett, although no obvious record of his birth has been found. He was two years old in 1891 when James and
his family were residing at Marigold Place in
Bermondsey, and was 12 in 1901, but at Llama Place in Bermondsey two years
after his father had suffered a premature death. James was still living in the London area when he died at the age of
55, with his death recorded at London register office (Ref. 1d 44) during 1944. It is possible that he never married. |
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71P17 |
John Collett
was born at Bermondsey in 1890, the third child of Edward and Alice Collett,
when his birth was registered at St Olave Bermondsey (Ref. 1d 216) during the
last three months of 1890. He was
therefore around five months old in the census of 1891 when with his family
at Marigold Place, where he may have been born. He only survived for another few weeks, when the death of John
Collett was recorded at nearby St Olave Southwark (Ref. 1d 176) during the
second quarter of 1891. |
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71P18 |
Ellen Collett
was born at Bermondsey in 1892 and was the eldest daughter and fourth child
of Edward and Alice Collett. Her birth
was recorded at St Olave Bermondsey register office (Ref. 1d 287) during the
first quarter of the year. She may
have been born at Marigold Place where her family was living in 1891. Ellen was seven years old when her father
died young, and by 1901 she was nine years of age and living with her widowed
mother at Llama Place in Bermondsey.
After a further ten years, when Ellen was 19 and a packer with a tin
box manufacturer, it was just her and her two younger sisters who were still
living in Bermondsey with their mother. |
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71P19 |
Alice Collett
was born at Bermondsey in 1894, with her birth recorded at St Olave
Bermondsey register office (Ref. 1d 245) during the summer of that year,
another daughter of Edward and Alice Collett. By the time she was five years old her
father had died, leaving six-year-old Alice living with her widowed mother at
Llama Place in Bermondsey in 1901. On
completing her schooling, Alice managed to get employment with a tin box
manufacturer as a packer, where her old sister Ellen (above) also
worked. |
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71P20 |
Elizabeth Lily Collett was born at Llama Place in Bermondsey on 24th
September 1899, the last child born to Edward Charles James Collett and his
wife Alice. Tragically, her father
died earlier in that same year, with the birth of Elizabeth Lily Collett
recorded at St Olave Bermondsey register office (Ref. 1d 224) during the last
three months of the year. It was at
Llama Place that the family was living in 1901 where, as Lily Collett,
Elizabeth was one year old, as she was in 1911 when Lily Collett was
attending school at the age of eleven.
Eighteen years
later, the marriage of Elizabeth Lily Collett and Alexander Clark was
recorded at St Olave Southwark register office (Ref. 1d 363) during the second
quarter of 1929. He was the son of
Thomas Clark and Sarah Clark, and it was his older sister, the deceased Sarah
Louise Collett nee Clark, who had married Elizabeth’s eldest brother Edward
Collett (above). |
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|
Their marriage just one child for the
couple, and that was daughter Lily Clark, whose birth was recorded at St
Olave Bermondsey register office (Ref. 1d 202) during the spring of 1931,
when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett. The later death of Elizabeth Lily Clark, nee
Collett, was recorded at Hampshire register office (Vol. 20 0108) during
1978. Shortly thereafter her husband’s
death was also recorded there (Vol. 20 0712) in 1979, when the date of birth
of Alexander Johnstone Clark was reported as 8th July 1899. |
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71P24 |
Timothy Collett
was born at Bermondsey, London on 15th September 1904 and was six
years old in the census of 1911, the youngest surviving child of John Henry
Collett from Poplar and his wife Mary from Bermondsey. He may have been born at 11 Hargrave Place
in Bermondsey, where he was living with his family in 1911. By that time in his life, he had eight
surviving siblings from a total of fourteen, although only three of them were
living at Hargreave Place, the other five still to be discovered. At the age of 22, Timothy Collett married
Amy F Leonard in 1926, with their wedding recorded at St Olave Southwark
register office (Ref. 1d 278) during the last three months of that year. |
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|
Their
marriage produced three sons; all of them born at Bermondsey with their
births recorded at St Olave Bermondsey register office where their mother’s
maiden-name was confirmed as Leonard.
It would appear Timothy lived much of his life in London, where his
death was recorded (Vol. 14 431) in 1990, shortly after he was widowed. Amy Florence Leonard was born at Bermondsey
during the spring of 1906, the second daughter of Reuben Edward Leonard and
his wife Caroline. The record of her
death at Southwark register office (Vol. 15 78) at the end of 1989 confirmed
her date of birth as 16th May 1906. |
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|
|
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|
71Q32 |
Timothy J Collett |
Born in 1927
at Bermondsey |
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|
71Q33 |
Leonard E Collett |
Born in 1932
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71Q34 |
John H Collett |
Born in 1935
at Bermondsey |
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|
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|
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71P25 |
Thomas Benjamin George
Collett was born at
Rotherhithe in 1895, the only known child of Thomas Collett and Mary Ann
Elizabeth Warnock. He may have been
born at 54 Paradise Street, midway between Rotherhithe and Bermondsey where
he was living in 1901 at the age of five years and later in 1907. By 1911 he and his parents were living at
23 Tranton Road in Bermondsey when he was 14 and recorded in the census
return under his full name. It was
also under his full name that he was married in 1918. The details recorded at the London Borough
of Southwark register office confirmed that Thomas Benjamin George Collett
was 21 and a cable repairer living at 25 Tranton Road, the son of carman
Thomas Collett. His bride was Florence
Louisa Burton, also 21, the daughter of George Burton deceased. The wedding took place at St James’ Church
in Bermondsey on 4th August 1918. |
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|
It
is not known at this time whether Thomas and Florence had any children, but
it is known that Thomas died in 1967 when he was thought to be 70 years
old. The death of Thomas B G Collett
was recorded at Lewisham register office (Ref. 5d 251) during the second
quarter of that year. |
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71P27 |
James Collett
was born at Salisbury
Street, off Jamaica Road, in Bermondsey during 1902 and was the eldest of
three surviving children from a total of six offspring of James Collett and
Emily Sarah Pooley. His birth was
recorded at St Olave Bermondsey register office (Ref. 1d 233) during the third
quarter of the year. It was
also at Salisbury Street that he was eight years old in 1911. What happened to him after that day has
still to be discovered. |
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71P28 |
Julia Ann Collett was born at Salisbury Street in Bermondsey in June 1904
the second of the three children of James and Emily Collett. Her birth was recorded at St Olave Bermondsey register office (Ref.
1d 188) during the summer of that year. She was baptised simply as Julia Collett at
St Crispin’s Church in Bermondsey on 9th June 1904 when her
parents were confirmed as James and Emily Sarah Collett. The family was recorded as still living at Salisbury
Street in 1911, when Julia was six years of age. The later marriage of Julia A Collett and Edward W Martin was
recorded at St Olave Southwark register office (Ref. 1d 268) during the last
quarter of 1924. |
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|
The marriage resulted in the birth of
three children at Bermondsey, whose births were recorded at St Olave
Bermondsey register office, where the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as
Collett. They were Joyce M Martin
in 1925, Edward J Martin in 1927, and Eileen Martin in
1930. Julia A Martin, nee Collett, was
64 years old when her death was recorded at London register office (Ref. 5d
214) in 1968. |
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71P30 |
George John
Collett was born at
Bermondsey in 1897 and was the first of the eight children of George Thomas Collett
and Hannah Haley.
His birth was
recorded at St Olave Bermondsey register office (Ref. 1d 247) during the
first three months of the year. Just
over one year later, the death of baby George John Collett was recorded at
Southwark register office (Ref. 1d 120) during the second quarter on 1898. |
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71P31 |
Florence Collett
was born at Bermondsey on 22nd May 1898 although, unlike her siblings, no record of her
birth at St Olave Bermondsey has been found.
If, however, she was born on 22nd March that year, then her
unnamed birth was recorded there (Ref. 1d 251) during the first three months
of that year. In the Bermondsey census
in 1901, Florence Collett was recorded as Florrie aged two years who was
living with her family at Drappers Road when her parents were described as
Thomas and Anna Collett. She was 21
years of age when the marriage of Florence Collett and Frederick Leversha was
recorded at St Olave Southwark register office (Ref. 1d 220) during the first
three months of 1920. Fourteen years
later, Florence’s youngest sister Esther Collett (below) married Alfred
Leversha, Frederick’s brother. |
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|
The children of Frederick and
Florence Leversha were: honeymoon baby Stanley Frederick Leversha born
at Greenwich in 1920; Esther Leversha at Bermondsey in 1922; Thomas
George Leversha also there in 1923, where he died that same year; and Arthur
J Leversha at Bermondsey in 1926.
In every case, the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett. |
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71P32 |
Hannah Esther Collett was born at Bermondsey on 18th May 1900, with her birth recorded at St
Olave Bermondsey register office (Ref. 1d 203). She was not living with her family in 1901
and, with no further record of her, it is assumed that she too had suffered
an infant death, like her older brother (above). |
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71P33 |
Ellen Rose Collett was born at Bermondsey on 20th
August 1901, the fourth child of George and Hannah Collett. Her birth was recorded at St Olave Bermondsey register office (Ref.
1d 217). The marriage of Ellen Rose
Collett and Christopher Percival Sellens was recorded at St Olave Southwark
register office (Ref. 1d 331) during the summer of 1929, which was where her
parents’ wedding was recorded in the summer of 1896. The marriage of Ellen and Christopher was a
very short one but did produce two daughters; Constance Y Sellens was
born in 1932 at Greenwich and she married John R Cox in 1953 in Sidcup, Kent,
and Sylvia R Sellens was born in 1938 at Maidstone in Kent, who
married Keith L Roberts in 1961 at Kingston-upon-Hull. For both births, the mother’s maiden-name
was confirmed as Collett. Sadly,
neither parent was alive to attend their wedding days, nor was either
daughter named in their parents’ Wills. |
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|
Christopher was only 44 when he died
at Maidstone on 16th July 1938, not long after the birth of his
second daughter, when his death was recorded at Kent register office (Ref. 2a
932). The Will of Christopher Percival
Sellens was proved in Kent on 13th September 1938 when the sole
beneficiary was Ellen Rose Sellens.
His widow was 48 when she died in 1950, with the death of Ellen Rose
Sellens recorded at London register office (Ref. 5d 557). Her Will was proved in London on 28th
April 1950, with the probate process confirming the following details; that
Ellen Rose Sellens died on 20th February 1950, with the two
beneficiaries named as George Thomas Collett and Nellie Rose Willison. |
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71P34 |
Edith Elizabeth Collett was born at Bermondsey on 9th December 1903 when her birth was recorded at
St Olave Bermondsey register office (Ref. 1d 227) during the first quarter of
the following year. She was
thirty-years-old when the marriage of Edith Elizabeth Collett and Alfred G
Bennett was recorded at the City of London register office (Ref. 1c 36) near
the end of 1934. Earlier that same
year Edith’s sister Esther (below) also married and, after the birth of her
first child Esther and her family moved to Middlesex, to where Edith and
Alfred also moved and where their two daughters were born. |
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|
They were Iris E Bennett born
in 1935 and Wendy Y Bennett born in 1936, whose births were both
recorded at Edmonton register office, with their mother’s maiden-name
confirmed as Collett. One of the
daughters of Edith’s older married sister Ellen Rose (above) was also given a
second forename with an initial letter Y.
The later death of Edith E Bennett was recorded at London register
office (Ref. 5c 1299) in 1950. |
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|
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|
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71P35 |
John James Collett was born at Bermondsey on 28th February 1906 and was
another son of George (Thomas) and Hannah (Anna) Collett whose birth was recorded at St
Olave Bermondsey register office (Ref. 1d 182). It seems that he lived virtually all his
life in London, and it was there, at the London register office (Ref. 5e 14),
that the death of John James Collett was recorded in 1966 at the age of 60. |
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|
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|
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71P36 |
Esther Collett
was born at Bermondsey on 17th June 1908 and was the youngest
daughter born to George and Hannah Collett. Her birth, like those of all
her siblings, was birth recorded at St Olave Bermondsey register office (Ref.
1d 185). No member of her family has
been found within the census of 1911, and she was nearly 26 years old when
the marriage of Esther Collett and Alfred Leversha was recorded at Bermondsey
register office (Ref. 1d 348) during third quarter of 1934. Interestingly, in 1920, Esther’s eldest
sister Florence (above) married Frederick Leversha, Alfred’s
brother. Two years after their wedding
day, Esther presented Alfred with a son, with the birth of Frederick
Leversha recorded at Camberwell register office (Ref. 1d 862) during the
summer of 1936, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett. |
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|
|
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|
After the birth of their first child
the family moved to North London and Middlesex, where the birth of other
children was recorded. They were Ronald
S Leversha in 1938, Edward J Leversha in 1942, Victor C
Leversha in 1944, and Maureen G Leversha in 1948. Esther was living in the Potters Bar,
Hertfordshire, when she died in April 1984 at the age of 75, with her death
recorded at the Elstree & Potters Bar register office (Vol. 10 217). |
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|
|
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|
|
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71P37 |
James Collett
was born at Bermondsey on 23rd March 1912, the eighth and last
child of George Thomas Collett and Hannah Haley. His birth was recorded at St Olave Bermondsey register office (Ref.
1d 306) when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Haley. At the age of 27, the marriage of James
Collett and Ellen M Callaghan was recorded at Bermondsey register office
(Ref. 1d 555) during the summer of 1939.
