PART FOURTEEN

 

The John Kyte Collett Line - 1810 to 1930

(including a branch line from Swindon to Australia)

 

This is the second of two sections of the fourteenth part of the Collett family

Updated June 2011

 

 

The June 2011 version of this family includes a new branch of the Collett family that was previously depicted in Part 9 – The Aldsworth Line.  However, the error for placing the family there was highlighted during the compilation of two new lines for the Collett families of Alcester and Abbots Morton in Warwickshire.  Therefore we must apologise to the family of Wayne Arthur Collett of Brisbane (Ref. 14Q10) which has now been correctly placed here in this family line, and is denoted by the names that are underlined.

 

The original error came from the fact that there were two George Colletts born around 1811, with the family details shown in Part 9 for the George who was actually the George in Part 14.  The good news for Wayne and his family is that his ancestors can now be traced back to 1485 to Thomas Collett in Part 1 via Part 14, instead of to only 1760, as in Part 9.

 

This family line includes a great many references to the Colletts of Bourton-on-the-Water

and should be read in conjunction with Part 33 – The Bourton-on-the-Water Line

 

This line commences at Anthony Collett (Ref. 1F12) in the very first section of Part One – The Main Line.

 

It may be of interest to know that the surname Kyte appears at other times connected to the Collett name.

The first in the Will of Thomas Collett in 1538, the next in 1621 when Robert Collett married

Editha Kyte at Mickleton in north Gloucestershire, and again in 1714 when Mary Collett

married Richard Kyte at Westcote near Stow-on-the-Wold.

 

The November 2007 update comes courtesy of Rita Garnett

whose great great grandmother was Ann Mary Collett (Ref. 14N33)

 

 

14M7

Thomas Shelburn Collett was born on 24.01.1811 at Upper Slaughter and was baptised at the Baptist Chapel in Bourton, the son of Robert Collett and Mary Ann Kyte.  His second forename was the maiden name of his paternal grandmother.  In the early 1830s Thomas’ family left Gloucestershire and moved to Somerset.  And it was there, at Shepton Mallet, that he married Ann Chamberlain. 

 

 

 

It would appear that the marriage did not produce any children for Thomas and Ann who were living in Shepton Mallet in 1841, when Thomas Collett was 30, and his wife Ann was 25.

 

 

 

According to the next Shepton Mallet census in 1851, Thomas Collett, age 40, was the Deputy Registrar to his father Robert Collett (Ref. 14L7), was born at Upper Slaughter in 1811, was married, and was living at Darshill in Shepton Mallet, but with no wife or any children listed with him.

 

 

 

His wife Ann Collett was very likely the 36 years old Ann Collett who was listed as a servant at the High Street house of Thomas Cook, a gun maker.  The couple were still apart in Shepton Mallet at the time of the following census in 1861, when Tom S Collett was 50, and his wife Ann was 45.  However, it was at Shepton Mallet that Thomas Shelburn Collett died, sometime during the following months of 1861.  At the time Thomas and Ann were the only members of the Collett family still living there.

 

 

 

 

14M8

Elizabeth Kyte Collett was born on 31.08.1812 at Upper Slaughter and was baptised at the Baptist Chapel in Bourton.  It was at Bourton where she married her cousin John Dalby and where their son Robert was born.  Elizabeth died in 1885, her husband having died before 1881.  Her second name derived from the maiden name of her mother Mary Ann Kyte (Ref. 14L7).

 

 

 

In 1881 Elizabeth Dalby aged 68 and born at Upper Slaughter was living at Cheapside in Hemel Hempstead with the family of her daughter (Frances) Fanny Jane Jones and her husband Edward Jones.

 

 

 

14N13

Robert Dalby

Born in 1838

 

14N14

Frances Jane Dalby

Born in 1842

 

 

 

 

14M9

Emma Humphries Collett was born at Bourton-on-the-Water on 23.11.1814.  She died in 1846 by which time her parents Robert and Mary Ann Collett had moved to Shepton Mallet.  Her second name derived from earlier connects with the Humphries family and the fact that her mother Mary Ann Kyte was a beneficiary under the terms of the 1802 Will of Robert Humphries the uncle of Mary Humphries who married Thomas Collett (Ref. 14K9).

 

 

 

 

14M10

John Ryland Collett was born at Bourton-on-the-Water on 17.08.1816 and he died in 1834 after his parents Robert and Mary Ann Collett had moved to Shepton Mallet.  His second name derived from earlier connects with the Ryland family.  See Ref. 14I16.

 

 

 

 

14M11

Susan Collett was born at Bourton-on-the-Water on 02.03.1818.  She married (1) Mr W Gait (2) Mr J Garrett and (3) Mr James B Mattick of Radstock in Somerset around 1860 with whom she had two sons Walter B Mattick born in 1862 and Herbert E Mattick born in 1864.  It is not known if Susan had any children from her earlier marriages.

 

 

 

In 1881 James and eldest son Water were listed as being grocers and drapers, while Herbert was a saddler.  Susan was listed as being 62 and born in Gloucester.  Living with them at Market Place in Radstock was James’ 88 years old mother Therlet Mattick of Wincanton in Somerset.

 

 

 

 

14M12

Emily Collett was born at Bourton-on-the-Water on 21.06.1821.  She married (1) Henry Chamberlain and (2) George Robbins.  It is very likely that Henry Chamberlain was the brother of Ann Chamberlain who married Emily’s brother Thomas Shelburn Collett (Ref. 14M7). 

 

 

 

Emily produced three children from her first marriage, these being:  Henry John Chamberlain; Emily Ann Chamberlain; and Lucy Marianne Chamberlain who died unmarried the year before her mother.

 

 

 

According to the 1881 Census Emily Robbins nee Collett aged 59 and born at Bourton-on-the-Water was living at Port Mansion in Longfleet near Poole.  She was married to George Robbins aged 65 an Inland Revenue Officer born at Poole in Dorset.  Emily Robbins died in 1906.

 

 

 

 

14M13

Lucy Ann Collett was born at The Mill in Bourton-on-the-Water on 27.02.1823.  She was a milliner and dressmaker and lived for some years with her widowed father up to 1853 when she sailed to Australia on the ship Euphemus.  On arrival at Melbourne she was engaged as a dressmaker, working for a Mr Turner at Geelong.

 

At the start of the following year whilst at Castlemaine she met and married John Henry Foster a carpenter and builder.  John was born in London in 1827 and the couple were married on 25.03.1854.

 

Lucy Ann Foster died on 24.12.1902 at Queensland, her husband John having died two years early on 05.07.1900. 

 

 

 

Lucy Ann is the starting point for the family line of Brian Foster of Maryborough in Queensland, the details of which are provided in Part Sixteen – The Lucy Ann Foster Line.

 

 

 

 

14M14

Ellen Hook Collett was born at Bourton-on-the-Water on 04.10.1825 and died that same year.

 

 

 

 

14M15

Mary Anne Collett was born at Bourton-on-the-Water on 28.07.1828 and died in 1897.  No record has been found to say she married but it is possible, although not yet proved, that she married Richard Collett (Ref. 3N1) of Chedworth. 

 

 

 

According to the 1881 Census, Richard Collett and Mary Ann were living at Middle Row, Woodman Inn in Bourton-on-the Water with three of their children.

 

 

 

For the continuation of this family line see

Part Three – The Chedworth Line commencing with Richard Collett (Ref. 3N1)

 

 

 

 

14M16

George Bryan Collett may have been born at Upper Slaughter in 1811 but was baptised at the Baptist Church in Bourton-on-the-Water on 23.01.1812, the eldest child and only known son of Joseph Collett and his wife Mary Bryan.  In his later life he gave his place of birth as Upper Slaughter and Bourton-on-the-Water.  Upon leaving school he also left the family home when he moved to Stanway in Gloucestershire, about ten miles from Bourton. 

