PART NINE

The Aldsworth Line - 1740 to 2021

(incorporating the West Bromwich & Wednesbury

coach-building Collett families)

Updated April 2024

Most of the original information in this family line was kindly supplied by Stephen

Collett (Ref. 9Q11) of Solihull in England whose line is denoted by the names in capital letters

To date no actual connection has been made to any other of the Collett family lines,

although it is beginning to look hopeful there might be connections

with Part Two (see below) and with Part 48 (see Refs. 9N9 and 9O25)

Some of the early Colletts in this family line lived in the village of Sherborne near Aldsworth in Gloucestershire, so it is possible that there could be a link to Thomas Collett (Ref. 2I12) who was born at Upper Slaughter. He was referred to as Thomas of Sherborne where he and his wife lived and were buried. Further details of Thomas and his family can be found in Part 2 – The Second Gloucestershire Line

The addition of the family line to the British Columbia’s sunshine coast in Canada

is thanks to Pat Brearley nee Collett (Ref. 9Q5) and her brother Dennis Collett (Ref. 9Q6)

and their line is denoted by the names that are underlined

9K1	HENRY COLLETT - it is not known at this time whence he came. What is known is that he married Elizabeth Pincot on 25^th July 1759 at St Bartholomew’s Church in Aldsworth. Both signed the register in their own name and both were listed as being ‘of this parish’, although the earlier parish records only included details for the Pincot family. In fact, those records include the baptism of Hannah Collett on 11^th June 1758, the daughter of Elizabeth Pincot – one year before she married Henry, and the burial of her parents Elizabeth Pincot on 15^th October 1748, and John Pincot on 5^th July 1750. On his wedding day, Henry’s occupation was given as blacksmith and over the following two decades he was twice named as the witness at the marriage of two members of his wife’s Pincot family. The first of them was on 6^th May 1765 for the Aldsworth wedding of Frances Pincot to Richard Cockbill of Brailes in Warwickshire, and the second was on 6^th January 1774 when Martha Pincot was married to John Hitchman of Coln St Aldwyns. It seems likely that Frances and Martha were the younger sisters of Elizabeth Collett nee Pincot.
	During his working life it would appear from the Church Warden & Parish Council Accounts that Henry Collett was employed to carry out repairs to the Aldsworth church bells. The entry reads that from May 1779 to May 1781, Henry Collett was paid 3 Shillings and 6 Pence for mending bells. A second entry refers to ‘repairing the church house’ which was undertaken by farmer Richard Collett (Ref. 2L12) from May 1793 to May 1795, for which he was paid 16 Shilling, whose last child was baptised at Aldsworth in 1790 and, eldest daughter Hannah Collett married William Harris at Aldsworth in 1796. See Part 2 – The Second Gloucestershire Line for more details.
	Elizabeth Collett, nee Pincot, was buried in the churchyard of St Bartholomew’s Church and was born in 1737, as indicated by her age of 88 at the time of her death on 25^th March 1825. It is not known in which year Henry was born, as no age was given at the time of his death on 11^th December 1808, when he too was buried at Aldsworth. All of the couple’s children were born and baptised at Aldsworth, when the surname was recorded in each case as Collet, with the baptism of their first child taking place within the first week of 1760, which means the child, Elizabeth, was born around five months after the couple’s wedding day.
	During his later life Henry Collett was the tenant of two plots of land owned by Lord James Sherborne, according to the 1799 enclosure map. One of the plots was referred to as Collett’s Close and was a pasture in the centre of the village, while the other was known as Homestead and contained two buildings, possible a house and blacksmith’s forge. Together, the two plots made up an area of just under one acre. Even in 2006 in Aldsworth, there is a property known as the Old Forge which is believed to date from 1780. It is very likely therefore that this was built during the time when Henry Collett was the blacksmith in the village.
	9L1	Elizabeth Collett			Born in 1759 at Aldsworth
	9L2	Ann Collett			Born in 1762 at Aldsworth
	9L3	Robert Collett			Born in 1763 at Aldsworth
	9L4	Thomas Collett			Born in 1765 at Aldsworth
	9L5	Mary Collett			Born in 1766 at Aldsworth
	9L6	WILLIAM COLLETT			Born in 1768 at Aldsworth
	9L7	Margaret Collett			Born in 1771 at Aldsworth
	9L8	Sarah Collett			Born in 1774 at Aldsworth
	9L9	Jane Collett			Born in 1777 at Aldsworth
9L1	Elizabeth Collett was born at Aldsworth within five months of the date that her parents were married there during the last week of July 1759. She was subsequently baptised there on 5^th January 1760 and confirmed as the first-born child of Henry and Elizabeth Collett, they being Henry Collett and his wife Elizabeth Pincot. Elizabeth Collett junior later married Richard Hyde (Hude) at Aldsworth on 28^th December 1784, when one of the witnesses was Mary Collett, Elizabeth’s younger sister (below).
9L2	Ann Collett was born at Aldsworth in 1762, the second child of Henry and Elizabeth Collett, who was baptised there on 15^th April 1762. Ann Collett was just twenty years of age when she married Thomas Maycock at Aldsworth on 20^th August 1782.
9L3	Robert Collett was born at Aldsworth at the start of 1764 and was baptised there on 4^th March 1764, the eldest son and third child of Henry and Elizabeth Collett. Robert was a blacksmith, like his father, and was married three times and out-lived all three of his wives. It was the baptism record for his son John Collett, who was born in 1813, that first confirmed Robert was a blacksmith. Robert’s first wife was (1) Ann, whom he married prior to 1787, but not at Aldsworth, although it was there later that year that she died having just given birth to Robert’s first child who was born there. Not long after the death of his first wife Robert married (2) Hannah Hall by licence at Maisey (Meysey) Hampton on 6^th August 1787, when Robert was confirmed as being ‘from Aldsworth’. Hannah provided Robert with his next three children, and all of them born at Sherborne, three miles north of Aldsworth, where Hannah was buried in early 1799 at the age of 34 years.
	Following her death, and still living in Sherborne, widower Robert married (3) Amy Fowler by licence at Sherborne on 19^th October 1799, and just two months after the wedding she gave birth to Robert’s first-born son William. On the day of her wedding Amy’s age was recorded as 20 years and 18 days, compared to Robert who was 35. As a result of their marriage Robert fathered a further thirteen children with Amy, all of whom were born and baptised at Sherborne, although not all of them survived.
	Amy Fowler was baptised at Sherborne on 8^th November 1779 and it was there also that she died during 1837, following which she was buried in the churchyard of St Mary Magdalene Church in Sherborne on 12^th February 1837 at the age of 58. The first national census of 1841 recorded Robert Collett living at Sherborne at the age of 75. Also still living there with him were his sons Henry Collett and Robert Collett and unmarried daughter Jane Collett. It was five and a half years later that Robert Collett died at Sherborne on 4^th January 1847
	The Will of Robert Collett, blacksmith of Sherborne, was made on 1^st September 1846 and was drawn up by Wilkins and Kendall, solicitors of Bourton-on-the-Water. The Will was proved within four months of his passing at Gloucester on 26^th April 1847, when it revealed the document included the names of fifteen of his seventeen children, but not his wife Amy who had passed away nine years before the Will was made (see Will in Legal Documents)
	9M1	Elizabeth Collett	Born in 1787 at Aldsworth
	The following were the children of Robert and his second wife Hannah:
	9M2	Mary Collett	Born in 1789 at Windrush, near Sherborne
	9M3	Sarah Collett	Born in 1795 at Sherborne
	9M4	Ann Collett	Born in 1798 at Sherborne
	The following children came from Robert’s third marriage to Amy Fowler:
	9M5	William Collett	Born in 1799 at Sherborne
	9M6	Henry Collett	Born in 1801 at Sherborne
	9M7	Jane Collett	Born in 1802 at Sherborne
	9M8	Jane Collett	Born in 1803 at Sherborne
	9M9	Charles Collett	Born in 1805 at Sherborne
	9M10	Charles Collett	Born in 1806 at Sherborne
	9M11	Richard Collett	Born in 1808 at Sherborne
	9M12	George Collett	Born in 1811 at Sherborne
	9M13	John Collett	Born in 1813 at Sherborne
	9M14	Hannah Collett	Born in 1815 at Sherborne
	9M15	Lucy Collett	Born in 1817 at Sherborne
	9M16	Robert Collett	Born in 1819 at Sherborne
	9M17	Amy Collett	Born in 1822 at Sherborne
9L4	Thomas Collett was born around 1765 and his inclusion in this family is based purely on the fact he was living at Aldsworth in 1841 with a rounded age of 75. In addition to which, five years later, a Thomas Collett died at Aldsworth in 1846 and was buried there on 5^th November 1846 at the age of 84. There is also a parish record for Thomas Collett who married Amy Nash at Aldsworth on 20^th August 1812. Unlike all of the other children of Henry Collett and Elizabeth Pincot, no baptism record for Thomas Collett has been discovered in the Aldsworth parish registers.
9L5	Mary Collett was born at Aldsworth in 1766, another daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Collett. It was also at Aldsworth that she was baptised on 24^th August 1766. Mary was eighteen years old when she was a witness at the marriage of her older sister Elizabeth and Richard Hyde at the end of 1784. Twenty-two years after that, Mary Collett was again named as a witness at the wedding of her brother William Collett when he married Elizabeth Howes on 1^st April 1807. By then, Mary was 41 years old, which may indicate that she never.
9L6	WILLIAM COLLETT was born at Aldsworth, where he was baptised on 13^th October 1768, another son of Henry and Elizabeth Collett. He later married (1) Ann Sparrow at Aldsworth on 12^th October 1798 and, two years earlier, William Collett was a witness at the wedding of Sarah Paish and Richard Trip at Aldsworth. The marriage of William and Ann produced at least two children for the couple before Ann died, possibly during or just after the birth of the second child. After a few years as a widower, William Collett married (2) Elizabeth Howes on 1^st April 1807 at Aldsworth, when his older sister Mary Collett (above) was one of the witnesses. That second marriage is known to have produced a further five children for William
	At the time of the Aldsworth census of June 1841 William had a rounded age of 70, while his wife Elizabeth was 60. Living with them was their unmarried son Charles whose rounded age was 30. According to the next Aldsworth census in 1851 William Collett was 83 years of age and was still listed as working as a blacksmith, like his father before him. Still listed as living with him was his wife Elizabeth and their bachelor son Charles who was 41 and another blacksmith. William survived for another three years and was buried at Aldsworth in 1854 at the age of 86. His widow Elizabeth, who had been born around 1779, continued to live at Aldsworth where she died two years after her late husband during 1856, and was buried there at the age of 77.
	9M18	Elizabeth Collett		Born in 1798 at Aldsworth
	9M19	Jane Collett		Born in 1800 at Aldsworth
	The following were the children from William’s second marriage to Elizabeth Howes:
	9M20	Charles Collett		Born in 1807 at Aldsworth
	9M21	HENRY COLLETT		Born in 1810 at Aldsworth
	9M22	Mary Collett		Born in 1811 at Aldsworth
	9M23	Jane Collett		Born in 1813 at Aldsworth
	9M24	William Collett		Born in 1817 at Aldsworth
9L7	Margaret Collett was born at Aldsworth in 1771 and was baptised there on 25^th April 1771, another child of Henry and Elizabeth Collett.
9L8	Sarah Collett was born at Aldsworth in 1774 and was baptised there on 18^th October 1774, the daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Collett. It was also an entry within the Aldsworth parish records that stated Sarah Collett married George Pocock of Melksham in Wiltshire. The banns for their wedding day were read at Melksham from 19^th January 1794, when Sarah was said to be from the parish of Atworth, near Melksham. The wedding took place on 3^rd March 1794 when the witness was William Collett who was very likely Sarah’s older brother (above).
9L9	Jane Collett was born at Aldsworth in 1777, where she was also baptised on 14^th September 1771, the last child of Henry Collett and Elizabeth Pincot.
9M1	Elizabeth Collett, who was also referred to as Betty, was born at Aldsworth and was baptised there on 2^nd October 1787, the only known child of Robert Collett and his first wife Ann. Elizabeth never married and was named as Elizabeth Collett the eldest daughter of blacksmith Robert in his Will made in 1846. By the time of the 1861 Census for nearby Windrush she was referred to as Eliza Collett, the sister to William Collett (below), a cordwainer of Sherborne, in whose house she was living at that time. Living with William Collett, aged 61, and Eliza aged 73, was their sister Mary Collett (below) of Sherborne who was 71, which was also stated to be the place of birth for Eliza, albeit incorrect. Mary was listed as housekeeper.
	Ten years later in 1871 she was still living at Windrush with her brother William, aged 71, and was then listed as Betty Collett, aged 83, who had taken over the role of housekeeper from her sister Mary. On that occasion however, she correctly gave her place of birth as Aldsworth. Betty must have passed away during the next ten years, as she was not listed in the census of 1881.
9M2	Mary Collett was born in 1789 at Windrush, the village next to Sherborne where her parents eventually settled just after she was born. It was also at Windrush that she was baptised on 11^th October 1789, the eldest child of Robert Collett and his second wife Hannah. Like her half-sister Betty (above), she too never married and was named as Mary Collett the second daughter of Robert in his Will of 1846. In the 1851 and 1861 Censuses for Windrush she was listed as being aged 60 and 71 respectively, when she was acting as housekeeper at the home of her widowed brother William Collett (below).
	It was just six weeks after the census day in 1861 that Mary Collett died following which her role as housekeeper to her brother William was taken over by her older half-sister Betty Collett (above). Mary was buried in the graveyard of the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Sherborne on 23^rd May 1861 where a headstone marks the grave, with the following inscription. “To the Memory of Mary daughter of Robert and Hannah Collett departed this life May 23^rd 1861 aged 72 years”.
9M3	Sarah Collett was born at Sherborne where she was baptised on 20^th October 1795, the daughter of Robert and Hannah Collett. She was later married to become Sarah Walker, as confirmed by her father’s Will in 1846.
9M4	Ann Collett was born at Sherborne and was baptised there on 21^st February 1798, the daughter of Robert and Hannah Collett. The baptism record gave her name as Anne Collett. It was her father’s Will of 1846 that confirmed she had married by then and that she was Ann Ireland.
9M5	William Collett was born at Sherborne where he was baptised on 24^th December 1799, the eldest son of Robert Collett and his third wife Amy Fowler. He was a cordwainer (shoemaker) and was married but was widowed by the time of the 1851 Census when he was living at nearby Windrush. His father’s Will, which was proved in 1847, bequeathed ten pounds to William, as it did to thirteen of his fourteen surviving siblings. As the eldest son of blacksmith Robert, it is curious why he was not named as an executor for his father’s estate. That role was given to Henry Collett (below).
	William’s older sister Mary Collett (above) was listed as living with him as his housekeeper in 1851 and again in 1861 when he was 61 years of age. Mary died between 1861 and 1871 following which his eldest sister Betty Collett (above) took over the housekeeper role for him. In 1871 William was listed as being aged 71 and of Sherborne. William Collett, aged 81 and a widower from Sherborne, was a retired shoemaker living at nearby Windrush at the time of the next census in 1881. However, it has to be assumed that he died shortly after that time. However, no record after 1854 has so far been found for his possible son, Charles Collett, who married Mary Andrews that year.
Note:	It seems highly likely that William Collett of Sherborne had a son Charles who would have been born during the early 1820s. The reason for including mention of this here, without any positive confirmation, is that Charles Collett of the parish of Sherborne was named as the son of William Collett when he married Mary Andrews at Aldsworth on 7^th February 1854.
	9N0	Charles Collett – not proved		Born circa 1822 at Sherborne
9M6	Henry Collett was born at Sherborne in 1801, and it was there also that he was baptised on 27^th December 1801, the son of Robert and Amy Collett. Following the death of his mother Amy in 1837, Henry continued to live with his widowed father Robert Collett at Sherborne. Also still living with them at the family home in Sherborne were Henry’s siblings, unmarried Jane (below) and brother Robert (below). It was eight years later, and two years after Henry’s father had died, that he married Jane Hewer who was born at High Holborn in London on 22^nd May 1808 to parents William and Sarah Hewer of Southampton Buildings. Jane’s mother was Sarah Kibblewhite of Preston in the County of Gloucestershire and she was married to farmer William Hewer by licence on the 26^th March 1808 at St Andrew Holborn, just two months before Jane was born.
	Upon the death of his father in 1847 it was Henry Collett who was named as the sole executor of his Will, while each of his siblings received ten pounds. Henry’s name was excluded from that list but all other residual money, plus furniture, trade and personal effects, were bequeathed to Henry to carry on with the family blacksmith business.
	The marriage certificate for Henry and Jane included the following information. The wedding took place at Meysey Hampton on 12^th April 1849 when the witnesses were Thomas Hewer and Anne Hewer. Henry Collett of Sherborne was a bachelor and a blacksmith, while Jane Hewer of Meysey Hampton was a spinster and a servant. Jane’s father was named as William Hewer who was a farmer, while the father of Henry Collett was not completed, and curiously his occupation was given as being a farmer rather than a blacksmith. Both the bride and the groom were stated as being of full age.
	The couple’s advanced years, with Henry and Jane both being in their forties, there was little chance of them raising any children, and certainly none have been identified to date. According to the census two years later in 1851, the couple had settled in Sherborne where Henry Collett, aged 49, was a smith (blacksmith) married to Jane, who was 43, and who had been born at St Andrews in London. Living with them, and again following the death of their father, was Henry’s younger brother Robert Collett (below), who was also a smith from Sherborne.
	Sometime during the next decade Henry and Jane left Sherborne and moved to Ampney St Peter, near Cirencester, where they were living in April 1861 when Henry was 59. Living there with him was his wife Jane who was 52, and at that time the couple were being supported by two servants. The census ten years later in 1871 also confirmed the couple were still living in the village of Ampney St Peters, where Henry was listed as being 69 and a retired farmer from Sherborne, while his wife Jane was 63 and from Holborn in London.
	Henry Collett was 73 when he died on 24^th May 1873 at Ampney St Peter, where he was also buried. Eight years later his widow Jane was still living at Ampney St Peter. According to the census in 1881, widow Jane Collett, aged 73 and from London, was listed as being a visitor at the Kempsford home of gentleman farmer Thomas Arkell of Kempsford who was 35. His wife Jane Elizabeth Arkell, aged 36 and from Kempsford, was the former Jane Elizabeth Hewer, so was very likely a distant relative of Jane Collett.
	At the age of 83, Jane Collett was still living at Kempsford ten years later in 1891 but, on that occasion, she was staying with the Knipe family. Jane survived for almost another two years, before she died at Kempsford on 5^th January 1893 at the age of 85, following which she was buried with her husband Henry Collett at Ampney St Peter.
	Jane Collett nee Hewer had a younger sister Elizabeth, who was baptised in Wootton Bassett on 23^rd November 1810, and it was her descendent Marilyn Griffiths who kindly provided much of the detail for the March 2012 update of this family line. It is interesting that Elizabeth Hewer was very young when she married William Part Bowne (Bown) from Down Ampney on 3^rd May 1824. The story becomes further involved when Ann Collett (Ref. 1L3) married Robert Hewer around 1790, and unrelated William Collett (Ref. 56L3) married Susannah Bowne in 1792. Today the Bowne family are represented by Pete Bown, who is the nephew of the aforementioned Marilyn Griffiths.
9M7	Jane Collett was born in 1802 at Sherborne and was baptised there on 18^th February 1803. The parish record indicated that her parents were Robert Collett, and his wife Hannah who had died a few years earlier, he being married to Amy at that time. However, sadly their daughter was not well, and she died less than a week after being baptised, when she died at Sherborne on 23^rd February 1803.
9M8	Jane Collett was born at Sherborne after February 1803, when she was named in memory of her late sister above. It was also at Sherborne that she was baptised on 26^th August 1803, the daughter of Robert and Amy Collett. It is understood that she was never married although, when in her very early twenties, she gave birth to a base-born son William. He was born at Sherborne but then, perhaps because of the shame to the family, he was taken in by another family at nearby Fairford, where he was also baptised.
	By June 1841 William Collett was 15 and was living and working with tailor Thomas Lea at his home in Fairford. This was very likely the reason why he gave Fairford as his place of birth in later census records, rather than Sherborne. Also in 1841, unmarried Jane Collett was 35 was still living in Sherborne with her father Robert Collett and her brothers Henry (above) and Robert (below). By the time her father made his Will in 1846 Jane was still a spinster and, as Jane Collett, she received ten pounds from her father’s estate.
	By the end of March in 1851 Jane had been reunited with her son William and both of them were then living with tailor and draper Thomas Lea at his home in Fairford. Jane’s occupation was that of an apprentice tailor at the age of 45 and she was described as being a visitor from Sherborne. Her son William Collett was 24 and of Sherborne, and his occupation was also that of a tailor’s apprentice. Ten years later in 1861 Jane Collett was 57 and was a servant at the Fairford home of 77 years old landed proprietor Mary Ann Rose of Chilton in Wiltshire. After a further ten years, Jane Collett, aged 67, was recorded in the 1871 Census as being an independent of Sherborne, while she was still living in lodgings at Fairford.
	The census of 1881 confirmed that Jane Collett, aged 75, was an annuitant from Sherborne, living at Ampney St Peter with her granddaughter Amy Jane Collett. Amy, who was 10 and who had been born at Fairford, was the daughter of Jane’s only son William. Four years later Jane’s son William died as a result of an accident at work. That happened on 22^nd March 1885 and exactly one year later on 22^nd March 1886 Jane Collett died while living at the home of her late son at 40 Princes Street in Swindon, the death being recorded at Highworth. The death certificate for Jane reveals that she was 84 and a domestic servant, and that the cause of death was bronchitis. Present at the death was Jane’s younger brother John Collett (below) from West Bromwich.
	9N1	William Collett				Born in 1826 at Sherborne
9M9	Charles Collett was very likely born at Sherborne in 1804, where he was baptised on 10^th February 1805, the son of Robert and Amy Collett. Tragically he only survived for four days after his christening when he died on 14^th February 1805.
9M10	Charles Collett was born at Sherborne in 1805 and was named in memory of his late brother above. It was early in the following year that he was baptised at Sherborne on 23^rd February 1806, when he was confirmed as the son of Robert and Amy Collett. Charles was around 20 years old when he married Sarah, with whom he is known to have had a daughter. By the time of the census in June 1841 Charles and Sarah were living in the Hanover Square district of London with their daughter. The census return recorded the three of them living at Grosvenor Mews as farrier Charles Collett, aged 35, Sarah Collett, also aged 35, and Amy Collett who was 15, all three of them having rounded ages. All three of them were listed as not being born within the same county area. Charles Collett was named in his father’s Will, which was proved in 1947, and from which he received ten pounds, as did all his other siblings except his older brother Henry who inherited the family’s blacksmith business.
	Ten years later in 1851, Charles and Sarah were still living within the parish of St Georges Hanover Square, but by that time their daughter had left the family home. The census on that occasion confirmed that Charles Collett from Sherborne was 45 and a farrier, and that his wife Sarah Collet was 47 and from Netswell Cross in Essex. They must have been well placed at that time, when they were residing at 30 Grosvenor Mews Rooms, where they had taken in three lodgers who listed as three domestic servants. They were Isabella Calvert, aged 29, a married nursemaid from Knightsbridge, unmarried Sarah A Robinson, aged 37, a cook from Kings Lynn, and unmarried Mary Maddocks from Benfield in Berkshire who was a cook at the age of 40.
	Charles Collett died sometime during the next decade, and his wife Sarah was listed as a widow still living within the Hanover Square district of London in both 1861 and 1871. According to the census in 1861, Sarah Collett was 57, and was 67 in 1871, but with no record of her in the census of 1881, it would be logical to assume that she died during the 1870s.
	9N2	Amy Collett				Born in 1829 at Sherborne
9M11	Richard Collett was born at Sherborne and was baptised there on 9^th May 1808, the son of Robert and Amy Collett. It would appear that Richard married Elizabeth just after 1831 and that they made their home in West Bromwich, where the marriage had produced three children for the couple by June 1841. The census at that time listed the family as Richard Collett, with a rounded age of 30, Elizabeth who was 25, and their three children, John Collett who was three, Henry Collett who was two and Fanny Collett who was under one year old. Richard Collett was another of the children of Robert Collett to be named as a beneficiary under the terms of his Will of 1846, when he received ten pounds.