Ellen
was just over one year older than James, having been born at Bermondsey in
1910 with her birth also recorded at St Olave Bermondsey (Ref. 1d 201) during
the final three months of the year. |
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|
|
||||||
|
Only two births of a
child to Collett-Callaghan parents have been found, but with only their son Bernard
born in the same area of South London.
The earlier birth of Barbara S Collett was recorded at
Aston-under-Lyne register office (Ref. 8d 772) in 1943. This location, to the east of Manchester,
was also a known area for training soldiers for action in the Second World
War. Which may have been a reason for the couple to be billeted there. However, the fact that Barbara S Collett
was later married in Southwark, is a positive enough reason to included here
as the couple’s first-born child. James
Collett was around 73 years old when he died in 1985, when his death was
recorded at London register office (Vol. 14 658). |
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|
|
||||||
|
71Q35 |
Barbara
S Collett |
Born in 1943 at Ashton-under-Lyne |
||||
|
71Q36 |
Bernard
James Collett |
Born in 1951 at Southwark |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71P38 |
Doris Mavis Collett was born at Willesden on 16th August 1910 the
eldest child of Henry John Collett and Elizabeth Harriet Phillips who were
only married seven months earlier. It
was also at Willesden register office that her birth was recorded (Ref 3a
323) during the third quarter of that year.
As simply Doris Collett, she was seven months old when she was living
with her parents at Camberwell, with her place of birth confirmed as Willesden. Doris Mavis Collett was 29 when she married
Ernest H Jordan, when their wedding was recorded at Lewisham register office
(Ref. 1d 3629) during the third quarter of 1939. The only birth of a Jordan/Collett child
was that for Ernest Henry Jordon, known as Ernie. Doris Mavis Jordan was 45 and in Kent,
where her death was recorded during 1956 (Ref. 5b 127). |
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|
|
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|
|
||||||
71P39 |
Hilda Elizabeth Collett was born on 10th June 1912 (accounting to
her father’s military record of 1916), with her birth recorded at
Camberwell register office (Ref. 1d 1631) during the third quarter of the
year, the second child of Henry and Elizabeth Collett. Her father died in 1954, and later, in
1971, when her mother left Catford and moved to Whitstable in Kent during
1971, unmarried Hilda went with her mother. Hilda continued to live there after her
mother passed away in 1981, and twelve years later Hilda Elizabeth Collett died
on 10 April 1993 at the Kent & Canterbury Hospital in Canterbury. The death of Hilda Elizabeth Collett
was recorded at Kent register office (Vol. 5601b b5s) when she was 81. |
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|
|
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|
|
||||||
71P40 |
John Henry Collett, who was known as Jack, was born at 99 Brownhill Road in Catford on 11th January 1914
with his birth recorded at Lewisham register office (1d 2113) when his
mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Phillips. Eighteen years after his father died in
1954, John’s mother and his sister Hilda (above) made a new home at
Whitstable in Kent, where they both passed away. John Henry Collett was twice married, on
the first occasion on 4th March 1939 it was to (1) Doreen Rosina Ruth Aldous at St John, Leytonstone in
Essex, from whom he was later divorced.
It was during the spring of 1947 at Southwark that he married (2)
Winifred Florence Monkhouse who was known as Winnie Q2 1947, Southwark. At the end of his life Jack was residing
within the Orpington area of Kent, fifty miles from Whitstable, when
he died on 24th March 1990 in Orpington
Hospital, with his passing recorded at Kent register office (Vol. 11
1267) in 1990 three years before his sister passed away. Their children are still alive in 2023. |
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71P41 |
Elsie Margery Collett was born on 25th November 1915 at 53 Elswick Road, Lewisham and, like her older
brother John, her birth was also recorded at Lewisham (Ref. 1d 1952) and her
mother’s maiden-name was also confirmed as Phillips. Later, Elsie Margery Collett married
Kenneth Burwood Walter at St Andrew’s Church in Mottingham, their wedding
recorded at Woolwich register office (Ref. 1d 2732) during the third quarter
of 1940. They had some children, still
living at the time of writing, and it was the son of Elsie’s third daughter
who kindly supplied previously missing the details for his branch of the
family in 2021. |
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71P42 |
Francis James Collett, who was known as Frank, was born on 28th
January 1920 at 437 Southwark Park Road, Bermondsey,
the fifth child of Henry and Elizabeth Collett and the first of them whose birth
was recorded at Bermondsey St Olave register office (Ref. 1d 495), when his
mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Phillips. Frank was married twice, the first time to
(1) Lilian Davis, known as Wendy, at Biggleswade
during the summer of 1944, from whom he was later divorced. His subsequent marriage took place towards
the end of 1973 at Bridge in Kent, when his second wife was divorcee Rita
Sylvia Court, former wife of Robert E Appleton who were married at Canterbury
in 1960. After eleven years with his
second wife, the death of Francis James Collett was record at Canterbury
register office (Vol. 16 317) in May 1984, when he was 64 years of age. Frank’s children are all living in 2023. |
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71P43 |
Alec Leonard Collett was born on 21st
January 1922 at 437 Southwark Park Road within the Bermondsey area
of South London, with his birth recorded at Bermondsey St Olave register
office (Ref. 1d 35) during the first three months of the year, when his
mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Phillips. What happened to Alec after he was born did
remain a mystery, until that is, he popped up being mentioned in the New York
press on 15th November 2007 under his full name of Alec Leonard
Collett, where his date of birth was confirmed as written above. |
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Armed
with this very recent information, a search of the earlier records in the USA
reveals the following details. Alec was 29 years old when she sailed from Southampton
onboard the S S Caronia of the Cunard White Star Line Company on 23rd
June 1951. Born in England in 1922,
the passenger list indicated that his occupation was that of a journalist,
bound for New York and arriving there on 30th June 1951. Although he travelled alone, on arrival in
New York the immigration form described him as Alec L Collett, a married man
and a visitor, curiously having a forward address that was simply listed as
‘Department of State, Washington.’
Within the family it is known that at some time he did work for, or
with, the United Nations. |
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It is now confirmed that Len, when aged 15, commenced his
career in journalism by writing short articles for the local press about the
Old Brownhill Dramatic Club formed by Old Boys from Brownhill Road School in
Catford. It is believed that Len
appointed himself to be the Press Secretary for the Club. He was 17 at the outbreak of the Second World War
and took the opportunity to broaden his work by reporting on wartime
incidents. He was married twice, the
first time to (1) Mariana Ivanova Sakazova,
known as Marian, in Prague, Czechoslovakia, on 1st April 1948. The marriage took place at the British
Embassy in Prague, following Mariana's arrest and interrogation for twelve
hours by Czech police, after she had refused to join the Communist Party. The marriage was a means to obtain British
Citizenship so that Mariana could leave Czechoslovakia with Len. It is understood that many years later
Marian commenced successful legal proceedings to have the marriage declared
null and void. He later married (2)
Elaine Lolita Jones in New York on 3rd July 1970. All of Len’s children are still living. |
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Around the time that he died, Len was in Lebanon as a freelance
journalist working for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for
Palestinians (UNWRA) when he was taken hostage by the Revolutionary Organisation of Socialist
Muslims (part of Abu Nidal's Fatah Organisation). Len was murdered on 17th April
1986 at Aitta al-Fukhar, Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, following the USA bombing of
Libya, after being accused by his captors of being an American spy. His tragic death was reported in national
newspapers at that time, with the subject still being discussed in print
during the first decade of the twenty-first century, as recently as 2009. |
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71P44 |
Eileen Grace Collett was also born in the Bermondsey area of London on 27th
April 1924 at 437 Southwark Park Road, when
her birth was recorded at Bermondsey St Olave register office (Ref. 1d 196),
another daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Collett. She was 22 years old when the marriage of
Eileen Grace Collett and Francis J Carlin was recorded at Lewisham register
office (Ref. 5d 30) during the second quarter of 1947. Over the following eighteen years Eileen
gave birth to eight children, the first two in London and Kent, the last six
at Lewisham when, in every case, the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as
Collett. |
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It
seems Eileen lived much of her life in the Lewisham area of South London, and
it was there, at Lewisham register office (Vol. 2421c c92a) that the death of
Eileen Grace Carlin was recorded in March 2005 at the age of 81. Her husband was born in Scotland, and it
was in Glasgow that he died on 6th December 2007. |
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71P45 |
Audrey Irene Collett was born at 437
Southwark Park Road in Bermondsey on 21st June 1926,
the eighth and youngest child of Henry John Collett and Elizabeth Harriet
Phillips. Her birth was recorded at
Bermondsey St Olave register office (Ref. 1d 217) during the third quarter of
the year, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Phillips. Just prior to her thirty-first birthday
Audrey married Brian Lionel Burt on 1st June 1957 at Lewisham,
with their wedding recorded at Lewisham register office (Ref. 5d 55). Brian was much younger than Audrey, with
the birth of Brian L Burt recorded at Lewisham (Ref. 1d 1253) during the
second quarter of 1933. Their marriage
produced two children, the births for whom were both recorded at Lewisham
when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett. The family emigrated to Australia in
1970 and, two years later, Brian was died during December 1972 after being
involved motor accident. |
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71P46 |
Ivy Kathleen Collett was born at New Cross in Deptford on 16th March 1911, the
first of the eight children of Ernest Hiram Collett and Kathleen Hannah Carpenter. Her birth was recorded at Greenwich register office (Ref. 1d 903)
during the second quarter of 1911.
As simply Ivy Collett she was two weeks old in the Deptford census of
1911. The much later marriage of Ivy took place in Devon when
she was 32, and she gave birth to her only child when she was still 40 years
old. The wedding of Ivy Kathleen
Collett and George Bareham was recorded at Newton Abbot register office (Ref.
5b 411) during the second quarter of 1943.
The couple were still residing in Devon when the birth of Ruth
Bareham was also recorded at Newton Abbot (Ref. 7a 527) during the first
quarter of 1952, when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett. Ivy’s younger sister Phyllis (below)
was also married in Devon two year prior to Ivy’s wedding day. |
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George Bareham was born at Tiverton
in Devon on 7th April 1910, one of the younger children of
organist and music teacher Richard Bareham from Christow near Newton Abbot
and his wife Mary Lord Bareham from Plymouth.
After the birth of their daughter, it was very likely George’s
occupation that took the family away from Devon. Where they initially settled after leaving
the county is not currently known, except that all three members of the
family were living in County Durham in North-East England, when they passed
away. Tragically, the first of them
was unmarried Ruth Bareham, whose death was recorded at Durham register
office (Ref. 1a 1948) in 1973 at the age of 21, when her date of birth was
recorded as 9th February 1952.
