PART TWENTY-EIGHT

The Faringdon Line

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

Updated November 2009

28O1	John Wheeler Collett was the base-born son of Rachel Collett (Ref. 28N2) and John Wheeler and was born at Buscot in 1842, as were both his parents in 1821 and 1826 respectively.
	He married Mahaila Goodwin of Stoke Newington in Middlesex who was born in 1847-1848 the daughter of James and Mahaila Goodwin of Notting Hill. All of their children were born at Norwood near Hounslow, although other records indicate that the last three children may have been born just a few miles away at Southall.
	Prior to the marriage, which is believed to have taken place around 1865, Mahaila Goodwin was already a young mother to a base-born daughter of the same name born in 1864.
	Very little is known about John Wheeler Collett, except that he died shortly after the birth of their youngest child in 1877 and during the following year Mahaila married for a second time.
	By 1881 Mahaila aged 33 was living as Mahaila Duffin with husband George Duffin at 2 Curnocks Cottages, Western Road in Norwood. George was from Norwood and was a 43 years old general labourer and the father of George Duffin born in 1878 and Mary Duffin born in 1880.
	Living with them at the same address was George’s father James Duffin aged 81 of Heston, a blind former agricultural labourer.
	In addition to the Duffin family, three of the children from her marriage to John Wheeler Collett were also living with them. These were oldest daughter Alice Collett aged 14, Rosetta Collett aged 12 and Rachel Collett aged 8, all listed as step-daughters of George Duffin as head of the household.
	Perhaps because of the limited space in the house at 2 Curnocks Cottages, her two other children by John Wheeler Collett and her first base-born child were all living close by with Mahaila’s parents.
	James and Mahaila Goodwin, both aged 59, were living at 3 Crown Field, Western Road in Norwood. With them were their grandchildren Mahaila Goodwin aged 16, John Collett aged 9, Emma Collett aged 4 and another grandchild James W Laley aged 14 an agricultural labourer.
	28P0	Mahaila Goodwin	Born in 1864
	28P1	Alice Collett	Born in 1866
	28P2	Rosetta Collett	Born in 1868
	28P3	John Wheeler Collett	Born in 1871
	28P4	Rachel Collett	Born in 1873
	28P5	Emma Collett	Born in 1876
28O10	Ann Collett was born at Eaton Hastings near Lechlade on 04.09.1855. Shortly after she was born her family moved to Great Barr in Staffordshire. By the time of the census of 1861 Ann was five years old when she was living with her family within the Walsall & Aldridge area of Staffordshire.
	During the next ten years of her life her father William Collett died, after which her widowed mother Charlotte return to the Faringdon area where she had been born, but with just four of youngest of the five of her eight children. These were Mary, Ann, Susan13, and George.
	At the time of the census of 1871 Ann’s mother was living in Faringdon with Mary, Susan and George, while fifteen years old Ann was living with the Higgs family in Faringdon where she was employed as a domestic general servant.
	Ann Collett was sixteen (sic) and born at Easton Hastings and she was living at the Higgs family home at 64 London Street in Faringdon where 32 years old Alfred Higgs was a stonemason and a grocer, while his wife Eleanor Higgs was 33 and a shopkeeper. At that time the Higgs’ had three young children.
	It was almost exactly five months after the census day April in 1871 that Ann Collett celebrated her sixteenth birthday. Sadly she may have celebrated in a way that was not in keeping with behaviour standards at that time, when it was soon evident that she was ‘with-child’.
	It has not been determined who the child’s father might have been, but it is known that Ann as forced out of the Higgs’ house and sent to live in the Faringdon Union Workhouse where her daughter was eventually born.
	When her daughter was around four years old Ann Collett died. This happened in 1876 and it seems very likely that it took place during the birth of Ann’s second base-born child. Following this tragic event both of her daughters remain living in the Faringdon Union Workhouse where they were recorded as living in 1881.
	Ellen was eight years old, and her younger sister Susan, named after Ann’s youngest sibling, was six years of age. Ten years later it would appear that Ellen and Susan had gone their separate ways. The only Ellen Collett aged eighteen was living in Hanover, St Margaret area of London, while Susan Collett aged sixteen was living at Stogumber near Williton in north Somerset.
	28P6	Ellen Collett	Born on 15.05.1872
	28P7	Susan Collett	Born in 1876
28O12	George Collett was born at Great Barr near West Bromwich in 1864. In the Census of 1881 he was listed as an ordinary seaman aged 18 from Walsall. At that time he was onboard the vessel “Mary” which was at sea, but whose base was at Madron near Penzance. The “Mary” only had a small crew so it is likely that it was a fishing boat.
28O14	Henry Thomas Collett was born on 19.09.1855 at Coleshill near Highworth in England before the family emigrated to Australia.
	Henry married Annie Webster Thomson on 12.04.1882 at Little River in Victoria and died at Dandenong in 1943.
	It is interesting to note that twelve years after Henry and Annie were married, Henry’s half-brother William (below) married Fanny Mary Thomson who may have been Annie younger sister.
28O15	Elizabeth Jane Collett was born in the latter half of 1856 at Coleshill before the family emigrated to Australia. For a very young baby the three to four month sea journey may have been too much and she tragically died on 31.07.1857 at Moorabbin in Victoria just over two months after they had arrived in Australia.
28O16	Eliza Matilda Collett was born on 23.09.1860 at Yuroke in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia. She married Edward William Jeffrey on 11.09.1888 at Omeo in Victoria. He was the son of Edward Jeffrey and Selina Tonkin and was born on 25.07.1861 at Harcourt in Southern Australia.
	The couple’s first two children were born at Omeo while the other four were born at Narrabri where Edward died in 1937.
	The children were: Mildred Hazel (born 04.09.1889, died 05.02.1956 in New South Wales); Wilfred Roy (born 1891, died 1921 at Wee Waa in NSW); Cecil (born 1894, died 1896 at Narrabri); twin Harold Edward (born 18.02.1897, died 05.06.1968); an unnamed twin child who was also born on 18.02.1897 but who died on 19.02.1897); and Hilda Naomi (born 1901).
28O17	Salome Collett was born at Moorabbin in Western Victoria on 11.03.1864 and in 1887 at Victoria she married Frederick James Ellen. He was the son of Maurice Ellen and Frances Ede and was born at Murmungee in Victoria on 11.02.1861. In June 2007 Heather Preston, the couple’s great grand daughter, kindly provided the photograph of the new headstone for Salome and Frederick erected recently on the couple’s grave at Fawkner Cemetery in Melbourne. Heather also kindly supplied other details for this family line.
