PART EIGHTY-FOUR

The Collett Family of Stowood, Oxfordshire

The very small settlement of Stowood, not even described as a hamlet, lies

four miles north-east of Oxford (today on the B4027), midway between Elsfield and Beckley

Issued – April 2024

The establishment of this family line, and the research that preceded this, came about following discovery of an Old Bailey Court case involving John Collett [84M10] aged 36 in 1877. Within the court records John was described as a farmer and an inn keeper living at Stow-on-the-Wold, having sisters Mary and Sophia, and a brother Charles. However, it was during the record of the court proceedings that his place of residence was incorrectly reported as Stow-in-the-Wood, because the first step in the research revealed Stow Wood (Stowood) was where he was born, where his family had a farm. In 1848 the population of Stowood was 33, with a minimum of seven of them being members of the Collett family

The family of Richard Collett, who starts this line of the Collett family, was previously included in a sub-section of Part 46 – The Charlton-on-Otmoor (Oxon) Area Line 1870 to 2011, where it related to the village of Beckley. That sub-section listed many of the members of the Collett families living within the parish of Beckley and recorded at The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. All baptisms of children born at Stowood were also recorded there, so for completeness, that former sub-section is now an appendix at the end of this family line

Richard Collett [84K1] was born around 1765 and is believed to have been married twice. By his first wife (1) Ann they had a daughter Ann Collett who was baptised at Beckley in 1787, with the mother not surviving the ordeal of the birth. Richard then married (2) Elizabeth, with whom he had two daughters, Grace and Elizabeth, and a son William. Although all of them were baptised at Beckley, but it is established that their son was born at Stowood, where the three daughters may also have been born

84L1 – Ann Collett was baptised at Beckley on 11^th April 1787

84L2 – Grace Collett was baptised at Beckley on 23^rd November 1788

84L3 – Elizabeth Collett was born at Beckley on 5^th January 1791

84L4 – William Collett was born at Stowood in 1794

William Collett [84L4] was born at Stowood in 1794 and was baptised at nearby Beckley on 22^nd April 1794, the son of Richard and Elizabeth Collett. He would have been in his early twenties when he married the much younger Mary Cave on 6^th September 1819 at the parish church in Beckley (The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin). It was also there where the couple’s eldest known daughter was born, and presumably baptised there, as was all their other children. After around fifteen years together they had given birth to nine children, although only eight of them were still living with them Stowood in June 1841. By then it was daughter Elizabeth who had not survived. The census that month recorded the family as Richard, with a rounded age of 45, Mary with a rounded age of 35, Mary junior who was 20, William who was 15, Jane who was 14, Charles who was eleven, Ann who was eight, Sophia who was seven, Emma who was five, and Sarah who was three years old. Completing the family was George Gill who was 35.

Shortly after that census day Mary gave birth to a tenth child, followed four years later by the birth of the couple’s last child, that birth very likely coinciding with the death of his mother. Mary Collett died at Stowood and was buried at Beckley, as confirmed by the next Stowood census in 1851. On that day, William was a widower and a farmer having had 130 acres of land on which he employed four men and one boy out door. Living with him at Stowood were seven of his likely nine children, none of whom were married. They were Mary Collett who was 31 and born at Beckley, a farmer’s daughter, Jane Collett who was 23 and another farmer’s daughter, Charles Collett who was 20 and a farmer’s son, Sophia Collett who was 17, Emma Collett who was 15, Sarah Collett who was 13, and John Collett who was nine years old. With the exception being daughter Mary, all the other children had been born at Stowood

During the following decade some of his children left the family farm in Stowood, leaving just fourth of still living with William in 1861. By then he was 67, still working 130 acres but with three men and four boys. The four children living there with him were Mary Collett from Beckley aged 40, a farmer’s daughter, as was Jane Collett who was 30, John Collett who was 19 and a farmer’s son, as was Thomas Collett who was 15. It was six years later when the death of William Collett aged 73 was recorded at Headington (in Oxford) during the second quarter of 1867 (Ref. 3a 362). It was almost two years after he had passed away that the Will of William Collett was proved at Oxford on 10^th March 1869, with the probate process also confirming that he died on 11^th May 1867.

84M1 – Mary Collett was born in 1820 at Beckley, Oxon

84M2 – William Collett was born in 1822 at Stowood, Oxon

84M3 – Elizabeth Collett was born in 1825 at Stowood, Oxon

84M4 – Jane Collett was born in 1828 at Stowood, Oxon

84M5 – Charles Collett was born in 1830 at Stowood, Oxon

84M6 – Ann Collett was born in 1832 at Stowood, Oxon

84M7 – Sophia Collett was born in 1834 at Stowood, Oxon

84M8 – Emma Collett was born in 1836 at Stowood, Oxon

84M9 – Sarah Collett was born in 1838 at Stowood, Oxon

84M10 – John Collett was born in 1841 at Stowood, Oxon

84M11 – Thomas Collett was born in 1845 at Stowood, Oxon

Mary Collett [84M1] was born at Beckley in 1820, just prior to her parents, William Collett and Mary Cave, moving to a farm in nearby Stowood. It was after the birth of the couple’s second child that Mary was baptised in a joint ceremony with her baby brother William at Beckley on 24^th March 1822. On the day of the Stowood census in 1841, Mary was given a rounded age of twenty. Ten years later, farmer’s daughter Mary Collett from Beckley was not married at the age of 31 and was helping her widowed father by looking after the younger members of the family.

It was a similar situation in 1861, when farmer’s daughter Mary Collett from Beckley was 40 and one of only four siblings still living with, and helping her father on the family’s farm. Following the death of her father in 1867, and after a prolonged settlement of his estate, his son John (below) took over the management of the farm who, by 1871 was the head of the household at Stowood, where sister Mary, aged 52, was very likely acting as his housekeeper, assisted by her younger sister Jane (below), who was 42.