Next was George Bareham in 1982 recorded at the same register office
(Vol. 2 1617) whose date of birth was confirmed as 7th April
1910. After twenty years as a widow,
the death of Ivy Kathleen Bareham was also recorded at Durham register office
(Vol. 0581b b65e) in 2002, when her death of birth was confirmed as 16th
March 1911. |
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71P47 |
Ronald Ernest Collett was born at Deptford on 12th February 1912,
the second child and eldest son of Ernest and Kathleen Collett. His birth was recorded at Greenwich register office (Ref. 1d 1849)
during the first quarter of the year, when his mother’s maiden-name was
confirmed as Carpenter. By the time
Ronald emigrated to Australia on 22nd January 1955, he was 43
years old and a married man, who date of birth was recorded on the P & O
passenger list as 11th February 1912. His occupation was that of a process worker
and his ultimate destination was Adelaide in South Australia. Travelling with him was his wife Lily J
Collett aged 36 and a housewife, whose date of birth was 18th
December 1919. From that information
the marriage of Ronald E Collett and Lily J Weaver can be positively
identified as being recorded at the Kent, Bromley register office (Ref. 2a
2859) just south of Greenwich, during the summer of 1940. |
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Sailing with the couple to Australia
were their three children, as listed below, with the first two births
recorded at Kent register and the last at Bromley register office when, on
all three occasions, the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Weaver. The passenger list confirmed that Robin A
Collett was eight years of age, having been born on 6th February
1947, with two-year-old Alan J Collett’s date of birth being 25th
June 1953. The latter’s death was also
recorded in Australia at Bridgeman Downs, in Brisbane, on the 8th
September 2013, following which he was laid to rest in the Queensland Garden
of Remembrance. |
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71Q37 |
Janet P Collett |
Born in 1944 at Kent (Ref. 2a 1516) |
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71Q38 |
Robin A Collett |
Born in 1947 at Kent (Ref. 5b 168) |
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71Q39 |
Alan J Collett |
Born in 1953 at Bromley (Ref. 5b 95) Q2 |
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71P48 |
Stanley Collett
was born at Deptford
in 1913 and his birth
and infant death were both recorded at Greenwich register office (Ref. 1d
1880) during the last three months of 1913 when Carpenter was confirmed as
his mother’s maiden-name, and shortly after (Ref. 1d 1207) during the first
three months of 1914, the third child of Ernest and Kathleen Collett. |
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71P49 |
Lily Florence Collett was born at Deptford in 1915 and her birth was also recorded at nearby Greenwich register office
(Ref. 1d 1963) during the summer of that year, where her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Carpenter. |
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71P50 |
Alfred Henry
Collett was born at Deptford on 4th
November 1917 with his
birth recorded at Greenwich register office (Ref. 1d 1211) during the last
months of the year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Carpenter. He was another son of Ernest Hiram and
Kathleen Hannah Collett and
was 26 years old when the marriage of Alfred H Collett and Irene V Palmer was
recorded at Lewisham register office (Ref. 1d 1189) during the third quarter
of 1944. The birth of Irene was also
recorded at Lewisham (Ref. 1d 1786) during the first three months of
1917. Their marriage produced two
children, with the birth of son Clive recorded at Lewisham and the birth of
daughter Judith recorded at Lambeth, in each case the mother’s maiden-name
was confirmed as Palmer. Alfred was
still residing in the London area of the country when he died at the age of
only 51, the death of Alfred Henry Collett recorded at London register office
(Ref. 5d 755) in 1969. Twenty-one
years later Irene Collett died at Bexley on 15th November 1990
aged 73, and was buried at nearby Sidcup Cemetery. |
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For their son, there are three
marriages of Clive M Collett and all at Bromley in Kent, the first towards
the end of 1976 when the bride was Elizabeth Forester (Vol. 11 0970), the
second in October 1987 with Patricia A Barrett (Vol. 11 862), and the last in
the spring of 1996 to Christine E Henson (Vol. 222 0432). |
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71Q40 |
Clive M Collett |
Born in 1953 at Lewisham (Rf. 5d 71) |
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71Q41 |
Judith C Collett |
Born in 1954 at Lambeth (Rf. 5c 1635) |
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71P51 |
Phyllis Rose Collett
was born at Deptford
on 27th May 1919, possibly at New Cross, Deptford, but with her birth recorded at
Greenwich register office (Ref. 1d 1415) during the third quarter of that
year, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Carpenter. And it was at All Saints Church in Deptford
where she was baptised on 10th July 1919, the daughter of Ernest
Hiram and Kathleen Collett. Her old
sister Ivy was married in Devon in 1943, which was also where two years
earlier the wedding of Phyllis Rose Collett and Ernest J Smith was recorded
at Honiton register office (Ref. 5b 24) during the third quarter of
1941. Phyllis Rose Smith, whose date
of birth has been confirmed as 27th May 1919 died in Surrey at the
age of 71, when her passing was recorded at Surrey register office (Vol. 17
798) during 1991. |
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It was also in Surrey that the couple
was living when they gave birth to three children. The first of them was Brian E Smith
in 1945 (Ref. 2a 219), the next Terence R Smith in 1947 (Ref. 5g 367),
and Martyn C Smith in 1950 (Ref. 5g 650). All three births were recorded at Surrey
register office, with the mother’s maiden-name confirmed as Collett. |
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71P52 |
Victor Arthur
Collett was born at Deptford on 5th
February 1921, the youngest son and seventh child of Ernest and
Kathleen Collett. His birth, like all his
siblings, was recorded at Greenwich register office (Ref. 1d 1692) during the
early months of that year, when Carpenter was confirmed as his mother’s
maiden-name. It was Victor who was the
first member of the family to travel to Australia, which happened on 12th
October 1951 when the passenger list described Victor A Collett as being 30
years of age, an army recruit bound for Melbourne. Nearly three years later, Victor’s eldest
brother, his wife, and their children, sailed into Adelaide at the start of
1955. At the time that he died in
Australia on 29th August 1987 he was residing at Clearview, Port
Adelaide, Enfield City in South Australia, and it was at Enfield Memorial
Park that he was buried at the age of 66. |
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71P53 |
Margaret Collett
was born at Deptford on 4th November 1924 when her birth was recorded at Greenwich
register office (Ref. 1d 1316) at the end of 1924, with her mother’s
maiden-name confirmed as Carpenter.
She was the eighth and last child of Ernest Hiram Collett and Kathleen Hannah Carpenter. Margaret was still living within the Deptford area of South London
when she was married at the age of 24, her marriage to Thomas W A Maxey
recorded at Deptford register office (Ref. 5c 1251) during the summer of
1949. Thomas was much older than
Margaret and was a widow, his first marriage to Anne Higgins recorded at
Deptford (Ref. 1d 1307) in 1932. He
had been born on 6th September 1908 at Camberwell in London. The only child of Margaret and Thomas was John
P Maxey, whose birth was recorded at Greenwich (Ref. 5c 631) during the
spring of 1951 when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett. Thomas William Albert Maxey died at
Lewisham on 13th September 1981 as recorded at London register
office (Vol. 14 0515) when he was 73 years old. |
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71P54 |
Arthur Leonard Collett was born at Bermondsey on 16th June 1915 and
was the eldest of the four sons of William Collett and Florence White. His birth was recorded at St Olave Bermondsey register office (Ref.
1d 370) when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as White. Arthur was 24 when the marriage of Arthur L
Collett and Doris E Payne was recorded at the Essex Rochford register office
(Ref. 4a 2527) during the first quarter of 1940. Doris was born early in 1917, when her
birth was recorded at West Ham register office (Ref. 4a 334). Once they were married, they settled in
Brentwood where the couple’s first two children were born and where their
last child was born. The births of
other three children were simply recorded as Essex register office. The births of all six children confirmed
their mother’s maiden-name was Payne. The
death of Arthur Leonard Collett was recorded at Essex register office (Vol. 9
1573) in 1982 aged 67. |
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71Q42 |
Barbara R Collett |
Born in 1941 at Brentwood, Essex |
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71Q43 |
Shirley A Collett |
Born in 1942 at Brentwood, Essex |
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71Q44 |
Yvonne J Collett |
Born in 1945 at Essex |
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|
71Q45 |
Doreen J Collett |
Born in 1946 at Essex |
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|
71Q46 |
John J Collett |
Born in 1950 at Essex |
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|
71Q47 |
Stephen L Collett |
Born in 1953 at Brentwood, Essex |
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71P55 |
Charles William Collett was born at Greenwich on 20th December 1916,
another son of William and Florence Collett. His birth was recorded at Greenwich register office (Ref. 1d 1491)
early in 1917, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as White. When his older brother Arthur (above)
married and settled in Brentwood, Charles seemed to follow him there, since
it was at Brentwood register office (Ref. 4a 2107) that the marriage of
Charles W Collett and Marie H Stone was recorded during the spring of
1941. Eighteen months later Marie gave
birth to the first of their two daughter Jeanne M Collett, whose birth was
recorded at Chelmsford register office (Ref. 4a 1032) during the last three
months of 1942. After nearly four
years their second and last child Sally was born and her birth was recorded
at Essex register office (Ref. 4a 694) in 1946. |
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71Q48 |
Jeanne M Collett |
Born in 1942 at Chelmsford, Essex |
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|
71Q49 |
Sally Collett |
Born in 1946 at Essex |
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71P56 |
Henry George Collett was born at Orsett in Essex on 18th March 1920,
the third son of William and Florence Collett. His birth was recorded there (Ref. 4a 1369) during the second quarter
of the year when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as White. Henry was 27 when he married Gwendoline M
Hopper with their wedding recorded at the Essex South-Western register office
(Ref. 5a 476) during the last quarter of 1947. No record of any children has been found. |
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71P57 |
Walter James Collett was born at Billericay in Essex on 25th March
1925, the last child of William Collett and Florence White, whose birth was recorded there
(Ref. 4a 1120), with White confirmed as his mother’s maiden-name. It was at Brentwood register office in
Essex that the wedding of Walter James Collett and Alma E Bourne was recorded
(Ref. 4a 905) during the first quarter of 1953. The births of their three children were
also recorded at Brentwood, where their mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as
Bourne. The much later death of Walter
James Collett was also recorded at Brentwood register office (Vol. 9 1825) in
December 1989 at the age of 63. |
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|
71Q50 |
Elizabeth Collett |
Born in 1953 at Brentwood, Essex |
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71Q51 |
Alan T Collett |
Born in 1956 at Brentwood, Essex |
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|
71Q52 |
Donna L Collett |
Born in 1959 at Brentwood, Essex |
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71P58 |
Gladys E Collett
was born at Bermondsey on 30th August 1913, the eldest of the
three children of Albert Collett and Jessie Smith, whose birth was recorded at St Olave Bermondsey
(Ref. 1d 482) when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Smith. |
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71P59 |
Albert E Collett
was born at Bermondsey on 8th July 1915, the only son of Albert
and Jessie Collett. His birth was recorded at St
Olave Bermondsey (Ref. 1d 392) where his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed
as Smith. It would appear that he was
married twice in his life, with both events recorded at Lewisham register
office. The first of them was when
Albert E Collett married (1) Gladys S Cox during the summer of 1938 (Ref. 1d
2710), and later in the spring of 1957 with the marriage of Albert E Collett
and (2) June M Samways. Albert was
around forty-three years old when his second wife presented him was a
daughter whose birth was recorded at Chelmsford register office (Ref. 4a 774)
when the mother’s maiden-name was Samways, during the third quarter of 1958. |
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71Q53 |
Mary E C Collett |
Born in 1958 at Chelmsford, Essex |
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||||||
71P60 |
Edna Jessie
Collett was the last
child of Albert and Jessie Collett and was born at Bermondsey on 12th
September 1920 with her
birth also recorded at St Olave Bermondsey (Ref. 1d 360) where her mother’s
maiden-name was confirmed as Smith.
Just like her brother Albert (above) Edna was also married at
Lewisham, where the wedding of Edna J Collett and Peter L J Hoare was
recorded (Ref. 5d 4) during the third quarter of 1946. Their three children
were Gillian E Hoare in 1949, Stephen Peter Hoare in 1951, and Anne
Hoare in 1956. Much later in her
life, Edna was residing in Hampshire, and it was there that the death of
82-year-old Edna Jessie Hoare was recorded (Vol. 4961 41c) in 2003. Her younger husband survived her by five
years, when Peter John Leslie Hoare died at Aldershot, Hampshire on 25th
October 2008 at the age of 80, having been born at Hackney in London in 1928. |
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|
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71P61 |
Vera I Collett
was born at Greenwich on 27th June 1919, the older of the two
children of Arthur Henry Collett and Beatrice Maude Holland. It was at Greenwich register office (Ref. 1d 1433) that her birth was
recorded when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Holland. Vera was very young when she married, with
the wedding of Vera I Collett and Frederich H Hundey recorded at Surrey
South-Western register office (Ref. 2a 1194) early in 1941. Four years after that day, Vera gave birth
to a son, Ian M Hundey, whose birth was recorded at Surrey register
office (Ref. 2a 889) in 1945 when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as
Collett. On 19th July 1955,
Vera flew out of London Heathrow Airport on KLM Dutch Royal Airlines flight
PH-DBE bound for New York, accompanied by her three children. They were Ian Hundey aged ten, Ricky
Hundey aged five, and Pamela Hundey who was four. No birth records for the two younger
children have been found, so they may have been adopted. Later in her life, Vera married for a
second time while living in North America, and it was as Vera Hundey Johnston
that she died at Oldcastle, Tecumseh, Essex in Ontario during 2012,with her
ashes buried at Greatlawn Memorial Gardens in Oldcastle. |
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||||||
|
|
||||||
71P62 |
Leslie James Collett was born at Bermondsey on 6th June 1921 with his birth recorded at St
Olave Bermondsey (Ref. 1d 240) when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as
Holland. The later marriage of Leslie
J Collett and Ivy M Tellett was recorded at Lewisham register (Ref. 1d 1789)
during the first three months of 1942.
Ivy presented Leslie with a daughter and a son whose births were
recorded at Lewisham and London respectively, when Tellett was confirmed as
the mother’s maiden-name. Like other
members of this London family line, Leslie was another one who moved south
into Kent later in his life, and it was at Kent register office that the
death of Leslie James Collett was recorded (Vol. 5641j kdj1) in 2003 when he
was 82 years old. Six years after
losing her husband, Ivy May Collett was living in the Kent village of
Longfield near Dartford on 8th December 2009. |
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|
|
||||||
|
71Q54 |
Lesley A Collett |
Born in 1943 at Lewisham (Ref. 1a 705) |
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|
71Q55 |
Martin
R Collett |
Born in 1946 at London |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71P63 |
Jane Frances Grace Collett was born at Bermondsey in 1923 with
her birth recorded at St Olave Bermondsey (Ref. 1d 295) during the last
quarter of 1923, when the child’s mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as
Kilner. She was the first-born child
of Edward Leonard Collett and Florence Alice Kilner, with her mother killed in 1944 during the war,
so not present when Jane was married towards the end of 1949. It was at Wood Green Middlesex register
office (Ref. 5f 1124) that the wedding of Jane F G Collett and Raymond G S
Carron was recorded. It was very
likely Raymond’s occupation that was the cause of the children being born at
various locations within the Middlesex area of London. Their four children were: Ray Carron
whose birth was recorded at London register office (Ref. 5c 1415) in 1950; Peter
Carron his birth recorded at Islington register office (Ref. 5c 1345) on
1958; Robert D Carron at Edmonton register office (Ref. 5e 484) in
1962; and daughter Jane Margaret Carron whose birth was recorded at
Enfield register office (Ref. 5b 429) at the end of 1965. For each birth, the mother’s maiden-name
was confirmed at Collett. |
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|
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||||||
|
|
||||||
71P64 |
Yvonne Rose Lilian Collett was born at Bermondsey either at the
end of 1925 or early in 1926 and was the second daughter of Edward and Florence
Collett. Her birth was recorded at
Bermondsey register office (Ref. 1d 303) during the first quarter of 1926
when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Kilner. During the summer of 1948 the marriage of Yvonne R L Collett and
Douglas A Bailey was recorded at Lewisham register office (Ref. 5d 25). It was there also there that the birth of
their son Stephen D Bailey was recorded (Ref. 5d 37) at the start of
1956. Five years earlier the birth of
daughter Linda C Bailey was recorded at London register office (Ref.