	Salome died at Essendon in Victoria and the headstone confirms the couples’ dates of birth and that Salome died on 20.10.1934 followed almost exactly one year later by Frederick who died on 23.10.1935.
	During their life together Salome and Frederick had twelve children but it is only the line of their eldest daughter Una Esther Ellen, who was born in 1890 at Horsham that is extended here.
	To complete the record, the couple’s other children were: Harold Herbert (1888-1961); Myra Mary (1892-1981); Charles Edgar (1894-1976); Bessie Belle (1895-); Rupert Reginald (1897-1989); Mavis Eva (1900-); Frederick John (1901-); Oliver Ede (1903-1982); Hilda Hope (1905-); Geoffrey George (1907-1958); and Marion Edith (1910-).
	28P8	Una Esther Ellen	Born in 1890
28O18	William Collett was born on 20.06.1866 at Brighton in Western Victoria. He married Fanny Mary Thomson on 28.03.1894 in Victoria. Fanny was born on 13.01.1868 in New South Wales
	Fanny was very likely the younger sister of Annie Webster Thomson who married William’s half-brother Henry Thomas Collett (above) in 1882.
	William and Fanny’s first, second and third child was born at Omeo while the others were all born at Benambra.
	William died on 16.05.1954 at Wentworthville in New South Wales and was followed nine years later by Fanny who died at Newcastle in New South Wales on 06.06.1963.
	28P9	Eva Emmaline Collett	Born on 17.01.1895
	28P10	Bessie Frances Collett	Born on 28.08.1896
	28P11	Charles Thomas Collett	Born on 24.09.1897
	28P12	Edith Victoria Collett	Born on 01.06.1899
	28P13	Wilfred Herbert Collett	Born on 06.12.1900
	28P14	Dorothy Lillian Collett	Born on 29.09.1903
	28P15	Violet Thomson Collett	Born on 24.10.1905
28O19	Esther Collett was born in 1869 at Brighton in Western Victoria and she married Edwin Tomkins in 1893 at MacArthur in Victoria. He was born at MacArthur in 1863 and was the son of Henry Holland Tomkins and Martha Baker.
	The couple had eight children between 1894 and 1913, the first three born at Omeo and the remaining five at Benambra. Esther died on 1951 at Omeo with Edwin having passed away a few months earlier on 27.10.1950 but at Berwick in Victoria. He was buried two days later at Wallumbilla in Queensland.
28O20	Susannah Collett was born in 1871 at Broadmeadows in Western Victoria where is it assumed she died in infancy within the first year of her life.
28O23	Susannah Collett was born in 1872 a year after her sister of the same name had died and she too was born at Broadmeadows in Western Victoria. She died in 1959 at Fairfield in Victoria.
28O22	George Collett was born in 1874 at Campbellfield in Western Victoria and he married Lucy Good in Victoria in 1901. Lucy was born at Lambeth in London in March 1870 the daughter of John Balls Good and Mary Jane Crabb. The marriage produced five children born at various locations in Victoria – see individual entries for exact details. Lucy died at Malvern in Victoria in 1951.
	28P16	Crystal Mary Collett	Born in 1902
	28P17	Ethel Mary Collett	Born in 1903
	28P18	Herbert George Collett	Born in 1904
	28P19	Hazel Jean Collett	Born in 1910
	28P20	Norman Thomas Collett	Born in 1913 at Bendigo
28O23	Thomas Collett was born in 1876 at Campbellfield in Western Victoria. He married Lucretia James at Teralba in New South Wales on 07.12.1899. She was the daughter of David James and Jane Lewis and was born at Nattai in New South Wales on 14.12.1874.
	Thomas and Lucretia lived all their married life in New South Wales and their children were born at Newcastle, New Lambton and Wee Waa. Thomas died in 1953 at Belmont in New South Wales while Lucretia passed away at New Lambton in 1956.
	28P21	Rolf Herbert Collett	Born in 1901
	28P22	Neville Thomas Collett	Born on 28.09.1902
	28P23	Eric Alexander Miller Collett	Born on 10.12.1904
	28P24	Mirelle Elizabeth Jane Collett	Born on 06.01.1907
	28P25	Gwendolyn Margaret Collett	Born in 1909
	28P26	Elwyn Frances Collett	Born in 1911
	28P27	Trevor David Collett	Born in 1913
	28P28	Esther Lucretia Collett	Born in 1917
28O24	Frederick John Collett was born in 1878 at Shepparton (or Numurkah) in Western Victoria and was involved in the Great War of 1914 to 1918 as confirmed by his service record below.
	His entry in the Service Records of the National Archives of Australia (www.naa.gov.au) confirms that: he was born at Numurkah in Western Victoria (as was his brother Herbert below); he enlisted at Narrabri in New South Wales; his service number was 1661; and his mother and next-of-kin was Elizabeth Collett (Ref. 28N6).
	After returning from the war he married Margaret Emma Matthews in 1921 at Victoria. Margaret was born at Omeo in 1889, the daughter of James Matthews and Margaret Elizabeth Prendergast.
	Frederick died at Bairnsdale in Victoria in 1967 followed by Margaret fifteen years later in 1982 also at Bairnsdale.
28O25	Herbert Ebenezer Collett was born in 1880 at Numurkah in Western Victoria and he died in his late teenage years in 1899 at Benambra in Victoria.
28O26	John W Collett was born in 1843 and was the grandson of William Collett (Ref. 28M6) and his sister was Anne Collett (below) who was born in 1846. To date no record has been found of their mother and father. It is very likely that John’s second name was William, perhaps after his father or grandfather.
	According to the census return for 1861, John W Collett was 18 and he and his sister Anne were living at Buscot with their grandparents William Collett and Susan Collett.
	Twenty years later in 1881 John W Collett was aged 38 and was a shepherd living at Kempsford. He gave his place of birth as Fyfield in Gloucestershire a village close to Little Faringdon and just north of Buscot.
	Living with him was unmarried domestic housekeeper Jane Batts of Lechlade and her son John Collett Batts who was two years old and also born at Lechlade. John junior was listed as the son of John senior. Shortly after this time John and Jane were married, or Jane simply adopted the Collett name.
	At the age of fifty-eight John Collett of Fyfield was still living in the Lechlade area in March 1901 where he continued to work as a shepherd on a farm. With him was him wife Jane Collett who was also 58, and their son John Collett who was twenty-two. The birthplace of mother and son was confirmed as Lechlade
	It would appear that John and Jane lived all of their lives together at Lechlade, since it was there that they were still living in April 1911 when John was sixty-nine and Jane from Lechlade was sixty-eight. By that time their son was married and was living in the Faringdon area.
