PART TWENTY-ONE

The Cornwall Line – 1890 to 2008

This is the third of three sections of this family line

Updated September 2011

This is the family line of Terrence James Collett (Ref. 21T12), and it was his wife Sue,

who kindly provided the details relating to the twin boys of Terry’s great grandfather

Edward Charles Collett (21Q36) whose wife died during their birth

21Q87

Caleb Knight Collett was born at Creed in December 1860 and was four months old by the time of the census on 7^th April 1861. By that date the family had left Creed, where Caleb and his sister Catherine had been born, and had moved less than a mile north to Grampound.

The census record confirmed the children’s parents as John Collett 27 of Camborne and his wife Elizabeth Jane 24 of Roche. John Vivian Collett was working as a tin miner at that time. Ten years later the family was living at St Ewe when Caleb was ten years old. However, there was no record of him anywhere in the UK in 1881.

What is known is that, as the oldest son of the family he was taken under the wing of his mother’s sister Anne Knight and together they emigrated to North America. It was originally believed that Caleb was never reunited with any member of his direct family, but this seems to be disproved by the information in the next paragraph.

What is still slightly puzzling is exactly what happened to Caleb during the missing years from before 1881 and up to his arrival at Brighton in America with his aunt Anne Knight in early 1885. It now also transpires that two other siblings joined Caleb in America, and these were his older sister Catherine who left England in 1891, and his younger brother William who moved there in 1883.

Upon arrival in America he was initially employed in the copper mines of Calumet and Hecla in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. While there he worked under the guidance of Superintendent Vivian who was a distant relation through the marriage of his grandfather William Odgers Collett and his first wife Catherine Vivian.

It was also through his relationship with ‘his uncle’ Superintendent Vivian that Caleb was eventually introduced to his true uncle James Collett (Ref. 21P94) - his father’s half brother - who was the son of William Odgers and his second wife Jane Miners, by whom he was later employed.

Shortly after he arrived in America, Caleb married (1) Alma Hartman who was born in 1863 and their first child was born towards the end of 1885 while the couple were living at Genoa township. Caleb and Alma had a further four children but, including their son Ralph who died around six months old, the couple lost a total of three infant children.

Alma died on 22.07.1903 and during the following year Caleb married (2) Mary Butterfield Blanke in 1904. Mary may have been a relation of Caleb’s daughter-in-law Mollie Blanke Pike.

By September 1931 local records reveal that Caleb had established his own real estate brokership under the banner of ‘Caleb K Collett – Real Estate Broker’. He was fairly successful with the business which sold many houses in the Brighton area of Michigan.

Upon his death Caleb was buried at Fairview Cemetery in Brighton where he first wife Alma was buried and his baby son Ralph. His son Gliff was also later buried there with two of his three children.

21R57

Claude Collett

Born in 1885

21R58

Gliff Knight Collett

Born in 1887

21R59

Ralph Collett

Born in 1898

21Q88

Edith Jane Collett was born at Grampound in 1862 and apart from appearing with her family in 1871 at St Ewe aged 8 she was not listed in any further census records as Edith Collett because she became a married women very early in her young life.

She was already married and had had her first child by the time of the census in 1881. It was during the third quarter of the previous year that Edith had married John Wellington at Haslingden near Accrington in Lancashire. John was an iron-moulder from Kenwyn in Cornwall and was four years older than Edith.

It would appear from the 1881 census return that John Wellington’s own Cornish family had moved to Lancashire some years earlier, and it was to Accrington and the house of his mother, that Edith and John moved once they realised that Edith was with-child.

So according to the Accrington census in 1881, John Wellington aged 22 from Kenwyn in Cornwall, and his nineteen years old wife Edith from St Austell, were living with their four months old son Steven V Wellington at 3 Taylor Street, the home of widow and dressmaker Malinda K Wellington aged 44 and from Roche in Cornwall. Edith’s occupation was that of a cotton winder.

Also living at that address was Malinda’s married twenty-three years old daughter Emily from Newlyn who was a cotton weaver, and her husband twenty-five years old flagger and slater Thomas Lord from Accrington.

Two other children from Malinda’s marriage were also living there, and these were Mina Wellington , an eighteen years old cotton weaver from Kenwyn, and two years old Salome Wellington who was born in Accrington. The age of this child may indicate when Malinda became a widow, and when she moved to Accrington from Cornwall.

In addition to all of these, Edith’s older sister Catherine Collett (above) from St Austell was also staying with the family and was recorded as a visitor, whose occupation was that of a domestic servant. A few years after this, another of Edith’s sisters, Salome Collett, also moved to be with her in Lancashire.

During the next ten years, Edith and her family, together with her sister Catherine, left Accrington and moved to Haslingden to the south of Accrington, where they were living in 1891.

Twenty years later in April 1911, the census return confirmed the Wellington family was still living at Haslingden. Head of the house John was 52, his wife Edith Jane was 48, and their children at that time were listed as William John 21, James 19, Emily 17, Clifford 14, and Ellen who was twelve.

21Q89

William Collett was born at St Ewe in 1865 where he was recorded as living with his family in 1871 aged 5. Ten years later, when he was 16, he was still living with his family who had then settled in Roche, but there appears to be no trace of him living in the UK after this time.

It now transpires that the reason for his absence was that he had emigrated to America in 1883, just prior to his brother Caleb in 1885, and his sister Catherine in 1891. At the age of eighteen, William made the Atlantic crossing on board the steam-ship the SS Alaska and arrived in New York, from Liverpool via Queenstown in Ireland, on 7^th May 1883.

His ultimate destination was Michigan, and it was there at Ironwood that he died three years later on 26.11.1886 at the age of only twenty-two. There is a memorial to him on his parents’ gravestone in the cemetery at Roche in Cornwall.

21Q90

Salome Collett was born at St Ewe possibly towards the end of 1868. A record recently found in Mevagissey Bible Christian Circuit Baptisms would seem to indicate she was baptised Slome (sic) at the Bible Christian Chapel in Paramoor on 02.06.1869. The same baptism record confirmed the child Slome Collett was daughter of John and Elizabeth Jane Collett of Paramoor in St Ewe.

In the 1871 Census it would appear that her name was misinterpreted as she was listed as Florence rather than Salome. A thorough search through later census records has not revealed anyone of this name of the correct age and place of birth, so it is assumed to be an error.

Just six months after the day of the census and twenty-eight months after Salome was baptised she was subject to a second baptism at St Ewe on 08.10.1871 in a joint ceremony with her sister Lavinia (below). The parish record confirmed the girls’ parents as John and Elizabeth Jane of Paramoor in St Ewe and their father’s occupation was recorded as being a husbandman.

Almost ten years later the 1881 Census confirmed Salome as being aged 12 and born at St Ewe and that she was living with her family at Roche. Sometime later Salome left Cornwall and moved to Lancashire to be with her sister Edith Wellington nee Collett (above) and to seek work in the cotton mills as a cotton winder.

Nine years later, and during the third quarter of 1890, Salome married William Taylor at Burnley with whom she had four children before the end of the century. At the time of the census in 1891, Salome and her husband were living in Burnley, and with them was Salome’s older sister Catherine Polkinghorne nee Collett (above) and her baby daughter Annie who were awaiting a sailing to America.

The 1891 census return confirmed that William Taylor was twenty-two and had been born in Burnley and that he and his wife Salome Taylor, also twenty-two but from St Ewe in Cornwall, were living at 7 Trout Street in Burnley from where William was a joiner and Salome was a cotton winder.

In the census of 1901 Salome Taylor aged thirty-two and from Cornwall was living with her family at Brierfield near Burnley in Lancashire. Her husband William Taylor of Burnley, also thirty-two, was a carpenter and joiner and their four children were Lavinia aged 9 and born in Brierfield, and three sons aged eight, six, and three, who were all born in Burnley. These were James, Stanley and John.

And it was at Burnley that the family was still living in 1911, when William and Salome Taylor (of St Ewe) were both 42, and their four children were Lavinia 19, James 18, Stanley 16, and John Taylor who was thirteen.

21Q91

Lavinia Collett was born after the second of April in 1871 at St Ewe. As a baby of only a few months she was baptised at St Ewe with her three years old sister Salome on 08.10.1871. At the time of the census in 1881, Lavinia was living with her family at Roche at the age of nine years. Ten years after, in the census of 1891, she was twenty years old and was one of only three children still living with her parents at Roche. Lavinia married Richard Henry Blake during the first quarter of 1892, the marriage being registered in St Austell.

During the next nine years the marriage produced four children for the couple, and a fifth child was born into the family towards the end of the following decade.

In 1901 the family was living at St Wenn in the St Columb district on Cornwall when the couple’s first four children were confirmed as having been born there. Their daughter of this occasion was listed as Edith Jane Blake, so named after Lavinia’s older sister (above).

