PART TWENTY-EIGHT

The Faringdon Line

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

Updated October 2011

28O1	John Wheeler Collett was the base-born son of unmarried Rachel Collett and John Wheeler, and was born at Buscot in 1842, as were both his parents in 1821 and 1826 respectively.
	It was as John Wheeler that he was recorded in the census of 1851, when he was living with his paternal great grandfather, widower John Wheeler, age 65, at Shellingford near Faringdon. John Wheeler junior was eight years old and his place of birth was confirmed as Buscot. Possibly after the death of his grandfather, John then went to live with his maternal grandparents.
	According to the next census return in 1861, John W Collett of Buscot was 18 and was employed by farmer Horatio Weston as an agricultural labourer at Broadlease Farm in Buscot. At that time, he was working alongside his grandfather William Collett, while living with him and his grandmother Susan Collett (Susannah Loosey) at Broadlease Cottage. Also living there with John, was his cousin Anne Collett, the base-born daughter of Hester Collett.
	John Wheeler Collett later married auburn haired Mahaila Goodwin of Stoke Newington in Middlesex, who was born in 1847-1848, the daughter of James Goodwin and Mahaila Adams 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, who was born in 1864, and who, it would appear, was brought up and cared for by Mahaila’s parents.
	Very little else is known about John Wheeler Collett, except that at the time of the census in 1871 he and his family were living in North Hyde Road in that part of the parish of Hayes in Middlesex known as Norwood Precinct. Their dwelling was three doors from the Princes of Wales beer house, and today North Hyde Road is the A437, running between Dawley Road Roundabout and The Parkway (A312).
	Rather curiously John gave his place of birth as Reading and not Buscot, perhaps because he had severed all links with his family by then. On that occasion he was 29 and was working as a brick-maker. His wife was Mahaila Collett, age 23 and from London, and by then their two children were Alice Collett who was four, and Rose Collett who was two years old. The birthplace stated for both daughters was Norwood Precinct. On the day of the census, Mahaila was expecting the arrival of the couple’s third child.
	Living at the dwelling adjacent to the Collett’s family home, was widower James Duffin who was 71 and a blind chaff cutter from Heston in Middlesex. With him were his daughter Jane Duffin who was 27, and his granddaughter, seven years old Mary Duffin. Why this is mentioned here, will become more obvious later on.
	It may be appropriate to explain here, that Norwood Precinct was a chapelry in the parish of Hayes, situated one mile south of Southall railway station, and two and a half miles from Hounslow. The Precinct contained the hamlets of Norwood Proper, Southall Green, and a part of North Hyde and Southall. It was therefore this confusing identity that perhaps resulted in John Wheeler Collett, the younger, stating later in his life on different occasions that he was born at Norwood and at Southall.
	Five years later, during 1876, John Wheeler Collett died when he would have only been 35 years old. It is understood that he may have been an epileptic, and died as a result of an attack. It would also appear that he died shortly after the birth of his youngest child, and that his widow Mahaila then married for a second time during not long after. It was in 1877 that Mahaila Collett married George Duffin, the son of her immediate next-door neighbour James Duffin.
	This was confirmed by the census in 1881 when Mahaila Duffin, age 33, was living with her new husband George Duffin at 2 Curnocks Cottages on the Western Road in Norwood. George was 43 and from Norwood, and was a general labourer. Living there with the couple was their son George Duffin, who was three years old, and their daughter Mary Duffin, who was one year old and known as Polly.
	Also living with the family was George’s father James Duffin, age 81 and from Heston, who was listed as blind and a former agricultural labourer.
	In addition to the Duffin family, 2 Curnocks Cottage was also the home of three of Mahaila’s children from her marriage to John Wheeler Collett, and they were her three daughters, Alice Collett who was 14, Rosetta Collett, who was 12, and Rachel Collett who was eight years old. All three girls were described as the stepdaughters of head of the household George Duffin.
	Perhaps because of the limited space in the house at 2 Curnocks Cottages, Mahaila’s two other children from her earlier marriage to John Wheeler Collett, together with her first child and base-born daughter, were all living close by in Norwood, with Mahaila’s parents, James and Mahaila Goodwin.