	28P29	John Collett	Born in 1878
28O27	Anne Collett was born in 1846 and was the granddaughter of William Collett (Ref. 28M6) and her brother was John W Collett (above) who was born in 1843. To date no record has been found of their mother and father and it would appear that they were brought up by their grandparents.
	By 1861, and at the age of fifteen, Anne Collett and her brother John W Collett (above) were living at the Buscot home of their grandparents where they were being cared for by the elderly William and Susan Collett.
28O28	Aaron Collett was born in 1838 within the parish of Westport St Mary in Malmesbury. He was the only child of Thomas Collett of Abingdon and his mother Hester of Foxley near Malmesbury. In the Malmesbury census records for 1841 and 1861 he was listed as being aged 2 and 21 respectively.
	By the time of the next census in 1871 he was married to Ellen of Somerford near Malmesbury who had already presented him with the first of his five children. At that time the family was still living at Westport where Aaron was aged 32, Ellen 28, and daughter Jane was one year old.
	Over the next seven years a further four children were added to the family, the first of these while the family was still living at Westport and the next three after the family had moved to live at Easton Grey two miles to the west of Malmesbury.
	Sometime between the birth of the last child and 1881 the family moved again, this time south to Hullavington. And it was at Queens Head Inn at Hullavington that they were living at the time of the census.
	Aaron was the landlord/innkeeper and was aged 42, Ellen was 38 and their children were Jane 11, Mary 9, Hannah 6, Aaron 4 and Walter 3. There were two lodgers staying at the inn and they were James Matthews 33 a herdsman from Bath and Mark Austin 40 a herdsman from Chippenham.
	So far no trace has been found of Aaron and Ellen after April 1881 and, as they would have been aged 52 and 48 in 1891 and only 62 and 58 in 1901, it seems more likely that they had left the UK for another country taking all of their children with them, except son Aaron who in 1911 was listed as Aaron Vigor C.
	28P30	Jane Collett	Born in 1869
	28P31	Mary Collett	Born in 1871 at Westport
	28P32	Hannah Collett	Born in 1874 at Easton Grey
	28P33	Aaron Vigor Collett	Born in 1876
	28P34	Walter Collett	Born in 1877 at Easton Grey
28O29	Elizabeth Collett was born at Hullavington in 1838 and she married Henry Hiscocks who was born at Calne in 1935. Shortly after they were married the couple settled in Bath where all of their six children were born. By 1881 the family was living at 10 Hetling Court in Bath St Peter and St Paul from where Henry aged 35 was working as a farm labourer.
	With him was his wife Elizabeth, aged 42 and of Hullavington, and their children Fred aged 16 a working as a porter, Ada 11, Albert 9, Sydney 7, Frank 5 and Henry Hiscocks junior aged 2.
28O30	Ann Collett was born at Hullavington in 1840. It seems likely that she followed her sister Jane (below) and left Hullavington after April 1861 to secure work at Oldbury-on-the-Hill, with Jane living and working at Didmarton which was only a quarter of a mile from Oldbury.
	It was while at Oldbury that Ann met and married William Teagle around 1863 William was a farm labourer who had been born at Oldbury in 1836. And it was at Oldbury that they lived and it was there that all of their children were born.
	According to the 1881 Census the family was living at ‘Creep Hole’ in Oldbury and was made up of William 44, Ann 39, George 16 and a farm labourer like his father, Ellen 14 a domestic servant, Clara H Teagle 9, Elizabeth 8, Frederick 6, Kate 2 and Albert E Teagle who was just three months old.
28O31	Jane Collett was born at Hullavington in Wiltshire in 1843. At the age of 18 in 1861 Jane was working away from home at nearby Didmarton, close to where he older sister Ann was working at Oldbury-on-the-Hill a little while later.
28O32	Mary Collett was born at Hullavington in 1849. It would appear that she might never have married as by 1881 at the age of 31 she was a spinster living with her 72 years old widowed father Lawrence Collett at Newtown in Hullavington
28O35	Thomas Collett was born at Marylebone in London in 1842 where he was living with his family in 1851 at the age of eight years and eighteen years in 1861. Towards the end of the next decade he married Fanny and by 1871 the marriage had produced a daughter for the couple.
	The census in 1871 confirmed that Thomas Collett was 28 and from Marylebone, where his daughter had also been born, his wife Fanny was 30, and daughter Florence was under one year old.
	28P35	Florence Collett	Born in 1870 at Marylebone
28O39	Eliza Jane Collett was born at Nantwich on 18.03.1857. By the time she was aged 24 she was unmarried and her occupation was that of an assistant school mistress. At the time of the 1881 Census she was living with her mother’s brother James Pick at his London Road home in Willaston.
	It is not clear where Eliza was living over the next ten years as she has not been identified in the 1891 Census. What is known is that she married Frank A Gilbert around 1887 and was listed in the 1901 Census as Eliza J Gilbert aged 44 of Nantwich and was living with her husband at Willaston.
	The census recorded that Frank was born at Nantwich in 1858 and that he was a boot manufacturer. Living with the couple were their three children, Emily Gilbert aged 11, James A Gilbert aged 8, and Helena M Gilbert aged 5, all listed as having been born at Nantwich.
	It seems odd that whilst neither Eliza nor Frank have not so far been located in the 1891 Census, their eldest daughter Emily aged one year was living at Nantwich
	The census of April 1911 revealed that Eliza Jane Gilbert was living at the home of her younger brother and bachelor Thomas Collett (below) at 17 Hollingbury Place in Brighton. From the census record she was more than just a visitor, so perhaps had made a permanent move to Brighton following the death of her husband. Also living at the same address was Eliza’s spinster sister Emma Collett (below).
	The census record confirmed that Eliza was 54 and had been born at Nantwich and that she had been married for twenty-four years and that the marriage had produced four children, and all of them still living at that time.
28O40	William James Collett was born in Nantwich on 12.4.1859. In 1881, aged 21, he was recorded as being a chemist's assistant and was living with his mother Hannah and younger brother Leonard (below) at 16 Hospital Street in Nantwich.
	By 1901 at the age on 41 he was still single and was recorded as being a patient at a private hospital in Marylebone, London.
	Ten years later he was still a bachelor at the age of 51 when he was living close to his siblings in Brighton. The 1911 Census gave his occupation as a dispensing chemist working for a charitable institute. Supporting him in this role were three servants. These were Charles Cuthbert and his wife Emma both 52, and their daughter Bertha 22.
	Charles was a hall porter at the dispensary, while his wife was William’s housekeeper and Bertha was the domestic servant.
28O41	Leonard Collett was born at Nantwich on 17.04.1861. He became an apprentice joiner on leaving school and in 1881 was aged 19 and was living with his mother Hannah and his older brother William (above) at 16 Hospital Street in Nantwich.
