PART SEVENTEEN

The Maldon Essex Line – 1550 to 1930

Updated December 2009

This is the family line of Clara Elizabeth Collett (Ref. 17O4)

17D1	RICHARD COLLETT died in 1557
	17E1	HENRY COLLETT		Date of birth unknown
	17E2	John Collett		Died in 1588 at Maldon
17E1	HENRY COLLETT was an ironmonger and glover in London and from 1562 was an apprentice to John Carre of Essex. He served as a burgess on the Maldon Town Council and in 1567 he married Barbara Gilson who died in 1571. Henry died in 1588.
	17F1	HENRY COLLETT		Born in 1570
17F1	HENRY COLLETT was born in 1570 and was an ironmonger like his father. He later became a freeman and cutler of Canterbury. He married (1) Ann Turner a widow and (2) Agnes who died in 1620. He then married (3) Margaret Sharp that same year with whom he had a daughter Mary Collett. His two sons were a product of the first marriage.
	17G1	Thomas Collett	Date of birth unknown
	17G2	HENRY COLLETT	Date of birth unknown
	17G3	Mary Collett	Date of birth unknown
17G1	Thomas Collett
	17H1	Anne Collett		Date of birth unknown
	17H2	Samuel Collett		Date of birth unknown
17G2	HENRY COLLETT married Christian Granger of Eltham in Kent in 1617.
	17H3	HENRY COLLETT		Born in 1618
17G3	Mary Collett married Kendrick Lake
17H3	HENRY COLLETT was born in 1618 and married Elizabeth Harrison the daughter of Lancelot Harrison Rector of Orlestone in Kent. Henry of Stepney was initially an ironmonger and followed in his grandfather’s footsteps as freeman and cutler of Canterbury. He later became citizen and white baker of London. He died in 1676.
	17I1	JOHN COLLETT		Born in 1642
	17I2	Lancelot Collett		Born in 1652
	17I3	Mary Collett		Born in 1656
17I1	JOHN COLLETT was born in 1642 and was a glover and married Mary Holloway. She was the daughter of Nicholas Holloway a cloth merchant and citizen of London. John Collett was a glover of St Leonard’s in Shoreditch. He was also a wealthy dyer and was able to give his children a good education. He was a member of the Petty France Church and had been one of the original trustees of the Particular Baptist Fund. John Collett died in 1698.
	17J1	John Collett		Infant death
	17J2	Sarah Collett		Infant death
	17J3	Joseph Collett		Born in 1673
	17J4	SAMUEL COLLETT		Born in 1682
	17J5	John Collett		Died in 1720
	17J6	Mary Collett		Date of birth unknown
17I2	Lancelot Collett was born in 1652 and he married Elizabeth Blanchard of St Dunstan’s in East London. Lancelot of Stepney died in 1682.
	17J7	Henry Collett		Date of birth unknown
17I3	Mary Collett was in 1656 and she married James Pope.
17J3	Joseph Collett was born in 1673 and married Mary Ross. Following Mary’s death in 1710, Joseph accepted an appointment by the East India Company as deputy governor at York Fort in Sumatra. He sailed on the ship Jane in 1711 which fell into French hands on its way to Rio de Janeiro. He did however secure his release and that of the ship and its cargo and crew by means of a ransom bill payable from London.
	The following year he arrived at Madras on 24^th May, at Bantal on 23^rd July and eventually at York Fort at Bencoolen in Sumatra on 1^st September 1712. It was there that he was appointed Governor of Bencoolen and was instrumental in restoring order and arranged for a new fort to be built.
	Later that year he wrote to Sir Gilbert Heathcote the Lord Mayor of London, one of many letters that he wrote. The book “The Letter Books of Joseph Collett” written by Clara Collett (Ref. 17O4) was published in 1933.
	Two years later he moved to Fort Marlborough on the west coast of Sumatra and a further two years later to Fort St George in Madras where he was The President. Over the years he made a fortune through his trading and business dealings and was able to make allowances for his daughters. The girls were educated and supported in England all this time by Joseph’s sister-in-law Mary Collett, the wife of Samuel Collett (below) his brother.
	Joseph’s son John Collett sailed out of England in 1714 to join his father but died two years later. Four years later Joseph returned to England on 8^th January 1720 and settled at Hertford Castle in the town of Hertford with daughters Henrietta and Mary where he retired in 1721.