	James and Mahaila Goodwin where both 59 years old and were living at 3 Crown Field, Western Road in Norwood. The census return for 1881 listed their grandchildren living with them as Mahaila Goodwin, who was 16, John Collett who was nine years old, and Emma Collett, who was four years old. In addition to these three, James and Mahaila were also looking after another grandchild by the name of James W Laley, who was 14 and an agricultural labourer.
	Apparently it was during the five years after the 1881 Census that Mahaila Duffin died, while she was giving birth to her third child by George Duffin, who also did not survive. Following this sad event, it was her daughter Rosetta Collett who took over the care of her young sibling Rachel, while her brother John and sister Emma continued to be looked after by their Goodwin grandparents.
	28P1	Mahaila Goodwin		Born in 1864
	28P2	Alice Collett		Born in 1866
	28P3	Rosetta Collett		Born in 1868
	28P4	John Wheeler Collett		Born in 1871
	28P5	Rachel Collett		Born in 1873
	28P6	Emma Collett		Born in 1876
28O2	Martha Hollick was born in 1851, the eldest child of Rachel Collett and Henry Hollick. Martha was born at Shellingford, where her father had also been born. It was at Stepney in London that Martha married Edward Vinten on 25.12.1870 and, by the time of the census three months later, in 1871 the couple were living in the Poplar & Bow district of London. Edward was born at Rainham in Essex and was the son of James Vinten and Caroline Shilleto. In 1871 he was 22, while his wife Martha was 19.
	Ten years later and their marriage had produced five children for the couple. The census in 1881 placed the family living at 2 Church Street in the Middlesex area of London, where Edward, age 33 and from Rainham, was an omnibus coachman, Martha was 19, and their children were Harry Vinten who was eight and being taught at home, Rachel Vinten who was six, Frederick Vinten who was five, both of whom were attending a local school, and all three of them born at Bow.
	Martha’s and Edward’s two youngest children had been born after the family moved to the Chelsea area of London, and they were Martha Vinten who was one year old, and Minnie Vinten who was nine months old. One other person was lodging at the house, and that was Henry Morris age 29, who was an omnibus conductor.
28O3	Harry Pinel Hollick was born at Bromley by Bow in London in 1856, the only son of Rachel Collett and Henry Hollick. He later married Ann Margaret Jenkinson at Mile End in London during 1877. Their first child was born at Poplar, although all of the couple’s other eleven children were born after the family had settled in the Fulham and Chelsea area of London.
	The first census after they were married showed that the couple was living at 63 Seaton Street in Chelsea, and by which time their marriage had been blessed with the first two of the ultimate twelve children. Harry Hollick was 24 and an omnibus driver, although rather curiously his place of birth was recorded as Bon in Germany, instead of Bow in London.
	Living with him was his wife Ann Margaret Hollick of Limehouse, and their two daughters, Margaret J Hollick who was two and Nellie E Hollick who was not yet one year old, both girls born at Chelsea. The absence of their couple’s eldest daughter Martha Margaret Hollick would perhaps suggest that she had suffered an infant death, hence the reason why their second child was named Margaret.
	Their full family of children was made up of Martha Margaret, Margaret Jane, Nellie Elizabeth, Harry William, Peter William, Ellen Hannah, William John, Henry George, John George, Annie Matilda, George Edward, and Ruth Francis Hollick. The couple’s eldest son Harry William Hollick had a son of the same name who was bought up by his grandparents, Harry and Margaret, as their own son.
	Annie Matilda Hollick later married Thomas Henry Farrington, and they had Harry George Kitchener Farrington, who was the father of Tony Farrington who kindly provided the details of his family from his great great grandmother Rachel Collett.
28O10	Ann Collett was born at Eaton Hastings near Lechlade on 04.09.1855. Shortly after she was born her family moved to the Great Barr district of Staffordshire. By the time of the census of 1861 Ann was five years old when she was living with her family at Hardwick in the parish of Aldridge near Walsall.
	During the next ten years of her life her father William Collett died, after which her widowed mother Charlotte return to live in Eaton Hastings, but with just three of her children, including Ann. The other three children were, Mary, Susan, and George.