	Ten years later the next census in 1851 still recorded the family living in West Bromwich, although by then Richard’s family had increased in size with the addition of three more children. Richard Collett from Sherborne was 42, his wife Elizabeth was 40, and their children were John Collett who was 14, Henry Collett who was 12, Fanny Collett who was 10, Lucy Collett who was eight, Robert Collett who was six and William Collett who was four years old.
	By the time of the next census in 1861 the family was recorded with a misspelling of the surname, with the absence of the second t. Richard Collet, aged 52 and from Sherborne, was residing at 11 Hallam Street in West Bromwich with his wife and family, where he was a blacksmith employing three men. Elizabeth Collet from Trysull near Wolverhampton was 50 and their four unmarried sons on that occasion were John Collet who was 24, Henry Collet who was 22, Robert Collet who was 16 and William Collet who was 12 and still attending the local school. All four sons were confirmed as having been born at West Bromwich.
	Living with the family, and described as boarders, were Richard and Elizabeth’s married daughter Lucy with her baby daughter Harriet, plus Richard’s and Elizabeth’s granddaughter Lydia Harrison aged three years, the daughter of the couple’s older married daughter Fanny. Completed the household was lodger William Tickel who was 22 and a smither presumably one of the men employed by Richard. All of the four visitors had been born at West Bromwich.
	According to the census of 1871 the family was still together and living at Hallam Street in West Bromwich, by which time Richard of Sherborne was 62, his wife Elizabeth was 60 and from Wolverhampton, and still living there with them were their three sons. John Collett was 33, Henry Collett was 31 and William Collett was 23, and while William was unmarried, his two older brothers were both described as being widowed. Also living with the family was Richard and Elizabeth’s grandson Richard Collett who was nine years old and also born at West Bromwich, who was the only child of John Collett. It seems very likely that Richard and Elizabeth both died during the next ten years, because their grandson Richard was living and working with their younger married son Robert Collett in 1881, following the death of his own father around 1875.
	9N3	John Collett				Born in 1836 at West Bromwich
	9N4	Henry Collett				Born in 1838 at West Bromwich
	9N5	Fanny Collett				Born in 1840 at West Bromwich
	9N6	Lucy Collett				Born in 1842 at West Bromwich
	9N7	Robert Collett				Born in 1844 at West Bromwich
	9N8	William Frederick Collett				Born in 1848 at West Bromwich
9M12	George Collett was baptised at Sherborne on 15^th September 1811, the son of Robert Collett and his wife Amy Fowler. In an earlier version of this family line George had been mistakenly recorded as being married to Elizabeth Emms from Hazelton, when in fact that was George Bryan Collett of Bourton-on-the-Water, whose details can be found in Part 14 – The John Kyte Collett Line under reference 14M16. All that is known about George is that he was still alive when his father made his Will in 1846.
9M13	John Collett was born at Sherborne and was baptised there on 10^th October 1813, the son of blacksmith Robert Collett and his wife Amy Fowler. Just like his brother Richard (above), John eventually left Sherborne and initially headed south to Hertfordshire. It was while there that he met and married Sarah who came from Little Gaddesden, just north of Hemel Hempstead. The marriage of John Collett of Little Gaddesden, the son of Robert Collett, and Sarah Simmonds, the daughter of Daniel Simmonds, took place at the Church of St Peter & St Paul in Little Gaddesden on 18^th August 1845. It was during the following year that John’s father passed away, with the name of John Collett being mentioned in his Will of 1846, when he was bequeathed ten pounds.
	Within the first four years together Sarah gave birth to the couple’s first two children while they were still living at Little Gaddesden, where they were also baptised. However, soon after that, John travelled to West Bromwich to establish a new home for the family and to be reunited with his older brother Richard, who had moved there some ten years earlier. It was also at West Bromwich that John was recorded on the day of the census in 1851, when John Collett from Sherborne was 37. On that same day his wife and their two children were staying with Sarah’s widowed father in Little Gaddesden. Daniel Simmonds was 60, his son D Simmonds was 20, while his daughter Sarah Collett was 33, grandson Harvey Collett was three and granddaughter Sarah Collett was two years of age, and all born at Little Gaddesden.
	Sarah and the two children joined John at West Bromwich later on in 1851 and it was there also where the couple’s next three children were born. Those three new arrivals were recorded with the family in the West Bromwich census of 1861, when they were all residing at Winkle Street. On that day the family was recorded as John Collett from Sherborne who was 47 and a blacksmith employing one man, his wife Sarah from Little Gaddesden was 45, and their five children were Harvey aged 13 and another blacksmith, Sarah aged 11, William who was nine, Martha A Collett who was seven, and Charles who was four years old, the three youngest children having been born at West Bromwich. No further children were added to the family after that, so by 1871 the West Bromwich family was listed as only Sarah aged 53, together with two of her sons William aged 19 and Charles who was 14. Her husband was away on his travels and on that day was recorded at Matlock in Derbyshire as visitor John Collett from Sherborne who was 58 and a married blacksmith.
	Ten years later John and Sarah were living at 46 Thynne Street, midway between West Bromwich and Sandwell, where John was listed as a retired shoeing smith aged 67 years in 1881. Sarah was listed as being 63 years old and her place of birth was confirmed as Little Gaddesden in Hertfordshire. It seems likely that Sarah died during the next decade as John aged 77 was living alone at West Bromwich in 1891 and he too is assumed to have died shortly thereafter. It was also five years earlier, in 1886, that John travelled to Swindon to be with his sister Jane when she was dying. Jane’s only son William had been killed the previous year in an industrial accident and both John Collett and his sister Jane were staying with her widowed daughter-in-law Sarah Ann Collett at her home in Princes Street.
	9N9	Harvey Collett				Born in 1848 at Little Gaddesden
	9N10	Sarah Collett				Born in 1849 at Little Gaddesden
	9N11	William Collett				Born in 1851 at West Bromwich
	9N12	Martha Ann Collett				Born in 1853 at West Bromwich
	9N13	Charles Collett				Born in 1856 at West Bromwich
9M14	Hannah Collett was born at Sherborne in 1815, the daughter of Robert and Amy Collett, although to date no baptism record has been found. It was during the earlier 1840s that she married James Hardcastle, the marriage producing at least three children who were with Hannah on the day of the census in 1851. It was also confirmed that she was Hannah Hardcastle in her father’s Will made in 1846. By the time of that census in 1851 Hannah Hardcastle from Sherborne in Gloucestershire was a lodger at the Wootton St Lawrence home of David and Elizabeth Steel just west of Basingstoke in Hampshire. Hannah was 35 and only had her three children with her, and they were Hannah Hardcastle who was six, Lucy Hardcastle who was four and James Hardcastle who was two years old. James Hardcastle was back with his family in 1861 when the census that year revealed they were living within the parish of St Edmunds in Salisbury, Wiltshire, where James was 42, his wife Hannah was 46, and the only child still living there with them was their son James Hardcastle who was 13.
	Ten years later the widow Hannah Hardcastle from Sherborne was 52 when she was a servant at a house in Lambeth and Brixton registration district of London. Where she was in 1881 has not been discovered but, after a further decade had passed, Hannah Hardcastle was staying with her married daughter Lucy and described as mother-in-law of head of the household George Tookey, aged 41, a joiner from St Pancras. Lucy Tookey was 43 and her mother Hannah was 73. George Tookey was unmarried at the time of the previous census in 1881 when he was a lodger at 37 Hanover Gardens in Lambeth, so Lucy Hardcastle was in her thirties when she married him. It was less than four years later that Hannah Hardcastle nee Collett from Sherborne passed away, with her death recorded at Lambeth (Ref. 1d 422) during the first three months of 1895 when it was said that she was 79.
9M15	Lucy Collett was born at Sherborne where she was baptised on 18^th October 1817, the daughter of Robert and Amy Collett. At the time of the first national census in 1841, Lucy Collett, aged 23, was living and working in the Hanover Square area of London, not far from where her older brother Charles (above) was living with his wife and daughter. Like some of her older sisters, it would appear that she never married. Certainly, she was still Lucy Collett when her father made his Will in 1846. By 1871 Lucy Collett aged 53 and from Sherborne was residing within the Wandsworth & Clapham district of London.
9M16	Robert Collett was born at Sherborne and baptised there on 21^st December 1819, the son of Robert and Amy Collett. Following the death of his mother in 1837 Robert continued to live at the family home in Sherborne. At the time of the first national census in June 1841 he was 20 and was still living there with his widowed father Robert Collett the blacksmith, with whom Robert was also working as a blacksmith with his older brother Henry (above).
	His father died in 1847 when Robert received ten pounds under the terms of his Will proved in Gloucester at the end of April that year. By 1851 he was once again confirmed as living and working in Sherborne where he was still a ‘smith’. On that occasion though he was lodging with his brother Henry who was then married to Jane. However, it was during the next decade that Robert married Ann of Little Compton in Oxfordshire, who was born there in 1817.
	The Sherborne census of 1861 confirmed that Robert Collett was 41 and that he was married to Ann Collett, age 43. Staying with the couple on the day of the census was journeyman blacksmith Daniel Cook of Barnsley in Gloucestershire. Just four years later Robert died at Sherborne aged 45 and was buried there on 30^th May 1865. According to the 1871 Census, Ann Collett aged 55 of Little Compton had returned to Oxfordshire and was living within the Chipping Norton registration district, which included Little Compton.
9M17	Amy Collett was born at Sherborne in 1822 and was baptised there on 5^th April 1822, the last child of Robert Collett and his third wife Amy Fowler. Sadly, her mother died in 1837 at the age of 58 when Amy was only 15, leaving the teenager to be looked after by her elderly father Robert Collett who was 72 at that time. Perhaps that was more than the old man could cope with, for not long after Amy was forced into domestic service. Amy Collett appeared in the first national census in June 1841 as living at Westminster in the St George area of London, where she was given a rounded age of 15 (rather than her true age of 18). At that time in her life, she was working as a domestic servant at the home of Charles and Sarah Collett in Hanover Square.
	During the late 1840s she became friends with Jane Wood who was very likely the sister of Sarah Wood who married Amy’s brother John Collett (above), both girls having been born at Little Gaddesden near Hemel Hempstead. By 1851 Amy Collett, aged 27, and Jane Wood, aged 24, were recorded together as lodging at the home of Ann Hiron within the Luton & Dunstable registration district of Bedfordshire. Four years earlier the name of Amy Collett, the daughter of blacksmith Robert Collett, was the last in a list of fourteen of his children, who each received ten pounds in his Will which was proved on 26^th April 1847.
	It was during 1860 that Amy’s close friend Jane Wood married Reuben Horn of Ivinghoe Aston in Buckinghamshire and, according to the census conducted in the following year, Amy Collett from Sherborne was lodging with the couple, who were living within the Luton & Dunstable registration district. The full household on that occasion comprised Reuben Horn 25, his wife Jane who was 30, their baby daughter Amy Jane Horn who was not yet one year old, sixteen years old nurse maid Eliza Brinklow, and lodger Amy Collett who was 34, rather than 37.
	Amy continued to live with the Horn family and by 1871 the census that year revealed that also living at the home of Reuben and Jane Horn in Dunstable was Jane’s mother Mary A Wood who was 61. It would appear that ‘baby’ Amy Jane Horn must have died while still a child, as the only children living with Reuben and Jane was their son William Horn, who was seven, and their daughter Sarah Horn who was five years old.
	By April 1881 Amy Collett was still living at the home of Reuben and Jane Horn. Reuben was 43 and a plait merchant and he and his family were living at 1 Princess Street in Dunstable. Their son William, aged 17, was working as a pupil teacher, while daughter Sarah was 15 and an apprentice dressmaker. Amy Collett on that occasion was described as being an unmarried dressmaker and a visitor, who had been born at Sherborne in Gloucestershire. As with all of the previous census records, she gave an incorrect age when she said she was 52, instead of her true age of 57.
	Two points are of interest. The first that the daughter of the Horn household was an apprentice dressmaker which, presumably meant that she was being taught the trade by Amy Collett, and secondly that Reuben’s wife Jane Horn nee Wood who was 48 was born at Little Gaddesden in Hertfordshire.
	And as previously mentioned, it was at Little Gaddesden that Sarah, the wife of Amy’s brother John Collett (above) was born, so such a long time together for Amy and Jane is perhaps a very good indication Jane and Sarah were indeed sisters. That certainly would make it all the more reasonable for the strong long-term friendship relationship between Amy and Jane. Amy Collett died at Luton nine years later in 1890, when she was 68 years of age.
9M18	Elizabeth Collett was born at Aldsworth around 1797, the first known child of William Collett and his first wife Ann Sparrow. The only other record found for her so far is a listing in the 1851 Census when she was 64 and was living at Stow-on-the-Wold, when her place of birth was confirmed as having been Aldsworth.
9M19	Jane Collett was born at Aldsworth in 1800 to parents William and Ann Collett, but with within a couple of years she died and was buried there in 1802. Her mother also died around the same time.
9M20	Charles Collett was born at Aldsworth around 1807, the first child of the second marriage of William Collett to Elizabeth Howes. He never married and was a blacksmith all his life. In 1841 and 1851 he was the only member of the family still living with his parents William and Elizabeth Collett at Aldsworth. In the census of 1841, he was listed with a rounded age of 30 and in 1851 he was 41. Both of his parents died in the 1850s so by 1861 he was living on his own at Aldsworth when he was 53. The Aldsworth 1871 Census confirmed that Charles was 63 and that his occupation was still that of a blacksmith. On that occasion he had living with him his nephew Francis Collett (Ref. 9N28) who was 13 and from Coln St Aldwyns, the son of Charles’ brother William Collett (below).
	Sometime during the 1870s, and probably because of his advancing years, Charles took into his home another nephew who could help with the family blacksmith business. That was William Henry Collett and his family, the son of Charles’ brother younger Henry Collett (below). By April 1881 Charles, at the age of 73, had living and working with him his nephew and blacksmith William Collett (Ref. 9N15), aged 38 and from Aldsworth, his wife Augusta Collett (Ref. 9N26), aged 29 and from Quenington, and their daughter Ada Collett who was eight years old.
	Ten years later, on the day of the Aldsworth census in 1891 Charles was 82 and a retired blacksmith when he still had living with him his nephew William and his wife Augusta who, by then had two children Ada and Cecil. Living in the dwelling next door to Charles was his brother Henry Collett (below) and his wife Mary, who was the father of Charles’ nephew William Henry Collett. It was later that same year that Charles Collett died and was buried in the Aldsworth churchyard where a tombstone bears his name.
9M21	HENRY COLLETT was born at Aldsworth in 1810, the son of William and Elizabeth Collett, and it was at Aldsworth that he was married by banns Mary Carter at St Bartholomew’s Church on 3^rd March 1838. The witnesses were his father William Collett and sister Jane Collett (below). All four of them signed their name in the church register in which the couple gave their ages as 27 and 19 years respectively. Mary was the daughter of Richard Palmer Carter and Jane Fowler who were married at Aldsworth on 16^th October 1817. The Carter family are well represented in the churchyard at Aldsworth, with gravestones for Richard dated 11^th November 1872, Mary dated 29^th June 1858, and Richard’s father James in 1793. By June 1841 the marriage of Henry and Mary had produced their first child and that was confirmed in the census return which listed Henry with a rounded age of 30, Mary as 20, and baby Ann who was still under one year old.
	During the next ten years Mary presented her husband with a further four children so at the time of the 1851 Census for Aldsworth Henry Collett was aged 40 and was a blacksmith living with wife Mary 32, and their five children. They were Ann aged ten, William Henry who was eight, Richard who was six, Charles who was four, and Elizabeth who was one year old. Their next child Robert, who was born in 1851, must have been born after 30^th March, which was the census day that year.
	Henry Collett was the enumerator for the Aldsworth censuses of 1861 and 1871 having taken over the role from his brother-in-law Joseph Waine, who married Henry’s sister Jane (below). In 1861 the family was residing at The Kisbery in Aldsworth and comprised Henry who was 51 and a blacksmith, Mary who was 42, Ann who was 20 and a teacher, William aged 18, who was a blacksmith working with his father, Richard aged 16, and Charlie who was 13, both of them working as agricultural labourers, Elizabeth who was 11, Robert who was nine, Lucy who was six, and Mary Ann who was three, and all of them born at Aldsworth.
	Moving on ten years and blacksmith Henry was 61 years old when he was living with his large family at the Lodge in Aldsworth. His wife Mary was 53 and still living with them were eight of their ten children. William H Collett aged 28 was a blacksmith, Richard Collett aged 26 was employed on a farm, Charles Collett aged 24 was a blacksmith’s assistant, Elizabeth M Collett was 21, Robert Collett aged 19 was another blacksmith’s assistant, while the three youngest children were daughters Lucy Collett who was 16, and Mary Ann Collett who was 13, and the youngest son Henry Collett who was nine years old.
	According to the Aldsworth Census of 1881 only unmarried siblings Charles Collett and Mary Anne Collett were living at home with their parents at that time. The census record also confirms that the children were born at Aldsworth and that Henry, aged 71, and Charles were both blacksmiths. Mary Anne who was 23 years of age, married Thomas Bennett during the following years.
	The later census of 1891 for Aldsworth listed Henry collett, aged 81, as a retired blacksmith living with his wife Mary who was 73, while living next door was his son William Henry Collett and Henry’s older brother Charles Collett (above). Henry Collett died in 1892 and was buried at Aldsworth on 2^nd April 1892. Later that same year Mary died on Christmas Day and was buried on 30^th December 1892. Just outside the entrance to the church there is a well-preserved gravestone for Mary, next to which there is a broken stone which is very possibly that of Henry.
	9N14	Ann Collett			Born in 1840 at Aldsworth
	9N15	William Henry Collett			Born in 1842 at Aldsworth
	9N16	RICHARD COLLETT			Born in 1844 at Aldsworth
	9N17	Charles Collett			Born in 1846 at Aldsworth
	9N18	Elizabeth Mary Collett			Born in 1849 at Aldsworth
	9N19	Robert Collett			Born in 1851 at Aldsworth
	9N20	Lucy Collett			Born in 1854 at Aldsworth
	9N21	Mary Collett			Born in 1856 at Aldsworth
	9N22	Mary Anne Collett			Born in 1857 at Aldsworth
	9N23	Henry Collett			Born in 1861 at Aldsworth
9M22	Mary Collett was born at Aldsworth in the latter part of 1811 to parents William and Elizabeth Collett. However, she only survived for a short while when she died and was buried there in April 1814 and the age of just two years.
9M23	Jane Collett was born at Aldsworth and it was there that she was baptised on 21^st November 1813, the daughter of William and Elizabeth Collett. She later married baker Joseph Waine on 2^nd April 1840, following the reading of banns, and it was Joseph Waine who was the enumerator for the Aldsworth census in 1851. It is also interesting to note that Joseph’s mother was Susanna Waine nee Fletcher, the sister of Mary Fletcher who married Thomas Collett (Ref. 2M11) and the sister of Ann Fletcher who married Henry Collett (Ref. 2M16). This then provides another link back to the one of the main lines of Collett ancestors.
	By 1881 Jane was a widow carrying on the family business as a baker and grocer in Aldsworth, Joseph having died in 1854. Still living with her was her unmarried son John Waine, aged 27, grandsons Ernest Charles Waine, aged 12, and Harry Edgar John Waine, who was seven, and granddaughter Lucy Ann Howard, aged 14, all of them born at Aldsworth. The household was completed by two servants. Jane died in 1899.
9M24	William Collett was born at Aldsworth during late 1816 or early 1817 and was baptised there on 4^th February 1817, the youngest child of William Collett by his second wife Elizabeth Howes. He was a blacksmith just like two of his brothers. He married Jane of Coln St Aldwyns in the parish church at Coln St Aldwyns, where William was living and working as a blacksmith in 1841. The couple married sometime after 1841 and before 1844 when their first child was baptised in Coln St Aldwyns, at which time they may have also been living there or at nearby Quenington. All of their later children are believed to have been born at Quenington, although they were all baptised at the parish church in Coln St Aldwyns. However, there seems to be some conflicting information regarding whether their second child was born at Quenington or at Coln St Aldwyns. Sadly, it would appear that the couple’s first child died shortly after he was born and was buried at Coln St Aldwyns.
	By 1851 William was 34, Jane was 30, and their daughter Georgiana was four, when they were confirmed as residing at Quenington just south of Aldsworth. The census for that year confirmed that William was a blacksmith who had been born at Aldsworth, while Jane and her daughter Georgiana were both said to have been born at Coln St Aldwyns. Jane was most likely with-child on the census day since she presented William with a second daughter later that same year. Ten years later in 1861 the family was again living in Quenington when the census return revealed the family as William 44, Jane 41, and their children Georgiana, aged 14, Augusta who was nine, Anne Priscilla who was five and Francis who was three years old, the three younger children reported as having been born at Quenington. William and Jane only had their two youngest children living with them in the next census in 1871. The census recorded the family as William 53, his wife Jane 50, their daughter Anne 15 and their son Francis who was 13.
	In 1881 William, aged 64, and Jane, aged 61, were still living at Quenington. It is likely that the couple lived virtually all of their married life together at Quenington, since their daughter Anne was certainly born there, as was their daughter Augusta who married her cousin William Henry Collett (Ref. 9N15). In addition to these, their son Francis was also born at Quenington, although he had left the family home by 1881 and was living and working in Bristol. There is further confirmation of this in the census of 1901 when the couple was still living in Quenington and were listed as William, a retired blacksmith aged 84 who had been born at Aldsworth, with 80-year-old Jane who was born at Coln St Aldwyns. Still living with them was their daughter Annie, a spinster of 45 years. William Collett died on 28^th October 1906 at the age of 90, while his wife Jane passed away three years later on 11^th August 1909, aged 89, and both of them were buried at Quenington.
	9N24	Francis Collett				Born in 1844 at Coln St Aldwyns
	9N25	Georgiana Collett				Born in 1846 at Coln St Aldwyns
	9N26	Augusta Collett				Born in 1851 at Quenington
	9N27	Anne Priscilla Collett				Born in 1855 at Quenington
	9N28	Francis Collett				Born in 1858 at Quenington
9N1	William Collett was the base-born son of spinster Jane Collett of Sherborne. He was born at Sherborne in 1826 but was quickly removed to live with a family in Fairford where he was baptised on 13^th August 1826. That very uncertain start to his life was very likely the reason why, in the later census records, he was unsure about his date and place of birth. His age had the biggest variations, whereas the place of his birth alternated between Sherborne and Fairford.
	By the time William was 15 he had left school and was living and working with Thomas Lea and his wife Betty and their two daughters Patience and Mary at their family home in Fairford. Thomas Lea was a tailor and he was teaching William how to become a tailor himself. Although not confirmed, it is possible that it may have been with the Lea family that William had been placed fifteen years earlier. Ten years later, according to the census of 1851, William was 24 and was a tailor’s apprentice still living at the Fairford home of tailor and draper Thomas Lea. Also lodging at the house at that time was William’s mother Jane Collett, who was 45 and described as a tailor of Sherborne.
	Over the next ten years William continued to live in Fairford, but by 1861 he was living on his own and in the census that year he was recorded as being a carrier aged 35 and from Sherborne. It was at nearby Cirencester in 1865 that William married Sarah Ann Cockbill who is pictured here at the age of sixty-one at the wedding of her youngest son Albert in September 1901, by which time she had been a widow for sixteen years. Sarah Ann Cockbill was born at Filkins north of Lechlade in Wiltshire around 1840. A note on the couple’s marriage certificate indicated that William Collett’s unnamed father had died when he was a child.
	William’s and Sarah’s first five children were all born while the couple was living at Fairford and prior to the family’s move to Swindon, where the sixth and youngest child was born. According to the 1871 Census for Fairford William, aged 42, was a carrier and inn keeper living with his wife Sarah, aged 36 and of Filkins. On that occasion William gave his place of birth as Fairford. Living with the couple were their first three children Harry, who was five, Charles, who was two, and Amy who was one year old. Rather strangely the family also had living with them at that time a young child by the name of Charles Constable who was seven years of age and from Lechlade.