5d 37) during 1950. In both cases the
mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett and, it was a coincidence that
both births had the same reference number and not an error in reporting. |
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71P65 |
Daisy May Florence Collett was born at Bermondsey on 15th May 1930
and was the third and last child of Edward and Florence Collett. Her birth was recorded there (Ref. 1d 237)
during the second quarter of the year, when Kilner was confirmed as her
mother’s maiden-name. She was 14 years
of age when her mother was killed in a bombing raid on London during the
Second World War. As the youngest sister, Daisy
was the last to be married, when the wedding of Daisy M F Collett and Walter
J Crack was recorded at Woolwich register office (Ref. 5d 2283) during the
summer of 1951. The births of the two
children were recorded at Horsham in Sussex, when their mother’s maiden-name
was confirmed as Collett. They were
Judith Florence Crack in 1955, and John Walter Crack in 1958. The later premature death of Daisy May F
Crack was recorded at Kent register office in 1979 at the age of 49 (Vol. 11
1138). Walter J Crack, who was born on
26th July 1928 at Medway in Kent, survived his wife by twelve
years, when his passing was also recorded at Kent register office (Vol. 16
1918). |
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71Q1 |
Francis William Eustace
Collett was born at
Kennington in 1886, the son of William Eustace Collett and Emma Caroline
Thomson, who was baptised there on 25th April 1886. His birth was recorded at Wandsworth (Ref.
1d 533) during the second quarter of that year. Curiously, both he and his baby sister Emma
(below) were absent from the family on the day of the census in 1891,
on the day when the rest of the family was residing at a property named Roman
Hurst on Cavendish Road in Balham. One
year later Francis’ mother died, at which time it seems highly likely that
Francis and his baby sister were taken into the home of his grandparents, the
parents of their mother, although it is unclear what happened to their
widowed father and their other two brothers. |
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It
was the census in 1901 which placed Francis and his sister Emma as staying at
17 Old Town in Clapham with Francis W Thomson, a retired builder of 83 years,
and his wife Jane S Thomson who was 72.
Francis W Collett was 15 years old and was already working as a
railway clerk, while his sister Emma was 10 years of age. Completing the household was Francis’
maiden aunt, the sister of their mother, Eleanor A Thomson who was 37 and a
fancy draper working at home and having her own account. The elderly Thomson couple probably passed
away during the next six years, because their daughter Eleanor was the
landlord of Francis W E Collett from then onwards. |
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With
his youngest brother Clarence (below) having been baptised at
Stockwell Green, it is possible that the William Collett who was 26 and
listed in the Stockwell census of 1911 was in fact Francis William Eustace
Collett. Three years earlier, the Electoral
Register of 1908 included Francis William Eustace Collett as living at a
one-room first floor furnished apartment at 17 Old Town in Clapham, just
south of Stockwell, where he was still living in 1910, 1911 and 1912. His landlady on all those occasions was
Miss Thomson, also of 17 Old Town, who was Eleanor A Thomson, his late
mother’s sister. |
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It
was on 2nd May 1914 that Francis William Eustace Collett, aged 28,
was married by banns to Jane Taylor, aged 26, at Holy Trinity Church in
Clapham within the London Borough of Lambeth.
Sometime during the following years Jane presented Francis with a son,
although there may have been other siblings born into the family. Francis William Eustace Collett was
residing at 88 Cheyne Walk in Horley, Surrey, when he died on 21st
October 1959. Probate of his personal
effects, valued at £1,922 4 Shillings and 3 Pence, was granted in London on
21st October 1960 in favour of his son Richard William Collett, a
railway clerk. |
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71R1 |
Richard
William Collett |
Born in 1917
at Watford |
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71Q2 |
Denzil Percy Eustace
Collett was born at
Kennington in 1887, where he was baptised on 13th July 1887, the
son of William Eustace Collett and Emma Caroline Collett. The birth of Denzil Percy E Collett was
recorded at Wandsworth (Ref. 1d 555) during the third quarter of that year. He was one of the two sons living with his
parents at Roman Hurst on Cavendish Road in Balham in 1891 when Denzil P E
Collett was three years old. He was
only four years old when his mother passed away, perhaps during the birth of
another child who also did not survive.
No further record of him has been found, which may suggest that he did
not survive beyond childhood. |
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Denzil
Percy E Collett was 65 when he sailed from Montreal in Canada to Liverpool in
England on the Empress of France, a ship of the Canadian Pacific Line, which
arrived in Liverpool on 15th August 1952. The passenger listed confirmed his last
country of residence was Canada and that was intended to stay at 32 Elkin
Road in Morecombe, Lancashire. |
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71Q3 |
Clarence Herbert Eustace
Collett was born at
Kennington in 1889, the third son and youngest child of William and Emma
Collett. As the youngest of their
three sons, Clarence H E Collett was two years of age when the family was
living at Roman Hurst, Cavendish Road in Balham in 1891. Following the death of his mother during
the following year, his baptism was delayed for many years when he was
eventually baptised, using his full name, at Stockwell Green on 25th
December 1898. No obvious record of
him has been discovered within the next two census returns for 1901 and 1911. |
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He
was 29 years of age when he married Dora Bowers, who was 27, at Southwark on
4th June 1918, when he was confirmed as the son of William Eustace
Collett, while the father of Dora was named as Robert Woodger Bowers. Baby Dora was two months old in the census
of 1891 and the third daughter of Robert and Lily Bowers of Canterbury Road
in Lambeth. It was at Albert Square in
South Lambeth that Dora Bowers was 10 years of age in the census of 1901 when
her place of birth was stated as having been Brixton. |
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71Q4 |
Emma Agnes Eustace
Collett was born at
Roman Hurst on Cavendish Road in Balham on 12th March 1891. She was the only daughter, the fourth and
last child of William Eustace Collett and Emma Caroline Thomson. The birth of Emma Agnes E Collett was
recorded at Wandsworth (Ref. 1d 798) during the second quarter of 1891,
whilst the death of her mother was recorded when Emma was nearly one year
old. In the census of 1891 Emma
Eustace Collett was one month old, but what happened to two of Emma’s three
brothers following the death of their mother, shortly followed by the death
of Emma’s father, is not known for sure.
However, it is known that Emma and her eldest brother Francis (above)
were taken in by their maternal grandparents Francis and Jane Thomson. |
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|
That
situation was confirmed by the census in 1901 when Emma A Collett, aged 10
years and from Balham, was living with retired builder Francis W Thomson and
Jane S Thomson at 17 Old Town in Clapham.
Also living there was Francis W Collett, Emma’s brother, and their
maiden aunt and the sister of their mother Eleanor Thomson. It is known that Emma’s brother was still
living at that address for many years to come and, in the next census of 1911,
Emma A E Collett from Balham was 10 years old and described as the niece of
spinster Eleanor A Thomson who was a fancy draper with her own account still
living at 17 Old Town. Her brother
Francis was also still living at that address up to 1912, in a separate
furnished room within the house. |
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Emma
Agnes E Collett never married and was eighty-one when her death was recorded
at Worthing register office (Ref. 5h 2309) during the last quarter of
1972. It was her death certificate
that confirmed she had been born on 12th March 1891, that is
before the census day that year, which raises the question, where was she
when she was only three weeks old. |
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71Q5 |
Frank Gerald Collett was born at 37 Cook’s Road in Walworth
on 18th December 1898, his birth recorded at Southwark St Saviour
(Ref. 1d 114) during the first month of 1899, the first child of Francis
Glenister Collett and Eleanor Eunice Emmett.
By the time Frank G Collett was two years of age in March 1901 he and
his parents were still living at 37 Cook’s Road, but in 1908 their home
address was 23 Narbonne Avenue in Clapham.
And it was there where they were still residing in 1911 when Frank Gerald
Collett was 12. What happened to him
after that day is not known except that the death of Frank Gerald Collett was
recorded at the Surrey Mid-Eastern register office (Vol. 17 0020) during the
second quarter of 1979. Upon the death
of his father at Cheam in Surrey at the start of 1953 it was Frank Gerald who
was name as the executor of his estate of £6,612. |
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71Q6 |
Eleanor Evelyn Collett was born at 37 Cook’s Road in Walworth
on 22nd December 1901, the only daughter of Francis and Eleanor
Collett, whose birth was recorded at Southwark register office (Ref. 1d 10)
during the first three months of 1902.
Six years later she and her family were living at 23 Narbonne Avenue
in Clapham, and it was there also that Eleanor Evelyn Collett aged nine years
was recorded in the census of 1911.
However, every member of the family was recorded as having been born
at Kennington and not at Walworth in the Borough of Newington where Eleanor
was born. It would also appear that
Eleanor never married, but lived a very long life. The death of Eleanor Evelyn Collett was
recorded at Surrey South East register office (Vol. 7601a 1a1f) at the end of
1996. |
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71Q7 |
Arthur Glenister Collett
was born at 37 Cook’s
Road in Walworth, within the London Borough of Newington, on 6th
June 1903. He was the third and last
known child of Francis Glenister Collett and Eleanor Eunice Emmett whose
birth was recorded at Southwark register office (Ref. 1d 99) during the third
quarter of 1903. Arthur Glenister
Collett who was seven years of age in the census of 1911 when he and his
family were residing at 23 Narbonne Avenue in Clapham. It is possible, although not proved, that
he never married and may have lived with his sister Eleanor in Surrey in his
later life, since the death of Arthur Glenister Collett was also recorded at
Surrey South East register office (Vol. 7561b 2b) towards the end of 1995,
exactly one year before his sister whose death was recorded there in 1996. |
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71Q8 |
Jessie Mirabel Collett was born at Camberwell in 1895, the
eldest child of Percy John Collett and Emma Sharpington. Jessie never married and was still living
in London when she suffered a premature death in 1930 at the age of 36, her
passing recorded at Battersea register office (Ref. 1d 369) during the last
three months of that year. |
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71Q9 |
Doris Sybil Collett was born at either 34 or 36 Narbonne
Avenue in Clapham during 1899 and was baptised at Great Amwell near Ware in
Hertfordshire in 1900, the second child of Percy and Emma Collett. The discovery of the registration of her
birth at Wandsworth (Ref. 1d 688) reveals she was born during the third
quarter of 1899. Doris S Collett was
one year old in the Clapham census of 1901.
Ten years later in 1911 Doris Sybil Collett from Clapham was 11 when
she and her family were recorded at 34 Narbonne Avenue in Clapham, from where
Doris was still attending school.
Doris was 25 when she married Henry Norris, who was 24 and the son of
Frederick William Norris, on 27th September 1924 at St Andrews
Church in Hertford. |
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|
It
is interesting the Doris’ cousin Harry Francis Collett (Ref. 71Q15) married
Olive Maud Norris at Bromley in Kent in 1929, whose three daughters were born
in Surrey between 1930 and 1937. |
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71Q10 |
Harold Percy Collett was born at 36 Narbonne Avenue in
Clapham on 26th January 1901, the eldest son and third child of
Percy and Emma Collett who was only a few weeks old in the census that
year. His birth was recorded at
Wandsworth register office (Ref. 1d 691) during the first quarter of 1901 and
was listed in the census that year as Harold P Collett who was two months
old. As Harold Percy Collett he was 10
years of age in the census of 1911 and was at school, by which time the
family home was at 34 Narbonne Avenue in Clapham. Thirteen years later, during 1924, Harold
Percy Collett the son of Percy John Collett and Emma Sharpington married Vera
Mabel Looker. |
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It was reported in the London Gazette of 16th
May 1941 that Harold Percy Collett (Royal Air Force service number 64754) was
granted a commission for the duration of the hostilities of the Second World
War as an Acting Pilot Officer on probation as from 20th April
1941. By August that same year he was
promoted to pilot officer. No records
have been found to reveal that Harold and Vera ever had any children, but it
is known that Percy lived a long life in London, where he died at the age of
80, his death recorded at Westminster register office (Vol. 15 2168) during
the month of December in 1981. |
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71Q11 |
Betty Marjorie Collett was born at Wandsworth in 1907 where
her birth was recorded (Ref. 1d 690) during the third quarter of that year,
although it may have been at 121 Narbonne Avenue in Clapham where she was
born. She was the fourth child and
youngest daughter of Percy and Emma Collett and was three years of age in the
census of 1911. At that time in their
life the family was residing at 34 Narbonne Avenue in Clapham, while between
1908 and 1910 the family home was at 12 Streathbourne in Balham. When Betty was 23, she married Jack Davies
Garratt who was 28 and the son of Douglas Garratt, the wedding taking place
at Sacombe, to the north of Ware in Hertfordshire during 1931. |
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71Q12 |
Stanley John Collett was born at Wandsworth and most likely
at 121 Narbonne Avenue in Clapham in either late 1908 or early in 1909, the
fifth and last known child of Percy John Collett and Emma Sharpington. It was also at Wandsworth that his birth
was recorded (Ref. 1d 695) during the first quarter of 1909. Shortly after he was born the family moved
again and, from 1910 through to 1912, he and his family were recorded at 34
Narbonne Avenue, as confirmed in the census of 1911 when he was described as
Stanley John Collett who was two years of age and from Wandsworth. |
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What
happened to Stanley after that time is not known. At the time of the Second World War another
Stanley John Collett was serving
with the Royal Nay as an able seaman, service number P/JX143881,
and he was assigned to the battle cruiser HMS Hood which, with HMS Prince of
Wales, was involved in the tragic Battle of the Denmark Strait with the
German vessels the battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen on
24th May 1941. The object
of the exercise was to sink the Bismarck but, in the end, it was the Hood
which was destroyed, with the Prince of Wales being damaged. The name of Stanley John Collett is
included on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial – Panel 47, Column 3. |
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|
However, this
S J Collett was 22 when he died and was born at Surbiton in Surrey on 14th
June 1918, the uncle of Geoffrey King.