	At the time of the census of 1871 Ann’s mother was living in a tied farmhouse in Eaton Hastings with the two youngest children, Susan 13 and George 7, while fifteen years old Ann was living with the Higgs family in Faringdon where she was employed as a domestic general servant.
	The census recorded Ann Collett from Easton Hastings as being sixteen and living at the Higgs family home at 64 London Street in Faringdon where 32 years old Alfred Higgs was a stonemason and a grocer. His wife Eleanor Higgs was 33 and a shopkeeper and, 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 was 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 remained living in the Faringdon Union Workhouse where they were still recorded as living at the time of the census in 1881.
	Ellen was eight years old, while her younger sister Susan 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 at Hanover Square in the St Margaret area of London, while Susan Collett aged sixteen was living at Stogumber near Williton in north Somerset.
	28P7	Ellen Collett		Born on 15.05.1872
	28P8	Susan Collett		Born in 1876
28O12	George Collett was born in 1863 and very likely at Hardwick in the parish of Aldridge near Walsall where his family was living in 1861. Shortly after he was born his game-keeper father William Collett died. This prompted his mother Charlotte to return to Eaton Hastings where the family had lived before moving to Staffordshire.
	By the time of the census in 1871 George Collett from Great Barr was seven years old, and was living at Eaton Hastings with his widowed mother and agricultural labourer Charlotte and his older sister Susan who was thirteen and also from Great Barr.
	Ten years after this, according to the census in 1881, George Collett 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.
28O13	Anne Collett was born at Buscot in 1846, the base-born daughter of unmarried Hester Collett and gamekeeper George Lockey. George would have only been around fifteen years old at the time of conception, and that may have been the reason why he did not marry Anne mother until he was 20 years of age. It was therefore with her grandparents, William Collett and his wife Susannah Loosey, that Anne Collett lived during her childhood years. Up until March 2011 no record had been found which provided a clue as to who her mother and father actually were, although it was always believed that she was the daughter of Hester Collett.
	The new information, gratefully received from Fiona Shoesmith from New Zealand, who now lives in British Columbia, Canada, confirms what was previously written here, that Anne Collett was the base-born children of Hester Collett, the daughter of William Collett and Susannah Loosey.
	In the census of 1851, Anne Collett, age five years, was living with her unmarried mother Hester, age 26, at Broadlease Cottage in Buscot, the home of Anne’s grandparents. Ten months later her mother married her father, although Anne continued to live with her grandparents after that event. By the time of the census 1861, Anne Collett was still living at Broadlease Cottage with her grandparents. The census return confirmed that Anne Collett, age 15, had been born at Buscot and that she was working as a servant with her grandparents. Also living with the family at that time was Anne’s cousin John W Collett (above)
	It was eight years later that Anne married John Hart at the parish Church of St Mary the Virgin in Buscot on 12.09.1869. ‘Ann Collett’ a spinster of Buscot was 23, while John Hart, age 21, was a bachelor and labourer from Buscot. The witnesses at the wedding ceremony were Joseph Boots, John Hart's brother-in-law, and John Giles. Curiously, the father of Ann Collett was given as George Collett, a labourer, which is contrary to what was recorded on her death certificate, at the time of her passing.
	Eighteen months after they were married Ann and John were living at Buscot Wick, within the Faringdon registration district, with the first of their three English born daughters. Ann Hart was 25, John Hart was 22, both of them described as agricultural labourers, while their daughter was Mary A Hart who was one year old. Living with the family was Ann’s elderly widowed grandmother Susan Collett from Little Faringdon.
	Over the next three years two further daughters were added to the family, and when the youngest was only three months old the family emigrated to New Zealand. It was on board the ship Adamant that they sailed from England on 6^th May 1874 bound for Nelson in New Zealand. The ship's manifest recorded the family as agricultural labourer John Hart, age 25 of Gloster, even though he was born in Lechlade, his wife Ann Hart, age 28, and their three children Mary A Hart, age 4 years, Edith H Hart, age 2 years, and Emily Hart who was three months.
	All three daughters were born at Buscot; Mary Ann Hart was born during the last quarter of 1869, Edith Harriet Hart was born during the third quarter of 1871, and Emily Rose Hart was born during the first quarter of 1874.