	On 25.04.1889 Leonard married Mary Boulton, the daughter of George and Mary Boulton, at St Mary's Church in Nantwich. They had four children together before Mary died on 17.03.1896. She was buried at Wybunbury Church near Nantwich, where she was joined many years later by Leonard.
	Mary was the eldest of the eight children of iron moulder George Boulton and his wife Mary, and was born at Hanley in Stoke-on-Trent in 1861.
	It is interesting to note that in April 1881 Mary Boulton aged 20 was one of six domestic servants working for Edwin Wragg, the manager of a boot shop, and was living with his family at the Shakespeare Inn at 17 Piccadilly in the Shelton district of Stoke. She was referred to as ‘Maria’ so as not to clash with the Wragg’s own daughter Mary.
	Ten years later, according to the 1891 Census for Nantwich & Crewe, Leonard aged 28 was living with his wife Mary and their daughter Mary. By 1901 he was aged 39 years and was a widower working as a builder and contractor but with the additional public duties of being the local registrar of marriages, and possibly births and deaths as well.
	The 1901 Census for Willaston listed Leonard’s children as Mary aged 10, Janet aged 9, Leonard 7 and William 6, all four children confirmed as having been born at Willaston.
	Following the tragic death of his wife five years earlier, Leonard was left to look after and bring up his young family and it was not until 1907 that he re-married. During those years on his own it seems likely that he received help with the children from his spinster sister Emma who also lived in Willaston.
	28P36	Mary Collett	Born in 1890
	28P37	Janet Collett	Born on 26.10.1891
	28P38	Leonard Collett	Born in 1893
	28P39	William Collett	Born in 1894
	And so it was that, eleven years after Mary's death, Leonard married (2) Gertrude Boulton, Mary’s youngest sister, at Cross Lane Chapel in Minshull Vernon near Crewe on 16.9.1907. Gertrude was born at Wolstanton in Stoke-on-Trent in 1877.
	The first of their three children was Joyce, born at Willaston in 1908 and it is thought that Joyce had a twin who died at birth. Their son George Collett was born after the family had moved from Willaston to Nantwich where he was born in 1912.
	In 1901 Gertrude Boulton was aged 23 and was working as domestic housekeeper in Willaston near to where her future husband was living with his family. Leonard died in 1940 and was buried at Wybunbury Church with Mary his first wife.
	28P40	Joyce Collett	Born in 1908
	28P41	a twin of Joyce Collett	Born in 1908 at Willaston
	28P42	George Collett	Born on 25.04.1912
28O42	Emma Collett was born at Nantwich in 1863. At the age of eighteen years she was working as an apprentice confectioner and was living at the home of Ann Fitton at 4 High Street in Nantwich. Miss Fitton was a confectioner aged 29 and was born at Wybunbury.
	Also living on the premises were two young school leavers Mary Williams a 15 years old apprentice and 16 years old servant Hannah Stubbs.
	It would appear that Emma never married as in 1891 aged 28 she was still single and living in Nantwich. By the end of March 1901 she had moved to Willaston, where she was aged 38 and was ‘living on her own means’. On both occasions she was living not far from her brother Leonard (above).
	Within the next ten years Emma moved south to Brighton where she was living with her brother Thomas Collett (below) in April 1911. That year’s census listed Emma as a spinster aged 48 who had been born at Nantwich. Also living with her and her brother at 17 Hollingbury Place was their married sister Eliza Jane Gilbert.
28O43	Thomas Collett was born on 28.11.1869 at 16 Hospital Street in Nantwich. He attended Nantwich Grammar School and in 1891 was recorded as being a Mechanical Engineer living in St Pancras, London. By 1901 he had moved to Islington where he was still recorded as being a Mechanical Engineer.
	It would appear that he never married and by 1911 he had left London and was living at 17 Hollingbury Place in Brighton where his occupation was still that of a mechanical engineer at the age of 42. His place of birth was confirmed as Nantwich, and living with him at that time were his two sisters Emma Collett and Eliza Jane Gilbert nee Collett.
28O44	Henry Collett was born at Limehouse in London in 1852. He married Julia of London and in 1881 they were living at 2 Lamb Lane in Hackney, Henry aged 27 and a carman and Julia aged 29.
28O47	Alice Collett was born at Epsom in Surrey in 1861. She married Henry Webb at Mile End Old Town (aka Stepney) on 06.08.1882. It is believed, although not known for sure, that Henry was born in London in 1860.
	Shortly after they were married the couple emigrated to Australia where they settled at North Melbourne in Victoria where all of their children were born. These were Henry (born 1884), Frances (born 1886), George (born and died in 1887), William (born in 1888), Thomas (born in 1890) and Joseph who was born in 1896.
28O50	George Collett was born at Holborn in London in 1869. He was aged one year in the 1871 Census and was living with his family within the Holborn, St George the Martyr registration district of London. Ten years later he was aged 11 and was living at 30 Jupps Road in Mile End Old Town with his father Henry from Faringdon.
	However, so far no trace has been found of George after the 1881 Census and in 1901 there appears to be only one George Collett who was born in London and he has been determined as George Collett born 1869 in Shoreditch the son of Andrew William Collett of Wiltshire (Ref. 31O18).
	Therefore this George Collett may have been out of the country between 1891 and 1901 and seems to have married late in his life, possibly around the turn of the century. It was originally believed that he married Harriet Maria Jordan at Limehouse in Stepney on 19.11.1893, but this was Ref. 31O18.
	Unlike the ‘other George’ and Harriet whose children were born between 1894 and 1900, this George’s children were born at West Ham, but all in the twentieth century. George died while his children were still quite young. He died at Canning Town in London on 07.04.1923.
	28P43	Florence Collett	Born after 1901 at West Ham
	28P44	Lillian Alice Collett	Born on 05.06.1906
	28P45	Charles Collett	Born in 1908 at West Ham
	28P46	Thomas Henry Collett	Born in 1909 at West Ham
	28P47	William H Collett	Born in 1911 at West Ham
	28P48	Robert A Collett	Born in 1917 at West Ham
28O51	Leonard Collett was born at Faringdon in 1864 and was named after his grandfather. It seems very likely that he was the base-born of Clara Collett (Ref. 28N25) who was not married at the time of his birth.
	In 1871 Leonard aged 7 was still living with his unmarried mother Clara in the town of Faringdon. During the next couple of years Clara married Leonard Smallwood who was 10 years younger than Clara, but it would appear that he died shortly after.
	Not long after this tragedy Leonard’s mother married widower Isaac Whittle who already had a family of his own. By the time of the 1881 Census the Whittle family were living at 133 Spoke Road in Battersea.