	Joseph Collett died in 1725 and was buried at Bunhill Fields where his monument still stands today. He was referred to in the book “The English Baptists” by Underwood as detailed below.
	Joseph Collett was a close friend of Nathaniel Hodges with whom he went to school. He inherited his father’s dyeworks and he and his family moved to the Artillery Lane Church where Hodges had become pastor. Due to the wars around that time the dyeworks business collapsed and his creditors had to accept seven shillings and two pence in the pound.
	As indicated above he became Governor of Madras, a post that enabled him to earn a considerable fortune. By the time he was 47 he had made enough money to give each of his daughters five thousands as a wedding gift, and to purchase a country estate, and to stand for Parliament.
	He retired in 1721 and, back in London, he transferred his membership to the Barbican Church. He died four years later leaving fifty pounds each to Joseph Burroughs and Isaac Kimber. The self-penned inscription on his tomb in Bunhill Fields reveals his semi-Arian sympathies in the phrase, ‘The gift of the only and only supreme God the Father, by the ministration of His Son Jesus Christ’.
	17K1	Elizabeth Collett		Date of birth unknown
	17K2	John Collett		Born in 1696; died in 1716
	17K3	Henrietta Collett		Date of birth unknown
	17K4	Mary Collett		Date of birth unknown
	17K5	Ann Collett		Date of birth unknown
17J4	SAMUEL COLLETT was born in 1682, a skinner by trade, who married Mary Curtis. Mary died in 1720 while Samuel lived to be over ninety when he died in 1773.
	17K6	John Collett		Born in 1708
	17K7	Joseph Collett		Born in 1709
	17K8	Mary Collett		Born in 1715
	17K9	Samuel Collett		Date of birth unknown
17J5	John Collett was a merchant and died in 1720 in Persia.
17J6	Mary Collett married Doctor J Quinry
17J7	Henry Collett married Elinor Howard the widow of Mr R Howard. Henry was of the Bank of England and a dyer who died in 1738. Elinor died six years earlier in 1732.
17K1	Elizabeth Collett married George Littell with whom she had two daughters, Rebecca and Elizabeth. The second daughter Elizabeth Littell went on to marry Sir R Clarke and the married produced a son John.
17K2	John Collett was born in 1696 and at the aged of 18 in sailed out to Sumatra to live with his father at Fort Marlborough. Two years later in 1716 John moved to Madras with his father who had now been appointed President of Fort St George and it was there that John tragically died at just 20 years of age.
	During his short life John wrote many letters to his older sister Elizabeth back in England, who he referred to as Eliza. These letters featured in a book compiled by author Clara Elizabeth Collett.
17K3	Henrietta Collett married William Blackford of Holyncote Court at Selworthy in Somerset, just west of Minehead. Their daughter Henrietta, who was born in 1727 died on 16.12.1733 at just 6 years of age. The date of birth of the child coincides with the death of Henrietta her mother. A tablet in the Selworthy Church lists her passing as 13.09.1727. The same tablet also lists the passing of her husband William and their daughter Henrietta. The tablet also refers to Henrietta’s father Joseph Collett late of Hertford Castle.
17K4	Mary Collett married Richard Warren of Marsden in Hertfordshire. The married produced two sons, Arthur Warren and Collett Warren. Mary died prior to 1733.
17K5	Ann Collett married Edward Leeds from Croxton near St Neots was a member of the Inner Temple and at sergeant at law. The couple had four children: Anne Leeds who married John Barnardiston and had a son Nathaniel; Henrietta Leeds who married John Howard who had a son John; Edward Leeds and Joseph Leeds whose own son became Sir George Leeds.
17K6	John Collett was born in 1708 and became a doctor. He married Sophia Brice and they lived at Leyden Hall and Newbury in Berkshire. They had four sons all of whom tragically died as infants. Their only daughter Mary died in 1756.
17K7	Joseph Collett was born in 1709 and he married three times. He married (1) Dorothy Turner, (2) Sarah Morson, and (3) Ann Moreton. Joseph died in 1785.
17K8	Mary Collett was born in 1715. She married Mr R Neave who died in 1763 followed by Mary in 1778.
17K9	Samuel Collett whose date of birth is not known married Sarah Lascelles around 1752. Samuel was a merchant of Leadenhall Street in the City of London. He died in 1774 at Newbury.