He joined the Navy as a Boy on 24th January 1935 and was
subsequently trained at HMS St Vincent in
Gosport. He made Boy 1st
Class on 26th October 1935.
His first sea assignment came in January 1936 when he was posted to
the "W" class destroyer HMS Wallace for
training. This was followed by a
training post aboard the battleship HMS Royal Sovereign in February 1936. During the autumn of 1937 Stanley was
assigned to HMS Victory barracks in
Portsmouth. From May 1938 to December
1940, he served on board the battleship HMS Nelson and
it was during April 1941 that he was assigned to HMS Hood. |
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It
was established in 2023, that while Stanley John Collett was born in
Surbiton, he and his two older siblings were baptised at the Church of St
Mary, on Mill Lane in the Iffley area of south Oxford, when they were
confirmed as the three children of Charles Edward Collett and his wife Amelia
of 46 Kings Road, Ditton Hall in Surbiton, Surrey. The three children were: Vera Olive Hannah
Collett who was born on 24th February 1911 and baptised at Iffley
on 15th May 1912; Edwin Matthew Collett born on 17th
May 1913 and baptised on 18th June 1916; and Stanley John Collett
born on 14th June 1914, who was baptised on 26th
September 1918. The couple and their
first child were recorded at Long Ditton in 1911, when Charles Edward from
Oxford was 35 and a cricket groundsman, Amelia from Clapham was 35, and Vera
Olive was one month old and born at Surbiton.
Completing the family was 10-year-old Margery May Wood from
Wandsworth, Amelia’s daughter from an earlier marriage. |
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The
birth of Vera Olive Collett was recorded at Kingston-upon-Thames register
office (Ref. 2a 475) during the second quarter of 1911, and she later married
Thomas B R King, when their wedding was recorded at the Surrey North-Eastern
register office (Ref. 2a 71) during the fourth quarter of 1935. Apart from the war years, when Vera and her
family were in Oxford, it would appear she spent most of her life in Surrey,
with her death recorded there (Vol. 6702b 7c) in 1993, when Vera Olive King
was 82. |
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Her
father’s birth was registered at Oxford Headington (Ref. 3a 651) during the
third quarter of 1875, the second son of carpenter and joiner Arthur William
Collett from Cottisford (35 in 1881), and his wife Emma from Thorpe
Mandeville who was 34 in 1881. Their
eldest son William (Willie) H J Collett was seven, Charles Edward Collett was
four, and daughter Mary Hannah Collett was one-year-old, when the family was
recorded at Pembroke Street in Oxford.
Shortly after that census day, Mary died in 1883. Charles’ later marriage to Amelia Wood was
recorded at Wandsworth register office (Ref.1d 1320) during the fourth
quarter of 1904. |
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71Q13 |
Winifred Amy Collett was born at Clapham in London during
1892, her birth recorded at Lambeth (Ref. 1d 439) during the third quarter of
that year. She was baptised at
Kennington on 23rd October 1892, the eldest child of Frederick
Arthur Collett and Amy Matilda Butler.
It was at 19 Narbonne Avenue in Clapham, within the London Borough of
Wandsworth, that Winifred was living with her family in the census of 1901
when, as Winifred A Collett from Clapham, she was eight years old. By the time of the next census in 1911
Winifred was no longer living with her family at 11 MacKenzie Road at Kent
house in Beckenham. She never married
and was living at Maidstone in Kent when she died at the age of 40, her death
recorded at Maidstone register office (Ref. 2a 1555) during the first three
months of 1933. |
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71Q14 |
Reginald Arthur Collett was born at Clapham during 1894 and
his birth was recorded at Lambeth (Ref. 1d 454) during the third quarter of
that year. He was baptised at
Kennington on 3rd October 1894, one of sons of Frederick Arthur
and Amy Matilda Collett. It was at 19
Narbonne Avenue in Clapham that he was with his family in 1901 when he was
six years old. After a further ten
years he had left school and as Reginald Arthur Collett aged 16, he was
working as a junior clerk at a telephone engineer’s office. The death of Reginald A Collett aged 72 was
recorded at Worthing register in Sussex (Ref. 5h 802) during the first three
months of 1967. |
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71Q15 |
Harry Francis Collett was born at 57 Binfield Road in Clapham
on 12th April 1896, another son of Frederick and Amy Collett, who
was four years of age in the census of 1901 when living at 19 Narbonne Avenue
in Clapham. As Harry Francis Collett
aged 14 and from Clapham he was still living with his family in 1911 at 11
MacKenzie Road, Kent House in Beckenham.
Harry later married Olive Maud Norris, who was born on 7th
August 1901, and with whom he had three daughters, all born in Surrey, the
first two specifically in Epsom, when their mother’s maiden-name was
confirmed as Norris. The marriage of
Harry F Collett and Olive M Norris was recorded Bromley register office in
Kent (Ref. 2a 1934) during the summer of 1929. |
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|
Five years earlier, Harry’s cousin Doris Sybil Collett
(Ref. 71Q9) married Henry Norris at St Andrews Church in Hertford on 27th
September 1924. Whether Henry was
related in some way to Olive is not currently known, perhaps it was just a
pure coincidence. |
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|
Harry
and Olive may have lived in South Africa for part of their life since they
were named on the passenger list of the Union Castle Mail Steamship Company
vessel Pretoria Castle which sailed into Southampton from Durban on 5th
April 1957. Their destination address
was ‘Fingle’ on Cunningham Road in Banstead in Surrey. It was also in Surrey that the death of
Harry Francis Collett was recorded at Sutton register office (Vol. 15 0373)
during September 1982 when he was 86.
By that time Harry had been a widower for just over eight years
following the death of Olive Maud Collett nee Norris, her death also recorded
at Sutton register office (Vol. 15 0720) during June 1974 when she was 72. |
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|
71R2 |
Ruth A Collett |
Born in 1930
at Epsom |
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|
71R3 |
Doreen Mary Collett |
Born in 1932
at Epsom |
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|
71R4 |
Brenda M Collett |
Born in 1937
at Epsom (Surrey) |
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||||||
71Q16 |
Frederick James Collett was also very likely born at 57
Binfield Road in Clapham, as that was that family’s address in the Vauxhall
Ward Electoral Register for the Kennington District of South London in both
1896 and 1897. He was a son of
Frederick and Amy Collett whose birth was recorded at Wandsworth register
office (Ref. 1d 708) during the third quarter of 1897. He was three years of age in March 1901
when he was living with his family at 19 Narbonne Avenue close to Clapham
Common. It was on 8th
November 1915 that Freddie, as he was known, joined the Royal Navy and was
Able Seaman Frederick James Collett service number J/46313 attached to the
destroyer HMS Mary Rose. Tragically the vessel was sunk off the coast of
Norway on 17th October 1917 by the German cruisers Brummer and
Bremes with no survivors. Frederick
was only 20 years old at the time of his death, even though his naval record
stated he was 21, when he was confirmed as the son of Frederick Arthur
Collett and his wife Amy Matilda of 11 MacKenzie Road at Beckenham in
Kent. The name of Frederick James
Collett appears on the Chatham Naval Memorial, reference 21. |
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|
The
following was the obituary published in the Beckenham Journal in 3rd
November 1917: “Roll of Honour – Frederick J Collett. By the sinking of HMS Mary Rose the war has
claimed another of Beckenham's promising sons. Frederick James Collett (Freddie), youngest
son of Mr and Mrs Collett of MacKenzie Road, fell in action in this unequal
fight on the 17th October.
Young Collett, who was an old Bromley Road boy, was starting life in
the head office of the City and Midlands Bank, London, and in 1915, when 18
years of age, said "Now's my time to serve my King and country" and
in November of that year joined the Royal Navy. In 1916 he took part in the memorable
Jutland battle, was passed as able seaman, and came home on his last leave in
August last. As a boy he was a keen
follower of every kind of sport, and was the proud possessor of many prizes
won. As a scholar at Elm Road Church
he was a regular attendant and gained my prizes. The parents have the sincere sympathy of
all who knew the boy, who was a general favourite.” |
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||||||
|
Nearly one year later, in October 1918, a further mention of his
passing was published again in the same paper as follows: “In Memoriam. COLLETT - In fond and
loving memory of our dear sailor boy (Freddie), killed in action October
17th, 1917. Out of the stress of the
doing, Into the peace of the done.” |
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||||||
71Q17 |
Kathleen Maud Collett was born at 19 Narbonne Avenue in
Clapham during 1899, the youngest child of Frederick Arthur Collett and Amy
Matilda Butler, whose birth was recorded at Wandsworth (Ref. 1d 679) during
the third quarter of 1899. In the
census of 1901, she was one year old and still living with her family at 19
Narbonne Avenue. During the next
decade the family moved to Beckenham and in 1911 it was at 11 MacKenzie Road,
Kent House in Beckenham that Kathleen Maud Collett from Clapham was 11 years
old. |
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71Q18 |
Sidney Thomas Collett was born at Holloway in London during
1896 and was the only known child of Sidney Herbert Collett and Jessie
Woolnough. His birth was record at
Islington (Ref. 1b 317) during the second quarter of 1896 and he was four
years old in the census of 1901 when living with his parents at Seymour Road
in Harringay. It was there also, at 66
Seymour Road, that he was still living in 1911 when he was 14 and still at
school. Tragically, it was just over
two years later that the death of Sidney T Collett aged 17 was recorded at
Edmonton register office (Ref. 3a 355) during the third quarter of 1913. |
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||||||
71Q19 |
Willard Collett was born at
Toronto on 15th September 1917, the eldest of the seven children
of Alfred Wildale Collett and Ada Holding.
He was around eleven or twelve years old when his father died, after
which Willard and his six siblings were taken into care, with his mother
unable to cope with seven young children.
All that is currently know about Willard, is that he was around eighty
years of age when he passed away. |
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||||||
71Q23 |
Rose Collett was born at Toronto in 1926 and was
the second daughter of Alfred and Ada Collett, and was still a very young
child when her father suffered a premature death. Later in her life, Rose was married and
became Rose Pomfret, and it was as Rose Pomfret that she died in 2001. |
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||||||
71Q25 |
Albert Cecil Collett was born at
Toronto in 1928, the youngest of the seven children of Alfred Wildale Collett
and Ada Holding. Not long after he was
born, his father tragically died. That
shocking event must have had an unimaginable effect on his wife who could not
deal with the situation in which she found herself, with the sad outcome that
her children were taken into care. Albert Cecil Collett married (1) Kathleen
Preston, known as Kay, whose maiden-name was Muir, an immigrant from Poland
just prior to WW2. They were very
young on their wedding day and when their first child was born Albert was
only 15 and Kay was 16. In total, they
had three sons, Donald (Don), Robert (Jerry), and Stephen (Steve) when they
were living in Montreal. Shortly after
the birth of Steve, Albert abandoned his wife and his sons, leaving them in
Montreal, when he travelled west. |
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|
|
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|
After the separation, Kay had no wish
to talk about what had happened, and all that is known is that Albert settled
in British Columbia where he married (2) Jean and had a further two children.
In 1996, Albert’s son Don travelled to
British Columbia in the hope of meeting his father but sadly, Albert had
already passed away a year earlier in 1995 and was buried at Fort St John in
BC. However, Don did get to speak with
his widow Jean, who he said “was a lovely woman", when he also met some
of his half-siblings. No details of
Albert’s second family are currently known. |
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|
|
||||||
|
71R5 |
Donald Collett |
Born in 1943 at Montreal |
||||
|
71R6 |
Robert
Gerald Collett |
Born in 1945 at Montreal |
||||
|
71R7 |
Stephen Collett |
Born in 1947 at Montreal |
||||
|
|
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|
|
||||||
71Q26 |
Edward John Collett was born on 12th September 1912 and was
the first-born child of Edward Collett and Sarah Louise Clark. His birth was recorded at Bermondsey register office (Ref. 1d 317)
during the last three months of that year, when his mother’s maiden-name was
confirmed as Clark. At some point in
his life, after the premature death of his mother in 1925, Edward was living
in Sussex and it was there at Cuckfield register office (Ref. 5h 274) that
the marriage of Edward J Collett and Florence L Rowe was recorded during the
second quarter of 1951 when he was 28 years of age. Very shortly after their wedding day, and
still within the second quarter of 1951, their daughter Stephanie L Collett
was born, with her birth also recorded at Cuckfield (Ref. 5h 216) when her
mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Rowe.
It was also at Cuckfield register office, three years later, that the
birth of son Rodney was recorded there (Ref. 5h 160) during the summer of
1954. The later death of Edward John
Collett was recorded at Sussex register office (Vol. 18 1753) in 1981 at the
age of 68. |
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|
|
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|
71R8 |
Stephanie L Collett |
Born in 1951 at Cuckfield, Sussex |
||||
|
71R9 |
Rodney A Collett |
Born in 1954 at Cuckfield, Sussex |
||||
|
|
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|
|
||||||
71Q27 |
Thomas James Collett was the second child of Edward and
Sarah Collett who was born at Bermondsey on 15th December 1915 where his birth
was recorded (Ref. 1d 286) at the start of the following year, when his
mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Clark.