William Collett [84M2] was born at Stowood in 1822 and was baptised at Beckley on 24^th March 1822, the eldest son and second child of William Collett and Mary Cave. Perhaps because his older sister Mary (above) was given a rounded age of twenty in the Stowood census of 1841, William was recorded with a rounded age of fifteen. William had already left the family farm in Stowood by 1851, when he was recorded five miles south-east of Stowood at the village of Holton, near Wheatley. The census return that year describe Wiliam Collett from Stowood as unmarried at 30, who was employed as estate steward by 73-year-old Frances L Briscoe, Lady of the Manor of Holton, and the most senior of the seven servants in her employ.

On that day the older sister of Frances L Briscoe, and co-heiress of Holton Manor, Elizabeth D Briscoe was absent. However, following in the next census in 1861, both sisters were still residing at the manor house where William continued to be employed by the heiresses. By then he was 39, single, and from Stowood, who was the housekeeper for 86-year-old Elizabeth D Brisco and Frances L Brisco aged 83, both described as land proprietors. William was again the most senior of the sisters seven servants.

Towards the end of 1868, the marriage of William Collett and Ann Smith was recorded at Headington (Ref. 3a 937) during the last three months of the year. In 1871 the couple was living a short distance west of Holton at Forest Hill, where William Collett from Beckley was 50 and a farmer. His wife Ann Collett from Oxford was 52 years old. After a further decade the childless couple was farming just north of Forest Hill at Stanton St John, close to Stowood, where the farm had 126 acres needing the employed by William of four men and three boys. William from Stowood said he was 60, while his wife Ann was 61. Their general domestic servant that day was Kate Jones aged 15 for Piddington in Buckinghamshire.

Twenty years later, William Collett was 81 (sic), a retired farmer and a widower, living at William Street at New Marston within the St Clement district on the east side of the City of Oxford. Four years after that census day William Collett at William Street in New Marston, with his death recorded at nearby Headington register office (Ref. 3a 497) during the second quarter of 1905, when he was 84. He had spent the last nine years of his life alone, following the death of his wife in 1896, recorded at Headington register office (Ref. 3a 493) during the last three months of the year when she was 78.

Elizabeth Collett [84M3] was born at Stowood in 1825 and was baptised at Beckley on 20^th November 1825, another daughter of William and Mary Collett. Elizabeth was absent from the family in 1841, giving rise to the suggestion that she suffered an infant death.

Jane Collett [84M4] was born at Stowood in 1828 and was baptised at Beckley on 9^th March 1828, the fourth of the eleven children of William and Mary Collett. Jane was recorded in error in the Stowood census of 1841 as being 14 instead of 12 or 13. Having suffered the loss of their mother, Jane aged 23 of Stowood, and her older sister Mary, were supporting their widowed father by taking care of the farmhouse and their younger siblings. In 1861 unmarried Jane was 30 (sic) and a farmer’s daughter, and by 1871, four years after the death of her father, unmarried Jane aged 42 and her older sister Mary and brother John, were the only members of the family still working the farm in Stowood.

Charles Collett [84M5] was born at Stowood in 1830 and was baptised at Beckley on 30^th May 1830, another son of William and Mary Collett. He was confirmed as being eleven years of age in the Stowood census of 1841, and was 20 in 1851 when farmer’s son Charles from Stowood was assisting his father on the family’s farm in Stowood. During the next decade Charles acquired his own family, also in Stowood, much large than his father’s farm having 200 acres employing three men and two boys. As head of the household in 1861, Charles Collett from Stowood was 30 and had his younger sister Emma (below) living there with him.

Eighteen months after the census in 1871, when no trace of Charles has been found, the marriage of Charles Collett and Fanny Taylor was recorded at Stow-on-the-Wold in Gloucestershire (Ref. 6a 811) during the last quarter of 1872. Fanny was the daughter of William and Mary Taylor and was baptised at Chipping Campden in Gloucestershire having been born at nearby Kingham. After nine years together, the couple had three child who were all born at Stowood, where the family was living in 1881. Charles was 50 and a farmer having 101 acres, for which he employed two men and two boys. His family comprised wife Fanny was 45 and from Kingham, when their four Stowood born children were William Charles who was six, Frank Herman who was three, Amy Alice who was two, and Ada Laskey who was under one year old. Helping Fanny with her home and children, the family employed a general domestic servant, 14-year-old Martha Phoebe Mortimer

Ten years later the family was residing in the Gloucestershire village of Great Rissington when the 1891 census listed the family as Charles aged 60 and a farmer, Fanny was 51, William was 16, Frank was 13, Amy was 12, and Ada was 10. The two daughters were attending school, while their son was very likely helping their father on the farm. The most of the family was again living in Great Rissington in 1901, where farmer Charles was 70, Fanny was 60, William C Collett was 26 and working on the farm, as was Frank H Collett who was 24, and daughter Ada L Collett who was 20 with no stated occupation.

Charles died during May 1906, with his death recorded at Stow-on-the-Wold register office (Ref. 6a 243) during the second quarter of the year when he was 76 years of age. His body was laid to rest in the grounds of the Church of St John the Baptist in Great Rissington that month. Five years later, it was just his four children who were living at, and managing, Rectory Farm in Great Rissington, although no record of the death of his widow Fanny has been discovered.

84N1 – William Charles Collett was born in 1874 at Stowood

84N2 – Frank Herman Collett was born in 1877 at Stowood

84N3 – Amy Alice Collett was born in 1878 at Stowood

84N4 – Ada Laskey Collett was born in 1881 at Stowood

Ann Collett [84M6] was born at Stowood in 1832 and was eight years old in the Stowood census of 1841, another daughter of William and Mary Collett. Ten years later Ann from Stowood was 19 and a visitor at the home of married William Tredwell aged 51 and a farmer at Piddington near Bicester. By 1871 Ann from Stowood was 30 (sic) and single, and working as the housekeeper for John Barton of Aston Blank in Gloucestershire who was a bachelor and a farmer of 600 acres, employing 13 men and 8 boys, at Ashton-under-Hill.