 

 

 

He remained unmarried for much of his early life, and it was not until 15.10.1846 that George Collett married Elizabeth Emms from Hazelton, which lies five miles south-west of Bourton.  The marriage at Stanway recorded his age as being 35 years, 9 months and 14 days, compared to his bride, who was just 20 years, 3 months and 14 days old.  From this information it has been calculated that Elizabeth was born on 01.07.1826, and within the IGI there is the baptism of an Elizabeth Emms on 20.08.1826 at Ebrington, who was the daughter of William and Ann Emms.  However, it is more than likely that Elizabeth’s father was Oliver Webb Emms who was married at Didbrook (near Stanway), for a second time during 1846.  This assumption is based on the fact that one of Elizabeth’s children was named Oliver Emms Collett.

 

 

 

Once married the couple initially settled in the village of Condicote, not far from Stow-on-the-Wold, where their first child was born during the following year.  Not long after the birth, the family moved to nearby Lower Swell, where the next three children were born, and where the family was living at the time of the census in 1851.  George Collett, age 39 and from Slaughter, was a farm bailiff, his wife Elizabeth was 24 and from Hazelton (Hastleton), and their two sons were Joseph Collett who was three years old and from Condicote, and Oliver Collett who was two, who had been born at Swell.  It was Oliver’s baptism record at Lower Swell that included his full name as Oliver Emms Collett.

 

 

 

By the time of the next census in 1861, the family had left Lower Swell and were living at Longborough, just two miles from Lower Swell and Condicote.  During the past decade two further sons had been born to George and Elizabeth at Lower Swell, but by 1861 their oldest son was no longer listed with the family.  According to the Longborough census that year, George Collett was still a farm bailiff, although his age was recorded in error as 40 and not 49, and he said he was born at Bourton-on-the-Water.  Elizabeth Collett from Hasleton (sic) was 34, and their three sons were Oliver Collett, age 12, George Collett who was six, and James Collett who was two years old.  Their eldest son Joseph would have only been 13, so it is possible that he had died prior to that date. 

 

 

 

Within the next twelve months the family moved again, when they left Longborough for the village of Eyford, within the parish of Upper Slaughter, where their daughter and last son were both born.  It was obviously George’s occupation as a farm bailiff that resulted in so many moves for the family, and by 1871 they had moved once more, on that occasion to Cirencester.

 

 

 

At the time of the 1871 Census for Cirencester the couple’s two eldest sons had left home to make their own way in the world, so the remainder of the family was recorded as George Collett, age 59, his wife Elizabeth, who was 44, and their four children George Collett, age 16, James Collett, age 12, Mary Collett who was eight, and Frederick Collett who was five years old.

 

 

 

Ten years after that George Collett, age 69 from Upper Slaughter, was still working as a farm bailiff, but by that time in his life he and Elizabeth, age 54, were living at Cerney Fields in South Cerney, just two miles from Cirencester.  Still living with them was their daughter Mary Collett, who was 18, and their son Frederick Collett, age 15, who was already a plough boy working on a local farm.  Both of the children were confirmed as having been born at Eyford.

 

 

 

Over the following decade both Mary and Frederick departed, presumably to be married, leaving just George, age 79, and Elizabeth, age 64, still living within the Cirencester & South Cerney registration district at the time of the census in 1891.  It was also there, two years later, that Elizabeth Collett died in May 1893, followed by George Collett who died there during November 1897.

 

 

 

14N15

Joseph Collett

Born in 1847 at Condicote

 

14N16

Oliver Emms Collett

Born in 1849 at Lower Swell

 

14N17

George Collett

Born in 1854 at Lower Swell

 

14N18

James Collett

Born in 1859 at Lower Swell

 

14N19

Mary Collett

Born in 1862 at Eyford

 

14N20

Frederick Collett

Born in 1865 at Eyford

 

 

 

 

14M20

Mary Collett was born at Bourton-on-the-Water in January 1798.  Following the death of her father in 1818 Mary inherited a substantial sum of money upon reaching the age of 21.  Tragically she died just four years later in 1823 aged 25.

 

 

 

 

14M21

Ann Collett was baptised at Bourton-on-the-Water on 11.12.1798.  Following the death of her father in 1818 Ann inherited a substantial sum of money upon reaching the age of 21. 

 

 

 

After the tragic death of her younger married sister Elizabeth Marshall (below), Anne married her widowed brother-in-law Stephen Marshall at Bourton during August 1822 and took over the rearing of her nephew Thomas Collett Marshall, who was born around the end of 1819.

 

 

 

A few years after they were married Stephen found himself in financial difficulties and was sentenced to a term in Gloucester debtors prison some time between 1828 and 1830.  After his release from gaol the couple, together with Stephen’s son Thomas, moved to London.

 

 

 

 

14M22

Elizabeth Collett was born at Bourton-on-the-Water in 1800.  Following the death of her father in 1818 Elizabeth inherited a substantial sum of money upon reaching the age of 21. 

 

 

 

On 21.04.1819 she married Stephen Marshall at Bourton with whom she had a son before her premature death.  This may have happened during the birth of her son or shortly thereafter.

 

 

 

What is known is that Stephen Marshall married Elizabeth’s sister Anne Collett (above) at Bourton in August 1822.

 

 

 

14N21

Thomas Collett Marshall

Born in 1820

 

 

 

 

14M23

Martha Collett was born at Bourton-on-the-Water in 1802 and she died on 07.12.1810.  She was buried in the family grave at St Lawrence’s Church Cemetery in Bourton, where she was later joined by both her parents.  (see Headstone Epitaphs)

 

 

 

 

14M24

Thomas Collett was born at Bourton-on-the-Water in 1805.  His father died when Thomas was only thirteen years old and under the terms of his Will, and as his oldest son, Thomas inherited all of the lands and property within his father’s estate upon reaching 21 years of age.

 

 

 

Five years later in 1831 Thomas married Mary Ransford who was born in 1803.  By the time of the first national census in June 1841 Thomas and Mary were both aged 35 and were living at Bourton with six of their first seven children all of whom had been born there.

 

 

 

These were Thomas aged 9, John 5, Ann 4, Arthur 3, Emily 2 and baby Henrietta who was not yet one year old.  The missing child was the couple’s first born daughter Mary who had died in 1834.

 

 

 

Ten years later Thomas and Mary were still living at Bourton.  The 1851 Census recorded that 46 years old Thomas was a cattle salesman and his wife Mary was 47, both having been born at Bourton.  With them were five of their children, again all born at Bourton. 

 

 

 

These were Arthur aged 13 and daughters Emily 11, Henrietta 9, Susan B aged 8 and Alphea James 4.  Completing the household was 19 years old servant Sarah Beckley of Notgrove.

 

 

 

By 1861 the family living at Bourton had reduced to just mother Mary aged 56 a farmer’s wife and daughters Emily aged 21 and Mary (Henrietta) aged 19.  Her husband Thomas was not in Bourton on the day of the census and eight years later on 04.10.1869 he died and was buried at St Lawrence’s Church in Bourton.

 

 

 

The headstone that marks his grave reads “In Loving Memory of Thomas Collett who died October 4th 1869 aged 64 years”.  (see Headstone Epitaphs)

 

 

 

As a consequence, in the 1871 Census, Mary was described as a widow of 67 and an annuitant and living with her was her daughter Mary aged 29.

 

 

 

Following the death of her husband and sometime after April 1871, the widow Mrs Mary Collett married long-term family friend John Beale.  John was a widower, his wife having died prior to the census of 1871.  It was John’s father who had been a trustee of the Will of Thomas Collett in 1818, the main beneficiary of which was Mary’s first husband Thomas Collett.

 

 

 

However, this second marriage for Mary was fairly short lived as John Beale had died within a few years, as confirmed by the 1881 Census in which Mary Beale formerly Collett was once again a widow.

 

 

 

The census recorded that retired Mary aged 77 was living at the Butcher’s Shop in the High Street at Bourton.  Living with her was her 38 years old unmarried daughter Susan B Collett, also listed as retired.

 

 

 

What is of further interest in the 1881 Census was that Mary’s younger brother Alfred Ransford aged 66 and his family were living next door to the Butcher’s Shop in the High Street at Bourton where Mary lived. 

 

 

 

Mary died at Bourton seven years later on 13.07.1888 and was buried with her first husband Thomas Collett.  The gravestone that had borne his inscription (see above) then had one added for Mary.  This reads “Also of Mary Beale relict of the above who died July 13th 1888 aged 84”.  (see Headstone Epitaphs)

 

 

 

In early April 1871 Mary’s second husband to be John Beale was also recorded as living at Bourton-on-the-Water where he was described as being aged 66 and a widower.  This confirms that he was a similar age to Mary.