	Between 1875 and 1879 the family moved from Fairford to Swindon where William had secured the job of labourer with the Great Western Railway. By April 1881 he and his family were living at 40 Princes Street in Swindon. William was described as being 47 and from Fairford. The census record also confirmed that he was a labourer employed by the Great Western Railway in the E & M workshop.
	His wife was confirmed as Sarah A Collett, aged 40 of Filkins, and their children at that time were Henry R Collett aged 14, Charles Collett aged 12, Frederick Collett who was nine, Hedley Collett who was six, and Albert Collett who was only ten months old. Living with the family on that occasion was boarder William Strong, a workmate of William’s at the GWR. For whatever reason, probably one of overcrowding in the male orientated family home, William and Sarah’s only daughter Amy, aged 10 and born at Fairford, was living at Ampney St Peter near Cirencester with her grandmother Jane Collett (Ref. 9M8).
	Tragically, William Collett died in hospital on 22^nd March 1885 as a result of an accident at work during the previous day. It transpires that William was a labourer and a track leveller and that on the afternoon of Saturday 21^st March he fell through a hole into a fire while working on the tracks near Rodbourne Lane Cottages. His age at that time was recorded as being 49, and the death certificate indicated that his mother Jane Collett was still alive at the age of 82. Ironically, she died exactly one year later on 22^nd March 1886.
	An inquest into the incident that killed William took place at The Cricketer’s Arms Inn in New Town Swindon on Wednesday 25^th March 1885 at which it was said that his son Henry Robert Collett identified the badly burned body. As a result of the findings of the inquest, a verdict of accidental death was announced. The surviving family of William Collett of 40 Princes Street in Swindon was recorded as his widow, his six children, and his mother who was 82. William’s widow Sarah Ann Collett was offered compensation for her husband’s death by the Great Western Railway, which she declined, saying that she would prefer each of her sons to be offered employment and an apprenticeship with the company, where her eldest son was already working at that time. And judging by the trades taken up by her sons, it seems more than likely that her demand was accepted.
	According to the next Swindon census in 1891, Sarah Ann Collett was 49 and was a widow, while still living at 40 Princes Street with four of her six children. They were Henry 24, Frederick 19, Hedley 14, and Albert who was 10. Her son Charles Collett had died in 1888 and no trace of Amy Jane Collett has been found in 1891. Just after the turn of the century Sarah A Collett of Filkins was 61 and was still living in Swindon. Also living in Swindon at that time were her sons Henry 32, Frederick 29, Hedley 26, and Albert who was 20. Sarah Ann Collett nee Cockbill died at Swindon on 10^th March 1910 at the age of 70.
	9O1	Henry Robert Collett				Born in 1866 at Fairford
	9O2	Charles Ernest Collett				Born in 1868 at Fairford
	9O3	Amy Jane Collett				Born in 1870 at Fairford
	9O4	Frederick William Collett				Born in 1872 at Fairford
	9O5	Hedley John Collett				Born in 1874 at Fairford
	9O6	Albert Joseph Collett				Born in 1880 at Swindon
9N2	Amy Collett was born at Sherborne during 1826, where her father had been born in 1805, the only known child of Charles and Sarah Collett. On the day of the census in 1841, Amy Collett, aged 15, was with her parents at Grosvenor Mews in Hanover Square. Charles Collett was 35 and a farrier, and Sarah Collett was the same aged 35, when rounded ages were used at that time in June 1841. All three of them were recorded as not being born within Middlesex, Amy’s mother having been born in Essex. By 1851, when her parents were still living in the Hanover Square area of London, Amy Collett from Sherborne (Glos) was 27 and with no stated job of work, when she was lodging at Church Street in Dunstable. Where she was in 1861 and 1871 has not yet be found.
	Thirty years later, unmarried Amy Collett from Sherborne in Gloucestershire was 52 and a dressmaker, a visitor at Princess Street in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, the home of plait merchant Reuben Horn aged 43 and from Ivinghoe Aston just south-west of Dunstable, and his wife Jane Horn 48 and from Gaddesden in Hertfordshire. It is therefore interesting that the younger brother of Amy’s father, John Collett, married a girl from Gaddesden in 1845. Amy may well have returned to the county of her birth during the following years, since the obituary printed in the Gloucestershire Journal on 30^th March 1889 reported that Amy Collett had died at Cheltenham on 24^th March 1889 at the age of 63.
9N3	John Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1836, the eldest child of blacksmith Richard Collett of Sherborne in Gloucestershire and his wife Elizabeth from Trysull near Wolverhampton. According to the West Bromwich census of 1841 John was three years old and living with his parents in West Bromwich, while it was the same situation ten years later when he was 14. By 1861 John Collett from West Bromwich was 24 and a married man who was still living with his parents at 11 Hallam Street in West Bromwich. His occupation was that of a blacksmith, like his father, and whether it was an error made by the census enumerator, but his place of birth was given as Trysull, which was where his mother had been born.
	Curiously so far, no record of his wife has been identified, while it seems likely that it was very shortly after the census day in 1861 when their son and only child was born. So perhaps John’s wife was at the home of her parents to have the baby, which often happened. However, tragically, his wife did not survive the ordeal as was confirmed by the next census in 1871, when once again John was still living with his parents at Hallam Street in West Bromwich. According to the census details that year John Collett from West Bromwich was 33 and a widower, whose occupation was that of a blacksmith. Also living with him at that address was his son Richard Collett who was nine years of age and also born in West Bromwich who was still attending school.
	With no apparent record found after 1871 for John Collet, a blacksmith from West Bromwich, coupled with the fact that his son Richard Collett, at the age of 19, was living with his uncle Robert Collett in 1881, John’s younger brother (below), it may that John Collett died during the 1870s, although such record has been found.
	9O7	Richard Collett				Born in 1861 at West Bromwich
9N4	Henry Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1838 and was aged two years in June 1841 and was 12 years of age in the census of 1851. He was still living with his family at 11 Hallam Street in West Bromwich in 1861 when he was 22 and working as a carpenter. During the next decade he became a married man but tragically lost his wife, most likely during childbirth, since in the next census of 1871 he again living at Hallam Street with his parents when he was described as a widower of 31 who was still working as a carpenter.
	That situation was confirmed by the next census in 1881. The census return for April that year included Henry Collett as being 39 while living at Taylors Lane in West Bromwich, where his occupation was again confirmed as being that of a carpenter. The same census also confirmed that he was a widower and that his live-in housekeeper was Annie Ince who was 40 and a dressmaker. With her were her three children Arthur Ince who was seven, Dora Ince who was five and Wilbert Ince who was one year old. Each child was described as the son or the daughter of the housekeeper.
	By 1891 Henry Collett was 50 and was still living in West Bromwich, but sometime during the next decade he was taken into the West Bromwich Union Workhouse where he was recorded in March 1901 as being 62 years old, a pauper and a retired carpenter, who was also said to be an imbecile. Sadly, he died just a few months later, his death recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 517) during the third quarter of 1901 when his age was 61.
9N5	Fanny Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1840 and was under one year old in June 1841. Ten years later she was still living with her parents in West Bromwich and was 10 years old. During the latter half of the 1850s, when she was around sixteen or seventeen, Fanny married blacksmith Charles Harrison from Great Bowden near Market Harborough. In fact, it is possible that she may have met him through her father who was a blacksmith who employed such men. By the time of the census in 1861 Fanny had already given to her first two children, by which time she and Charles were living in the Aston & Duddeston registration of Birmingham.
	Being nearly ten years younger than Charles, Fanny Harrison was recorded in the census return that year at the same age as her husband when, clearly, she was not. Charles Harrison was 28 and living with the couple was just their youngest child Elizabeth Harrison who was one year old. However, on that same day the couple’s eldest daughter Lydia Harrison, who was three years old and born at West Bromwich, was living with Fanny’s parents at 11 Hallam Street in West Bromwich where she was described as the granddaughter of Richard and Elizabeth Collett.
	Four year later Fanny presented Charles with their only son, Charles S Harrison who was also born at West Bromwich, while by 1871 the enlarged family was residing within the Birmingham parish of St Thomas. Charles Harrison was 37, Fanny Harrison was 30, Lydia Harrison was 13, Elizabeth Harrison was 11 and Charles S Harrison was six years of age. Two more children were added to the family during the 1870s, the first of them born in Birmingham, with their last child born after the family had moved to Smethwick.
	By the time of the next census in 1881 Charles and Fanny were recorded living at 64 Rabone Lane in Harborne, near Kings Norton, where Fanny’s nephew Richard Collett (Ref. 9O7) was living in 1891. The 1881 census confirmed that Charles Harrison was 49 and a blacksmith from Great Bowden in Leicestershire, his wife Fanny from West Bromwich was 40, their son Charles S Harrison was 16 and already employed in the chandelier trade, while the couple’s two youngest children were Louisa Harrison who was five and Gertrude F Harrison who was not yet one year old.
	The family, although reduced in size, was still living at Harborne in 1891, when Charles Harrison was 61, Fanny Harrison was 49, Louisa Harrison was 15 and Gertrude Harrison was 10 years old. Charles Harrison passed away during the last decade of the century, so in the census conducted in March 1901 it was just Fanny Harrison from West Bromwich who was 59 and then living in Smethwick who was managing a huckster shop assisted by her youngest daughter Gertie Harrison who was 20.
9N6	Lucy Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1843, the fourth child and youngest of the two daughters of Richard Collett from Sherborne and his wife Elizabeth from Trysull near Wolverhampton. In the West Bromwich census of 1851 Lucy Collett was eight years of age. She was still in her teenage years when she was married to become Lucy Sonedley (or Sanedley) as confirmed in the census of 1861 when she and her first child were living with her parents at 11 Hallam Street in West Bromwich. Lucy Sonedley from West Bromwich was only 18 years old and had with her, her daughter Harriet Sonedley who was eight months old. Her unusual surname has made it virtually impossible to trace Lucy and her family in the later census records.
9N7	Robert Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1844 and was six years old in 1851 and was still living in West Bromwich with his parents at 11 Hallam Street in 1861 when he was 16 and a blacksmith working with his father and his older brother John (above). It was on Christmas Day in 1865 that Robert Collett married Mary Ann Evans from West Bromwich, the event recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 1183). The wedding ceremony was conducted at Holy Trinity Church on 25^th December when Robert, the son of Richard Collett, was 20 and Mary Ann, the daughter of Thomas and Mary Ann Evans, was 21. During the first five years of their marriage Mary Ann presented Robert with the first three of their thirteen children, so by 1871 the family residing at Hallam Street in West Bromwich was made up of Robert Collett, a coachsmith, and Mary Ann Collett, both aged 26, and their three daughters Martha Elizabeth Collett aged four years, Mary Ann Collett aged two years, with the youngest one Amy Collett just five months old.
	According to the next census of 1881 the family was living at 56 Hallam Street in West Bromwich from where Robert, at the age of 36, was described as a shoeing and coaching smith who was employing two men. Mary A Collett, also 36 and of West Bromwich, was confirmed as his wife, while the couple’s first three daughters were then referred to as Mary Elizabeth Collett who was 14, Margaret Ann Collett who was 12 and Amy C Collett who was 10. Mary (Martha in 1871) had left school by then, whereas the next four children were still receiving their education.
	In addition to the couple’s three eldest children the other younger members of the family that day were recorded as Lucy Collett who was eight, Elizabeth Collett who was six, Robert Collett who was four, Henry (who was referred to as Harry) who was two years of age, and baby Frank who was just seven months old. All of the children were confirmed as having been born at West Bromwich. Also living with the family in April 1881 was Robert’s nephew Richard Collett aged 19 who had been living with Robert’s parents ten years early with his widowed father John – Robert’s eldest brother.
	Over the next ten years a further five children were added to the family. So, by the time of the 1891 Census, there were ten children living with Robert and Mary Ann at West Bromwich, with two of the five oldest daughters having already left the family home. Robert and Mary Ann were both 46 and with them were Mary 22, Amy 20, Lucy 18, Robert 14, Henry 12, Thomas 11 (who was Frank in 1881), Hannah, who was eight, Richard, who was seven, James, who was five, Joseph, who was three, and Minnie who was two years old.
	Just after the turn of the century eight of the children of Robert and Mary Ann were still living at home in West Bromwich with their parents. The total 1901 family comprised general blacksmith Robert aged 56 and his wife Mary Ann, sons Robert 24, Henry 22, Thomas 20, Richard 17, Arthur 15, and Joseph aged 13, together with the two youngest daughters Hannah 18, and Minnie aged 10.
	It was just over three years later that Robert Collett passed away on 11^th November 1904 when he was living at 56 Hallam Street in West Bromwich. His death at the age of 59 was recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 599) during the last two months of the year. Following his passing, it was his widow Mary Ann Collett who was named as the sole executor of his estate of £445 4 Shillings and 11 Pence.
	The next census in 1911 included Mary Ann Collett of West Bromwich, a widow at 66, who was still living at Hallam Street with four of her children for company. They were Henry, James, Joseph and Minnie. Mary Ann Collett was still living at 56 Hallam Street in West Bromwich when she died on 15^th February 1923. Probate of her estate of £481 4 Shillings was resolved at Lichfield on 2^nd May 1923 in favour of Henry Collett, a moulder, and Edgar Stokes, a hame maker. They were her son and the husband of her daughter Hannah.
	9O8	Martha Elizabeth Collett				Born in 1867 at West Bromwich
	9O9	Mary Ann Collett				Born in 1869 at West Bromwich
	9O10	Amy Collett				Born in 1870 at West Bromwich
	9O11	Lucy Collett				Born in 1872 at West Bromwich
	9O12	Elizabeth Collett				Born in 1873 at West Bromwich
	9O13	Robert Collett				Born in 1875 at West Bromwich
	9O14	Henry Collett				Born in 1877 at West Bromwich
	9O15	Thomas (Frank) Collett				Born in 1880 at West Bromwich
	9O16	Hannah Jane Collett				Born in 1882 at West Bromwich
	9O17	Richard Collett				Born in 1883 at West Bromwich
	9O18	James Arthur Collett				Born in 1885 at West Bromwich
	9O19	Joseph Edward Collett				Born in 1887 at West Bromwich
	9O20	Minnie Collett				Born in 1890 at West Bromwich
9N8	William Frederick Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1848 and was four (sic) years old in the West Bromwich census of 1851. After a further ten years his age was 12 when, in the West Bromwich census of 1861, he was still at school and living with his family at 11 Hallam Street. It was also at Hallam Street that he was still living with his family in 1871 when he was 23, unmarried and with the occupation of a coachsmith. Around seven years after that he married the much younger Amelia Fanny Fellows at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 935) during the third quarter of 1878. The birth of Amelia Fanny Fellows was recorded at Kings Norton (Ref. 6c 619) during the third quarter of 1858, thus making her around twenty years of age when she married William who would have been ten years old.
	Shortly after they were married Amelia presented William with the first of their seven children and one year later their second child had arrived. By the time of the West Bromwich census of 1881 William said he was 28, while his wife Fanny from Smethwick was 23. Perhaps it was from the embarrassment of having a much younger wife that William did not give his actually age of around 32. At that time in April 1881 William and Amelia were living at 8 Cottrell Street in West Bromwich with their two children Amelia, referred to as Fanny aged one, and William who was three months old, both of them having been born at West Bromwich. William’s occupation at that time in his life was that of a farrier. Three years later Amelia presented her husband with their third child, but tragically he was born deaf and dumb.
	By 1891 the family had moved away from Cottrell Street and instead were living at 38 Victoria Street in West Bromwich. Head of the house William Collett was 43 and a farrier and general smith, while his wife Amelia was 32, and living there with them were their three children, Amelia F Collett who was 11, William F Collett who was 10 and Albert A Collett who was six years of age.
	The family was still living in West Bromwich in 1901 when William F Collett of West Bromwich was confirmed as being a farrier and shoeing smith aged 53 and his wife was Amelia aged 44 and from Smethwick. Their son, also listed as William F Collett, was living with them aged 20 and was working with his father, his occupation being that of a shoeing smith. Completing the family was their son Arthur A Collett who was 16 and their daughter Adelaide Collett who was five years old. Their daughter Amelia F Collett had left the family home by then and was working away at nearby Tipton at the age of 21.
	The West Bromwich census of 1911 provided the full name of William Frederick Collett from West Bromwich who was sixty-three and a shoeing smith with his own account working at home, which was a six-roomed property at 38 Victoria Street. His wife of thirty-four years was confirmed as Amelia Fanny Collett, also from West Bromwich, who was 54. During those years the marriage had produced a total of eight children for the couple, of which only five were still alive. Still living with them on that occasion was their handicapped son Albert Arthur Collett, who was 27 and described as totally deaf and dumb from birth. Of the two younger children Adelaide Lucy Collett was 15 and was already working as a paper counter at a local printing works, while Dorothy May Collett was still attending school at the age of eight years. Lodging with the family was boarder Thomas Albert Young who was 30 and a fitter, electrical breaker foreman from Leeds.
	All of the couple’s five children who were still living in 1911 are as listed below. Therefore, the three who had already died were sons Richard and Harry, plus one other not listed below, who may have been born in the 1890s. It was just over seven years later that William Frederick Collett, a farrier, died on 18^th November 1918 when he was still residing at 38 Victoria Street in West Bromwich. Probate of his personal effects amounting to a value of £1,395 1 Shilling and 5 Pence was grant to his widow Amelia Fanny Collett. He was 69 when he died, his death being recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 1771) during the last quarter of the 1918.
	Amelia had been a widow for almost eighteen years when she passed away on 28^th May 1937, at which time she was still living at the family home at 38 Victoria Street. Her Will was proved at Birmingham on 21^st July 1927, by which time her estate had increased in value to £1,431 6 Shillings and 2 Pence while it was her unmarried daughter Adelaide Lucy Collett who was made as the sole executor of her Will.
	9O21	Amelia Fanny Collett			Born in 1879 at West Bromwich
	9O22	William Frederick Collett			Born in 1881 at West Bromwich
	9O23	Richard John Thomas Collett			Born in 1882 at West Bromwich
	9O24	Albert Arthur Collett			Born in 1884 at West Bromwich
	9O25	Harry Harvey Collett			Born in 1887 at West Bromwich
	9O26	Adelaide Lucy Collett			Born in 1895 at West Bromwich
	9O27	Dorothy May Collett			Born in 1902 at West Bromwich
9N9	Harvey Collett was born at Little Gaddesden during the second quarter of 1848, the birth being registered in the Berkhamsted district of Hertfordshire. It was also at Little Gaddesden where he was baptised on 30^th April 1848, the son of John Collett and Sarah Simmonds. On the day of the census in 1851 Harvey Collett was three years of age when he and his younger sister Sarah (below) were with the children’s mother, staying at the home of her widowed father Daniel Simmonds at Little Gaddesden. That day the children’s father was setting up a new home for the family in West Bromwich. And it was at West Bromwich where all of Harvey’s three new siblings were born during the 1850. While Harvey was incorrectly recorded in some census returns, his place of birth was generally confirmed as being Little Gaddesden in Hertfordshire.
	By 1861 the West Bromwich family was complete with Harvey as the oldest child at the age of 13, residing at Winkle Street. Upon leaving school it would appear that he had a love of animals, probably through the contact he had with the horses that came to his father for shoeing and went to London to qualify as a veterinary surgeon. And it was at Camden Town that Harvey Collett aged 23 and a veterinary student was situated at the time of the census of 1871. Perhaps out of ignorance for his actual place of birth and, bearing in mind the short amount time spent there, he gave his place of birth as West Bromwich rather than Little Gaddesden.
	It was towards the end of the following year when Harvey Collett married Ann Woodward of Stourport in Worcestershire, the event recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 1265) during the fourth quarter of 1872. Their marriage, by banns, was conducted the Holy Trinity Church on 11^th December 1872, when Harvey was 24 and confirmed as the son of John Collett. Ann was 21 and her father was named as Thomas Woodward. It was also at West Bromwich where Harvey established his veterinary business alongside his father’s blacksmith business. Over the next ten years Ann presented Harvey with six children, all of them born at West Bromwich. By April 1881 Harvey of Little Gaddesden was aged 33 and was living at 41 Carters Green in West Bromwich. His occupation was recorded as ‘veterinary surgeon employing four smiths’ and these were most likely members of his Collett blacksmith family. His family in 1881 comprised his wife Ann from Stourport who was 30, and their children Frances Helen Collett who was seven, William Harvey Collett who was six, Amy Sarah Collett who was four, Margaret Collett who was two, Ethel Mary who was one year old, and baby Emily Collett who was ten months old. In addition to all of these, the family was supported by Eliza Jones aged 17 from Dudley who was employed as a general servant.
	Towards the end of 1881 the couple’s youngest child on the day of the census that year suffered an infant death. The loss of their daughter was offset by the birth of four more children who were added to the family over the following decade. Emily’s premature removal from the family was confirmed by the next census in 1891. Harvey Collett was 43 and a veterinary surgeon and Ann Collett was 40. The children still living at home with them, which by then was on Dudley Road in West Bromwich, were Frances H Collett aged 17, William H Collett aged 16 and a scholar, Amy S Collett aged 14, Margaret Collett aged 12, Ethel M Collett aged 11, Elsie G Collett who was nine, Norman T Collett who was six, Sidney H Collett who was four and Eliza Collett who was two years old.
	During the next ten years some of the older members of the family left home. According to the West Bromwich census of 1901 Harvey Collett from Little Gaddesden was 53 and his occupation was still that of a veterinary surgeon when he and his reduced family were living at Red Cow Yard within the parish of St Andrew. Still living with him and his wife Ann, who was 51, on that occasion were his unmarried daughters. They were Frances H Collett aged 27, Amy S Collett aged 24, Margaret Collett aged 22, Ethel M Collett aged 21, Elsie G Collett aged 19 and Olive Collett who was 12. Completing the family were the couple’s two youngest sons Norman T Collett who was 16 and Sidney H Collett who was 15. None of them was credited with having an occupation, so presumably they were supporting their father and mother. It is interesting to note, that the couple’s youngest child, Eliza in 1891, was named Olive in 1901.
	By April 1911 the family of Harvey Collett was residing at 11 Dudley Street in West Bromwich, although by then it was just four of his children who were still living with him and Ann. Harvey was 63 and was continuing to work as a veterinary surgeon, Ann was 61, and the four children were their eldest daughter Frances Helen Collett who was 37, Ethel Mary Collett who was 31 and working as a school mistress, Sidney Howell Collett who was 25 and an engineer’s pattern maker, and Olive Collett who was 22. The census return that year indicated that Harvey and Ann had given birth to ten children, of whom nine were still alive. This therefore confirms the loss of their daughter Emily in 1881.
	Just over four years after that Harvey Collett of 11 Dudley Street in West Bromwich died on 25^th July 1915, when administration of his personal effects of £1,219 11 Shillings and 2 Pence was granted to his widow Ann Collett. He was 67 and his death was recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 920) during the third quarter of the year.
	9O28	Frances Helen Collett				Born in 1873 at West Bromwich
	9O29	William Harvey Collett				Born in 1874 at West Bromwich
	9O30	Amy Sarah Collett				Born in 1876 at West Bromwich
	9O31	Margaret Collett				Born in 1878 at West Bromwich
	9O32	Ethel Mary Collett				Born in 1879 at West Bromwich
	9O33	Emily Collett – infant death				Born in 1880 at West Bromwich
	9O34	Elsie Gertrude Collett				Born in 1882 at West Bromwich
	9O35	Norman Trustrum Collett				Born in 1884 at West Bromwich
	9O36	Sidney Howell Collett				Born in 1886 at West Bromwich
	9O37	Elizabeth Jane (Olive) Collett				Born in 1888 at West Bromwich
9N10	Sarah Collett was born at Little Gaddesden in 1849 and was baptised there in the Church of St Peter & St Paul on 18^th November 1849, the daughter of John and Sarah Collett. She was two years old in the Little Gaddesden census of 1851 and was 11 years of age in the West Bromwich census of 1861, when living at Winkle Street in West Bromwich with her mother. It was around the time of the next census in 1871 that Sarah married Daniel Mayor who was born at Chorley in Lancashire and they had five children during the 1870s, all of them born at Preston where the family was living at Chaddock Street in 1881. Daniel was 36, Sarah from Little Gaddesden was 31, John J Mayor was ten, Martha Anne Mayor was eight, Sarah Mayor was six, Amy Mayor was two, and Daniel Mayor who was one year old.
