PART TWENTY-EIGHT

The Faringdon Line

This is the first of three sections of the twenty-eighth part of the Collett family

Updated October 2011

This is the family line of Bob Collett (Ref. 28Q50) of Stratton St Margaret in Swindon. To date no direct ancestral link to any other line has been found but it does have two ‘sideways’ connection by marriage with Part One – The Main Line. These can be found at John Willis (Ref. 28Q52) and Robert Martin Collett (Ref. 28R33)

Faringdon has always been part of the County of Berkshire. However, following local government boundary changes, it became part of Oxfordshire in April 1974

In addition to Bob Collett of Stratton who supplied the bulk of the following information, thanks must also go to David Considine of Hillingdon in Middlesex, Pam Kuyt of Cookstown in Canada, June Keating of Carterton in New Zealand, Susan Hoskins (Ref. 28S25) of Lincolnshire in England, Heather Preston (Ref. 28R11) of New South Wales in Australia, Kathy Belcher (Ref. 28P86) of Florida in South Africa, Thomas G Collett (Ref. 28R27) of Cranwell in Lincolnshire and Darren Collett (Ref. 28R50) of Swindon, who were all instrumental in providing some of the details.

Many of the more recent Australian Collett family members in this line are still alive in 2007 and therefore only brief outlines of their personal details are available.

The family line of BOB COLLETT can be traced by the names in block capitals, while the family line of Thomas G Collett can be traced by names that are underlined.

	During a visit to the records office in January 2011, Dave Considine unearthed the following Collett records with a Faringdon connection, none of which have so far been identified as being linked to any family in this file. By listing them here there is a chance that the link may be made at sometime in the future.
	The earliest record of any Collett found within in the marriage register (1653-1710) was the marriage of Sarah Collet to William Bevis which took place on 1st December 1694. From that marriage, according to the IGI, they had a son William Bevis who was baptised at Great Faringdon on 10^th November 1695. It is possible that Sarah was the sister of John Collett who starts this family line (Ref. 28I1).
	Also found amongst the birth records was Charles the son of Mary Colet who was baptised on 17^th October 1710. Sadly he was mentioned again in the burial pages, where his burial was recorded on the 24^th October 1710.
28I1	JOHN COLLETT was born at Faringdon around 1665. He married Elizabeth Petty who was born around 1670 but at Evenlode near Stow-on-the Wold in Gloucestershire.
	The first known son Anthony was born at Longcot near Faringdon, their second son William was possibly born at Buscot between Faringdon and Lechlade, and their third son at Faringdon.
	Please note that the order of the date of birth of their three children does not correspond to the children’s reference numbers. To place them in their correct order would require the complete re-ordering of the whole of the three sections of this family line which would be a mammoth task.
	28J1	John Collett		Born in 1698
	28J2	ANTHONY COLLETT		Born in 1690
	28J3	William Collett		Born in 1695
28J1	John Collett was born at Faringdon in 1698 and he married Margaret. It also seems very likely that they too were residents of Faringdon since that was where their son was born.
	28K1	Richard Collett		Born in 1720
28J2	ANTHONY COLLETT was born in 1690 at Longcot to the south of Faringdon. It was also at Longcot on 19.05.1717 that he married Sarah Jacobs who was born in Faringdon during 1690. It may be assumed that they lived all their life at Faringdon as this was where all six of their children were born.
	Furthermore, within the Faringdon burial records is the burial of Anthony Collett on 14^th September 1741, and it has been assumed that this refers to the husband of Sarah Jacobs.
	28K2	Betty Collett		Born in 1722
	28K3	Anthony Collett		Born in 1725
	28K4	JOHN COLLETT		Born in 1728
	28K5	Sarah Collett		Born in 1732
	28K6	Ann Collett		Born in 1734
	28K7	William Collett		Born in 1736
28J3	William Collett was possibly born at Buscot to the west of Faringdon in 1695 where he was certainly baptised on 13.02.1695. The baptised record confirmed that his parents were John and Elizabeth Collett.
28K1	Richard Collett was born at Faringdon in 1720 and was baptised at neighbouring Great Coxwell on 24.04.1720. He married Elizabeth Gough at Faringdon on 05.05.1745. Elizabeth was born in 1728 and all of their children were born at Faringdon.
	28L1	Sarah Collett		Born in 1745
	28L2	Martha Collett		Born in 1747
	28L3	William Collett		Born in 1748
	28L4	Elizabeth Collett		Born in 1753
	28L5	Lucy Collett		Born in 1755
	28L6	Alan Collett		Born in 1757
	28L7	Isaac Collett		Born in 1761
	28L8	Letitia Collett		Born in 1762 at Faringdon
	28L9	Deborah Collett		Born in 1769
28K2	Betty Collett was born at Faringdon in 1722 and she was the first of the six known children of Anthony and Sarah Collett. Betty was baptised at Faringdon on 01.07.1722.
28K3	Anthony Collett was born at Faringdon in 1725 where he was baptised on 07.03.1725. He was the eldest son of Anthony Collett and his wife Sarah. Although not proved, an Anthony Collett married Ann and in 1746 at Buscot their son was baptised. This was James Collett who was baptised on 05.01.1746 who later married Mary Sheppard at Faringdon on 06.03.1783.
	Mary Sheppard (Shepherd) may have been the daughter of Thomas and Betty Shepherd of Faringdon, who was baptised there on 23.09.1750.
28K4	JOHN COLLETT was born at Faringdon in 1728 and was baptised there on 24.10.1728, the son of Anthony and Sarah Collett.
	It seems very likely, although not proved, that John married (1) Susannah when he was around twenty years of age and that the marriage produced two sons for John and Susannah, but tragically Susannah appears to have died giving birth to their second child.
	In a cruel twist it might appear the child may have been blamed for the death of his mother, because he was not baptised until he was around seven years old.
	However, it would also seem not long after the death of his wife, that John married (2) Lettice Evans on 19.08.1751 at Faringdon. Letitia Evans was the daughter of Thomas Evans and was born on 18.11.1725 at Ramsbury south-east of Swindon.
	Over the following eight years John and Lettice continued to live in Faringdon, where four of their five children were born. Sometime around the end of the decade, the family left Faringdon when they moved to the village of Little Faringdon six miles to the north-west and just north of Lechlade. And it was while they were living there that their last child was born.
	28L10	Henry Collett		Born in 1748
	28L11	Stephen Collett		Born in 1750
	28L12	Mary Collett		Born in 1752
	28L13	Elizabeth Collett		Born in 1755
	28L14	Jane Collett		Born in 1757
	28L15	John Collett		Born in 1759
	28L16	ROBERT COLLETT		Born in 1762
28K5	Sarah Collett was born at Faringdon in 1732 where she was baptised on 13.08.1732. The baptism record confirmed that Sarah was the daughter of Anthony and Sarah Collett.
28K6	Ann Collett was born at Faringdon in 1734 and it was there that she was baptised on 07.04.1734, the daughter of Anthony and Sarah Collett.
28K7	William Collett was born at Faringdon in 1736 and was baptised there on 06.02.1737, when his parents were confirmed as Anthony and Sarah Collett.
	Although not verified at this time as being this particular William, but included here for completeness, a William Collett married Elizabeth Mikson (Nixon) at Faringdon on 09.09.1778.
28L1	Sarah Collett was born at Faringdon in 1745 where she was baptised on 10.11.1745, as the eldest daughter of Richard and Betty Collett.
28L2	Martha Collett was born at Faringdon in 1747. She was the daughter of Richard and Betty Collett and was baptised at Faringdon on 30.08.1747. It may be interesting to note that another Martha Collett, the daughter of John Collett and his wife Susannah was baptised at Faringdon on 07.01.1746, although this family has not been identified at this time.
28L3	William Collett was born at Faringdon in 1748 where he was baptised on 23.10.1748, the baptism record stating that he was the son of Richard and Betty Collett. William married Rachel, possibly at Buscot, around the mid 1770s since it was there that they settled and it was there that all of their four known children were born and baptised at the Church of Mary (see right). Buscot lies between to the west of Faringdon is situated just two miles south-east of Lechlade. William’s wife Rachel was born in 1750.