 

 

 

14N22

Thomas Collett

Baptised on 20.03.1832

 

14N23

Mary Elizabeth Collett

Born on 28.03.1833

 

14N24

John Collett

Born on 17.10.1835

 

14N25

Ann Elizabeth Collett

Born on 01.01.1837

 

14N26

Arthur Collett

Born in 1838

 

14N27

Emily Collett

Born in 1839

 

14N28

Mary Henrietta Collett

Born on 14.04.1841

 

14N29

Susan Beale Collett

Born on 04.12.1842

 

14N30

Esther Ransford Collett

Born in 1844

 

14N31

Alphea James Collett

Born in 1846

 

 

 

 

14M25

John Collett was born at Bourton-on-the-Water in 1807.  Following the death of his father in 1818 John inherited a substantial sum of money upon reaching the age of 21. 

 

 

 

He lived at Berryfields in Bourton and he married (1) Mary Strong, the daughter of Robert Strong and Mary Hookham.  The wedding took place at Batheaston in Somerset on 22.02.1837 and Mary’s father was a witness at the ceremony, with whom he had four children. 

 

 

 

Mary was also born at Bourton, six years after John, in 1813.  The marriage produced four children for the couple but tragically, four months after the birth of their fourth children, Mary died at Bourton where she was buried on 14.05.1846 aged just 32. 

 

 

 

Following the death of his wife, John married (2) Mary and that marriage produced another son for him.  However, John Collett passed away in 1848 at the age of 41 and perhaps even before his namesake was born, the child being named after his late father.  John Collett left no Will, but legal letters regarding his estate and that of his father Thomas Collett (Ref. 14L11) were deposited at the Gloucester Records Office.

 

 

 

One such letter written, by his second wife, stated that she did not wish to be burdened with her late husband’s four children from his previous marriage.  This resulted in the children being placed in the care of the family and a little while later two of them were admitted into an orphanage in Bristol.

 

 

 

Sadly the bulk of John’s estate was inherited by his second wife and their son John, with a maximum of thirty-five pounds being left to each of his four earlier children.  During his life John Collett senior is believed to have work as a publican and a farm bailiff.

 

 

 

14N32

Emma Elizabeth Collett

Baptised on 03.06.1838

 

14N33

Ann Mary Collett

Born on 18.09.1841

 

14N34

Robert Collett

Baptised on 22.06.1843

 

14N35

Thomas Collett

Born on 08.01.1846

 

14N36

John Collett

Born around 1848

 

 

 

 

14M26

Henrietta Collett was born at Bourton-on-the-Water in 1811.  Following the death of her father in 1818 Henrietta inherited a substantial sum of money upon reaching the age of 21. 

 

 

 

Henrietta married Charles J Fox who was a butcher.  The couple lived in London where Henrietta died between 1851 and 1861.

 

 

 

 

14M27

Robert Collett was born at Bourton-on-the-Water in 1813.  Following the death of his father in 1818 Robert would have inherited a substantial sum of money upon reaching the age of 21. 

 

 

 

However, at the age of just 19 he died at Bourton on 09.05.1832.  A headstone in the cemetery of St Lawrence’s Church at Bourton marks the grave where he was buried with his sister Emma.  (see Headstone Epitaphs)

 

 

 

 

14M28

Emma Collett was born at Bourton-on-the-Water in 1816.  Following the death of her father in 1818 Emma stood to inherit a substantial sum of money upon reaching the age of 21. 

 

 

 

Tragically however, just like her brother Robert (above), Emma also failed to receive her inheritance when she died at Bourton on 24.02.1834.  With her death closely following that of her brother she was buried in the same grave as him, the headstone carrying both of their names.  (see Headstone Epitaphs)

 

 

 

 

14N1

John Collett was born at Church Lench in Worcestershire during 1831, the son of John Collett from Badsey and his wife Jane from Atch Lench.  In 1841, at the age of nine years, John was the only child living with his parents in the Evesham area which included Church Lench and Atch lench.  By the time of the next census in 1851, he had already left the home of his parents in Atch Lench, but was still living in nearby area, when it was confirmed that he was 19 and from Church Lench.

 

 

 

John was an agricultural labourer and during the next few years he married Hannah, with whom he is known to have had at least six children.  Curiously no record of the family has been found within the census of 1861, but by 1871 the couple were living at Atch Lench where five of their six children had been born.  Only their first child had been born at Church Lench, where Hannah had also been born.

 

 

 

The census in 1871 described the family living in a cottage in Atch Lench, within the parish of Church Lench, when it comprised John Collett, age 38 and from Atch Lench, Hannah who was 35, Ann 14, Emma 11, Jane 9 – presumably named after John’s mother, Caroline who was six, Ellen who was three, and John William Collett who was one year old.

 

 

 

No further children were added to the family after that time, although it is possible that Hannah, who died during the next few years, did so during childbirth, the child not surviving the ordeal also.  By 1881 widower John Collett, age 48 and from Church Lench, was still living in Atch Lench with just his two youngest children.  They were Ellen who was 14, and John W Collett who was 10 and already employed as an agricultural labourer like his father.  Ellen was very likely acting as housekeeper.

 

 

 

Also living very nearby in Atch Lench was John’s daughter Jane Collett who was 19 and employed as a general domestic servant at the home of miller George Bomford and his wife and large family.  In 1851 John’s parents were living in the next property to the Bomford family in Atch Lench, so it seems likely that that was a long association between to two families.

 

 

 

On the basis that all of his daughters left home to be married, by 1891 John Collett, age 57, was still living at Atch Lench, but with just his son for company.  By then, the census recorded John W Collett as being 21.  Not long after that, John William Collett became a married man, and it would also appear that his father died during the same decade, since no record of him has been found in 1901.

 

 

 

14O1

Ann Collett

Born in 1856 at Church Lench

 

14O2

Emma Collett

Born in 1859 at Atch Lench

 

14O3

Jane Collett

Born in 1861 at Atch Lench

 

14O4

Caroline Collett

Born in 1864 at Atch Lench

 

14O5

Ellen Collett

Born in 1867 at Atch Lench

 

14O6

John William Collett

Born in 1869 at Atch Lench

 

 

 

 

14N3

Elizabeth Collett was born at Upper Slaughter where she was baptised on 26.02.1837.  In 1851 she was 14 and ten years later she was listed as being aged 24 and a needlewoman born at Upper Slaughter.  At that time she was living with the family of agricultural labourer George Wilcox aged 51 and of Upper Slaughter.  With her was her daughter Ann E Collett aged five months.

 

 

 

14O7

Ann Elizabeth Collett

Born in November 1860

 

 

 

 

14N4

Thomas Collett was born at Upper Slaughter and was baptised there on 04.11.1838.  By the time of the census in 1851 he was 12 years old, when he was living at home with his parents in Upper Slaughter.  Ten years later Thomas was an unmarried carpenter at the age of 22 and was living with his widowed father and master carpenter Thomas Collett at his Upper Slaughter home.

 

 

 

It was during the next three years that Thomas married Elizabeth, who was from Stow-on-the-Wold.  For the first few years of the married life the couple remained at Upper Slaughter where their first two children were born.  By the end of the 1860s Thomas’ work had taken the family from Gloucestershire to Reading, where the couple’s third child was born, and where the family was living at the time of the census in 1871. 

 

 

 

The census for the St Mary district of Reading listed the family as Thomas Collett, age 32, Elizabeth F Collett, age 30, and their three children Cecilia A E Collett who was five, Samuel A H Collett who was four, and Alice K Collett who was not yet one year old.  Within the next four years the family left Reading and moved in to London, and it was at Brixton that Elizabeth presented Thomas with their next two children, although shortly after the family was living in Peckham when their last child was born.

 

 

 

According to the census in 1881, Thomas Collett from Upper Slaughter was recorded as being 48, which may be a transcription error for 42.  His occupation was that of a wood stainer (painter) and he and his family were living at 7 Buckingham Villas in Camberwell, Surrey.  Living there with him was his wife Elizabeth F Collett, age 40 of Stow-on-the-Wold, and their six children Cecilia A E Collett who was 15, Samuel A Collet who was 14, Alice K Collett who was 10, Otto F Collett who was four, Amos T Collett who was three, and Rosella N Collett who was one year old.

