PART TWENTY-TWO

 

The Somerset & Wiltshire Line

 

This is the only section of the twenty-second part of the Collett family

Updated November 2008

 

 

This is the family line of Barry Collett (Ref. 22R1) of Reading and Phillip Bain (Ref. 22R4) of Australia

to whom thanks must go for contributing details of this family line

 

The first record of this line is the marriage between Thomas Collett and Mary Skrine in 1608 at Bathford near Bath.  There was also a Thomas Collett who was the churchwarden at Bathford in 1676.  The earlier dates below are estimates

 

22F1

THOMAS COLLETT

 

 

 

22G1

THOMAS COLLETT

May have been born circa 1580-1590

 

 

 

 

22G1

THOMAS COLLETT married Mary Skrine in 1608 at Bathford.  This therefore is very likely to be the Thomas Collett who was the churchwarden at Bathford in 1676.

 

 

 

Mary’s family lived in Warleigh Mansion, a manor house in Bathford and were local non-conformist gentry that remained living in this area until the last of the male line was killed in France during the Great War.

 

 

 

22H1

WILLIAM COLLETT

May have been born circa 1620-1630

 

 

 

 

22H1

WILLIAM COLLETT married Mary Pearce at the Abbey of St Peter and St Paul in Bath in 1656.

 

 

 

22I1

THOMAS COLLETT

May have been born circa 1656-1660

 

 

 

 

22I1

THOMAS COLLETT married Elizabeth and died in 1741 at Box midway between Bath and Chippenham in Wiltshire.

 

 

 

22J1

Anthony Collett

May have been born circa 1680-1690

 

22J2

SIMON COLLETT

May have been born circa 1680-1690

 

 

 

 

22J1

Anthony Collett married Elizabeth and the majority of their thirteen children died at an early age perhaps due to plague or serious illness.  Anthony, who died on 20.04.1731 at Bathford, and his wife both passed away in their middle-ages at a time when four of their nephews, the young children of Thomas Collett (Ref. 22K14) also died at St James in Bath.

 

 

 

Anthony’s wife Elizabeth died on 29.10.1738 and her Will was proved on 09.06.1740.  This referred to her as ‘Elizabeth Collett widow of Bathford’. 

 

 

 

However, there was an earlier Will that was proved closer to the date of death.  This was the Will of ‘Elizabeth Collett widow of Bath’ proved on 14.06.1739.

 

 

 

22K1

Anthony Collett

Born on 01.02.1705; died 12.02.1705

 

22K2

Anthony Collett

Born in 1707; died on 19.09.1734

 

22K3

Walter Collett

Born on 04.12.1709; died 28.07.1727

 

22K4

Peter Collett

Born on 02.12.1712; died in May 1713

 

22K5

Peter Collett

Born on 22.05.1714

 

22K6

Elizabeth Collett

Born on 20.12.1715; died in Jan 1716

 

22K7

Elizabeth Collett

Born on 28.12.1716; died in Jan 1717

 

22K8

Betty Collett

Born on 17.03.1718; died in May 1719

 

22K9

Mary Collett

Born on 22.01.1720; died in Aug 1721

 

22K10

Elizabeth Collett

Born on 07.04.1721; died 22.03.1739

 

22K11

Catherine Collett

Born on 17.06.1722

 

22K12

Sarah Collett

Born on 15.12.1723

 

22K13

Ann Collett

Born on 02.07.1728; died 22.03.1729

 

 

 

 

22J2

SIMON COLLETT was born in 1680 and was a Quaker who married Sarah in 1704.  He died at Box on 10.06.1745 and was buried at St Michael’s in Bath.  Sarah died on 08.05.1742 in the parish of Lyncombe-with-Widcombe in Bath.

 

 

 

The names of Simon and Sarah’s two sons Thomas (1705-1763) and Simon (1713-1789) appear on shire voting rolls for Bristol in 1729 where they were apprenticed as brewers and bakers.  Their names also appear in the attendance list of the Society of Friends, and again as witnesses at Quaker marriages conducted during this time.

 

 

 

In addition, the details of their son’s marriages and deaths were recorded in Quaker records along with the names of their immediate relatives.  Most of the Collett family, including Thomas and Simons were buried by the Friends in the Quaker graveyard at Somerset.

 

 

 

22K14

THOMAS COLLETT

Born in 1705

 

22K15

Anthony Collett

Born on 20.02.1707

 

22K16

Elizabeth Collett

Born on 18.10.1709; died 27.10.1728

 

22K17

Simon Collett

Born in 1713

 

 

 

 

22K14

THOMAS COLLETT was born at Bath in 1705 and served an apprenticeship as a brewer and a baker in Bristol in the 1720s.  Around 1730 he married (1) Hannah Collett who tragically died on 27.11.1740 after having given Thomas four children of which three died prior to Hannah’s death and one the year after. 

 

 

 

This might indicate some form of plague or illness beset the family at that time.  Hannah was buried at St James in Bath where all four of her children were born and died.

 

 

 

Thirteen months later Thomas married (2) Sarah Rose at Devizes on 27.12.1741 in accordance with the rite of the Society of Friends, the Quakers.  Sarah was born on 06.10.1710 at Devizes in Wiltshire.  Their eldest son Simon was born at St James in Bath, while their second son was born at Slaughterford in Wiltshire.