	The cost of the passage was recorded as 4 pounds 3 shillings and 10 pence, and was borne entirely by the Government. Although the voyage took three months and one week, the Adamant arrived in record time at Nelson on 13^th August 1874. Upon their arrival John and Ann Hart were allocated land near Karamea in the northern West Coast of South Island, where they eventually arrived at the end of their arduous journey.
	It was while the family was living at Karamea that the couple’s fourth child and first son, Joseph William Henry Hart, was born on 24.06.1876. Two years after that another daughter, Helen Maria Hart, was added to the family on 10.08.1878, and she was the great grandmother of the aforementioned Fiona Shoesmith, who has kindly provided all of the Hart family details.
	Unfortunately there was very little good soil at Karamea and, it was because of this that the family later moved to Waimangaroa at West Coast on South Island around 1881. It was there that John was employed by the railways, first as a surface-man, and then as a railway ganger from 1882. The family were known as pioneers in this part of New Zealand in the 1880's.
	By 09.07.1880 the family was living at Westport when William Jesse Hart was born, but it was shortly after that when the family settled in Waimangaroa where five more children were born into the family. And they were John Edward Hart, born on 08.02.1882, Annie Esther Hart, born on 15.07.1883, Ernest George Hart, born on 17.01.1886, Fanny Jane Hart, who was born on 20.02.1889, but who died on 04.09.1890, and Emma Isabel Hart, who was born on 12.02.1891
	It was sometime between 1895 and 1906 that John and Ann moved again, on that occasion to Auckland, where Ann Hart nee Collett died on 09.03.1906 at Auckland Hospital. She was buried at Waikumete Cemetery in the Auckland suburb of Glen Eden, and her death certificate recorded her father as ‘George Lockie, a gamekeeper, and her mother as Lockie, maiden name Collett’. She was 60 years of age, and it may have been just prior to her passing that the photograph on the right was taken with her husband.
	Her death certificate is another vital piece of information that finally confirmed that Anne was the base-born daughter of George Lockey who married Hester Collett in January 1852 at Buscot, when Anne was six years old and was being cared for by her grandparents. Eight years earlier, in 1844, the older brother of Hester Collett, gamekeeper William Collett, had married Charlotte Lockley, who was George’s sister.
	Although John Hart was married for a second time, following Ann’s death in 1906, he was eventually interred with her at Waikumete Cemetery, where also is buried the body of their youngest daughter, Emma, who died in 1923 at the age of 32.
	Upon the death of his wife Anne Collett, the following article was published in the local Waimangaroa Newspaper in 1906, together with the above photograph. ”Mr. John Hart has been a ganger in connection with the New Zealand railways since 1882, and has resided for many years at Waimangaroa. He was born in Lechlade, Gloucestershire, England, in the year 1849. Mr. Hart arrived in Nelson, New Zealand, by the ship “Adamant,” in 1874. Shortly afterwards he went to Westport, and was employed for some time as a surfaceman in connection with the railway, until his appointment as ganger in 1882. Mr. Hart has taken an interest in local affairs, and has served as a member of the school and library committees. As a Forester, he is a member of Court Royal Oak, Westport. In the year 1869E, he married a daughter of Mr. George Lockie, of Gloucestershire, England, and has surviving, three sons and six daughters.”
28O14	Henry Thomas Collett was born on 19.09.1855 at Coleshill near Highworth in England and 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 Hinnomunjie in Victoria, midway between Omeo and Benambra. 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 in Gippsland Region, 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-).
	28P9	Una Esther Ellen		Born in 1890 at Horsham, Victoria
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.
	28P10	Eva Emmaline Collett		Born on 17.01.1895 at Hinnomunjie, Vic.
	28P11	Bessie Frances Collett		Born on 28.08.1896 at Omeo, Victoria
	28P12	Charles Thomas Collett		Born on 24.09.1897 at Benambra, Vic.
	28P13	Edith Victoria Collett		Born on 01.06.1899 at Benambra, Vic.
	28P14	Wilfred Herbert Collett		Born on 06.12.1900 at Benambra, Vic.
	28P15	Dorothy Lillian Collett		Born on 29.09.1903 at Benambra, Vic.