	28M1	Sarah Collett		Born in 1776
	28M2	Rachel Collett		Born in 1779
	28M3	John Collett		Born in 1781
	28M4	William Collett		Born in 1785
	It was originally thought that William had married Elizabeth Walker at Faringdon on 29.04.1771. However this William, with his wife Elizabeth, lived at Clanfield in Oxfordshire about four miles to the north of Faringdon where all of their children were born and baptised.
	For the continuation of the family line of William Collett and Elizabeth Walker see Part 39 – The Clanfield Oxfordshire Line (Ref. 39L1)
28L4	Elizabeth Collett was born at Faringdon where she was baptised on 04.02.1753, the daughter of Richard and Betty Collett.
28L5	Lucy Collett was born at Faringdon in 1755 and was baptised there on 19.10.1755, the daughter of Richard and Betty Collett.
28L6	Alan Collett was born at Faringdon in 1757 and it was there that he was baptised on 07.08.1757, the son of Richard and Betty Collett, although the baptism entry appears to have spelt his name as Allen.
28L7	Isaac Collett was born at Faringdon in 1761 where he was baptised on 28.06.1761, the son of Richard Collett and his wife Betty.
28L9	Deborah Collett was born at Faringdon in 1769 and it was there also that she was baptised on 02.07.1769, the daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Collett.
28L10	Henry Collett was born at Faringdon in 1748 where he was baptised on 07.04.1748, the eldest of two sons of John and Susannah Collett.
28L11	Stephen Collett was the second of two sons of John and Susannah Collett. He was born at Faringdon in 1750, but his birth was overshadowed by the death of his mother. It was perhaps for this reason that Stephen was not baptised at Faringdon until 24.04.1757.
28L12	Mary Collett was born at Faringdon in 1752 where she was baptised on 19.04.1752, the daughter of John and Lettice Collett.
28L13	Elizabeth Collett was born at Faringdon and it was there also that she was baptised on 13.07.1755 as the child of John and Lettice Collett.
28L14	Jane Collett was born at Faringdon and baptised there on 03.04.1757, the baptism record confirming that she was the daughter of John and Lettice Collett.
28L15	John Collett was born at Faringdon where he was baptised on 15.04.1759, the son of John Collett and his wife Lettice. It seems likely, although not proved, that John married Elizabeth, since in 1779 a son Charles Collett was baptised at Buscot on 24.01.1779, he being the son of John Collett and his wife Elizabeth. Two years later the same couple had another son baptised at Buscot, and this was John Collett who was baptised there on 16.06.1781.
	It is also believed that John and Elizabeth had a third son William who was born at Buscot in 1784, although no baptism record for the child has yet been found, nor has any other record been found that would confirm this. There is a chance though that he did exist, and that he moved with his brother Charles to Appleford (see below).
	It seems likely that John’s son Charles eventually moved east, towards the larger market town of Abingdon-on-Thames where he settled in the nearby village of Appleford. Others in this family line also moved to Abingdon, perhaps attracted by better employment opportunities, and this may have applied to John’s ‘mysterious’ brother William.
	28M5	Charles Collett		Born in 1779
	28M6	John Collett		Born in 1781
	28M7	William Collett		Born in 1784
28L16	ROBERT COLLETT was born at Little Faringdon and baptised in Faringdon on 03.01.1762, the son of John and Lettice Collett. Two months before his nineteenth birthday he married Mary Harris at Faringdon on 11.11.1780.
	Mary was seven months pregnant at the time of the wedding and two months later she gave birth to the first of three children all born virtually born nine months apart.
	All of their children were born at Faringdon except William who was born at Little Faringdon. Robert died on 22.07.1800.
	28M8	Jane Collett		Born on 17.01.1781 at Faringdon
	28M9	Mary Collett		Born on 09.11.1781 at Faringdon
	28M10	Thomas Collett		Born on 24.07.1782
	28M11	Elizabeth Collett		Born on 09.03.1785
	28M12	Robert Collett		Born on 31.12.1786
	28M13	Leonard Collett		Born on 30.08.1789
	28M14	Mary Collett		Born on 30.10.1791 at Faringdon
	28M15	WILLIAM COLLETT		Born on 30.10.1793
	28M16	Sarah Collett		Born on 19.06.1796 at Faringdon
28M1	Sarah Collett was born at Buscot in 1776 and it was there that she was baptised on 14.07.1776 as the daughter of William and Rachel Collett.
28M2	Rachel Collett was born at Buscot in 1779 where she was baptised on 09.04.1780, the baptism record confirming that her parents were William Collett and his wife Rachel.
28M3	John Collett was born at Buscot in 1781 where he was baptised on 09.09.1781. He was the son of William and Rachel Collett, and it is worth highlighting that another John Collett was also baptised at Buscot earlier that same year, he being the son of John Collett and his wife Elizabeth (below).
28M4	William Collett was born at Buscot in 1785 and was baptised there on 04.12.1785, the son of William and Rachel Collett. He married Susannah Loosey who was born at Little Faringdon around 1792, although one source gives her surname as Livesey.
	The marriage produced at least eight children for the couple, all of whom were born and baptised at Buscot. It seems rather strange that no record of the family has been located in the June census of 1841.
	However, ten years later in 1851 the depleted family was living in Broadlease Cottage in Buscot. Missing from the family were daughters Sarah, Rachel, and Martha, who were all married by then. Also absence was youngest daughter Elizabeth who would appear to have died by then.
	William Collett of Buscot was 65 by then, and was still working as an agricultural labourer. At the time, and certainly for the next ten years at least, he was employed by Horatio Weston on Broadlease Farm in Buscot. The farm comprised 340 acres and farmer Weston employed 6 men, 4 women, and three boys. Four of these, two men and two women, came from the Collett family in their tied cottage.
	William’s wife was recorded as Susanna Collett who was 59 and her place of birth was confirmed as Little Faringdon. Still living with William and Susannah in 1851 were three of their children, they being Esther 26, Thomas 21, and Jane 18, and all three of them were employed by farmer Weston.
	Also living with the family in 1851 was William’s and Susannah’s granddaughter Anne Collett who was five years old and born at Buscot. She was very likely the base-born child of their daughter Hester (Esther) Collett.
	Ten years after this in 1861, William and Susannah were still occupying Broadlease Cottage and William was still employed as an agricultural labourer on Broadlease Farm. All of their children had left home by that time, but still living there with them was their granddaughter Anne, together with her brother John who was very likely the older base-born child of their daughter Hester.
	The family was therefore listed as William 77, Susan 68, John 18, and Anne 15. It was previously thought that the older of the two grandchildren (missing in 1851) was the issue of the couple’s eldest son William, but this has proved not to be the case since, in 1851 he and his family were living in Eaton Hastings overlooking the River Thames on the county boundary between Berkshire and Oxfordshire, and by 1861 they had moved to Aldridge near Walsall.
	In view of their advancing years, and the fact that no record of William has been found in 1871, it is inevitable that William died during the 1860s. This was confirmed by the census in 1871, in which his widow, Susan Collett age 82 (sic) and from Little Faringdon, was living at the Buscot Wick home of her married granddaughter Anne Hart nee Collett. It was previously stated here that Susan Collett died at Abingdon-on-Thames on 25.06.1875. However, it has yet to be determined whether or not this was William’s widow.
	28N1	Sarah Collett		Born in 1819
	28N2	Rachel Collett		Born in 1821
	28N3	William Collett		Born in 1822
	28N4	Hester Collett		Born in 1824
	28N5	Martha Collett		Born in 1828
	28N6	Thomas Collett		Born in 1829
	28N7	Jane Collett		Born in 1832
	28N8	Elizabeth Collett		Born in 1838; infant death
28M5	Charles Collett was born at Buscot in 1779 where he was baptised on 24.01.1779, the first child of John and Elizabeth Collett. Although not proved, it is possible that he later moved to Appleford near Abingdon-on-Thames where he married Mary Sandall and had six children.
	If this can eventually be verified to be true, then this would prove the link between this line of the Collett family and that shown in Part 34 – The Appleford Berkshire Line.
	For further details on this possible link go to Ref. 34N1 in Part 34
28M6	John Collett was born at Buscot in 1781 and was baptised there on 16.06.1781 as the son of John and Elizabeth Collett. Not a great deal is known about the long life of John Collett, except that he was a widower in the Buscot census of 1851 when he was recorded as being 69.