	Daniel and Sarah were again residents of Preston in 1911, at the ages of 66 and 61 respectively. The only children still living there with them were their unmarried daughters Martha Anne Mayor, who was 38, and Amy Simmonds who was 31, whose second forename was a tribute to Sarah’s mother’s maiden-name. Just over ten years later the death of Sarah Mayor nee Collett was recorded at Preston register office (Ref. 8e 609) during the last three months of 1921 when she was 72. Nine years after losing his wife, Daniel Mayor passed away in 1930, his birth recorded at Preston (Ref. 8e 542) during the third quarter of the year, when he was 85.
9N11	William Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1851, where his birth was recorded (Ref. xviii 631) during the third quarter of the year. For some reason his baptism was delayed and because of that he was baptised in a joint ceremony with his younger sister Martha (below) on 6^th November 1853. He was nine years old in the April census of 1861 when William and his family were living at Winkle Street in West Bromwich. He was still living at West Bromwich with his parents ten years later in 1871 when he was 19 and working as a draper’s assistant. Curiously no obvious record of him has been located in the next census of 1881 and it was just a few months later when he married the much younger Emily Wood from Macclesfield in Cheshire on 3^rd August 1881. Over the next decade the marriage produced the couple’s first three children, as confirmed in the census of 1891, by which time the family, recorded as Collitt, was residing at Thirland House on Thirland Lane in Attercliffe-cum-Darnell in Sheffield. William Collett from West Bromwich was 39 and a Wesleyan Methodist Minister, while his wife Emily was 32. The three children on that occasion were named as Harold H Collett who was eight, Maurice J Collett who was four and Henry Wm M Collett who was only eight months of age.
	It was very likely William’s work which had taken him to various locations, as his three sons were all born in different places, the first at Altrincham in Cheshire, the second at Lancaster in Lancashire, and the third after the family had settled in Sheffield. He and his family were still in Sheffield three years later when the couple’s last son was born there. Sometime after the birth the family moved again, on that occasion to 25 Greek Street in Stockport, Cheshire, where they were recorded in the census of 1901. That year the complete family was listed as William Collett, who was 49 years old and a Wesleyan Minister, Emily Collett 42, Harold H Collett 18, Maurice J Collett 14, Henry W H Collett 10 and Charles E Collett who was four. Supporting the family was domestic servant Annie S Webster.
	During the next decade the two eldest sons left the family and by April 1911 the reduced family of four was residing at 58 Alderley Road in Hoylake-cum-West Kirby on the Wirral, between the River Dee and the River Mersey. Wesleyan Minister William Collett from West Bromwich was 59, Emily Collett was 52, Henry William Howell Collett was 20 and Charles Edward Collett was 14. On that day the family’s domestic servant was Kate Jones who was 18. The census return also confirmed that William and Emily had been married for twenty-nine years, during which time they had given birth to four children who were all still alive. This photograph of William Collett was taken in 1908 at a conference in Nottingham.
	On the occasion of receiving the tragic news of the death of their son Henry, who was away in France fighting for King and Country, William and Emily were living at Ferney, Queen’s Park in Chester. That was in the autumn of 1916, although not long after that William and Emily, together with sons Maurice and Charles moved to 8 Shelton Road in Wallasey. Sometime later William and Emily returned to William’s roots in the West Midlands, and it was at 16 Waterloo Road in Wolverhampton that William Collett died on 18^th August 1925. The probate process referred to him as the Reverend William Collett, a clerk, when administration of his personal effects, valued at £752 1 Shilling and 10 Pence, was granted to his youngest son Charles Collett, a manufacturer. However, there may have been some complication with his estate as it was over seven years after his death that his Will was finally proved in London on 24^th November 1932.
	The widow Emily Collett nee Wood died ten years later when she was living at Colington Flats on Gronant Road in Prestatyn, Flintshire, where she passed away on 22^nd February 1942. Her Will was proved at Liverpool on 15^th May that same year, when her two eldest sons Harold Harvey Collett and Maurice John Collett were named as the joint executors of her personal effects valued at £1,856 14 Shillings and 10 Pence.
	9O38	Harold Harvey Collett				Born in 1882 at Altrincham, Cheshire
	9O39	Maurice John Collett				Born in 1886 at Lancaster, Lancs.
	9O40	Henry William Howell Collett				Born in 1890 at Sheffield, Yorks.
	9O41	Charles Edward Collett				Born in 1896 at Sheffield, Yorks.
9N12	Martha Ann Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1853 where her birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 505) during the fourth quarter of that year. She was baptised on 6^th November 1853, the same day as her older brother William (above), the children of John and Sarah Collett. It was at Winkle Street in West Bromwich that Martha A Collett was seven years old in 1861, when she was living there with her family. Perhaps through an illness or a tragic accident, the death of Martha Ann Collett was recorded at West Bromwich (Ref/ 6b 397) during the third quarter of 1867, when she was just 13 years old.
9N13	Charles Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1856, his birth recorded there (Ref. 6b 564) during October or November of the year. And it was there also that he was baptised on 23^rd November 1956, the last child born to John Collett and Sarah Simmonds. Charles was four years old in the census of 1861 when his family was recorded at Winkle Street in West Bromwich. He was still living with his West Bromwich family in 1871 and was aged 14, but after leaving school he left the West Midland and moved south to Bedfordshire. By 1881 he was listed in the census that year as Charles Collett aged 24 from West Bromwich and was working as a clerk for the widow Maria Taylor who ran a draper’s business from premises at 12 and 14 George Street in Luton where Charles was also living as a boarder at that time. No trace of Charles has so far been found in either the 1891 or 1901 census.
9N14	Ann Collett was born at Aldsworth and was baptised there on 30^th September 1840, the eldest child of Henry Collett and his wife Mary Carter. She was a school teacher in 1861 and later married Samuel Archer. By 1881 she and her family were living at Turkdean, by which time she had had eight children.
9N15	William Henry Collett was born at Aldsworth during 1842 where he was baptised on 25^th December 1842, the son of Henry and Mary Collett. He too was a blacksmith like his father and was 18 in 1861. At the time of the Aldsworth census in 1871 William H Collett was an unmarried blacksmith at the age of 28 who was still living with his parents at the Lodge in Aldsworth when he was working with his father and supported by his two younger brothers Charles and Robert (below). Not long after the census that year William married his cousin Augusta Collett (Ref. 9N26), the daughter of his father’s brother William Collett (Ref. 9M24).
	From the 1881 Census William Collett, aged 38 of Aldsworth, his wife Augusta, aged 29 of Quenington, and their eldest daughter Ada, who was eight years old and of Aldsworth, were living at the home of William’s elderly old uncle Charles Collett (Ref. 9M20). Ten years later in 1891 the family was living next door to William’s father, retired blacksmith Henry Collett, who was 81, with William having then taken over the family business. The census listed the family as William Collett, aged 48, his wife Augusta, aged 39, and their two children Ada Collett, who was 18, and Cecil Collett who was four years old. Living with them was William’s uncle Charles Collett, who was 82 and another retired blacksmith of Aldsworth.
	According to the next census in 1901, William Collett, aged 58, was a blacksmith and a shoeing smith. Listed with him was his wife Augusta, aged 49 and from Quenington, together with their son Cecil W F Collett who was 14 and born at Aldsworth. Ten years later William was 68, Augusta was 59, and still living with then at Aldsworth was their blacksmith son Cecil who was 24. William Henry Collett died at Aldsworth four years later at the age of 72 and was buried there on 15^th February 1915, while his wife Augusta survived for almost another two years when she died at the age of 65 died in 1917 at Aldsworth where she was buried on 27^th January 1917.
	9O42	Ada Collett				Born in 1872 at Aldsworth
	9O43	Rosa Georgiana Collett				Born in 1876 at Aldsworth
	9O44	Cecil Francis William Collett				Born in 1887 at Aldsworth
9N16	RICHARD COLLETT was born at Aldsworth in 1844, where he baptised on 31^st March 1845, the son of Henry Collett and Mary Carter. In 1861 he was 16 and was working as an agricultural labourer while still living at Aldsworth with his family. According to the next census in 1871 Richard Collett, aged 26, was employed on a farm when he was still living at home with his parents at the Lodge in Aldsworth. He married Jane Porter on 31^st May 1873 at St Bartholomew’s Church when he was 28 and Jane was 23. The marriage was witnessed by Richard’s brother Robert Collett (below) and Jane’s sister Eliza. Early on in their marriage Richard and Jane lived with Richard’s uncle James Carter at 17 Aldsworth. James Carter was the brother Richard’s mother Mary Carter.
	According to the 1881 Census Jane was 31 years old and had been born at Winson, just west of Bibury and Aldsworth, although in the census of 1891 for Aldsworth her age was given as 43. The 1881 record also showed that at that time Richard and Jane, together with their children Rose Georgiana, who was three years old, and Joseph Sydney, who was only eleven months, were living at the home of their uncle James Carter an unmarried agricultural labourer of 60 years. Apart from Jane, all were listed as being born at Aldsworth.
	The only change between that and the 1891 Census was that James Carter was no longer living with the family but that Jane’s six years old niece Sybilla Porter, who was born at Aldsworth in 1884, was living with them as their foster daughter. The other details listed Richard 45 an agricultural labourer, Jane 43, Rosa 13 and Joseph 11. By 1901 Richard was aged 56 and an ordinary agricultural labourer living at Aldsworth with his wife Jane aged 53. By that time their foster daughter had adopted the Collett name and was listed as living with the couple as Sybilla Collett aged 16.
	Ten years later Richard and Jane were still living in Aldsworth and the census in April that year confirmed that Richard of Aldsworth was 66, while Jane was 63. At that time their foster daughter was living and working in the Brentford area of London. However, there were three members of the family living with Richard and Jane that day, and they were their daughter Rose Georgina Collett from Winson who was 33, their daughter-in-law Edith Elizabeth Collett from Oddington who was 30, and their granddaughter Ethel Rosa who was just one month old and born at Arlington, Bibury. The latter two were the wife and first child of Richard’s son Joseph.
	Jane Collett nee Porter died just over a year later in June 1912 at the age of 65 and was buried in the Aldsworth churchyard on 23^rd June 1912. Richard died nine years later in 1921 although there is no record in the parish register at Aldsworth, again perhaps suggesting that the Plymouth Brethren buried him elsewhere. Daughter Rosa Georgiana, who was working in Leamington at the time of her mother’s death, recalled returning home to find her father coming out of the house in a flood of tears.
	9O45	Hilda Mary Collett				Born in 1874 at Aldsworth
	9O46	Rosa Georgiana Collett				Born in 1877 at Winson
	9O47	JOSEPH SIDNEY COLLETT				Born in 1880 at Aldsworth
	9O48	Sybilla Collett - formerly Porter				Born in 1884 at Aldsworth
9N17	Charles Collett was born at Aldsworth during 1846 and baptised there on 4^th February 1847, the son of Henry and Mary Collett. He was initially an agricultural labourer and was 14 in 1861 but, by 1871 when he was a bachelor of 24, he was a blacksmith’s assistant working alongside his younger brother Robert (below) with his father and older brother William (above). He was still unmarried at the time of the census in 1881, when Charles Collett, aged 33, and his unmarried sister Mary Ann Collett (below) were the only two children still living at the family home in Aldsworth. However, it was three years later that on 14^th April 1884 Charles married Elizabeth Keylock who was also born in 1847 at Eastington near Aldsworth, although sadly there were no children resulting from the marriage.
	Three years earlier, Elizabeth Keylock was 34, and in the census of 1881 her place of birth was given as Farmington near Northleach. She was not married at that time and was living with her widowed farm shepherd father George Keylock at Ablington near Bibury, where she was the housekeeper for her father and her two younger brothers.
	Sometime after Elizabeth and Charles were married Charles added to his occupation of being the village blacksmith by becoming the inn keeper at the Sherborne Arms, as indicated in the 1891 Census, when Charles Collett was recorded as being aged 44, as was his wife. The previous publican at the inn was his father-in-law George Keylock, the Sherborne Arms being a tied house of Taylor & Co. (Cotswold Brewery) of Northleach. However, by the time of the Sherborne census of 1901, Charles was 54 and once again he was listed as a blacksmith. Virtually four months later Charles died at the age of 54 and was buried in the churchyard at Sherborne on 1^st August 1901. Elizabeth was also 54 in April 1901 and survived her husband.
9N18	Elizabeth Mary Collett was born at Aldsworth in 1849, where she was baptised on 27^th May 1849 as Elizabeth M Collett. Her birth, using both forenames, was recorded at Northleach (Ref. xi 401) during the second quarter of the year. She was a daughter of Henry Collett and Mary Carter, and was one-year-old in 1851 and was eleven years of age and attending school in 1861, according to the Aldsworth census returns. At the time of the Aldsworth census of 1871, she was recorded as Elizabeth M Collett, aged 21, who was unmarried and still living at the home of her parents at the Lodge in Aldsworth, but had no stated occupation. Eight months later on 5^th December 1871, Elizabeth Mary Collett married Peter Mason, a stonemason of Aldsworth, their wedding recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 792) during the last month of the year. Once they were married, they left Aldsworth, when they moved to Charlton Kings near Cheltenham, where all of their children were born.
	The 1881 census for Charlton Kings recorded the couple together with their first three children. Stonemason Peter was 38, Elizabeth was 31, Harry Mason was eight, Lillie Mason was four, and Louisa Mason was under one year old. Ten years later, and after the birth of three more children, the enlarged family was residing at a property in Charlton Kings known as Ryeworth. Peter Mason was 48, Elizabeth Mary Mason was 40, Harry Edward Mason was 18 and a coach painter, Laura Mason was 11, Louisa Annie Mason was 10, Catherine Mason was eight, and Frank Mason was five. In 1901 the reduced family comprised Peter aged 58, Elizabeth aged 51, Louisa aged 20 and a dressmaker, Catherine aged 18 another dressmaker, and Frank Mason who was 15 and a hair-dresser.
	By 1911 the family was recorded residing at Charlton Kings, near Cheltenham, where Peter Mason from the Gloucestershire village of Cowley was 68 and a stonemason, and Elizabeth Mason from Aldsworth was 62. Still living with the couple were three of their four children, and they were daughters Louisa Mason aged 30 and Catherine Mason who was 27, both of them working as dressmakers at home, and son Frank Mason aged 25 and a hair-dresser working at home. All three children had been born at Charlton Kings and were not married. Also living with the family was Peter and Elizabeth’s grandson Horace Mason who was five years old and born at Charlton Kings. He was very likely the son of either Louisa or Catherine. Fourteen years after that day, the death of Elizabeth Mary Mason, nee Collett, was recorded Gloucester register office (Ref. 6a 593) in 1925, at the age of 75.
9N19	Robert Collett was born at Aldsworth in 1851 and there baptised on 24^th September 1851. At the age of 19 he was working with his father and his eldest brother William (above) as a blacksmith’s assistant like his older brother Charles (above). However, by the time he became a married man his occupation had changed to that of an agricultural labourer. He married Mary Anne Fleetwood on 3^rd June 1876, Mary Anne having been born at Moreton-in-Marsh around 1858. In 1881 Robert’s occupation had changed again, and by that time he was a gardener at the age of 29. His wife Mary Anne was aged 23 and living with them at Aldsworth were their first three children. Henry Edwin Collett, who was four years but who died shortly after, Alfred William Collett, who was two years, and Fanny Collett who was one year old, all three children having been born at Aldsworth.
	By 1891 the family at Aldsworth had been extended by a further four children and was recorded as Robert aged 39, Mary aged 33, Alfred who was 12 and an agricultural labourer, Fanny who was 11, Mary who was nine, Lizzie who was seven, Robert who was four, and Edwin who was only eleven months old. Three of the children, Mary, Lizzie and Robert had been born at Lyneham in Oxfordshire.
	In the 1901 Census for Aldsworth Robert Collett was 47 and, in addition to his occupation as an agricultural labourer, he had now added butcher. Listed with him was his wife Mary Collett who was 43, sons Robert 14 and Edwin who was 10, while their two daughters, Mary aged 20 and Lizzie aged 18, were in domestic service at nearby Bibury. Nearly eight years later, at the end of 1908, Mary Anne Collett nee Fleetwood died at the age of 49 and was buried at Aldsworth on 1^st January 1909. So, by the time of the next census in April 1911 her husband Robert Collett was a widower at the age of 59 and was still living at Aldsworth, although by then all of his children had left the family home. Robert had survived his wife by twenty years when he died in 1929 at the age of 78.
	9O49	Henry Edwin Collett				Born in 1876 at Aldsworth
	9O50	Alfred William Collett				Born in 1878 at Aldsworth
	9O51	Fanny Collett				Born in 1880 at Aldsworth
	9O52	Mary Viola Collett				Born in 1882 at Lyneham
	9O53	Lizzie Rose Collett				Born in 1884 at Lyneham
	9O54	Robert E Collett				Born in 1886 at Lyneham
	9O55	Edwin H Collett				Born in 1890 at Aldsworth
9N20	Lucy Collett was born at Aldsworth in 1854 and was baptised there in November that year. She was the seventh of the ten children of Henry Collett and Mary Carter. By 1861, she was six years old and the seventh of the eight children living with her parents at The Kisbery in Aldsworth. After leaving school, and at the age of 16 but with no stated job of work, she was very likely helping her mother look after her large family at The Lodge in Aldsworth. She eventually left Aldsworth when she became a general domestic servant at the Kent home of the Rector of Ridley, a few miles north-west of Maidstone, where single Lucy Collet from Gloucestershire was 26. She was again working as a member of the domestic staff at Ridley in 1891 when Lucy Collett from Aldsworth was 36, unmarried, and a parlourmaid at the home of Clerk-in-Holy Orders Thomas P Phelps and his wife Laura, both 76 years of age. It was nine years after that census day, when Lucy Collett, daughter of Henry Collett, married the much older Thomas Richard Streatfield, a labourer and the son of Richard Streatfield and Mary Ann Woodgate, on 16^th June 1900 at Canning Town within the Borough of Newnham close to the Royal Docks in East London.
	According to the census nine months later in 1901, the couple was residing at Hodsoll Street, Ash-next-Ridley in Kent, where Lucy Streatfield from Aldsworth was 46 and Thomas R Streatfield from Bromley in Kent was 70 and still working as an agricultural labourer. At the start of the next decade, Thomas Richard Streatfield was an old-age pension and a jobbing gardener, who was living at Home Farm Cottages, Hodsoll Street in Ash-next-Ridley, when Lucy was 55. Just less than four years later, the death of Thomas Richard Streatfield, born in 1827 at Bromley in Kent, was recorded at Dartford register office (Ref. 2a 1129) during the first three months of 1915. Lucy survived for a further twenty years, when the death of Lucy Streatfield was recorded at Kent register office (Ref. 2a 936) during 1935.
9N21	Mary Collett was born during 1856 at Aldsworth where she was baptised on 11^th January 1857. It was also at Aldsworth that she died two months later and was buried there on 10^th March 1857.
9N22	Mary Anne Collett was born at Aldsworth during the latter half of 1857 following the death of her sister Mary (above), and it was there also that she was baptised on 17^th January 1858. By the time of the Aldsworth census of 1871 she was recorded living there with her family, when she was still attending the village school at the age of 13. She married Thomas Bennett at Aldsworth on 13^th September 1886.
9N23	Henry Collett was born at Aldsworth in 1861, where he was baptised on 22^nd September 1861, the youngest child of Henry Collett and his wife Mary Carter. He was nine years old at the time of the Aldsworth census of 1871 when he was living with his large family at the Lodge. In 1881 he was in service as a footman at 92 Harley Street, Marylebone in London, the home of Henry Thomas a retired Royal Artillery Colonel. He later married Ada Earl and they had one daughter Maud who was born at Harlow in Essex.
	By 1901 the family of three was living and working at Parndon Hall within the Little Parndon district of Harlow, the home of Loftus Arkwright and his American wife Julia. Two interesting historical facts are (i) that Loftus was a descendent of Richard Arkwright who invented the Spinning Jenny and (ii) Parndon Hall was the house in which Florence Nightingale’s mother was raised. According to the census return for 1901 Henry Collett, aged 39, was employed at the hall as a butler, while his wife Ada was 38 and employed as a laundry maid. With them was their six-year-old daughter Maud. Ten years later the census in 1911 identified the family of three still living at Parndon Hall where Henry Collett of Aldsworth was 49, his wife Ada Collett from Folkestone was 48, and their daughter Maud Collett was 16, all three of them employed by the Arkwright family.
	9O56	Maud Mary Collett				Born in 1894 at Latton, Harlow
9N24	Francis Collett was born in the hamlet of Quenington in 1844 and was baptised at the parish church in Coln St Aldwyns on 2^nd April 1844, the first child of William and Jane Collett. It would appear that he died during the following few years since he was not listed with his family in the Coln St Aldwyns census of 1851.
9N25	Georgiana Collett was born at Quenington in 1846 and was baptised at the nearby parish church in Coln St Aldwyns on 13^th September 1846. By the time of the 1851 Census, she was four years old and the only child living with her parents William and Jane Collett at Coln St Aldwyns.
9N26	Augusta Collett was born at Quenington in 1851 but after the thirtieth of March that year since she was not listed with her family on the census day. What is known is that she was baptised at Coln St Aldwyns on 1^st June 1851. By the time she was 19 the census in 1871 confirmed that she had been born at Quenington and was a servant at 3 Woodfield Road in Westbury-on-Trym, the home of Customs Officer Charles Lemon from the Scilly Isles and his family. She later married her cousin William Henry Collett. See Ref. 9N16 for the continuation of this line.
9N27	Anne Priscilla Collett was born at Quenington in 1855 and was sometimes referred to as Annie. She featured in every census from 1861 to 1901 and, on each occasion, she was living with her parents who both died in the early 1900s. From the 1901 Census for Quenington the conclusion may be drawn that she never marriage as she was recorded as being a 45 years old spinster. Curiously in the 1871 and 1891 Census she was recorded as Anne D Collett but it must be assumed that it was a simple transcription error.
9N28	Francis Collett was born in 1858 at Quenington and was baptised at Coln St Aldwyns on 20^th April 1858 when he was named in the memory of his late brother and first-born child of William and Jane Collett. By the time of the census in 1871, Francis was 13 and was living with his uncle Charles Collett (Ref. 9M20) and his place of birth was given as Coln St Aldwyns which was the birthplace of his mother.
	On leaving school he became an engineering draughtsman and pattern maker and was working in Bristol in April 1881 where his employed was named as E & M. In the census that year Francis Collett was listed as being a lodger, aged 23, unmarried and born at Quenington, residing at 14 Langton Street, Bedminster in Bristol the home of the Emms family. It was later that same year that Francis Collett married Jessie Latham although, curiously, the couple were not recorded together until 1911. The first listing for Jessie was in the Windsor area in 1901 when she was recorded as being 41 and from Bristol, but where Francis was on that occasion, and previously in 1891, is still a mystery.
	However, the next census in 1911 revealed more about the elusive couple who were the only occupants of the dwelling that was 47 Sunny Hill Road in Bournemouth. Francis Collett, aged 53 and from Quenington, was an engineer’s pattern worker who had been married to Jessie Latham Collett, aged 51 and from Bristol, for thirty years, the couple having had no children. Twenty-eight years later, at the time of the death of Francis Collett, the couple was living at 23 Eldon Terrace, Windmill Hill in Bedminster. Francis Collett died on 7^th May 1939 and was buried at Quenington at the age of 81, when he was referred to as Francis the son of William Collett. Probate was confirmed at Bristol on 9^th June that same year in favour of his widow Jessie Latham Collett, when his estate was valued at £1,758 10 Shillings and 7 Pence.