	At that time Leonard was recorded as the stepson of Isaac Whittle and was listed under the name of Leonard Whittle. He was aged 17 and born at Faringdon and was employed as a works engine fitter.
	Ten years later, still listed as Leonard Whittle, he was aged 27 and was continuing to live with his parents who had by then moved to Wandsworth in London.
	Sometime during the 1890s Leonard reverted to using the Collett surname and this may have been at the time he left the family home and made his way to Birmingham to start a new life.
	By 1901 Leonard Collett who had been born at Faringdon was aged 37 and was living at Aston in Birmingham where he was working as an ‘instructor in metal work’. The fact that he was married to Alice aged 37 of Birmingham has yet to be confirmed, as have any children they might have had.
	Alternatively his wife may have been 34 years old Fanny who was born at Barrington near Burford or Elizabeth of Cheltenham also aged 34, both of whom were living at Aston in 1901. Further work needs to be done to determine the family at this time.
28O52	Mary Ann Collett was born at Alvescot on 13.10.1850. Before she was married, Mary gave birth to a base-born daughter Emma Collett. In the Census of 1871 Emma was living with her grandparents George and Jane Collett (Ref. 28N28) at Alvescot. Mary later married her father’s brother-in-law William Wise (see Ref. 28N29); William having been born at Weston-on-the-Green in 1853 and christened on 22^nd May that same year. The marriage took place after 2^nd April 1871 as William was still unmarried at the time of that year’s census. This photograph of Mary and William was taken in 1901, the occasion being the wedding of their youngest daughter Elizabeth Ellen Wise.
	William Wise was the youngest son of Joseph Wise and Ann Porter and the brother of Joseph Wise who married Mary Collett (Ref. 28N29) his ‘Auntie Mary’, she being the sister of George Collett (Ref. 28N28) who was the father of his wife Mary.
	According to the 1881 Census for Alvescot, Mary Wise aged 31 and of Alvescot was living with her agricultural labourer husband William Wise aged 27 and of Weston on the Green. Living with the couple were their four daughters Minnie aged 10, Caroline Ann aged 7, Edith J aged 4, and Elizabeth Ellen aged 2, all of whom were born at Alvescot.
	28P49	Emma Collett	Born on 22.09.1867
	28P50	Minnie Wise	Born in 1872 at Alvescot
	28P51	Caroline Ann Wise	Born in 1874
	28P52	Edith J Wise	Born in 1876 at Alvescot
	28P53	Elizabeth Ellen Wise	Born in 1878
	28P54	Henry Collett Wise	Born on 04.08.1883 at Alvescot
28O53	John Collett was born at Alvescot on 28.12.1851. He married Selina Lewis in 1880 at Windsor in Berkshire. In 1881 the couple were in service at the home of Frederick Llewellyn Budd an insurance broker at Parkside Villa in Old Windsor. John was listed as aged 29 a gardener of Alvescot, while Selina was aged 26 and was a housekeeper born at Bromham near Bedford.
	The couple’s first child was born at Sunningdale in Berkshire after which the family moved back to John’s home village of Alvescot where the other four children were born.
	In the census of 1891 John was 39 and was listed as the Inn Keeper at The Red Lion public house in Alvescot. Included in the census return with John, was his wife Selina 36, and their daughters Clara 9 and Rosa Belinda 4, and their son John Charles who was six years old.
	At the time of the census that year, on fifth April, Selina was with-child and was expecting the arrival of the couple’s fourth and last child, which was born during the few months of 1891.
	During the next ten years the family, minus eldest son John, moved to north Oxfordshire where in March 1901 they were living at the Saye and Sele Arms Inn at Broughton near Banbury. Lord and Lady Saye and Sele were the owners of Broughton Castle which in recent years was the location for many historical films.
	John Collett of Alverscot was 45 and a butcher, while his forty years old wife Selina was listed as the manager of the (public) house where their daughter Clara 18 and from Sunningdale was a waitress. The census return also confirmed that their daughter Rose Belinda, who was fourteen, and their son George who was nine, were both born at Alvescot.
	John’s and Selina’s eldest son John had, returned to, or remained in Alvescot when the family moved to Banbury, as it was there that he was living and working as a carpenter and a wheelwright in 1901.
	It would appear that John Collett (senior) died during the first decade of the new century since there is no listing for him in the census of 1911. However, three of his children were living in the Banbury area at that time, although again, no record has been found of their mother.
	28P55	Clara Elizabeth Collett	Born in 1882
	28P56	John Charles Collett	Born in 1885
	28P57	Rosa Belinda Collett	Born in 1887
	28P58	George Lewis Collett	Born in 1891
28O54	George Collett was born at Alvescot on 06.02.1853. He married Mary Elizabeth Southby of Wantage who was born in 1855. There is no mention in any of the records of the couple ever having any children.
	In 1881 George and Mary were living at Sand Pit Road in Easthampstead near Bracknell in Berkshire. George was listed as being a gardener aged 28 and of Alvescot, while Mary E was aged 25 and of Wantage. Twenty years later and the couple were still living at Easthampstead where George was 48 and still working as a gardener, while Mary was then aged 45.
	According to the census of 1911 George Collett aged 58 and from Alvescot, together with his wife Mary Collett aged 55 and from Wantage, was still living in Easthampstead at that time.
	Apart from this period of thirty years, it is understood that the couple lived most of the rest of their life at Black Bourton, which is the next village to Alvescot. What is known is that George died on 20.11.1936 aged 83, with Mary having died there earlier on 25.05.1929 aged 73. The couple were buried at St Peter’s Church in Alvescot, the site being marked by a single gravestone with the following epitaph.
	“In Loving Memory of Mary Elizabeth beloved wife of George Collett passed away May 25^th 1929 aged 74 years – Gone but not forgotten, at rest in the Lord. Also of George Collett beloved husband of the above died November 11^th 1936 aged 83 – Blessed are they that have not seen, but yet have believed”
	It may be of interest to note that in April 1911 there was another Collett family living in Easthampstead. This was William George Collett who was born at Upper Clapham in 1869 and his wife Ruth, and their three children. For more details on this family see Part 18 – The Suffolk Line (Ref. 18Q2).
28O55	Annie Collett was born at Alvescot on 26.11.1854.
	It seems very likely that in 1881 Annie was living in Sunninghill near Bracknell and close to where her brother George Collett (above) was living with his wife Mary. The Census identifies her as being aged 27 and a domestic house maid at the home of William B Brown a general practitioner living at Heath House in Sunninghill.
	Two and a half years later on 13.10.1883 she married Charles Peachey. Charles was the son of William and Ann Peachey and was born at Alvescot in 1859. Charles was the brother of William Peachey who married Annie’s sister Elizabeth Collett (below).