	17L1	a son who died in 1755		Born circa 1753
	17L2	Sarah Collett		Born in 1755
	17L3	Sophia Collett		Born in 1757
17L2	Sarah Collett was born in 1755. She married William Barker in 1771 and died in 1808. William died in 1832.
	17M1	Collett Barker		Born in 1784
	17M2	Elizabeth Barker		Born in 1787
	17M3	Mary Barker		Born in 1792
17L3	Sophia Collett was born in 1757. She married Charles Dobson of Quay Hall in Cambridge. She died in 1787 and Charles in 1801.
	17M4	Sophia Dobson		Born in 1775
	17M5	Charles Collett Dobson		Born in 1775
	17M6	John Dobson		Born in 1778
	17M7	Ann Dobson		Born in 1780
	17M8	Edward Dobson		Born in 1784
17M1	Collett Barker was born in 1784. He became Captain Collett Barker and was killed in 1831 in Australia where Barker mountain was named after him.
17M2	Elizabeth Barker was born in 1787. She married her cousin John Dobson (Ref. 17M6) in 1810. John, who was born in 1778, died in 1827. Elizabeth died in 1872.
	17N1	Ellen Dobson		Born in 1811
	17N2	Collett Dobson Collett		Born in 1813
	17N3	Charles Henry Dobson		Born in 1815
	17N4	Edward Dobson		Born in 1816
	17N5	Howard Dobson		Born circa 1819
	17N6	Sophia Dobson Collett		Born in 1822
	17N7	Alfred Dobson		Born in 1824
17M3	Mary Barker was born in 1792 and died in 1886.
17M4	Sophia Dobson was born in 1775. She married William Dyke in 1800 and they had two daughters, Mary Dobson Dyke (1803-1887) and Sophia Dobson Dyke (1804-1829).
	She was an authoress and is credited with at least seven books that were published between 1855 and 1884, at least half of which were probably published after her death.
	The subjects covered in her books ranged from Atheism to Theism with the final two books being ‘Records of Theistic Churches in India’ and ‘Outlines and Episodes of Brahamic History’.
	For whatever reason, Sophia had the book published under the name of Sophia Dobson Collett perhaps indicating a split from her husband or perhaps just a tribute to her mother.
17M5	Charles Collett Dobson was also born in 1775 and died in South Africa in 1827 having never married.
17M6	John Dobson was born in 1778 and died in 1827. He married his cousin Elizabeth Barker (above) and their family details are included under Elizabeth’s name.
17M7	Ann Dobson was born in 1780 and died in 1836
17M8	Edward Dobson was born in 1784 and died in 1854 having never married.
17N1	Ellen Dobson was born in 1811 and died in 1888. She was a sister of mercy and in 1881 aged 69 and born in Middlesex she was the most elderly nun at All Saints Nunnery at 79 to 83 Margaret Street in St Marylebone, London.
17N2	Collett Dobson Collett was born at St Pancras in 1813, the eldest son of first cousins Elizabeth Barker and John Dobson. Although he was born as COllett Dobson, he later took the surname Collett name from his two grandmothers; Sarah Collett was the mother of Elizabeth Barker, and Sarah’s sister Sophia was the mother of John Dobson.
	Collett studied at the Bar and was a pupil of the Royal Academy of Music in London. He became an actor and a singer, and was a music lecturer and singing teacher. He also sang in the chorus of the theatre companies at Drury Lane and Covent Garden.
	It would appear from the IGI that he married (1) M McKenzie in 1838. The wedding took place in St Pancras where both Collett and his wife were born. It is not known whether there were any children arising from this marriage, but it seems likely that Collett’s wife died during their early years together.
	He later married (2) Jane Marshall in 1854, Jane having been born in Scotland in 1820 the daughter of John Sloan. Once married the couple settled in the St Pancras area of London where their first three children were born. At the time of the birth of their fourth child, daughter Clara, the family was living in Hornsey Lane at Crouch End in London.
	In his role as a journalist Collett wrote articles for numerous publications including Musical World, and Vanity Fair. He became the editor of the radical journal the Free Press and Diplomatic Review. It may have been this journal that attracted the interest of Karl Marx with whom Collett became a great friend, and from around 1870 the families often visited each other.
	In the census return for 1881 Collett was described as a political writer, a teacher of singing, and a musician aged sixty-six from St Pancras. However, he was listed as Collett W Collett. With him at 7 Coleridge Road in Crouch End was his wife Jane who was sixty and from Scotland.
