PART ONE

The Gloucestershire Main Line - 1830 to 1880

This is the third of four sections of the first part of the Collett family line

Updated January 2012

The January 2012 update of this file is thanks to new information received from

Brian Gregory Collett (Ref. 1R45), Andrew Collett (Ref. 3Q14),

and Marilee Rylett Magder (Ref. 1P69) of Whitby in Ontario

The September 2011 update was the result of new information

received from Brian Gregory Collett (Ref. 1R45) from Cairns in Australia.

The information for an earlier update was kindly provided by

Rod Murray of Hallett Cove in South Australia (Ref. 1O31)

It is also thanks to Martin Davies of Stourton in the West Midlands

that the lines of the three brothers Richard, John and Isaac (Ref. 1N4, N6 & N7)

have been taken forward to form Part 37 – The Oxford City Line

1O69	Susanna Collett was born at Siddington on 1^st April 1837 and was baptised there on 7^th May 1837, the first child born to John Collett and his wife Mary Ann Dent. It is assumed that she died before 1851 since there is no mention of her in the census for that year.
1O70	Sarah Ann Collett was born at Siddington on 6^th October 1839 and it was there that she was baptised on 23^rd October 1839. She was 11 in the Siddington census of 1851 and, although it would appear that she never married, she gave birth to a base-born son at Siddington, the father’s name likely to be Haines from the name given to the child.
	1P30	Edward Haines Collett			Born on 27.10.1861 at Siddington
1O71	Alice Collett was born on 23^rd July 1842 at Siddington and was eight years old in 1851 when she was living at Siddington with her family. It is understood that she was later married at Cirencester during March 1862.
1O72	Charles Iles Collett was born on 2^nd August 1846 at Siddington and was four years old by the time of the Siddington census in 1851. His second christian name was the same as the surname of the father of William Collett (Ref. 2N1) who was the base-born son of Elizabeth Collett (Ref. 2M3) of Bibury, who was born in 1806 and who was baptised on 11^th March 1809 in Bibury.
	No record of any member of his family has been found in 1861, but by the time of the census in 1871 Charles Collett from Siddington was living and working in Wales, where he was already married with two children. The young family was residing at 5 Minus Road in the village of Taibach within the parish of Margam near Port Talbot. Charles, age 25, was employed as a labourer in a copper works, his wife Catherine from Taibach was 33, and their two children, also born there, were Robert Collett, who was three, and Mary J Collett, who was only eleven months old.
	During the next ten years three more children were added to the family while they were still living in Taibach. Sometime around 1879-1880 the family left the village of Taibach to settle in neighbouring Margam, as confirmed by the following census in 1881. By that time they were living at 1 Woodfield in Margam where Charles Collett, age 34, was a general labourer who was curiously recorded as having been born at ‘Sylingbury in Gloucester’, although there is no record of such a place. Residing there with Charles was his wife Catherine, age 43, and their five children who were Robert Collett, age 13, Mary J Collett, age 11, Hannah Collett, who was eight, William J Collett, who was five, and Charles Collett who was two years old.
	However, no further record of this family has been found after that time, which may be because they emigrated to one of the colonies.
	1P31	Robert Collett			Born in 1867 at Taibach, Wales
	1P32	Mary Jane Collett			Born in 1869 at Taibach, Wales
	1P33	Hannah Collett			Born in 1872 at Taibach, Wales
	1P34	William John Collett			Born in 1875 at Taibach, Wales
	1P35	Charles Collett			Born in 1878 at Taibach, Wales
1O73	ROBERT COLLETT was born at Siddington in 1854 where he was baptised on 15^th July 1855, the son of John Collett and Mary Ann Dent. The baptism entry in the parish register recorded the occasion as 'Privately Baptised', which very likely indicates that the baptism was carried out at his home, since Robert may not have been well enough to attend St Peter’s Church in the village. He was married twice, the first time to (1) Rosanna King of Eastcombe near Bisley, whom he married at Bisley Church on 7^th September 1878. Page 8, Entry No. 16 of the parish register at Bisley recorded the marriage as follows: Robert Collett 24, bachelor and labourer of Eastcombe and Rose Hannah 27,
	spinster of Eastcombe. Robert’s father was listed as John Collett, labourer and Rose Hannah’s father was listed as Levi King, waterman (the Severn & Thames Canal passes close by Eastcombe). The witnesses were Robert’s brother William Edward Collett and Louisa King, the sister of Rosanna and nine years her junior.
	All of the children came from that first marriage, the first two children being born at Eastcombe, with the remainder being born at Siddington. Robert’s occupation was that of a stonemason employed on the Earl of Bathurst's Estate at Cirencester where he worked for most of his life, building and repairing dry stone walls. He and his family lived in Siddington up until the death of his wife Rosanna. She was baptised Rose Anna on 29^th August 1862, when she was twelve years of age.
	The census in 1881 recorded the family as living in Church Road at Ashton Keynes, just across the boundary in Wiltshire. The family at that time comprised Robert, age 25, who was an agricultural labourer, his wife Rosanna, who was 28, and their two daughters Lily H Collett, who was two, and baby Alice Louisa Collett, who was just ten months old. The place of birth for both children was confirmed as Eastcombe, which is near Bisley. The only other person living with them at that time was lodger William Eggleton who was 23 years old and a shepherd from North Leach.
	Within the next two years the family left Ashton Keynes and moved the four miles north, to settle in the village of Siddington. By 1891 a further five children had been added to the family, which then comprised Robert, who was 36, Rose Anna, who was 38, Lillie Harriett Collett, age 12, Alice Louisa Collett, age 10, John Levi Collett, who was nine, William Robert Collett, who was seven, Bertie Henry Collett, who was five, Ernest Collett, who was three, Walter Collett who was one year old.
	Ten years later, some of the children had left the family home in Siddington when, according to the census in March 1901, Robert Collett was 47 and was working as a navvy for the Great Western Railway. His wife was recorded as Rosannah Collett, age 46, and just five of their children were still living with them on that occasion. They were William, age 17, Ernest, age 13, Walter, age 11, Robert, who was nine, and Mabel R Collett who was six years old. Tragically Robert’s wife died almost exactly one year later. Rose Anna Collett died of cancer of the liver while still living at Siddington on 28^th March 1902.
	It was around one or two years later that Robert then married (2) Annie at Stratton near Cirencester. Following the wedding Robert moved to Albion Street in Stratton, where he lived with Annie up to 1910. According to the census in April 1911 Robert Collett, age 56 and from Siddington, and his wife Annie, age 53, were living at 49 Baunton in Cirencester, less than one mile north of the centre of Stratton, the dwelling described as having two bedrooms and a kitchen. The census return, which was signed by Robert, indicated that he and Annie had been married for seven year, and that she had been born at Sopworth in Wiltshire, while Robert’s occupation was that of a mason.
	Still living with the couple was Robert’s son Robert Collett, age 19 from Siddington, who was employed as a general farm labourer. One other person was living at the address, and that was Percy Collett who was 15 months old and born at Stratton, who was described as grandson to head of the household Robert Collett senior. Whilst Robert Collett junior was not recorded as being married or unmarried, is it known that his full name was actually Robert Percy Collett. Therefore there is a strong possibility that baby Percy Collett was his base-born son, and the absence of the child’s mother may indicate that she had died during the birth. If this was proved to be true, then Robert Percy would have been only 17 when the child was conceived. However, he was the only sibling still living in Stratton at the time of the birth, whereas all of his brothers had long since left Cirencester and were all married some years after 1911. It is also known that there was a rift between Robert Percy Collett and his father, so this might have been the reason for their disagreement which resulted in Robert Percy eventually leaving his father when he moved to the Forest of Dean with his brother Walter.
	The only other member of Robert’s still living in the Cirencester area was his youngest daughter Mabel Rose Collett who was 16 and was confirmed as having been born at Siddington. At the time of the death of his son William, in 1914, Robert was living at 3 Quarry Villas in Stratton, and three years later, in 1917, he moved again, that time to No. 2 Quarry Villas.