The full family was listed as Richard 31 who was a farmer at Criftoe Farm in St Wenn, Lavinia 29, Harry 6, Edith 4, William 3, and Richard who was one year old. All of them, apart from Lavinia, were born at St Wenn.

According to the next census in April 1911, Richard Blake was 41, his wife Lavinia from St Ewe was 40, and they were living in the St Columb district of Cornwall with their five children. These were Harry 16, Janie 14, William 13, Richard 11, and John Vivian Blake who was one year old and named after Lavinia’s father John Vivian Collett.

Of their children, Harry Blake was born in 1894 and died in 1946, Edith Jane Blake was born in 1896, William Blake was born in 1897, Richard Blake was born in 1899, and John Vivian Blake was born in 1909 and died in 1989.

Myrtle Blake, the widow of John Vivian Blake, was born on 20.11.1912 and was 97 in 2009. Eva, the aunt of Andrée Tuck (see Ref. 21R63), visited Myrtle Blake (the first cousin of Andrée’s mother) during February 2010 in an attempt to discover further facts about her mother-in-law Lavinia Blake nee Collett, and in particular, which sister it was that was with her when the photograph of Lavinia and one of her older sisters was taken. Unfortunately this still remains unknown, although it seems highly likely that it was either Catherine the eldest sibling, who was thirteen years older that Lavinia, or Edith Jane who was nine years older. For completeness a copy of the photograph is shown on the right.

21Q92

David Knight Collett was born at Roche in 1876 and was aged 4 years in April 1881 when living at Roche with his parents. He was still living at Roche with his parents and his two youngest siblings in 1891 when he was aged 14.

Towards the latter part of the 1890s his work as a policeman took him to Plymouth where he met Ann Broad who was born there in 1875. The pair were subsequently married by banns on 20.02.1900 in the village church at Pelynt near Looe prior to setting up home at Devonport.

The parish register at Pelynt recorded that David of Devonport was a 23 years old police constable and the son of labourer John Collett, while Ann was 25 and a resident within the parish of Pelynt and the daughter of labourer George Broad. Ann’s parents George and Edith Broad were the witnesses.

It was also at Devonport where their three known children were later born and where, one year after they were married they were living there in March 1901 when David K Collett from Roche was 25 and Annie Collett from Plymouth was 26. The census also recorded that David was employed by the Borough Council as a police constable.

During the next decade Annie presented David with their three children. So by April 1911 the family living in Devonport comprised David Knight Collett 34 and from Roche, wife Annie who was 36, and their three children John 10, Gladys Irene 8, and two years old Eva Phyllis.

21R60

John Collett

Born in 1901 at Devonport

21R61

Gladys Irene Collett

Born in 1903 at Devonport

21R62

Eva Phyllis Collett

Born in 1908 at Devonport

21Q93

Richard Knight Collett was born at Roche in 1882 and he was eight years of age by the time of the census in 1891, when he was one of three children still living with his parents at Roche. When he was old enough, and having left school, Richard became a china clay worker like his father John, with whom he presumably may have worked. Just after the turn of the century Richard was aged 18 and was still living and working with his father and his mother at their home in Roche. Sometime shortly after this Richard moved away from the family home and took up lodgings in the village of Bugle to the north of St Austell prior to heading north to Lancashire.

It was on 5^th May 1905, at the age of twenty-two, that he left Liverpool on board the steam-ship the SS Cedric bound for New York and arrived there on 14^th May 1905. His ultimate destination was Redridge in Houghton County, Michigan where his older sister Catherine Polkinghorne nee Collett (above) and her family were living, and with whom he was to spend the next eighteen months.

Richard’s intention was to work hard and earn enough money to take back to Cornwall where he would build his own house. When he left England he was a miner in a china clay works, but by the time he returned to his home country in the autumn of 1906 he was a skilled bricklayer.

His return journey across the Atlantic was via Montreal and Quebec, the crossing to Liverpool being on board the steam-ship the SS Ionian which docked in Liverpool on 29^th September 1906. Rather curiously, once again, his age was given as twenty-two when in fact he was twenty-four.

Two years after he returned from America on 10.10.1908, Richard married Maud May Nicholls, who was born at Carthew near St Austell in 1887. He then fulfilled his ambition, when he built his own house named ‘Carbean’ midway between the villages of Carthew and Stenalees to the north of St Austell. This is a recent photograph of that house. During the following three years Richard and Maud were blessed with the birth of the first three of their ultimate ten children, including a set of twins whose birth was registered in St Austell. And it was at Carbean that the family was living in April 1911.

On that occasion the family comprised Richard Collett of Roche aged twenty-eight, Maud May Collett aged twenty-four, their twin daughters Enid May and Erna Amy aged one and born at St Austell, and baby Maggie Collett who was just three months old and born at Carbean.

The details of the next seven children born into the family after 1911 have been kindly provided by Andrée Salisbury nee Tuck, the daughter of Hazel Collett who was born in 1912, and the granddaughter of Richard Knight Collett.

Only one of the couple’s ten children was born during the Great War, and the reason for this was because Richard served his country in Salonika and Mesopotamia, where he contracted dysentery. Sadly from that time in his life onwards in his life he suffered with poor health.

Sadly for the family, their eldest daughter Enid May died from meningitis in 1923, and she was therefore the only child missing from this family group photograph taken around 1930. Standing at the back left is Hazel and on the right is Maggie. Eldest daughter Erna is seated in the middle, with latest arrival Eva on her lap. The other four children from the left are William, Cecil (standing in front of Erna), Elizabeth (standing next to Erna), Sydney, and finally Victor on the far right.

Richard Knight Collett died in 1944 from pernicious anaemia when he was around sixty-two, and his wife Maud died twenty-eight years later in 1972. Today, in 2010, two of Richard’s and Maud daughter are still alive and living in Cornwall, and these are Elizabeth Beryl and Eva Lillian.

21R63

Enid May Collett

Born in 1909

21R64

Erna Amy Collett

Born in 1909

21R65

Maggie Collett

Born in 1911

21R66

Hazel Collett

Born in 1912

21R67

William Vivian Collett

Born in 1913

21R68

Victor Vivian Anthony Collett

Born in 1916

21R69

Elizabeth Beryl Collett

Born in 1921

21R70

Cecil Alwyn Collett

Born in 1925

21R71

Sydney Austen Collett

Born in 1927

21R72

Eva Lillian Collett

Born in 1928

21Q94

William Collett was born at Ladock in 1866 where he was baptised on 02.09.1866, the son of William Collett and his wife Emma Ferrell. The 1881 Census confirmed that William was 14 and that he was living with his family at Bissick Mill in Ladock, where his father was a corn miller. Shortly after that time the family moved to Hayle near St Ives, before finally settling down to live in Penryn.

By the time of the census of 1891 William, who would have been 24, was no longer living with his family in Penryn and had emigrated to North America. It was just over five years later that William Collett became a nationalised America citizen. That happened on 20^th July 1896 at the Circuit Court in Wayne County, Detroit in Michigan.

It was also while he was in Michigan that he married Louise, the wedding taking place at Detroit on 17.06.1903, when William was 37. His bride was 28 years old Louise J Westphal, who was born at Port Sanilac in Michigan on 30.09.1875, the daughter of Charles Westphal and his wife Fredericka Schultz. At this moment in time it has not been established whether or not the marriage produced any children for the couple.

However, new information received from Christine St Johanser during 2010 has revealed that, in his twilight years, William returned to England for a holiday in Penryn in 1938, when he and Louise stayed with Christine’s grandparents. For their return journey, the couple crossed the Atlantic Ocean on board the SS Queen Mary, sailing out of Southampton on 29^th October, and arriving in New York on 3^rd November 1938.

The ship’s passenger list, kindly provided by, included the following details. William Collett was 72 and travelled using his passport no. 56510, his wife Louise Collett was 63, and the couple’s address was given as 5053 23^rd Street in Detroit. Other details included the date that William was nationalised, and Louise’s date and place of birth.

21Q95

Elizabeth Jane Collett was born at Ladock in 1868, the daughter of William Collett and his first wife Emma Jane Ferrell who died when Elizabeth was only six years old. Her father, who a corn miller, re-married in 1875 and in 1881, at the age of 12, Elizabeth was living with her new family at Bissick Mill in Ladock. The family later moved to St Ives, before a final move to Penryn.

Elizabeth had left the family home before 1890 and was not living with her family in April 1891. She later married Frederick Duggan, after which the couple left Cornwall to settle in Gloucestershire.

21Q96

Ellen Maud Collett was born at Ladock in 1875. By the time of the 1901 Census she was still living in Penryn with her family and was established as a dressmaker. As Aunt Maud to the younger members of the family, she was known for making their school uniforms and was remembered by them as being a ‘wonderful lady’.

21Q97

Emily Mary Collett was born at Ladock in 1878. At the age of 22 she was still living at the family home in Penryn from where she was working as a grocer’s assistant. Emily Mary Collett from Ladock was living alone at St Marylebone in London in April 1911, although it is known that she eventually emigrated to New Zealand.