	At that time he was a lodger in the home of William Barnard and his wife Esther, both of them from Buscot. Although the census return stated that he had no occupation, it also stated that he was supported by ...... ....., which unfortunately is not clearly enough written to read the two words.
	He was still living in Buscot in 1861 when he was 79. Whether his marriage produced any children is not known at this time.
28M7	William Collett was believed to have been born at Buscot in 1784 and was the son of John Collett, whose wife may have been Elizabeth, as no baptism or birth record has so far been found to confirm this. If this was proved, it is possible that he left Buscot with his older brother Charles (above) when they settled in Appleford near Abingdon-on-Thames.
	For further details on this possible link go to Ref. 34N2 in Part 34
28M10	Thomas Collett was born at Faringdon on 24.07.1782 and he married Mary Pawling. Their son William was born at Langford just north of Little Faringdon.
	Thomas and Mary were still alive and living within the Cirencester, Faringdon & Northleach registration district in June 1841 when both of them were recorded in the census as being fifty-five.
	It may be of interest to note that Sarah Pawling, who was born in 1790 at Grafton near Clanfield just across the River Thames in Oxfordshire, may have been the sister of Mary Pawling. This may be of particular significance because Sarah Pawling married Thomas Collett who was born at Clanfield in 1791 and they and their family feature in Part 39 – The Clanfield Oxfordshire Line.
	28N9	William Collett		Born in 1814 at Langford
28M11	Elizabeth Collett was born at Faringdon on 09.03.1785 and she married William Bond. Their daughter Sarah was born at Highworth west of Faringdon.
	28N10	Sarah Bond		Born in 1826 at Highworth
28M12	Robert Collett was born at Faringdon on 31.12.1786. The first national census indicated that he had moved from Faringdon to Abingdon-on-Thames where certainly his children were born.
	The 1841 census for Abingdon listed Robert as 55 and his wife Elizabeth as 50. Their sons were both married by this time and had moved to live in Wiltshire. However, still living with the couple were their two daughters Esther who was 25 and Ann aged 20.
	It is very likely that Robert and Elizabeth had more than just the four children listed below.
	28N11	Thomas Collett		Born in 1804
	28N12	Lawrence Collett		Born in 1808
	28N13	Esther Collett		Born in 1815
	28N14	Ann Collett		Born in 1820 at Abingdon-on-Thames
28M13	Leonard Collett was born at Faringdon on 30.08.1789. He married Elizabeth Scott on 15.11.1812 at Faringdon. She was born at Kidlington north of Oxford in 1791, and all of their children were born at Faringdon where Leonard was a shoemaker.
	At the time of the census in 1841, Leonard and his wife Elizabeth were both listed with a rounded age of fifty. Living with them at that time at Grove Lodge in Faringdon were nine of the couple’s ten children and these were Jane 25, Sarah 15, Ann 14, William 12, Henry 10, Betsy 8, Esther 6, Ellen who was 4, and baby Clara who was only three months old. Leonard’s wife was obviously helping shoemaker Leonard in the family business, since Elizabeth was described as being a shoe binder.
	Over the next ten years some of the older children left the family home in Faringdon to make their own way in the world. By 1851 the family still living in Faringdon comprised Leonard 61 and Elizabeth 60, together with five of their children, these being William 22, Elizabeth 18, Esther 17, Ellen 15, and Clara who was ten years old.
	Of their ‘missing’ children at this time, Charles was married and living in London where sister Ann was also living and working and soon to be married, while the other two absent daughters Jane and Sarah were both married by that time in 1851.
	It is interesting that Leonard’s son Henry was in London on the actual day of the census on 30^th March 1851, as that was the same day that he became a married man.
	By the time of the census in 1861, only the couple’s youngest daughter Clara was still living with her parents. Leonard Collett was 72, Elizabeth his wife was 71, and daughter Clara was twenty years of age. Leonard died nine years later on 17.04.1870, whilst living at The (Grove) Lodge in Faringdon
	The Faringdon census of 1871 confirmed that Elizabeth Collett was a widow of eighty years, and that living with her at Grove Lodge was her thirty years old daughter Clara, together with her base-born son Leonard Collett who was seven years old.
	Elizabeth Collett died at Faringdon just over four years later, when she passed away on 15.01.1875.
	28N15	Charles Collett		Born in 1813
	28N16	Jane Collett		Born in 1815
	28N17	Sarah Collett		Born in 1826 at Faringdon
	28N18	Ann Collett		Born in 1827
	28N19	William Collett		Born in 1828
	28N20	Henry Collett		Born in 1829
	28N21	Elizabeth Collett		Born in 1833
	28N22	Esther Collett		Born in 1835 at Faringdon
	28N23	Ellen Collett		Born in 1836 at Faringdon
	28N24	Clara Collett		Born in 1840
28M15	WILLIAM COLLETT was born at Little Faringdon on 30.10.1793. He married Ann Maisey on 29.11.1824 at Fulbrook, Burford in Oxfordshire. She was the daughter of Stephen Maisey and Ann Butler (1776-1831) and was born on 12.01.1806 at Shilton just south of Burford.
	Once married the couple settled in the village of Alvescot just five miles from Burford.
	By 1861 William was 65, Ann was 55, and the only two children still living with them was nineteen years old William and Joseph who was fifteen, both of them confirmed as born at Alvescot where all of their siblings were also born.
	Exactly eight month later Ann died when she was still only fifty-five and was buried on 07.12.1861 at Alvescot.
	Ten years later William Collett appeared in the 1871 Census for Alvescot living there with his son George and his family in which he was described as being a widower aged 75 and a former agricultural labourer.
	Following the death of his wife William remained a widower until his death on 03.11.1880. Like Ann, William was buried at St Peter’s Church in Alvescot although the parish burial record noted that he was living at Witney at the time of his death.
	The surname Maisey appears connected to the Collett on a number of occasions – see Ref. 1O47 for Sarah Maisey who was baptised at Fairford on 30.06.1811 and Ref. 3N8 for Ann Maisey who married James Margetts around 1805.
	William Collett’s father-in-law Stephen Maisey was baptised on 15.11.1773 at Shilton (married on 19.01.1804 and died in 1855) and was the son of John Maisey born at Black Bourton, Oxon on 09.03.1736 who married Ann Betts on 14.08.1763 at Shilton. His father was another Stephen Maisey.
	28N25	Stephen Collett		Born on 27.07.1825
	28N26	Elizabeth Ann Collett		Baptised on 29.07.1827
	28N27	George Collett		Baptised on 29.11.1829
	28N28	Mary Collett		Baptised on 25.03.1832
	28N29	Harriett Collett		Baptised on 20.04.1834 at Alvescot
	28N30	Anne Collett		Baptised on 16.04.1837
	28N31	Lucy Collett		Baptised on 31.03.1839
	28N32	WILLIAM COLLETT		Born on 29.01.1842
	28N33	Joseph Collett		Baptised on 01.02.1846
28N1	Sarah Collett was born at Buscot in 1819 and was baptised there on 07.03.1819, the eldest daughter of William and Susannah Collett who, in 1851, were living at Broadlease Cottage in Buscut with Sarah’s brothers and sisters.
	Prior to this Sarah had married George Pettifer who was born at Bampton in Oxfordshire in 1818. There are known to have had one child, John Pettifer who was born at Faringdon in 1840.
28N2	Rachel Collett was born at Buscot in 1821, and it was there that she was baptised on 18.02.1821, the daughter of William and Susannah Collett. She had a base-born son with John Wheeler who was born in 1826 when he was only sixteen years old. About seven or eight years later, when Rachel was around 28, she married Henry Hollick who was born at Shellingford in Berkshire in 1821.
	The wedding would have taken place around 1849, and three years earlier Henry Hollick was serving with the 50^th Regiment of Foot in the First Anglo-Sikh War when he was wounded in both legs by grapeshot during the Battle of Sobraon on 10^th February 1846. As a result of his injuries Henry was invalided out of the army, all as confirmed in his Chelsea Pension records, which also included reference to the medals he had earned during his service. The Battle of Sobraon was fought between the forces of the British East India Company and the Sikh Khalsa Army, the army of the Sikh Empire of the Punjab. The Sikhs were completely defeated on the day that Henry was shot, marking this as the most decisive battle of the First Anglo-Sikh War.