It was also at
Bermondsey register office twenty-three years later that the marriage of
Thomas J Collett and Mary Felton was recorded (Ref. 1d 324) during the fourth
quarter of 1938. Within a very few
months Mary presented Thomas with their one and only known child, with the
possibility that she was already with-child on their wedding day. The birth of Richard W Collett at
Bermondsey was recorded there during the first three months of 1839 (Ref. 1d
74) with his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Felton. |
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|
|
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|
Thomas was only 57 years of age when
he died at Chislehurst in Kent on 31st October 1973 after which he
was buried at Chislehurst Cemetery.
The death of Thomas James Collett was recorded at Kent register office
(Ref. 5a 1286). His widow Mary was
born on 16th November 1915
and she survived her husband by nearly twenty years, when the death of
Mary Collett was also recorded at Kent register office (Vol. 2221d d17) in
1993. |
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|
|
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|
71R10 |
Richard W Collett |
Born in 1939 at Bermondsey |
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|
|
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|
|
||||||
71Q28 |
Francis Alexander Collett was born at Bermondsey on 12th October
1917 where his birth was recorded (Ref. 1d 212) toward the end of that
year, with his mother’s maiden-name confirmed as Clark, the third son of
Edward and Sarah Collett. It is possible that Francis
may have been married twice in his life.
If not, then it was when he was approaching forty years of age, when
the marriage of Francis A Collett and Jean M Page was recorded at Lewisham
register office, south of Bermondsey, at the start of 1954 (Ref. 5d 7). Jean was much younger than Francis, with
her birth recorded at Lewisham register office (Ref. 1d 1307) during the
first quarter of 1931, so it is not surprising that they had children. The problem appears to be that there were
six Collett/Page children born within the area of South London between 1955
and 1965. |
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|
|
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|
Of the six, two seem more likely to
be the children of Francis and Jean, and they were Mark F Collett and Paul E
Collett, with both births recorded at Lewisham register office (Ref. 5d 12)
in the second quarter of 1958 and (Ref. 5d 17) in the first quarter of 1961. Their father was 79 and living in Kent when
he died, with the death of Francis Alexander Collett recorded at Kent
register office (Vol. 11 986) in 1987. |
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|
|
||||||
|
71R11 |
Mark
F Collett |
Born in 1958 at Lewisham |
||||
|
71R12 |
Paul E Collett |
Born in 1961 at Lewisham |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71Q30 |
Alice E Collett was born in 1921 with her birth
recorded at Bermondsey register office (Ref. 1d 221) during the last three
month of that year when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Clark. She was the youngest daughter of Edward and
Sarah Collett. The later wedding of Alice E Collett and Ernest
T Woodgates was recorded at Bermondsey register office (Ref. 1d 137) during
the summer of 1943. Their two sons
were David E Woodgates whose birth was recorded in London (Ref. 1d 28)
in 1946, and Stephen J Woodgates whose birth was recorded at Southwark
(Ref. 5d 615) at the start of 1953. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71Q31 |
Henry S Collett was born at Bermondsey in 1924 and was the
sixth and last child of Edward Collett and Sarah Louise Clark. His birth was recorded at St Olave
Bermondsey (Ref. 1d 2) during the first quarter of that year, when his mother’s
maiden-name was confirmed as Clark.
Sadly, his mother died shortly after he was born, with nothing
currently know about what happened to Henry and his widowed father and five
older siblings. Certainly, Henry was
later married in Cheshire when he was 27,with the wedding of Henry S Collett
and Joan Widdowson from St Olave Bermondsey was recorded at Wirral register
office (Ref. 10a 1265) during the second quarter of 1951. Joan had been born at Bermondsey during the
last three months of 1925 (Ref. 1d 281).
The
marriage of Henry and Joan produced a son Richard J Collett who was born on
the Wirral in 1954. |
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|
|
||||||
|
71R13 |
Richard J Collett |
Born in 1954
at Wirral, Cheshire |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71Q32 |
Timothy J Collett was born at Bermondsey in 1927, the
eldest of the three children of Timothy Collett and Amy Florence
Leonard. His birth was recorded at St
Olave Bermondsey register office (Ref. 1d 195) during the first three months
of the year, only a few months after his parents were married there. He was just twenty years of age when he
married Mary K Reeves, the event recorded at Bermondsey register office (Ref.
5s 192) during the second quarter of 1947.
Mary gave birth to two children almost ten years apart, when their son
was born in 1949 and his birth recorded at London register office, while it
was at Bermondsey register office that the birth of their daughter was
recorded during the first three months of 1958. Both records confirmed that their mother’s
maiden-name was Reeves. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
71R14 |
Timothy J Collett |
Born in 1949
at London |
||||
|
71R15 |
Julie K Collett |
Born in 1958
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71Q33 |
Leonard E Collett was born at Bermondsey either at the
end of 1931 or at the beginning of 1932, when his birth was recorded during
the first quarter of the latter at St Olave Bermondsey register office (Ref.
1d 163) where their mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Leonard, the son of
Timothy Collett and Amy Florence Leonard.
He very likely married Grace C Monks at the start of 1956 and recorded
at Lewisham register office (Ref. 5d 190). |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71Q34 |
John H Collett was born at Bermondsey on 6th
December 1935, the youngest of the three sons of Timothy Collett and Amy
Florence Leonard, his birth recorded at Bermondsey register office (Ref. 1d
72) during the last quarter of that year.
There were many marriages in and around London for men named John H
Collett, with the most likely for John Henry Collett being recorded at nearby
Lambeth register office (Ref. 5d 79) towards the near of 1965 when the bride
was Laureen A Catterall. Their
marriage did not last long, with the later wedding of Laureen A Collett and
Brian Hucks recorded at Lewisham (Ref. 5d 539) in 1973. The later death of John Collett was
recorded at Wrekin register office in Shropshire (Vol. 7161b 24b) early in
1998, aged 62. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71Q35 |
Barbara S Collett was born in 1943
when her birth was recorded at Ashton-under-Lyne register office in
Lancashire (Ref. 8d 772) during the fourth
quarter of the year, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as
Callaghan. She was the first of the
two children of Bermondsey born couple James Collett and Ellen M Callaghan. After the war, the family of three returned
to South London where, at Southwark register office (Ref. 5e 186) the
marriage of Barbara S Collett and Antonio Cozzolino was recorded in summer of
1971. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71Q36 |
Bernard James Collett was born at Southwark
in 1951, the only child of James Collett and Ellen M Callaghan. His birth was recorded at Southwark register
office (Ref. 5d 572) during the fourth quarter of the year, when his mother’s
maiden-name was confirmed as Callaghan.
He was twenty years old when his marriage to Pauline Martin was also
recorded at Southwark register office (Ref. 5e 90) at the end of 1971. By that time, Pauline had already given
birth to daughter Hayley Rose Collett, whose birth had previously been
recorded at Greenwich during the third quarter of 1971, and whose birth was
re-register there just after the wedding day. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
71R16 |
Hayley Rose Collett |
Born in 1971 at Greenwich |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71Q55 |
Martin R Collett was born in London
during 1946 when his birth was recorded at London register office (Ref. 1d
991) with Tellett confirmed as his mother’s maiden-name, the younger child
and son of Leslie James Collett and Ivy May Tellett. He was twenty-two years old when the
marriage of Martin R Collett and Mary P Weekly was recorded at Lewisham
register office (Ref. 5d 682) during the summer of 1968. By the time their daughter and only child
was born, Martin and Mary were living in Hertfordshire, with Sarah’s birth
recorded at St Albans register office (Ref. 4b 958) during the third quarter
of 1973 when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Weekley. It was also at St Albans that the marriage
of Sarah C Collett and Piers K Lawson was recorded (Vol. 535 0050) in the
summer of 2001. Martin and Mary’s
grandson was born five years later, when the birth of William George Lawson
was recorded at Lambeth in London (Vol. 2411e e158) in July 2006, the
mother’s maiden-name being Collett. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
71R17 |
Sarah Carolyn Collett |
Born in 1973 at St Albans |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71R1 |
Richard William Collett was born on 2nd October 1917, the only child
of Francis William Eustace Collett and Jane Taylor, whose birth was recorded
at Watford register office (Ref. 3a 1102), when his mother’s maiden-name was
confirmed as Taylor. The later marriage
of Richard W Collett and Joan H O’Sullivan was recorded at Westminster
register office (Ref. 5c 945) during the spring of 1948, with their only
child born in London during 1950 (Ref. 5c 446). Nine years later, following the death of
his father, Richard William Collett, railway clerk, was the sole beneficiary
of his father’s estate of £1,922 4 Shillings and 3 Pence. At the end of his life Richard was living
in Lancashire, where his death was recorded (Vol. 1 0577) in 1978. By a strange co-incidence, his son and
namesake, also named a member of the O’Sullivan family. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
71S1 |
Richard William M Collett |
Born in 1950
at London |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71R2 |
Ruth A Collett was the eldest daughter of Harry
Francis Collett and Olive Maud Norris, whose birth was recorded at Epsom
register office (Ref. 2a 27) during the third quarter of 1930, with her
mother’s maiden-name confirmed as Norris.
On being married she became Ruth Millns, and it was the middle of her three sons, the tennis commentator Barry
Millns, who kindly supplied some of the basic details for this family line. |
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|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71R3 |
Doreen Mary Collett, who was known as Mary, was another daughter
of Harry and Olive Collett, her birth also recorded at Epsom (Ref. 2a 53)
during the first three months of 1932, and again, her mother’s maiden-name
was confirmed as Norris. On marrying,
she became Mary Tustain, although Mary was the second of her two christian
names. The marriage produced at least
one child, a son Gregory Tustain. |
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|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71R4 |
Brenda M Collett
may have also been born in the Epsom area of Surrey, like her two older sisters,
except that her was recorded at the Surrey Mid-Eastern register office (Ref. 2a
378) during the third quarter of 1937, when her mother’s maiden-name was
confirmed as Norris. |
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|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71R6 |
Robert Gerald Collett was born at Toronto
in 1945, the younger of the two sons of Albert Cecil Collett and Kathleen
Preston. He was known as Jerry and died
in 2009, and was the grandfather of Dayna Collett who kindly provided details
of her passed family. |
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|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71R11 |
Mark F Collett was born at Lewisham in 1958 the
older of the two sons of Francis Alexander Collett and Jean M Page. When he was born his father was 41 and his
mother was 27, with his birth recorded at Lewisham register office (Ref. 5d
12) in the second quarter of 1958 when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed
as Page. The initial F in his name may
be for Francis, after his father. It seems
Mark may have been married on two separate occasions. Both events were recorded at Lewisham, the
first of them near the start of 1981 between Mark F Collett and Linda S
Seabrook (Vol. 14 0213), and the second in the spring of 1990 between Mark F
Collett and Sarah T McAleavy (Vo. 14 440). |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
There were no children from Mark’s
first marriage, while the second one produced four off-spring, with the first
two recorded at Lewisham and the second two at Bexley. In all four cases, the mother’s maiden-name
was confirmed as McAleavy as follows: Rachel (Vol. 14 1039) in the second
quarter of 1991; Thomas (Vol. 2421a a56a) at the end of 1993; Joel (Vol.
2201b a58b) in the summer of 1998; and Eleanor (Vol. 2201b a71b) in the
summer of 2001. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
71S2 |
Rachel Marie Collett |
Born in 1991 at Lewisham |
||||
|
71S3 |
Thomas Vincent Collett |
Born in 1993 at Lewisham |
||||
|
71S4 |
Joel James Collett |
Born in 1998 at Bexley, Kent |
||||
|
71S5 |
Eleanor Louise Collett |
Born in 2001 at Bexley, Kent |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71R13 |
Richard J Collett was born on the Wirral in 1854 where
his birth was recorded (Ref. 10a 910) during the third quarter of 1954, the
only child of Henry S Collett and Joan Widdowson, both born in
Bermondsey. Richard was 30 years of
age when he married Lesley N Sykes in 1984, their
wedding recorded at Birkenhead register office (Vol. 37 617). Two children were born to Collett / Sykes
parents in the north of England at that time and, although not confirmed as
the children of Richard and Lesley, they were Claire Elizabeth Collett
in 1988, and Christopher Jonathan Collett in 1990, both recorded at
Huddersfield register office when the mother’s maiden-name was said to be
Sykes. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71R14 |
Timothy J Collett was born in London during 1949 the
older of the two children of Timothy Collett and Mary K Reeves, where his
birth was recorded (Ref. 5d 618), with his mother’s maiden-name confirmed as
Reeves. He was around 23 years old
when he married Eileen J Howell during the spring of 1972, with their wedding
recorded at Southwark register office (Ref. 5c 39). It was five years later that Eileen
presented Timothy with a son, who birth was also recorded at Southwark
register office (Vol. 15 84) during the spring of 1977. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
71S6 |
Paul Collett |
Born in 1977
at Southwark, London |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71R15 |
Julie K Collett was born at Bermondsey in 1958 and
was twenty years of age when she married Michael T Barrett in 1978. Julie was the daughter of Timothy and Mary
Collett whose birth was recorded at Bermondsey register office (Ref. 5c 39)
during the first three months of 1958 when her mother’s maiden-name was
confirmed as Reeves. Following her
older brother, Julie’s wedding day was also recorded Southwark, but six years
later during the second quarter of 1978 (Vol. 15 0123). There were many children born around the
London area after 1978 to parents Barrett and Collett but, none have so far
been positively identified as the issue of Julie and Michael. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71S1 |
Richard William M
Collett was born in
London during 1950, where his birth was recorded (Ref. 5c 446), the only
child of Richard William Collett and Joan H O’Sullivan. It was at Haringey in London where the
marriage of Richard W M Collett and Eileen T O’Sullivan was recorded (Vol.12
1635) during the last three months of 1976.