	Twenty years on, in 1937, when Robert was 82, his wife Annie had already passed away and he was living alone. However, despite his advanced years he was still managing to continue with his work building and repairing dry stone walls. In the summer of 1945 at 90 years of age he was known to have travelled from Stratton to Cinderford, on the edge of the Forest of Dean, to attend the funeral of his ‘long lost’ son Walter Collett who died there on the seventh of July.
	By that time in his life Robert Collett was in a poor state of health and his daughter Alice Louisa Collett, who had accompanied her father to the funeral, persuaded him to return home with her to 7 Bathampton Street in Swindon. And it was there that he spent the last four months of his life, eventually dying of pneumonia on 18^th November 1945.
	Details of Rosanna King’s family are provided in Part 10 - Other Branch Lines commencing with the reference 10O2/King.
	1P36	Lily Harriett Collett				Born in 1879 at Eastcombe
	1P37	ALICE LOUISA COLLETT				Born in 1881 at Eastcombe
	1P38	John Levi Collett				Born in 1883 at Siddington
	1P39	William Robert Collett				Born in 1883 at Siddington
	1P40	Bertram Henry Collett				Born in 1885 at Siddington
	1P41	Ernest Collett				Born in 1887 at Siddington
	1P42	Walter Collett				Born in 1889 at Siddington
	1P43	Robert Percy Collett				Born in 1892 at Siddington
	1P44	Mabel Rose Collett				Born in 1894 at Siddington
1O76	Henry John Collett was born at Siddington in 1865, the youngest child of John Collett and Mary Ann Dent. He later married Martha Annie Maisey at Black Bourton near Faringdon in Oxfordshire in the second quarter of 1886, which was registered at Witney. Martha was born at Black Bourton in the first quarter of 1862 and the birth was again registered at Witney, where she was recorded as the daughter of James Maisey and Annie Yeatman of Alvescot.
	It is also possible that Henry and Martha were perhaps married at Alvescot, where their first two children were born before they moved to Black Bourton, where their next child was born. By April 1891 the family was living within the Bampton & Witney registration district and comprised Henry John Collett, age 25, Martha Ann Collett, who was 29 and most likely pregnant with her next child, and their two daughters Alice Mary Collett, who was four, and Elsie Collett who was one year old.
	The couple’s third child was born while the family was still living at Black Bourton later that same year, but shortly after Henry returned to live in Cirencester with his family, where the couple’s last three daughters were born. Following a period of about five years at Cirencester the family moved again, that time to the Bristol area. The move took place in either late 1900 or within the first couple of months of 1901, since the census for that year placed the family as living at Almondsbury, just north of Bristol, where Henry was a carter on a farm.
	Henry Collett was 35 and from Siddington, his wife Martha Annie was 38 and from Alvescot, as were daughters Alice 13 and Elsie 11, Edith, age nine, was from Black Bourton, while the youngest three girls were confirmed as having been born at Cirencester. They were Ethel, who was six, Winifred, who was three, and Elizabeth who was just one year old. It is possible that both Henry’s wife and his youngest daughter died shortly after the census day that year.
	According to the next census conducted for the Bristol area in April 1911, Henry J Collett of Cirencester (sic) was 45 and a widower. The only members of his family still living with him at that time were his two daughters Ethel Collett, age 16, and Winifred Collett, who was 14, both of them born at Cirencester.
	1P46	Alice Mary Collett			Born in 1887 at Alvescot, Oxon
	1P47	Elsie Collett			Born in 1889 at Alvescot, Oxon
	1P48	Edith Annie Collett			Born in 1891 at Black Bourton, Oxon
	1P49	Ethel Lillian Collett			Born in 1894 at Cirencester
	1P50	Winifred Maisey Collett			Born in 1897 at Cirencester
	1P51	Elizabeth Collett			Born in 1899 at Cirencester
1O77	Martha Collett was born at Stonehouse and was baptised there on 24^th May 1844, the daughter of Martin Collett and Elizabeth Taylor. However, she suffered an infant death shortly after.
1O78	John Martin Collett was born at Stonehouse in 1845 and was five years old at the time of the census in 1851, when he and his parents were living at Wheatenhurst to the south of Gloucester. Ten years later, when John M Collett was 15, he and his parents were living in the St John the Baptist district of Gloucester. By 1871 bachelor John M Collett, age 25, was living within the census registration district of Gloucester, Hamlet South, but four years later, in 1875, he married Sarah Ann. Just four years after that, according to the Gloucester Almanac of 1879, John Martin Collett was living at Regent Street.
	However, by the time of the next census in 1881, John and his young family were living at 2 Hawkesbury Villa, Weston Road in Longford St Mary in Gloucester. The census return recorded that J M Collett was 35 and had been born at Stonehouse. His occupation was that of a chemical manufacturer. His wife was confirmed as Sarah A Collett, age 32, who had been born at Neath in Glamorganshire. Their children at that time were John Collett, who was four years old, Agnes Collett, who was two, and Gilbert Collett who was one year old, all three of them having been born in Gloucester.
	The company of J.M. Collett & Co Ltd, Chemical Manufacturers of Gloucester, was founded by John in 1869. The company’s premises at Priory Factory, appears to have been established in St. Luke's Street, just off Southgate Street, as indicated in the 1883 Gloucester Almanac. Some years later, a subsidiary company, Malt Products Ltd was established to produce phot-chemicals for use in warfare. In 1898 Llanthony Abbey Farm, the former Augustinian Priory of Llanthony Secunda at Longtown, was sold to J. M. Collett, chemical manufacturer, who intended to build a factory there. However, the farm was appropriated by the Great Western Railway in 1906.
	From around 1903-1904 the company was base at 50 Bristol Road, on the left towards Bristol, before the canal bridge, and three-hundred yards beyond Tuffley Avenue. In 1922 the company of J M Collett was listed as an exhibitor at a national show [Stand A53] where on display was such produces as Sulphite and Bisulphite of Soda, Meta Bisulphites, Sulphurous Acid, Bisulphite of Lime, and Glaubers Salt. It was between 1948 and 1952 that the company was sold to Associated British Maltsters Ltd, with the site then being occupied by Contract Chemicals Ltd until 1998 to 2001, when it was sold for redevelopment.
	By 1891, the census that year revealed that two further sons had been added to the family within the three years after previous census in 1881. Head of the household John was listed as John M Collett, age 45, when he was living at South Hamlet in Gloucester with his wife Sarah who was 43, their daughter Agnes who was 13, and their two new sons Leopold G Collett, who was eight, and Seymour Collett who was seven. The couple’s eldest two sons, John Henry Collett, age 14, and Gilbert Faraday Collett, age 11, were attending school at Axminster in Somerset at that time.
	Just after the turn of the century, according to the next census in 1901, John M Collett was living in Gloucester at the age of 55, where he was continuing to work as a chemical manufacturer, while still living with him was his wife Sarah who was 53. Also still living at the family home in Gloucester with them was their daughter Agnes who was 23, and two of their four sons, John who was 24 and Leopold who was 18, who were working with their father as chemical manufacturers. Their address was Hillfield, 101 Great Western Road, off the London Road, the house being a Victorian-Italianate style property, standing in its own grounds, next to the Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene. In 2011 the same building, Hillfield House on the renamed Denmark Street, is the Trading Standards Office for Gloucestershire County Council.
	The couple’s second son Gilbert F Collett, age 21, was living and working away from home at Cowley, to the south of Cheltenham. Upon completing his initial education Gilbert entered Pembroke College at Cambridge University, when his father was described as John Martin Collett of Guy’s Cliff in Wolton, Gloucester, and later of Wynstone Place, Brookthorpe-with-Whaddon near Gloucester.
	According to the Gloucester census of April 1911, John Martin Collett of Stonehouse was 65, and his wife Sarah Anne Collett from Neath in Glamorgan was 63. At that time the couple was living at Kimsbury House in the parish of Upton St Leonards in Gloucester, from where John was confirmed as a chemical manufacturer. The census return also confirmed that the couple had been married for 35 years.