9O1	Henry Robert Collett, who was referred to as Harry, was born at Fairford in 1866 and was 4 at the time of the 1871 census for Fairford. At the age of 14 years, he was an errand boy living with his family, who by that time, had moved to Swindon and were living at 40 Princes Street in the town. His father died in a tragic accident while working for the GWR in March 1885, and two year later his younger brother Charles Ernest Collett (below) died in 1887.
	Following the premature death of his brother, Henry Robert Collett, a carpenter of New Swindon, was named as the next-of-kin and brother of Charles Ernest Collett at the granting of the administration of his personal estate of £104 1 Shilling and 8 Pence at Salisbury in January 1888. Three years later Henry and his three surviving brothers were still living with their widowed mother Sarah Ann Collett at Swindon in 1891. Henry R Collett was recorded as being 24 and of Fairford. Seven years later in 1898 he married Blanche Phillips Mitchell who was born at Carnbrea near Camborne in Cornwall. Blanche was eight years younger than Harry, having been born in 1874.
	The wedding took place at Redruth in Cornwall and within two years of being married, Blanche presented Harry with a son Henry who was also born at Carnbrea near Camborne in April 1900. The census in March of the following year revealed that Harry and his young family had returned to Swindon.
	Henry R Collett of Fairford gave his age as 32 rather than 34, perhaps because of the difference in age between himself and his young wife Blanch who was listed as 26. The couple’s son Henry was recorded as being eleven months old. Harry’s occupation at that time was that of a carpenter and it is understood that he was employed by the Great Western Railway where his father had worked, and where he had tragically died in March 1885. In fact, it was Henry Robert Collett, son of the deceased, who identified the badly burned body of his father William Collett.
	Over the following decade a further four children were born into the family, although only three survived. So, by April 1911 the family comprised Henry who was 40 (rather than 44), Blanche who was 35, and their four children Henry who was 10, Hedley who was eight, Elizabeth who was five and two-year-old Ernest, the last three having been born in Swindon. At that time the family was living at 6 Dryden Street in Swindon, from where Harry continued to work as a carpenter, while the census return confirmed that Blanche had given birth to five children, with only four still living.
	9P1	Henry Robert Collett					Born in 1900 at Carnbrea, Cornwall
	9P2	Hedley Charles Collett					Born in 1902 at Swindon
	9P3	Elizabeth Collett					Born in 1905 at Swindon
	9P4	Ernest Collett					Born in 1907 at Swindon
9O2	Charles Ernest Collett was born at Fairford in 1868 and was two years old and was living with his parents at Fairford in April 1871. Sometime around four or five years later the family left Fairford and moved to Swindon where they settled at 40 Princes Street and where Charles was 12 in 1881. He was 17 years old when his father died while at work in 1885, and tragically two years later Charles also died at Swindon on 9^th May 1887 before reaching his twentieth birthday. His death was registered with the Swindon & Highworth registrar, although the cause of death is not known at this time. The administration of the personal estate of Charles Ernest Collett, coachbuilder and bachelor, late of New Swindon in Wiltshire was granted at Salisbury to his brother and next-of-kin Henry Robert Collett, a carpenter of New Swindon, the amount being £104 1 Shilling and 8 Pence.
9O3	Amy Jane Collett was born at Fairford in 1870. Towards the latter end of the 1870s Amy’s family left Fairford and moved to Swindon where her father was working for the Great Western Railway. However, as the only daughter amongst the six children of the family, and perhaps because of the lack of space in their new family home in Swindon, it would appear that Amy went to live with her grandmother at nearby Ampney St Peters. This picture of Amy was taken in the September 1901 at the wedding of her younger brother Albert when she was thirty-one and still a single lady.
	The fact that she lived with her grandmother was confirmed by the census of 1881 when Amy Jane Collett was ten years old and of Fairford and was recorded as living with Jane Collett at Ampney St Peters. Jane who was 75 and from Sherborne, was described as being unmarried and an annuitant, while Amy was described as her granddaughter.
	On the day of the census in 1891 Amy J Collett, aged 20 and from Fairford, was employed as a general domestic servant at Shetland Road in Westbury-on-Trym near Bristol, the home of hatter and hosier Thomas W Bott and his wife and their two young children. No positive trace of Amy from Fairford has been found in the next census of 1901 when she would have been thirty, although an Amy Collett from Swindon was 29 and was a boarder at 316 Lynton Road in Bermondsey, London, where she was a jam trade finisher. In addition to this, the photograph above is Amy Jane Collett taken from a large family photograph which was taken at Swindon in September 1901. However, it is established that it was three years later when Amy married Charles Archer in 1904 and by April 1911 the couple was living at Tamworth in Staffordshire, where Amy Jane Archer was 39 and Charles Archer was 48.
9O4	Frederick William Collett was born at Fairford in 1872. By the time of the census of 1881 Frederick who was nine and the rest of his family were living at 40 Princes Street in Swindon. Ten years later, at the age of 19, and following the death of his father five years earlier and the death of his older brother Charles (above), Frederick W Collett was still living in Swindon with his widowed mother and his three brothers Henry, Hedley and Albert in early April 1891.
	Around two years after, in 1893, he married Mary Ann Harrison who was born in the St Giles area of the City of Oxford and within four years their marriage was blessed with their only two known children. By March 1901, Frederick W Collett of Fairford was 29 and was working as a coach trimmer with the Great Western Railway, while living at Rosebery Street in Swindon with his wife Mary Ann Collett aged 28 and from Oxford. Their two children that day were recorded as six-year-old Evelyn M Collett, and Frederick W H Collett who was three years of age. Living with the family in Swindon was Mary Ann’s widowed father Henry Harrison, a retired bricklayer of Bicester north of Oxford.
	Ten years later in April 1911 Frederick’s daughter Evelyn had left the family home in Swindon and was working in domestic service in Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire. The family at that time comprised Frederick W Collett of Swindon who was 39 and a coach trimmer, his wife of seventeen years Mary Ann of Oxford who was 38, and their son William who was 13 and was still attending school. The census also confirmed that the family was living at 47 Rosebery Street in Swindon and that living with them was Frederick’s younger brother Hedley J Collett. Just over eighteen years later the death of Frederick W Collett was recorded at Swindon register office (Ref. 5a 21) during the second quarter of 1929 when he was 57.
	9P5	Evelyn Minnie Collett				Born in 1895 at Swindon
	9P6	Frederick William H Collett				Born in 1897 at Swindon
9O5	Hedley John Collett was born at Fairford in 1874. Not long after he was born, Hedley’s family left Fairford and moved into Swindon where they were living in April 1881 at 40 Princes Street, where Hedley was listed as being six years old. The young Hedley suffered two family tragedies during the next decade. First, in 1885 when he was 10, his father died as a result of an accident at work, and that was followed by the death of his older brother Charles in 1888. So, by 1891 Hedley was living at Swindon with just his mother and his three brothers. By March 1901 Hedley was still living with his mother and younger brother Albert at their family home in Swindon. Hedley J Collett was described as 26 and born at Fairford, and his occupation was that of a foreman and engine fitter, presumably with the Great Western Railway where his father had worked and died.
	It seems likely that Hedley may have never been married, or that he married much later in his life. Either way, according to the Swindon census of 1911 he was still a bachelor at the age of 35. At that time, he was living with his married brother Frederick (above) and his family at 47 Rosebery Street in Swindon, the same street in which their younger brother Albert (below) was also living on that occasion. Hedley was confirmed as having been born at Fairford and his occupation at the time was simply described as a fitter.
9O6	Albert Joseph Collett was born at Swindon in June 1880, following his family’s move there from Fairford. In April 1881 at the age of ten months Albert was recorded as being with his family at 40 Princes Street in Swindon. By 1891 his family had been struck by the double tragedy of the loss of Albert’s father through an industrial accident and the death of his older brother Charles. So, the census that year recorded Albert as being aged 10 and living with his widowed mother and his three surviving brothers. This photograph of Albert was taken at his wedding in September 1901.
	According to the census of 1901, Albert J Collett of Swindon was 20 and was a coach builder, most likely with the Great Western Railway, while still living in the family home with his mother in Swindon. It was later that same year, when Albert was just past his twenty-first birthday, that he married Clarissa Ellen Sheppard at Swindon in September 1901. Clarissa was the daughter of Charles and Sarah Jane Sheppard and she was three years older than Albert, having been born at nearby Liddington in 1877.
	The splendid picture below shows the happy event on that September day
	The small boy on the left of the picture (in the sailor’s hat) is very likely Frederick William Collett aged four, the son of Albert’s brother Frederick William Collett and his wife Mary Ann Harrison who are believed to be the lady standing immediately behind the boy, and in front of her husband (far back left). Their daughter Evelyn Minnie Collett who was seven years old is one of the four young ladies (bridesmaids) sitting at the front, possibly the one second from the left.
	Of his other two brothers, it is likely that Albert’s best man was his eldest brother Henry R Collett who is seated to the right of the bride with his wife Blanche Phillips Mitchell. If that is true then his brother Hedley J Collett was very likely one of the two men standing in the middle on the back row immediately behind sister Amy Jane Collett who is standing next to her widowed mother Sarah Ann Collett. All of the bride’s Sheppard family are grouped on the right-hand side of the picture, including Clarissa’s four brothers who are standing at the back.
	Over the next eighteen years following their wedding day Clarissa presented Albert with six children, the first four being born at Swindon prior to April 1911. The census that year confirmed the family was living at 25 Rosebery Street in Swindon from where Albert, who was 30 and of Swindon, was a coach builder. His wife of ten years was Clarissa of Liddington who was 33. Their four children at that time were William who was nine, Walter who was seven, Clarice who was five, and Dorothy who was four years of age. Two further children were added to the family, one either side of the Great War, which may indicate that Albert was away on active service during the intervening years.
	Albert was happy to help around the home with the domestic chores, while his wife ‘Clara’ enjoyed a game of whist, visits to the cinema, and holidays in Blackpool. Albert Joseph Collett died around 1944 and was followed three years later by Clarissa who died in November 1947 at the home of her eldest son William Albert Collett. It would appear that the family lived at Rosebery Street for many years after that, according to family recollections. Rosebery Street is still there today in 2009 and runs parallel to County Road on which is situated the County Ground, the home of Swindon Town Football Club.
	9P7	William Albert Collett				Born in 1902
	9P8	Walter Charles Collett				Born in 1904
	9P9	Clarice Elizabeth Collett				Born in 1906
	9P10	Dorothy May Collett				Born in 1907
	9P11	Frank James Collett				Born in 1912
	9P12	Evelyn Collett				Born in 1919
9O7	Richard Greenland Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1861, although his birth recorded there (Ref. 6b 692) during the second quarter of that year as just Richard Collett. Once again it was as Richard Collett that he was baptised at All Saints Church in West Bromwich on 25^th August 1861, the only child of John and Ann Collett. It is possible that his mother did not survive the ordeal of his birth since, in 1871 Richard Collett was nine years old and living with his widowed father John at the home of his grandparents at Hallam Street in West Bromwich on the census day that year. Ten years earlier, the census in 1861, recorded his married father, but not his mother, living at 11 Hallam Street with his parents. After a further ten years, and following the death of his father John and his grandfather Richard Collett (Ref. 9M11), Richard Collett from West Bromwich was 19 years old in 1881 when he was living at 56 Hallam Street in West Bromwich, the home of his uncle Robert Collett (Ref. 9N7), who was a shoeing and coaching smith employing two men, one of which was nephew Richard Collett, who was a shoeing blacksmith.
	Four years after that, Richard became a married man, although the record of the event at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 943) included a curious second name which does not appear in any other of his records. The marriage took place at St Andrews Church when Richard Greenland Collett married (1) Phoebe Elizabeth Butler, when the witnesses were Eliza Ann Harris and William Powell. Richard Greenland Collett was 24 and the son of John Collett deceased, residing at Cattrell Street, while Phoebe was 22 and living at Church Lane, the daughter of Richard Butler.
	That was confirmed by the next census in 1891, by which time Richard and his young family were living at Soho Street within the parish of Harborne near Smethwick, not far from his married aunt Fanny Harrison, nee Collett, and her family. Richard Collett from West Bromwich was 29 and a general shoeing smith, while his wife Phoebe Elizabeth Collett was 27. Living there with them were just two of their three West Bromwich born children, Agnes Gundred Collett who was five, and Richard John Collett who was just one year old and named after his grandfather who had died around 1875. On that census day the couple’s first-born child Phoebe, was recorded at the home of her maternal grandmother Phoebe Butler and, before the end of the century, three more children were added to the family. However, just after the birth of the couple’s sixth child, who did not survive, Phoebe Elizabeth Collett nee Butler died at the age of 37 on 25^th June 1900, with her death recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 568). Three weeks later her personal effects of just £50 were proved in London on 16^th July 1900, which stated she died at the family home at 18 Boulton Road in West Bromwich and that she was the wife of Richard Collett, a blacksmith.
	His loss was also recorded in the census of 1901, when Richard Collett was a widower at the age of 39. He and his children were still living at 18 Boulton Road in West Bromwich, where his occupation was that of a shoeing and coaching smith. Recorded there with him that day were his five surviving children. They were Phoebe Collett who was 15, Agnes Collett who was 13, John Collett who was 11, Edith Collett who was nine, and Charles Collett who was four years of age. Around two years later, Richard Collett and the much younger (2) Ann Maria Atkiss were married but, to date, no recorded of the marriage has been identified. It was the census return in 1911 that stated they had been married for eight years, with that second marriage producing a further three children for Richard, all born at West Bromwich prior to the next census in 1911. Ann Maria Atkiss was born at Oldbury where she was living with her family at Halesowen Street in 1901, a daughter of Matthew and Eve Atkiss, aged 25 and working as a general domestic servant.
	On the occasion of the census in April 1911, Richard Collett was 49 and again working as a general shoeing smith. Still living with him in West Bromwich was his son John Collett who was 21 and a striker working with a general shoeing smith (his father). Richard’s new family comprised his wife Ann Maria Collett from Oldbury in Worcestershire, who was 35, whom he had married in 1903, their daughter Ada Collett who was six, and the couple’s two sons Ralph Collett who was four, and Cyril Collett who was two years old. while his daughter Agnes Collett, who was 23, was still living nearby within the West Bromwich registration district. Twenty-eight years after that day Richard (Greenland?) Collett was 77 when he died in 1939, with his death recorded at Staffordshire register office (Ref. 6b 758). The later death of Ann Maria Collett was also recorded at Staffordshire register office (Ref. 9b 1913) in 1971.
	9P13	Phoebe Ann G Collett				Born in 1885 at West Bromwich
	9P14	Agnes Gundred Collett				Born in 1887 at West Bromwich
	9P15	Richard John Collett				Born in 1889 at West Bromwich
	9P16	Edith Beatrice Collett				Born in 1891 at West Bromwich
	9P17	Clement Charles Collett				Born in 1897 at West Bromwich
	9P18	Stephen Edward Thomas Collett				Born in 1900 at West Bromwich
	The following are the children of Richard Collett by his second wife Ann Maria Atkiss:
	9P19	Ada Benedicta Collett				Born in 1904 at West Bromwich
	9P20	Ralph Collett				Born in 1906 at West Bromwich
	9P21	Cyril Collett				Born in 1909 at West Bromwich
9O8	Martha Elizabeth Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1867, the eldest child of Robert Collett and Mary Ann Evans. Her birth was recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 727) during the first quarter of 1867 and it was on 24^th March 1867 that she was baptised at All Saints Church in West Bromwich, when her parents were confirmed as Robert and Mary Ann Collett. It was in the census of 1871 that she was named as Martha Elizabeth Collett who was four years of age, while ten years later she was recorded in error as Mary Elizabeth Collett who had left school and was 14. At that time Martha and her family were residing at 56 Hallam Street in West Bromwich. Seven years later, when Martha was 21, she married Joseph Clemson, the event recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 825) during the first three months of 1888.
	By the time of the next census in 1891 Joseph Clemson was 25 and a beer retailer at The Railway Inn at 21 St Michael Street in West Bromwich. His wife Martha E Clemson was 24, while living and working with the couple was Emma Collett who was 16 who was a general domestic servant. It is now known that she was Emma Elizabeth Collett who was born at Kenilworth in 1874, the eldest daughter of Henry Collett and Harriet Field who were living at 2 St John’s Street in Kenilworth in 1881 when Emma was six years of age, but who had moved to Henry Street in Kenilworth by 1891. Whether there was a family connection for the arrangement or a pure coincidence, has not been determined. See Part 15 – The Kenilworth and Coventry Line (Ref. 15N28) for further details of the family of Emma Elizabeth Collett.
	Tragically, Martha passed away eight years later, perhaps during childbirth, with the death of Martha Elizabeth Clemson recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 509) during the last three months of 1899 when she was 32. Following her death there is a recorded of a Joseph Clemson from West Bromwich living and working at Birmingham in March 1901 who was a publican manager.
9O9	Mary Ann Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1869, where her birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 705) during the second quarter of that year, the second child of Robert and Mary Ann Collett. It was with her family at 56 Hallam Street in West Bromwich that Mary Ann was two years old in 1871, where they were also in 1881 but when Mary was incorrectly recorded as Margaret Ann Collett aged 12. Ten years later Mary Ann was 22 when again she was still living with her family at Hallam Street. Just over four years after that day, the premature death of unmarried Mary Ann Collett, aged 26, was recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 484) during the third quarter of 1895.
9O10	Amy Collett was born at Hallam Street in West Bromwich in 1870, the third daughter of Robert and Mary Ann Collett, whose birth was recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 714) during the last three months of the year. Because she was recorded as being five months old in the census of 1871 the month of her birth was very likely October. The next census in 1881 placed her and her family residing at 56 Hallam Street in West Bromwich, when Amy was the third child of the household to be recorded with an error. On that day she was named as Amy C Collett aged 10 years, when no such similar record of her has been found, while Amy Collett aged 20 was still living with her family at West Bromwich in 1891. Amy Collett was 22 when she married Alfred Hawkes at West Bromwich, where the event was recorded (Ref. 6b 1193) during the second quarter of 1893. Alfred was baptised at All Saints Church in West Bromwich on 17^th January 1866, the son of Job and Elizabeth Hawkes.
	Over the remainder of the century Amy presented Alfred with the couple’s first four children, with the family living at Loveday Street in West Bromwich in 1901. Alfred Hawkes was 35 and a whitesmith, Amy Hawkes was 30, and their four offspring were Amy Elizabeth Hawkes who was seven, Minnie Hawkes who was six, Alfred Robert Hawkes who was four and Henry Hawkes who was not yet one year old. According to the next census, it would appear that son Henry suffered a childhood death, but a few years later Amy gave birth to the couple’s last child. It was still in the West Bromwich North-East registration district that the family was recorded in 1911. Whitesmith Alfred was 45, Amy was 40, Amy Elizabeth was 17, Minnie was 16, Alfred Robert was 14 and Horace Hawkes was just five years old. All of the occupants had been born in West Bromwich. Forty years later the death of Amy Hawkes nee Collett was recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 9b 1322) during the first three months of 1951, when she was 80 years old.
9O11	Lucy Collett was born at Hallam Street in West Bromwich on 27^th August 1872, the fourth daughter of Robert and Mary Ann Collett, who was baptised at Holy Trinity Church on 11^th May 1873. She was eight years old and 18 years of age in the next two census returns when she was living with her family at 56 Hallam Street in 1881 and 1891. Just over a year later young Lucy Collett married David Richards, the wedding recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 1141) during the third quarter of 1892. David was the son of Jeremiah and Hannah Richards and was born at West Bromwich on 13^th June 1870 but was only baptised just prior to his marriage to Lucy at Christ Church on 19^th May 1889.
	Like her married sister Amy (above), Lucy had also given birth to four children prior to the end of the decade. The family of six was recorded living on Spon Lane in the Christ Church district West Bromwich South-West as David Richards who was 29 and a furniture dealer, Lucy Richards was 28, daughter Elsie Richards was eight, David Richards junior was seven, Hilda Richards was three, and Leonard Richards was two years of age. Ten years later, and after the birth of the couple’s fifth child, the family was recorded in the North-East area of West Bromwich. The census in 1911 listed the family as general dealer David aged 40, Lucy aged 38, Elsie May aged 18, David junior aged 17, Hilda Mary aged 13, Leonard aged 12, and Margaret Richards who was six years old. The death of Lucy Richards nee Collett was recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 9b 729) during the second quarter of 1953 at the age of 80. Just over four years after being widowed, the death of David Richards was recorded there (Ref. 9b 948) during the last three months of 1957 when he was 87.
9O12	Elizabeth Collett was born at Hallam Street in West Bromwich in 1874 and was six years of age in the census of 1881 when Elizabeth and her family were residing at 56 Hallam Street. Her absence from the family in 1891 resulted in the discovery of the death of Elizabeth Collett recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 482) during the second quarter of 1885.
9O13	Robert Collett was born at Hallam Street in West Bromwich in 1876, where his birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 826) during the third quarter of that year. He was living in 1881 at 56 Hallam Street with his family, at the age of four years. He was still living with his parents in 1891, aged 14, and again in 1901 when he was 24 and was working as a general blacksmith with his father Robert Collett who was also listed as a general blacksmith. Nearly eighteen months later the marriage of Robert Collett and either Frances Hannah Davies or Alice Groom was recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 1363) during the third quarter of 1902. However, with no record of Robert and his wife in the census of 1911, it is assumed that once married they moved overseas.
9O14	Henry Collett was born at Hallam Street in West Bromwich in 1878 and was aged two in April 1881 when living with his family at 56 Hallam Street in West Bromwich. He was also there in 1891 aged 12 and later in 1901. At that time, he was still living with his parents at the age of 22 and his occupation was that of an iron moulder, perhaps working with his father and older brother Robert (above). Following the death of his father during the first decade of the new century, Henry continued to live with his widowed mother Mary Ann at West Bromwich, and by April 1911 he was still a bachelor at the age of 32. It was Henry Collett, a moulder, who was named during the probate process for his mother’s estate in 1923.
9O15	Thomas (Frank) Collett was born at 56 Hallam Street in West Bromwich, his birth recorded (Ref. 6b 811) during the third quarter of 1880 under the name of Thomas Collett. He was entered on the census return in 1881 as Frank Collett aged seven months, meaning he could have been born during September. Ten years later he was correctly named as Thomas Collett in the census of 1891 when aged 11, and again in 1901 when he was 20 years old. It would appear that his work at that time was allied to that of his father and older brothers with whom he was living at West Bromwich, as his occupation was stated as being a hollowware moulder. Nine years after that census day the marriage of Thomas Collett and Sarah Ann Bartram was recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 1500) during the third quarter of 1910. Sarah was the sixth child of Jeremiah and Sarah Bartram of Union Street in West Bromwich, where daughter Sarah Ann was born in 1885.
	It was again as Thomas Collett from West Bromwich that he was recorded in the census of 1911. On that day he and his wife were living with Sarah’s widowed mother in West Bromwich, together with Sarah’s two older brothers John and Alfred, and her younger sister Martha Bartram. Son-in-law Thomas Collett was 30 and his occupation was that of a shoesmith, while his wife Sarah Ann Collett was 25. Whether they had any children during the early years of their life together seems unlikely, while the only child born of a Collett/Bartram coupling was recorded many years later at West Bromwich in 1926. She was Emily B Collett whose birth was registered there (Ref. 6b 1319) during the first quarter of that year, when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Bartram.
	An interesting item listed within the Chelsea Pensioners’ Service Records relates to a Thomas Collett from Staffordshire who was said to be born around 1879/1880, and this may be a reference to Sarah’s husband. The only certain later detail about him is the fact that his death was recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 9b 1026) during the first three months of 1964 when he was 83 years old.