 

 

 

This branch of the Collett family onwards became quite prominent as Quakers in Somerset and Wiltshire for many decades to come and worked as bakers, brewers, clothiers, and later as bankers and lawyers. 

 

 

 

Thomas Collett died on 31.01.1763 at Bath and his Will was proved on 09.05.1763.  In this he was referred to as ‘Thomas Collett distiller of Bath’.

 

 

 

Their business success brought wealth to the family who lived on the family estate at Ridgeside (below left) and Jaggards House (below right) at Corsham in Wiltshire and in Bathford in the city of Bath.  Members of this family took their business to Bristol, Gloucester, Worcester and London.

 

 

 

 

 

A certain Captain J Collett of Bristol, who served with the Price of Wales Regiment in the American Wars, returned to the city in 1781 to marry Miss Dubois.  His return to England would have coincided with the British surrender to George Washington on 18th October that year.  To date, no link has been found connecting Captain Collett to this family line.

 

 

 

Jaggards House had important connections with the Parliamentary forces during the Civil War.

 

 

 

22L1

Joseph Collett

Born on 26.12.1733; died 17.08.1734

 

22L2

Elizabeth Collett

Born on 16.08.1736; died 25.02.1737

 

22L3

Thomas Collett

Born on 25.10.1737; died 23.11.1737

 

22L4

Mary Collett

Born on 16.09.1739; died 04.07.1741

 

22L5

Simon Collett

Born on 25.07.1742

 

22L6

THOMAS COLLETT

Born on 09.03.1745

 

 

 

 

22K17

Simon Collett was born at Bath in 1713.  He married Jane Bristow on 07.11.1737 at Slaughterford in Wiltshire but was married for less than ten years when Jane died on 18.04.1757 at St James in Bath. 

 

 

 

Simon died at Bath on 28.03.1789 and his Will was proved on 17.06.1789.  In this he was referred to as ‘Simon Collett baker of Bath’.

 

 

 

It is likely that all of the couple’s children were born at Bath although it is only known for sure that the first two and the last were born there and that the second child also died there.

 

 

 

22L7

Sarah Collett

Born on 12.09.1739

 

22L8

Jane Collett

Born on 25.11.1740; died 09.12.1740

 

22L9

Ann Collett

Born on 17.03.1742

 

22L10

Isaac Collett

Born on 21.01.1744

 

22L11

Jane Collett

Born on 12.01.1746; died 18.10.1749

 

22L12

Hannah Collett

Born on 24.09.1746; died 10.06.1748

 

 

 

 

22L6

THOMAS COLLETT was born at Slaughterford in Wiltshire on 09.03.1745.  He married Mary Jones on 17.11.1771.  Mary was born on 19.03.1755 at Trowbridge in Wiltshire and her son was born at Lyncombe-with-Widcombe in Bath. 

 

Thomas was a wine merchant, a banker and a brewer and was a significant figure in Bath around 1783 when he was listed as one of the principals of the Tufnell and Faulkner Bank which had been first established in 1774 under the name Abrahams, Collett, Salmon and Harris. 

 

Thomas also set up a wine and spirits company known as Collett & Faulkner which operated from St James Street in the centre of Bath.  He also ran a clothier business, as his father had before him.

 

 

 

Thomas’ wife Mary died at Jaggards House in Corsham on 06.09.1813, while Thomas died almost twenty years later on 28.03.1832 at Ridgeside in Corsham.  Mary was buried at Bathford Friends Cemetery in Bath.

 

 

 

On his death in 1832 the local newspaper, the Bath Chronicle, carried a substantial obituary to Thomas Collett (senior) that praised him for his decency, honesty and his importance to the people of Bath.  His son Thomas, who died the following year, and was honoured with an equally impressive obituary.

 

 

 

22M1

THOMAS COLLETT

Born in 1779

 

22M2

Mary Ann Collett

Born circa 1790

 

 

 

 

22L9

Ann Collett was born on 17.03.1742 and probably at Bath.  However, she died at family home at Ridgeside in Corsham on 12.03.1833.

 

 

 

 

22L10

Isaac Collett was born on 21.01.1744 and probably at Bath.  He married Mary around 1778 and again this was probably at Bath as this was where their first and third offspring were born at St James. 

 

 

 

Mary was born in 1743 and died on 03.03.1830 and was buried at Bathford in Bath.  Her Will was proved on 06.09.1830 in which she was referred to as ‘Mary Collett widow of Corsham’.

 

 

 

22M3

Sarah Collett

Born circa 1779/80

 

22M4

Isaac Collett

Born on 16.02.1781

 

22M5

Mary Collett

Born on 17.07.1789

 

 

 

 

22M1

THOMAS COLLETT was born in the parish of Lyncome-with-Widcombe at Bath in 1779.  He married (1) Ann Fisher on 19.08.1806 at Bathwick Church in Bath.  Ann was born at Wedmore south of Cheddar in Somerset in 1789 and her well-to-do Bathford family had connections with the Skrine family.  Ann died on 28.01.1825 at Corsham.