	Still living with John and Sarah were two of their five children. Their unmarried son, named as ‘Gilbert Farady Collett’ age 32, was a chemical manufacturer like his father, while their daughter Agnes Sophia Collett was recorded in error as being only 30 years of age, when in fact she was nearer 33. Both of the children were confirmed as having been born at Gloucester.
	The family of four living at Kimsbury House was supported by three domestic servants. They were widow Rose Annie James 43 who was from Worcester and who was the cook, Miss Alice Maud Williams from Newent in Gloucestershire who was the housemaid aged 30, and Miss Jamie Hale who was 20 and from Taynton near Newent who was the under housemaid.
	1P52	John Henry Collett			Born in 1876 at Gloucester
	1P53	Agnes Sophia Collett			Born in 1877 at Gloucester
	1P54	Gilbert Faraday Collett			Born in 1879 at Gloucester
	1P55	Leopold George Collett			Born in 1882 at Gloucester
	1P56	Seymour Collett			Born in 1883 at Gloucester
1O80	Sarah Ann Collett was born at Leonard Stanley where she was baptised on 26^th December 1835. In the 1841 Census she was five years old and living with her family at Leckhampton near Cheltenham. However, ten years later, there was no record of her living with her family, nor has any record been found of her thereafter.
1O81	Mary Collett was born at Leonard Stanley in later 1836 or early 1837 and was baptised there on 14^th May 1837. At the age of four years she was living with her family at Leckhampton but by the time she was fourteen she and her family were living at Colnbrook in Buckinghamshire.
1O82	John William Collett was born at Leonard Stanley on 4^th January 1839 and it was there that he died three days later on 7^th January 1839, the son of George Collett and his first wife Jane Packer.
1O83	Harriet Collett was born in the early part of 1840 and was baptised on 1^st September 1840 at Leckhampton just south of Cheltenham. She was recorded as being aged one year old in 1841. By 1851 she was aged 10 and she and her family had moved to Colnbrook. It was also at Colnbrook over six years later that she married Isaac Rendrey on 23^rd December 1857.
	In 1866 Harriet gave birth to a daughter Rhoda who was born to the couple while they were still living at Colnbrook. However, some major tragedy befell the family in the years after that resulted in the deaths of both Harriet and Isaac.
	By the time of the 1881 Census their daughter was an orphan aged 14 living at St John’s Orphanage in the Clewer district of Windsor where she was being educated by the Sisters of Mercy.
1O84	Charles George Collett was born in 1845 at Wick in Wiltshire, where he was baptised on 25^th May 1845, the son of George Collett and his first wife Jane Packer. He was six years old in the census of 1851, by which time he and his family were living at Colnbrook in Buckinghamshire, where he was also living in 1861 at the age of 16. He later moved to Ham in Surrey where he married Ann who was born at Chertsey in 1837.
	By the time of the next census in 1871 Charles was listed in error as Charles G Collet, age 26 and from Wiltshire, who was residing within the Kingston-on-Thames registration district, which included Ham, one mile north of Kingston. Living there with him was his wife Ann Collet, age 32, and their two children Walter C Collet, who was two, and Edward Collet who was one year old, both of them born at Ham. However, tragically the couple’s son Edward did not survive beyond childhood since he was missing from the family by 1881, when no record of him has been found anywhere within Great Britain.
	Over the next couple of years the family was still living in Ham, when Ann presented Charles with the first two of their three daughters. Sometime after the birth of the second daughter, Charles took his family to nearby Kingston, where the couple’s last child was born. And it was at Acre Road in Kingston-on-Thames, that the family was recorded in the census of 1881. In the census return for that year Charles George Collett, age 36 from Wiltshire, was a carpenter like his father and two of his brothers. His wife Annie Collett from Chertsey was 43 and their four children were Walter Charles Collett, age 12, Alice Collett who was nine, Lucey Collett who was eight, and Louisa Collett who was five years old.
	Living with the family at that time was Julie Vincent, age 17 and from Ham, who was described as Charles’ niece, and Frederick Trotter, age 12 and also born in Surrey, who was described as his nephew. It is interesting that Charles’ father George Collett, who was widowed during the 1870s, was re-married around 1876, when he married the widow Mrs Emma McCann, whose maiden name was Vincent. This in itself raises the question, was the wife of Charles George Collett actually Ann Vincent.
	The family of six was once again recorded together within the Kingston registration district in 1891, when Charles G Collett was 46, Ann Collett was 52, and their four children were Walter Chas Collett, age 22, Alice Collett, age 19, Lucie Collett, age 18, and Louisa J Collett who was 14.
	No record of Charles or his wife Ann has so far been found in the census of 1901, although their two youngest children were staying as boarders at a house in Kingston. However, by 1911 Charles George Collett had died, if he had not died before 1901, since his widow Ann Collett, age 74 and from Chertsey, was still living in the Kingston area with just her youngest daughter for company. Unmarried Louisa Collett from Kingston was 34.
	1P57	Walter Charles Collett			Born in 1868 at Ham, Surrey
	1P58	Edward Collett			Born in 1870 at Ham, Surrey
	1P59	Alice Collett			Born in 1872 at Ham, Surrey
	1P60	Lucy Collett			Born in 1873 at Ham, Surrey
	1P61	Louisa J Collett			Born in 1876 at Kingston-on-Thames
1O85	Oliver Collett was born at Colnbrook in 1850 where he was baptised on 29^th August 1852. In the 1851 Census he was listed as one year old. However, there is no record of him living with his family ten years later, so it may be that he was baptised shortly before he died.
1O86	Walter William Collett was born at Colnbrook in later 1852 or early 1853 and was baptised there on 28^th August 1853. The parish record indicated that he was baptised as William Walter, which contradicted the name he used during all of the later census records. In 1861 he was eight years old, when he was living with his family at Colnbrook, and was 18 in 1871 by which time he was still living with his family in Colnbrook.
	By 1881 Walter, age 28, was working as a carpenter like his father before him. He was still a bachelor when he was a lodger at the home of railway porter Ephraim Skinner at Church Lane in Edgware. Walter gave his place of birth as Windsor.
	It would initially appear that Walter was never married, since in 1891 he was still single and living at West Hackney, where he was listed as Walter William Collett, age 38 and born at Colnbrook. However, the census in March 1901 revealed that he was a married man at the age of 48, when he was working as a carpenter while living in Tottenham area of London.
	On that occasion his name was recorded as Walter W Collett and his place of birth was confirmed as Colnbrook in Buckinghamshire. Listed with him was his wife, Mary Ann Collett, age 40 and from Pimlico in London. Ten years later the couple had left London and were settled in the Maidstone area of Kent, where Walter Collett was 58, and Mary Ann Collett was 50.
1O87	George Collett was born at Colnbrook in 1855, where he was baptised on 28^th June 1857, the son of George Collett and his first wife Jane Packer. He appeared in the 1861 Census as being six years of age when he was still living with his family at Colnbrook. Ten years later when George Collett was 16 he was still living with his family at Colnbrook within the Stanwell registration district.
	His mother died during the 1870s, following which his father married Mrs Emma McCann nee Vincent, while George married Lucy around the same time. Once married the couple moved to Bromley in Kent, where they appear to have lived for the rest of their lives together. According to the 1881 Census George and Lucy Collett were living at 8 Park End in Bromley where George, age 26 and from Colnbrook, was working as a carpenter like his father and older brothers Charles and Walter (above). His wife Lucy was 27, and her place of birth was recorded as Poyle, a village near Colnbrook. Being only very recently married, the couple had not yet started a family by that time.
	It was during the next decade that Lucy presented George with two children, both of them born at Bromley, as listed in the Bromley census of 1891. By then George and Lucy were aged 36 and 37 respectively, while their two children were Helen A Collett, who was four years old, and Percy Collett who was two years of age.
	By the turn of the century the family living in Bromley was missing their daughter, who would have been around 14 years of age. The fact that she has not been identified anywhere within the census of 1901 may suggest that she did not survive. However, her absence from the family at that time had been offset against the birth of a second son for the couple. Head of the household was George Collett, age 46 and from Colnbrook, whose occupation was that of a carpenter, his wife Lucy Collett was 47 and also from Colnbrook, and their two sons were Percy Collett, who was 12, and Walter Collett who was eight years old, both of them born at Bromley. Also residing in Bromley at that time was George’s half-brothers Arthur Collett and Frank Collett (below), who were living with their widowed mother Emma.