21Q98

Annie Collett was born at Ladock in July 1880. According to the census of 1901, Annie was aged 20 and was still living with her parents and siblings in Penryn. Her occupation was that of a dressmaker’s assistant, which probably meant that she was working with her older sister Ellen Maud Collett (above).

At some later time in her life Annie lived just one street away from her brother Arthur James Collett (below) in Falmouth where she lived with her younger unmarried sister Kittie (below).

21Q99

Kate Collett was born at Hayle in 1882. She was referred to as Katie in some census records but was known within the family as Kittie. In 1901 at the age of 18 she was working as a draper’s apprentice while still living with her parents.

Curiously in April 1911, Kate Collett was twenty-seven and was living in Plymouth with Mildred Mary Collett who was nineteen, although it is not known who she was. However, it is known that Kate never married and lived all her adult life with her sister Annie (above).

21Q100

Clara Louise Collett was born at Penryn in 1884 but was handicapped and died in 1899 at the age of fifteen.

21Q101

Arthur James Collett, who was referred to as James, was born at Penryn in 1886 and was aged 14 at the time of the 1901 Census and was still attending school. During the next decade he married Lillie Hutchings of Penryn. Once married the couple settled in the Penryn area where their children were born.

According to the census of 1911, Arthur James Collett was twenty-four and living in Falmouth with his wife and family. Lily Collett was also twenty-four, and listed with the couple were their first two children, William Arthur Collett who was two years old, and one year old Thomas Leonard Collett.

Not long after the census day, a further son was added to the family towards the end of that same year. This might indicate that Lily was already with-child on the 2^nd April 1911, the day of the census

During his working life James continued in his father’s occupation by being a miller and at one stage he and Lillie owned and worked the mill at Tremough Dale in Penryn.

In later life the couple moved to Falmouth where, between 1950 and 1960, they looked after their grand-daughter Christine Collett. And it was Christine who kindly provided the details of her family line.

James and Lillie were the parents of Leslie Collett who was killed in action over Germany in 1944 flying. The couple also had other children but these have not been revealed at this time.

21R73

William Arthur Collett

Born in 1908

21R74

Thomas Leonard Collett

Born in 1909

21R75

Albert Leslie Collett

Born in 1911

21Q102

Alma M Collett was born at Tregony in 1867 where she was living with her parents George and Louisa Collett in 1871 aged 3 years. Ten years later she was aged 14 and was working as a general servant at Polmenna Farm, the 120 acre holding of farmer Walter H Wevell in Lostwithiel.

No record has been located for Alma in 1891, but by 1901 she was still a spinster at the age of 26. That year’s census recorded that she was born at Tregony and was living at Kenwyn where she was employed as a domestic housemaid.

21Q103

Mary Harriet Collett was born at Tregony and was baptised at Cuby-with-Tregony on 14.11.1869. At the age of 22 she married William Allen at Truro St Pauls on 02.10.1892. Mary’s father was confirmed as George Collett, while her husband was aged 24 and was the son of John Allen.

21Q105

George Collett was born at Tregony in 1872. He was named after his father who died shortly after 1876. At the time of the census of 1881 he was eight years old and was living at Bridgend near Lostwithiel with his fatherless family.

In the 1891 Census for Truro, St Clement his age was given as seventeen, and ten years later he was a married man of twenty-eight from Tregony, and was working as a shoemaker. He and his wife, Maud M Collett from Truro, were living within St Clement Urban on the eastern fringe of the city of Truro.

The couple continued to live in the Truro area for the next six years, and during this period in their life they were blessed with two children. Towards the end of the decade the family moved to the St Germans area near to Saltash where they were living in 1911.

George Collett was thirty-eight, Maud Mary Collett was thirty-six, and their three children were Dorothy Florence Maud Collett aged nine, Gladys May Collett aged six, and Violet Gwendoline Collett who was two years old.

21R76

Dorothy Florence Maud Collett

Born in 1901 at St Germans

21R77

Gladys May Collett

Born in 1904 at St Germans

21R78

Violet Gwendoline Collett

Born in 1908 at St Germans

21Q106

Joshua Collett was born at Tregony in 1874 and was aged 6 at the time of the 1881 Census when he was living with his widowed mother and brothers and sister at Bridgend near Lostwithiel.

His age in 1891 was stated as being 15 at a time when the family was living at Truro, St Clement. Ten years later Joshua was still living with his family but at St Clement Urban in the city of Truro where he was working as a butcher. At 25 he was still a bachelor, and no record of him has been found in Britain after this time.

21Q107

William James Collett was born at Tregony in 1877. His father George Collett died shortly after he was born and in successive censuses he was living with his widowed mother Louisa. For the first in 1881 at the age of four, the family was living at Bridgend near Lostwithiel, and by the time he was fourteen they had moved to Truro, St Clement where they were living in 1891.

Just prior to the end of the century William married Mary Elizabeth and, like other members of his family, was living at St Clement Urban on the outskirts of Truro by March 1901. For the census William gave his age as twenty-three, his place of birth as Tregony, and that he was employed as a gardener.

His wife Mary was twenty-two, and by that time Mary had given birth to the couple’s first child who was under one year old. Over the following four years two more children were added to the family.

By April 1911 William and his family were still living in Truro, where he was thirty-two and from Tregony, Mary Elizabeth Collett from Ladock was thirty, and their three children were William Leonard who was ten, James Gordon eight, and Olive Mary who was six years old.

21R79

William Leonard Collett

Born in 1900 at Truro

21R80

James Gordon Collett

Born in 1902 at Truro

21R81

Olive Mary Collett

Born in 1904 at Truro

21Q114

Percy Collett was born at Tregony in 1889, the eldest child of Edwin Collett by his first wife Martha Jane Truscott of Tregony. In the Truro & Probus census of 1891 Percy was one year old but tragically, shortly after the census day, his mother died during the birth of Percy’s brother Edwin (below). For the next couple of years it would appear that Percy and his brother Edwin were looked after by their grandparents in Tregony.

A few years later Percy’s father married for a second time, presenting Percy with four half-brothers and one half-sister. By March 1901, Percy and his new family were living in the Walthamstow area of north London, when he was 11 years old. Towards the end of the next decade, it would appear that Percy left the family home in Walthamstow when he sailed to North America.

On leaving school Percy is believed to have joined the Royal Navy and was attached to HMS Majestic. The battleship was re-commissioned at Portsmouth in February 1907 but was transferred to Devonport in June 1908. In 1911 she was taken out of service for a refit, and it may have been at that time that Percy ended his service with the navy, since he emigrated to Canada not long after that.

After a few years in Canada, where he worked as a longshoreman, the Canadian name for a dock worker, he entered America in 1913. According to the US Records, it was at Detroit in Michigan that he entered the country. However, it was only in 1940 that it was revealed that he had entered the country illegally.

Four years later Percy Collett married Clara Laura Schwers in Detroit on 09.01.1917. Clara was born at Wisconsin on 19.06.1896 and already had a daughter Grace Schwers, whom Percy subsequently adopted. Over the following years Clara presented Percy with two sons. Later in their life, and following the marriage of their daughter Grace, Percy and Clara looked after the youngest of her three children, Darlene Hobbs.

It would appear that the couple lived their whole life together in Detroit where Percy worked for the Ford Motor Company, and it was there also that he died on 16.05.1958.

All of the information on Percy and his family has been kindly provided by his granddaughter Judith Ann Safford nee Collet, the daughter of Jack Edwin Collett.

21R82

Grace Collett (adopted)

Born before 1917

21R83

Jack Edwin Collett

Born on 03.06.1918

21R84

William Collett

Date of birth unknown

21Q115

Edwin L Collett was born at Tregony in 1891, but after the fifth of April that year. He was the second son of Edwin Collett and his wife Martha Jane Truscott who died around the time of the birth, or a little while after. Faced with looking after two very two young sons on his own, it would seem that Edwin’s father sought help from his late wife’s parents who appear to have taken the boys into their home in Tregony.

Edwin’s father later remarried and, around 1897, he and his new family moved to Walthamstow, taking Edwin’s brother Percy (above) with them. For whatever reason, Edwin chose to remain with his grandparents, and it was within the Walthamstow area of London that his family was living in 1901.

Having stayed with his maternal grandparents, it was at their home in Tregony in March 1901, that nine years old Edwin L Collett from Tregony was confirmed as living in the census return. His grandparents were recorded as 67 years old John Truscott, a farmer and dairyman from Tregony, and his wife 68 years old Nancy Truscott from Cuby.

With the passing of his grandparents during the first decade of the new century, Edwin then went to live with his aunt Fanny Ann Polkinghorne, the former Fanny Ann Truscott and the older sister of his mother Martha Jane Truscott. This arrangement may even have been put in place prior to the deaths of his grandparents.