Ann never married and in 1901 was residing at Russell Street in Reading where she was the head of the household at the age of 66, when she was described as Ann Collett from Stowood whose occupation was letting apartments. Living with Ann was her younger unmarried sister Sophia (below), having also a boarder and a general domestic servant at the property.

Sophia Collett [84M7] was born at Stowood in 1834 and was baptised at Beckley on 27^th April 1834, another daughter of William and Mary Collett. She was seven years of age in the Stowood census of 1841, and was 17 ten years later in the census of 1851 for Stowood. A little while after that census day Sophia travelled south to Richmond in Surrey where she took on the role of house keeper for grocer Thomas Cave at George Street from where he employed thirteen men. The 1861 census for Richmond listed Sophia Collett from Stowood as being 25 (sic) and the niece of widower Thomas Cave aged 49 and from Beckley in Oxfordshire, he being the younger brother of Sophia’s deceased mother Mary Cave. Sophia was still there in 1871 except, by that time and during the 1860s, Thomas Cave had died, with his son George Cave taking over the role of head of the household, where 37-year-old Sophia was still the house keeper for her cousin. The whereabouts of Sophia and some other members of her family remains a mystery for the period between 1871 and 1901.

In 1901 Sophia and her older sister Ann (above) were residing at Russell Street in Reading where Ann was the head of the household. Sophia from Stowood was 64, and boarding with the sisters was 82-year-old Harriet Partridge a widow and retired hotel keeper from Woodcote near Wallingford in Oxfordshire. According to the next census in 1911, Sophia Collett from Beckley was 77 and living on private means when she was living with her younger sister Sarah Collett (below) who was head of the household at Royal Leamington Spa in Warwickshire, who was also living on private means. It was eight years following that census day when Sophia died at Leamington Spa, with her death recorded at Warwick register office (Ref. 6d 747) during the last three months of 1919 when she was 85. Her burial record at Leamington Cemetery informed that she died on 9^th October 1919.

Emma Collett [84M8] was born at Stowood in 1836 and was baptised at Beckley on 20^th March 1836, another daughter of William and Mary Collett. Emma was five years old in the census of 1841 and 15 years of age in 1851, when her place of birth was confirmed as Stowood. By 1861 Emma was living with her brother Charles (above) on his farm at Stowood, when she was 24 and described as a farmer’s sister of Stowood.

Sarah Collett [84M9] was born at Stowood in 1838 when her birth was registered at Headington (Ref. xvi 63) during the second quarter of that year. Prior to that, she was baptised at Beckley on 18^th March 1838, the youngest daughter of William and Mary Collett. She was three years old in the Stowood census of 1841, and 13 in 1851. After leaving school, Sarah left the family farm in Stowood and took up employment in the City of Oxford where, in 1861 Sarah Collett from Beckley was 23 and a servant at the George Street residence of veterinary surgeon Henry Hall and his family.

During the following decade Sarah travelled to Gloucestershire and in 1871 was working as an hotel manager at Newnham in the Forest of Dean, when Sarah from Stowood was 32 and had seven members of staff working for her. Towards the end of her life, she was living in Royal Leamington Spa on private means, when Sarah Collett from Beckley was 73 and head of the household who had her older unmarried sister Sophia (above) living there with her.

John Collett [84M10] was born at Stowood in 1841 and his birth was registered at Headington (Ref. xvi 56) during the third quarter of the year. Shortly after he was born, he was baptised at Beckley on 18^th July 1841, another son of William and Mary Collett. He was born six weeks after the census in 1841, and was nine years of age in the Stowood census of 1851. After a further decade, John was one of only four children still living with their father on the farm at Stowood, when he was 19. Six years later his father passed away and, after a protracted probate period lasting almost two years, John took over his father’s estate. As a result, the next census in 1871 included 29-year-old John Collett as head of the household at the farm in Stowood, when the only members of the family living there with him were his two eldest unmarried sisters Mary and Jane (above).

On 19^th November 1877 John Collett, aged 36, appeared at the Old Bailey Court in London where he was “indicted for unlawfully obtaining from John Airey an order for 80 Pounds, with intent to defraud. Other Counts — For making a false declaration of his solvency. For the charge of deception and fraud he was found to be not guilty. During the court proceedings it was revealed that a witness for the defendant was his older brother Charles Collett, a farm at Stowe, in Oxfordshire (reference to Stowood). In his statement, the prosecuting solicitor also mentioned two sisters of John Collett, and they were named as Mary and Sophia Collett

Thomas Collett [84M11] was born at Stowood in 1845, with his birth registered at Headington (Ref. xvi 59) during the second quarter of that year. He was baptised at Beckley on 24^th April 1845, the last child born to William Collett and Mary Cave, with his mother dying shortly after he was born. In the following two census returns for 1851 and 1861, Thomas was five years of age and 15 years old, when he was still living with his widowed father on their farm at Stowood, where his father died in 1867, the farm eventually taken over by his brother John (above). So far, no record of Thomas has been found within the census of 1871, but by 1881 he was a married man with a family of his own.

At that time in his life Thomas was a farmer of 60 acres in the hamlet of Bushwood, north-east of Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire, when he was 36 and confirmed as having been born at Stowood in Oxfordshire. His older wife was Ann E Collett from Bicester who was 47, and her daughter was 12-year-old Flora A Collett whose place of birth was St Martins, Jersey in the Channel Islands. Such was their standing in the local community that the couple employed two servants; Alice Arnold was 15 and Richard Gardner who was 20 and a farm servant indoors.