	In 1881 Charles aged 20 and his brother William aged 22 - see below - were still living with their parents at Alvescot, where they were both born and where they were both agricultural labourers like their father William Peachey.
28O57	Caroline Collett was born at Alvescot on 16.10.1859. She died the following year on 10.06.1860 and was buried at St Peter’s Church in Alvescot.
28O58	Elizabeth Collett was born at Alvescot on 26.05.1861. At the time of the census in April 1881, single mother Elizabeth was nineteen and was still living at Alvescot with her parents George and Jane Collett, but with her two years old base-born son Albert Collett.
	To date no record has been found that provides an indication who the father of Albert Collett might have been. What is known is that young Albert Collett continued to live with his grandparents until towards the end of the century.
	Later that same year Elizabeth married William Peachey on 08.11.1881. It is feasible that Elizabeth’s sister Annie Collett (above) met William’s brother Charles Peachey at the wedding and as a result they too were married two years later.
	The marriage of Elizabeth and William produced six children and all of them were born at Alvescot between 1882 and 1898. According to the Alvescot census of 1891 William was 31 and Elizabeth was 29, and by that time they had four children, William George (born 1883), John Frederick (born 1885), Victor Bernard (born 1887), and Walter Percival (born 1890).
	28P59	Albert Collett	Born on 19.03.1879
28O59	William Collett was born at Alvescot on 21.06.1863 and in 1885 he married Emma Townsend at Witney. Emma was born at Brize Norton in 1868 and was the daughter of Leonard and Elizabeth Townsend of Bampton and Alvescot respectively.
	In 1891 the couple were very likely living at Alvescot within the Bampton & Witney registration district. William was 27 and Emma 23. They do not appear to have started a family at that time. Ten years later at Alvescot William was 37 and was working as a cattleman on a farm, while Emma was aged 33 and their son was just one year old.
	It is interesting to note the second and third Christian names given to their son, who was born at Alvescot, were those of the child’s two grandfathers.
	By the time of the census of 1911 William and Emma were still living in Alvescot with their only child William. The census return confirmed that William Collett was 47 and from Alvescot, that his wife Emma was 43 and from Brize Norton, and that their son William George Leonard Collett was eleven and born at Alvescot.
	William Collett died in 1941 at the age of 78 and was buried at St Peter’s Church in Alvescot.
	28P60	William George Leonard Collett	Born on 07.01.1900
28O60	Mary Ann Richards was born at Alvescot in 1858. She sailed to New Zealand on the Wild Deer with her parents in 1874 and settled in Queenstown where she married Mr Logan. Mary Ann died on 05.06.1891. The obituary written for her mother Ann Mantle, maiden name Collett (Ref. 28N31) in 1919 confirmed that her daughter Mary had already passed away.
28O61	William Charles Richards was born at Great Coxwell in 1860. He sailed to New Zealand on the Wild Deer with his parents in 1874 and settled in Queenstown. William died on 01.05.1910. The obituary written for his mother Ann Mantle, maiden name Collett (Ref. 28N31) in 1919 confirmed that her son William had already passed away.
28O62	Fred Richards was born at Woolstone in 1865. He sailed to New Zealand on the Wild Deer with his parents in 1874 and settled in Queenstown and he later married Agnes Keziah Bailey. She was born on 06.03.1868 at Woodend, Canterbury NZ and together they had a son Thomas Richards who was born at Pareora East, Canterbury on 20.03.1908. The family lived at Pareora for the rest of their lives and Fred died there on 01.05.1938.
	Fred’s son Thomas Richards married Lillian Maud Bristow and their daughter June Yvette Richards born at Dunedin, Otago NZ on 25.11.1936 married Thomas Ernest Keating. June’s brother Warwick Ernest Richards was also born at Dunedin but nine years later on 25.10.1945.
	This is the family line of June Keating of New Zealand who kindly provided the information during November 2006
28O63	Susan Richards was born at Great Coxwell in 1866. She sailed to New Zealand on the Wild Deer with her parents in 1874 and settled in Queenstown. She later entered into a relationship with Henry Richmond but, it is understood, that they were never married.
	This liaison produced two daughters for Susan and Henry and both of them are credited with being the girls’ parents on their birth certificates.
	Susan died on 13.04.1900 and in her Will she refers to her two illegitimate daughters Ivy and Daisy. The obituary written for her mother Ann Mantle, maiden name Collett (Ref. 28N31) in 1919 confirmed that her daughter Susan had already passed away.
28O64	Bertram Edwin Richards was born at Arrowtown in the Otago region of south island New Zealand on 21.08.1875 just nine months before his father’s mysterious death. The timing of his birth would indicate that he was conceived around Christmas Day 1874 at a time when his family were nearing the end of their sea voyage from England to New Zealand which ended at Port Chalmers on 20^th January 1875.
	The birth certificate for Bertram named his father as baker Charles Richards and mother Ann Richards formerly Collett. Rather curiously though the birth was registered by Bertram’s sister Mary Ann Richards who would have been only seventeen years of age.
	Also curious is the fact that the place of birth was Arrowtown rather than Queenstown which was where Charles and Ann and their family lived and worked.
	At the time of his mother’s death in 1919 Bertram was living at Timaru in New Zealand.
28O65	WILLIAM JOHN COLLETT was born at Faringdon on 22.07.1864. By the time of the census of 1881 and at the age of 16, William was working with his father as a brewer’s labourer while living at Stratton Green in Stratton St Margaret. Five years later he married Ellen Beams in 1886 at nearby Highworth. Ellen was the daughter of William Beams and Jane Lawrence and was born at Longworth in 1868. It is interesting that this was not the first time the name of Beams was linked to the Collett family. See also Frederick Beams (Ref. 28N19) born in 1874 at Epsom who may have been an older cousin to Ellen, whose brother born in 1870 was also named Frederick.
	In the 1881 Census Ellen’s parents William and Jane Beams were living with their family at Stratton Street in Stratton St Margaret where William was born, Jane having been born at Longcot as were some of their children.
	As the oldest child of the family their daughter Ellen Beams had been born at Longworth (as confirmed by the 1901 Census below) but she was not living at the family home in April 1881 and perhaps it can be assumed that she was working in domestic service elsewhere. A wide search for her has revealed just two Ellen Beams of around the right age in the whole of the UK in 1881, but neither of these was Ellen. There is therefore an unsolved mystery surrounding where exactly she was at that time when she would have been only twelve years of age.
	Earlier family research indicated that William’s and Ellen’s first six children were all born at Stratton St Margaret, with the twins being born at Longworth and the remainder of the children born at Swindon. However, the 1901 Census details below show the surviving twin Laura as having been born at Stratton St Margaret as well, making the first eight children born there.