	The first of the couple’s three child was born at Shellingford which lies midway between Faringdon and Stanford in the Vale. Their next two children were born at Bromley by Bow following a move to London. However, according to the census in 1861, Rachel’s son John W Collett, age 18 and from Buscot, was living with his grandparents William and Susannah Collett at Broadlease Cottage in Buscot. At that time in his life, John was working with his grandfather as an agricultural labourer for Horatio Weston at Broadlease Farm.
	In 1881 Rachel and Henry were living at the Denton and Gutsum Varnish Works on the Albert Embankment at Lambeth in London. Henry, age 59 was listed as a Chelsea Pensioner from Faringdon, while his wife Rachel was also from Faringdon. The only member of the family living with them at that time was their youngest daughter Ruth Hollick who was 16 and a machinist, who had been born at Bromley in Bow.
	By that time their son Harry Hollick, who was living in Chelsea, was married with two children of his own.
	28O1	John Wheeler Collett		Born in 1842
	28O2	Martha Hollick		Born in 1851
	28O3	Harry Pinel Hollick		Born in 1856
	28O4	Ruth Hollick		Born in 1865
28N3	William Collett was born at Buscot in 1822 and was baptised there on 27.04.1823, the baptism record confirming that he was the son of William and Susannah Collett. Although not located in the census of 1841 when he would have been eighteen years old, it was around three years later, on 26.05.1844 at Eaton Hastings to the east of Buscot, that William Collett married Charlotte Lockey of Buscot. Charlotte had been born at Buscot in 1826, and was the daughter of George Lockey, and the sister of George Lockey who, eight years later, married Esther Collett, William’s younger sister (below).
	It was also at Eaton Hastings that the couple initially settled after they were married, and where their first six children were born. The village of Eaton Hastings lies on the south bank of the River Thames, downstream from Lechlade, and just two miles from Buscot. And it was there that the family was still living at the time of the census in 1851 when William Collett, age 28, was working as a gamekeeper.
	His wife Charlotte was 25, and despite having four children, she was described as a labourer. The children were William Collett who was six years old, Maria Collett who was five, Elizabeth Collett who was three, and Mary Collett who was only seven months old. Lodging with the family at Eaton Hastings on that occasion was farm worker Jonathan Cattrick who was 30 and from Alvescot.
	Two further children were born while the family continued to live in Eaton Hastings, but then William was offered another game-keeping job in the Great Barr area of the West Midlands near Walsall, and this prompted the family to leave Eaton Hastings around 1856.
	It was at Great Barr that the couple’s seventh child was born and she was baptised at Aldridge in Staffordshire on 14.02.1858 when she was named Susan Collett after her grandmother Susannah Collett nee Loosey.
	The Great Barr census in 1861 placed the family living at Hardwick in the parish of Aldridge near Great Barr where William was 38 and a gamekeeper, Charlotte was 35, William was 16 and an agricultural labourer, Elizabeth was 13, Mary 10, Harriet 7, Ann 5, and Susan was three years old.
	It might be assumed from this, that the couple’s missing eldest daughter Marie had left home by then to start her working life. Two years later Charlotte presented her husband with their last child while they were still living at Hardwick near Walsall and Great Barr.
	What happened to William after this is not known, since he was absent from the next census in 1871. By that time his widow Charlotte Collett of Buscot had returned to live in a tied farmhouse in Eaton Hastings where she was working as an agricultural labourer at the age of forty-five.
	Living with her on that occasion were her two youngest children, Susan Collett who was thirteen, and George Collett who was seven years old, both confirmed as having been born at Great Barr.
	28O5	William Collett		Born in 1844 at Eaton Hastings
	28O6	Maria Collett		Born in 1845 at Eaton Hastings
	28O7	Elizabeth Collett		Born in 1847 at Eaton Hastings
	28O8	Mary A Collett		Born in August 1850 at Eaton Hastings
	28O9	Harriett Collett		Born in 1853 at Eaton Hastings
	28O10	Ann Collett		Born on 04.09.1855
	28O11	Susan Collett		Born in 1857 at Aldridge, near Walsall
	28O12	George Collett		Born in 1863
28N4	Hester Collett, who was sometimes referred to in the records as Esther Collett, was born at Buscot in 1824 and was baptised there on 13.03.1825, the daughter of William and Susannah Collett. While she was still living at Buscot, it is understood that she gave birth to a base-born daughter when she was around 21 years old.
	By the time of the census in 1851, and at the age of twenty-six, Esther Collett of Buscot was living with her parents at Broadlease Cottage in the village. At that time in her unmarried life, she was an agricultural labourer working for Horatio Weston at Broadlease Farm where her father worked, together with her two siblings Thomas and Jane (both below). Also recorded as living with the family at that time, was five years old Anne Collett, the base-born daughter of Hester Collett and George Lockey.
	It was ten months later that Hester, recorded as ‘Esther Collett’ married George Lockey at Buscot on 26.01.1852. George was the son of George Lockey senior, and was also the brother of Charlotte Lockey who eight years earlier had married Hester’s brother William Collett (above). George was born around 1831 and was therefore in his mid-teenage years when their base-born daughter was conceived.
	Following her married to George Lockey, the couple moved to Lower Swell in Gloucestershire, and it was there at Chalk Hill Cottage that they were living at the time of the census in 1861. Gamekeeper George from Eaton Hastings was 30, his wife Esther from Buscot was 36, and their six children were Edward 9, George 7, Harriet 5, Elizabeth 3, Fanny 2, and William who was four months old. Twenty years after that the family was still living in Lower Swell, but by then their place of dwelling was Braggs Lodge.
	George Lockey, age 49 and from Eaton Hastings, was still working as a gamekeeper, his wife Esther was 55, and living with them were five of their children, plus a grandchild, who was very likely the base-born child of their daughter Fanny Lockey. Fanny was 22, and her child was Arthur Lockey who was six years of age. The other children of George and Esther were William Lockey, age 25, a slater maker, Harry Lockey, age 15 and a domestic groom, Dennis Lockey, age 12 and an agricultural labourer, and Susan Lockey who was nine years old.
	28O13	Anne Collett		Born in 1846
28N5	Martha Collett was born at Buscot in 1827 and was baptised there on 14.10.1827, the baptism record confirming her parents were William and Susannah Collett. By 1851 she had left the family home in Buscot where her family of farm workers were living at Broadlease Cottage.
	She married William Claydon of Great Sampford in Essex where he was born in 1827. Together they had nine children the first being Louisa born at Camberwell in 1858 and the rest being born at Battersea between 1859 and 1870.
	For the 1881 Census Martha and William Claydon were living at 56 Bridge Road West in Battersea, Martha aged 53 of Buscot and William aged 54 a dairy man from Great Sampford. Living with them were their six children, all of whom were born at Battersea.
28N6	Thomas Collett was born at Buscot during 1829 and it was there later that same year on 27.09.1829 that he was baptised, the son of William and Susannah Collett. In 1851 at the age of twenty-one Thomas Collett was living at Broadlease Cottage in Buscot with his parents and was a farm worker at Horation Weston’s Broadlease Farm where his father, and sister Hester (above) and Jane (below) all worked. Just over three years later he became a married man and left the village of Buscot.
	On 25.12.1854 at Highworth he married (1) Mary Hughes of Gloucestershire who was also born in 1829. The marriage produced two children who were both born at Coleshill near Highworth. In early 1857 Thomas and Mary, with son Henry and daughter Elizabeth, sailed to Australia on board the ship ‘Grand Trianon’. The ship’s passenger list included the following details. Thomas and Mary Collett both aged 27 and their children Henry and Elizabeth both recorded as being one year old, although Henry would have been around 15 to 18 months, while Elizabeth was probably only 3 to 6 months old.
	Also on the same passenger list for the journey was part of the Stranks family from Thomas’ home village of Buscot. These were mother Esther (Hester) Stranks nee Betts, her daughter Elizabeth aged 18 and son Nathaniel aged 6. See earlier reference to Betts family name at Ref. 28M15. Her husband Thomas Stranks had made the journey during the previous year with their two other children on board the ship ‘Sultana’ which arrived at Victoria in January 1856. Accompanying them on the voyage was his older brother Nathaniel, his wife and an older sister.