	In April 1911 George Collett of Colnbrook was 56 and was living at Sevenoaks in Kent. With him at that time was his wife Lucy Collett, age 57, and their son Walter Collett who was 17. The couple’s older son was also living in Kent, but at Cranbrook, where he was described as Percy George Collett, age 22, unmarried, and from Bromley in Kent.
	1P62	Helen A Collett			Born in 1886 at Bromley, Kent
	1P63	Percy George Collett			Born in 1888 at Bromley
	1P64	Walter Collett			Born in 1892 at Bromley
1O88	Caroline Jane Collett was born at Langley in Buckinghamshire on 30^th April 1859, but was baptised at Colnbrook on 16^th August 1859, the daughter of George and Jane Collett. By the time of the 1861 Census for Colnbrook she was aged one year and ten years later, when she was 11 years old, she was again living with her family at Colnbrook, within the Stanwell registration district.
	By the time of the census in 1881 Caroline Collett, age 22 and from Colnbrook, was living and working at the home of solicitor William H Withall at Hatfield House, Portinscale Road, Wandsworth in Surrey, where she was employed as a kitchen maid. Three and a half years later she married William Pratt on 18^th October 1884 at Kingston upon Thames.
	This is the family line of Dorothy Hilda Ellis nee Pratt who was born 05.06.1930 at Dagenham.
1O89	Herbert Collett, formerly Herbert McCann, was born at Kingston-upon-Thames around 1867, the youngest child and only surviving son of mariner Herbert MacCann and his wife Emma Vincent. Although no record of his family has been located in the census on 1861, by 1871 and at the age of four years, he was living with just his mother Emma McCann of Chertsey and his two older sisters in Kingston-on-Thames. One of his sisters, Ann McCann, was born at Ham near Kingston in 1861, and it was at Ham that a member of the Collett family was also living in 1871, and it may have been though this link that Herbert’s widowed mother was introduced to George Collett who had just lost his wife
	From this chance meeting Emma McCann married George Collett around 1876, and by 1881 Emma’s son Herbert McCann was recorded in the census as Herbert Collett, age 14 and from Kingston. The census that year listed the family’s address as a large cottage called King John’s Palace in Colnbrook, where Herbert’s father was recorded as George Collett, age 66 and from Minchinhampton, and his mother was Emma Collett, age 46 and from nearby Chertsey. Also by that time Herbert had a half-brother, who was Arthur Collett who was three years old, who had been born at Colnbrook. His adopted father George Collett died during the 1880s and not long after Herbert married Elizabeth Lile Mills on 21^st September 1890, by which time Herbert had already fathered a son, and his bride was due to give birth to their second child over the coming months.
	The wedding took place at the Church of St James The Great on Bethnal Green Road, following the posting of banns, and the details extract from the parish register are as follows: Herbert Collett, 23 and a bachelor, married Elizabeth Lile Mills, 23 and a spinster. He was a baker of Bethnal Green and his father was named as Herbert Collett deceased, while his bride, also of Bethnal Green, was the daughter of compositor John Mills. The couple both signed the register, and the witnesses were Alfred James Mills and Ada Jessie Mills. It is curious that his father was named as Herbert Collett, rather than Herbert McCann, but it may have simply been that his gave his father’s name as Herbert and the registrar made the mistake of assuming it was Collett.
	The witness Alfred James Mills was Elizabeth’s younger brother, and in 1891 he was still living with his family in Clerkenwell, just two doors from the recently married young Collett couple. Elizabeth’s parents were printer John George Mills, age 52, and Sophia Mills, age 57, and living at No 23 Rounall (?) Buildings with them were their three unmarried children Florence 21, Alfred 18, and Ernest who was 11. Sophia, Florence and Alfred, like Elizabeth herself, were all recorded as having been born in Hertfordshire.
	The same census recorded Herbert Collett, age 24, as a pastry cook living at No 21 Rounall (?) Buildings with his wife Elizabeth Collett, age 23, and their son Herbert Wm Collett who was two years old. Both Herbert senior and Herbert junior were listed simply as having been born in London.
	The registration of the birth of Herbert’s two sons has been found at Holborn, where the birth of his daughter Louisa May was also registered some years later – see details below. First to be registered, prior to his wedding day, was the birth of his son Herbert William Collett during the last quarter of 1888, around two years before he married Elizabeth, while just over five years later the birth of his only other son Frank was recorded at Holborn during the first quarter of 1894.
	Between the two boys Herbert’s and Elizabeth’s daughter Ada was born on 12^th December 1891, and she was baptised six weeks later at St James’ Church in Clerkenwell on 24^th January 1892 as Ada Elizabeth Collett, the daughter of pastry cook Herbert William Collett and his wife Elizabeth. Unfortunately the address at which the family was living at that time is not clearly written, but looks something like 5 Wherlin Street.
	In 1894 there is a record of a son by the name of Herbert Collett attending Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, while his home address was noted as being 9A Rosamund High Street at Clerkenwell in the Holborn district of London.
	Sadly it was in 1899 that the couple’s penultimate child was born, following which she was baptised as Sarah May Collett at the Church of the Holy Redeemer in Clerkenwell on 12^th November 1899, the daughter of Herbert and Elizabeth Collett of 12 Easton Street. However, she died not long after she was baptised.
	By the time of the next census in 1901 Herbert Collett from Kingston in Surrey, was living at 12 Easton Street in Clerkenwell with his wife and their six surviving children, having already suffered the loss of their youngest child. Herbert was 32 and a journeyman baker, his wife Elizabeth was 36 and from Hertford, and their children were Herbert Collett, age 13, Ada Collett, age 10, Frank Collett who was eight, Annie Collett who was six, May Collett who was three, and Jessie Collett who was three months old.
	According to the census return, all of the children had been born at Clerkenwell, within the Finsbury district of London. The birth of the couple’s third daughter, Louisa May Collett, was registered on 9^th March 1898 at Holborn for the sub-district of Goswell Street, while the child was actually born on 24^th January 1898 at 23 Rawstorne Street, just of Goswell Street [the A1]. At that time her parents were described as Herbert Collett, a pastry cook, and his wife Elizabeth Collett formerly Mills, and it was the latter who registered the child’s birth.
	All of the children had been born at Clerkenwell, and it was also there, between March 1901 and 1903 that both Herbert and Elizabeth died. A record of the death of a Herbert Collett has been found in London in 1902, and this may be our Herbert. Whether this was a joint death in some accident or other is not known. What is known is that their six children were then taken into care, with Ada and Frank being taken to live in Canada by the Doctor Barnados Children’s organisation during 1904. They were followed by May and Jessie who made the same journey in 1911.
	The three sisters, Ada, Jessie and May, were eventually reunited in Canada and lived in the same town in Ontario for the remainder of their lives, while sadly all contact was lost with the remaining members of their family. Louisa May Collett later married to become Louisa May Collett Rylett, and it was her granddaughter Marilee Rylett Magder of Whitby in Ontario who kindly provided the sad details of her family, together with this photo of sisters Jessie and Louisa May taken during the 1980s.
	1P65	Herbert William Collett		Born in 1888 at Clerkenwell
	1P66	Ada Elizabeth Collett		Born in 1891 at Clerkenwell
	1P67	Frank Collett		Born in 1893 at Clerkenwell
	1P68	Annie Collett		Born in 1895 at Clerkenwell
	1P69	Louisa May Collett		Born in 1898 at Clerkenwell
	1P70	Sarah May Collett		Born in 1899 at Clerkenwell; infant death
	1P71	Jessie Collett		Born in 1900 at Clerkenwell
1O90	Arthur Charles Collett was born at Colnbrook in 1878. He was three years old in April 1881 and was living with his parents George and Emma Collett at King John’s Palace in Colnbrook, and his older brother Herbert (above).