	Living with the couple were two of their three youngest children, these being Harold Collett who was twenty-two and born at St Pancras, and Edith S Collett who was eighteen and born at Crouch End.
	At some time in his life Collett was appointed the Musical Director of the W J Fox choir at Finsbury Chapel with who he worked with his sister Sophia Dobson Collett (below). Collett was also a Chartist and for twelve years he was Secretary of the Society for Repealing the Taxes on Knowledge.
	Collett Dobson Collett died on 28.12.1899 and was followed nine years later by his wife Jane who died in 1908.
	17O1	Caroline Mary Collett		Born in 1855
	17O2	Wilfred Collett		Born in 1856
	17O3	Harold Collett		Born in 1858
	17O4	Clara Elizabeth Collett		Born on 10.09.1860
	17O5	Edith Collett		Born in 1862
17N3	Charles Henry Dobson was born in London in late 1814 and was baptised at St Pancras on 11.01.1815, the son of John Dobson and Elizabeth Barker.
	Charles married Frances Eleanor Lapham at Hobart in Tasmania on 03.03.1846, Frances having been born in Ireland in 1830. The couple remain living in Tasmania where Charles was the Reverend Charles Henry Dobson. Just after they were married Charles and Frances were living at Buckland, where their first child was born, and later at Prossers Plains where the second child was born.
	Their son Alfred Dobson was born at Buckland on 01.10.1848, and he died on 25.10.1921. Their daughter Lucy Frances Dobson was born at Prossers Plain on 17.11.1854.
	The Reverend Charles Henry Dobson died in Tasmania on 17.06.1888 and was buried in Queensborough Cemetery. Just five weeks after his death his widow Frances died on 24.07.1888 and was buried with her husband.
17N4	Edward Dobson was born at Judd Place in New Road in London on 08.12.1816, the son of John Dobson and Elizabeth Barker. He married Miss M Lough and lived in New Zealand – see details for brother Alfred Dobson (below). Edward Dobson died on 19.04.1908.
17N5	Howard Dobson whose actual date of birth is not known, died from drowning in 1827.
17N6	Sophia Dobson Collett was born at St Pancras in London in 1822 where she was baptised on 01.02.1822, the daughter of John Dobson and Elizabeth Barker. Just like her brother Charles Dobson Collett before her, Sophia also assumed the surname Collett.
	She developed an early interest in music and was associated with Eliza Flower and Sarah Flower Adams in the South Place Chapel musical services under the ministry of W.J. Fox M.P. Her brother, Charles Dobson Collett (above), was the musical director, while she composed some of the music
	Sophia was one of the ‘Emersonian Circle’ who gathered around the philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson in London in the late 1840s. With this interest in religious and philosophical subjects, Sophia wrote a number of works in response to the growing atheistic movement of George Jacob Holyoake, culminating in the book ‘Phrases of Atheism, Described, Examined, and Answered’ which was published in 1860.
	She was a literary representative and interpreter of religious movements in India and editor of the ‘Brahmo Year Book’. Sophia also wrote the book ‘Indian Theism and its Relation to Christianity’ which was published in 1870. She was friendly with many of the leading writers of her time.
	She never married and by 1881 she was described in the census that year as Sophia D Collett, fifty-nine years old and born at St Pancras in London. At that time she was living at 33 Hamilton Road in Islington and was employing a young servant girl Alice Glass aged 17. She also had a lodger in 19 years old Robert Harding who was a shop fitter’s clerk born in the Netherland, although he was described as a British citizen.
	As a journalist Sophia worked for The Spectator magazine over many years during her life, as well as producing articles and reports for other periodicals at various times.
	Sophia Dobson Collett died at her home in Highbury Park in London on 27.03.1894.
17N7	Alfred Dobson was born in London on 09.03.1824, the youngest son of John Dobson and Elizabeth Barker. Like his brother Edward Dobson (above) Alfred also lived in New Zealand where he married Miss L Lough the sister to M Lough who married his brother Edward. Alfred Dobson died on 06.09.1887.
17O1	Caroline Mary Collett was born in London in 1855 and in 1881 was 25 years old and employed as a teacher by School Principal Agnes Parker of 50 Saxe Coburg Street in Leicester where she was also a lodger. Also a teacher and lodger at the same address was her younger sister Clara Elizabeth (below).