 

 

 

The family’s move to Camberwell may have been influenced by Thomas’ cousin John Collett (Ref. 14N24) who moved there around the mid 1870s.  It is also worth noting that another John Collett (Ref. 33O19) of Bourton-on-the-Water was also living in Camberwell in 1881.  All three men were born between 1835 and 1838.

 

 

 

Thomas’ wife may well have been pregnant with the couple’s seventh child on the day of the 1881 Census, since later that year she gave birth to another son, and he was followed five years later by their last child.  By the time of the census in 1891 the family was living in the Wandsworth & Clapham area of London.  Curiously their surname was recorded with an additional e and the ages of both Thomas and Elizabeth were noted the same as they were ten years earlier.  Thomas Collette was 42, and his wife Elizabeth Collette was 40, whereas they would have been 52 and 50.

 

 

 

By that time in their life, the couple’s two eldest children would have been 25 and 24 respectively, and were no longer living with Thomas and Elizabeth.  The children who were living there were Alice Collette, age 20, Amos Collette who was 13, Rose Collette who was 11, Victor Collette who was nine, and Harold Collette who was four years old.  The couple’s other absent child, Otto Francis Collett, age 14, was living separately close by in the same Wandsworth & Clapham area.

 

 

 

However, something strange happened to the family before the end of the decade, because Thomas and Elizabeth were not recorded together at the time of the census in 1901, and Elizabeth was living in the village of Shoreham, just north of Sevenoaks in Kent.  She was described as Elizabeth Forty Collett, age 56 (sic) from Stow-on-the-Wold and, although she was married, she was living on her own means, with just two of her children.  They were naval seaman Otto Francis Keil Collett, age 24 from London, and Amos Thomas Collett, age 22, a joiner also from London.

 

 

 

To supplement her income, Elizabeth had two boarders staying with her at Shoreham Street, and they were St George Bargise, a widow of 55 who was a dentist from Mauritius, and Eugene Lloyd age 68 who was also from Mauritius.

 

 

 

Where Thomas Collett was at that time, has not been determined, and nor has the whereabouts of his two youngest children, even though it is known that Victor was still alive in 1911.

 

 

 

14O8

Cecilia A E Collett

Born in 1865 at Upper Slaughter

 

14O9

Samuel Alfred H Collett

Born in 1866 at Upper Slaughter

 

14O10

Alice K Collett

Born in 1870 at Reading

 

14O11

Otto Francis Keil Collett

Born in 1876 at Brixton

 

14O12

Amos Thomas Collett

Born in 1877 at Brixton

 

14O13

Rosella N Collett

Born in 1879 at Peckham

 

14O14

Victor Collett

Born in 1881 at Camberwell

 

14O15

Harold Collett

Born in 1886 at

 

 

 

 

14N6

Harriett Collett was born at Upper Slaughter where she was baptised on 26.06.1842 and where in 1851 she was 9 years of age.  Ten years later she was working as a housemaid aged 18 at the home of Edward Francis Witts the Rector and Justice of the Peace Rector for Upper Slaughter. Harriett was just one of eight servants serving the Rector, his wife and their only son.

 

 

 

Rector Edward Francis Witts was the son of the Reverend Francis Edward Witts the author of “The Diary of a Cotswold Parson”.

 

 

 

 

14N7

Sarah Collett was born at Upper Slaughter around 1846 as confirmed by the 1851 Census in which she was aged 4 and living with her parents at Upper Slaughter.  Ten years on at the age of 15, Sarah was noted in the census that year as being a carpenter like her brother Thomas and father Thomas who was a master carpenter.

 

 

 

 

14N10

Amy Collett was born at Upper Slaughter around 1850 and was aged 1 in the 1851 Census for that village.  By 1861 Amy was listed in the census as being 13 and was living were her family at Upper Slaughter.

 

 

 

However, a further ten years on, and Amy now aged 21 and working as a housemaid was a visitor at the Upper Slaughter home of the Rector and Justice of the Peace Edward Francis Witts.  Curiously, ten years earlier Amy’s sister Harriett (above) had been in service there.

 

 

 

Also living and working there as a housemaid in April 1871 with Amy Collett was 18 years old Sarah Anne Cambray the eldest daughter of Jane Elizabeth Collett (Ref. 33N13) and James Cambray.

 

 

 

 

14N11

JOHN KYTE COLLETT was born at Longbridge House in Cowl Street, Shepton Mallet in 1836, the only son of Robert Hanman Collett of Bourton-on-the-Water and his wife Julia Speed of Shepton Mallet.  His second forename derived from his paternal grandmother’s maiden name – see Ref. 14L7. 

 

He was just two years old when his father died, following which his mother moved the family to live at a smaller property in Garston Street where John was five years old at the time of the Shepton Mallet census of 1841.  He was still living there in 1851 when he was 14 and attending the Grammar School in Charlton Road in the town.

 

 

 

On completing his education, John became an apprentice to a linen draper in Bristol, before rejoining his mother and sister Ann (below) who had left Shepton Mallet by then, and were living in Cardiff.  It was also in Cardiff that he opened his own grocery shop in St Mary Street, following his mother’s example when she transferred her grocery shop from Shepton Mallet to Cardiff a few years earlier.

 

 

 

By the time of the census in 1861, John K Collett, age 25 and from Shepton Mallet, was confirmed as living in Cardiff with his widowed mother Julia and his sister Ann.  In addition to his own business in St Mary Street in Cardiff, is also established that John also became a senior partner of the well-known firm of Collett, Whitefield and Co, wholesale provision merchants, trading internationally, much like many of his ancestors.

 

 

 

It was around eight years later, at the age of thirty-three that John Kyte Collett married Sarah Ann Orledge Reeves at Pilton Church near Shepton Mallet in 1869, she having been born there in 1841.  The marriage certificate described Sarah as the daughter of Thomas White Reeves, a yeoman, while John’s father was recorded as Robert Collett deceased.

 

 

 

Two years after they were married the childless couple were still living in Cardiff, when John K Collett was 35, and his wife Sarah A O Collett was 30.  It was at Penarth, to the south of Cardiff, that the couple were living five years later when their only child was born.

 

 

 

Five years after that, and on the occasion of the census in 1881, John and Sarah Collett were visiting the home of Sarah’s father Thomas White Reeves, the details of the day being as follows: 

Thomas White Reeves (Head of House), age 74 and from Pilton in Somerset, was a widower employing two men and one boy on his 100 acre East Town farm at Pilton.  Still living with him was his unmarried daughter Julia F Orledge Reeves, age 39 and also of Pilton, his grandson Thomas William Reeves, age 14 from Christchurch in New Zealand, his daughter Sarah Ann Orledge Collett, age 40 and born at Pilton, and her husband John Kyte Collett, a provisions merchant from Shepton Mallet, who was 45.  The household was completed by two domestic servants.

 

 

 

Back at the home of John and Sarah Collett at 20 Romilly Crescent at Llandaff near Cardiff was their five years old daughter Edith Collett and the details extracted from the 1881 census return for her are provided under her own reference.  Upon the publication during the following year of the Kelly’s Directory for 1882, the company of John Kyte Collett was listed as “Collett & Co, American and Canadian Importer of 235 Bute Street in Cardiff”.  However, by 1891 the company was trading under the name of “Collett and Isaacs of New Street in Cardiff”, although no record of either John or Sarah, or their daughter Edith, has been found in the census that year.

 

 

 

By the time of the census in 1901, provision merchant John K Collett from Shepton Mallet was 64, and living with him in Penarth was his wife Sarah A O Collett who was 60 and from Pilton.  It is assumed that their daughter Edith was married by that time, since there is no record of Edith Collett of Penarth and aged around 24 anyway in the census that year.  However, there were two likely candidates; Edith Brain and Edith Llewellyn, both of them born at Penarth, where they were also living.

 

 

 

Ten years later, John Kyte Collett, age 75, was still living in the Penarth area with his wife Sarah A O Collett who was 70.  It was over twenty-two after the census in April 1911 that John Kyte Collett died on 16.10.1933 at the age of 97, and it is also understood that he had continued working right up until that time.