	However, perhaps as a result of ill health following their long journey, which would have taken three to four months, Thomas’ wife and baby daughter both died within a year of them arriving in Victoria in May 1857. Mary died on 16.04.1858 at Moorabin and was buried at Great Brighton in Victoria, with baby Elizabeth Jane having died nine months earlier on 31.07.1857.
	Following the death of his wife, Thomas married (2) Elizabeth Stranks the eldest daughter of Thomas Stranks and Esther Betts who had coincidentally travelled half way round the world with Thomas and his family from January to May in 1857. Elizabeth Stranks was born at Hardwick, north of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, and was baptised on 19.08.1838 at the parish church in Hardwick.
	The wedding ceremony, which took place at the Primitive Methodist Chapel at Broadmeadows in Victoria on 02.01.1860, was conducted by Samuel Bracewell in the presence of Elizabeth’s father Thomas Stranks and Joseph Hughes.
	All eleven of the children of Thomas and Elizabeth were born at Victoria in Australia but at seven different locations – see individual entries for exact details.
	Thomas Collett died at Benambra in Victoria on 04.07.1902 where he was buried aged 73. Being nine years younger than her husband, Elizabeth lived for a further twenty-seven years before she died on 26.04.1929 at East Bairnsdale in Victoria and was buried the following day at Bairnsdale.
	28O14	Henry Thomas Collett		Born in 1855 at Coleshill, Wiltshire
	28O15	Elizabeth Jane Collett		Born in 1856 at Coleshill, Wiltshire
	28O16	Eliza Matilda Collett		Born in 1860 at Yuroke, Victoria
	28O17	Salome Collett		Born in 1864 at Moorabbin, Victoria
	28O18	William Collett		Born in 1866 at Brighton, Victoria
	28O19	Esther Collett		Born in 1869 at Brighton, Victoria
	28O20	Susannah Collett		Born in 1871 at Broadmeadows, Vic.
	28O21	Susannah Collett		Born in 1872 at Broadmeadows, Vic.
	28O22	George Collett		Born in 1874 at Campbellfield, Victoria
	28O23	Thomas Collett		Born in 1876 at Campbellfield, Victoria
	28O24	Frederick John Collett		Born in 1878 at Shepparton, Victoria
	28O25	Herbert Ebenezer Collett		Born in 1880 at Numurkah, Victoria
28N7	Jane Collett was born at Buscot towards the end of 1832 and was baptised the following year on 24.02.1833 at the parish church in Buscot, the parish record confirming she was the daughter of William and Susannah Collett.
	Her father, her sister Hester, and brother Thomas, were all employed by farmer Horatio Weston by 1851, when the census that year placed the family living in Broadlease Cottage attached to Broadlease Farm in Buscot. Jane was eighteen years old at that time and described as an agricultural labourer.
	It was original believed that, just a few years later, Jane married William Monk of Watchfield which lies midway between Faringdon and Swindon. William was born in 1836 and all of the couple’s three children were born at Shrivenham between 1858 and 1861. The only member of the family located in 1881 was Albert Monk aged 20 of Shrivenham, an apprentice to coach and carriage builder Thomas Hill of 26 Marlborough Road in Swindon.
	However, this is now considered to be incorrect and new research indicates that Jane Collett, age 23, married farmer Thomas Brown, age 20 and the son of Stephen Brown, at the Church of St Mary in Buscot on 19^th May 1858. Later that same year their first child Sarah Ann Brown was born, the birth being registered in the parish record during the third quarter of the year, perhaps indicating that Jane was already with-child on her wedding day.
	On 28^th February 1859 Thomas Brown, his wife Jane, and their daughter Sarah Ann sailed out of Plymouth harbour on the ship ‘The Herald’ to a new life in Australia. Three months later their three months sea voyage was ended when they disembarked at Melbourne on 1^st June. Once there the family initially settled in Cape Schank in Victoria where Thomas secured employment with John Barker Esquire. There was work for one year, for which Thomas was paid sixty-five pounds.
	After the family’s arrival in Australia the marriage produced another three children for Thomas and Jane, one of which was Martha Brown who married Alexander McKelvie in 1885 at Brighton, Victoria.
28N11	Thomas Collett was born at Abingdon around 1811 but his stated age in the various census records differed each time. It was in the late 1830s that Thomas married Esther (Hester) and by the time of the first national census the marriage had produced a son for the couple who were living in the Westport parish of Malmesbury.
	Thomas’s rounded aged was 30, his wife’s 25, and living with them was their son Aaron aged 2. The family did not increase in size over the following years leaving son Aaron as the couple’s only child. In 1851 Thomas gave his age as 41 placing his year of birth as 1810, while his wife Hester was 32, and their two sons were Aaron, age 12, and Joseph who was 9.
	By 1861 the census recorded Thomas’s age as 46 although the difference between his age and that of his wife remained constant at five years, with Esther being 41. Aaron was 21, while no record of son Joseph has been found after 1851.
	Just under ten years later Aaron had left home to be married, leaving Thomas aged 58 and Hester aged 52 at the time of the 1871 Census for Malmesbury.
	In April 1881 Thomas and was still listed as a labourer, even at the age of 76 (sic). Living with him at Clyatts in Westport St Mary in Malmesbury was his wife Hester aged 66. Thomas’s place of birth was confirmed as Abingdon, while Hester’s was the village of Foxley just to the west of Malmesbury.
	Thomas appears to have died during the 1880s while his wife Esther was aged 75 in the 1891 Census, although she too must have passed away shortly after.
	28O26	Aaron Collett		Born in 1838
	28O27	Joseph Collett		Born after June 1841
28N12	Lawrence Collett was born at Abingdon in 1808. He married Mary Salter on 23.05.1836 at Norton near Malmesbury in Wiltshire where Mary was born in 1814. Mary was referred to as Sarah in the census records so she may have been Mary Sarah or Sarah Mary Salter.
	When Lawrence moved to Norton is not known, except that he was certainly there seven months before the couple were married since both he and Sarah were the witnesses at the marriage of Henry Collett (Ref. 44N1) and Hannah Tanner at Norton.
	Six years later in 1842 the marriage of Lucy Collett of Norton and Caleb Salter of Norton took place in the village. It seems very likely that Caleb was Mary’s younger brother, while Lucy was the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Collett as detailed in Part 44 – The Norton Wiltshire line.
	Shortly after they were married Lawrence and Sarah moved two miles south of Norton to live in the village of Hullavington where all of their children were born. By the time of the census of 1841 Lawrence’s rounded aged was 30, while his wife Sarah was 27.
	The couple were still living at Hullavington at that time with their two daughters Elizabeth aged 3 and Ann aged one year. Ten years later the family had increased in size with the addition of two more daughters. The family living at Hullavington in 1861 comprised Lawrence 41, Sarah 37, and their daughters, Elizabeth who was 12, Ann 10, Jane 7 and Mary who was two years old.
	Sometime during the following years it would appear that Sarah passed away leaving Lawrence a widower with his younger daughters.
	The census of 1881 confirmed Lawrence as a widower aged 72 and born at Abingdon. He was listed as a pauper living at Newtown in Hullavington with his unmarried daughter Mary aged 31 and who was also referred to as a pauper and who was confirmed as having been born at Hullavington.
	For other references to the Collett families of Hullavington see Part 44 – The Norton Wiltshire line.
	28O28	Elizabeth Collett		Born in 1838
	28O29	Ann Collett		Born in 1840
	28O30	Jane Collett		Born in 1843
	28O31	Mary Collett		Born in 1849
28N15	Charles Collett was born at Faringdon in 1813. By June 1841 Charles was married with two children. The census that year listed the young family living at Faringdon as Charles 25, his wife Elizabeth 25, and their two children were Henry who was four and Elizabeth who was not yet one year old.
	During the next ten years a further three children were added to the family. It was also during this time that the family moved to London and in 1851 they were settled in Marylebone. Charles and Elizabeth were both 35, their son Henry was 14 and their daughter Elizabeth, referred to as Ann was ten.
	The new additions to the family were Thomas who was 8, Clara who was 6, and Emma who was 2, all of whom had been born after the family move to London.
	Charles was still living in Marylebone in 1871 when he was fifty-six, but by then all of his family had left home and his wife had passed away. However, no record of him has been found in the census of 1881 or in any later census.