Upon the premature death of Thomas Collett, his wife left Warwickshire and moved to a property on Regent Street in the Cowley district of South Oxford, where she and her daughter were residing in 1891. Annie E Collett from Fencott near Bicester was 62 and living on her own means. Her Jersey born daughter Flora A Collett was 22, having no stated occupation. Their domestic servant was Rose Gardiner aged 18, while visiting Annie and Flora was 21-year-old Emily E Gillett who was a private governess. No record of the marriage of Thomas and Ann, nor of Thomas’ death, but having regard to the age difference between them, it is possible that Flora A Collett was Thomas’ adopted step-daughter, a child from Annie’s first marriage

William Charles Collett [84N1] was born at Stowood near the end of 1874 and was the eldest of the four children of Charles Collett and Fanny Taylor. The birth of William Charles Collett was registered at Headington (Ref. 3a 641) during the first three months of 1875. As William Charles he was six years of age in 1881 when living with his farming family at Stowood. After the birth of his youngest sister, the family moved to Great Rissington in Gloucester, not far from where his mother had been born, as confirmed in the census of 1891. As simply William Collett from Oxfordshire he was 16 and a farmer’s son at Great Rissington. It was there also, after a further ten years, that 26-year-old William C Collett was single and working on his father’s farm at Great Rissington. According to the April census conducted in 1911, William Charles Collett was incorrectly recorded as being 34, when he was single and from Beckley, who had taken over management of Rectory Farm in Great Rissington following his father’s death in 1906. What happened to his mother is still not known, but on that census only the four children of Charles and Fanny were recorded at their farm in 1911. Sadly, no record of him has been found after that day.

Frank Herman Collett [84N2] was born at Stowood in 1877, and was another son of Charles and Fanny Collett. His birth was also registered at Headington (Ref. 3a 642) during the third quarter of that year and he was three years old in the Stowood census of 1881. He was only a few years old when his family moved from Oxfordshire across the county boundary into Gloucestershire, settling in Great Rissington where Frank was 13 years old in 1891, and where he was 24 in 1901 when he was working on his father’s farm.

Five years after that, Frank’s father died, and possibly his mother as well, although no obvious record of her passing has been found. Interestingly, within the next census for Great Rissington in 1911, Frank and his three siblings were recorded as the only four members of the family living at Rectory Farm, but with none of them stated to be head of the household. Maybe that was because their absent (and widowed) mother was still the head of the family. On the day Frank Herman Collett was single and incorrect recorded as being 32, from Beckley, whose occupation was that of a farmer. Twenty-two years later Frank H Collett was 56 years old when died on 8^th November 1933, with his death recorded at Gloucestershire register office (Ref.6a 484).

Amy Alice Collett [84N3] was born at Stowood on 9^th November 1878 with her birth registered at Headington (Ref. 3a 676) during the final quarter of 1878. She was the third child and eldest daughter of Charles Collett and Fanny Taylor, and was two years old in Stowood census of 1881 under her full name. She was only a few years old when her family stopped farming in Stowood, but continued to do so after arriving at Great Rissington in Gloucestershire where, as simply Amy Collett from Stowood she was 12 years of age in 1891. She was not with her family at Great Rissington in 1901 when, at the age of Amy A Collett from Stowood was the only domestic help at the Aston Blank home of Ann M Barton from Turkdean who was head of the household, a widow, and a farmer aged 65. Following the death of her father in 1906, Amy returned to Rectory Farm in Great Rissington where she took on the role of housekeeper for her three siblings.

On the day of the census in 1911 Amy Alice Collett was 30 when her birthplace was recorded as Beckley. Just less than six years later, the marriage of Amy Alice Collett and Job J Jeffries was recorded at Stow-on-the-Wold register office (Ref. 6a 647) during the first three months of 1917. Many years later Amy Alice Jeffries, nee Collett, died on 15^th November 1945 six days after her 67^th birthday, when her passing was recorded at Gloucestershire register office (Ref. 6a 561). From the obituary published two days later in the Gloucestershire Echo it is known that Amy and her husband J J Jeffries were residing at Sunnycroft in Bourton-on-the Water, where she died peacefully in her sleep. It was at the Parish Church in Great Rissington that Amy was buried on 17^th November, although settlement of her Will was not proved at Gloucester until 18^th March 1946, when the two main beneficiaries were Job James Jeffries and Ada Laskey Collett, her sister (below).

Ada Laskey Collett [84N4] was born at Stowood on 12^th February 1881 when the registration of her birth at Headington (Ref. 3a 721) was delayed until the second quarter of that year. She was the last child born the Charles Collett and Fanny Taylor, and had been born immediately prior to the day of the census. As Ada Collett from Stowood she was 10 years old in 1891, by which time, her family had left Stowood in Oxfordshire and were living at Rectory Farm in Great Rissington, where she was 20 years of age in 1901. After her father died in 1906, and with no further trace of her mother, in 1911 it was as Ada Laskey Collett aged 28 (sic) who was single and with no occupation, that she and her three older siblings were residing at Rectory Farm, where her brothers had taken on their father’s farm. In 1946, following the death of her married sister Amy (above) during the previous year, Ada Laskey Collett was one of the main beneficiaries at the proving of her Will at Gloucester. Ada never married and died in Wiltshire, where her death was recorded (Ref. 7c 2339) during 1969.