	Rather oddly there appears to be no record of the members of the family living in the UK at the time of the 1891 Census, and by the end of the century Arthur’s father had passed away. So in the census of 1901 Arthur was still living with his widowed mother Emma who by then had moved to Bromley in Kent. Living there with them was Arthur’s younger brother Frank (below).
	Unmarried Arthur Collett, age 23 and from Colnbrook, was working as a domestic gardener with his brother Frank Collett. The two boys’ widowed mother Emma Collett was 66 and her place of birth was confirmed as being at Chertsey.
	Around 1908, according to the census of 1911, Arthur married Laura Emma, a fact that seems not to have been known by members of the family until the release of the census details. In this the childless couple were living at 15 Tynley Road in Bickley in Kent where Arthur of Colnbrook was 31 and a domestic gardener, while his wife of two years was Laura Emma 31 from Knockholt, near Sevenoaks.
	What happened next to Arthur and Laura is not known at this time, but they were either divorced, or Laura died giving birth to the couple’s first child.
	What is known for sure is that Arthur married Beatrice Isobel Manchester at the parish church of St John in Hampstead just six months later on 8^th October 1911. Beatrice was born at Chelsea in 1884, the daughter of clicker and boot cutter William Manchester who was born at Hamilton in Quebec in 1851 and who died in London in 1905.
	Her mother was Annie Reason who was born at Twickenham in 1852 and who had died during the year before Beatrice was married. The Manchester family name was closely linked to the boot and shoe trade over many generations. William’s father George Manchester was a leather cutter in London and his uncle’s John and Henry were both boot and shoe makers of Kensington and Hammersmith respectively. All of the children of these gentlemen also worked in the shoe business.
	The marriage certificate for Arthur and Beatrice confirmed their ages as 32 and 27 and their address at that time was stated as being 18 Gardnor Road in Hampstead. Gardnor Road was a short distance from Hampstead Heath and still exists in the early part of the twenty-first century.
	The certificate confirmed Arthur’s father as George Collett deceased and Beatrice’s father as William Manchester deceased. The witnesses at the marriage were Beatrice’s brother William and Sydney Manchester.
	At sometime during the first eight years of their married life together Arthur and Beatrice moved from Gardnor Road on the west side of Hampstead Heath the fairly short distance to 44 Hollingsworth Street in Holloway on the east side of Hampstead Heath.
	It was at this address that they were still living at the end of the Great War at a time when Beatrice’s younger sister Vera Frances Louise Manchester (1896-1983) was living with the family immediately prior to her marriage to Mark George Penn (1897-1959). The couple’s marriage certificate in early 1919 gave 44 Hollingsworth Street as both Vera’s and Mark’s place of residence.
	And it was Vera’s and Mark’s son Ronald Mark Penn, born at Chiswick in 1927 and now living in Australia, who kindly provided the vital linking information to enable this Collett family line to be extended.
	The marriage between Arthur and Beatrice produced just one son for the couple but his date of birth has not been established at this time. What is known is that Arthur and Beatrice continued to live at Hollingsworth Street until towards the end of the 1930s.
	Family members recall Arthur having a large moustache and wearing a peaked cloth cap, a collarless shirt, grey serge trousers, and a black waistcoat. All of this coupled, with the fact he had a hunched-back, gave him a most fearsome appearance. His hunched-back was the result of an industrial injured when he was seriously burnt removing ashes from a boiler,
	It is believed that Arthur died before the outbreak of the Second World War, so it may have been after this event that his wife later moved to live at nearby Islington. Beatrice lived a long life and passed away in 1971 aged 87.
	During the information gathering process for Arthur Collett, another Collett family has been found that were residents of the aforementioned Gardnor Road in Hampstead. They was the family of Henry A Collet(t) born at Marylebone in 1862 and his wife Annie who was born in 1863 at St Pancras.
	The couple were living at 15 Gardnor Road in 1901 with their children who were all born at Hampstead, and they were Henry T Collett 16, Ethel Collett 14, Annie L Collett 12, Daisy S Collett 10, Augustus Collett, who was seven, and Frank Collett who was five. Also living with the family was Henry’s younger brother Arthur Collett, age 23, a goods porter who was also born at Hampstead. Further research is needed to see where this family might be placed.
	1P72	Arthur Collett			Date of birth unknown
1O91	Frank Collett was born at Colnbrook in 1882. His whereabouts, or that of any member of his family, has not been determined within the Great Britain census of 1891, but he re-appeared in March 1901 when he was living at Bromley in Kent. On that occasion Frank Collett, age 18 and from Colnbrook, was living with his mother and brother Arthur (above), from where he was working with his older brother as a domestic gardener. His widowed mother Emma Collett from Chertsey was 66.
	Ten years later in April 1911, Frank Collett from Colnbrook was 28 and a married man living within the Croydon area of Surrey with his wife Annie Collett who was also 28. It is not known at this time whether there were any children resulting from their marriage.
1O92	James Nathaniel Collett was born at Woodchester where he was baptised on 23^rd July 1837, the eldest child of James Collett and his wife Elizabeth Rogers. He was four years old in the Woodchester census in 1841, and was James N Collett, age 13, when he was still living there with his family in 1851. His father died during the cholera epidemic in 1854 and, with no further record of James Nathaniel Collett after 1851 it is possible that he too died from the illness.
1O93	Adelaide Collett was baptised on 14^th October 1838 at Woodchester, where she later married Isaac James on 2^nd January 1857. Adelaide was a dressmaker and Isaac was a baker by trade. Prior to the marriage Adelaide was living at Selsey Road in Woodchester where, in 1851, she was listed as a dressmaker’s apprentice. Isaac was born at Berkeley in Gloucestershire in 1835.
	Selsey Road was also home to other members of the Collett family at the time of the 1851 Census – see Hannah Collett nee Land (Ref. 1M38) Adelaide’s grandmother, her parents Thomas and Elizabeth Collett, Edwin Collett (Ref. 1N54) her uncle, Susannah Collett (Ref. 1N57) her aunt and Henry Albert Collett (below) her brother.
	At the time of the Census of 1881 Adelaide and Isaac were still living in Selsey Road but the family had grown to six boys and four girls, all born at Woodchester. There was also a seventh and eldest son William aged 20 who had left the family home before April 1881. The only other surviving family member was Elizabeth Collett, Adelaide’s widowed mother. She was listed as a retired landlady and was living next door to Adelaide and Isaac at The Lodge, which was also home to five other families.
	The census recorded that Isaac was now a baker and a butcher, son Henry was a carpenter aged 18, daughter Louisa was a pupil teacher aged 16, and that son Edward aged 14 was a baker’s assistant – presumably working with his father in the family business.
	The other children listed were: Arthur 12, Charles 11, Lavinia (Minnie) 9, Catherine (Kate) 6, Florence 5, George 3 and Frank aged 2. Also listed with the family was Charles Burford a 16 years old baker of Minchinhampton and 21 years old Ellen Sherborne of Tebury who was employed as a general servant.
	Just about a year after the census Adelaide and Isaac sailed from Liverpool to America on the ship Assyrian Monarch which arrived at New York on 20^th May 1882. Accompanying the couple on the journey were sons Edward, Arthur, Charles, George and Frank, and daughters Louisa, Minnie, Catherine and Florence. Only their two eldest sons William and Henry stayed behind in England.
	Also accompanying the family on the trip was 42 years old labourer Samuel James who was very likely Isaac’s younger brother. It is also interesting to note that Jane James aged 29 completed the same journey on the same ship which docked at New York on 9^th January 1882.
	By the turn of the century the US Census of 1900 identified Adelaide and Isaac as living at San Antonio Ward 7 at Bexar in Texas and living with them were Charles aged 30, Minnie 28, Catherine 26, George 22 and Frank 20, none of whom were married.
	As sons Edward and Arthur were missing from the list, it might be assumed that they had left home and were married. The reason for the absence of daughters Louisa and Florence may have been more significant (see below).
	Adelaide James nee Collett died on 14^th August 1907 and was buried at San Antonio in Plot 39 in the north north-east quadrant of the city cemetery. Just about a month after her death Isaac passed away and was buried next to his wife, where two of their daughters were also buried. They are likely to have been the missing Louisa and Florence (see above).