 

For the next seven years Thomas lived the life of a widower and then on 04.08.1832 he married (2) Ann Pheunicia Stump who was born in 1786.  However, the marriage was short lived when Thomas died sixteen months later on 10.12.1833 at Worcester.

 

Three years after the death of her husband, Ann Pheunicia sailed to Tasmania with stepson Arthur Thomas Collett and his new wife. 

 

 

 

They arrived at Van Dieman’s Land in early 1837 and Pheunicia spent the remainder of her life living with the family.  She returned to England with her stepson and his extended family in 1850-1851 but stayed on when, following the death of her stepson, his wife and children returned to Tasmania in April 1863.

 

 

 

Sadly now left on her own Pheunicia died a month later on 01.05.1863 at East Budleigh just north of Budleigh Salterton in Devon.

 

 

 

Both of Thomas’ children were born while living at Lyncombe-with-Widcombe.

 

 

 

Thomas’ obituary in the 19th December 1833 edition of the Bath Chronicle read as follows: “Dec 10 at Worcester, after a protracted illness, aged 54, Thomas Collett Esq, of this city, banker, and of Ridgeside in Wiltshire.  As few individuals were more highly respected or deservedly beloved, so there are few whose death will be more deeply regretted or sincerely lamented; amenity of temper, kindness of heart, and steadfastness in friendship, richly embalm his memory with those who knew and appreciated his worth”

 

 

 

22N1

Mary Ann Collett

Born on 15.11.1807

 

22N2

ARTHUR THOMAS COLLETT

Born on 25.06.1809

 

 

 

 

22M2

Mary Ann Collett was born in Wiltshire around 1790.  She married (1) Doctor Onesphorus Windle Bartley on 20.12.1809 at Corsham.  He was born on 07.07.1778 at Bristol and he died on 18.08.1818 at Bathford and was buried there at the Quaker Burial Ground.

 

 

 

The short marriage produced two children for Mary Ann, the first born at Nailsworth south of Gloucester, where she died the following year, the second also at Nailsworth, and the third at Bristol.

 

 

 

Mary Ann then married (2) Jean Baptiste Lequeyer on 16.01.1822.  It seems more than likely that she met and married Jean while on the island of Jersey since it was there that she died on 13.01.1880.

 

 

 

22N3

Mary Bartley

Born on 17.08.1811; died in 1812

 

22N4

Mary Bartley

Born in 1813

 

22N5

Onesiphorus Bartley

Born on 04.04.1815

 

 

 

 

22M5

Mary Collett was born at St James in Bath on 17.07.1789 and, like her cousin Mary Ann Collett, she too married into the Bartley family.

 

 

 

 

22N1

Mary Ann Collett was born at Lyncombe-with Widcombe on 15.11.1807.  She died at Nailsworth on 27.03.1811 aged three and a quarter years.

 

 

 

 

22N2

ARTHUR THOMAS COLLETT was born at Lyncombe-with-Widcombe on 25.06.1809.  He attended Wadham College in Oxford where he matriculated on 14th January 1826 aged 16.  In an Oxford report Arthur’s father was referred to as ‘Thomas Collett of Widcombe in Somerset, bart’ and this indicated that he was entitled to use a heraldic coat of arms.

 

 

 

A little later he left Oxford and is believed to have attended Edinburgh University to complete a Law Degree. 

 

 

 

It is interesting to note that Oxford was an Anglican stronghold and that Edinburgh was a refuge for non-Anglican students and this may have been the reason for his move to Scotland.

 

 

 

Arthur married (1) Sarah Lowe on 06.09.1836 at John Wesley’s Church of St Bartolphs Without at Aldergate which lies behind St Paul’s Cathedral in London.  Arthur appears to be the first in the family line to switch to the Wesleyan Church from being a Quaker. 

 

 

 

Arthur’s first wife Sarah was born at Winslow in Cheshire on 13.03.1808.  Shortly after the marriage in 1836 they sailed for Tasmania on the ship Royal George where Arthur took up a post as magistrate and corner.  It was virtually on his arrival Tasmania in 1837 that he was made a Justice of the Peace, and that same year saw the birth of the first child for Arthur and Sarah.

 

 

 

The couple initially made their home in Launceston where their first three children were born and later settled in nearby Evandale. 

 

 

 

And it was at Evandale that Arthur offered a home to his stepmother Ann Pheunicia Collett nee Stump who stayed with the family until her death.  Ann came from a wool producing (broking and weaving) family in Corsham in Wiltshire and must have held a special place in Arthur’s life as his first daughter was named in her honour.

 

 

 

However, tragedy struck the family just eleven days after the birth of the couple’s fourth child at Evandale, when Sarah died on 29.06.1842 at Launceston.

 

 

 

A few years later Arthur married (2) Sophia Sarah Jones Huxtable on 27.06.1845 at St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Evandale with whom he had a total of eleven children, seven of whom were born in Tasmania.

 

 

 

It was while the couple were stilling living at Evandale that their first two children were born.  There seems to have been a move to Morven soon after, since it was there that the couple’s next four children were born.  It would also appear that the family later returned to Evandale where their last Tasmanian offspring was born.

 

 

 

See Ref. 22Q10 for another Australian marriage between the Collett and Huxtable families.