	The Beckley Village Colletts
	The village of Beckley lies on the southside of Otmoor, less than five miles north-east of the centre of Oxford and close to the Headington district of the city. The earliest residents found during the compilation of this family line are:
84a1	Richard Collett and his wife Grace Collett, whose daughter Elizabeth Collett was baptised at Beckley on 30^th September 1750.
84a2	John Collett and his wife Elizabeth Collett, whose son John Collett was baptised there on 30^th October 1768, and whose daughter Mary Collett was baptised there on 22^nd March 1772.
84a3	Sarah Collett, who was 80 in June 1841, was the widow of Thomas Collett whose two known children were Mary Collett who was baptised at Beckley on 17^th October 1784 and John Collett who was baptised there on 27^th April 1788.
84b/84b1	Richard Collett, who was 55 in 1841, was baptised at Beckley on 28^th April 1784, the son of Richard Collett and his wife and Mary Collett. In 1841 Richard had living with him his son Robert Collett (below) who was 14 years old, but with no mentioned of his wife Ann. Robert Collett was baptised at Beckley on 1^st June 1827, the son of Richard and Ann Collett. Seven years earlier Ann had presented Richard with a daughter Ann, who was baptised at Beckley on 21^st May 1820. Two other daughters and another son were added to the family, although it appears that it was only their son Robert who survived. They were Elizabeth, who was baptised on 1^st May 1825, Sarah who was baptised on 28^th August 1830, and Charles who was baptised at Beckley on 14^th August 1836.
	84b1/1	Ann Collett		Born in 1820 at Beckley
	84b1/2	Elizabeth Collett		Born in 1825 at Beckley; died 30.05.1826
	84b1/3	Robert Collett		Born in 1827 at Beckley
	84b1/4	Sarah Collett		Born in 1830 at Beckley
	84b1/5	Charles Collett		Born in 1836 at Beckley
84b1/3	Robert Collett was born at Beckley in 1827, and baptised there on 1^st June 1827, the only surviving child of Richard and Ann Collett. Robert later married Hannah, with whom he had a son Robert who was baptised at Beckley on 30^th April 1848. In 1851 Robert, aged 23, and Hannah, aged 24, were living in Beckley with their daughter Elizabeth who was one year old, which may indicate that their son Robert had already suffered an infant death.
	84b1/3/1	Robert Collett				Born in 1848 at Beckley
	84b1/3/2	Elizabeth Collett				Born in 1850 at Beckley
84c1	Richard Collett may have been the younger brother-in-law of Sarah Collett (Ref. 84a3). He married Elizabeth and in 1794 their marriage produced a son William who was baptised at Beckley. Although very likely, it has not been confirmed that John was the son of Richard and Elizabeth.
	84c/1/1	William Collett				Born in 1794 at Beckley
	84c/1/2	John Collett				Born in 1796 at Beckley
84c1/1	William Collett was baptised at Beckley on 22^nd April 1794, the son of Richard and Elizabeth Collett, and it was there also that he later married Mary Cave on 6^th September 1819. Their children included Mary and William who were both baptised on 24^th March 1822, John who was baptised on 5^th October 1823, Elizabeth was baptised on 20^th November 1825, Jane baptised on 9^th March 1828, Charles baptised at Beckley on 30^th May 1830, Sophia baptised on 27^th April 1834, Emma baptised on 20^th March 1836, Sarah baptised on 18^th March 1838, and a second John who was baptised on 18^th July 1841. Even though there are records to show that their eldest son William reached adulthood and had a family of his own, it is curious that there is a second William baptised at Beckley on 8^th April 1832, the son of William and Mary Collett.
	84c1/1/1	Mary Collett				Born in 1819 at Beckley
	84c1/1/2	William Collett				Born in 1821 at Beckley
	84c1/1/3	John Collett				Born in 1823 at Beckley
	84c1/1/4	Elizabeth Collett				Born in 1825 at Beckley
	84c1/1/5	Jane Collett				Born in 1827 at Beckley
	84c1/1/6	Charles Collett				Born in 1829 at Beckley
	84c1/1/7	William Collett				Born in 1831 at Beckley
	84c1/1/8	Sophia Collett				Born in 1833 at Beckley
	84c1/1/9	Emma Collett				Born in 1835 at Beckley
	84c1/1/10	Sarah Collett				Born in 1837 at Beckley
	84c1/1/11	John Collett				Born in 1840 at Beckley
84c1/2	John Collett, who was living at Beckley in June 1841 when he was 45, his wife Desmey was 25, and their daughter Sarah was two years old. It seems highly likely that he married Decima around 1834, following which all their children were baptised at Beckley, John and Decima Collett being named as the parents. By 1851 Decima appears to be a widow, since it was just her living with her children at Beckley when she was recorded as Dessmey Collett, aged 40. With her were Sarah, who was 11, Emma, who was 10, Jane, who was eight, and John who was five.
	84c1/2/1	Ann Eliza Collett				Baptised on 30.11.1834 at Beckley
	84c1/2/2	Mary Collett				Baptised on 27.11.1836 at Beckley
	84c1/2/3	Sarah Elizabeth Collett				Baptised on 14.04.1839 at Beckley
	84c1/2/4	Emma Collett				Baptised on 21.03.1841 at Beckley
	84c1/2/5	Jane Collett				Baptised on 16.04.1843 at Beckley
	84c1/2/6	John Th2omas Collett				Baptised on 08.03.1846 at Beckley
84c1/1/1	Mary Collett was born at Beckley in 1819 and was baptised in a joint ceremony with her brother William (below) at Beckley on 24^th March 1822, the daughter of William Collett and Mary Cave. She never married and in 1881 was living at 12 Upper Street in Islip, where she was described as 60 years of age and of independent means. Twenty years earlier, in 1861, Mary Collett was 40 when she was listed in the Headington & St Clement district, which includes Beckley, where she was also living ten years later at the age of 52.
84c1/1/2	William Collett was born at Beckley in 1821 where he was baptised on 24^th March 1822, the eldest son of William Collett and Mary Cave. His older sister Mary (above) was also baptised on that same day. In 1871 William, at the age of 50, was married to Ann who was 51 and they had a son John, age 19, when they were living within the Headington & Wheatley registration district which includes Beckley. No baptism record has been found at Beckley for their son John.
	84c1/1/2/1	John Collett				Born in 1851 at Beckley
84c1/2/6	John Thomas Collett was born at Beckley in 1846 with his birth registered at Headington (Ref. xvi 63) during the first three months of that year. He was then baptised at Beckley on 8^th March 1846, the youngest known child of John and Decima Collett. His father died when he was very young, and in 1851 John Collett age five years was living at Beckley with his widowed mother and his three older sisters. There were many John Colletts born at the same time and, so far, his whereabouts in 1861 and 1871 have not been accurately placed.