So in the census in April 1911 Edwin Collett from Tregony was living at the home of the Polkinghorne family at Sunny Corner in the village of Withiel to the west of Bodmin. Edwin was described as being 19 and a nephew, and his occupation was that of a carpenter working with his uncle.

Head of the household was Charles Polkinghorne who was 49 and from St Breock, who was a carpenter in the building trade. His wife of seventeen years was Fanny Polkinghorne aged 51 from Tregony St George. Also working with his father was the couple’s 14 years old son John James Polkinghorne, and completing the family was Olive Polkinghorne who was 18.

It may be of interest that Charles Henry Polkinghorne, the son of James and Ann Polkinghorne, married Fanny Ann Truscott in Penzance during December quarter of 1893, just four years after Catherine Collett (Ref. 21Q86) married Stephen Polkinghorne, the son of Stephen Polkinghorne and Mary Ann Knight in 1889.

During the third quarter of 1915, Edwin L Collett married Gladys H Lidsey in Truro, and just over one year later their daughter Martha was born, and was named after Edwin’s mother, whom he had never known.

21R85

Martha D Collett

Born during Sept – December 1916

21Q116

George Collett was born at Truro in 1894, the eldest child of Edwin Collett by his second wife Fanny Pill. He was only around four or five years old when his parents left Cornwall and moved to Walthamstow in London, where they were living in 1901, when George was six years old, and again in 1911 when he was 16.

It is known, from information received from his grandson Terry Collett of Milton Keynes, that he later married and had a family of his own, even though the full extent of the family is not known, the only known child being Terry’s father, Clifford Collett.

The only other known fact regarding George Collett is that he died at Walthamstow in 1956.

21R86

Clifford Collett

Born in 1918.

21Q118

Jack Collett was born at Walthamstow in 1899 and was one year old in the March census for Walthamstow of 1901. He and his family were still living at Walthamstow ten years later when the census return for 1911 confirmed that Jack was eleven years old.

When the war started in 1914 Jack became a second class air mechanic F/20396 with the Royal Navy Air Service and served on the HMS Airship C27. Sadly the airship was attacked by three German seaplanes and was shot down on 11.012.1917 causing the death of all five members of its crew which included Jack Collett

This was the second airship to be shot down during the war, following which its sister ship, the Airship C26, was sent out on a rescue mission but ran out of fuel. As a result it was forced to land in Holland where the crew was imprisoned until the end of the war.

Jack was eighteen when he died and his next-of-kin were named as his parents Edwin and Fanny Collett of 1 Cornwallis Road in Walthamstow.

21R1

Heather Wanda Rookledge Collett was born at Christchurch near Bournemouth on 18.02.1926. She was educated at Earlsfield in South West London and after at Carshalton High School for Girls.

She married O E Glenser in 1954 with whom she had two children. Heather died at Carshalton in 2003 and her husband had passed away ten years earlier in 1993.

21R2

Joy Rookledge Collett was born on 05.09.1927 and this may have taken place at Christchurch, after her parents moved to London. She was the second child of actor Charles Harcourt Collett and his partner Else Goodwin-Rookledge whose previous marriage had been annulled on the grounds of her husband being a bigamist. Charles was unable to secure a divorce from his first wife hence the partnership.

These must therefore have been difficult times for Charles and Elsie since in January 1928, when Joy was around four months old, they decided that she should be given up for adoption.

Joy later married Barry Layzell with whom she had a daughter Lorraine Layzell who was born in 1954. Lorraine went onto marry John Calvert, and they in turn had a son Daniel Calvert who was born in 1986.

Today, in 2009, Joy is a widow and it was only through ‘surfing the net’ and coming across the Rookledge website (www.rookledge.com) that Joy contact her brother Gordon Charles Rookledge Collett (below) which resulted in her place in the family being confirmed.

21R3

Nigel Harcourt Rookledge Collett was born at Wandsworth in South West London on 14.10.1929. He was educated at Carshalton High School for Boys and he married Patricia Thatcher in 1956. Nigel died in 1989 and Patricia died at Maidstone in 2003. All of their children were born in Kent.

21S1

Ian Harcourt Rookledge Collett

Born in 1960

21S2

Caroline Rookledge Collett

Born in 1961 in Kent

21S3

Keith Charles Rookledge Collett

Born in 1963

21S4

Heather Rookledge Collett

Born in 1965 in Kent

21R4

Jean Margaret Rookledge Collett was born at Clapham on 05.11.1932. Like her older sister Heather, Jean also attended school at Carshalton. She married Patrick E Kisbee in 1958 with whom she had three children Christopher Kisbee born in 1960, Ann Kisbee born in 1962 and Gillian Kisbee born in 1964. Patrick died at East Sussex in 1990.

21R5

GORDON CHARLES ROOKLEDGE COLLETT was born at Clapham on 03.12.1933. He was educated at the Stanley Park School in Carshalton and at Irstead School on the Norfolk Broads for a short time in 1947.

On leaving school Gordon served with the Royal Artillery from 1952 to 1954 after which he entered the world of publishing and later became founder, chairman, and managing director of Gavin Martin Limited, Sarema Press publishers and KGM Limited.

He married Jennifer Mary Dampier Lush at Carshalton in 1960 with whom he had three children. Today Gordon lives at Beeches Walk in Carshalton and has an excellent website depicting the milestones in his life – see www.rookledge.com

21S5

Sarah Louise Rookledge Collett

Born in 1962

21S6

GAVIN ALISTAIR ROOKLEDGE COLLETT

Born in 1964

21S7

Emma Constance Rookledge Collett

Born in 1966

21R6

Sydney Charles Collett was born in 1876 at Newton Ferrers to the east of Plymouth where he was living with his parents Charles and Emma Collett in April 1881 at the age of 4 years. During the following few years Sydney’s father died and so, by the time of the census in 1891, 14 years old ‘Sidney C Collett’ was stilling living at Newton Ferrers but only with his widowed mother Emma.

Sometime during the 1890s Sydney’s mother returned to Holbeton, the village where she was born, and this may have coincided with the marriage of Sydney Charles Collett to Bessie of Plymouth, which appears to have taken place towards the end of the century.

By 1901 the couple were living in the St Budeaux district of Plymouth where Sydney was working as a baker, a business he had taken over from his mother who in that same year was described as a retired baker. ‘Sidney C Collett’ was 24 and from Newton Ferrers, while his wife Bessie Collett was 23.

Bessie Collett was very likely to have been with-child on the day of the census at the end of March in 1901, since the first of the couple’s two children was born later that same year, the birth being recorded at Devonport in Plymouth.

Seven years after the birth of their first child, Bessie presented Sidney with their second son. It may also have been around this time that the family moved to Tavistock in Devon, where they were joined by Sydney’s mother.

According to the census of 1911, Sydney Charles Collett of Newton Ferrers was 34 and his wife Bessie was 33. Living with them and their two sons Russell aged nine and born at Devonport, and Ivor who was two, was the children’s grandmother 57 years Emma Collett from Holbeton near Plymouth.

It is estimated that a third child was added to the family, perhaps six to eight years after the birth of the couple’s second son.

21S8

Russell Collett

Born in 1901 at Devonport

21S9

Ivor Victor Roy Collett

Born in 1908

21S10

Betty Collett

Born circa 1915

21R10

William John Collett was baptised at Ladock on 25.02.1873, the son of John Hosking Collett and Dinah Ellen Hooper. Tragically his mother died either during or shortly after the birth. Whether William stayed with his father, who remarried when he was three years old, has not been revealed in any census records. However, he was not living with his father and his stepmother Maria at 72 Ifield Road in the West Bromley area of London in 1881, when he would have been seven years old.

Where he was at that time has not been determined, nor has he been located in the census of 1891. What is known is that a William J Collett from Cornwall was 27 in the Plymouth census of 1901,but by the time of the next census in 1911, as William J Collett, he was 38 and from Cornwall, and was a bachelor and a resident at an institution in Plymouth.

21R12

John Collett was born at Truro St Clement in 1878, the eldest son of James Thomas Collett and Ellen Cowl. By 1881 he and his family were living on Tresillian Road in St Erme when John was two years old. Ten years late he was still living in St Erme with his family at the age of twelve years.

By March 1901 he was unmarried at twenty-two and was living in St Agnes where he was described as Jack Collett of Truro who was working as a carter and horse driver.

It was during the first decade of the new century that John married Elizabeth Mary and by April 1911 the childless couple were living within the Truro registration district when John Collett of Truro was thirty-two and his wife Elizabeth Mary Collett was thirty-six.

21R14

Sidney Collett was born at St Erme in January 1880 and this very likely took place in Tresillian Road in St Erme where his family was living at the time of the census in 1881 when Sidney was three months old. He was still living there in 1891 when he was ten years of age.