 

 

 

One interesting story relating to him, is that schoolboy John Kyte Collett and his cousin, John Lewis who was also born at Cowl Street in Shepton Mallet and the founder of the modern-day John Lewis Partnership, were evicted on several occasions, together with many other children, from a field attached to Langhorne House (now St Paul’s School), which was then owned by Mr Garton, the owner of the Anglo Bavarian Brewery.

 

 

 

Much has been written about John Kyte Collett, but he is most notably known for the establishment of Collett Park in Shepton Mallet in 1906 which was the subject of a Collett reunion in June 2006 to celebrate the centenary of the park.  A photographic record of the weekend’s events can be found on this website in the folder entitled Shepton Mallet 2006.  An earlier Collett reunion took place in June 1996 and a written record of this event can be found in the folder entitled Shepton Mallet 1996.

 

 

 

14O16

EDITH COLLETT

Born in 1876 at Penarth

 

 

 

 

14N12

Ann Mary Collett was born in 1838 at Shepton Mallet, the only daughter of Robert Hanman Collett and Julia Speed.  It was also in the same year that she was born that Ann’s father died.  So by the time of the census in 1841 Ann Collett aged three years was living at Garston Street in Shepton Mallet with her widowed mother and older brother John (above).  Ten years later she and her family were still living there, when Ann was 13.

 

 

 

During the 1850s Ann’s mother took Ann to live in Cardiff, where her brother joined them following the completion of his apprenticeship.  And it was in Cardiff that the three of them were recorded in the census of 1861.  At that time Ann M Collett from Shepton Mallet was 23.

 

 

 

It was seven years later that she married baptist minister the Reverend James Cruickshank in 1868.  They had two children John, who was born in 1869 at Canton in Cardiff and Alice, who was born in 1870 at Tellcarn in Devon.  By the time of the 1871 Census the four of them were living with Ann’s mother Julia Collett at Canton in Cardiff.  Also living with them was 25 years old carpenter Fred Speed who had been born at Shepton Mallet, a nephew of Julia Collett nee Speed.

 

 

 

According to the census of 1881, Ann and James Cruickshank were living at Back Lane in Crewkerne on the boundary between Somerset and Dorset.  James was listed as a baptist minister who was 45 and born in Scotland, while Ann Mary was aged 43 and born at Shepton Mallet.  Their children were given listed as Alice Mary Cruickshank, who was born in 1870, Elsie Cruickshank, who was born in 1872; and James Ryland Cruickshank, who was born in March 1881.  See other Ryland references at 14I16 and 14M10.  Also living with them at the time of the census was Ann Mary’s widowed mother Julia Collett, who was 69 and from Shepton Mallet.

 

 

 

By 1891 only their son James R Cruickshank, age 10, was still living at Crewkerne with Ann M Cruickshank, age 53, and her husband James who was 55.  On that occasion the couple’s two daughters were both living and working in Cardiff, where Alice M Cruickshank was 21 and Elsie Cruickshank was 19.  It was Ann’s son James who eventually established a line of the Cruickshank family in New Zealand.  Ann Mary Cruickshank nee Collett died nine years later in 1900. 

 

 

 

 

14N13

Robert Dalby was born at Bourton-on-the Water in 1838.  He married Mary Barker of Leamington and in 1881 they were living at 87 Edward Street in Kings Norton south of Birmingham.  Robert was a painter aged 43 as was his wife Mary, and living with them were their children: Robert E Dalby born in 1863; Rosina F Dalby born in 1866; Frank M Dalby born in 1868; and Alfred E Dalby born in 1873.

 

 

 

 

14N14

Frances (Fanny) Jane Dalby was born at Shepton Mallet in 1842.  She married Edward John Jones of Hemel Hempstead around 1867.  He was a coal merchant employing five men and a boy and was born in 1841.  Fanny was confirmed in the 1881 Census as being aged 39 of Shepton Mallet.  Their children were:  Herbert Edward Jones born in 1868; Lillian Mary Jones born in 1870; Charles Collett Jones born in 1871; Edith F Jones born in 1873; John Edward Jones born in 1879, and all were born at Hemel Hempstead.  Also living with the family was Fanny’s 68 years old mother Elizabeth Kyte Dalby.

 

 

 

 

14N15

Joseph Collett was born at Condicote, to the west of Stow-on-the-Wold in 1847, and was the eldest child of George Collett of Bourton-on-the-Water and Elizabeth Emms of Hazelton.  Unlike his following two brothers, no baptism record for Joseph has yet been found, so the first recording on him was in the census of 1851 when he was three years old and living with his family at Lower Swell.  It was the census return that gave his place of birth as Condicote.

 

 

 

With no later record of Joseph having been found anywhere in the subsequent census returns, it may be safe to assume that he did not survive beyond childhood.

 

 

 

 

14N16

Oliver Emms Collett was born at Lower Swell in June 1849, where he was baptised on 15.07.1849, the second child of George Collett and his wife Elizabeth Emms.  In all of the later records in his life he was simply referred to as Oliver Emms, including the census of 1851 when he was two years old and living with his family at Lower Swell.  His place of birth on that occasion was recorded as Swell.

 

 

 

He was still living with his parents in 1861, but by which time the family had moved to Longborough near Condicote where Oliver’s older brother Joseph had been born.  The census that year recorded Oliver Collett, age 12, as the oldest of the three sons still living with George and Elizabeth Collett.  Ten years later Oliver was working for the Great Western Railway in Gloucester, and the census that year recorded him as Oliver Collett who was 22 and unmarried, and residing in the Barton St Mary district of the city.

 

 

 

It was his work on the railway that eventually took him north to Lancashire, where he met and married his wife Martha Finney around 1877.  Martha was born at Newton Le Willows in 1852 and was baptised at Newton-in-Makersfield on 29.08.1852, the daughter of John and Eliza Finney.  Not long after they were married the couple lived in for a short while in Liverpool, where their first child was born.

 

 

 

By the time of the census in 1881, the family had moved east to Widnes, and it was at 5 William Street that the three of them were living on that day.  Oliver Collett, age 32 and from Lower Swell, was a railway engine driver, his wife Martha, age 28, was from Newton-le-Willows, and their daughter Gertrude Collett was just one year. 

 

 

 

During the next ten years three more daughters were born into the family which, after living in Widnes for a very short while, moved the short distance to Garston on the north side of the River Mersey, to the south of Liverpool.  It was while they were living there that the next two children were born, and then towards to the end of the decade the family moved again, this time to nearby Toxteth where Oliver’s and Martha’s last daughter was born.

 

 

 

The family living in the Toxteth area in 1891 was made up of Oliver Collett, who was 41, Martha Collett, who was 38, and their four daughters Gertrude Collett who was 11, Ada M Collett who was eight, Martha Collett who was six years old, and Jane Collett who was still under one year old. 

 

 

 

Also at that same time in 1891, there were three other Colletts living in the Toxteth Park area, and they were Charles C Collett, age 40, Betsey M Collett, age 30, and Sarah Collett who was 22, although no connection to this family line has so far been found with any of these.

 

 

 

It was possibly through Oliver’s work on the railway that the family later moved eastwards to Cheadle in Cheshire, since it was there that the family was living in March 1901.  Oliver from Lower Swell was 52 and his occupation on that occasion was once again that of a railway engine driver, while his wife Martha was 48 and from Newton-le-Willows in Lancashire.  By that time only two of the couple’s four daughters were still living with them, and they were Gertrude Collett, age 21, who was a dressmaker, and Martha Collett who was 16 and an apprentice milliner.

 

 

 

After another ten years Oliver and Martha were living in the Stockport area not far from Cheadle, and still living with the couple were the same two unmarried daughters.  The census return for April 1911 listed the family as Oliver Collett, age 61, Martha Collett, age 57, and daughters Gertrude Collett who was 31, and Martha Collett who was 26.

 

 

 

Of their other two daughters, no record of Jane has been found at all, which may suggest that she did not survive beyond childhood.  There are, however, records of two Ada Mary who were born at Garston in 1882 and both of them were living in the West Derby area of Liverpool in 1911.  The first was married to John Joseph Newman and had a daughter Kathleen who was born in 1907, while the second was married to Robert Thurston Bushell with two sons, Robert Edgar born in 1902 and William Samuel born in 1909.