	However, sometime during the second half of the 1870s he married the much younger Ann from Northall near Leighton Buzzard in Buckinghamshire. By the time of the census in 1881 Ann had presented John with a daughter after the couple had settled in Wolverton, midway between Buckingham and Newport Pagnell. However, she was not living with the couple at 452 Ledsam Street in Wolverton, nor has her whereabouts been determined on that day. Instead, the only occupants of the house were John T Collett, aged 35 and an engine driver from Beckley, his wife Ann Collett who was 24 and from Northall, and a boarder Thomas Mobbs, aged 18, who was a labourer from Syresham in Northamptonshire.
	Their daughter Sarah returned to live with her parents after the census day and ten years later she was still living with them at Wolverton within the Potterspury registration district of Northamptonshire. John T Collett was 45 and his wife Ann was 35, while daughter Sarah E Collett was 12. However, the three members of the family were not living together at the time of the next census in 1901. John was still living and working in Wolverton, while the two ladies in his life were recorded at Bedford.
	John Collett was 55 and at Wolverton, where he was working as a stationary engine driver. On that same day his wife Ann aged 43, and his daughter Sarah aged 21, were recorded in the St Paul’s area of Bedford, perhaps even working together, because Ann Collett was a housekeeper, while Sarah E Collett was a domestic housemaid. Sarah was very likely married during the next decade, since John and Ann were living alone together at Wolverton, when John Thomas Collett of Beckley was 65 and his wife Ann Collett of Northall was 56.
	84c1/2/6/1		Sarah E Collett			Born in 1878 at Wolverton
84c1/1/2/1	John Collett was born at Beckley in 1852, the only known son of William Collett and Ann Cave, with his birth registered at Headington (Ref. 3a 505) during the first three month of the year. He was nine and 19 in 1861 and 1871 when he was still living with his parents. It may have been during the 1870s that John left Oxfordshire and moved south to Sussex where he may have met his future wife. In 1881 John Collett from Beckley was 29, while his wife was Annie Collett, aged 34 and from Hambledon in Hampshire. At that time in their lives the childless couple was living at the Gardener’s Cottage in Broyle near Lavant in Sussex. Their time in Sussex was short-lived, since by 1891 the pair of them were living in Annie’s home county of Hampshire.
	The census that year confirmed they were residing at Portsea, on Portsea Island, when John Collett from Beckley was 39 and his wife Annie was 44. Ten years after that they were recorded at Southwick in Hampshire where John Collett was 49 and from Beckley and in 1911 when he was 57 (sic) they were living at nearby Cosham within the Hampshire registration district of Fareham. John’s place of birth was again confirmed as Beckley in Oxfordshire, and his wife Annie was 62.
84d1	In addition to the above, there were other Colletts living at Beckley in 1841 and they may have been more children of the aforementioned Richard and Elizabeth. They were Ann Collett aged 35, Robert Collett aged 30, and Dorothy Collett aged 25, who may have been Robert’s wife. With the three of them were two daughters, Sarah Collett who was two and Emma Collett who was not yet one year old. All of them were listed in the 1841 Census as living in the Abingdon, Bicester, Headington and Thame registration district, which included Beckley village.
84e1	Richard Collett was born at Beckley in 1818 and he married Ruth Lamburn just before she gave birth to their first child, when their wedding was recorded at Headington (Ref. xvi 139) during the last quarter of 1847. Their first-born child was baptised at Beckley on 26^th December 1847 and by 1851 they had two children. The census that year recorded the family at Stanton St John as agricultural labourer Richard Collett from Beckley, who was 31, his wife Ruth, aged 24 and from Horton-cum-Studley, and their two children Richard who was three and born at Horton, and Ann who was one year old and born after the family settled in Stanton St John. During the next eleven years a further six children were added to their family.
	By 1861 Richard was 42 and Ruth was 36 and they were living at Beckley. Their marriage had produced seven children by then, and they were Richard, age 13 from Horton, Ann, age 11, and John, age nine who were both born at Stanton St John, William, who was six, Jane, who was two, Walter, who was one, and Emma R Collett who was under one year old. One further child was born into the family two years after the census day, so ten years later in 1871, Richard’s and Ruth’s eldest three children had left the family home, and it would appear two of the younger children had died. The only children still living at Beckley within the Headington St Clement registration district with Richard and Ruth were William, aged 16, Jane who was 13, and Robert who was eight.
	Whatever happened to Richard and Ruth and their three youngest children has not been revealed in any of the census records from 1881 to 1901, so it is possible that they had emigrated in the 1870s.
	84e1/1	Richard Collett				Born in 1847 at Horton-cum-Studley
	84e1/2	Ann Elizabeth Collett				Born in 1849 at Stanton St John
	84e1/3	John Lamburn Collett				Born in 1851 at Stanton St John
	84e1/4	William Collett				Born in 1854 at Beckley
	84e1/5	Jane Collett				Born in 1858 at Beckley
	84e1/6	Walter Collett				Born in 1859 at Beckley; infant death
	84e1/7	Emma R Collett				Born in 1860 at Beckley; infant death
	84e1/8	Robert Collett				Born in 1862 at Beckley
84e1/1	Richard Collett was born at Horton-cum-Studley near Beckley in 1847, and was baptised at Beckley on 26^th December 1847, the eldest child of Richard and Ruth Collett. His birth was registered at Headington (Ref. xvi 60) during the first quarter of 1848. In 1851 he was three years old, when living at Stanton St John with his family, and by 1861 he was 13, by which time the family had settled in Beckley. He married (1) Elizabeth Clanfield of Appleton in Berkshire (another Collett stronghold) and by 1881 the marriage had produced one son and a daughter for the couple, when Richard was 33 and Elizabeth was 26.