By April 1901 he was married to Catherine Alfreda who was twenty-six and from Gorran, although it would later be revealed that she was actually thirty years old. Sidney was only twenty and was working as a horseman on a farm, and living with the couple at Merther was their one year old daughter Ellen.

Just over five months after the census day Catherine presented Sidney with the couple’s second child. The baptism record stated that Sidney was then working as a labourer while living at Carharthen in Merther where his son was born.

Over the next four years two further children were added to the family while they were still living in Merther. By 1911 the family of six was living within the Truro registration district, where Sidney was thirty, his wife Catherine Alfreda was forty, and their children were 11, 9, 7, and 5 respectively.

21S11

Ellen Collett

Born in 1899 at Merther

21S12

Ernest Edward Collett

Baptised on 20.09.1901 at Merther

21S13

Frederick Collett

Born in 1903 at Merther

21S14

Lillian Edith Collett

Born in 1905 at Merther

21R15

Edith Collett was born at St Erme in 1884 and was the eldest daughter of James Thomas Collett and Ellen Cowl. Her early years were spent with her parents at Tresillian Road in St Erme where she was recorded as being six years old in the census of 1891.

Upon leaving school Edith entered into domestic service and had left the family home in St Erme by March 1901 when she was working as a scullery maid in Mylor at the age of sixteen.

21R16

Charles Collett was born at Tresillian in 1886 and was four years old in the census of 1891. In 1901 the census listed him as Charley Collett of Tresillian who was fourteen and who was living in St Erme at that time with his parents.

No trace of Charles Collett or Charley Collett aged twenty-four has been so far discovered in the 1911 Census.

21R17

Gertrude Louisa Collett was born at Tresillian in 1888 and was twelve years old in the census of March 1901 when she was still living with her family in Tresillian. On leaving school Gertrude headed for London to seek work and by April 1911 she was living and working in Lambeth.

As Gertrude Louisa Collett, she gave her place of birth as Tresillian but said that she was twenty-four years old.

21R18

Blanche Annie Collett was born at Tresillian in 1890 and was ten years old and referred to simply as Annie Collett in 1901 when she living with her family in Tresillian. No trace of her had been found in the census ten years later either as Blanche Collett or Annie Collett or under a married name.

21R19

Beatrice Collett was born at Tresillian in 1893 and was seven years old at the time of the census in 1901. Just like her sister Gertrude (above), Beatrice also left the family home to seek work, and by 1911 she was living and working in Redruth at the age of eighteen.

21R20

Annie Collett was born at St Gluvias just north of Penryn in 1883. It is likely that she was the base-born daughter of Elizabeth Ann Collett who was living at St Gluvias with her widowed mother Ann in 1901. Annie Collett was then seventeen years of age and was working as a dairymaid.

Annie Collett was still living in St Gluvias in 1911 at the age of twenty-seven, when once again her place of birth was confirmed as St Gluvias. Her supposed mother Elizabeth Ann Collett was also till living in the village with her elderly mother Ann Collett.

21R21

Mary Ellen Collett was born at Mylor Bridge to the north of Penryn in 1885. She was aged 15 at the time of the 1901 Census when she was working as an apprentice tailoress with her younger sister Beatrice (below) while living with her family at Gwennap.

In 1911 Mary Ellen Collett was twenty-five and from Mylor and was still living at Gwennap within the Redruth registration district at that time, while her family by that time were living in the Falmouth area but with her father absent.

Mary is believed to have married into the Allen family of Carharrack the next village to Gwennap.

21R22

Beatrice S Collett was born at Mylor Bridge in 1887 and by the time she was 13 years of age she was living with her family at Gwennap. She had left school by then and was working with her older sister Mary (above) who were both apprentice tailoresses.

During the early years of the new century the Collett family move to the Falmouth area where they were living in April 1911. Beatrice Collett of Mylor Bridge was twenty-three and was still living with her mother and her two brothers. Her father’s whereabouts has not been discovered.

A little while later Beatrice is understood to have married into the Pope family of Perranwell and the marriage produced two daughters for her, these being Eileen and Phyllis.

21R23

William Charles Collett was born at Mylor Bridge in 1888 and was 12 years old in March 1901 and was still attending school, while living with his family at Gwennap.

His family left Gwennap after this and moved to live within the Falmouth registration district where they were recorded in 1911, when William was twenty-two, although his father was absent from the family home on the census day.

It was during the following year that William married Ethel Florence Hunt at Hicks Mill in 1912. Ethel was the daughter of William John Albert Hunt and Mary Jane Mills who, as children, left Cornwall for Australia where there were married at Bendigo in Victoria in 1887. And it was at Bendigo that their daughter was born. However, Ethel returned to Cornwall when she was sixteen years of age.

Once married the couple settled initially in Perranarworthal about two miles west of Mylor Bridge, before moving later to live at Carharrack the next village to Gwennap where William’s parents lived.

William became a prominent Methodist Church preacher in the local community and he and Ethel had four children during the eight years following their marriage.

21S15

William Albert Hayne Collett

Born in 1913 at Perranarworthal

21S16

Florence Hazel Collett

Born in 1914

21S17

Ethel Vera Collett

Born in 1916 at Perranarworthal

21S18

Edgar Sylvester Collett

Born in 1920

21R24

Thomas J Collett was born at Stithians in 1895 and was aged 5 and was living at Gwennap with his family according to the census of 1901. During the next ten years it is possible that his father passed away, following which the family move from Gwennap in the Redruth area to the Falmouth area.

By 1911 Thomas Collett of Stithians was fifteen and was living with his mother Elizabeth and his sister Beatrice and his brother William (above) within the Falmouth registration district. Where his father was, if in fact he was still alive, has not been determined at this time.

Sometime later Thomas Collett married Emmy and they lived at Mylor with their three children.

21S19

Joyce Collett

Born in 1914

21S20

David Collett

Born in 1916

21S21

Jean Collett

Born in 1920

21R26

John Percy Collett was born at St Wenn in 1892 and was eight years old when he was living with his parents at Wadebridge in 1901. Shortly after the census John’s mother Elizabeth died and his father Robert Davey Collett was remarried.

In April 1911 John was nineteen and was still living with his family who had by then moved to St Austell. Sometime during the following few years John married Lillian Violet and continued to live in St Austell.

When John was thirty-two, Lillian presented him with a son whom he named after his father. Although not known at this time, it is very likely that John and Lillian had other children besides just the one known son.

Sadly for John and Lillian their son Robert joined the army during the Second World War and he was killed in action in 1944 when he was just twenty years of age. As his next of kin, John and Lillian were recorded as being of St Austell at the time of the death of their son.

Later in his life, it would appear that John Percy Collett was known by the family simply as Percy. And it was just after the Second World War that, as Percy Collett, he was visited by his cousin Henry Collett (below) who was on a visit to England from Canada, to where his family had emigrated in 1912.

In 1967, Percy was living at 25 Bridge Road in St Austell.

21S22

Robert Collett

Born in 1924

21R30

William Henry Collett was born at Veryan on 24.03.1889, the first of three children born to Edward Charles Collett and Anne Williams John. Not long after he was born his parents moved the seven miles north to Ladock. Sadly it was there, during the birth of his twin brothers in 1890 that his mother died. With his father being unable to cope with his tragic loss, William was placed in the care of his widowed grandmother Grace Collett nee Jewell, while the twins Edward and James (below) were separated and placed with two of their late mother’s brother’s families.

It was with his grandmother, Grace Collett, that William was living at the time of the Truro & St Just census of 1891, when he recorded as William H Collett of Veryan age two years. At that same time, William’s father was living and working at Stoke Damerel in Devonport, where he remarried. He then brought his new wife back to the village of Kea where he was born, and it was only then that Edward admitted to his bride that he already had a son from a previous marriage, which he had omitted to tell her beforehand, and about which she never forgave him. It is not clear whether Edward also admitted to having had twin sons who had been taken into the care of his late wife’s family.

By the time of the census in 1901, William was 12 years old and was still living with his father and his stepmother, together with the first four of their ultimate six children. It was at the end of April in 1908 that William’s father sailed to Canada, leaving the family living in Devonport and awaiting the call to join him there.

According to the census in April 1911, William’s family was still living in the Devonport area, whereas William Henry Collett, age 22 and a gardener, was living at 8 Corporation Road in Devonport, the home of his future parents-in-law, Thomas Henry Watson and his wife Ellen. It was just over five months later that William married their daughter Bella Ann Watson on 9^th September 1911, the marriage being registered at Devonport. By that time William was no longer a simple gardener, but was a stoker in the service of the Royal Navy. The marriage certificate also gave his address as 8 Corporation Road in Peverell district of Plymouth, which was also the address given by Bella who said she was 20 years of age instead of her actual age of 18.