 

 

 

14O17

Gertrude Collett

Born in 1879 at Liverpool

 

14O18

Ada Mary Collett

Born in 1882 at Garston, Merseyside

 

14O19

Martha Collett

Born in 1884 at Garston, Merseyside

 

14O20

Jane Collett

Born in 1890 at Toxteth Park, Liverpool

 

 

 

 

14N17

George Collett was born at Lower Swell on 26.08.1854 and was baptised there on 19.11.1854, the third son of George and Elizabeth Collett.  At the time of the census in 1861 George’s family was living at Longborough to the west of Stow-on-the-Wold, when George Collett from Lower Swell was six years old.  During the next decade his family moved south to Cirencester, where George Collett, age 16, was living with his family at the time of the census in 1871.  It was around three years after that when George became a married man.

 

 

 

Like his older brother Oliver (above), George also worked for the Great Western Railway and it was following his move to Swindon that he met and married Kezia Duck at Swindon in November 1874.  Kezia was born at Wroughton near Swindon in November 1856, the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Duck.  She was exactly 18 years old when she married George, whose own age was recorded as 20 years and 3 months.  Once married the couple settled in the Stratton area of the town where their first three children were born prior to the census in 1881.  On that occasion the family was recorded residing in a dwelling on the High Street in Stratton St Margaret, Swindon.  George Collett, age 26 and from Lower Swell, was employed as a railway goods guard.

 

 

 

Listed at the address with him, was his wife Kezia Collett, age 24 and from Wroughton near Swindon, and their three children Arthur Collett who was six and attending the local school, Lilley Collett who was five, and Edith Collett who was two years old, who were all born at Stratton.  Also living with the family was thirty-one years old boarder Joseph Green of Oldbury near Birmingham, who was a carpenter.

 

 

 

Kezia was very likely with-child on the day of the census in 1881, since later that same year she gave birth to a second son, after the family had moved to Gorse Hill in Swindon, and he was followed by a further three children who were also born at Gorse Hill.  The Gorse Hill census of 1891 listed the larger family as George Collett 36, Kezia Collett 34, Arthur Collett 17, Edith Collett 12, George Collett 9, Ernest Collett 5, Beatrice Collett who was two, and Elsie Collett who was not yet one year old.  Curiously the census return listed all of the children in error as having been born at Gorse Hill.

 

 

 

The couple’s missing daughter Lilley Collett, who was fifteen years old and from Swindon, had finished her schooling and had entered into domestic service with a family in the Hungerford & Lambourne registration district, across the county boundary in Berkshire, where she was recorded as Lily Collett.

 

 

 

The majority of the family was still living at Gorse Hill in March 1901.  George Collett of Lower Swell was 46 and was employed by the Great Western Railway as a Goods Guards.  Kezia Collett of Wroughton was 44, and living with them were their three youngest children.  They were Ernest Collett, age 15, Beatrice Collett 13, and Elsie Collett who was 11, all three of them confirmed as born at Gorse Hill.  By that time the couple’s two oldest daughters were married, while no trace of their eldest son Arthur has been found in Great Britain in 1901, nor again in 1911.

 

 

 

The couple’s second eldest son George Collett junior, had already left the family home and, like his father, was in the employment of the Great Western Railway and was living in Reading by March 1901.  The youngest male member of the family, Ernest, had also left school by that time and was working as a ‘coll boy’.

 

 

 

Over the next few years all of the children left the family home to find their own way in the world, and by the end of the first decade of the new century George’s and Kezia’s son George had returned from Reading and was once again living with them in Swindon.  At the time of the Swindon census in April 1911, George Collett from Lower Swell was 56, his wife Kezia Collett from Wroughton was 53, and their unmarried son George Henry Collett was 29.

 

 

 

14O21

Arthur Collett

Born in 1874 at Stratton St Margaret

 

14O22

Lilley Amelia Collett

Born in 1875 at Stratton St Margaret

 

14O23

Edith Emily Collett

Born in 1878 at Stratton St Margaret

 

14O24

George Henry Collett

Born in 1881 at Gorse Hill, Swindon

 

14O25

Ernest Albert Collett

Born in 1885 at Gorse Hill, Swindon

 

14O26

Beatrice Frances Collett

Born in 1887 at Gorse Hill, Swindon

 

14O27

Elsie Frances Collett

Born in 1889 at Gorse Hill, Swindon

 

 

 

 

14N18

James Collett was born at Lower Swell in 1859, the son of George and Elizabeth Collett.  Not long after he was born his father’s work as a farm bailiff resulted in the family first moving to nearby Longborough, where James Collett was two years old at the time of the census in 1861, and later to Cirencester where they were living in 1871 when he was 12.

 

 

 

Around the end of the 1870s James married Mary who was born at Warminster in Wiltshire in 1855.  It would appear from the next three census records that they did not have any children.  In 1881 they were living at Upton Scudamore, just north of Warminster, where James Collett gave an incorrect age and place of birth when he said he was 24 and from Stow-on-the-Wold.  He would appear to have inflated his age out of embarrassment of being much younger than his wife Mary who was 26.  At that time he was working as a carter and an agricultural labourer.

 

 

 

They were still living in the Warminster area ten years later when James was 32 and Mary was 35, but ten years after that they were living in the Bath area of Somerset.  By then James Collett, age 42 and from Lower Swell, was a miller’s labourer, while his wife Mary was 46.  It was also in the same area that the couple was living in April 1911 when James from Lower Swell was 52 and Mary from Warminster was 55.

 

 

 

 

14N19

Mary Collett was born at Eyford within the parish of Upper Slaughter during 1862, the only known daughter of George Collett and his wife Elizabeth Emms.  Before 1870 her parents took the family to living in the Cirencester area, where they were living in 1871 when Mary Collett was eight years old.   Ten years after that, the next census in 1881 recorded Mary Collett of Eyford as 18 and with no occupation, when she was living at Cerney Fields in South Cerney with her parents and younger brother Frederick (below).

 

 

 

By 1891 Mary Collett, age 27 and from Eyford, was living and working in the Wallingford registration district in Oxfordshire.  Only one other person with the name Collett was recorded in that area on that occasion, and she was Amelia Collett who was 16 and from Eynsham whose family details are contained in Part 28, Ref. 28O78.  Whatever happened to Mary Collett after 1891 is not known, but her absence from the next two census returns under the name of Mary Collett may suggest that she was married.

 

 

 

 

14N20

Frederick Collett was born at Eyford just north of Upper Slaughter in 1865, the youngest child of George and Elizabeth Collett, as confirmed in the 1871 and 1881 Censuses when he was five years old at Cirencester and 15 years of age while living at Cerney Fields in South Cerney with his parents and only sister Mary (above).  Even at the age of 15 he was already in work, his first job being that of a plough boy, although he later became a carter working a farm.

 

 

 

The only Frederick Collett born within the county of Gloucestershire in the census of 1891, was living and working in the Stretford district of Manchester.  This may well have been Frederick from Eyford, since his older brother Oliver (above) and his family were living in Lancashire at that time.  However, it is established that he was still living in the Cirencester area towards the middle of the 1890s.

 

 

 

Frederick Collett married Minnie Midwinter at St Matthews Church in the village of Coates, near Cirencester, on 25.12.1897.  The parish register recorded that Frederick Collett was 31 and a carter of South Cerney, and the son of George Collett, farm bailiff.  Minnie was born at Aldsworth in 1874, and was the daughter of agricultural labourer John Midwinter of Aldsworth and his wife Sarah of Sherborne.  In 1881 Minnie was six years old when she was living with her parents and her two siblings George Midwinter and Rosetta Midwinter at Aldsworth.

 

 

 

The couple’s first child was possibly a honeymoon baby, and was born during the year following their marriage, at a time when Frederick and Minnie were living at South Cerney.  Shortly after the birth, the family moved to Ampney Crucis, where their second child was born. 