	Back in the 1880s the couple’s eldest son William J James married Fanny Doel who was born near Trowbridge in 1858/59. This marriage produced at least three children, one of which was daughter Ruby Adelaide James who was born around 1891.
	Ruby later married Arthur Reeves and they had a daughter Valerie. And it was Valerie’s son Bill Radford of Norbury in south-west London who kindly provided this new information relating to his ancestor Adelaide Collett (above).
1O94	Henry Albert Collett was baptised on 27^th March 1842 at Woodchester, the third and last child of Thomas Collett and his wife Elizabeth Rogers. In 1851 he was 9 years old and living at home with his parents in Selsey Road. He married Mary Ann Thomas in 1865 at Christchurch, Newport in South Wales. Mary Ann Thomas was born in 1848, and up to 1876 their children were born at Newport and thereafter at Weston, near Bath in Somerset, although it is notable that the couple’s second son was born and baptised at Stonehouse, in the area were Henry was born, and where his family was recorded for a short time in 1871.
	According to the census that year for the Stroud & Stonehouse district, the family comprised Henry A Collett, age 29, his wife Mary A Collett, age 24, and their two sons Henry T Collett, who was two, and James E Collett who had been born at the Noah’s Ark Inn in Stonehouse during that January. The couple’s eldest child was Elizabeth H Collett, aged four years, who was staying with her widowed grandmother Elizabeth Collett nee Rogers at nearby Woodchester. This was very likely so that Mary Ann could give birth to her latest son without needing to worry about Elizabeth.
	Despite returning to South Wales for the birth of their next two children around 1877 the family left finally Wales when they moved to the bath area of Somerset. At the time of the next census in 1881 Henry and his family were living at 11 Alexandra Buildings in Weston with Mary’s widowed mother Anna Thomas aged 75, a retired grocer. Henry Collett was listed as a railway porter of Woodchester aged 39, while his wife Mary was aged 33 and from Newport, and the absence of their son James may indicate that he had suffered an infant death.
	Their children living with them at that time were Elizabeth Collett 14, Henry Collett 13, William Collett, who was nine, Robert Collett, who was six, Frances Collett, who was three, and Diana Collett who was just two months old. The family was residing within the Batheaston district of Bath in 1891, when Harry Collett was 49, Mary A Collett was 42, and their seven children were Elizabeth, age 24, William, age 19, Robert, age 15, Frances, age 13, Ethel, who was eight, Lillian, who was five, and Nellie who was under one year old.
	Twenty years later according to the census of 1901 Henry was aged 60 and was still working for the Midlands Railway Company as a ticket collector, Mary Ann was 54 and the couple still had living with them six of their children. They were William 28, Frances 23, Ethel 18, Lillian 16, Nellie 13 and Rosaline W Collett who was eight years old. Their son Robert was married and was also living in Weston at that time.
	By the time of the census in 1911 the family still living with seventy years old Henry Albert Collett at Weston near Bath included his wife Mary Ann who was 64, son Robert Edward 35, and daughters Lillian May Collett who was twenty-four and seventeen years old Rosaline Winifred Collett.
	1P73	Elizabeth Hannah Collett			Born in 1867 at Newport, Wales
	1P74	Henry Thomas Collett			Born in 1868 at Newport, Wales
	1P75	James Edward Collett			Born in 1871 at Stonehouse
	1P76	William Albert Collett			Born in 1872 at Newport, Wales
	1P77	Robert Edward Collett			Born in 1875 at Newport, Wales
	1P78	Frances Adelaide Collett			Born in 1878 at Weston near Bath
	1P79	Diana Collett			Born in 1881 at Weston near Bath
	1P80	Ethel Gertrude Collett			Born in 1883 at Weston near Bath
	1P81	Maria Collett			Born in 1885 at Weston near Bath
	1P82	Lillian May Collett			Born in 1887 at Weston near Bath
	1P83	Nellie Edith Evelyn Collett			Born in 1888 at Weston near Bath
	1P84	Rosaline Winifred Collett			Born in 1893 at Weston near Bath
1O95	Charles Collett was baptised on 3^rd May 1846 at Frampton-on-Severn, the only known child of John Collett and his first wife Sarah Harrison. In 1851 he was five years old and in 1861 he was 15 when on both occasions, he was living with his parents within the Wheatenhurst & Frampton registration district. After that he joined the navy and was presumably away at sea when the census was conducted in 1871.
	On 31^st August 1868 at St Mary de Lodes in Gloucester Charles married Mary Catherine Boucher who was born in 1850 at Whitminster, near Gloucester. Mary brought to the marriage her base-born daughter Martha Boucher who was also born at Whitminster, presumably when Mary was only sixteen. After they were married the couple settled in Frampton, where all of their children were born and baptised, although Charles’ wife was named as Ann for the second and third child. Tragically their first three children died before 1881.
	According to the census of 1881 the greatly reduced family of Charles Collett was living at Leather Bottle Lane in Frampton. As Chas Collett, age 35 and from Frampton, his occupation was that of a mariner. His wife was named as Catherine Boucher who was 30, and she was working as a char woman. Living there with the couple was Matthew Boucher, age 14 from Whitminster like his mother, and Margaret Collett who was two years old.
	Five years later the couple’s final child was born, and in 1891 the family was still living in Frampton. On that occasion they were recorded in the census as Charles Collett, age 45, Mary Catherine Collett, age 43, Margaret Esther Collett, who was 12, and William George Collett who was four years old. So far no further record of any member of the family has been found after that time.
	1P85	Henry Charles Collett			Born in 1869 at Frampton-on-Severn
	1P86	Albert James Collett			Born in 1872 at Frampton-on-Severn
	1P87	Louisa Elizabeth Collett			Born in 1874 at Frampton-on-Severn
	1P88	Margaret Esther Collett			Born in 1879 at Frampton-on-Severn
	1P89	William George Collett			Born in 1886 at Frampton-on-Severn
1O96	William Henry Collett was baptised on 28^th October 1849 at Woodchester, the first child born to Edwin and Martha Collett. Sadly he died at Woodchester in the first three weeks of 1851 and was buried there on 19^th January 1851.
1O97	William Edward Collett was baptised on 12^th October 1851 at Woodchester, the only surviving child of Edwin and Martha Collett. He married Jane at Tetbury and named his son after his older brother William Henry Collett (above) who died at the tender age of 14½ months. Unfortunately no record of William Edward, his wife Jane, or their son William Henry, has been located within the following census records, which might suggest that the family left England for one of the colonies.
	1P90	William Henry Collett			Baptised on 07.03.1875 at Tetbury
1O98	Eliza Ann Collett was baptised at Coln St Aldwyns on 15^th May 1842, the eldest child of Charles and Eliza Collett.
1O99	Charles Christopher Collett was baptised on 10^th February 1844 at Coln St Aldwyns. In the Census of 1861 he was living with his parents Charles and Eliza Collett and the rest of the family, when he was described as being 17 and ‘afflicted from birth’.
1O100	Francis Collett was born at Coln St Aldwyns and baptised there on 2^nd November 1845. In 1861 he was aged 15 and a carpenter living at Coln St Aldwyns with his parents. It was around 1868 or 1869 he married Harriet who was born circa 1841 at Butleigh Wootton near Glastonbury in Somerset. All of their children were born at Coln St Aldwyns.
	According to the 1871 Census Francis was now 25, a carpenter and grocer, Harriet was 29, and the couple had a daughter Alice aged 1 and born at Coln St Aldwyns. Living with them was a cousin Caroline Higgins aged 12 also of Butleigh Wootton. The same birth place as Harriet could indicate that Harriet was also a member of the Higgins family prior to her marriage to Francis.
	Interestingly Francis’ parents also had a member of the Higgins family with them at Coln St Aldwyns in 1871. This was nephew Thomas Higgins aged 14 who would appear to be the brother of Caroline Higgins and very likely the brother of Harriet as well.