Five months earlier Bella Watson, age 18 and from Brealston (a misinterpretation of Brere Alston), was recorded as working as a servant away from her own family, but still within the Devonport area. Ten years before that she was living with her family at Brere Ferrers on the west bank of the River Tavy, just five miles north of Plymouth. Bella A Watson was seven years old and her place of birth on that occasion was given as Brere Ferrers, although the birth was registered at Tavistock in 1893.

So from this it seems likely that the love story of William and Bella developed in the following way. Employee, the younger gardener, falls in love with his boss’ eldest daughter. Father sends his daughter away to work with another family in another part of the town and out of temptation’s way. Young love persists, but Dad only gives his permission for the gardener to marry his daughter provided that his prospective son-in-law secures himself a decent job. So the young gardener commits himself to the Royal Navy for the next twelve years.

It is established from his naval records that William Henry Collett first entered the Royal Naval on 12^th March 1907, although the actual start date for his continuous twelve years of service did not happen until 27^th July 1911, less than two months before he married Bella Watson. His initial basic training was carried out on the land-based barracks of HMS Vivid I and HMS Vivid 2 at Devonport. Later he was attached to the armoured cruiser HMS Cornwall and after that he was assigned to HMS Active.

The same naval record stated that prior to his entry into the service in July 1911, he had been working as a gardener’s assistant, that he was 5 feet 6¾ inches tall, with dark brown hair and brown eyes, having a fair complexion and a small scar over his right eye. For his first five months service he held the rank of stoker class II, after which he was promoted to stoker class I.

It is understood within the family that during his time in the navy, he was flogged with a cat-of-nine-tails for insubordination and that the injuries he sustained resulted in blood poisoning, from which he later died. Whilst there is no apparent mention of this in his naval record, it does state that he was discharged from the service on 5^th February 1914, suffering with tuberculosis, and that he received a pension eleven days later on 16^th February. The death of William Collett was registered at Tavistock in Devon during the second quarter of 1917.

The family photograph of William (on the right) shows him wearing his naval uniform. However, the name on the cap is misleading, since it is established from his naval records that he could not have been attached to the cruiser HMS Ringarooma named on the cap band. This was a Pearl-class cruiser and was launched in Glasgow at the end of 1889 – the year William was born. In April 1890 the vessel was renamed Ringarooma and became part of the Auxiliary Squadron of the Australian Station, arriving in Sydney in September 1891. It was in 1904 that the HMS Ringarooma returned to British waters, and two years later it was sold for scrap to a ship breaker in Scotland. This happened one year before William joined the Royal Navy.

Thanks to Sue Collett (Ref. 21T12) the following family story can be told, which seems to clear up this anomaly. “In the photograph above William is wearing a naval uniform with a hat band marked HMS Ringarooma. William did not serve on this vessel, which was sold for scrap in 1906. However, in the 1891 census William's father Edward Charles Collett was working as a general servant and gardener at Oatlands, near Stoke Damerel in Devon. The owner of that property was John E Scott, the father of Robert Falcon Scott, Scott of the Antarctic. On 21^st December 1901 Scott sailed for the Antarctic from New Zealand in the Discovery, escorted by The Ringarooma and The Lizard. How the hat came into the possession of William is not known, perhaps via his father as a gift from the Scott family.”

It is known that the marriage of William Collett and Bella Watson produced definitely two children, and possibly even three children, before William’s untimely death, a couple of months after the birth of the couple’s last child. Sadly for the couple, their first child died within five months of being born. Following their loss, it is possible that Bella was already pregnant with William’s second son at the time of the death of their first child, since one internet record, so far unconfirmed, relates to the birth of a child with exactly the same name, who was born during the second quarter of 1915.

The first William W T Collett was born during the third quarter of 1914, when the mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Watson. The death of the same child was recorded during the final quarter of that same year. The second and unconfirmed birth of William W T Collett, mentioned on ancestry.com, took place between April and June in 1915.

The birth of Edward Collett was registered at Tavistock during the first quarter of 1917, when once again the mother’s maiden name was given as Watson. With the death of her husband just a few months later, Bella Ann Collett nee Watson, remained a widow for just one year when, in the second quarter of 1918, she married Frank Cleave.

21S23

William W T Collett

Born in 1914

21S24

Edward C Collett

Born in 1917

21R31

Edward Charles Collett was one half of a set of twins born to Edward Charles Collett and his first wife Ann Williams Johns after they had arrived at Ladock from Veryan. Edward and his twin brother James (below) were born on 25^th May 1890 at Ladock, although sadly their mother did not survive the ordeal and was buried later that same week. It was on 5^th June 1890 that the twins were baptised at the Church of St Symphorian in Veryan, where presumably their mother was buried, since that was where she had been born and baptised. Following her death, the twins and their older brother William (above) were all cared for separately by different members of the extended family. For Edward this meant going to Portloe, near Veryan, to live with his uncle, and his late mother’s brother, James Caddy Johns.

By the time of the census on 5^th April 1891, Edward was confirmed as living at the Portloe, near Veryan, home of his uncle James Caddy Johns. The census return recorded the household as James C Johns, age 42 who was a fisherman, his wife Phoebe Johns who was also 42, their sons Edward Johns 11 and Thomas Johns who was six, together with nephew Edward C Collett who was only ten months old.

Edward was still living there in 1901, at the age of 10, and again in 1911. On that occasion the family was listed as James Caddy Johns and Phoebe Johns, both 62, Thomas Johns, age 26, and Edward Collett who was 20. So far, all that is known about Edward is that he married Sarah Stansfield during 1928, the marriage being registered at Truro during the second quarter of that year. It is not known if the marriage produced any children for the couple, but it is established that Sarah Collett nee Stansfield, died in 1965, while Edward Charles Collett is believed to have died during 1970.

21R32

James Arthur Collett was born at Ladock on 25^th May 1890, but was baptised at Veryan on 5^th June 1890, the twin brother of Edward (above), and the son of Edward Charles Collett and Ann Williams Johns who tragically died during the birth. After the death of his mother James was separated from his two brothers William and Edward, when he went to live with his uncle, Arthur Caddy Johns, one of the brothers of his late mother, at Portloe near Veryan, and it was there that James was living in 1891, and again in 1901. On the latter occasion James Collett, age 10 years, was confirmed as living with the family of Arthur Johns at Portloe near Veryan, where Arthur was a general labourer.

After a further ten years James was still living at Portloe with the Johns family. Arthur Caddy Johns was 50, his wife Elizabeth was 45, and living there with them were their four children, Henry Johns age 24, Lilian Johns who was 19, Clarence Johns who was 13, and Ernestine John who was seven, plus James Collett from Ladock who was 20.

Three years later James Arthur Collett emigrated to Australia, when he sailed from England on the Orient Line ship ‘Osterley’ on 7^th May 1914, bound for Fremantle. He was joined there in 1916 by Frances Mary Ebbett, the daughter of a coastguard whom he had met whilst her family were stationed at Portloe. James and Frances were married on 7^th June 1916 and took up residence at Manjimup, midway between Bunbury and Albany in Western Australia.

Their marriage produced two children for James and Frances, James who was born during 1917, and Hazel who was born two years later.

21S25

James Frederick Collett

Born in 1917

21S26

Hazel Jean Collett

Born in 1919

21R33

Henry Lake Collett was born at Plymouth on 09.02.1893, the eldest of the ten children of Edward Charles Collett of Kea and his second wife Ann Bowden Gribble of Devonport. By the time of the census in 1901, Henry and his family were still living in the Plymouth area, where he was eight years old.

Nine years later, on 19^th April 1910, Henry volunteered to serve in the Royal Navy, but on his application form he gave his date of birth as 1892, rather than 1893, to ensure that he was accepted. However, he was discharged from the navy during March in the following year, when he returned to live with his family in Plymouth. The reason for his leaving the navy so shortly after joining, was that he discovered that he suffered from excessive sea sickness.

The Plymouth census on 2^nd April 1911 confirmed that ‘Harry Collett’, age 18, was once again living in the Devonport area of the town with his family. By that time though, his father and sister Beatrice were absence from the family group, his father having already sailed to Canada to seek a new life for the family, while Beatrice had gone to stay with an uncle in New York State in the USA.

Less than three weeks later Henry Lake Collett sailed from England on 20^th April 1911, when he emigrated to Canada to be reunited with his father. He sailed out of Liverpool on the White Star Line ship the SS Montrose, which arrived at Quebec on 2^nd May 1911. The Canadian immigration form placed him as #10 on the passenger list, with just seven dollars in his pocket. The Canadian Census in June 1911 described Edward Collett and his son Henry Collett as lodgers at a house in District 1, Sub-District 62, in Calgary, Alberta.

It was during 1914 that Henry’s mother Annie and the rest of the family, but excluding his sister Beatrice and brother George (below), sailed from Liverpool to start a new life with her husband and her eldest son Henry in Calgary. According to the census of 1916, Henry was recorded as ‘Harry Collett’ age 23, and by that time he was still living in the West Calgary family home with his parents and the rest of his family, but again without his sister Beatrice who had been married for three years by that time and was living in America.