	28O32	Henry Collett		Born in 1836 at Faringdon
	28O33	Elizabeth Ann Collett		Born in 1840 at Faringdon
	28O34	Thomas Collett		Born in 1842 at Marylebone, London
	28O35	Clara Collett		Born in 1845 at Marylebone, London
	28O36	Emma Collett		Born in 1848 at Marylebone, London
	28O37	Alice L Collett		Born in 1854 at Marylebone, London
28N16	Jane Collett was born at Faringdon in 1815, the eldest daughter of shoemaker Leonard Collett and his wife Elizabeth Collett. According to the census in 1841, Jane was twenty-five, and was working as a dressmaker while still living with her parents at Grove Lodge in Faringdon.
	It was later that same year that Jane Collett married Thomas Harris, and in 1851 the couple were still living in the Faringdon area with their family. Jane was 36, and Thomas was 38.
28N18	Ann Collett was born at Faringdon in 1827. In 1841 Ann was fourteen when living with her family at Grove Lodge in Faringdon. Ten years later she had left Grove Lodge and was living and working in London. The census in 1851 recorded her as Ann Collett from Faringdon, aged 23 and residing in the St Pancras & Regents Park district of the city.
	She married a Mr Smallwood probably during the next few years and in 1881 she and her family were living at 6 Goldstone Street in Hove, Sussex. The Census details that year confirm she was aged 53 and born at Faringdon. Although stated as married, she was also listed as head of the household, so her husband may have been away at the time.
	Her family, who were all born at Epsom in Surrey, comprised Sarah E aged 27 and unmarried schoolteacher, Charles H aged 18 a draper/shop man, Joseph E aged 17 a boot maker, Thomas R aged 15 a painter, and scholars Ernest A aged 13 and Benim H Smallwood aged 10.
	What is very interesting is that there was a visitor at the house and this was Frederick Beams aged 7 also born at Epsom. See another member of the Beams family at Ref. 28O65.
	An older member of the Smallwood family had already married and left home. This was shoe maker son William Leonard Smallwood aged 26. He was living at Ellen Street in Hove with his wife Louisa and two sons, both of whom were born in Brighton. Like all his brothers and sisters William was also born at Epsom in Surrey.
	By the time of 1901 Census William Leonard Smallwood’s family had increased to four sons and four daughters with the family living at Hastings.
	It seems very likely that William Leonard Smallwood had a brother Leonard Smallwood who was also born at Epsom in the mid 1850s and this Leonard married Ann Collett’s youngest sister Clara Collett (below).
28N19	William Collett was born at Faringdon in 1828. In June 1841 William was twelve years old and was living at Grove Lodge in Faringdon with his shoemaker family and the rest of his family. He was still there ten years later in 1851 at the age of twenty-two.
	Having moved to Nantwich in Cheshire during the next couple of years, it was there that he married Hannah Pick on 8.11.1855 at The Wesleyan Methodist Chapel. Hannah was born in 1827 at nearby Willaston which lies midway between Nantwich and Crewe.
	At the time of their marriage, William was recorded as being an Attorney's Clerk and Registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths. He was also recorded as being a Relieving Officer for Nantwich Poor Law Union Workhouse.
	It was at Nantwich that the couple’s six children were born, and all at number 16 Hospital Street. And it was at this address that the family was living in 1871. William of Faringdon was aged 42 as was his wife Hannah, and their children were Eliza J aged 14, William John 12, Leonard 10, Emma 6, Thomas aged 2 and baby Walter who was two months old.
	However, it would appear that the family was split up after William died, possibly around 1876 but certainly before April 1881.
	In the 1881 Census Hannah was living at 16 Hospital Street with her sons William James aged 21, who was working as a chemist’s assistant, and Leonard aged 19, who was a joiner’s apprentice. Of their four other children, daughter Emma was 18 and was working as an apprentice confectioner with spinster and confectioner Ann Fitton in her shop at 4 High Street in Nantwich.
	Hannah’s eldest daughter Eliza Jane was 24 and her youngest son Thomas was 12, and they were living with Hannah’s older brother James Pick at his London Road home in nearby Willaston.
	Although William’s and Hannah’s youngest son Walter features in the 1871 census, there was no record of him thereafter so it must be assumed that he suffered an infant death. The couple’s oldest daughter Eliza Jane aged 24, and son Thomas aged 12, were both living with Hannah’s older brother James Pick at his London Road home in nearby Willaston.
	James Pick aged 64 was the superintendent registrar of births, marriages and deaths. Living with him in April 1881 were his two sisters Eliza A Pick aged 61 and Jane Pick aged 47, all three having been born at Wistaston which is about half a mile north of Willaston.
	The record stated that Hannah’s daughter Eliza Jane Collett was an assistant school mistress, while son Thomas was still attending school. Their relationship to head of the house James Pick was stated as being niece and nephew.
	28O38	Eliza Jane Collett		Born on 18.03.1857
	28O39	William James Collett		Born on 12.04.1859
	28O40	Leonard Collett		Born on 17.04.1861
	28O41	Emma Collett		Born on 16.01.1863
	28O42	Thomas Collett		Born on 28.11.1869
	28O43	Walter Collett		Born on 25.01.1871 at Nantwich
28N20	Henry Collett was born at Faringdon in 1829 and was recorded as being ten years old in the census of 1841 when he was living with his family at Grove Lodge in Faringdon.
	Ten years later, on the same day that the 1851 Census was conducted, Henry Collett from Faringdon married Frances Ann Hawkins, the daughter of George Hawkins. The wedding ceremony took place on 30.03.1851 at St Marylebone in London where Francis had been born in 1827, and the couple’s first child was born not long after they were married.
	All of their children were born in London, except Alice who was born at Epsom in Surrey. According to the census in 1861, Henry and his family were living at 3 Meards Court in the Strand & St Anne Soho district of London. Henry from Faringdon was 32 and a military tailor, his wife Frances Ann was 33 and had been born at St Georges Hanover Square, and at that time they had four children.
	They were Georgina Collett 10, Harry L Collett 8, Helena E Collett 6, and Alice Collett who was 2. Judging by her absence from the next census in 1871, it might be assumed that Henry’s and Frances’ eldest daughter Georgina was married by then, either that or she had suffered a premature death.
	By 1871 the family was living at Eagle Street within the St Andrew Holborn district of London where Henry Collett from Berkshire was 42 and Frances A was aged 43. Their children at that time were Harry L Collett aged 19 and a tailor like his father, Helen 15, Alice 11, Mary 9, Victoria 6 and George aged just one year.
	In 1881 the family was living at 30 Jupps Road in Mile End Old Town in London. The family comprised: Henry a tailor aged 52 of Faringdon, his wife Frances a 54 years old tailoress of London, and children Alice aged 20, Mary aged 18, Victoria aged 16, and George aged 11, with each of the three girls being listed as a tailoress just like their mother.
	Ten years later in 1891 Henry was a 61 and his wife ‘Francis’ was 63. The only one of their children still living with them at 87 Bridge Street in Mile End Old Town at that time was their youngest child, who was listed as George F Collett a tailor, like his father, aged 21 and born at St Pancras.
	Henry’s place of birth was once again confirmed as Faringdon, while his wife was recorded as having been born in the St George Hanover Square district of London. With no record of either of them in the March census of 1901, it must be assumed that they both passed away during the last decade of the century.
	28O44	Georgina Collett		Born in 1851 St Marylebone, London
	28O45	Harry Leonard Collett		Born in 1852
	28O46	Helena Elizabeth Collett		Born in 1855
	28O47	Alice Collett		Born in 1859
	28O48	Mary Collett		Born in 1863 at London
	28O49	Victoria Collett		Born in 1865 at London
	28O50	George F Collett		Born in 1869
28N21	Elizabeth Collett, sometimes referred to as Betsy, was born at Faringdon in 1833. In 1841 it was as Betsy age eight years that she was recorded living with her family at Grove Lodge in Faringdon. Ten years later in 1851 still was still living there, when she was listed as Elizabeth Collett aged 18.
	It is believed that she married William Henry Taylor who was also born at Faringdon in 1831. And it was while living at Faringdon that their two known children were born, although it is likely that there may have been earlier children from their marriage.