	Their son was born at Mottingham in Kent, which lies just south of Eltham, where the family was living at Court Yard in 1881. Richard’s occupation was that of a coachman. However, no trace has been found of Richard’s daughter, although she was back living with the family in 1891. Furthermore, there would appear to have been a possible death in the family, and that may have been the passing of Richard’s wife Elizabeth since in 1891 his wife was listed as Eliza and she was from Norfolk and was a different age to Elizabeth.
	According to the census in 1891 Richard was married to (2) Eliza and the family of four was living within the Lewisham & Eltham area of Kent, and it was at Eltham that Richard was presented with a second son. Richard was 43, Eliza was 42, son Charles was 13, and daughter Bertha was 11, while Eliza was very likely expecting the birth of Richard’s third child later that same year. Just after the turn of the century the family were still living at Eltham where Richard was still working as a non-domestic coachman at the age of 53 and son Bertie who was 10. His wife Eliza was 52 and her place of birth was confirmed as West Raynham in Norfolk.
	It was at 23 Elizabeth Terrace in Eltham that Richard Collett died on 14^th March 1920. His Will was proved in London on 20^th April that same year when his widow Eliza Collett, his eldest son Charles Richard Collett, an engineer, and his youngest son Bert Collett, a solicitor’s clerk, were named as the executors of his personal estate amounting to £756 17 Shillings and 6 Pence.
	84e1/1/1	Charles Richard Collett				Born in 1878 at Mottingham, Kent
	84e1/1/2	Bertha Margaret Collett				Born in 1879 at Eltham
	The following is the only known child of Richard Collett by his second wife Eliza:
	84e1/1/3	Bertie Collett				Born in 1891 at Eltham
84e1/2	Ann Elizabeth Collett was born at Stanton St John near Beckley in 1849, the daughter of Richard and Ruth Collett, whose birth was registered at Headington (Ref. xvi 59) during the third quarter of that year. It was as Ann Collett aged just one year that she was recorded with her family at Stanton St John in 1851. She was again simply Ann Collett aged 11, in 1861 after her family had moved to Beckley. Twenty years later in 1881 she was unmarried at the age of 31 and was a domestic servant at the home of widow Louisa Cook a laundress and dairywomen living at 67 George Street in the St Mary Magdalen district of Oxford city centre.
84e1/3	John Lamburn Collett was born at Stanton St John near Beckley in 1851, the son of Richard and Ruth Collett, whose birth was registered at Headington (Ref. xvi 60) during the third quarter of the year. He was nine years old in the Beckley census of 1861, and by the time of the 1871 Census John had left the family home and was living in Westbury on Trym near Bristol at the age of 19, where the only other Collett was Augusta Collett (Ref. 9N26) from Quenington who was 19 and a domestic servant at the home of Charles Lemon at 3 Woodfield Road in Westbury, who later married her cousin William Henry Collett (Ref. 9N15).
	Around the early 1870s he married Thirza Harvey who was born at Lezant in Cornwall in 1850 and by 1881 the marriage had produced two children for the couple, when the family was residing at 3 School Lane in Walgrave near Henley in Berkshire. The two children were Rosa A Collett, who was six and born at Stanton St John, and John H Collett, who was two, who had been born after the family had moved to Wargrave.
	Like his older brother Richard (above), John Collett, aged 29, was a coachman and domestic servant who, on that occasion said his place of birth was Beckley rather than Stanton St John. His wife Thirza Harvey Collett was 30. And he was still employed in that capacity over the next twenty years, and during the next decade a further four children were added to his family which had left the Henley area for South Wales. By 1891 the larger family was living at Treflis in Brecknockshire (Brecon) and was recorded as John Collett from Beckley who was 39, his wife T H Collett aged 40, Rosa A H Collett aged 16, Jno H Collett aged 12, Fred G Collett who was nine, Wm R Collett who was seven, Ethel M Collett who was four, and Florence M Collett who was one year old. Sometime after 1891 the family moved again, on that occasion to Stansted in Essex.
	According to the census in 1901, John was 49 and once again stated that he had been born at Stanton St John, when his occupation description was slightly changed to non-domestic coachman. He and his family were living at Mountfitchet near Stansted in Essex at that time. Thirza H Collett from Lezant was 50 and just three of their children were still living with the couple, and they were Ethel M Collett, who was 14, and Florence M Collett, who was 11, both born at Llangammarch in Wales, and son Thomas A Collett, who was eight years old who had been born after the family had settled in the Stansted area.
	Their second son William, who had been born at Wargrave, had left home, and was working and living in London. He was 18 years of age in 1901 and was a waiter in the Westminster St James area of the city. No trace of the other two children has so far been found. By 1911 John and Thirza had moved again, the very short distance to Takeley in Essex, midway between Bishop’s Stortford and Great Dunmow. John Collett from Beckley was 60, as was his wife Thirza Harvey Collett, while the only child still living with them was Thomas Archibald Collett who was 18.
	84e1/3/1	Rosa A Collett			Born in 1874 at Stanton St John, Oxon.
	84e1/3/2	John Henry Collett			Born in 1878 at Wargrave, Berkshire
	84e1/3/3	William R Collett			Born in 1882 at Wargrave, Berkshire
	84e1/3/4	Ethel M Collett			Born in 1886 at Leavy Amarch, Wales
	84e1/3/5	Florence M Collett			Born in 1889 at Leavy Amarch, Wales
	84e1/3/6	Thomas Archibald Collett			Born in 1892 at Stansted
84e1/4	William Collett was born at Beckley in 1854 with his birth registered at Headington (Ref. 3a 459) during the third quarter of the year. He was another child of Richard and Ruth Collett and was six years old in 1861 and was 16 in 1871. He was still a bachelor in 1881 when he was 27 and was employed as a coachman, like his brother John (above), and was a lodger at the house of widow Jane Beatty at 2 Pensons Gardens in the St Ebbes area of Oxford city centre.
84e1/5	Jane Collett was born at Beckley in 1858 when her birth was registered at Headington (Ref. 3a 479) during the third quarter of that year. It was as simply Jane Collett who was two years old in 1861 and 13 years of age in 1871 when she was still living with her family at Beckley. The fact that in 1881 she was recorded as Annie J Collett, aged 23 when she was working as a housemaid at 4 Bernards College in Woking may stem from another servant being called Jane. The college was managed by Schoolmaster and Clerk in Holy Orders, Henry Sealy of India who was a bachelor of 28 years.