It was probably around this time in their lives that Henry, in co-operation with his brother Alfred, added the “e” to the end of the Collett name. This was either to improve their employment opportunities with employers having a French background or simply because they preferred the more elegant sound of the name with the terminal “e”. The only member of Henry’s family not to continue to use the Collette spelling of the name, was his eldest son Robert, who lived his life as Robert Collett.

It was also at Calgary during 1916 that Henry Collett married (1) Elizabeth Peach. Elizabeth was born at Nottingham in England on 29.08.1889, the daughter of lace-maker Edwin Peach and from Lenton, and his wife Hannah from Greasley. In the census of 1901 Elizabeth Peach, age 12, and her brother Edwin, age 25, were living in Nottingham with their parents, age 52 and 48 respectively. It was also during 1911, that Elizabeth sailed to Canada to join her married sister Mrs Fred Brooks, at Grassy Lake in Alberta. From there she later moved to Calgary where she first met Henry Collett.

The marriage of Henry and Elizabeth resulted in the birth of eight children at Calgary between 1917 and Elizabeth’s untimely death on 03.06.1930. She died from the result of a long-term illness that had afflicted her since the birth of the couple’s last child over six months prior to her passing.

Following the death of his first wife, Henry made some changes to his family. Firstly, his son Robert, who loved farming, went to live with his grandparents on their farm in Rosedale in British Columbia, while Henry’s daughter Lorraine went to Vancouver in British Columbia, where her Aunt, Anne Bowden Way nee Collett, and her Uncle Jack Way raised her. When this happened, Henry employed a number of temporary housekeepers to help look after the remaining six children.

The last of the temporary housekeepers was Eleanor Mary Mackee, who was a recent immigrant from Birmingham in England. She became very attached to the children, and they to her, whom they treated as their own mother. It was therefore from that early relationship that Henry Collett eventually married (2) Eleanor Mary Mackee, the wedding taking place during 1931. That marriage produced a further four children for Henry, including initially a set of twins, which were followed by another two sons, the first of which sadly did not survive beyond a few months.

Eleanor Mary Mackee, who was known as Nellie, was born on 09.12.1901 at Birmingham in England, the first daughter of William T Mackee (born London 1876) and Florence Deborah Antill (born Battersea, London 1875). She lived in the Birmingham area until around 1930. Times were difficult and she and two other women signed up for an opportunity to secure job training in Alberta, Canada. Her two companions backed out of the trip at the last minute, so Eleanor proceeded by herself on the long trip to the Agricultural School at Olds in Alberta. Following the training she sought employment in the Calgary area and, after having several jobs on different farms, she accepted the job as housekeeper for recent widower, Henry Lake Collette in Calgary. In that job she took over the care of Henry’s six children ranging in age from two years old Ronnie to 13 years old Grace. Sometime after she arrived, Henry was placed in a sanatorium to treat tuberculosis, so Nellie also cared for him on his return home.

Henry Lake Collett was a member of the Crescent Masonic Lodge in Calgary for sixty years. In 1949 he and Eleanor joined the Unity Chapter of the Eastern Star, where he served as Patron on a number of occasions, including 1972 when Eleanor served as Grand Matron. He was also significantly involved in church affairs.

At an earlier time, in the 1920s, he was a lay preacher in the Anglican (Episcopal) Church and served as Superintendent of the St. Michael’s and All Angels Sunday School. In the 1930s he and Eleanor became interested in spiritualism, and he was a member of the Calgary Spiritualist Church for forty-four years, and was ordained as a minister in 1954.

Henry Lake Collett died at Calgary in Alberta on 11.05.1978, some days after suffering serious burns in a house fire, while his wife Nellie survived him by just over twenty-two years. Nellie loved to travel and made many trips to visit her family and friends in England and Australia, and to see her children in Canada and the United States. It was on Christmas Day in 2000 that she died at the age of 99.

21S27

Robert David Collett

Born on 21.08.1917

21S28

Grace Doreen Collette

Born on 03.09.1918

21S29

Winifred Louise Collette

Born on 04.01.1921

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Vince Henry Collette

Born on 04.02.1922

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Alan Ross Collette

Born on 28.02.1925

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Lorraine Ruth Collette

Born on 03.03.1926

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Victoria Elizabeth Collette

Born on 24.05.1928

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Ronald James Collette

Born on 14.11.1929

The four children of Henry Lake Collett from his second marriage to Eleanor Mary Mackee were:

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Patrick George Collette twin

Born on 20.07.1933

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John Wilfred Collette twin

Born on 20.07.1933

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Frederick Collette

Born in 1938 at Calgary; died 1938

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Terrence Robert Collette

Born on 13.07.1943

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Beatrice Collett was born in Plymouth in 1894, the eldest daughter of Edward Charles Collett and Ann Bowden Gribble. She was seven years old in the census of 1901, when she was living in the Devonport district with her family.

She was a favourite of her mother’s family and it was in 1910 that she emigrated to the United States to live with them. Beatrice sailed into New York Harbour on the White Star Line ship the SS Adriatic on 19^th August 1910 and her entry into the country was recorded on Ellis Island. It was originally believed that she went to live with her Uncle Harry Gribble and his family at Rochester in New York State, but more recent information indicates that it was to Churchville in New York State that she moved, where she was a servant at the home of another uncle, Harry Widger. And it was while she was living there that she met and married Cline Thurston in 1913, following which the couple settled in Rochester.

In the British Census of 1911, it was just Beatrice’s mother Annie Collett and her five siblings who were still living in the Devonport area of Cornwall. By that time her father Edward had already sailed to Canada to establish a new life at Calgary for the family.

Later that same year, in May 1911, Beatrice’s older brother Henry Lake Collett (above) joined his father in Canada, and three years after that the rest of Beatrice’s family sailed to Canada in 1914 to be reunited with Edward and his son Henry.

Beatrice was known as Beatty, and Aunt Beatty, and from her marriage to Cline she had two daughters at Rochester, the eldest being Dora Thurston who was married twice. At the time of her second marriage she became Dora Ledermann, and this produced two daughters, Nelma Ledermann, and Diane Ledermann.

Prior to the birth of their second child, the United States Census in 1920, recorded the family living at Monroe in New York State, when Beatrice Thurston was 25, her husband Cline Thurston was 27, and their daughter Dora Thurston was six years old. Beatrice’s and Cline’s second daughter was Nelma Thurston, and following the later death of her husband, Beatrice moved to a retirement community in St. Petersburg in Florida to be near her daughter Nelma and her son-in-law Gus. And it was there that she died in 1980.

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Alfred George Collett was born in 1895, the son of Edward and Annie Collett. Unlike all of his other siblings, who were born in Plymouth, the record of his birth indicates that he was born at Stoke Damerel to the west of Plymouth. The birth was registered during the third quarter of 1895, although he only survived for a few months, when his death was recorded at Plymouth during the last quarter of that same year.

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George Edward Collett was born at Plymouth on 16.10.1896, the son of Edward Charles Collett and Ann Bowden Gribble. He was four years old in the census of 1901, and was 14 in the Devonport census of 1911. By that time his father had sailed to Calgary in Canada, ahead of the rest of the family joining him there in 1914, and by which time his sister Beatrice was already living in America. It was on 8^th January 1913 that George sailed from Bristol on the passenger ship ‘HMT Royal Edward’ bound for Halifax in Nova Scotia. The Royal Edward was notable for being the first troopship to be torpedoed during the First World War, when it was sunk on 13^th August 1915 in the Aegean Sea, with the loss of 935 lives.

Following the outbreak of war back in England, George enlisted with the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force. This took place at Calgary on 13^th May 1915 when he was 18 years old, although his army record indicate that he gave his date of birth as 16^th October 1889. The other details show that he was born at Plymouth, that his father was Edward Charles Collett, and that he was a postman living at 2226-32 Street West in Calgary.

George served as a machine-gunner with the 56^th Battalion of the COEF, when his army service number was A446884. As a machine-gunner he served on the frontline where he was seriously wounded and gassed during the trench-warfare, causing the loss of a lung and dreadful facial injuries which needed facial reconstruction surgery after the war.

Once removed from the frontline action, George was returned to Canada on board the ship ‘Olympic’. The ship sailed out of Liverpool on 7^th December 1919 and arrived in Canada one week later on 14^th December 1919. On the passenger list George Collett was shown as being returned to Canada as there was no suitable employment for him in England. His home address was simply Calgary, and his mother was named as his next-of-kin.

Despite his terrible injuries, George was placed in the Reserve Unit of Gamead on his return to Calgary. However, with just one lung, it was later realised that George could not tolerate the damp atmosphere of the Canadian west-coast or the extreme cold of the prairie winters, so he ended up living most of his life in Kamloops in British Columbia where the dry climate was more suitable for his health and wellbeing.