	9P22	Emily B Collett				Born in 1926 at West Bromwich
9O16	Hannah Jane Collett was born at West Bromwich during 1882, the daughter of Robert and Mary Ann Collett, whose birth was recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 860) during the second quarter of that year. She was 23 years of age when she married Edgar Stokes, the marriage recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 1376) during the third quarter of 1905, by which time her father had died. They are known to have had two children, a son Edgar John Collett Stokes who was four years old in the census of 1911, and a daughter Lucy Mary Adelaide Stokes who was three. At that time in their lives the family was residing at 191 Bentley Lane in Walsall from where Edgar was a manufacturer - cart hame maker. Upon the death of Hannah’s widowed mother in 1923, it was Edgar Stokes, a hame maker, who was named as a joint executor of her estate together with Hannah’s older brother Henry Collett (above).
9O17	Richard Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1883 and was seven years old by 1891. He was still living at the family home in West Bromwich in 1901 but, instead of following in the family blacksmith business, Richard was an apprentice bricklayer at that time aged 17. Bachelor Richard Collett from West Bromwich was 27 and was living and working in the village of Martley just six miles north-west of the City of Worcester in 1911.
9O18	James Arthur Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1885 and was referred to as James aged five in the West Bromwich census of 1891. Ten years later at the age of 15 he was listed in 1901 as Arthur Collett. At that time, he was still living with his parents and was already employed as an embosser. Shortly after 1901 James’ father passed away and by April 1911 he was still living at west Bromwich with his mother and three of his siblings when, as James Arthur Collett, he was 25 years old.
9O19	Joseph Edward Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1887 and at the age of three years he was living with his family in West Bromwich. Ten years later he was still there when he was 13 years old and still attending the local school. In the years following the census in 1901 Joseph’s father died, after which Joseph Edward Collett aged 23 was still living at the family home in West Bromwich with his mother and three siblings in 1911.
9O20	Minnie Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1890, the youngest of the thirteen children of Robert and Mary Ann Collett. At the time of the census in 1891 Minnie was recorded as being two years of age when she would have been nearer two months old. However, in the next two census returns her age was more accurately stated. In both 1901 and 1911, Minnie Collett was living in West Bromwich. On the first of these she was 10 and when she was living there with her parents, but during the next few years her father passed away, so at the age of 20 she was still living there but with just her widowed mother and three of her siblings.
	Four years later, during 1915, Minnie married George William Philpott who had been born in 1889. Their marriage produced a total of three children, and they were Lilian Philpott, who was born in 1916 – who died around 2008, Ralph Collett Philpott, who was born in 1921, and Jeffery William Collett Philpott who was born in 1927. George W Philpott died in 1967 and was survived by Minnie, who passed away ten years later in 1977. Jeffrey William Collett Philpott, who died during 2006, was the father of Jayne Ray nee Philpott who kindly provided the new details for the family of Minnie Collett.
	It was as leading aircraftsman Ralph Collett Philpott with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, service number 153508, that he was killed in action in India on 18^th November 1944, following which he was buried at the Madras War Cemetery in Chennai (India). His military record at the time of his death confirmed that he was the son of George William and Minnie Philpott of West Bromwich in Staffordshire.
9O21	Amelia Fanny Collett was born at West Bromwich on 23^rd July 1879 when the registration of her birth named her parents as William and Fanny Collett. It was one month later when she was baptised there on 22^nd August 1879. In 1881 she was simply referred to as Fanny Collett aged one year when she was living with her family at 8 Cottrell Street in West Bromwich, and was 11 in 1891, after they had moved to 38 Victoria Street in West Bromwich. However, by 1901 she had left the family home in West Bromwich and was living nearby at Tipton and was 21 years of age. What is very interesting is that there were two Collett families living in Tipton at that time, and they were the brothers William and Thomas, the sons of Richard and Hannah Collett of Dudley. That therefore begs the question, was Amelia related in some way to that branch of the family.
	The details of this family can be found in Part 48 – The Dudley West Midland Line (Ref. 48M7)
	It was during the three months following the census in 1901 when Amelia Fanny Collett, aged 21, married William Foster Rhodes, aged 22, at West Bromwich. Ten years later the childless couple was still residing in West Bromwich when William Foster Rhodes was 32 and his wife Amelia Fanny Rhodes was 30. After just thirty-one years of married life Amelia Fanny Rhodes nee Collett, aged 53, died at her home at 117 Paradise Street in West Bromwich on 22^nd December 1932. Administration of her personal effects, valued at £968 8 Shillings and 7 Pence, was granted at Birmingham on 24^th February 1933 to her husband William Foster Rhodes, a newsagent. William passed away four years later, when he died on 1^st November 1936 while he was still living at 117 Paradise Street. In his case, probate was granted to Joseph Arthur Moreton, a solicitor’s clerk and to Joseph Taylor, a wholesale newspaper agent, by which time his estate was worth £1,972 4 Shillings and 2 Pence.
9O22	William Frederick Collett was born at West Bromwich on 11^th January 1881 and was baptised there on 4^th February 1881, the eldest son and second child of William Frederick Collett and Amelia Fanny Fellows. He was three months old by the time of the April census in 1881 when, at that time, he and his family were living at 8 Cottrell Street in West Bromwich. The family later moved to 38 Victoria Street in West Bromwich, and it was there where they were living in 1891 when William was 10 years old. After a further ten years, William F Collett was 20 and was still living with his parents in West Bromwich in 1901. His occupation was that of a shoeing smith and he was working with his father William F Collett who was a farrier and shoeing smith.
	The West Bromwich census of 1911 provided his full name, it being William Frederick Collett, when he was 32 and his place of birth was confirmed as West Bromwich. Although no details are currently known, it seems likely that he later became a married man, and that he had a son Arthur. At the time of his death on 18^th December 1958, when he was 77, it was Arthur Collett, a draughtsman, who was named as the executor of his considerable estate of £5,389 16 Shillings and 6 Pence, his Will proved in Birmingham on 9^th March 1959. By that time in his life William Frederick Collett was living at 73 Bromford Lane in West Bromwich and it was at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 9b 811) that the death of William F Collett was recorded.
	9P23	Arthur Collett – not confirmed			Born at West Bromwich, date unknown
9O23	Richard John Thomas Collett was born within the Christ Church area of West Bromwich on 25^thDecember 1882, where he was baptised on 19^th January 1883, the son of William Frederick and Amelia Fanny Collett. Tragically he was approaching his second birthday when he died, his death recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 491) during the last three months of 1884.
9O24	Albert Arthur Collett was born within the Christ Church area of West Bromwich on 29^th August 1884, following which he was baptised there on 10^th October 1884, the son of William Frederick and Amelia Fanny Collett. Sadly, he was born deaf and dumb, as described in the West Bromwich census of 1891 when he was six and living with his family at 38 Victoria Street. Just after the turn of the century, in the census of 1901, Albert was listed as being a juvenile aged 16, living with his parents in West Bromwich. The West Bromwich census of 1911 provided his full name as Albert Arthur Collett, when he was 27 and was still living with his family at 38 Victoria Street in West Bromwich. He was listed as having no occupation and was described as being totally deaf and dumb from birth.
9O25	Harry Harvey Collett was born at West Bromwich on 3^rd November 1887 and was baptised there on 4^th January 1888, another son of William and Amelia Collett. However, the death of Harry Harvey Collett was also recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 506) during the first quarter of 1888 when he was only a few months old.
9O26	Adelaide Lucy Collett was born at West Bromwich during 1895 who by 1901 was five years old when she and her parents were living at 38 Victoria Street in West Bromwich. After a further ten years Adelaide Lucy Collett was 15 and was already working as a paper counter at a local printing works.
9O27	Dorothy May Collett was born at 38 Victoria Street in West Bromwich during 1902. And it was there also that Dorothy May Collett was still living with her family in 1911 when she was attending the local school at the age of eight years. They were still living there in November 1918 when her father passed away at the age of 69.
9O28	Frances Helen Collett was born at West Bromwich where her birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 787) during the last three months of 1873. She was the first child born to Harvey Collett and Ann Woodward. Using her full name, she was six years old in the West Bromwich census of 1881 when living at 41 Carters Green. In 1891 Frances H Collett of Dudley Road was 17 and, prior to the next census in 1901, her mother died, at which time she took over the role of housekeeper for her widowed father and his large family. The census that year placed the family living at Red Cow Yard in West Bromwich, when unmarried France H Collett was 27. Ten years later in April 1911, unmarried Frances Helen Collett was 37 and was one of only two siblings who were still living with their elderly father Harvey Collett. The other sibling was her youngest brother Sidney (below).
9O29	William Harvey Collett was born in 1874 at West Bromwich, his birth recorded there (Ref. 6b 852) during the fourth quarter of the year, the son of Harvey Collett and Ann Woodward. In the following census in 1881, William Harvey Collett was six years of age when he and his family were living at 41 Carters Green in West Bromwich, where his father was a veterinary surgeon. William was still attending school in West Bromwich at the age of 16 in 1891, when his family was recorded at Dudley Road. Curiously, no record of any kind has revealed where he was in 1901, perhaps he was serving abroad with the military. It is established that William married Elizabeth Turner Tomlinson whose birth was recorded at Kings Norton (Ref. 6c 474) during the last quarter of 1882. Not long after she was born at 12 Holly Street in Smethwick, Elizabeth was baptised at Smethwick on 2^nd November 1882, a daughter of William Tomlinson, a surveyor, and Elizabeth Turner, with whom she was living at Smethwick in 1891 when she was eight years old.
	According to the census 1911, the couple was living in the Ardwick district of South Manchester. William Harvey Collett from West Bromwich was 37 and employed as a financial clerk undertaking work for a mission, when his wife Elizabeth Turner Collett from Smethwick was 28. The completed census return included the details that they had been married for six years, during which time Elizabeth had given birth to just one child who was no longer alive. In fact, the son of William Harvey Collett survived for only nine hours when his birth, during the month of April in 1906, and his subsequent death, were recorded at the Chorlton register office (Ref. 8c 759 & 8c 435) during the second quarter of that year, when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Tomlinson, and when his father’s occupation was that of a mercantile clerk. The family’s home address was 48 Apsley Grove, Ardwick in Manchester, with the record of the child’s death stating that he was nine hours old and the cause of death being marasmus premature birth.
	A child with marasmus is usually unable to develop as they should do and, for infants, as in this case, it can be life-threatening. It is a form of malnutrition which occurs when the intake of nutrients and energy is too low for an individual’s needs. It leads to wasting and or a loss of body fat and muscle.
	After suffering the tragic loss of her son, just over eighteen months following the census day in 1911, Elizabeth had to deal with the premature death of her husband at the age of only 38. The death certificate for William Harvey Collett confirm that he died in November 1912 at home at 11 New Street, Ardwick, in Manchester, where he and Elizabeth were very likely residing in 1911. The cause of death was pulmonary phthisis. The much later death of Elizabeth Turner Collett, nee Tomlinson, from pulmonary tuberculosis, was recorded in Worcestershire register office (Ref. 9d 22) during September 1946, when she was 62. On the day she passed away Elizabeth was a patient at Romsley Hill Sanatorium, a treatment centre for tuberculosis (1913-1974) in Winwood Heath, Romsley, just south of Halesowen, when her home address was 27 Beacon Close in Rubery, a couple of miles south-east of Romsley.
	It was information received from Keith Skidmore in Queensland, Australia in November 2021, and again in May 2022, which resulted in more details being added under the name of William Harvey Collett. Elizabeth Turner Tomlinson and William Harvey Collett are Keith’s great-grand-aunt-and-uncle through his great grandfather Albert Charles Tomlinson.
	9P24	William Collett			Born in 1906 at Ardwick, Manchester
9O30	Amy Sarah Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1876, her birth recorded there (Ref. 6b 836) during the last quarter of the year. She was listed under her full name with her family at 41 Carters Green in the West Bromwich census if 1881 and, as Amy S Collett aged 14, she was living with her family at Dudley Road in West Bromwich in 1891 and again in 1901 when she was 24 years old and unmarried and still living with her family at Red Cow Yard in West Bromwich. No record of her being unmarried has been identified in 1911, so she was possibly married by then.
9O31	Margaret Collett was born in 1878 at West Bromwich, where her birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 823) during the third quarter of the year. She was two years old in the census of 1881 when the family was living at 41 Carters Green. She was 12 years of age in 1891 at Dudley Road in West Bromwich and was 22 at Red Cow Yard where she was still living with her family in the West Bromwich census of 1901. She was very likely married after that time, because no record of Margaret Collett from West Bromwich has been found in Britain after 1901.
9O32	Ethel Mary Collett was born in 1879 at West Bromwich, and it was there, possibly at 41 Carters Green, that her birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 867) during the second quarter of the year. Emily Mary was one year old in the census of 1881 when she and her family were residing at 41 Carters Green. After ten years the family was living on Dudley in West Bromwich where Ethel M Collett was 11 years old while, in the census of 1901, the family’s home at Red Cow Yard, when Ethel M Collett was 21 with no stated occupation. During the next ten years she trained to be a teacher, as confirmed in the next census of 1911. By that time unmarried Ethel Mary Collett was 31 and a school mistress, who was still living with her family, but at Dudley Street in West Bromwich. The marriage of Ethel M Collett and Norman V Bridge was recorded at Walsall register office (Ref. 6b 1780) during the last three months of 1919. Their marriage produced a known son, when the birth of Norman W Bridge was recorded at Walsall (Ref. 6b 1408) during the third quarter of 1920, his mother’s maiden-name confirmed as Collett.
9O33	Emily Collett was born in 1880 at West Bromwich, where her birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 795) during the third quarter of the year. It is likely she was born at 41 Carters Green in Wes Bromwich, where Emily was ten months old in the census of 1881. It was probably there also that she died a few months later, the death of Emily Collett, aged one year, recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 438) during the last three months of 1881
9O34	Elsie Gertrude Collett was born at West Bromwich where her birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 861) during the second quarter of 1882.
9O35	Norman Trustrum Collett was born at West Bromwich where his birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 850) during the last three months of 1884.
9O36	Sidney Howell Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1886, his birth recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 875) during the first quarter of that year. He was four years old in 1891, when living at Dudley Road with his family, and was listed as 15 years of age in the West Bromwich census of 1901 when he was living with his widowed father and the majority of his siblings at Red Cow Yard. By the time of the census of 1911 all but one of his older siblings had left their father’s home in West Bromwich, leaving just Sidney Howell Collett aged 25 and his eldest sister Frances (above) acting as housekeeper for the two men.
	Four years later, when he was 29, Sidney Howell Collett married Ethel Bird, also 29, at St James Church in Handsworth, Staffordshire, on 12^th June 1915. The father of the groom was confirmed as Harvey Collett, while the father of the bride was named as Alfred Bird. That marriage produced at least two children, the second child born after the war and named after his paternal grandfather, perhaps indicating that Sidney had been involved in the campaign. The birth of their daughter was recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 1172) during the third quarter of 1917.
	At some later time in their life the family travelled south to East Sussex and it was in his home at South Lodge, Eastgate in Lewes, where Sidney Howell Collett died on 15^th October 1963. Probate of his estate valued at £6,911 was granted jointly at Bristol on 15^th January 1964 to Albert Almor Millard, a chartered accountant, and his son Harvey Collett, a publican.
	9P25	Joan Collett			Born in 1917 at West Bromwich
	9P26	Harvey Collett			Born in 1920 at West Bromwich
9O37	Elizabeth Jane Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1888, the youngest child of Harvey Collett and Ann Woodward. Her birth under that name was recorded at the Kings Norton register office (Ref. 6c 446) during the final three months of 1888. However, it was as Eliza Collett that she was listed with her family in the census return for West Bromwich in 1891 when she was two years of age, while thereafter she appears to have been known by the name of Olive Collett. Certainly, it was as Olive Collett aged 12 years that she was living with her family in 1901, and again ten years later Olive Collett, who was 22, was living at 11Dudley Road in West Bromwich with her parents Harvey and Ann Collett, plus three of her older siblings.
9O38	Harold Harvey Collett was born at Altrincham in Cheshire on 16^th July 1882. He was the eldest of the four sons of William Collett and Emily Wood who recorded his birth at Altrincham (Ref. 8a 170) during the third quarter of that year. It was his father’s calling as a Wesleyan Minister that was the reason for the family constantly moving around the north of England when Harold was a child. At the time of the census in 1891 Harold H Collett was eight years old when he and his family was recorded at Thirland House on Thirland Lane in Attercliffe cum Darnell in Sheffield. By 1901 the family was living in the Stockport area of Cheshire where Harold H Collett was 18.
	Towards the end of the next decade Harold married Amy Maude Ridley and their daughter was born after the couple had settled in Sunderland, where the family of three was living at the time of the census in 1911. On that occasion Harold Harvey Collett from Altrincham was 28 and a tool-maker and fitter, his wife Amy was 29, and their daughter Aileen Yvonne Collett was two years of age. The birth of Aileen Yvonne Collet was recorded at Sunderland register office (Ref. 10a 749) during the third quarter of 1908. It seems likely that their family was added to over the following years with the birth of Josephine and Ruth, the two of them pictured with Aileen Collett in a family photograph taken before 1925. Eleven years earlier, the Kelly’s Directory of 1914 contained an entry for Harold Harvey Collett, which described him as residing at 3 Duneln on Dunning Street in Sunderland, the Manager of Sunderland Gas Works.
	After the Great War Harold and his family are known to have been living in Leeds, and perhaps it was there that his two youngest daughters were born. Upon the death of his mother, Emily Collett nee Wood, at Prestatyn in 1942 it was Harold and his brother Maurice who were named as the joint executors of her estate of just under £2,000. At the age of nearly sixty years Harold Harvey Collett was still working as a gas engineer.
	9P27	Aileen Yvonne Collett			Born in 1908 at Sunderland
	9P28	Josephine Collett – not confirmed			Date of birth unknown
	9P29	Ruth Collett – not confirmed			Date of birth unknown
9O39	Maurice John Collett, who was later known as Jack Collett, was born at Lancaster in Lancashire during the summer of 1886, his birth being registered there (Ref. 8e 754) during the third quarter of that year. In 1891 when Maurice J Collett was four years old he and his family were residing at Thirland House on Thirland Lane in Attercliffe cum Darnell in Sheffield, where his father William was a Wesleyan Minister. By March 1901 the completed family was living within the Stockport area to the south of Manchester when Maurice J Collett was 14. During the next few years, he left the family home which, by 1911, was at Hoylake-cum-West Kirby in Cheshire, while Maurice John Collett from Lancaster was 24 and was living and working in Sculcoates, a district of Kingston-upon-Hull.
	However, just after the death of his brother Henry (below) in 1916, Maurice was once again living with his parents who had subsequently moved to at 8 Shelton Road in Wallasey where they had staying with them Maurice and his brother Charles. It was a few years later that Maurice John Collett married Elizabeth Constance Banks, the event recorded at Chester register office (Ref. 8a 1119) during the third quarter of 1919.
	Maurice’s mother died at Prestatyn in 1942 following which he and his older brother Harold (above) were named as the joint executors of her estate. At that time in his life the occupation of Maurice John Collett was that of a secretary. Eight years later, the death of Elizabeth Constance Collett, the wife of Maurice John Collett, was recorded as taking place at Aston Lodge, Peachfield Road in Malvern Wells in Worcestershire on 1^st October 1950. Probate of her considerable fortune of £101,205 11 Shillings and 1 Pence was granted at Oxford on 14^th November to her husband Maurice John Collett, a company director, Lillias Elsie Downes, a single woman, and Walter Laurence Curtler, a solicitor.
9O40	Henry William Howell Collett was born at Sheffield in Yorkshire during the month of August 1890, the third son of William and Emily Collett. It was also in Sheffield that his birth was recorded (Ref. 9c 502) during the third quarter of the year. At the time of the census in 1891 he was only eight months old when, as Henry Wm H Collett, he and his family were residing at Thirland House on Thirland Lane in Attercliffe-cum-Darnell in Sheffield. It was his father’s work as a Wesleyan minister that was the reason why the family was living at various places over the next few years, although the family was still living in the Sheffield area five years later when Henry’s youngest brother Charles (below) was born. However, not long after that the family moved again, on that occasion to 25 Greek Street in Stockport, where Henry W H Collett was 10 years old in the census of 1901. He was still living in the family home by the time of the census April 1911 which, by then, was at 58 Alderley Road in Hoylake-cum-West Kirby in Cheshire, when he was recorded under his full name of Henry William Howell Collett who was 20 years old.
	By 1914 Henry was working as a solicitor for Watson & Atkinson in Liverpool when he enlisted with the 1^st Liverpool Battalion of Pals and later joined the 17^th Battalion of the King’s Liverpool Regiment on 2^nd September 1914. At that time in his life, he was 5 feet 8½ inches tall, weighing 163 pounds. He was later promoted to acting unpaid lance corporal on 29^th December 1914 but was once again a private on 23^rd February 1915 and from 29^th April through to 4^th September 1915 he was based at Belton Camp near Grantham in Lincolnshire for basic training. It was on 5^th September that he left Belton for Lark Hill Camp on Salisbury Plain, where he remained until 7^th November 1915 when he was sent to France.
	The above photograph of Henry in his army uniform was taken sometime around the start of the war, when he was Private Henry W H Collett, service number 16019, with 17^th Bn. of the King’s Liverpool Regiment. After initially serving the first year and sixty-six days of his military career in England, Henry eventually spent the following 266 days in action in France, making a total military service of 697 days. Henry and his comrades were part of 89^th Brigade, 30th Division, which served in France for the duration of the war, during which “The Liverpool Pals” were amongst the most successful battalions who attacked the German defences at the Somme on 1^st July 1916. Henry was involved in that battle and thankfully survived without injury. However, he was not so lucky at the end of that month when he and the 17^th battalion were required to support the 18^th and 20^th Battalions of King’s Liverpool Regiments when they were attacking the heavily fortified village of Guillemont on 30^th July.
	The assault started at 4.45 a.m. despite the dark night and foggy conditions, while the German Army were aware the British were coming and bombarded their positions with gas shells. Tragically Henry and his unit were cut down by machinegun fire as the fog cleared away, with Henry being badly wounded. It transpires that after he was attended to by a doctor and, whilst he was being carried on a stretcher to the safety of the field ambulance, the rescue party was hit by an enemy shell, killing them all. So it was that Henry William Howell Collett was killed in action at the Battle of Guillemont during Sunday 30^th July 1916, with his name being one of those on the Thievpal Memorial. His name can also be found at the Wesleyan Church in Chester
9O41	Charles Edward Collett was born at Sheffield in 1896, and shortly he was born his family left Sheffield when they moved to Stockport in Cheshire, where Charles E collett was four years of age in the census on 1901. His father’s work as a Wesleyan Minister saw the family move once again before the next census in 1911, by which time Charles’ two eldest brothers had left the family home. The census that year recorded Charles Edward Collett, aged 14 and from Sheffield, living with his parents and older brother Henry at Hoylake-cum-West Kirby on the Wirral in Cheshire. The inscription on the sailor’s hat in this photograph suggests that Charles was a member of the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve.
	It was five years after the war, on 4^th September 1923, that Charles Edward Collett married Victoria Lucie Powell. Two years later his father died in August 1925, while it was a further seven years before his father’s Will was finally passed through probate at London in 1932, when Charles Collett, a manufacturer, was named as the sole administrator of his estate.
9O42	Ada Collett was born in 1872 at Aldsworth, her birth recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 362) during the last three months of the year. For some reason her baptism was delayed until she was around two years old, the event taking place on 3^rd November 1874. In the Aldsworth census of 1881 she was eight years old, and ten years later in 1891 she was still living with her parents at Aldsworth when 18 years of age. Curiously she was not still living with her parents in 1901, nor has she been located in any of the census returns for that year. It is known that she never married and that she later returned to Aldsworth where she died in 1916 and was buried in the churchyard there on 2^nd December 1916.
9O43	Rosa Georgiana Collett was born at Aldsworth and her birth was also recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 417) during the first few days of 1876. It appears that she was a poorly child as her baptism followed very quickly after her birth, taking place at Aldsworth on 4^th January 1876, and died shortly thereafter, following which she was buried at Aldsworth on 7^th January 1876. As a consequence, the death of Rosa Georgiana Collett was recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 281) during the first quarter of 1876.