	Sometime after 1870 Elizabeth and William moved to Earley near Reading when William secured work at the Huntley & Palmers Biscuit Factory. According to the 1881 Census, William aged 49 was a labourer at the biscuit factory, his wife was aged 48 and living with them at 22 Amity Street in Earley was daughter Jane Taylor aged 12 and son Thomas Henry aged 9.
28N24	Clara Collett was born at Faringdon around February or March in 1840 and was just three months old at the time of the census in June 1841 when she was living with her family at Grove Lodge in Faringdon. Clara was the last child born to shoe maker Leonard Collett and his wife Elizabeth.
	Clara was still living at Grove Lodge with her family in 1851 when she was ten years old, but by 1861 she was the only child of Leonard and Elizabeth still living at Grove Lodge with then in their old age, when Clara was twenty years of age.
	During the following year Clara was with-child, and her base-born son was born the following year. It was also around this time that her father Leonard died, so Clara considered it would be a fitting tribute to name the child after her late father. By the time of the census in 1871 Clara and her son were living with her widowed mother Elizabeth at Grove Lodge.
	According to the census that year, Clara Collett was thirty and she and her seven years old son Leonard Collett were still living at Grove Lodge with her eighty years old mother Elizabeth Collett.
	However, it is known that Clara later married (1) Leonard Smallwood during the 1870s. Leonard was born at Epsom around 1852 so could not have been the father of her base-born son Leonard.
	Leonard Smallwood was very likely the older brother of William Leonard Smallwood who was born at Epsom in 1854. Both boys were likely to be the sons of Clara’s older sister Ann Collett (above) who married a Mr Smallwood around 1850. This would mean that Clara married her nephew.
	Neither Clara, her husband Leonard, nor son Leonard, featured in the 1881 UK National Census under the name of Collett or Smallwood and the reason is that by that her husband must have died before then, as it has since been discovered that she had married (2) Isaac Whittle.
	According to the census in 1881, Clara Whittle aged 40 and born at Faringdon was living with her son Leonard Whittle (formerly Leonard Collett) aged 17 at the home of her new husband Isaac Whittle at 133 Spoke Road in Battersea, London.
	Isaac aged 44 and a railway signalman was born at Upton in Dorset. Clara’s son Leonard was listed as the stepson of Isaac. In addition, Isaac had three children from his previous marriage. These were Fred aged 13 an errand boy, Amy aged 12 and Edward aged 8.
	By 1891 the family was living in the Wandsworth registration district of London where Clara was aged 50, Isaac 54 and his stepson Leonard 27 and both mother and son were confirmed as born at Faringdon.
	A further ten years later Clara aged 60 and her husband Isaac aged 64 had moved and were living alone at Walton-on-Thames where Isaac was still working as a railway signalman. On leaving home sometime during the 1890s Clara’s son Leonard reverted back to the Collett surname and by 1901 was living in Birmingham.
	28O51	Leonard Collett		Born in 1863
28N25	Stephen Collett was born at Alvescot on 27.07.1825 and was buried at St Peter’s Church in Alvescot following his death one day after he was born.
28N26	Elizabeth Ann Collett was born at Alvescot and was baptised there on 29.07.1827. It was also at Alvescot that she married David Johnson on 25.11.1849.
28N27	George Collett was born at Alvescot and baptised there on 29.11.1829. He married Jane Stanton at Brackley in Northamptonshire in 1850. Jane was born in 1828 at Marston St Lawrence which is midway between Banbury and Brackley.
	Their eldest daughter Mary Collett (below) gave birth to a base-born child, Emma Collett (Ref. 28P54), and she was listed as living at the cottage of her grandparents in the 1871 Census for Alvescot, the details of which were as follows:
	Head of the house George Collett was forty-one and an agricultural labourer. His wife Jane was forty-three, and their children were George 18 who was a farmer’s groom, Anne who was 17, Elizabeth 9, and son William who was 7, all of whom were born at Alvescot.
	In addition to their granddaughter Emma Collett aged four years, there was one other person living with the family and this was George Collett’s father William Collett (Ref. 28M15) who was 75 and a former agricultural labourer born at Little Faringdon.
	In the 1881 Census for Alvescot George was fifty-one and was an agricultural labourer living with his wife Jane who was fifty-two. Living with them were their two youngest children, Elizabeth aged 19 and William aged 17, both agricultural labourers and both listed as born at Alvescot.
	Also living with them was their grandson Albert Collett (Ref. 28P68) aged 2 of Alvescot, the base-born son of their daughter Elizabeth who was to be married later that same year.
	Even after their daughter Elizabeth was married, George and Jane continued to look after her son. By 1891 Albert was still living with the couple at Alvescot, when George and Jane were both 61, and the grandson was twelve.
	Just after the turn of the century George was still living at Alvescot, but was a widower by then, following his wife’s death at Alvescot on 07.02.1895. He was aged 71 and was listed as an ordinary farm labourer.
	George Collett died on 12.07.1906 and both he and Jane were buried at Peter’s Church in Alvescot where a single gravestone has the following epitaph.
	“In Loving Memory of George Collett who died on July 12^th 1906 aged 76 years. Also of Jane Collett wife of the above who died February 7^th 1895 aged 66 years – They rest from their labours”
	28O52	Mary Ann Collett		Born on 13.10.1850
	28O53	John Collett		Born on 28.12.1851
	28O54	George Collett		Born on 06.02.1853
	28O55	Annie Collett		Born on 26.11.1854
	28O56	Lucy Collett		Born on 12.09.1858 at Alvescot
	28O57	Caroline Collett		Born on 16.10.1859
	28O58	Elizabeth Collett		Born on 26.05.1861
	28O59	William Collett		Born on 21.06.1863
28N28	Mary Collett was born at Alvescot where she was also baptised on 25.03.1832. She married (1) Thomas Smith in 1858 at Bicester but tragically the marriage did not last long before Thomas Smith died at Bicester during the following year. This short marriage produced no children for Mary.
	Two years later the 1861 Census for Bicester confirmed that Mary Smith aged 28 and born at Alvescot, was a widow and a servant at the home of Thomas Henry Shillingford in Bicester.
	It was during the following year that Mary married (2) Joseph Wise at Witney. Joseph was born at Weston-on-the-Green near Bicester in 1833 and was the oldest son of Joseph Wise and Ann Porter.
	The Wise family comprised Mary born 1829, Emma born 1832, Joseph, Thomas born 1836, Sarah born 1838, Elizabeth born 1840, John born in 1844 and William who was baptised on 22.05.1853.
	In 1871 Joseph Wise was 38 and an agricultural labourer living at Step Farm in Faringdon. With him was his wife Mary 39, and their children Mary, who was six and born at Shellingford just south of Faringdon, Joseph, who was four and born at Faringdon, Sarah who was two, and one year old William, both of them born at Eaton Hastings just north-west of Faringdon.
	Also living with then at that time was Joseph’s youngest brother William Wise aged 16 whose occupation was that of a shepherd. And it was this William Wise who married Mary Ann Collett (Ref. 28O52) who was the niece of Mary Wise nee Collett (Joseph’s wife), Mary Ann being the daughter of Mary’s brother George Collett (above)
	By 1881 Mary Wise, age 49 and from Alvescot, and Joseph Wise, age 48 and a gas fitter from Weston on the Green, were living at 4 Henry Street, Rodbourne Cheney in Swindon. According to census details Mary and Joseph’s family had increased to six children, with the addition of John who was seven and Thomas who was five, both of them born at Swindon.
28N30	Ann Collett was born at Alvescot and baptised there on 16.04.1837. She married (1) Charles Richards on 25.10.1856 at Buckland Parish Church. Charles was born at Buckland in Berkshire on 17.01.1830, the son of William Richards.
	Both William and Charles were listed as labourers on the marriage certificate, although later Charles became a baker. A witness at the wedding was Charles’ brother Thomas Richards.
	The couple’s five children were born at three different locations perhaps indicating that they moved around to suit Charles’ work as a labourer/baker. The first child was born at Alvescot, the second at Great Coxwell near Faringdon, the third at Woolstone between Uffington and the White Horse Hill, and the fourth at again at Great Coxwell.
	Ann and Charles emigrated to New Zealand with their first four children in 1875, and it was there, at Arrowtown in Otago that same year, that their fifth child was born.