 

 

 

The census in March 1901 for Ampney Crucis listed the family as Frederick Collett, age 35 and from Eyford, who was a carter working on a farm, his wife Minnie who was 26 and from Aldsworth, and their two children Mabel Collett, who was two years old and had been born at South Cerney, and Frederick Collett who was just three months old, who had been born after the family had settled in Ampney Crucis.

 

 

 

It would appear from the next census in 1911 that Frederick and Minnie’s eldest daughter Mabel did not survive beyond childhood.  It may have been this loss to the family that prompted the move away from Ampney Crucis, since by March 1911 they were living within the Winchcombe area of Gloucestershire.  Also by that time the family had been extended with three additional children.  So the full family was then made up of Frederick Collett, age 45, Minnie Collett 36, Frederick George Collett who was 10, Gertrude Ethel Collett who was seven, Elsie Collett who was three, and Phyllis Mary Collett who was one year old.  Once again Frederick’s place of birth was confirmed as Eyford.

 

 

 

It was around six or seven years later Frederick Collett senior died at the age of 52, which could place the time of his death in the latter half of 1917 or during the early months of 1918.

 

 

 

14O28

Mabel Collett

Born in 1898 at South Cerney; died b/f 1911

 

14O29

Frederick George Collett

Born in December 1900 at Ampney Crucis

 

14O30

Gertrude Ethel Collett

Born in 1903

 

14O31

Elsie Collett

Born in 1907

 

14O32

Phyllis Mary Collett

Born in 1909

 

 

 

 

14N21

Thomas Collett Marshall was born at Bourton-on-the-Water in either late 1819 or early 1820.  Shortly after he was born his mother Elizabeth Marshall nee Collett died and his father married Anne Collett his sister-in-law.

 

 

 

It would appear that Thomas later married and had a son Charles Marshall born at Bourton in 1854.  By 1881 Thomas was a widower aged 61 and was a hawker with his 26 years old married son Charles who was also a hawker.  At that time (April 1881) the pair were staying at the Dove Inn in St James Street in Norwich, the establishment of licenced victualler John Ford of Norwich.

 

 

 

 

14N22

Thomas Collett was born at Bourton-on-the-Water and was baptised there on 20.03.1832.  He married Ann E Walker of London in 1864 and the marriage produced twelve children, all of which were born after the family had moved to Dudley near Birmingham. 

 

 

 

At the time of the next census in April 1871 the family was living at Dudley where Thomas was 39, his wife Ann was 31, and their child by then were Thomas aged 5, Harriet aged 4, and Howson who was under one year old.  Their missing daughter Amelia had died during the previous year.

 

 

 

Seven more children were added to the family over the next ten years.  So by 1881 the family living at St James Road in Dudley were described as follows.  Thomas 49 was a gas manager from Bourton and his wife Ann Eliza was 41 of London, and their children were Thomas 15, Harriet 14, the twins Mary and Lillian aged 8, Eleanor 7, Edgar 5, Raymond 3 and two years old Harold Collett.

 

 

 

Supporting the family were local girl Esther Rollason 23, a cook/domestic and Rachel Margaret Brookes aged 20 a nurse/domestic from Bushbury in Staffordshire.

 

 

 

The family was extended by two further children after April 1881 before Thomas Collett died in 1888.  Following her husband’s death Ann moved to Hastings on the south coast and it was there that she was living with some of her daughters in 1891.

 

 

 

The census that year recorded that she was living in the St Mary in the Castle district of the town and that Ann was 51.  The daughters who were all listed as having been born at Dudley were Harriet 24, Lillian 18, Eleanor 17, and Annie who was eight years old.

 

 

 

It seems likely that Ann later moved along the coast to Worthing where she was living with just her daughter Annie in 1901.

 

 

 

It may be interest that there are details of many more Colletts who were born at Dudley contained within Part 48 – The Dudley West Midlands Line, although there is only a tenuous link to this family line.

 

 

 

14O33

Thomas Collett

Born in 1865

 

14O34

Harriet Rose Collett

Born in 1867

 

14O35

Amelia Frances Collett

Born in 1868

 

14O36

Howson Collett

Born in 1870

 

14O37

Mary Augusta Collett                 twin

Born in 1872 at Dudley

 

14O38

Lillian Louise Collett                twin

Born in 1872

 

14O39

Eleanor Frances Collett

Born in 1874

 

14O40

Edgar Howson Collett

Born in 1875

 

14O41

Raymond Collett

Born in 1877

 

14O42

Harold Collett

Born in 1879

 

14O43

Annie Adelaide Collett

Born in 1881

 

14O44

Annie Kathleen Collett

Born in 1882

 

 

 

 

14N23

Mary Elizabeth Collett was born at Bourton-on-the-Water on 28.03.1833 where she died the following year in 1834.  (see Headstone Epitaphs)

 

 

 

 

14N24

John Collett was born at Bourton-on-the-Water on 17.10.1835.  He married (1) Sarah Ann Charles in 1864 with whom he had four children.  The first two children were apparently born while the couple were living in Stratford-on-Avon, and the second pair were born at Aston in Birmingham.

 

 

 

It seems very likely that John and his older brother Thomas both moved north to the Birmingham area, as Thomas’s children where all born at Dudley.

 

 

 

John’s wife Sarah was born in 1837 but tragically died seven years after they were married in 1871.  Four years later John married (2) Cecilia Helen Carr in 1875 and the marriage produced a further four children for John.  Cecilia was born on 02.05.1842 at Stowmarket in Suffolk.

 

 

 

By 1881 John and the family had moved to London.  In the census that year he was listed as John Collett aged 45 of Bourton and was married to Cecilia H Collett aged 38 and born at Stow Market.  Their place of resident at that time was Alleyn Park at Kingwood Lawn in Camberwell, and John’s occupation was given as that of a hop merchant.

 

 

 

Listed living with their parents were William Henry Collett 11, John S Collett 10, and Cecilia D Collett 4, Bernard Collett 2, Aubrey R Collett ten months all three having been born at Camberwell.

 

 

 

The house would have been a busy place as, in addition to the seven members of the family, there was also a visitor 26 years old Alice Bromley from Stoke Poges, and two servants, housemaid Elizabeth Harwood 24 of Southwark and nurse Helen Pepper 20 of Abingdon in Berkshire.

 

 

 

The two oldest members of John and Sarah’s original family were missing from the family home in 1881.  Emily was a boarder at The Ferns School for Girls in Islington, while Oliver was attending a grammar school in Essex.  This perhaps indicates that the family was fairly well set up financially.

 

 

 

It may be interesting to note that another John Collett (Ref. 33O19) who was born at Bourton in 1837 was also living nearby in Camberwell at that same time in 1881 as was a cousin Thomas Collett (Ref. 14N4).  All three men were of a very similar age being born between 1835 and 1838.

 

 

 

Just after the turn of the century John was aged 65 and was living with his wife Cecilia and their four youngest children at Lambeth where he was recorded as being a shop merchant.  Cecilia was confirmed as being aged 58 and born at Stowmarket.

 

 

 

Curiously ten years later in April 1911, John was not listed in the census return as living with his wife on that occasion.  Instead Cecilia Helen Collett of Stowmarket aged sixty-eight was living in the Camberwell district of London.

 

 

 

Meanwhile her husband John Collett of Bourton-on-the-Water, who was seventy-five, was living in the Wandsworth area of London with his younger sister Susan Beale Collett (below).

 

 

 

John died in 1919 and was buried at Bourton where he was joined four years later by his wife and forty-five years later by his daughter Cecilia. (see Headstone Epitaphs)

 

 

 

Today a single tombstone marks the graves and carries the following inscription “In Loving Memory of John Collett son of Thomas and Mary born October 17th 1835 died at Dorking October 12th 1919.  Also of his wife Cecilia Helen Collett born May 2nd 1848 died April 9th 1923.  Also of their daughter Cecilia Dora Ransford Collett born November 27th 1876 died January 28th 1964”

 

 

 

14O45

Emily Ann Collett

Born in 1866

 

14O46

Oliver Charles Collett

Born in 1867

 

14O47

William Henry Collett

Born in 1869

 

14O48

John Sydney Collett

Born in 1870

 

14O49

Cecilia Dora Ransford Collett

Born on 27.11.1876

 

14O50

Bernard Collett

Born in 1878

 

14O51

Aubrey Ransford Collett

Born on 21.05.1880

 

14O52

Arthur Stanley Collett

Born in 1881

 

 

 

 

14N25

Ann Elizabeth Collett was born at Bourton-on-the-Water on 01.01.1837 and she died there on 26.04.1867.  She was buried at St Lawrence’s Church in Bourton in the family grave alongside her three sisters, Emily Collett, Mary Henrietta Collett, and Esther Ransford Collett.  (see Headstone Epitaphs)

 

 

 

 

14N26

Arthur Collett, who may have also been William Arthur Collett, was born at Bourton-on-the-Water in 1838.  He married Miss Hobbs with whom he had three children before he died shortly after his fortieth birthday in 1879.  Curiously to date, no record of the family has so far been discovered within the census in 1881, or any subsequent census returns.