	According to the 1901 Census William aged 38 was a brewer’s cellar-man and said he was born at Highworth rather than Faringdon. He was living at Highworth that year with wife Ellen aged 32, who stated she was born at Longworth, together with seven of their first eight children.
	These were William aged 13 and working as a general labourer, Ernest 11, John 9, Albert 7, Sidney 5, Nelson 4, and Laura, and all of them confirmed as having been born at Stratton St Margaret.
	During the next decade a further five children were born into the family, amongst them a set of twins with both children only surviving for a couple of days. By the time of the census of 1911, William 47 and Ellen 43 were living in Swindon with their seven youngest children. These were Albert 17, Sidney 15, Nelson 14, Laura 10, Frank 7, Alfred 5 and baby Kate who was just four months old.
	Sometime during the years between 1920 and 1927 the family left Swindon and moved to live at Elcombe near Wroughton where sons Albert and Sidney had purchased a smallholding on leaving the army after the Great War.
	At the time of the death of their two sons Ernest and John during the First World War, William and Ellen were living at 13 Page Street in Swindon, later to be renamed Beckhampton Street. William died on 29.03.1936 at Swindon as did Ellen six months earlier on 07.08.1935.
	28P61	William Henry Collett	Born on 11.08.1887
	28P62	Ernest George Collett	Born on 20.07.1889
	28P63	John Collett	Born on 11.04.1891
	28P64	Albert James Collett	Born in 1893
	28P65	Sidney Collett	Born on 13.04.1895
	28P66	Nelson Collett	Born on 06.03.1897
	28P67	Laura Ellen Collett twin	Born on 18.01.1901
	28P68	Sarah Collett twin	Born on 18.01.1901; died 18.01.1901
	28P69	FRANK COLLETT	Born on 28.11.1903
	28P70	Alfred Collett	Born on 10.06.1905
	28P71	Elizabeth Ann Collett twin	Born on 30.06.1906; died 02.07.1906
	28P72	Mary Jane Collett twin	Born on 30.06.1906; died 04.07.1906
	28P73	Kate Collett	Born on 16.11.1910
28O66	Mary Ann Collett was born Faringdon in 1865 and was baptised there on 24.10.1866. According to the 1881 Census she was living at Wilbury Lodge in Hove, the Sussex home of London born William M Malyenback and his wife Caroline who was born at Faringdon in 1841.
	Sixteen years old Mary Ann Collett was listed as ‘niece’ and a domestic service and was therefore related to Caroline whose maiden name was very likely to be also Collett, but to date no positive link has been found.
	Some years later it looks as though Mary Ann Collett returned home to Swindon where her parents were still living and where she met and married Charles H Adams. Charles was born at Little Hinton near Swindon and was the son of groom Henry Adams of Stratton Green in Stratton St Margaret.
	No record of the couple has been found in the census of 1911.
28O67	James Collett was born at Faringdon in 1867 and tragically suffered an infant death sometime prior to the census of 1881.
28O68	Caroline Collett was born at Faringdon in 1869 and was baptised there on 23.05.1869. By 1881 Caroline was twelve and was living with her family at Stratton Green in Stratton St Margaret.
	Just less than ten years later she married Frederick C Smith at Malmesbury in 1890. Frederick was born at Sherston near Malmesbury in 1862. The marriage produced two daughters and a son.
28O69	George Royal Collett was born in 1871 at Rodbourne, which may have been Rodbourne Cheney in Swindon rather than Rodbourne near Malmesbury. This took place after the census in April that year when his family was living at Cheltenham Street in Swindon. By the time of the census of 1881 George was ten and was living with his parents at Stratton Green in Stratton St Margaret.
	After a further ten years he and his parents were living in the Wootton Bassett & Cricklade area where George was twenty. By April 1911 George was living alone in Stratton St Margaret at the age of 39 when he gave his place of birth as Swindon. This might indicate that he was born at Rodbourne Cheney.
	He was an expert hedger and ditcher and his skills were much sort after and earned him lots of money. Unfortunately he was a bit of a wild character and spent most of his money on drink and often ended up being arrested and put in jail for being drunk and disorderly. It is believed that he ended up his days in the Stratton St Margaret Workhouse.
28O70	Tom Alfred Collett was born at Swindon on 23.12.1873 and this may have been in the Rodbourne Cheney area of the town. For some strange reason Tom was not listed in the 1881 Census as living at home with his parents, instead he was being looked after by his possible aunt and uncle in Faringdon.
	He was recorded as a visitor at the home of Charles and Sophie Lander at Gloucester Street in Faringdon and his age was given as 7 years. Charles Lander, aged 52 a builder’s labourer from London, was most likely the older brother of Tom’s mother Elizabeth Collett nee Lander (Ref. 28N33).
	Again Tom was not living with his parents in 1891, but five years later he married Florence Ann Gibbs on 07.11.1896 at Highworth. Florence was the daughter of Thomas Gibbs and Julia Gough and was born at Bath on 17.03.1878. The couple’s first three children were born at Stratton St Margaret and the last three at Swindon.
	The 1901 Census confirmed that Tom 27 and Florence 23 were living at St Phillips Road in Stratton St Margaret. Tom was a navvy born at Swindon while his wife was born at Bath. With them were there two children Florence M Collett aged three years and Winifred D Collett who was one year old, both having been born at Stratton.
	After the birth of the next child Tom and Florence moved into Swindon Town and it was there that the family was living in April 1911. Tom was simply listed as T Collett 37 who was born in the town, his wife Florence was 34 and from Bath, and five of their six children were living with them at that time.
	Only the couple’s eldest daughter Florence was missing for some reason. The other children were confirmed as Winifred 11, Charles 8, Alice 6, Stanley 4, and one year old Edward.
	It seems very likely that sometime after the First World War, perhaps in the 1920s, the family emigrated to Canada with only daughter Winifred staying in England. Their daughter Florence May certainly emigrated there prior to December 1919 as her first child was born there, and so it was that the family followed later, perhaps with the promise of a better life across the Atlantic.
	Apart from Tom’s daughter Winifred, who stayed in England to marry Harry Parson in 1924, the only other member of the family not to go to Canada with the rest of the family was daughter Alice Primrose. She was sent to South Africa where she was looked after by Tom’s brother John Collett (below) until such time as she married.
	Florence, Tom’s wife, died at Aurora in Ontario on 29.07.1958, as did Tom a few years later on 22.01.1965.