 

 

 

Sophia was the daughter of Hackney surgeon Doctor William Huxtable and was born at Redcliffe hill in Bristol on 06.07.1818.  Around 1850 Dr Huxtable worked closely with Dr Joseph Lister who was credited with the introduction of antiseptic in surgical procedures to reduce infection. 

 

 

 

Arthur became a significant landowner and political figure in the young colony and was even an advocate for changing the name from Van Dieman’s Land to Tasmania.  He purchased an 880-acre sheep farm in central Tasmania that he christened ‘Ridgeside’ after the Collett family home at Corsham in England and leased a further 6,000 acres for rearing sheep.

 

 

 

In 1840 he sought election to the Legislative Assembly, an advisory body made up of the Colony’s leading citizens that was a precursor to a fully elected legislature. He ran on a platform of promoting Tasmanian meat and other foodstuffs in preference to imported products.

 

 

 

By 1846 he had opened a butcher’s shop in Charles Street in Launceston with his nephew Theodore Bartley under the name ‘Van Dieman’s Land Meat Company’ which traded for more than eleven years.

 

 

 

Around 1855 Arthur and Sophia returned to England leaving Theodore Bartley to manage the butcher’s shop.  In England the family initially lived at Parmoor House in Frieth in the Buckinghamshire parish of Hambleden. 

 

 

 

It is believed that the decision to return to England was prompted by a fall-out with the Anglican Bishop of Launceston and other figures of the Colonial establishment in Tasmania.  Prior to his return to England, Arthur sold the bulk of his land holding to his other nephew William Bartley.

 

 

 

The 12th Century Parmoor House is noted in history as originally belonging to the Knights Templar, as the birth place of Sir Stafford Cripps the post-war Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the place of safety for King Zog of Albania during World War Two.

 

 

 

A further four children were born to Arthur and Sophia after their return to England and it seems likely that son Robert was born while they were living at Parmoor House.  Sometime later the family moved to Somerset, where on 10.10.1861, Arthur was tragically killed when he fell from his horse.

 

 

 

The incident, which was reported in an obituary in The Times, happened at Hele Hill in Wellington in Somerset when it is thought he had a stroke which caused him to fall from his horse onto the Bath Road.  He never recovered from the injuries that he sustained and was buried at Widcombe in his home town of Bath. 

 

 

 

At the time of his death Arthur was working at law in Taunton.  In his life he was known as Arthur Collett of Corsham.

 

 

 

Upon settlement of his estate in early 1863, the bulk of which amounted to Ł6,000 and was inherited by his eldest son William Pountney Collett, his wife Sophia returned south to join her own Huxtable family with the ultimately intention of living on the remnants of her husband’s land holding.

 

 

 

For the return journey on board the ship The Anglesey, Sophia was accompanied by her eight children: Paul aged 16, Thomas 15, Theodore 12, Emily 8, Margaret 6, Robert 5, George 5 and Alfred 3.  The Anglesey arrived at Port Fairy in Victoria in April 1863.

 

 

 

Sophia first lived near Warnambool and then followed her son Thomas to where he had taken up land at Healesville and Lilydale.  A few years later she and the younger children settled in Evandale before finally taking over Arthur’s remaining land holdings at Oatlands and taking returning to her principle occupation as a school teacher.  In the 1840s she had taught at the Ellenthorpe School for Girls in Launceston.

 

 

 

Sadly, Sophia was almost penniless at the time of her death on 06.05.1877 and during the preceding couple of years she had worked at a store in Oatlands.  She was eventually laid to rest at the Oatlands Methodist and Presbyterian Cemetery in Oatlands.

 

 

 

22O1

Arthur Thomas Collett

Born on 29.10.1837

 

22O2

Ann Pheunicia Collett

Born on 31.10.1838

 

22O3

William Pountney Collett

Born on 07.07.1840

 

22O4

Frederick Collett

Born on 18.06.1842

 

22O5

Paul Collett

Born circa 1846

 

22O6

Thomas Collett

Born in 1847

 

22O7

Ann Collett

Born in 1848

 

22O8

Theodore Bartley Collett

Born on 04.06.1849

 

22O9

Ann Collett

Born on 02.05.1850

 

22O10

Edward Collett

Born on 02.02.1852

 

22O11

Emily Collett

Born on 24.05.1854

 

22O12

Margaret Ann Collett

Born in 1856

 

22O13

ROBERT COLLETT

Born in November 1856

 

22O14

George Edward Collett

Born in 1858

 

22O15

Alfred Collett

Born in 1860

 

 

 

 

22N4

Onesiphorus Bartley was born at Bristol on 04.04.1815.  At sometime during the following thirty years he sailed to Canada where, on 01.09.1844, he married Sarah Carroll at St Paul’s Woodstock in Ontario.  After only eight years of being married Sarah died in 1852 at Paris in Ontario but not before presenting her husband with two children.

 

 

 

22O15

Edwin Carroll Bartley

Born in 1849

 

22O16

Eugenia Bartley mar Thomas Sparks

Born after 1845 and before 1852

 

 

 

 

22O1

Arthur Thomas Collett was born at Launceston on 29.10.1837.