	The family sailed out of Greenock on 30^th October 1874 on the Wild Deer and arrived at Port Chalmers on 20^th January 1875. This was one of ten successful trips the former China tea clipper made to New Zealand. Making the journey with them was Charles’ sister Fanny Richards who had married William Woodley, their son William and Fanny’s two daughters from a previous marriage.
	Once established, Ann and Charles set up home at Queenstown where Charles continued his occupation as a baker. However, just over a year later he tragically died in suspicion circumstances on 12.05.1876. An item in The Arrow Observer for Wednesday 17^th May included the following report.
	“Mr Richards, some time resident of this town and engaged at Gilmour’s Mill, was drowned at Wakatipu Lake on Friday morning. On leaving the family home he had stated he would not be very long, but it was the next morning that his body was found in two feet of water. No one seems able to account for what happened as he was always seen as a steady, sober and industrious man.”
	However, at the inquest held on 15^th May 1876, and reported in the Queenstown Southland Times newspaper on 18^th May, the situation was made a little clearer. This stated that:
	“An inquest was held today on the body of a man named Richards. He was found drowned in the lake at Bob’s Cove on Sunday morning. The man had been a servant of one Gilmour, a miller near Arrow, and had taken his wages in sheep and land. Upon going to view his property, he found the land covered with water. This is supposed to have preyed upon his mind, inducing him to commit a most determined suicide. He was picked up in about two feet of water with his hands desperately crossed upon his chest. The verdict was ‘temporary insanity’.
	Following his death Ann, as the sole provider, then established a successful boarding house called ‘Pleasant View’ on Eastern Terrace in Queenstown. She later married (2) Thomas Mantle and as Ann Mantle she died on 02.11.1919 and was buried at Queenstown Cemetery. At the time of her death she was still living at Eastern Terrace and had been a keen supporter of the Wakatipu Horticultural Society. Ann’s obituary stated that she was born at Coleshill which is situated midway between Faringdon and Highworth some ten miles from Alvescot. It is also referred to her three sons and two daughters, three of whom had already died prior to her death. This photo of Ann was provided by her great granddaughter June Keating.
	28O60	Mary Ann Richards			Born in 1858
	28O61	William Charles Richards			Born in 1860
	28O62	Fred Richards			Born in 1865
	28O63	Susan Richards			Born in 1866
	28O64	Bertram Edwin Richards			Born in 1875
28N31	Lucy Collett was born at Alvescot and it was there that she was baptised on 31.03.1839. She married John Pill and the couple had eight children between 1858 and 1877, the first six of which were born at Wantage in Berkshire and the last two at Buscot and Coleshill respectively.
28N32	WILLIAM COLLETT was born at Alvescot on 29.01.1842 and was baptised there on 27.02.1842. At the time of the census of 1861 William was nineteen and was still living with his parents and younger brother Joseph (below) at Alvescot.
	Two years later William married Elizabeth Lander at Faringdon on 30.10.1863. Elizabeth was the daughter of John Lander and Hannah Davis and was born on 07.07.1844 at Faringdon. William’s work meant that the family was widely travelled around the Swindon area, judging from the many places that the couple’s children were born.
	The first four children were born while William and Elizabeth were living in Faringdon. There then followed a quick succession of four location where the next four children were born, these being, Rodbourne, Swindon, Dauntsey, Wroughton. The next three children were born after the family moved to Stratton St Margaret and the last child was born at Crudwell.
	Rodbourne and Dauntsey lie close to Malmesbury to the west of Swindon, while Crudwell is situated to the north between Malmesbury and Cirencester. However, in the census of 1911 William’s son George who was born at Rodbourne said he was born in Swindon which may mean he was born at Rodbourne Cheney.
	At the time of the census in 1871 the family was confirmed as living at Cheltenham Street in Swindon and comprised father William, his wife Elizabeth, son William, and daughters Mary Ann and Caroline. The couple’s second son James, who would have been three, had already passed away by then.
	Ten years later according to the 1881 Census, William 39 and born at Alvescot was a brewer’s labourer living with his wife Elizabeth aged 37 and of Faringdon and his family at Stratton Green in Stratton St Margaret. The family at that time comprised William 16, Caroline 12, George 10, Fanny aged 5, and two years old Fred.
	Missing from the family was their daughter Mary Ann Collett who would have been 15, son Tom Alfred Collett who would have been eight years old.
	A wider search of the 1881 Census located Mary Ann Collett as living with her aunt Caroline Malyenback at Hove in Sussex. Caroline may have been a sister to Mary Ann’s mothers Elizabeth Lander as there is no Caroline of a suitable age on the Collett side of Mary Ann’s family.
	A further search for Tom revealed that he was a visitor at the home of Charles and Sophie Lander at Gloucester Street in Faringdon where he was listed as being seven years of age. Charles, who was 52, was a builder’s labourer from London, was very likely to be the older brother of Elizabeth Lander, Tom’s mother.
	Following the birth of their last child at Crudwell, the family lived for a while within the Wootton Bassett & Cricklade registration district. This was confirmed by the census of 1891 which placed William as 48, Elizabeth 47, and their children George 20, Fanny 14, Frederick 12, Elizabeth 10, John 8, Albert 5, and one year old James who had been born at nearby Crudwell.
	During the next decade the family returned to Stratton St Margaret where they were recorded as living in March 1901. On that occasion William and Elizabeth still had eight of their children still living with them, although two of their sons were married by then with families of their own.
	William was 59 and a general labourer born at Alvescot, and his wife Elizabeth was 57 and of Faringdon. Living with them were their sons William 36 born at Faringdon and George 29 born at Swindon, John 17 and Albert 15, both born at Stratton, and all four of them employed as general labourers.
	In addition to the older boys, there was also daughter Elizabeth aged 20 of Stratton and the family’s youngest son James who was eleven and born at Crudwell. The ‘missing’ married sons were Tom and Frederick and their census record details are provided under their own names.
	By 1911 the only member of the family still living with William and Elizabeth was their youngest son James. The family was still living at Stratton St Margaret where William Collett was 69, his wife Elizabeth was 65, and their son James was twenty-one. A short while later Left the family home to be married.
	William Collett died on 16.12.1923 and was followed by his wife Elizabeth who died on 26.12.1929, and both deaths were registered in Swindon.
	28O65	WILLIAM JOHN COLLETT		Born on 22.07.1864
	28O66	Mary Ann Collett		Born in 1865
	28O67	James Collett		Born in 1867
	28O68	Caroline Collett		Born in 1869
	28O69	George Royal Collett		Born in 1871
	28O70	Tom Alfred Collett		Born on 23.12.1873
	28O71	Fanny Collett		Born in 1876
	28O72	Frederick Collett		Born in 1878
	28O73	Elizabeth Collett		Born in 1881
	28O74	Cecil Albert John Collett		Born in 1883
	28O75	Albert Collett		Born on 03.02.1886
	28O76	James Collett		Born in 1890
28N33	Joseph Collett was born at Alvescot and was baptised there on 01.02.1846. According to the census of 1861, Joseph was fifteen and was one of only two children still living with his parents at Alvescot, the other being his brother William (above).
	Around ten years later Joseph married Caroline Robinson at Abingdon-on-Thames in 1871, Caroline having been born at Wroughton near Swindon in 1845.
	The census of 1881 listed the family as living at Fyfield in Berkshire just east of Kingston Bagpuize. Joseph aged 34 and from Alvescot was a shepherd, his eldest son Francis aged 8 was born at Eynsham, as was Amelia aged 6 and Ada aged 4, while Louisa aged 2 was born at Fyfield.
	All of the next three children born into the family were also born at Fyfield, and it was there that the family was living in 1891. Joseph and Caroline were 45, Francis was 18, Ada 14, Louisa 12, Edward 9, and Ellen was five years old. The eldest daughter Amelia was already living and working in the Wallingford area.
	By 1901 farm foreman Joseph and his wife Caroline, who were both fifty-five, had moved to Burcot on the Oxfordshire side of the River Thames just east of Abingdon and just north of Wallingford. Living with them were three of the couple’s five daughters. These were Ada 24 who was born at Eynsham, and Ellen 11 and Gertrude 8 both of whom were confirmed as having been born at Fyfield.
	It is not clear what happened to Joseph’s son Richard, who was Edward Collett aged nine in 1891, since no trace of him has been found in either of the census returns for 1901 and 1911.