	By the time of the 1881 Census Francis was listed as being 35 of Coln St Aldwyns and a draper and grocer. Living with him at Coln St Aldwyns was Harriet 40, Alice 11, Lydia 9, Charles 7, Herbert 2, and one year old Walter. Also living with the family was general servant Matilda Griffin 15.
	During the next decade Francis died so by 1891 Harriet was listed as a widow and a draper and grocer indicating that she had taken over the family business from her husband.
	Also in 1891 eldest daughter Alice Collett 21 was listed as a school teacher, Lydia Collett 19 was a draper’s assistant, Charles Collett 17 was a carpenter’s apprentice, Herbert Collett 12 was an errand boy for the post, Walter Collett was 11 and a scholar, and Percy Collett was eight years old.
	By 1901 all of the male members of the family had left home and did not even appear in the census for that year anyway in Gloucestershire. The only remaining members of the family still living in Coln St Aldwyns were widow Harriet who was 60, and her unmarried daughters Alice 30 and Lydia 28, all three of them described as seamstresses.
	Ten years later in April 1911 Harriet Collett was seventy, and the only member of her family still living with her at Coln St Aldwyns was her eldest daughter Alice Maude Collett who was still a spinster at 41.
	1P91	Alice Maude Collett			Born in 1870 at Coln St Aldwyns
	1P92	Lydia M Collett			Born in 1872 at Coln St Aldwyns
	1P93	Charles William Collett			Born in 1874 at Coln St Aldwyns
	1P94	Herbert F Collett			Born in 1879 at Coln St Aldwyns
	1P95	Walter Louis Collett			Born in 1880 at Coln St Aldwyns
	1P96	Percy A Collett			Born in 1882 at Coln St Aldwyns
1O101	Eleanor Collett was born at Coln St Aldwyns where she was baptised on 21^st April 1848. It would appear that she never married as in both 1881 and 1891 she was still a spinster at the age of 33 and 43 respectively, while living with her parents Charles and Eliza in 1881. By 1891 her mother had died and so she was performing the role of housekeeper for her widowed father in 1891.
	Eleanor Collett was living alone within the Northleach registration district in 1911 where she was confirmed as being 63 and from Coln St Aldwyns.
1O102	Aaron Thomas Collett was baptised on 28^th April 1850 at Coln St Aldwyns. He later married Louisa in 1871 at Eastleach Turville, where she was born around 1844. In 1881 Aaron was 31 and was a carpenter by trade living at Eastleach Turville, where all four of his children were born. The census return that year listed the other members of his family as his wife Louisa, who was 36, Eliza Collett, who was eight, William Collett, who was six, George Collett, who was four, and Francis Collett who was two years old.
	Very little is known about Aaron and it may be that he died during the 1880s, since it is established that his son George continued to work as a carpenter, but that in 1891 he was living and working alongside his carpenter grandfather Charles Collett at Coln St Aldwyns, where George Collett, age 14, was a carpenter’s apprentice.
	1P97	Eliza Collett			Born in 1872 at Eastleach Turville
	1P98	William Collett			Born in 1874 at Eastleach Turville
	1P99	George Collett			Born in 1876 at Eastleach Turville
	1P100	Francis Charles Collett			Born in 1878 at Eastleach Turville
1O103	Raymond J Collett was born in 1854 at Coln St Aldwyns. By the time of the 1881 Census he was still living at home with his parents Charles and Eliza Collett, and his older sister Eleanor Collett (above). However shortly after, perhaps in the mid 1880s, he married Emma who was born in 1849 at Oaksey south of Cirencester.
	In the next census of 1891 Raymond was 37 and Emma was 42, and they were still living in Coln St Aldwyns with their son Oaksey Collett who was two years old and name after his mother’s birth place in Wiltshire. As in the previous census, Raymond was listed as a carpenter of Coln St Aldwyns, and in addition to that he was also the enumerator for the 1891 Census at Coln St Aldwyns.
	Sometime between 1891 and 1900 their son Oaksey appears to have died, since he was not living with his parents in the March census of 1901. Raymond Collett, age 47, was a builder and timber merchant and his wife Emma was 52.
	1P101	Oaksey Collett			Born in 1889 at Coln St Aldwyns
1O104	Victoria Maude Collett was baptised at Coln St Aldwyns on 11^th February 1858, the youngest child of Charles and Eliza Collett.
1O106	James Henry Collett was born at Eastington in 1853 and was aged 7 at the time of the 1861 Census for the Wheatenhurst & Frampton registration district where he was living with his family. During the next few months the family left Gloucestershire and moved to Cheshire where they were living in 1871.
	James was aged 17 at that time and shortly after he left the family home and moved to Manchester to seek work. According to the 1881 Census, James Henry Collett aged 27 of Eastington was living at 48 Warwick Street in the Hulme area of Manchester. He was described as head of the house and lodger.
	His occupation was that of an ironmonger’s shop-man which may indicate that the accommodation where he was lodging came with the job, and that he was living in rooms above the shop.
1O108	Emma Collett was born at Nantwich in 1862 and was eight years old at the time of the census in 1871 when she was living with her family in the Wybunbury area of Nantwich.
	Ten years later she had left the family home at 35 Oxford Road in Altrincham and was living and working as a confectioner’s apprentice in Nantwich. The 1881 Census placed Emma aged 18 of Nantwich as living at the home of twenty-nine years old spinster Ann Fitton at 4 High Street in Nantwich.
	Ann Fritton, whose occupation was that of a confectioner, had been born at Wybunbury so it seems likely that it was from there that she knew the Collett family and so arranged the work for Emma.
1O109	Reuben Henry Collett was born at Coln St Aldwyns in 1848 and was baptised there on 6^th February 1848, the eldest child of Edward and Sarah Collett. No further record of Reuben or his parents has been found so far, even though his brother Thomas and sister Lucy have both been traced in 1871 and 1881.
1O110	Thomas Collett was born at the village of Hatherop, midway between Bibury and Fairford, in 1850. He was baptised at Hatherop on 2^nd February 1851, and the baptism record confirmed that he was the son of Edward and Sarah Collett.
	So far no record of Thomas, his siblings, or his parents, has been found in the census of 1861 when he would have been ten years old. By 1871, and at the time he was twenty years old, Thomas Collett had already joined the Royal Navy and was based at Plymouth.
	It was must have been towards the end of 1870s that Thomas married Susan who was born in Ireland and may have been Susan Harris, judging by the name of one of her children. At the start of 1881 Susan presented Thomas with their first child who was born while Thomas was still based in Plymouth.
	At the time of the census in 1881, Thomas was attached to HMS Royal Adelaide which was based at Devonport. He was described as being 30 years old and a married man from Hatherop in Gloucestershire. His rank at that time was Ship’s Corporal First Class.
	At that exact same time his wife Susan Collett, age 29, was living at 23 Clowance Street in Stoke Damerel, a parish in Devonport, later simply referred to as Stoke. She was described as an R N Seaman’s wife and living with her was her son Henry J Collett who was two months old.
	During the next decade a further three children were added to the family. The first two of them were also born at Devonport but, on leaving the Royal Navy around 1888 after having completed twenty years services, Thomas and his family moved to Swindon where their last child was born. It was probably the promise of work and a house with the Great Western Railway that persuaded Thomas to make the move.
	According to the census of 1891, the family was living at 4 York Terrace in Swindon, where forty years old Thomas Collett of Hatherop was a manager and time-keeper. The census also confirmed that his wife Susan, who was 39, was born in Ireland. Their four children at that time were Henry J Collett age 10, Thomas G H Collett, who was eight, Herbert E Collett, who was three, and Mabel E Collett who was one year old.
	Ten years later in March 1901 the complete family was still living together in Swindon where Thomas Collett, age 50 and from Hatherop, was a railway clerk working for the GWR. His wife Susan was 49, and on that occasion she stated that she was from Kilkenny in Ireland.
	At this time the children were recorded as Henry Collett who was 20, Thomas G Collett who was 18, Herbert Collett who was 13, and Mabel Collett who was 11. No trace of either Thomas or Susan has been found in the census of 1911 when they would both have been around sixty years of age.