After being married for five years, Eileen gave birth to a son, whose
birth was recorded at the Windsor & Maidenhead register office (Vol. 19
955) during the summer of 1982, when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed
as O’Sullivan. |
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|
|
||||||
|
71T1 |
Jamie Sean D Collett |
Born in 1982
at Windsor |
||||
|
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|
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|
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|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
APPENDIX ONE – ANOTHER BERMONDSEY FAMILY |
||||||
|
|
||||||
71m1 |
Oliver Collett was married to Elizabeth and their
known son Henry was born at Bermondsey in 1806. Ebenezer Collett has been included here
because he later had a son Oliver, in addition to which he married into the
Hagger family which also had a connection with the family of Henry Oliver
Collett who was very likely his brother. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
71n1 |
Henry Oliver Collett |
Born in 1806
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71n2 |
Ebenezer Collett |
Born in 1813
at Southwark |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71n1 |
Henry Oliver Collett was born at Bermondsey on 21st
September 1806, the son of Oliver and Elizabeth Collett. It was many years later, and four years
after he was married, that Henry Oliver Collett aged 30, was baptised at
Southwark Wesleyan Chapel on Long Lane in Bermondsey on 26th July
1835, when he was again confirmed as the son of Oliver and Elizabeth
Collett. Long Lane was where his
brother Ebenezer Collett (below) was living in June 1841. Four years earlier Henry Oliver Collett
married Anna Maria Meinert St Saviour’s Church in Southwark during the month
of February 1831. The couple’s first
child was born later that same year in Bermondsey and was followed by four
further children. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On
the day of the census in June 1841 Henry Collett had a rounded age of 30 when
he was recorded at St Olave in Surrey residing at Bermondsey Street Grammar
School. With him was his wife Anna who
had a rounded age of 25, and just two of their three daughters, although the
whereabouts of the missing child, who was four, has not yet been
determined. The two girls were
Caroline who was nine and Eliza who was six.
Ten years later the St Olave census of Southwark listed the enlarged
family as Henry O collett from Bermondsey who was 44, his wife Anna M Collett
also from Bermondsey who was 41, Caroline Collett who was 19 and born at
Bermondsey, Eliza Collett who was 16 and born at St John’s in Surrey, as was
Maria Collett aged 14, and Oliver Collett from Southwark who was six years
old. Their absent son Henry may not
have survived beyond infancy, while during the following year Anna presented
Henry with their fifth and last child. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Not
one member of the family has been located within the next census of 1861,
while the next recorded event for the family was the marriage of daughter
Eliza in 1864. It was during the next
year that the death of Henry Oliver Collett was recorded at St Olave
Southwark (Ref. 1d 41) during the second quarter of 1865. Six years later the census in 1871
identified his widow Anna M Collett aged 61 living within the St John’s
Hackney district of London with just her two youngest children. Oliver was 26 and Edwin H Collett was 18,
and all three members of the household had been born at Southwark. Living just two doors away on that day was
her married daughter Eliza Burkill. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
During
the following decade Anna’ younger son Edwin left the family to be married,
leaving just Oliver living with his mother in 1881. By then Anna was taking in lodgers to
provide her with an income. On that
occasion her place of birth was stated as being Bermondsey when she was
described as Anna Collett aged 70 who was an annuitant who was living at New
Cross Road in Deptford St Paul. Her
unmarried son Oliver was 35 and working as a clerk who was also said to have
been born in Bermondsey. Helping Anna
run the boarding house was 20-year-old domestic servant Kate McMahon from
Dublin. Lodging at the house was
Samuel Wells from Reading who was 25 and, more interestingly Alfred Hagger
aged 35, a mechanical engineer from London, and his wife Mary T Hagger. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Alfred
had been born at St Martin-in-the-Fields on 12th June 1844 and was
the son of Thomas and Susanna Hagger.
It may have been a coincidence he and his wife were staying with Anna,
but there may have been a family connection.
Anna’s brother-in-law Ebenezer Collett (below) had married Jane
Hagger forty-four years earlier, so it is possible that Alfred’s father
Thomas was the brother of Jane Hagger.
Two years after the census in 1881 Anna Maria Collett nee Meinert
passed away at the age of 73, her death recorded at Greenwich (Ref. 1d 536)
during the second quarter of 1883. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
71o1 |
Caroline Collett |
Born in 1831
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71o2 |
Eliza Collett |
Born in 1834
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71o3 |
Maria Collett |
Born in 1836
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71o4 |
Henry Benoni Collett |
Born in 1842
at Southwark |
||||
|
71o5 |
Oliver Collett |
Born in 1845
at Southwark |
||||
|
71o6 |
Edwin Henry Collett |
Born in 1852
at Southwark |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71n2 |
Ebenezer Collett was born at St George Southwark
around 1813 and he married Jane Hagger at St Olave’s Church in Southwark on
23rd October 1836, the witnesses at their wedding were James and
Mary Ann Mitchell. Ebenezer and Jane
had two sons prior to June 1841, when the census that month included the
family of four as Ebenezer Collett, Jane Collett, Alfred Collett and William
Collett at Long Lane in Bermondsey, the home of elderly widow Elizabeth
Oakes. Also listed with them was Fanny
Hagger, Jane’s mother. Ten years later
the enlarged family was living at Minto Street in Bermondsey in 1851 where
Ebenezer was 36 and a leather shaver, Jane was 34 and from St Saviour
Southwark, and their five sons were Alfred Collett who was 13 and from St
George Southwark, William H Collett who was 11, Charles E Collett who was
nine, Oliver Collett who was six and Henry Collett who was one year old. The four youngest sons had all been born at
Bermondsey. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
One
more child was added to his family during the next decade with the birth of
his son Frederick in 1856. A year
later the death of Jane Collett was recorded at Bermondsey (Ref. 1d 56)
during the third quarter of 1857 when she may well have died during the birth
of a seventh child who also did not survive.
By the time of the next census in 1861 widower Ebenezer Collett had
with him his two youngest sons when he was staying at the home of John and
Catherine Magness at Alfred Street in Bermondsey. Ebenezer was 46 and a leather shaver from
Bermondsey who was a visitor at the Magness household, his son Henry Collett
was 11 and Frederick Collett was four years of age. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
71o7 |
Alfred Collett |
Born in 1837
at St George Southwark |
||||
|
71o8 |
William Hagger Collett |
Born in 1839
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71o9 |
Charles Edwin Collett |
Born in 1841
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71o10 |
Oliver Collett |
Born in 1844
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71o11 |
Henry Collett |
Born in 1849
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
71o12 |
Frederick Collett |
Born in 1856
at Bermondsey |
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
71o1 |
Caroline Collett was born at Bermondsey in 1831 and was
baptised at the Church of St Mary Magdalen in Bermondsey on 25th
December 1831, the eldest child of Henry Oliver Collett and Anna Maria
Meinert. She was nine years old in
the census of 1841 when she was living with her parents at Bermondsey Street Grammar School in Southwark and was 19 in
1851, by which time the family had moved to Maze Pond in Southwark. |
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71o2 |
Eliza Collett was born at Bermondsey in 1834 and was
baptised at the Church of St Mary Magdalen in Bermondsey on 27th
July 1834, the second child of Henry and Anna Collett. She was six years old in the census of 1841
when she was living with her parents at Bermondsey
Street Grammar School in Southwark.
Ten years later Eliza Collett was 16 years old and still living with
her family but at Maze Pond in Southwark.
It was during the first three months of 1864, when Eliza was 29, that
she became a married woman, her wedding recorded at Bermondsey (Ref. 1d 111)
when the groom was named as James Burkill. |
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According
to the census of 1871 Eliza Burkill from Bermondsey was 35 and living at
Hackney with her husband, draper James Burkill who was 33 and from River Head
in Yorkshire. Living with them was
their son, one year old James B Burkill who had been born at Islington. Living in the same street, just two doors
away, was her widowed mother and her two youngest brothers Oliver and Edwin (below). James Burkill senior had been born at
Allerthorpe-by-Pocklington in Yorkshire where he was baptised on 10th
December 1837, the son of John and Mary Ann Burkill. He had moved to London prior to 1861 since,
within the census that year, he was working at a shop in the High Street in
St George Southwark where he was a linen draper and a shop assistant. The record of the birth of his son James
Barton Burkill was made at Islington (Ref. 1b 376) during the last three
months of 1869. No member of the
family has been revealed in the census of 1881. |
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71o3 |
Maria Collett was born at Bermondsey in 1836 and was
baptised at the Church of St Mary Magdalen in Bermondsey on 16th
October 1836, the third child of Henry and Anna Collett. When she was on the day of the census in
1841 has still to be determined, since she was 14 years of age in the next
census of 1851 when she and her family were residing at Maze Pond in
Southwark. |
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71o4 |
Henry Benoni Collett was born at Southwark in 1842 and was
baptised at St Olave Southwark on 3rd July 1842, the fourth child
and eldest of the two sons of Henry and Anna Collett. No record of Henry living with his family
in 1851 or any late census has been found, which may mean that he suffered an
infant death. |
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71o5 |
Oliver Collett was born at Southwark on 9th
March 1845 and was the second of the three sons born to Henry and Anna
Collett, who was baptised two months later at St Olave’s Church in Southwark
on 4th May 1845. He was six
years of age in the census if 1851 when living at Maze Pond in Southwark with
his family. Where he and his parents
were in 1861 is not currently known, but following the death of his father in
1865 Oliver Collett aged 26 was one of two children still living with their
widowed mother in 1871 at Hackney in the same street as his married sister
Eliza (above). He was still a
bachelor at the age of 35, ten years later, when he was working at a clerk,
the only child still living with his mother at New Cross Road in Deptford,
where his mother died two years later during the second three months of
1883. |
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Not
long after the death of his mother, Oliver Collett aged 38 and the son of
Henry Oliver Collett, married 34 years-old Ada Stillman on 4th
August 1883 at St Botolph without Bishopsgate. She was born at Newbury in Berkshire where
her birth was recorded during the second quarter of 1849, the daughter of
shoemaker William Stillman and his wife Elizabeth. The census in 1891 revealed the couple
residing at Hunsdon Road within the parish of St Pauls in Deptford. Oliver Collett, ‘from Surrey,’ was 45 and
living on his own means, while his wife Ada Collett from Newbury was 40. Living with the couple was their only known
child, their son Oliver E R Collett, who was three years old and born in
Kent. |
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According
to the electoral rolls, Oliver Collett was living at 127 Avondale Square off
the Old Kent Road in Camberwell from 1893 to at least 1904. That was certainly confirmed in the next
census of 1901 when Oliver Collett from Bermondsey was 56 and working as a
clerk for a scientific journal, while living at a dwelling in Avondale
Square. His wife Ada was 52 and a
teacher of music having her own account, and their son Oliver E R Collett was
13 and from New Cross in the London borough of Lewisham. The Electoral Registers from 1909 to 1912
list him as Oliver Collet when he was living at 55 Gellatly Road in Nunhead
within the New Cross area of south-east London. The census conducted in April 1911
described Oliver Collett from Bermondsey as being aged 66 and a gentleman,
which may be an indication that he was retired. Ada was 62 and their son Oliver E R Collett
was 23 and employed as a bank clerk.
Staying with the family was day was Ada’s younger brother Edward
Stillman, a travelling salesman aged 53. |
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71p1 |
Oliver Edward Rene Collett |
Born in 1888
at New Cross, Kent |
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71o6 |
Edwin Henry Collett was born at Southwark on 6th
July 1852 and his birth was recorded at St Olave Bermondsey (Ref. 1d 35)
during the third quarter of that year.
He was less than three weeks old when he was baptised there on 25th
July that same year, the last known child born to Henry Oliver Collett and
Anna Maria Meinert. No record of him
has been found in 1861 but by 1871 he was 18 and living with his widowed
mother and older brother Oliver in Hackney, while two doors from their home
was Edwin’s married sister Eliza (above). Just four years later the marriage of Edwin
Henry Collett was recorded at Hackney (Ref. 1b 615) during the second quarter
of 1875 when his wife was either Louisa Saubergue of Alice Starkey. |
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71o7 |
Alfred Collett was born at St George Southwark where
his birth was recorded (Ref. iv 93) during the third quarter of 1837, the
eldest son of Ebenezer Collet and Jane Hagger. He was three years of age and 13 years old
in the two census returns for Bermondsey in 1841 and 1851. Nine years later, on 31st March
1860, Alfred Collett married Ann Buck at the Church of St James in
Bermondsey. Alfred’s father was
confirmed as Ebenezer Collett and Ann’s father was named as George West Buck. |
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By
1861 Alfred was 23 and was working as a leather shaver, the same occupation
as his father. His wife Ann Collett,
who was also born at Southwark, was 24 when the couple was residing at Park
Street in Bermondsey with their first child.