George Edward Collett married Kathy Davidson from whom he was later divorced, but to whom he was subsequently remarried. Mac, as Kathy was more commonly known, was an extremely caring wife who after George at Kamloops, where he died on 02.02.1988 at the age of 91.

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Ann Bowden Collett was born at Plymouth on 30.12.1898, the daughter of Edward Charles Collett and Ann Bowden Gribble. At the time of the census in 1901 Annie B Collett was three years old when she was living with her family at Devonport in Plymouth.

Ten years later the family was still living in Devonport, although by then her father had made the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean to Canada in preparation for the family’s subsequent move there. In the census of 1911, Annie Collett was 13 and was living at Devonport with her mother and four of her five siblings.

Annie and the rest of her family sailed out of Liverpool on 2^nd May 1914 on board the SS Canada, to be reunited with her father and her older brother Harry. The ship’s passenger listed included her as A B Collett, and described her as a servant. Ann was not living with her family at the time of the census in 1916, but it was there in Canada during 1919 that Annie Bowden Collett married Jack Way with whom she had a son Francis Edward Way who was born in 1921 at Vancouver, where he died in 1988.

Later on, Annie was also stepmother to Lorraine Ruth Collette, the daughter of her brother Henry Lake Collett, whose (first) wife had died in 1930 leaving the girl’s father unable to look after his eight children without help from his family. Lorraine was later adopted by Annie and Jack to become Lorraine Ruth Way, who later went on to marry Melvin Bergman.

Ann Bowden Way nee Collett died at Vancouver, British Columbia in 1974, the cause of death being congestive heart failure following a bout of shingles. Her husband Jack Way had already died by then, he having passed away in 1962.

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Elsie May Collett was born at Plymouth during the third quarter of 1899, the daughter of Edward and Annie Collett. Sadly it was only a year later that her death was recorded at Plymouth during the third quarter of 1900.

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Winifred Collett was born at Plymouth in 1902, the daughter of Edward Charles Collett and Ann Bowden Gribble. She was recorded in the Devonport census of 1911 as ‘Winnie Collett’ aged eight years and at that time she was living with her mother and her four of her siblings, since her father was in Canada and her sister Beatrice (above) was in America. Three years later in 1914, Winifred she sailed from Liverpool to Canada with her mother and the rest of the family, where they were reunited with her father and brother Henry (above).

Winifred Collett married Edward Anstey in the 1920s with whom she had two children, Edna Anstey and Edward Anstey. The children were only a few years old when, tragically, Winnie died in 1929 from tuberculosis. This is believed to have happened at Calgary in Alberta, where her two children were born.

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Alfred John Collett was born at Plymouth on 09.09.1904, the youngest surviving son of Edward Charles Collett and Ann Bowden Gribble. In 1911 he was six years old when living in the Devonport area of Plymouth with his mother and four siblings. Three years after that Alfred and his family left Liverpool bound for Canada aboard the SS Canada, where they were reunited with his father and brother Henry (above) who had gone out there a few years earlier to pave the way for the family to settle there. Alfred was incorrectly recorded as being ten years old in the Canadian census of 1916, when he and his family were living in West Calgary.

It is understood that sometime later, perhaps around 1918 to 1920, Alfred and his brother Henry added an E to the end of their surname to make it look more stylish, and to improve their chances of getting a job with a garage owner who liked French people. In the end they were not offered employment on that occasion, but decided to keep the name all the same, which was then passed onto their children.

Alfred John Collette is known to have married Muriel Doris Stoness at Cumberland Church in Delburne, Alberta in 1926. Muriel was born on 13.10.1905 at Perth Road, Ontario. After they were married, the couple initially settled in the Sardis district of Chilliwack where their first son was born, before moving to New Westminster in British Columbia, where their second son was born.

It was while Alfred John Collette was living at Calgary that he died on 28.01.1956, the cause of death being an arteriosclerosis of the heart. His widow survived him by over thirty-three years, when Muriel Collette died at Red Deer, Alberta on 07.11.1989.

During his life Alfred had been a heavy smoker and had started the habit when he was just twelve years of age. This obviously had an effect on his life, linked to which, his family believed that he died relatively young at 52 because of the hard work that his father had forced him to do.

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Donald Alfred William Collette

Born on 17.08.1931

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Neil Frederick Collette

Born on 09.01.1939

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Christopher Thomas Collett was born at Plymouth in 1905, the youngest son of Edward and Annie Collett. His birth was registered at Plymouth during the third quarter of that year, as was his death.

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Florence Eveline Collett was born at Plymouth in 1907; and was the tenth and last child born to Edward Charles collett and his second wife Annie Bowden Gribble. It would appear that she did not live long enough to see her second birthday, since she died at Plymouth, where her death was recording during the first quarter of 1909.

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Leslie Harold Collett was born in Victoria, Australia during 1898, and was the eldest child of William Hosking Collett and Hannah White. It is evident that he was married, and that the marriage produced at least one son, since Richard William Collett of Melbourne, who was born in 1962, was his grandson. The only other known fact about Leslie is that he died during November 1956 at the age of 58, and was buried at Fawkner Memorial Park in Coburg Cemetery in Victoria on 19^th November 1956.

The grave, plot No. 1142, where he was buried, was also the last resting place of his parents and his sister Myrtle (below).

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Myrtle Ivy Collett was born in Victoria, Australia in 1900, and was the daughter of William Hosking Collett and Hannah White. She was later married, when she became Myrtle Ivy Curtis, but was tragically the first of her family to die in Victoria in 1934, before both of her parents and her brother Leslie (above). Following her death, possibly in childbirth, Myrtle was buried in Fawkner Memorial Park on 24^th September 1934, at the age of only 34.

The same graveyard plot [No. 1142] at the Coburg Cemetery in Victoria was also used to bury her parents and her brother. No details are currently available about her life and her husband.

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Eleanor Mary Hooker was born at Hackney on 19.03.1887. She married Thom Parsons on 29.07.1911 at Shoreditch with whom she had two children, Stanley Thomas (see below) and Constance (born 1920).

Both Eleanor and Thom died at Loughton in Essex, Eleanor on 10.09.1965 followed less than two years later her husband in June 1967.

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Stanley Thomas Parsons

Born on 22.07.1914

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Claude Collett was born in 1885 at Genoa five miles north-west of Brighton in Michigan.

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Gliff Knight Collett was born in Michigan in 1887. He later married (1) Beulah Jolly on 03.05.1908 and after she died in early 1920 Gliff married (2) Mollie Blanke Pike later that same year on 24.11.1920.

Gliff’s first wife Beulah was buried at the Old Village Cemetery in Brighton, while Gliff was buried at Fairview Cemetery with his parents and other family members, including two of his own children. The third child Jack was buried at the Old Village Cemetery with his mother.

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Vaughn Collett

Born on 10.10.1910

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Josephine Collett

Born in 1915

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Jack Collett

Date of birth unknown

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Ralph Collett was born in Michigan in October 1898. Sadly he only survived for a few months before he died in the spring of the following year and was buried at Fairview Cemetery in Brighton.

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Enid May Collett was one half of a set of twins born to Richard Knight Collett and Maud May Nicholls in St Austell in 1909, the twin sister being Erna Amy Collett (below). Both daughters were recorded as being one year old in the St Austell census of 1911. The family lived in the house called ‘Carbean’ and it was there tragically that Enid May Collett died at the age of fourteen in 1923. The cause of death was meningitis.

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Erna Amy Collett was born at St Austell in 1909, and was the twin sister of Enid May Collett (above), the two eldest children of Richard and Maud Collett. By the time of the census in April 1911, Erna and her parents were living at the family home ‘Carbean House’ in St Austell which was built by her father.

It was in 1933 that Erna married Howard J Rundle, who was known as Owen, and their marriage produced two children. The first of these was David Richard C Rundle who was born in 1935, and who married Shirley E Higgs in 1960. They had a son James R Rundle in 1962, but sadly were later divorced, following which David did not remarry.

Erna’s and Howard’s daughter, Marcia J Rundle was born in 1944. She married Terence Leonard Hodge in 1966, and their son was Matthew Leonard Hodge. He was born in 1973, and in 2008 he married Sarah.

Unlike her twin sister Enid, Erna Amy Rundle nee Collett lived a long life and died in 2000 when she was 91. The last twenty years of her life was spent as a widow, since her husband Owen Rundle died during 1980.

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Maggie Collett was born at St Austell during January 1911, and was three months old in the St Austell & Roche census of 1911, when she and her family were living at Carbean House. She was the third child of Richard and Maud Collett. This picture of her was taken at family gathering around 1930. It was about eight years later that she married Thomas Henry Jenkin in 1938. During their life together Maggie presented Thomas with a son, Richard Vivian Jenkin who was born after the Second World War in 1948. Maggie Jenkin nee Collett died in 1997.