	28P74	Florence May Collett	Born on 10.11.1897
	28P75	Winifred Dora Collett	Born on 29.12.1899
	28P76	Charles Alfred Collett	Born on 11.07.1902
	28P77	Alice Primrose Collett	Born on 19.04.1905
	28P78	Stanley Herbert Collett	Born on 07.03.1907
	28P79	Edward Thomas Collett	Born on 05.09.1909
28O71	Fanny Collett was born at Dauntsey near Malmesbury in 1876 and in 1881 she was five years old and living with her family at Stratton Green in Stratton St Margaret. In 1891 she was fourteen and was still living with her family who were then living within the Wootton Bassett & Cricklade district.
	She married George Henry Smith at Daglingworth near Cirencester in 1897. George was born at Chirton east of Devizes in 1878. The couple had two daughters and a son all born in Swindon.
28O72	Frederick Collett was born at Wroughton in 1878 and was two years old in 1881 when living with his family at Stratton Green in Stratton St Margaret. Ten years later when he was twelve, Frederick and his family were living within the Wootton Bassett & Cricklade registration district of Wiltshire.
	He was referred to as ‘Sonny’ and he married Maud Maria Sims at Highworth in 1897. Maud was the daughter of GWR labourer William and Ann Sims and was born at Westrop in Highworth in 1881 but after the census date of the third of April. Her sister Elsie Sims married Frederick’s brother Albert Collett (below).
	According to the 1901 Census for Stratton St Margaret, Frederick who was twenty-three and born at Wroughton, was working for the Great Western Railway as a general labourer. His wife Maud was twenty years old and her place of birth was confirmed as Highworth. Listed with the couple were their first two children Elizabeth who was two and born at Swindon and Frederick under one year old and born at Stratton.
	The family continued to live at Stratton St Margaret until around 1904 where the couple’s next two children were born, before moving to the village of Stanton Fitzwarren, midway between Stratton and Highworth, where the next three children were born.
	By April 1911 the family living in Stanton comprised Fred aged 34 who gave his place of birth as Stratton, his wife Maud who was 32 and from Highworth, and their seven children. Fred and Maud had been married for thirteen years and Fred’s occupation was that of a cowman working on a nearby farm.
	The couple’s seven children at that time were recorded as Lizzie 12, Fred 10, Willie 9, Annie 7, Lily 6, Albert 3, and baby James who was five months old.
	At the time of the death of their son Leonard, who was killed in 1942 during the Second World War, Frederick and Maud were in their sixties and were living in the Gorse Hill district of Swindon.
	28P80	Elizabeth Collett	Born in 1898
	28P81	Frederick Collett	Born in 1900
	28P82	William Collett	Born in 1901
	28P83	Anne Collett	Born in 1903
	28P84	Lillian Collett	Born in 1904
	28P85	Albert Collett	Born in 1907
	28P86	James Collett	Born in Nov 1910
	28P87	Ernest John Collett	Born in 1911/1912
	28P88	Elsie Ann Collett	Born in 1913
	28P89	John Collett	Born on 08.01.1915
	28P90	Edward Charles Collett	Born circa 1918
	28P91	Leonard Stanley Collett	Born in 1922
28O73	Elizabeth Collett was born at Stratton St Margaret in 1881, but this happened after the census day that year. Because of her father’s work the family moved around a lot and in 1890 they were living in the village of Crudwell, and the following year the census in 1891 placed the family living within the Wootton Bassett & Cricklade area when Elizabeth was ten years.
	By March 1901 Elizabeth and her family were back living in Stratton where she was recorded as being twenty. During the next decade Elizabeth married Arthur Mason and by 1911 the couple were living in Stratton St Margaret where Elizabeth was 29 and from Stratton, and Arthur was 31. By that time the marriage had not produced any children for the couple.
28O74	Cecil Albert John Collett, who was referred to as Jack, was born at Stratton St Margaret in 1884. As a soldier he was drafted to South Africa with the Wiltshire Regiment in 1909, first to Durban and then to Pietermaritzberg in Natal. It was after only just one week at Pietermaritzberg that he met his future wife for the first time at a dance and there is no record thereafter to suggest that he ever returned to England. What is known is that he married Kathleen Adcock on 30.04.1911.
	It is thought that Kathleen, the daughter of Linee E Dobner, was born at Pietermaritzberg in 1897 but this would place her age at the time of the marriage as only 14 years, so perhaps it should be 1887 instead.
	Their daughter Catherine was born at Pietermaritzberg which is where the family lived all their life and where it was that Jack died in 1970 followed later by Kathleen. He did return to England briefly in 1939 but stayed only long enough to introduce his wife to all of his family before they returned to South Africa prior to the start of the Second World War.
	For the years between 1921 and 1926 Jack was responsible for his niece Alice Primrose Collett, the daughter of his brother Tom Collett (above) prior to her marriage to James Brayshaw. During this time Alice used to live in a wooden hut next door to the home of Jack and his family at Pietermaritzberg and was housemaid in Jack’s household. See Ref. 28P77 for her life story.
	28P92	Catherine Winifred Louise Collett	Born on 06.10.1912
28O75	Albert Collett was born at Stratton St Margaret on 03.02.1886 and in 1891 he was five years old and living with his family in the Wootton Bassett & Cricklade area of Wiltshire. Sometime during the next decade the family moved back to Stratton where they were living in 1901 when Albert was 15 and working as a general labourer.
	Seven years later Albert married Elsie Ann Sims in 1908 at Swindon. Elsie was also born at Stratton in 1886 and was the daughter of William and Ann Sims and the sister of Maud Sims who married Albert’s brother Frederick Collett (above).
	In 1911 the couple were still living in Stratton St Margaret, and with them was their daughter Florence who was born also there. Albert Collett was 25, as was his wife Elsie Ann, while Florence Ann was two years old.
	Elsie Ann Collett died on 20.04.1950, whereas Albert Collett survived for another nineteen months before he died on 15.12.1951, both deaths being registered in Swindon.
	28P93	Florence Ann Collett	Born on 24.02.1908
	28P94	Albert William James Collett	Born on 13.02.1922
28O76	James Collett was born at Crudwell near Malmesbury in 1890 as confirmed by the census returns for 1891, when he was one year old and living within the Wootton Bassett & Cricklade, and in 1901 when he was eleven and living with his family in Stratton St Margaret
	Ten years later James was 21 and was the only member of the family still living with his parents at Stratton. During the latter part of 1911 James married Alice Baldwin, the marriage being registered at Abingdon-on-Thames in Berkshire (now Oxfordshire).
	Shortly after they were married the couple moved to Swindon where all three of their children were born. And it was also at Swindon where James died.
	28P95	Eileen Collett	Born in 1912 at Swindon
	28P96	James Collett	Born in 1914 at Swindon