9O44	Cecil Francis William Collett was born at Aldsworth on 28^th February 1887, with his birth recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 377) during the second quarter of 1887. He was four years old in the Aldsworth census of 1891 and by March 1901 Cecil W F Collett was still attending school at the age of 14 years and was still living at the family home in Aldsworth. On leaving school Cecil then followed his father by becoming a blacksmith and was in fact the last in a line of five generations of blacksmiths in Aldsworth. According to the census of 1911, blacksmith Cecil Collett of Aldsworth was 24 and was still a bachelor living with his parents at Aldsworth. Four and a half years later, the marriage of Cecil F W Collett and Hannah E Lafford was recorded at Cirencester register office (Ref. 6a 1107) during the last quarter of 1915, their marriage producing three sons for the couple.
	Hannah E Collett nee Lafford died during 1963 and, seven years later the death of Cecil Francis W Collett (Ref. 7b 886) during the last months of 1970. Both Hannah and Cecil were buried in Quenington Cemetery, he in 1970 aged 83 and she in 1963 aged 76. A single headstone marks the grave with the inscription ‘Cecil Collett 1887 – 1970 and his wife Hannah Collett 1887 – 1963’. The couple’s three sons were all still living in 2002.
	9P30	Frank William Collett				Born in 1917
	9P31	John A Collett				Born in 1918
	9P32	Donald E Collett				Born in 1925
9O45	Hilda Mary Collett was born at Aldsworth in 1874, the eldest child of Richard Collett and Jane Porter. Sadly, she was just four years old when she died at Aldsworth, following which her death was recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6n 270) during the fourth quarter of 1878.
9O46	Rosa Georgiana Collett was born at Aldsworth in 1877 and it would appear that she was named after her cousin (above) who died in infancy in 1876. So far, no record of her baptism has been found at St Bartholomew’s Church. This perhaps suggests that her parents were worshipping with the Plymouth Brethren who had just recently starting meeting in Aldsworth at around that time. By April 1911 she was recorded as Rosa Georgina Collett born at Winson, a spinster of Aldsworth who was still living there at the age of 33 with her parents. Rosa never married but she and her brother Joseph Sydney Collett were committed to the Plymouth Brethren for all their lives. Rosa died in 1961 and was buried at Quenington by the Plymouth Brethren.
9O47	JOSEPH SIDNEY COLLETT was born at Aldsworth on 26^th April 1880, his birth recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 413). He was eleven months old in the Aldsworth census during the following year and was 11 years of age by the time of the Aldsworth census in 1891. According to the next census in 1901 Joseph was 20 and was working as a domestic groom domestic while living at nearby Bibury. At the time of his marriage to Edith Elizabeth Eden at Shipston-on-Stour in 1908, he was recorded as being an agricultural labourer. Edith was three years older than Joseph, having been born in 1877. Their wedding day was recorded at Shipston-on-Stour register office (Ref. 6d 1375) during the second quarter of 1908.
	By the time of the census of 1911 the marriage had produced the couple’s first child, when the family home was already established in Bibury, where head of the household Joseph Collett from Aldsworth was 30 and working as a butcher’s assistant. His wife and daughter were recorded at the home of Joseph’s parents back in Aldsworth, where Edith Elizabeth from Oddington was 33, and their daughter Ethel Rosa Collett was just one year old and had been born at Bibury, where the couple’s three other children were born. The death of Joseph Sidney Collett was recorded at Bristol register office (Ref. 7b 15) during the first three months of 1966, when he was 85 years old, and following which he was buried in Bristol.
	9P33	Ethel Rosa Collett				Born in 1909 at Bibury
	9P34	SYDNEY George COLLETT				Born in 1911 at Bibury
	9P35	Donald R Collett twin				Born in 1914 at Bibury
	9P36	Jessie Mary Collett twin				Born in 1914 at Bibury
9O48	Sybil Collett was born at Aldsworth in 1885 as Sybilla Porter. She was the niece of Jane Collett nee Porter who was married to Richard Collett of Aldsworth, and it was Jane and Richard that took over the care of Sybilla prior to 1891. By 1891 she was a foster child living in the Collett’s Aldsworth home. During the next decade Sybilla had adopted the Collett name and was recorded in the census of 1901 as Sybilla Collett aged 16 who was living at Aldsworth with her foster parents Richard and Jane Collett. Ten years later Richard and Jane were still living in Aldsworth, but by that time Sybilla had moved to London where she was listed as Sybil Collett 26 of Aldsworth, living and working within the Brentford registration district.
9O49	Henry Edwin Collett was born at Aldsworth and was baptised there on 1^st April 1877. Tragically he died when he was only five years old and was buried in St Bartholomew’s Churchyard at Aldsworth on 2^nd August 1882.
9O50	Alfred William Collett was born in 1878 at Aldsworth, where he was baptised on 22^nd August 1878. He was two years of age in the Aldsworth census of 1881 and on leaving school he worked as an agricultural labourer, as confirmed in the next census in 1891, when he was only 12 years old. During the next few years Alfred sought employment of the railway and, by 1901 when he was 22 and still a single man, he had moved north to Staffordshire, where he was a railway shunter and a boarder at the home of the Baker family in Thornley Street, Horninglow, a district of Burton on Trent. Also living in Horninglow that same day, with her family, was Alfred’s future wife, albeit only 13 years of age. It was just of four years later when the marriage of Alfred William Collett, aged 27, and Emily Ford, aged 17, was conducted at St Mary’s Church in Tutbury and recorded at Burton-on-Trent register office (Ref. 6b 653) during the third quarter of 1905. Emily was born at Tutbury in 1888 and was baptised there on 26^th February 1888, the daughter of William Henry Ford and his wife Emily Amelia, who were residing at Goodman Street in Horninglow in 1901.
	Within the next first two years of their married life together, Emily presented Alfred with a daughter, although their second child was born nearly ten years later. According to the Burton-on-Trent census in 1911, Alfred William Collett from Aldsworth was 32 still employed as a railway shunter, his wife Emily Collett from Tutbury was 23, and their daughter Viola Emily Collett was four years old. Tragically, it was ten years later that the premature death of Alfred W Collett was recorded at Burton-on-Trent register office (Ref. 6b 439) during the first three months of 1921, when he was 42 years old.
	Further sadness happened within the family twenty-two years later, when Emily Collett received the dreadful news that her son had been killed in the Far East by the Japanese, while serving King and Country during the Second World War. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission confirmed that the parents of Alfred Edwin Collett were Alfred William and Emily Collett of Burton-on-Trent. Widow Emily Collett continued to reside in Burton-on-Trent for the rest of her life, living not far away from her married daughter and her family. The death of Emily Collett nee Ford was recorded there (Ref. 9b 57) during the second quarter of 1960, when her age was incorrectly recorded as being 78 instead of 72.
	9P37	Viola Emily Collett				Born in 1907 at Burton-on-Trent
	9P38	Alfred Edwin Collett				Born in 1916 at Burton-on-Trent
9O51	Fanny Collett was born at Aldsworth where she was baptised on 1^st February 1880, her birth recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 334) during the first month of 1880. She was one year old in 1881 and was 11 years of age in the Aldsworth census of 1891. After leaving school she worked as a domestic cook and was recorded at Lancaster Road in Hampstead, London in 1901, at the home of physician John H Chaldecott family. Having met her future husband in London, it was back home in Aldsworth she married George Frederick James Hall, from Bedfont in Middlesex, on 19^th October 1903, the event recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 914). In 1909 George took over his father’s forge at Great Barrington, just west of Burford. That was confirmed by the census of 1911 when George was recorded as being 37 and born at Wednesbury, his wife Fanny was 31 and from Aldsworth, and their children were E F G Hall aged six years and Lizzie F Hall who was three – both born in Middlesex, and twin William R Hall who was only one month old and born at Great Barrington. Interestingly, his twin brother Walter Hall was not with the family that day, but was living in Great Barrington with Thomas and Fanny Preston, when he was described as their adopted son, who was one month old. Completing the household was nursemaid Nelly Lewis from Birmingham who was 29.
	The complete list of their children, with three more born after 1911, was made up of Edward Frederick George Hall (born in 1903, died in 1938), Lizzie Florence Hall (born in 1907), Walter Hall (born in 1911 and recorded at Stow-on-the Wold (Ref. 6a 370) during the first quarter of the year), William R Hall (born in 1911 and recorded at Stow (Ref. 6a 359) during the second quarter of the year), John H Hall (born in 1913, his birth recorded at Stow (Ref. 6a 745) during the second quarter of the year, and Alfred J Hall (born in 1916, his birth also recorded at Stow-on-the-Wold (Ref. 6a 623) during the last quarter of 1916. In both cases the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett.
	Fanny Hall nee Collett died in 1925, her death recorded at Stow-on-the-Wold (Ref. 6a 385) during the third quarter of the year, when she was 45 years old. Just less than two years after being made a widower, George F J Hall married (2) Florence E Monk, their wedding recorded at Stow-on-the-Wold (Ref. 6a 977) during the second quarter of 1927. After twenty-six years together, the death of George F J Hall was recorded at Cirencester (Ref. 7b 354) during the last three months of 1953 when he was 78 years old.
	In 2006 Brian Hall, a grandson of Fanny and George, was living in Windrush and was a lifelong friend of Gordon John Collett of Lincolnshire (Ref. 3Q5). Brian’s sister, Brenda Hall married Malcolm Margetts and was living somewhere on the south coast at the turn of the century. Brian and Brenda were the children of Fanny and George’s son William R Hall, who was known as Bill. The Margetts name also appears in Part Two – The Secondary Line (Ref. 2M23 and 2M24) and continues from that reference as the starting point for Part Three – The Chedworth Line. There are also further references under 2N36 and 3N8.
9O52	Mary Viola Collett was born either at the end of 1881 or early in 1882 at Lyneham, just north of Milton-under-Wychwood. Her birth was recorded at Chipping Norton in 1882, while within the 1939 Register her year of birth was given as 1881. Before she was ten years of age her family left Lyneham and returned to Aldsworth where they had been living just prior to her birth. In the Aldsworth census of 1891 Mary Collett from Lyneham in Oxfordshire was nine years old, whereas ten years later, at the age of 20, she was working as a cook domestic at a house in Bibury when her family was still at Aldsworth. Once again, the census return in 1901 stated that she had been born at Lyneham in Oxfordshire. Where she was living at the time of the next census in April 1911 has not yet been determined, although it is known that she was married four year later.
	Her marriage to Frederick Gardiner was recorded at Tetbury in Gloucestershire during 1915. Frederick was a policeman with the Gloucestershire constabulary and had been born at Carhampton in Somerset, the son of agricultural labourer Richard Gardiner and his wife Harriet. His birth was recorded at nearby Williton (Ref. 5c 291) during the last three months of 1884 and he was six years old in the census of 1891 when living at Eastbury in Carhampton with his family. Ten years later, as Fred Gardiner aged 16, he was still living at Carhampton with his parents and his two siblings Gilbert who was 18 and Alice who was 12, by which time he was employed as a labourer working on a farm. By 1911 he was a police constable in Gloucestershire.
	Once they were married Mary and Frederick settled in Stroud, although it may have been the Great War that delayed the birth of their two children, both of whom were born in Stroud. Mary was in her early forties when she gave birth to their daughter Alice Mary Gardiner, who was born in 1922, but sadly their son Gilbert Gardiner was just one year old when he died in 1926. Frederick retired from the police force around 1934 when he was 50 and he and Mary were still residing in Stroud when he passed away during 1956. Upon the death of her husband Mary moved to live in London, where she died in 1965. Their son Gilbert was named after Frederick’s older brother who died at Carhampton in 1918.
9O53	Lizzie Rose Collett was born around 1884 at Lyneham. She married her sister’s brother-in-law William Hall on 4^th December 1909. Lizzie’s sister Fanny Collett (above) had earlier married William’s brother George Hall. It is understood that William died shortly after they were married and that Lizzie later married for a second time. The census of 1901 listed Lizzie as being aged 18 and born at Lyneham in Oxfordshire and just like her sister Mary, she too was in service and also at Bibury where she was a housemaid domestic.
9O54	Robert E Collett was born in 1886 at Lyneham, the son of Robert Collett and Mary Anne Fleetwood. He was four years old in the Aldsworth census of 1891. In the next census in 1901 Robert’s place of birth was given as Milton-under-Wychwood, which is the next village to the south of Lyneham. At the age of 14 he was listed as being an ordinary agricultural labourer, while he was still living at home with his parents at Aldsworth.
	His mother died in December 1908, and just over two years after that Robert’s father was still living in Aldsworth, although by that time Robert was 24 and was living and working nearby with the same Northleach area. Robert married Florence Ethel Midwinter at Aldsworth with the wedding recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 861) during the second quarter of 1912, their marriage resulting in the birth of three children at Aldsworth. Robert’s occupation was that of a plumbing engineer and worked for Godwins of Quenington before setting up his own business in Aldsworth. He was instrumental in bringing piped water to Aldsworth in the 1920s. His wife Florence died at the age of 58 and was buried on 10^th January 1946, while Robert lived on until 1976, when he passed away.
	9P39	Charles William Collett				Born in 1915 at Aldsworth
	9P40	Rosalind Enid Collett				Born in 1920 at Aldsworth
	9P41	Frederick Robert Collett				Born in 1924 at Aldsworth
9O55	Edwin H Collett was born at Aldsworth in April 1890 and was the youngest son of Robert Collett and Mary Anne Fleetwood. He was eleven months old in the census the following year and was 10 years old in the Aldsworth census of 1901. By the time Edwin was 20 in April 1911 he may have been living somewhere other than England, since his whereabouts has not been determined from the census returns for that year. However, an Edward Collett of Aldsworth who was 20 was living and working in the Tetbury registration district of Gloucestershire at that time. He later became a married man, but the marriage produced no children for Edwin and his wife. However, it is established that the couple lived at Bibury, where Edwin Collett was a blacksmith.
9O56	Maud Mary Collett was born at Latton in Harlow on 23^rd November 1894 and her birth was recorded at the Essex Epping register office (Ref. 4a 421) during the first days 1895. It was also at the parish church in Latton that Maud Mary Collett was baptised on 13^th January 1895, the daughter and only child, of Henry and Ada Collett. When Maud was six years old, her father was a butler and her mother a laundry maid at Parndon Hall on Hamstel Road, in the Little Parndon area of Harlow, the ancestral home of the famous Arkwright family. The family of three was still living and working at Parndon Hall in 1911, by which Maud Collett from Latton was sixteen and employed there as a domestic nurse, when her parents were continuing with the roles that they had ten years earlier.
	Parndon Hall was also where Florence Nightingale’s mother was raised, and whether just a co-incidence, but in 1920 Maud Collett, a missionary, sailed from London to Calcutta. It was then on 6^th April 1921 that Maud Mary Collett, the daughter of Henry Collett, married draftsman William Frid in Calcutta, West Bengal. It is not currently known whether they had any children, while the death of Maud Mary Frid, born on 23^rd November 1894, was recorded at Sussex register office in 1978.
9P1	Henry Robert Collett was born at Carnbrea in Cornwall on 17^th April 1900, the eldest of the four children of carpenter Henry Robert Collett from Fairford near Swindon and Blanche Phillips Mitchell from Carnbrea near Camborne. The birth of Henry Robert Collett was recorded at Redruth register office (Ref. 5c 187) during the second quarter of 1900. By the March census in 1901 his father had taken the family of three back to Swindon where Henry was eleven months old and ten years later In April 1911 Henry Collett was 10 years old when he and his family were residing at 6 Dryden Street in Swindon. Just three years later Henry left school and joined his father as an employee with the Great Western Railway. The railway record dated 21^st April 1914 confirmed that he was taken on as an apprentice at the age of 14 and that he was born on 17^th April 1900. At the time of his death Henry Robert Collett was 78, the event recorded at Weymouth register office (Vol. 23 0807) during September 1978.
9P2	Hedley Charles Collett was born at Swindon on 7^th July 1902, the second child of Henry Robert Collett and Blanche Phillips Mitchell. His birth under his full name of Hedley Charles Collett was recorded at Swindon register office (Ref. 5a 30) during the third quarter of 1902. In April 1911 the census included Hedley Collett who was eight years old and living with his family at 6 Dryden Street in Swindon. Just over five years later, when Hedley was 14, he was taken on by the Great Western Railway for a position at Swindon Station, his name one of those on the alphabetical listings for office boys and messengers. Sometime later Hedley married Edith Mabel to whom he was still married when he died at 98 Harvest Road in Smethwick on 22^nd October 1941. Administration of his personal effects of £293 7 Shillings and 1 Pence was granted at Birmingham on 10^th December 1941 to his widow Edith Mabel Collett. Hedley was 39 and his death was recorded at Smethwick register office (Ref. 6b 1282) during the last quarter of 1941.
9P5	Evelyn Minnie Collett was born at Swindon in 1895, her birth recorded there (Ref. 5a 35) during the first three months of that year. She was recorded in the 1901 as being aged six years when she was living with her family at Swindon. Ten years later at the age of 17, Evelyn Minnie Collett from Swindon was employed as a general domestic servant at the Leighton Buzzard home of Bernard Robert Parkinson and his family of Ristholme on Albany Road in the town. Bernard was 38 and a consulting gas engineer from Holloway in Middlesex. Living with him at Ristholme was his wife Annie Louisa of St Pancras who was also 38, and their nine years old son David Bernard who had been born at Harborne in Birmingham.
	Five years later in 1916 Evelyn, who was more often referred to as Min or Minnie, married Sidney Love with whom she had a daughter Phyllis Love who was born in 1920. During the couple’s later life, they were known to have lived in the Shrivenham Road in Swindon which is fairly close to Rosebery Street where Minnie’s cousins (listed below) lived with her uncle Albert Joseph Collett and his wife Clara. Pat Brearley nee Collett of Canada recalls that, during a visit to England in 1973, she met her Aunt Min who was still alive at that time. Her only other recollection of that time was that Aunt Min, who was still hoarding sugar, commented on how lucky Pat’s son Paul was to have been adopted. The only other known fact about Evelyn’s family, is that her daughter Phyllis was eventually married and had a son David.
9P6	Frederick William H Collett was born at Swindon on 12^th June 1897, the son of William Frederick Collett and Mary Ann Harrison. His birth was recorded at Highworth register office (Ref. 5a 17) during the third quarter of that year. In March 1901 he was recorded with his family at Rosebery Street in Swindon, as Frederick W H Collett aged three years. Ten years later he was described simply as William Collett who was 13 and still attending school, when he was still living with his parents at 47 Rosebery Street, his older sister Evelyn having left home by then. Just over nine years after that day, the marriage of Frederick William H Collett and Hilda K Porter was recorded at the Wiltshire Malmesbury register office (Ref. 5a 177) during the last quarter of 1920. The first of their two children was born at Malmesbury, when Hilda may have been staying there at the home of parents.
	The birth of Gwendoline Collett was recorded at Malmesbury register office (Ref. 5a 97) during the second quarter of 1922, when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Porter. Eight years later, the birth of Douglas Collett was recorded at Swindon register office (Ref. 5a 28) during the third quarter of 1930 when, once again, the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Porter. All four members of the family were recorded in the 1939 Register at 10 Tydeman Street in Swindon, albeit with the entry for their daughter being redacted due to her still being alive when the Register was made a public document. Forty-two-year-old Frederick W H Collett was a coach finisher with the Great Western Railway, Hilda’s date of birth was recorded as 6^th February 1899, and Douglas Collett was nine years old and attending school. The death of Frederick William H Collett was recorded at Swindon register office (Ref. 7c 520) during the second quarter of 1950 when he was 52.
	9Q1	Gwendoline Collett				Born in 1922 at Malmesbury
	9Q2	Douglas Collett				Born in 1930 at Swindon
9P7	William Albert Collett was born at Swindon in 1902. His parents lived at 25 Rosebery Street in Swindon and it was there that the family was recorded in April 1911 when William was nine years old. William later married Gladys Davis a few years before the Second World War, with whom he had three children. Only two children survived and, although both were later married, there were no children resulting from either of the marriages. Following the death of William’s father in 1944, it would appear that his widowed mother Clarissa went to stay with William and his family, and it was while living with them in November 1947 that she passed away.
	9Q3	Michael Collett					Born in 1928 at Swindon
	9Q4	Marion Claire Collett					Born in 1939 at Swindon
	9Q5	Alan David Collett					Born in 1940 at Swindon
9P8	Walter Charles Collett was born at Swindon in 1904 and he and his family were living at 25 Rosebery Street in 1911 where Walter was listed as being aged seven. During the early 1930s Walter married Irene Perry and the couple were blessed with a son over the next couple of years.
	9Q6	Kenneth C Collett					Born in 1935 at Swindon
9P9	Clarice Elizabeth Collett was born at Swindon in 1906. At the age of five years Clarice was living at 25 Rosebery Street in Swindon with her family. It is also possible that Clarice was born at that same address. Clarice later married a Mr Baddeley and the marriage produced six children for the couple. They were Victor Baddeley, Mavis Baddeley, Brian Baddeley, Tony Baddeley, Betty Baddeley, and Christine Baddeley. Eldest son Victor was the only child of Clarice Baddeley who did not go on to be married. All of the other children did, and had children of their own.
9P10	Dorothy May Collett was born at Swindon in 1907 and most likely at 25 Rosebery Street where they were living in 1911 when Dorothy was four years old. In 1924, when Dorothy was only 17 years old, she married Robert Davies with whom she had just one daughter who was born during the following year. Around twenty years later, her daughter Doreen Davis married a German prisoner of war Gerhard Kailus. Their marriage produced three children, these being Karen Kailus, Martin Kailus, and Andrew Kailus. All are now married with children of their own. Doreen Kailus nee Davis died in 1999 at the age of 74.
9P11	Frank James Collett was born at 25 Rosebery Street in Swindon in 1912 where his family was living in April 1911 and where they are known to have lived for many years thereafter. His birth was recorded at Swindon register officer (Ref. 5a 39) during the third quarter of 1912, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Sheppard. Just prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, Frank married Mary Edith Bridle on 15^th August 1939, the event recorded at Pontypool in Monmouthshire (Ref. 11a 393). It was also at Pontypool register office where the birth of Mary Edith Bridle was recorded in 1916. She was referred to as Molly by members of the family and presented Frank with two children during the war years. Tragically, Molly died when the younger of her two children was only ten years old. That happened on 5^th January 1955 when she was only 38. After six years her widowed husband remarried, when the marriage of Frank J Collett and Gladys R Hunt was recorded at Swindon (Ref. 7c 1719) during the third quarter of 1961. it seems ironical that virtually exactly twenty-four years after Molly had passed, Frank James Collett died on 6^th January 1979 aged 67.
	9Q7	Patricia Mary Collett				Born in 1942 at Pontypool
	9Q8	Dennis James Collett				Born in 1945 at Pontypool
9P12	Evelyn Collett was born at 25 Rosebery Street in Swindon in 1919. When she was around twenty years old, she married Joseph (Joe) Rixon. That took place in either 1939 or 1940, following which Evelyn presented her husband with two children, Peter Rixon born in 1941 and John Rixon born in 1944. Sadly, Evelyn died tragically in 1954 when she was only 35 leaving her two sons aged 13 and 10, the younger of the two having died in more recent years.
9P13	Phoebe Ann G Collett was born at West Bromwich on 5^th December 1885 with her birth registered there (Ref. 6b 857) during the first quarter of 1886. She was the first of the six children of Richard Collett and his first wife Phoebe Elizabeth Butler. By 1891 Phoebe G Collett, aged five, had two younger siblings, so that may have been why she was living with her widowed grandmother Phoebe Butler at Old Meeting Street in West Bromwich on the day of the census that year. During the summer of 1900, Phoebe’s mother suffered a premature death when the family was living at 18 Boulton Road in West Bromwich. It was there also that fifteen-year-old Phoebe was living with her widowed father in 1901 who, having completed her schooling, and with no stated occupation, was presumably keeping house for her family. Two years later, her father married for a second time, and that may have been when Phoebe left the family home in West Bromwich. Certainly by 1911, Phoebe Collett from West Bromwich was 25 and working in a West Bromwich hospital as a nurse. It is also established that she never married and it was at Staffordshire register office (Ref. 9b 2184) that the death of Phoebe Ann G Collett was recorded during 1973.