 

 

 

 

22O2

Ann Pheunicia Collett was born at Launceston on 31.10.1838 and died there less than a year later on 28.07.1839.

 

 

 

 

22O3

William Pountney Collett was born Launceston on 07.07.1840.

 

 

 

 

22O4

Frederick Collett was born at Evandale on 18.06.1842 and tragically just eleven days after the birth his mother died.

 

 

 

 

22O6

Thomas Collett was born at Evandale in 1847 and he married (1) Gertrude Baulich. 

 

Thomas then married (2) Adeline Bonner on 03.10.1888 at Ulverstone in Tasmania. 

 

He later died at Longford in Tasmania. 

 

His daughter Lily came from the first marriage.

 

 

 

22P1

Lily Collett

Date of birth unknown

 

 

 

 

22O7

Ann Collett may have been born at Morven in 1848 where she died shortly after on 22.10.1848.

 

 

 

 

22O8

Theodore Bartley Collett was born at Morven on 04.06.1849 and he later married eighteen years old Annie Saltmarsh on 10.04.1878 at Longford when his age was recorded as being 28. 

 

 

 

Annie was born at Longford in 1860 and the marriage produced four daughters and a son.  Both of the older girls were born at Port Sorell in Tasmania, while the other three children were born at Hobart. 

 

 

 

Theodore died at Mersey in Tasmania on 07.07.1899.

 

 

 

22P2

Mary Collett

Born in 1881

 

22P3

Maude Mersey Collett

Born on 03.09.1883

 

22P4

Arthur Collett

Born on 06.11.1885

 

22P5

Mabel Collett

Born on 30.07.1887

 

22P6

Florence Collett

Date of birth unknown

 

 

 

 

22O9

Ann Collett was born at Morven on 02.07.1850 where she died the following year on 24.03.1851.

 

 

 

 

22O10

Edward Collett was born at Morven on 02.05.1852 and died just over two years later at Evandale on 09.03.1854.

 

 

 

 

22O11

Emily Collett was born at Evandale on 24.05.1854.  Having sailed to England with her family around 1855 she returned with her mother in 1863 following the death of her father.  Back in Tasmania she married Charles Thomas Smith on 30.01.1878 at Morven.

 

 

 

Emily was aged 23 at the time of her marriage to Charles who was exactly twice her aged, he being 46 years old.

 

 

 

The married produced a daughter and two sons.  Daughter Una Smith married Mr Thorpe, while the two boys were Thomas, and Charles who was born on 13.12.1881 at Horton.

 

 

 

 

22O12

Margaret Ann Collett was born in 1856 and married Mr Conolace.

 

 

 

 

22O13

ROBERT COLLETT was born at Parmoor House in Berkshire in November 1856.  He received a good education from his mother and remained a staunch Methodist all his life.  In 1863 he sailed to Australia with his widowed mother and the rest of the family where, on 07.03.1881, he married Margaret Ann White at Lilydale in Victoria.  Ann was born in 1857 at Healesville in Victoria, the eldest child of local farmer John Bishop White and Mary Bruce of Healesville. 

 

 

 

Robert initially worked with his older brother Thomas before becoming a dairy farmer near Warragul in Gippsland.  He and Margaret had twelve children although only nine of them survived and most of these settled around the Gippsland region.  Later in his life Robert became a Sunday school teacher at Ecklin South near Camperdown.

 

 

 

The couple’s two eldest children were born while the family was living at Lilydale, while daughter Emily Harriet was born and died at Calton, son Frederick at Mitcham, with Charles Robert and Alick both born at Mepunga East, all in Victoria.

 

 

 

Margaret died at Warragul in Victoria on 02.05.1930 and was followed nine and a half years later by Robert who died at Prahran in Victoria on 02.12.1939.

 

 

 

22P7

Mary Sophia Collett

Born in 1883

 

22P8

Arthur Clarence Collett

Born in 1884

 

22P9

George Collett

Born in 1885; died in 1885

 

22P10

Emily Harriet Collett

Born in 1886; died in 1886

 

22P11

George Edward Collett

Born in 1887; died in 1887

 

22P12

FREDERICK ALEXANDER COLLETT

Born in 1888

 

22P13

Charles Robert Collett

Born in 1890

 

22P14

Annie Olivia Collett

Born in 1892

 

22P15

Stanley James George Collett

Born on 31.10.1893

 

22P16

Alick Harold David Collett

Born in 1896

 

22P17

Alice Collett

Born in 1898

 

 

 

 

22O14

George Edward Collett was born at Parmoor House in 1858 and he married Helen Maud Collett.  All of their sons were born when the family was living at Marrickville in New South Wales, whereas the family was living at Richmond towards the turn of the century.

 

 

 

22P18

Gerald Arthur Collett

Born on 05.06.1889

 

22P19

Edgar George Collett

Born in 1891

 

22P20

Bernard Clifford Collett

Born in 1892

 

22P21

Albert John Collett

Born in 1893

 

22P22

Lucy H Collett

Born in 1898

 

 

 

 

22O15

Alfred Collett was born at Parmoor House in 1860.  He sailed with his widowed mother to Australia on the ship The Anglesey which arrived at Port Fairy in Victoria in April 1863.  In the years following he accompanied his mother and the family to live in Tasmania where he died aged 13 on 21.09.1873 at Longford.