84e1/1/1	Charles Richard Collett was born Mottingham in Kent on 6^th April 1878, the eldest child of Richard Collett and Elizabeth Clanfield, who were living at Court Yard in Mottingham at the time of the census in 1881 when Richard was three years old. During the next decade he and his family moved to Eltham in Kent where they were residing in 1891 when Richard was 13. No traced of Richard has been found anywhere in Great Britain on the day of the census in both 1901 and 1911, and that is because he sailed to a new life in South Africa when he was just 16. It is believed that it was the adventure stories of H Ryder Haggard, such as King Solomon’s Mines, which encouraged him to make that dramatic move.
	It was during 1894 that he left his home at Mottingham and headed for Johannesburg where he worked for a few months as elevator boy with the Jumpers Deep Gold Mine Co. From there he went to Cape Town and worked as a Customs Official until he joined up with Earl Kitchener's Horse Regiment for action in the Boer War. After the war was over, he left for Rhodesia where he worked for Penhalonga Proprietary Mines Limited, a silver-lead mining company. There he helped in the erection of a new concentrator and eventually became the shift boss.
	In 1906 Charles returned to England where he married Lily May Vertigan at Bromley in Kent where their wedding was recorded (Ref. 2a 1112) during the second quarter of the year. Shortly after, the couple return to Penhalonga Valley. However, after the birth of a son, Lily was forced to return to England when she and her son were in poor health. Eight years later, just before the start of the First World War, Charles returned to England and became the owner of the King's Head Hotel at Fakenham in Norfolk. At the outbreak of the Great War, when he was 36, he joined the Ministry of Munitions, taking a mechanic's course and eventually being appointed to the Ordnance Works in Coventry, where he served until the end of hostilities.
	A short time after the war, Charlie, as he was known, returned to Africa, and worked for Abbontiakoon Mines Limited in Tarquah, British West Africa. He held the position of shift boss in the Cyanide Works of that company until 1924. Four years earlier he was named as one of the three executors of his father’s Will in 1920, when he was recorded as Charles Richard Collett, an engineer. In 1925 there was a major change in his life when he travelled to Canada where he worked as a shifter in the cyanide department of the Hollinger Gold Mine at Timmins in Ontario. In the spring of 1926, he left Ontario and travelled west to British Columbia where, in the town of Trail, he was employed by the C M & S Company for a short while. From Trail he was immediately transferred to Kimberley where he started to work in the Testing Department at the Concentrator. During that time, he experimented in the recovery of tin from Sullivan ore.
	In 1927 his family joined him from England and together they made their home at Chapman Camp in British Columbia. That same year Charles and Tom Bray, who was an old friend from his African days, together with a mining engineer, journeyed once more to Africa. On that occasion they went to Lagos in Nigeria where the three of them prospected for tin for the Cominco Company. However, Charles Collett was recalled to Kimberley early in 1928 because of the illness and subsequent death of his son, Richard. After that he remained with Cominco until he left their employ in December 1946. Despite his adventurous nature, Charles Richard Collett was a quiet man who was little known outside of the circle of his family and a few friends. He was residing at Cranbrook in British Columbia, Canada when he died on 22^nd January 1960. The record of his death confirmed he was the son of Richard Collett and Elizabeth Clanfield, and was the husband of Lily May Vertigan.
	84e1/1/1/1	Richard Collett				Born circa 1908; died 1928 in Canada
84e1/1/3	Bertie Collett was born at Eltham in 1891 but after 5^th April that year. In 1901 he was still living at Eltham with his parents and was ten years of age. Ten years later in 1911 he was 20 and was living at Bromley in Kent. It was as Bert Collett, a solicitor’s clerk, that he was named as the third executor of his father’s Will in 1920, the other two being his widowed mother Eliza Collett and his older brother Charles Richard Collett (above).
84e1/3/1	John Henry Collett was born at Wargrave near Henley in Berkshire in 1878, and was baptised at Wargrave on 9^th February 1879 as John Harry Collett, the child of John Collett and Thirza Harvey. He was two years old in the Wargrave census in April 1881. During the 1880s his father’s work took the family to South Wales where Jno H Collett was 12 in 1891. In the 1890s the family returned to England and settled at Mountfitchet in Essex, but by 1901 John H Collett from Henley was 22 and was a grocer in Fulham. Just over four and a half years later John Harry Collett married Annie May Edwards at Fulham in London where the event was recorded (Ref. 1a 753) during the last three months of 1905. The witnesses were named as Elizabeth Bonnie and Samuel Robert Cooper.
	Over the next five years Annie presented John with two children, neither of whom survived. In the census of April 1911, the childless couple was recorded as John Henry Collett from Wargrave who was 33 and a grocer’s assistant, when his Leicestershire wife of six years, Annie May Collett was 30 and a laundress. At that time, they were residing within the Bromley registration area of Kent, when the census return also confirmed they had two children, not living. Five years after that census day, it is possible that the birth of Eileen M Collett recorded at Fulham register office (Ref. 1a 502) during the last quarter of 1916 was the daughter of John Henry Collett and Annie May Collett, because the mother’s maiden-name was Edwards.
84d1/1	Ann Collett was born at Beckley in 1837. By 1871 Ann was living in the Faringdon area at the age of 34, while the census in 1881 confirmed that she was a spinster at 43. At that time in her life Ann was employed as the housekeeper for George F Rhodes, a farmer of 600 acres at Little Faringdon in Oxfordshire, six miles north-west of Faringdon in Berkshire.
84d1/2	Charles Collett was born at Beckley in 1840 and very likely the brother of Ann Collett (above). He married Jane who was born in 1838 and in 1871 the couple was living in the Headington St Clement area of Oxfordshire.