 

 

 

14O53

Mary Henrietta Susan Collett

Born in 1871

 

14O54

Sally Ransford Collett

Born in 1874

 

14O55

William Arthur Collett

Born in 1876

 

 

 

 

14N27

Emily Collett was born at Bourton-on-the-Water in 1839/40 and she died there on 06.02.1866.  She was buried in the cemetery of St Lawrence’s Church in the family grave with her sisters Ann Elizabeth Collett, Emily Collett and Esther Ransford Collett and a gravestone carries the names of all four girls.  (see Headstone Epitaphs)

 

 

 

 

14N28

Mary Henrietta Collett was born at Bourton-on-the-Water on 14.04.1841 and she died there on 08.05.1884.  She was buried in the family grave at St Lawrence’s Church in Bourton together with her three sisters, Ann Elizabeth Collett, Emily Collett, and Esther Ransford Collett.  (see Headstone Epitaphs)

 

 

 

 

14N29

Susan Beale Collett was born at Bourton-on-the-Water on 04.12.1842.  She never married and sometime during the 1870s she assumed the name of Susan Beale Collett following the second marriage of her mother to John Beale. 

 

 

 

The 1881 Census confirmed that Susan was aged 38 and that she was living with her mother at the Butcher’s Shop in Bourton where they were both listed as retired.

 

 

 

Twenty years later Susan B Collett of Bourton was aged 58 and was living in the Lambeth area of London where, interestingly her nephew Aubrey R Collett was living at that time – see below.

 

 

 

By April 1911 Susan was living within the Wandsworth registration district of London under her full name.  The census return confirmed that Susan Beale Collett was sixty-eight, and that staying with her on that occasion was her older brother John Collett from Bourton-on-the-Water.

 

 

 

Susan died in 1928 and shares a tombstone with her nephew Aubrey Ransford Collett (Ref. 14O51) who died in 1936.  Her inscription simply reads “Susan Beale Collett 4th December 1842 – 31st January 1928”  (see Headstone Epitaphs)

 

 

 

 

14N30

Esther Ransford Collett was born at Bourton-on-the-Water in 1844 where she died two years later in 1846.  She was buried at St Lawrence’s Church in Bourton in the family grave with her three sisters, Ann Elizabeth Collett, Emily Collett, and Mary Henrietta Collett.  (see Headstone Epitaphs)

 

 

 

 

14N31

Alphea James Collett, listed as a daughter in 1881, was born at Bourton-on-the-Water in 1846 and she died in 1903.

 

 

 

 

14N32

Emma Elizabeth Collett was baptised at Bourton-on-the-Water on 13.06.1838, the eldest child of John and Mary Collett.  Her mother died when Emma was eight years old, followed two years later by her father, at which time Emma and her brother Robert (below) went to live with their grandfather Robert Strong at Stow-on-the-Wold.

 

 

 

Unfortunately when Emma’s father died, his second wife and her son inherited the majority of the Collett family estate, with a legacy of just thirty-five pounds being left to Emma and her three siblings.

 

 

 

 

14N33

Ann Mary Collett was born at Aston Blank (known as Cold Aston today) on 18.09.1841.  Upon the death of Ann’s mother and then her father when she was just five years and seven years of age respectively Ann Mary and her brother Thomas (below) were taken into the care of their grandmother Ann Collett nee Tilling (Ref. 14L11).

 

 

 

Sadly when the children’s grandmother died only a year later in 1849, Ann and Thomas were placed in the care of the Muller School for orphans in Bristol.  This happened on 1st November 1849 and Ann stayed there until she left on 22nd June 1861, at which time she entered into domestic service with Mrs Welch of Lewisham in London.

 

 

 

Less than four years later she married John Russell at Southwark on 27.02.1865.  He was generally referred to as Philip and together they had six children born between 1865 and 1880.

 

 

 

All her life Ann had doubts about when and where she was born.  In 1909 she decided to try to seek confirmation by writing to the Muller School for a copy of her birth certificate.  At the time of writing she was living a 13 Amberley Grove off Morland Road in East Croydon.  The letter is transcribed below.

 

 

 

Sir, the liberty I take in writing is to ask you if you have the certificate of my birth, if so can you send me it.  I entered MT house in 1849 and left in 1861 for service.  I have tried to get it from Bourton Parish but the Rector has only two of the family, he has neither mine or my brother’ Thomas who was also at the school.  Yours expectantly Ann Mary Russell – maiden name Collett.

 

 

 

In April 1911 Ann Mary Russell and her husband John Russell were confirmed as living in Croydon, when Ann was sixty-nine and John was sixty-seven.

 

 

 

Ann Mary died on 06.12.1921 at the age of 80 years while she was still a resident of Croydon.

 

 

 

Ann Mary Collett was the great great grandmother of Rita Garnett who kindly provided the new information that has enabled this family line to be updated.

 

 

 

 

14N34

Robert Collett was baptised at Bourton-on-the-Water on 22.06.1843.  Following the death of his mother when aged just three years, and his father two years later, Robert and his sister Emma Elizabeth (above) went to live with their grandfather Robert Strong at Stow-on-the-Wold.  No trace of Robert has been found in the national census of 1881.

 

 

 

 

14N35

Thomas Collett was born at Burford in Oxfordshire on 08.01.1846.  Thomas’s mother died when he was only four months old and she was followed two years later by his father.  At that time in 1848 Thomas, together with his sister Ann (above), went to live with their grandmother Ann Collett nee Tilling, but tragically she died in 1849.

 

 

 

Following the death, Thomas and Ann were placed in an orphanage in Bristol that was the Muller School.  The entered together on 1st November 1849 and Thomas was the first to leave in 1860 when he went to live with his grandfather Robert Strong at Stow-on-the-Wold.

 

 

 

 

14O6

John William Collett was born at Atch Lench in 1869, the sixth child and only son of John and Hannah Collett.  It was at Atch Lench that he lived most of his early life, where he was one year old in 1871, and 10 years old in 1881, although in the census that year his place of birth was given as Church Lench.  Also not long after the census in 1871 his mother passed away, so he spent the next twenty years living with his widowed father, both of them being agricultural labourers.

 

 

 

John was still living with his at the time of the Atch Lench census in 1891 when he was 21, but during the following year he married Sarah from Arrow in Alcester.  It was also around that same time that his father passed away.  By the time of the census in March 1901 Sarah had presented John with three children.  The Atch Lench census that year listed the family as agricultural labourer John Collett, age 31, his wife Sarah who was 33, their son John who was seven, and daughters Elsie and Margaret who were six and three.  All of the occupants of the household, except Sarah, had been born at Atch Lench.

 

 

 

Sarah, from Arrow in Warwickshire, may well have been expecting her fourth child on the day of the census in 1901, since later that same year she gave birth to another daughter.  A further child followed many years later, so by April 1911 the family still living at Atch Lench was made up as follows.  John was 41, Sarah was 42, their son John was 17, Margaret was 13, Bertha was nine years old, and baby Ethel was only four months old.  No record of daughter Elsie has been found, and she would have been around sixteen years of age.

 

 

 

14P1

John Collett

Born in 1893 at Atch Lench

 

14P2

Elsie Collett

Born in 1895 at Atch Lench

 

14P3

Margaret Collett

Born in 1897 at Atch Lench

 

14P4

Bertha Collett

Born in 1901 at Atch Lench

 

14P5

Ethel Collett

Born in December 1910 at Atch Lench

 

 

 

 

14O8