 

 

 

 

22P2

Mary Collett was born at Port Sorell in Tasmania in 1881 and she later married Charles Marshall Foster.  Mary died in 1955.

 

 

 

 

22P3

Maude Mersey Collett was born at Port Sorell on 03.09.1883 and she later married Mr Hughes.

 

 

 

 

22P4

Arthur Collett was born at Hobart in Tasmania on 06.11.1885 and he saw active service during the First World War.  At the time he enlisted he was not married.

 

 

 

His entry in the Service Records of the National Archives of Australia (www.naa.gov.au) confirms that: he was born at Railton in Tasmania (rather than Hobart); he enlisted at Claremont in Tasmania; his service number was 1678; and his mother and next-of-kin was Annie Collett his father having died in 1899.

 

 

 

 

22P5

Mabel Collett was born at Hobart on 30.07.1887 and she later married Mr W Edwards.

 

 

 

 

22P6

Florence Collett, who was born at Hobart but whose date of birth is not known, is known to have married Alf Guillard.

 

 

 

 

22P7

Mary Sophia Collett was born at Lilydale in 1883 and she later married Fred Digney.

 

 

 

 

22P8

Arthur Clarence Collett, who was referred to as Artie, was born in 1884.  He married Margaret (Maggie) Emily Gardner in 1909.  Margaret was born at Woolsthorpe in Victoria on 16.06.1886 and she died in 1979. 

 

 

 

She was the daughter of Andrew Gardner and the sister of Mary-Ann Gardner who married Arthur’s brother Frederick Alexander Collett – see below.  Like her sister, she too was in service at the Quamby and Union Stations immediately prior to being married.

 

 

 

Arthur, who was a trader in horses and livestock, died eleven years before his wife in 1968 at Longwarry in Victoria.  Their daughter was born at Warnambool in Victoria.

 

 

 

22Q1

Emily Isabel Collett

Born on 31.01.1911

 

 

 

 

22P12

FREDERICK ALEXANDER COLLETT was born at Mitcham in Victoria in 1888 and he married Mary-Ann Gardner on 06.10.1909 at St Andrew’s Manse in Colac, Victoria.  Mary-Ann, who was referred to as Mollie, was born at Woolsthorpe near Warnambool on 28.01.1887 and was the daughter of Andrew Gardner a station (farm) manager originally from Glasgow.  Mary-Ann died on 24.07.1966 at Cobram in Victoria where she was buried and where Frederick died on 26.09.1976.

 

 

 

Frederick was employed in a variety of jobs throughout his working life.  He ran a dairy in north-west Melbourne, managed orchards, and raised pigs.  On one occasion he worked for the tramways company in Melbourne and on another occasion he delivered milk around Moonee Ponds and Ascot Vale.  He often told stories about how he knew members of Ned Kelly’s family while working at Benalla.

 

 

 

During the Second World War, while he was farming in Gippsland at Toora, he took advantage of a Government offer to take on Italian prisoners of war as a form of cheap labour.  All went well initially until his eldest daughter Hazel decided to marry one of the Italians.  This caused great humiliation for the family, not only because he was a foreigner and a former enemy soldier, but because he was a Catholic.

 

 

 

Prior to marrying Frederick, Mary-Ann was in service at Quamby and Union Stations and this work may have been the reason for her excellent skills with farmhouse cooking and preserving fruits.

 

 

 

At the time of the birth of their first child Frederick and Mary-Ann were living at Warnambool followed by Cobden for the second child, Kyneton for the third, and Elmhurst for the fourth.

 

 

 

By the time of the birth of daughter Eunice the family was living at Whittlesea and by 1927 they were living in a large two-storey house near the corner of Swanston Street and three doors from the City Baths where their children learned to swim.

 

 

 

They also lived close to Frederick’s second cousin Florrie White who had married into the Crocksford family, a major draper in Melbourne.

 

 

 

22Q2

Hazel Marjorie Collett

Born on 09.08.1910

 

22Q3

LEONARD ALEXANDER COLLETT

Born on 31.12.1911

 

22Q4

Dorothy Margaret Collett

Born on 12.03.1914

 

22Q5

Cecil Eric Collett

Born on 07.09.1915

 

22Q6

Eunice Isobel Collett

Born on 19.01.1923

 

22Q7

Joyce Coral Collett

Born on 31.03.1930

 

 

 

 

22P13

Charles Robert Collett was born at Mepunga East in Victoria in 1890.  He saw active service during the First World War and on his return from Europe he married Myrtle.

 

 

 

His entry in the Service Records of the National Archives of Australia (www.naa.gov.au) confirms that: he was born at Melbourne (rather than Mepunga); he enlisted at Broadmeadows in Victoria; his service number was 82; and his father and next-of-kin was Robert Collett.

 

 

 

22Q8

Robert Hope Bruce Collett

Born on 23.07.1920

 

 

 

 

22P14

Annie Olivia Collett was born in 1892 and she married Dudley Palmer and died in 1982.  There is another school of thought that she never married, but lived in a grand apartment in Cromwell Road in South Yarra.  It is known that she spent some of her time looking after the daughter of her sister Alice Knights nee Collett at their Gippsland dairy farm.