	Caroline was still alive in 1936 when she accompanied her sisters Clara and Edith and brother Harold to live at Sidmouth in Devon.
17O2	Wilfred Collett was born in London in 1856 and became Sir Wilfred Collett KCMG LLb, FCJ Governor of British Guinea. In 1884 he married Mary Eloins the daughter of William Eloins of Fiji and in 1912 he was made Governor of Honduras. Mary died in 1918 and Wilfred in 1927. It would appear that he spent most of his life away from England and there is no record of Wilfred living in the UK in 1881.
	17P1	Howard Barket Collett		Date of birth unknown
	17P2	John Douglas Collett		Born in 1898; died in 1916
	17P3	William Robert Collett		Born in 1905
17O3	Harold Collett was born in 1858 and was still alive and living at Sidmouth in 1936 with his sisters Caroline, Clara and Edith.
17O4	Clara Elizabeth Collett was born at Islington in London on 10.09.1860 and was a major figure in the putting together many reforms relating to the pay and working conditions of women. At the age of twelve she was sent to Calais to learn French and in 1873 took a place at the North London Collegiate School.
	In 1877 Clara formed The Dogberry Club with Eleanor Marx the daughter of Karl Marx whose father often attended the meetings. The club’s primary purpose was the reading of plays and in particular those written by William Shakespeare, the name having been taken from the character Mr Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing.
	Shortly after she left London to work in Leicester as a teacher at the Wyggeston Girls School where in the successive years of 1879 and 1880 she achieved her first and final Bachelor of Arts Degrees and three years later passed her teacher’s diploma.
	According to the 1881 Census, Clara was living at 50 Saxe Coburg Street in Leicester St Margarets where she was a teacher holding a Batchelor of Arts London. She was aged 20 and born in London and also living at the same address was her teacher sister Caroline M Collett (above).
	The house at 50 Saxe Coburg Street was the home of Mr and Mrs Charles Parker, Agnes Parker being a School Principal, so presumably the two Collett sisters worked at the school and were employed by Mrs Parker.
	She returned to London in 1885 to begin her MA degree in Political Economy and the following year became a Master of Arts and won a scholarship to continue her mathematical studies. This amounted to £20 per year for the next three years and she supplemented this by giving lectures.
	In 1892 she was made a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and began employment as a Labour Correspondent for the Civil Service at the Board of Trade. Two years later she moved from living in the East End back to Crouch End where she took up residence at 36 Berkeley Road and four years after she moved again, this time to 90 Woodside in Wimbledon.
	1903 saw her promoted to the position of Senior investigator at the Labour Department and this was followed by another move to 4 Vernon Chambers in Theobald’s Road.
	During her time as Secretary of The Economic Club in 1905 Lloyd George became President of the Board of Trade to be replaced three years later by Winston Churchill, at which time Clara presented evidence to the Fair Wages Committee.
	The following Clara gave further evidence to the Trade Board’s Act which resulted in improved wages for sweaters. She then resigned from Civil Service life over a disagreement regarding the Labour Exchange Act which was later withdrawn.
	By 1919 she was living at 81 South Hill Park in Hampstead and in the next year she did finally retire from the civil service. Around 1930 she made her penultimate house move to Highgate and 61 Swains Lane from where she had a direct view into the cemetery and the grave of Karl Marx.
	It was while at this address that she co-wrote “The History of the Collett Family” with Henry Haines Collett which was published in 1935 and “The Present Position of Women in Industry” which was published in 1933 and which later appeared in the Royal Statistical Society Journal in 1945.
	The family of Henry Haines Collett can be found in Part Four – The Great Western Line (Ref. 4N8)
	In 1936 Clara was diagnosed with breast cancer and following invasive surgery she and her brother Harold and sisters Caroline and Edith moved to Sidmouth to convalesce. Over the remaining years of her life she wrote many articles and diaries including “The Letter Books of Joseph Collett” (see Ref. 17J3) and “The Letters of John to Eliza” (see 17K2).
	She died on 03.08.1948 and her body was donated for medical research. During her life she was a Fellow of University College in London and a Governor of Bedford College.
17O5	Edith Collett was born in 1862 and was still alive and living at Sidmouth in 1936 with her sisters Caroline and Clara, and brother Harold.
17P1	Howard Barket Collett whose date of birth is not known married Lucia Bergner and in 1921 they had a son Wilfred Peter Guy Collett.