9P14	Agnes Gundred Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1887, her birth registered there (Ref. 6b 853) during the second quarter of the year. She was the second child of Richard and Phoebe Collett, with whom she was living at West Bromwich in 1891 when, incorrectly, Agnes Gundred Collett was recorded as being five years old. After a further nine years her youngest brother and her mother both died in 1900 so, by 1901, the family was living at 18 Boulton Road in West Bromwich where Agnes Collett was 13 years of age. It was around 1903 that her father remarried, after which all but one of Agnes’ siblings left the family home with the arrival of three half-siblings into the Collett family. In 1911, Agnes Gundel (sic) Collett from West Bromwich was 23 years old and employed as a general domestic servant at the Handsworth home of Joseph S Reveley, a physician and surgeon.
9P15	Richard John Collett was born in West Bromwich on 17^th September 1889 and was baptised of St Andrew’s Church in West Bromwich on 3^rd November 1889. He was the third child and eldest son of Richard and Phoebe Collett who were living at Soho Street in Harborne near Smethwick in 1891. On that census day, Richard John Collett from West Bromwich was one year old. At the age of ten years, Richard’s youngest brother was born and died shortly after, followed by their mother. On the day she died, the family was residing at 18 Boulton Street in West Bromwich, as they were a year later on the day of the census in 1901. By that time in his life, Richard was recorded in the census return as John Collett aged 11. His widowed father remarried around two years after that census day and, despite the birth of three child by his stepmother, John Collett aged 21 was still living with the young family, when he was working alongside his father as a shoeing smith’s striker in 1911. No record has been found to suggest that he ever married, while the later death of Richard John Collett aged 73, was recorded at Staffordshire register office (Ref. 9b 1009) in 1963.
9P16	Edith Beatrice Collett was born at West Bromwich on 9^th September 1891 and her family had returned there from living for a short time at Soho Street in nearby Harborne, where they were recorded in the census conducted earlier that same year. It was in West Bromwich, at All Saint’s Church, that Edith Beatrice Collett was baptised on 8^th November 1891, another daughter of Richard and Phoebe Collett. It is interesting that she was the only one of their six child to have her birth recorded at Kings Norton register office (Ref. 6b 433). She was still only eight years old when her mother died, after giving birth to Edith’s youngest brother, who also died a little while earlier. Therefore, in the West Bromwich census of 1901, when the remainder of the family was living with their widowed father at 18 Boulton Street, Edith Collett of West Bromwich was nine years of age. Sometime following the second marriage of her father, all but one of her siblings moved out of the family home and, in 1911, 19-year-old Edith Beatrice Collett was working as a servant at the West Bromwich home of draper John James Wall and his wife Emily Mary Wall.
9P17	Clement Charles Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1897 where his birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 906) during the first three months of the year. It was there also, at Holy Trinity Church that he was baptised on 20^th May 1898 another son of Richard and Phoebe Elizabeth Collett. When he was three years old, his younger brother Stephen (below) was born at 18 Boulton Street in West Bromwich, where Stephen also died, as did Clement’s mother not long after. It was as Charles Collett aged four years, that he was the youngest of the five children living at Boulton Street with their widowed father in 1901. Two years after, his father married Ann Maria Atkiss, and a further two years later the death of Clement Charles Collett was recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 460) during the second quarter of 1905, when he was eight years old.
9P18	Stephen Edward Thomas Collett was born at West Bromwich the last of the six children of Richard Collett and Phoebe Elizabeth Butler. His birth was recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 922) during the first quarter of 1900, after which he was baptised on 30^th March 1900 at Holy Trinity Church in West Bromwich. Tragically, it was during the second quarter of 1900 that the death of Stephen Edward Thomas Collett was recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 552). The second tragedy for the family happened in July that same year, when his mother died.
9P19	Ada Benedicta Collett was the first of the three known child of Richard Collett with his second wife Ann Maria Atkiss. Her birth was recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 965) during the second quarter of 1904. Ada Collett was six years of age in the West Bromwich census of 1911, when living there with her parents, her older half-brother John Collett (above) and two younger siblings (below).
9P20	William Henry Ralph Collett was born on 16^th May 1906 with his birth also recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 946) during the second quarter of that year. It would appear that he was only ever known as Ralph, which was how he was recorded in the West Bromwich census of 1911 when he was four years old. He was the second of the three children of Richard and Ann Maria Collett. It was during the summer of 1930, at the age of 24, that William Henry Ralph Collett married Ethel Evans, their wedding recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 2018) during the third quarter of the year. Their two daughters were both born within the catchment area of West Bromwich register office where their births were recorded. Barbara was a honeymoon baby her birth recorded during the first three months of 1931 (Ref. 6c 1359), and six years later the birth of Patricia was recorded there during the second quarter of 1937 (Ref. 6b 1055).
	Ethel was expecting the birth of Patricia when Ralph Collett, aged 30 and a married man, was a hat manufacturer in London who sailed out of Southampton on 11^th November 1936 onboard the Queen Mary bound for New York. No member of his family was with him, so it may well have been a business trip. William Henry Ralph Collett was ninety-three years old when he died in Norwich on 28^th December 1999, his death recorded at Norwich register office (Ref. 6391b b24b).
	9Q9	Barbara W Collett				Born in 1931 at West Bromwich
	9Q10	Patricia A Collett				Born in 1937 at West Bromwich
9P21	Cyril Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1909 where his birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 896) during the second quarter of the year. He was therefore two years of age in the West Bromwich census of 1911, when he was living there with his parents Richard Collett and his second wife Ann Maria Atkiss.
9P26	Harvey Collett was born at West Bromwich on 4^th July 1920, the youngest of the two children of Sidney Howell Collett and Ethel Bird. It was at West Bromwich register office that his birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 1579) during the third quarter of that year. It is known that his parents later moved to the south of England and settled in East Sussex, where Harvey’s father died in 1963 when living at home at South Lodge, Eastgate in Lewes. The Will of Sidney Howell Collett was proved at Bristol in January 1964, with a value of £6,911 which was granted jointly to Albert Almor Millard (1920-1999), a chartered accountant, and Harvey Collett, a publican. Four years before his father passed away, the marriage of Harvey Collett and Valerie Sellwood was recorded at Lewes register office (Ref. 5h 790) during the third quarter of 1959. Because of their advanced years, Harvey and Valerie did not have any children, and later on were living in Hampshire, where the death of Harvey Collett was recorded in 1995.
9P30	Frank William Collett was born in 1917, his birth recorded at Northleach register office (Ref. 6a 597) during the first quarter of the year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Lafford. When he was 27 years of age he married ‘Cindy’ Pinchin at Aldsworth on 24^th June 1944 at a time when Frank was in the Army, the event recorded at the register office in Cirencester (Ref. 6a 1201). Cecily M Pinchin was born in 1919, her birth recorded at Northleach (6a 524) during the first quarter of that year, when her mother’s name was Heyward. At the turn of the century the couple was living at Bourton-on-the-Water where first Cindy died on 2^nd February 2007 aged 87, followed by Frank six months later on 3^rd August 2007 aged 90. Both were buried at Bourton-on-the-Water where a single gravestone marks the spot, on which Cindy is confirmed as Cicely Margaret Collett (see Headstone Epitaphs)
	9Q11	John William Collett				Born in 1948 at Pontypool
	9Q12	Susan Margaret Collett				Born in 1950 at Pontypool
9P31	John A Collett, who was known as Jack, was born during the third quarter of 1918, his birth as John A Collett recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 584), when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Lafford. John A Collett married Joan R Jeffries in 1948, the event recorded at Cirencester register office (Ref. 7b 674) during the fourth quarter of that year. Joan was born at Stroud in 1922, the daughter of a blacksmith, as was John’s own father, Cecil Francis William Collett. At the turn of the century the couple were living at Southrop and it was there that John died in late November 2008 at the age of ninety.
9P32	Donald E Collett was born in 1925, the last of the three children of Cecil Francis William Collett and Hannah E Lafford. His birth, like those of his two older brothers, was recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 576) during the last three months of the year, with his mother’s maiden-name confirmed at Lafford. Upon being married his name was recorded at Cirencester as Donald P Collett, his marriage to Freda G Davey recorded there (Ref. 7b 868) during the first three months of 1963. On being married, the couple settled in Quenington to the east of Cirencester and south of Aldsworth, where their only known child was born and where Donald’s parents were buried. At the end of the twentieth century Donald and Freda were still living at Quenington.
	9Q13	Charles Francis Collett				Born in 1966 at Quenington
9P33	Ethel Rosa Collett was born at Bibury in 1909, her birth recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 373) during the third quarter of that year. She was one year old at the time of the census in 1911 when Ethel and her mother were staying with Ethel’s paternal grandparents at Aldsworth, while her father was recorded at the family’s home in Bibury. She later married George E Turner, with the marriage recorded at the Honiton register office in Devon (Ref. 5b 59) during the third quarter of 1931. It was sixty years later that Ethel R Turner died in 1991.
9P34	SYDNEY GEORGE COLLETT was born at Bibury on 23^rd September 1911, his birth recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 645) during the last three months of the year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Eden. He was a paper merchant and he married Jeanie Thomson in 1941 at Trowbridge in Wiltshire, where the event was recorded (Ref. 5a 493) during the third quarter of the year. He died in Birmingham where he was buried in 2001. The death of Sydney George Collett was recorded there (Vol. 0611f f12b) during the summer of that year.
	9Q14	Ian M Collett				Born in 1943 at Ilford, Essex
	9Q15	STEPHEN A COLLETT				Born in 1954 at Birmingham
9P35	Donald R Collett was born in 1914 and was the twin brother of Jessie (below). Their births were recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 693) during the second quarter of the year. He married Jean Richardson in 1944 at Derby, where their wedding was recorded (Ref. 7b 1531) during the third quarter of that year. Their marriage produced just one child, their son, who was born in the Bristol area. Following Jean’s death, Donald lived alone for many years and in 2005 he entered a residential home aged 92. Sadly, Donald passed away in August 2008 at the age of 94 and was buried at Belton in Lincolnshire.
	9Q16	Richard E Collett				Born in 1948 at Bristol
9P36	Jessie Mary Collett was born on 24^th March 1914 and was a twin with her brother Donald (above) and her birth, like that of her brother, was recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 693) during the second quarter of the yea. She later married Theodore Tapp and it was as Jessie Mary Tapp that her death was recorded at Bournemouth (Ref. 4271a a18d) during the spring of 2001. Stanley Theodore J Tapp, who was also born in 1914, had died ten years earlier, with his death recorded at Eastbourne in Sussex (Ref. 18 366) during the summer of 1991.
9P37	Viola Emily Collett was born at Burton-on-Trent on 24^th November 1907, the eldest of the two known children of Alfred William Collett and Emily Ford. Her birth was recorded at Burton (Ref. 6b 406) during the first quarter of 1907, following which she was listed as the only child living with her parents on the day of the Burton census of 1911, when Viola Emily Collett was four years of age. Her father died in 1921 and nine years later the marriage of Viola E Collett and Leonard J Ambrose was recorded at Burton-on-Trent (Ref. 6b 918) during the third quarter of 1930. On their wedding Viola was already well into the pregnancy for the couple’s first child, the birth of Jean M Ambrose recorded at Burton (Ref. 6b 545) during the last three months of 1930, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett. The death of Leonard J Ambrose, at the age of 66, was registered at Burton (Ref. 9b 32) during the second quarter of 1968. The death of his widow was recorded at the East Staffordshire register office (Ref. 30 576) during the summer of 1991, when she was 83.
9P38	Alfred Edwin Collett was born at Burton-on-Trent in 1916, where his birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 692) during the second quarter of the year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Ford. He was still only four years old when his father died, so was basically brought up by his widowed mother Emily. With the outbreak of war in 1939 Alfred Edwin Collett, the son of the late Alfred William Collett and his wife Emily, enlisted with the 5^th Battalion Suffolk Regiment as Private Collett 4805315. By that time, it would appear from his army records, that he was not married since, on the event of his death on 27^th September 1943, his next-of-kin was stated to be Emily Collett of Burton-on-Trent. The army record also stated that he was 27 when he died and that he was buried in the Kranji War Cemetery where his name is one of the 24,000 listed on the Singapore War Memorial.
9P39	Charles William Collett was born at Aldsworth on 14^th February 1915, the eldest of the three children of Robert Collett and Florence Ethel Midwinter. The birth of Charles W Collett was recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 706) during the first three months of 1915, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Midwinter. He married late in his life and, as a consequence, there were no children. Charles lived in Cirencester and it was there that he married Violet A Pendry during the second quarter of 1954 (Ref. 7b 703). The death of Charles William Collett was recorded at Cirencester (Ref. 4801 30d) towards the end of 1994.
9P40	Rosalind Enid Collett, who was known as Rose, was born at Aldsworth on 28^th October 1920, with her birth recorded at the Northleach register office (Ref. 6a 722) during the fourth quarter of the year, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Midwinter. It was during the Second World War when Rosalind E Collett married Reginald Crewe on 31^st October 1942, the event recorded at Cirencester register office (Ref. 6a 1199). The couple lived at Elm Tree Cottage, now known as The Mullions in Aldsworth. Rose took over running the Post Office and village shop in 1961 which she was still doing at the turn of the century but from a newer house in the heart of Aldsworth opposite Smith’s Corner. The couple only had one son, Nigel S Crewe, whose birth was recorded at Cheltenham (Ref. 6a 579) during the last quarter of 1945, when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett.
	Son Nigel later married Shirley J Lock during the summer of 1988, with whom he had one son Edward Crewe who was born in 1993. By 2002, at the age of 80, Rose was the only surviving member of the Collett family still living in Aldsworth, and in November 2008 she eventually retired, when the Post Office was closed. The notice of her passing was reported in the local newspaper which confirmed that Rosalind Enid Crewe (Rose), the former Post Mistress at Aldsworth died on 6^th December 2012, at the age of 92. Sadly, missed by Nigel, Shirley and Edward.
9P41	Frederick Robert Collett, who was known as Fred, was born at Aldsworth on 6^th January 1924. As with his two older siblings, his birth was also recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 637), where his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Midwinter. He continued to live at Aldsworth until around the age of nineteen, when he joined the army during the Second World War. The marriage of Frederick R Collett and Doreen Nancy (Nan) Hodson was recorded at Northampton register office (Ref. 3b 1437) during the first quarter of 1948. The marriage did not produce any children and in November 2008 Fred and Nan were still living in Northampton.
9Q1	Gwendoline Collett was born at Malmesbury in 1922, where her birth was recorded (Ref. 5a 97) during the second quarter of the year, her mother Hilda K Porter having been born there. Unfortunately, her entry in the 1939 Register was redacted, so her date of birth was not revealed. That was because she was living when the document was made available to view by the general public. Her father was Frederick William H Collett of Swindon, with the complete family living there at 10 Tydeman Street in 1939. Gwendoline would have been seventeen years old in 1939, while it was fourteen years later, at the age of 31, that the marriage of Gwendoline M Collett and Edgar T Jones was recorded at Swindon register office (Ref. 7c 1524) during the third quarter of 1953.
9Q2	Douglas Collett was born at Swindon on 28^th May 1930, the second child and only son of Frederick William H Collett and Hilda K Porter. His birth was recorded at Swindon register office (Ref. 5a 28) during the third quarter of 1930 when, his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Porter. It is possible that he was born at 10 Tydeman Street in Swindon, where the family of four was living in 1939. The pre-war Register that year confirmed Douglas’ date of birth as above, while the entry for his older sister was redacted. His date of birth was re-affirmed at the time of his death, which was recorded at Swindon register office in the spring of 1999 (Ref. 7961b b54b).
9Q3	Michael Collett was born at Swindon in 1928, the eldest of the three children of William Albert Collett and Gladys Davis. His birth was recorded at Swindon register office (Ref. 5a 61) during the third quarter of that year, but tragically his death was also recorded there (Ref. 3a 39) during the third quarter of 1931, when he was only 3 years old.
9Q4	Marion Claire Collett was born at Swindon in 1939, the second child of three children of William Albert Collett of Swindon and his wife Gladys Davis. The child’s birth, record as Marion C Collett was registered at Swindon (Ref. 5a 14) during the first three months of 1939, when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Davis. Marion C Collett was just 20 when she married Maurice E Grant, the event recorded at Swindon (Ref. 7c 1489) during the first three months of 1959.
9Q5	Alan David Collett was born at Swindon in 1940, his birth recorded there (Ref. 5a 56) during the third quarter of the year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Davis. Just like his sister (above), this child of the family was also known by their second forename. As Alan D Collett he married Madeline M J Eckett, their wedding recorded at Swindon (Ref. 7c 2445) during the third quarter of 1967. So far, no children from the marriage have been discovered.
9Q6	Kenneth C Collett was born at Swindon in 1935, where his birth was registered (Ref. 5a 40) during the third quarter of that year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Perry. He later married Patricia Dewen, who was known as Pat, with whom he had a son.
	9R1	Andrew J Collett				Born in 1961 at Solihull
9Q7	Patricia Mary Collett, who is referred to as Pat, was born on 16^th April 1942, her birth recorded at Pontypool (Ref. 1a 210), when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Bridle. When Pat was 22, she married Anthony David Brearley on 6^th June 1964, the event recorded in Swindon (Ref. 7c 1188). The following year the couple emigrated to Canada during March 1965. They initially settled in Montreal, and later moved on to Vancouver where their daughter Sara Brearley was born in 1969. Sara suffered with cystic fibrosis and eventually had a double lung transplant. However, she was only twenty-five years old when she passed away in 1994. Sara was exceptionally gifted and excelled at mathematics and the arts. Despite her obvious health problems in 1987 Sara attended the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver on a very prestigious scholarship. In 1971 Pat and Tony Brearley adopted a son Paul. It was on a visit to England in 1973 that Pat’s Aunt Min commented that he was lucky to be adopted, upon which Pat replied that she and Tony were lucky to have him as their son.
	Paul Brearley later married Corina Bouman on 27^th March 1999 and together they have two children, the first being a ‘honeymoon baby’. Kianna Brearley was born on 8^th February 2000, and Joshua Brearley was born two years later on 18^th June 2002. It is thanks to Pat Brearley, supported by her brother Dennis Collett (below), that the fascinating story of her branch of the Collett has been added to this family line. It is also a massive coincidence that when Pat Collett was still at primary school in Swindon around 1951/52, she was friends with Glynis Ann Jinks of York Road in Swindon who later married David Norris Collett (Ref. 1R10) whose family details are provided in Part 1 –The Gloucestershire Main Line.
9Q8	Dennis James Collett was born on 20^th February 1945, his birth recorded at Pontypool (Ref. 11a 201), when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Bridle. The marriage of Dennis J Collett and Jennifer Smeed was recorded in Swindon (Ref. 7c 1755) during the first three months of 1970. Their marriage produced a son for the couple.
	9R2	a Collett son				Date of birth not revealed
9Q11	John William Collett was born in 1948, his birth recorded at Cirencester register office (Ref. 7b 604) during the first three months of the year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Pinchin. John was 29 years of age when he married Elaine Wigley, the event recorded at North Cotswold register office (Ref. 7b 1740) during the summer of 1973.
9Q12	Susan Margaret Collett was born in 1950, her birth recorded at Cirencester register office (Ref. 7b 761) during the second quarter of the year, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Pinchin. The marriage of Susan M Collett and Alec J Close was recorded at North Cotswold register office (Ref. 7b 1399) during the spring of 1971. Just over five years later their son Paul Andrew Close was born towards the end of 1976, his birth recorded at North Cotswold (Vol. 22 1936), when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett.
9Q13	Charles Francis Collett was born at Quenington in 1966 with his birth recorded at Cirencester register office (Ref. 7b 654) during the second quarter of the year. His mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Davey, being the only child of Donald E Collett and Freda G Davey.
9Q14	Ian M Collett was born at Ilford in Essex in 1943, where his birth was registered (Ref. 4a 642) during the second quarter of the year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Thomson. He was an engineer and he married Florence Mary Fear during the last quarter of 1964, the event recorded at Leicester (Ref. 3a 1569). Their marriage produced four daughters for the couple, while Florence was more commonly known within the family as Mary. The births of the first three girls were recorded at Birmingham register office, (Refs: 9c 1147 in Q1 1966; 9c 345 in Q2 1967; and 9c 605 in Q3 1970), with the fourth’s birth registered at Solihull (Vol. 34 0463 in Q2 1975). In each case, the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Fear.
	9R3	Karen Ruth Collett				Born in 1966 at Birmingham
	9R4	Maryann Rachel Collett				Born in 1967 at Birmingham
	9R5	Alison Katherine Collett				Born in 1970 at Birmingham
	9R6	Deborah Elizabeth A Collett				Born in 1975 at Solihull
9Q15	STEPHEN A COLLETT was born in Birmingham in 1954, and it was there that his birth was registered (Ref. 9c 627) during the second quarter of that year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Thomson. Like his brother Ian (above), Stephen was also an engineer and he married Margaret Trim at Croydon in 1982 before moving to Solihull in the West Midlands, where their three sons were born. The births of those three children were recorded at Solihull register office and in each case, the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Trim.
	9R7	James Matthew Collett				Born in 1986 at Solihull
	9R8	Adam George Collett				Born in 1988 at Solihull
	9R9	David John Collett				Born in 1993 at Solihull
9Q16	Richard E Collett was born in 1948, his birth recorded at Bristol (Ref. 7b 263) during the first three months of the year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Richardson. It is known that he married Maureen E Graham, with their wedding day recorded at the Cumberland Whitehaven register office (Ref. 1a 535) during the third quarter of 1972. That marriage produced a son and a daughter for the couple.
9R1	Andrew J Collett, whose birth was recorded at Solihull register office (Ref. 9c 1953) during the second quarter of 1961, is the son of Kenneth Collett and his wife Pat Dewen. It was also at Solihull that the marriage of Andrew J Collett and Nicola J Pyatt during the spring of 1998. The couple have a son about whom no details are available at this time.
	9S1	a Collett son				Date of birth unknown
9R7	James Matthew Collett was born at Solihull in 1986, the first of the three sons of Stephen A Collett and Margaret Trim. It was also at Solihull register office that his birth was recorded (Vol. 34 705) early in that year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Trim. He was twenty-three years of age when he married Sarah Read in 2009 at Shirley within the Borough of Solihull.
	9S2	Reuben Jack Collett				Born in 2012
	9S3	Levi Sebastian Collett				Born in 2014
9R8	Adam George Collett was born at Solihull in 1988, where his birth was recorded (Vol. 34 609) at the start of that year, another son of Stephen and Margaret Collett. Adam later married Kate Marshall at Southampton in 2012.
	9S4	Seth Timothy Collett				Born in 2021
9R9	David John Collett was the youngest of the three sons of Stephen A Collett and Margaret Trim, whose birth was recorded at Solihull register office (Vol. 0731b b93f) towards the end of 1993, where his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Trim. It was later than David John Collett married Lucy Hopkins at Shirley, Solihull in 2019.
	APPENDIX
	This appendix contains details for other Colletts who had associations with Aldsworth and Sherborne but who, so far, have not be identified as part of this family line
	William Collett was baptised at Lechlade on 27^th October 1758 and was the son of Leonard and Mary Collett. William was listed in the 1841 Census at the age of 83.
	Elizabeth Collett married Ralph Guyse at Sherborne on 14^th October 1630 (IGI)
	Thomas Collett married Mary Garn at Sherborne on 26^th December 1787 (IGI) – see burial record for Mary below
	Mary wife of Thomas Collett was buried at Sherborne on 21^st January 1798 (Parish Records)
	Emma Collett was buried at Aldsworth in 1813 aged 51 (Parish Records)
	Elizabeth Collett aged 74, a widow born at Aldsworth and resident of Naunton, was living with nieces Elizabeth Rowland aged 38 and Elizabeth Pudwinker aged eight years (1861 Census)
	John Collett aged 57 born at Sherborne living on own means at Scarborough (1901 Census). He was married to Mary who was born at Scarborough in 1845.