 

 

 

 

22P15

Stanley James George Collett was born on 31.10.1893.  He married Elsie Wilson on 24.09.1919.  Elsie was born on 24.05.1894 and died in 1954 and had a son Alvon from a previous relationship.  Stanley died on 29.04.1969. 

 

 

 

 

22P16

Alick Harold David Collett was born at Mepunga in 1896.  He was brought up on his father’s farm but, when the opportunity came, he enlisted with the Australia Infantry Force and saw active service in France during the First World War where he was involved with looking after the horses. 

 

 

 

His entry in the Service Records of the National Archives of Australia (www.naa.gov.au) confirms that: he was born at Melbourne (rather than Mepunga); he enlisted at Warnambool in Victoria; his service number was 1519; and his wife and next-of-kin was Edith Catharine Collett.

 

 

 

At the end of the war in 1918, the AIF troops were offered an immediate return to Australia or a period of leave in England.  Alick opted for the latter and during this period of leave he visited Bath and felt some attraction to the city and decided to settle there.  It was not for many years thereafter that he learned that the city was the place from whence his ancestors had emigrated to the southern hemisphere.

 

 

 

He married (1) Edith Catharine from Bath, but unfortunately she feel ill so Alick took her to Australia, hoping that the warmer weather might cure her ills.  It seems more than likely that she died in Australia since by the mid-1930s Alick had returned to England and was a widower working in Bath.

 

 

 

He then married (2) a girl by the name of Stockwell and the marriage produced one daughter Ruth Collett who married Alexander Moseley who was born in 1938 and with whom she had two sons, Oliver and Seth. 

 

 

 

Alick’s second wife died during an air on Bath during World War Two following which his daughter Ruth was cared for by his sister-in-law Vi (Violet) Stockwell.  Alick died at Bath in 1979.

 

 

 

 

22P17

Alice Collett was born in 1898 and she married Walter Knights with whom she had a daughter Lindsay.  Alice and her husband joined forces with her parents Robert and Mary-Ann Collett in establishing a large dairy farm between Birchip and Warragul.   On the death of her parents, the property was inherited by the Knights family which was still being operated by them at the start of the 21st Century.

 

 

 

 

22P18

Gerald Arthur Collett was born at Marrickville in New South Wales on 05.06.1889.  He married Emily E Collett of Balcarres in the Royalist Road at Mosman in New South Wales probably just before entering the First World War. 

 

 

 

He was Corporal 2363 in the Imperial Camel Corps and was tragically killed in action on 05.06.1917 in Palestine.  His name is listed amongst those on Panel 59 of the Jerusalem Memorial.

 

 

 

His entry in the Service Records of the National Archives of Australia (www.naa.gov.au) confirms that: he was born at Sydney (rather than Marrickville); he enlisted at Sydney; his service number was 2363; and his wife and next-of-kin was Emily Esther Collett.

 

 

 

 

22P20

Bernard Clifford Collett was born at Marrickville in 1892.  Like his brother he joined up for service in the First World War but it looks as though he may not have seen active service being ‘depot’ based, according to the record below.

 

 

 

His entry in the Service Records of the National Archives of Australia (www.naa.gov.au) confirms that: he was born at Marrickville; he enlisted at Newcastle in New South Wales; he was assigned to the ‘depot’; and his mother and next-of-kin was Helen Maud Collett.

 

 

 

It would appear that he married just after the war and sons George and James were born at Rose Park in South Australia

 

 

 

22Q9

George Edward Collett

Born circa 1918

 

22Q10

James Vincent Collett

Born on 29.01.1926

 

 

 

 

22Q1

Emily Isabel Collett was born at Warnambool on 31.01.1911.  She married Alfred Robert Gardner.  Alfred was very likely the nephew of either or both Mary-Ann Gardner who married Emily’s uncle Frederick Collett and Margaret Emily Gardner who was her mother.  The married produced one daughter Elsie Gardner who married a Mr Smith.  Emily died on 29.11.1996 at Drouin in Victoria.

 

 

 

 

22Q2

Hazel Marjorie Collett was born at Warnambool on 09.08.1910.  She married (1) Augustus (Gus) Ricci in 1926 at Richmond in Victoria and died in 1967.  The marriage produced two sons, Alexander Ritchie referred to as Alec, and Francis Edwin Ritchie referred to as Eddie.

 

 

 

During the war years Hazel ran a hair salon.  She later married (2) Carmello Mustica with whom she had a further son, Neville Mustica.  Both of her husbands were Italian prisoners of war who had been employed on her father’s dairy farm.

 

 

 

 

22Q3

LEONARD ALEXANDER COLLETT was born at Cobden in Victoria on 31.12.1911 and he married Ruth Binns.  He worked on the railway for over 49 years, the majority of the time as station master at Wonthaggi and Korumburra.

 

 

 

22R1

BARRY COLLETT

Date of birth unknown

 

22R2

Graeme Collett

Date of birth unknown

 

22R3

Barbara Collett

Date of birth unknown

 

 

 

 

22Q4

Dorothy Margaret Collett, referred to as Dorrie, was born at Kyneton in Victoria on 12.03.1914.  She married (1) Bernard Jordan with whom she had two children who were born at Essendon.  These were: Beverley Jordan who was born on 02.06.1936 and who married Alan Pope; and Donald Jordan who was born on 11.11.1937. 