	1P102	Henry James Collett	Born in 1881 at Stoke Damerel, Devonport
	1P103	Thomas George Harris Collett	Born in 1883t at Stoke Damerel, Devonport
	1P104	Herbert E Collett	Born in 1887 at Stoke Damerel, Devonport
	1P105	Mabel E Collett	Born in 1889 at Swindon
1O111	Lucy Maria Collett was born at Hatherop in 1855 and was baptised there on 22^nd July 1855, the daughter of Edward and Sarah Collett. Rather strangely no record of Lucy and her family has been found in the census of 1861, although ten years later Lucy Collett aged sixteen was living in the Bibury & Northleach registration district.
	After a further ten years Lucy Collett was 26 in 1881 and in the census that year she was working as a live-in general servant at The Rectory at Ridley in Kent, the home of Thomas P Phelps of Oxford who was the Rector of Ridley.
1O112	Ernest Collett, who was one half of a set of twins, was born at Quenington in 1852, where he was baptised on 19^th September 1852, the son of Samuel Collett and Elizabeth Gander. In 1858 Ernest’s family emigrated to New Zealand on board the barque ‘Indiana’, when he was simply recorded on the ship’s passenger list as Ernest Collett, age five years.
	Ernest later married the widow Martha Varcoe in 1874 who had been born Martha Main on 18^th September 1848. One of their children, Herbert Frank Collett, was the grandfather of Brian Gregory Collett of Cairns in Australia, who kindly provided the details of his family during 2011. With the dates of birth of two of their children not known, the order in which they were born may be different to that shown below.
	Ernest had hoped to become a doctor and was apprenticed to several early medicos, including Doctor Turnbull in 1866, Doctor Foster in 1867, and in 1868 he assisted Doctor Christy who paid him Seven Pounds 16 Shillings the three months.
	However, a career as a medic was not realised, following which Ernest took up the occupation of a maltster [a brewer], while later in his life he was a farmer, and even later still, a gardener. He and his family lived at 15 Angus Street in Christchurch, but around 1900 Ernest and Martha were legally separated, following which Ernest was ordered to pay maintenance to Martha by the Court. It was not long after that when Martha died in 1907, while Ernest survived for another thirty-two years, when he died on 15^th May 1939, at the age of 86.
	1P106	Ernest Walter Raymond Gordon Collett					Born in 1874 at Christchurch
	1P107	Herbert Frank Collett					Born in 1876 at Christchurch
	1P108	Robert George Victor Collett					Born in 1878 at Christchurch
	1P109	Eleanor Mabel Collett					Born in 1879 at Christchurch
	1P110	Arthur Samuel Gordon Collett					Born in 1882 at Christchurch
	1P111	Harriet Clara May Collett					Born in 1884 at Christchurch
	1P112	Leonard Ransom Collett					Born in 1886 at Christchurch
1O113	Amanda Elizabeth Collett was born at Quenington in 1852 and was a twin with her brother Ernest (above). She was baptised in a joint ceremony with her brother at Quenington church on 19^th September 1852, the baptism record confirming that they were the children of Samuel Collett and Elizabeth Gander.
	Amanda and her twin brother Ernest were both recorded as being five years old when their parents emigrated to New Zealand on board the barque ‘Indiana’ in 1858. When she was sixteen years of age, Amanda entered finishing school with Miss Thornton on 4^th February 1868 at a cost of Seven Pounds Ten Shillings a quarter term, payable in advance.
	The records in New Zealand confirm that she was educated there but, apart from her marriage to Robert Wilson on 16^th January 1871, nothing more is currently known about her after that time.
1O114	George William Collett was born at Quenington on 11^th December 1854 and was baptised there on 14^th January 1855. He was the third child of Samuel Collett and his first wife Elizabeth Gander. When he was only three years old his family sailed to a new life in New Zealand on board the barque ‘Indiana’ which arrived at Christchurch in 1858. Later on, when George was nine years old, he attended Mr Jones’ Private School from February 1864 to August 1866, the weekly fee being Two Shillings. Upon leaving school George went to work for a Mr Urquhart, where he learned to be a painter.
	It was in Christchurch that he married Margaret Coutts on 26^th October 1874, the marriage producing two children for the couple. Their grandson was Grahame Collett who married Fay and visited England to research his family line.
	Tragically George William Collett died just three years after her was married, when he was approaching his twenty-third birthday. Although the actual date is not known, it would appear that he died during the latter part of 1877 and shortly after the birth of his second child. His widow Margaret, who was born in 1853, survived him by forty-five years, when she died on 7^th June 1922. Following the death of her husband, Margaret continued to care for her baby daughter, while her son George was raised by his grandfather Samuel Collett and his second wife Esther Lennard.
	1P113	George William Collett					Born in 1875 at Christchurch
	1P114	Amanda Elizabeth Collett					Born in 1877 at Christchurch
1O115	Thomas John Collett was born at Christchurch in New Zealand during the month of October in 1859, just eleven months after his parents Samuel and Elizabeth Collett had arrived in the country from England. Tragically Thomas John Collett died on the 3^rd March 1860, at the tender age of just four month.
1O116	Edith Amy Eleanor Collett was born at Christchurch on 22^nd May 1872, the eldest of the two daughters of Samuel Collett and his second wife Esther Lennard, but sadly she died later that same year of 17^th December 1872.
1O117	Alice Mabel Matilda Collett was born at Christchurch on 16^th October 1873, the second of the two daughters of Samuel and Esther Collett. It was during 1907 that Alice married William Benjamin Freeman who had been born around 1870. The only other known fact about Alice is that she died in 1954.
1O118	Charles Hook Collett was born at Kings Stanley in 1856. It was as Charles Hook Collett that he was baptised at Kings Stanley on 26.10.1856, the son of John Collett and Jane Hook.
	It was simply as Charles Collett aged four years old that he was listed in the census of 1861, when he was living with his parents in the Parish of St Thomas in Birmingham. In all of the subsequent census returns he was referred to as Charles H Collett. He was fourteen in 1871 when still living with his family in Birmingham St Thomas.
	During the 1870s his father’s work as a builder took the family the few miles south to Kings Norton in Worcestershire where they were living in 1881. Charles had obviously taken a keen interest in the type of work undertaken by his father, since at the age of twenty-four his occupation was that of an architect.
	The census in 1881 confirmed that Charles H Collett from Kings Stanley was still living with his family at 59 Clevedon Road in Kings Norton. Sometime during the next few years Charles’ father died, so by 1891 Charles was living with his widowed mother Jane when he was still a bachelor at thirty-four.
	Before the end of the century Charles left the family home in Kings Norton when he moved to nearby Kidderminster. And it was there that he was living in March 1901. He was still a bachelor at the age of forty-three and was still working as an architect, and his place of birth was once again confirmed as Kings Stanley.
	It would appear that Charles Hook Collett never married since he was still a bachelor in April 1911, by which time he was living in the Shirley area to the west of Solihull at the age of fifty-four.
1O119	Amy Georgina Collett was born at Birmingham in 1861 and was baptised at the Church of St Thomas in Birmingham on 13^th October 1861. It was also in the Parish of St Thomas that she was living with her family in 1871 when she was nine years old. A few years later her family moved to Kings Norton where they were living at the time of the census in 1881.
	At this time in her life Amy was nineteen and was living at 59 Clevedon Road in Kings Norton. It was very likely at that address that her father died during the 1880s, and where her widowed mother Jane spent the rest of her life.
	For some reason Amy G Collett was recorded at Stroud in the census of 1891, which was close to the area where her father’s family originated. The census that year place Amy as twenty-nine and unmarried living with the older sister of her mother Jane Collett nee Hook.
	The census return for 1891 revealed that Amy G Collett from Birmingham was the niece of Isaac and Emma Groves of Middle Yard on a farm in Kings Stanley where Isaac was a farmer living on his own means. Amy’s aunt Emma Groves nee Hook was sixty-five and born at Kingswood in Gloucester where her mother Jane had been born.
	By the start of the new century Amy was back living with her mother Jane and sister Florence (below) at Kings Norton.