Their son Alfred George Collett had been born during the previous
weeks, being one month old on the day of the census. Three more children were added to the
family at Bermondsey during the following decade, with the family still
living there in 1871. |
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The
census that year listed the family as leather shaver Alfred Collett aged 33,
Ann Collett aged 34, Alfred G Collett aged 10, Frances Jane Collett who was
eight, Frederick C Collett who was four and Eliza M Collett who was two years
old. It was at Alderminster Road in
Bermondsey that the family was recorded in 1881 where father and eldest son
were both employed as leather shaver curriers and every member of the
household was stated as having been born at Bermondsey. Alfred was 43, Ann was 44, Alfred G Collett
was 20, Frances J Collett was 18, Frederick C Collett was 14, Eliza M Collett
was 12, Jane F Collett was nine, Alice M Collett was six and Charles E
Collett was three years of age. |
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Alfred
and Ann had been married for just less than twenty-nine years when Alfred
passed away at the age of 52. It was
at Southwark St Olave that his death was recorded (Ref. 1d 176) during the
first quarter of 1890. As regards his eldest
Bermondsey born daughters, the birth of Frances Jane Collett was registered
there during the second quarter of 1863 (Ref. 1d 80), as was Frederick C Collett
during the third quarter of 1866 (Ref. 1d 95), and Eliza Margaret Collett
during the first three months of 1869 (Ref. 1d 103). The births of the three youngest children
were registered at St Olave Bermondsey, as distinct from just Bermondsey in
the case of the other daughters. |
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71p2 |
Alfred George Collett |
Born in 1861
at Bermondsey |
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71p3 |
Frances Jane
Collett |
Born in 1863
at Bermondsey |
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71p4 |
Frederick C
Collett |
Born in 1866
at Bermondsey |
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71p5 |
Eliza Margaret
Collett |
Born in 1868
at Bermondsey |
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71p6 |
Jane Flora
Collett |
Born in 1871
at Bermondsey |
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71p7 |
Louisa Alice
M A H Collett |
Born in 1873
at Bermondsey |
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71p8 |
Charles Edwin
Collett |
Born in 1877
at Bermondsey |
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71o8 |
William Hagger Collett was born at Long Lane in Bermondsey in
1839, the second child of Ebenezer Collet and Jane Hagger, whose birth was
recorded at Bermondsey (Ref. iv 38) during the third quarter of that
year. It was at Long Lane that he and
his family were living in 1841, sometime after which they moved to nearby
Minto Street in Bermondsey, where they were residing in 1851. The census that year listed William H
Collett as being 11 years of age and still living at the home of his
parents. No obvious record of him has
been found after 1851 and he should not be confused with William John Collett
who was also born at Bermondsey, but in 1838, who married Mary and gave birth
to Henry James Collett and Louisa Collett at Bermondsey in 1858 and 1859. |
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The
death of William Haggar Collett was recorded at St Olave Southwark register
office (Ref. 1d 165) during the first three months of 1899, when he was 60
years of age. |
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71o9 |
Charles Edwin Collett was born at Bermondsey in 1841, his
birth recorded there (Ref. iv 12) during the last three months of that
year. It is likely he was born at Long
Lane in Bermondsey, where his family had been living in June that same
year. On the day of the next census in
1851 the family was recorded at Minto Street in Bermondsey, when Charles E
Collett was nine years old. His mother
died six years after that and, by 1861, Charles had joined the Royal Navy. The census that year described his as
Charles Collett from Bermondsey who was 20 and a private serving with the
Royal Navy at sea and in ports abroad.
Over the following decade he was promoted to the rank of corporal and
in 1871 when was based at Walmer, near Deal, to the north of Dover, where
unmarried Charles Collett from Bermondsey was 29. |
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During
the following ten years, Charles married Alice, although where and when the
wedding took place has not yet been determined. According to the next census in 1881 the
childless couple was residing at Bank Street in the coastal market town of
Hyde near Folkestone. At that time in
his life, Charles was described as a sergeant volunteer and a Royal Navy
pensioner aged 39. His wife Alice
Collett was 35 and born at Sandwich in East Kent. What happened to them after that day has
also not been discovered, but in was on 19th October 1923 that
Charles Collett was buried at Streatham in Surrey, following his death at the
age of 82. |
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71o10 |
Oliver Collett was born at Bermondsey in 1844,
another son of Ebenezer and Jane Collett whose birth was recorded there (Ref.
iv 19) during the second quarter of 1844.
His cousin, another Oliver Collett (above), married Ada
Stillman and was born at Southwark in 1845, the son of Henry Oliver Collett,
the brother of Oliver’s father Ebenezer.
Therefore, there is an opportunity for confusion between the two
Olivers of a similar age later in their lives. However, it was at Minto Street in
Bermondsey that Oliver Collett from Bermondsey was six years of age in the
census of 1851 when he was living there with his parents Ebenezer and Jane
Collett and the rest of his family.
The other Oliver Collett was also six years old but was living with
his family in Southwark St Olave, just to the west of Bermondsey on the south
bank of the River Thames. |
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No
census return for either of the two Olivers has been identified within the
next census of 1861, while in 1871 the ‘other Oliver Collett’ from Southwark
was still living with his widowed mother in Hackney. No record of Oliver the son of Ebenezer has
been found in 1881, while the ‘other Oliver’ was still living with his mother
and was married to Ada Stillman two years later in 1883. What happened to Oliver the son of Ebenezer
from that time onwards is unknown, except that within the electoral roll for
Dulwich in 1907, a certain Oliver Collett was residing at 99 Choumert Road in
that area of London, while ‘the other Oliver, together with his wife Ada, was
living at 127 Avondale Square in Camberwell at that time. |
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71o11 |
Henry Collett was born at Bermondsey in 1849, his
birth recorded there (Ref. iv 23) during the fourth quarter of that year, the
fifth of the six sons of Ebenezer Collett and Jane Haggard. Not to be confused with Henry Collett of
a similar age who was also born in Bermondsey, as detailed in Appendix Two. He was one year old in the Bermondsey
census of 1851 when he and his family was living at Minto Street, where he
may have also been born. Just over six
years later his mother died so, in the Bermondsey census of 1861, Henry
Collett, aged 11 years, and his younger brother Frederick (below) were
with their father who were described as visitors at the Alfred Street home of
Catherine Magness. On leaving school,
Henry became a full-time soldier and on the day of the census in 1871 he was
based in Portsmouth, where he was recorded as an unmarried soldier aged 23
(sic), having been born in London, Surrey.
And it was at Portsmouth where he met his future wife, whom he married
two years later. |
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It was originally believed that Henry eventually ended up
living in the Birmingham area of England where the census in 1901 included
Henry Collett from Bermondsey as a commercial traveller and a married man,
with a family, living within the Yardley area of East Birmingham. However, it has now been established that
he married Sarah Ann Knight from Alcester in Warwickshire at Birmingham in
1873, as detailed in Appendix Two. |
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As
a result of the research, it is now confirmed that Henry Collett, born at
Bermondsey and the son of Ebenezer Collett, married Ann Louisa Williams of
Portsmouth at Gillingham in Kent around the same time in 1873. That happy event took place at the Church
of St Mary Magdalene on The Green in Gillingham on 27th January
1873. Bachelor Henry Collett was 23
and a serving member of Queen Victoria’s Army Service Corps, the son of
leather dresser Ebenezer Collett, residing in barracks at Gillingham. His bride Ann, was described as 18 years
old, a spinster of Gillingham, whose father was photographer Benjamin
Williams. Henry and Ann signed the
register in their own hand, while neither of the witnesses appear to have
been related to the couple. |
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No
record of Ann’s birth, baptism, or her family around the time of her birth
has been found, just an earlier record of her parents and older siblings at
Portsea, Portsmouth in 1841.
Furthermore, she and Henry had run away to Gillingham to be married
without her father’s consent, since she was certainly younger than the
eighteen-years she said she was on her wedding day. |
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For
whatever reason, no children were living with Henry and Ann in the next two
census returns, after the Henry had returned to his army base which, in 1881
was at Woolwich Barracks. Henry
Collett from Bermondsey was 32 and a sergeant with the Army Service
Corps. His wife Ann Louisa Collett
from Portsmouth was 26. Ten years
later, the census in 1891, listed the two of them residing at St Johns Road
in Portsea, Hampshire. By that time
Henry had retired from the army and was described as an army pensioner from
London who was 41, while Ann L Collett was 36. |
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One
year later the death of Henry Collett was recorded at Portsea register office
(Ref. 2b 286) during the second quarter of 1892 when he was 42 years
old. According to the next census in
1901, his widow Ann Collett from Portsmouth was 47 when she was having to
work, to make ends meet, as a housekeeper at the Portsmouth Hereford Road
home of seventy-year-old James Tunnicliffe from Staffordshire. |
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71o12 |
Frederick Collett was born at Bermondsey, the last child
of Ebenezer Collett and Jane Hagger, his birth recorded there (Ref. 1d 99)
during the third quarter of 1856. His
mother either died one year later, perhaps during the birth of a seventh
child. By 1861 Frederick Collett aged
four years was living with his father and older brother Henry Collett (above)
at Alfred Street in Bermondsey, the home of Catherine Magness. Thirty-four-years later in the 1895
Electoral Roll for Bermondsey, a certain Frederick Charles Collett was paying
twelve shillings each week for a room at 300 Rolls Road, the home of Ann
Collett. Frederick had one furnished
room on the first floor and the use of the sitting room. No other record of any Frederick Collett of
Bermondsey has been discovered, either before or after 1895. |
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71p1 |
Oliver Edward Rene
Collett was born at
New Cross within the London Borough of Lewisham in Kent, the only known child
of Oliver Collett and Ada Stillman.
His birth was recorded at Greenwich (Ref. 1d 1074) during the first
three months of 1888, following which he was baptised on 25th
March 1888 at All Saints Church in Deptford.
He was three years old in the Deptford census of 1891 when he and his
parents were living on Hunsdon Street.
Around two years later the family of three moved to Camberwell where
they took up residence at 127 Avondale Square and where Oliver R E collett
was 13 in 1901. Between 1904 and 1907
the family moved once more, on that occasion to 55 Gellatly Road in Nunhead
where they were living in 1911, by which time Oliver E R Collett was 23 and a
bank clerk. |
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Four
and a half years later Oliver Edward Rene Collett, aged 27, married Lily
Selina Rouse who was 27. The wedding
took place at St Catherine’s Church in Hatcham within the London Borough of
Lewisham on 18th September 1915.
Oliver was confirmed as the son of Oliver Collett, while Lily was
named as the daughter of William James Rouse.
It is unclear whether Lily presented Oliver with any children before
he died in 1936. The death of Oliver E
R Collett at the age of 47 was recorded at Bromley register office in Kent
(Ref. 2a 1004) during the first quarter of that year. |
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His
Will was proved in London on 8th April 1936 when it was revealed
that he died on 11th February 1936 at the family home at Rookery
Nook on Eastbury Road in Petts Wood (near Orpington) Kent. The executor of his estate of £496 5
Shillings was named as widow Lily Selena Jane Collett. |
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71p2 |
Alfred George Collett was born at Park Street in Bermondsey
in February 1861, his birth recorded there (Ref. 1d 103) during the first
quarter of that year, the eldest son of Alfred and Ann Collett. He was one month old in the census that
year and still living at Park Street in Bermondsey and was 10 years of age in
1871. By 1881 the family was living at
Alderminster Road in Bermondsey when Alfred, aged 20, was working alongside
his father as a leather shaver currier.
Within the next year Alfred George Collett married Harriet Seckree and
by 1891 their marriage had produced five children. |
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|
According
to the census in 1891, the young family of Alfred and Harriet Collett was
residing at Marine Street in Bermondsey close to the family of James Thomas
Collett (Ref. 71N20), whose occupation was that of a marine store dealer, who
was also a resident of Marine Street.
So far as can be determined they were not directly related, but may
have been distant cousins. Alfred was
a leather shaver at 30, his wife Harriet was also 30, and their five children
were Alice Collett who was seven, Alfred Collett who was five, Harriet
Collett who was four, Edward Collett who was two and Frederick Collett who
was one year old. |
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|
The
family was still recorded at Marine Street in 1901, as was James Collett, who
was still there in 1911 at No 1 Marine Street. The March census in 1901 revealed that
Harriet had given birth to another five children, while all ten of her
children were entered on the census return.
Alfred G Collett senior was 40, Harriet was also 4, Alice was 17,
Alfred G junior was 15, Harriet was 14, Edward was 12, Frederick was 11, Rose
was nine, Henry was seven, Charles was five, Margaret was three and Sarah was
one year old. |
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|
What
happened to Alfred and Harriet between 1901 and 1911 is not known for
certain, bit by April 1911 the couple was no longer living with their
children who, by then had left Marine Street and moved the short distance
east to 93 Spa Road in Bermondsey. The
five-roomed premises housed eight of their children, plus Harriet’s widowed
brother Henry Seckree who was 54 and a house painter at Lloyds Wharf. Every member of the household had been born
at Bermondsey, while head of the household was Alice Collett who was 27 and a
punching ball machinist at Sports works.
Harriet Collett was 24 and a helmet trimmer with a helmet
manufacturer, Edward was 22 and a motor fitter at a garage and Frederick was
21 and a glover cutter at Sports Works.
Looking after the home was Rose Collett who was 19 and described as
the housekeeper at home, with her younger siblings named as Henry Collett who
was 17 and a case maker, Charles Collett who was 15 and an errand boy for a
case maker and Margaret Collett who was 13 and still attending the local
school. |
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|
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|
71q1 |
Alice A
Collett |
Born in 1883
at Bermondsey |
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|
71q2 |
Alfred G
Collett |
Born in 1885
at Bermondsey |
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|
71q3 |
Harriet F Collett |
Born in 1886
at Bermondsey |
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|
71q4 |
Edward C
Collett |