 

 

 

Dorothy ran a successful mattress manufacturing business until a fire destroyed it and she discovered she was not covered by insurance as her husband had not paid the premium.  As a result of this she accepted the loss, retired from business, and separated from her husband.

 

 

 

She later married (2) Frank Anstey.

 

 

 

 

22Q5

Cecil Eric Collett was born at Elmhurst in Victoria on 07.09.1915 and he married Thelma Pearce.  The couple set up home on a small farm at Cobram on the Murray living next door to Cecil’s father Frederick Alexander Collett, from where they ran a successful milk processing and distribution business that eventually covered a large part of northern Victoria and southern New South Wales.

 

 

 

22R4

Marion Collett

Born in 1941

 

 

 

 

22Q6

Eunice Isobel Collett was born at Whittlesea on 19.01.1923 and suffered with a disability from birth.  She never married and died at Wodonga in Victoria in 1996.

 

 

 

 

22Q7

Joyce Coral Collett was born at Warragul in Victoria on 3103.1930.  She attended school at Drouin and Toora in Gippsland before moving to Melbourne in the early post war years where she was employed at the head office of the Myer Emporium. 

 

 

 

She married Henry James Bain on 05.08.1950 at Moonee Ponds in Victoria.  Henry was born at Rochester Victoria on 08.08.1918.  At the time of the birth of their first son the couple were living at Coburg in Victoria and two and a half years later the family was living at Ivanhoe in Victoria.

 

 

 

Henry died at Ivanhoe on 30 Nov 1975 followed by Joyce on 13 Feb 1993 but at Heidelberg in Victoria.

 

 

 

22R5

Phillip Russell Bain

Born on 03.03.1954

 

22R6

Rodney James Bain

Born on 25.09.1956

 

 

 

 

22Q8

Robert Hope Bruce Collett was born at Geelong on 23.07.1920.  He enlisted to take part in the Second World War but died at Alice Springs on 27.12.1941 as a result of injuries sustained during active service.

 

 

 

His entry in the Service Records of the National Archives of Australia (www.naa.gov.au) confirms that: he was born at Geelong; he enlisted at Geelong; his service number was V/76789; and his father and next-of-kin was Charles Collett.

 

 

 

 

22Q9

George Edward Collett was born at Rose Park in South Australia around 1918.  He married Helen Maud Huxtable possibly at Chatswood in New South Wales around 1936 and it was there that both their sons were born. 

 

 

 

Their youngest son was named after George’s father who was also Bernard Clifford Collett (Ref. 22P20), while their oldest son was named after Bernard’s brother (Ref. 22P19).

 

 

 

22R7

Edgar George Collett

Born in 1937

 

22R8

Bernard Clifford Collett

Born in 1958

 

 

 

 

22Q10

James Vincent Collett was born at Rose Park in South Australia on 29.01.1926 and he entered the Second World War as soon as he became of age.

 

 

 

His entry in the Service Records of the National Archives of Australia (www.naa.gov.au) confirms that: he was born at Rose Park; he enlisted at Melbourne; his service number was 31396; and his father and next-of-kin was Bernard Collett.

 

 

 

 

22R1

BARRY COLLETT married Pauline Simpson and they had five children.  Barry was raised and educated in Australia and later became a student at Oriel College in Oxford.  He returned to Australia and worked at the Department of History at Melbourne University.  More recently Barry returned to England and now teaches history at Oxford and lives in Reading.

 

 

 

 

22R2

Graeme Collett married Margo and they had two children.

 

 

 

 

22R3

Barbara Collett married Lloyd Hemphill and they had two children.

 

 

 

 

22R4

Marion Collett was born in 1941 and she married Keith Ardley.  She died at Beerholm in Queensland in May 2000.

 

 

 

 

22R5

Phillip Russell Bain was born at Coburg on 03.03.1954 and he (1) married Robyn Elizabeth Sinclair on 29.01.1981 in Melbourne.  Robyn was born at Essendon in Victoria on 02.09.1954.  The marriage produced a daughter born later that same year in Melbourne.

 

 

 

Phillip later married (2) Viet-Lee Pedersen who was born on 05.02.1967 at Fremantle in Western Australia.  Both of the children of this marriage were born at Bendigo in Victoria.

 

 

 

22S1

Granniah Elise Bain

Born on 31.12.1981

 

22S2

Henry Mervyn James Bain

Born on 26.01.1996

 

22S3

Eliza Ruby Ellen Bain

Born on 13.05.1998

 

 

 

 

22R6

Rodney James Bain was born at Ivanhoe on 25.09.1956.  He married (1) Christine Walkeden in September 1977 at the Knox Presbyterian Church in Ivanhoe.  Rodney and Christine had one daughter born while they were living at Echuca in Victoria.  Sometime later Rodney married (2) Meryl with whom he had a son when living at Shepparton in Victoria.

 

 

 

22S4

Kelly Louise Bain

Born in January 1992

 

22S5

Matthew James Bain

Born in January 2006