	28P16	Violet Thomson Collett		Born on 24.10.1905 at Hinnomunjie, Vic.
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 of which were born at Omeo within the Gippsland district of Victoria, and the remaining five born at Benambra. They were Alan William, Elizabeth Mary (born 1894), Cecil Henry (born 1896), Edwin Walter (born 1897), Herbert Thomas (born 1899), Esther Martha (born 1902), Frederick John (born 1903), and Reginald Collett Tomkins who was born in 1906.
	Esther Tomkins nee Collett died during 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.
28O21	Susannah Collett was born at Broadmeadows during 1872, the year after her sister of the same name had died there. Susannah had lived a long life when she died at Fairfield in Victoria during 1959.
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 at the age of 81.
	28P17	Crystal Mary Collett		Born in 1902 at Omeo, Victoria
	28P18	Ethel Mary Collett		Born in 1903 at Bairnsdale, Victoria
	28P19	Herbert George Collett		Born in 1904 at Bairnsdale, Victoria
	28P20	Hazel Jean Collett		Born in 1910 at Traralgon, Victoria
	28P21	Norman Thomas Collett		Born in 1913 at Bendigo
28O23	Thomas Collett was born in 1876 at Campbellfield in Western Victoria. He married Lucretia Esther James at Awaba Park in Teralba, 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 a district of Newcastle, and Wee Waa. Thomas died in 1953 at Belmont in New South Wales, while Lucretia passed away at New Lambton in 1956.
	28P22	Rolf Herbert Collett		Born in 1901 at Newcastle, NSW
	28P23	Neville Thomas Collett		Born in 1902 at Newcastle, NSW
	28P24	Eric Alexander Miller Collett		Born in 1904 at New Lambton, NSW
	28P25	Mirelle Elizabeth Jane Collett		Born in 1907 at Wee Waa, NSW
	28P26	Gwendolyn Margaret Collett		Born in 1909 at Wee Waa, NSW
	28P27	Elwyn Frances Collett		Born in 1911 at Wee Waa, NSW
	28P28	Trevor David Collett		Born in 1913 at Wee Waa, NSW
	28P29	Esther Lucretia Collett		Born in 1917 at Wee Waa, NSW
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 John Collett died at Bairnsdale in Victoria in 1967, and was followed by his wife Margaret fifteen years later in 1982, also at Bairnsdale, when she was 94.
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	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 at Westport
	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
28O28	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.
28O29	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.
28O30	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.
28O31	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
28O32	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
28O38	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.
28O39	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.
28O40	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
28O41	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.
28O42	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.
28O45	Harry Leonard Collett was born at Holborn St Margaret London in 1852, the son of Henry Collett of Faringdon and Frances Ann Hawkins from London. After a couple of years living in London, it would appear that the family then spent a short while living at Epsom in Surrey where Harry’s sister Alice (below) was born.
	Harry and his family then returned to the Westminster (Strand & St Anne Soho) area of the city where they were living at 3 Meards Court in 1861. At that time Harry L Collett was eight years old and his place of birth was given as Westminster St Margaret.
	By 1871 the family was living at a house in Eagle Street in Holborn (Eagle Street is still there today). Harry was once again listed as Harry L Collett, and on that occasion he was 19 and was working as a tailor with his father.
	It was during the next few years that Harry married Martha who was born at Bermondsey around 1854, and it was in Bermondsey that the couple initially settled, and where their first child was born. In 1881 Harry L Collett was 27 and a tailor’s cutter, his wife Martha S Collett was 26, and by then the family had moved twice since starting life together in Bermondsey.
	Their address in 1881 was 143 Kirkwood Road, Camberwell in the Peckham district of Surrey. Curiously Harry gave his place of birth as Bloomsbury which is just to the north of the St Margaret district of London, where he was stated as being born in the census of 1861, and just to the north of Holborn where he was living in 1871.
	The two children of Harry and Martha in 1881 were recorded as Martha F Collett, who was five and born in Bermondsey, and Henry J Collett who was two and born while the family was living on the Old Kent Road in Camberwell, just before they moved to Kirkwood Road.
	Three more children were added to the family over the next ten years, so by 1891 the family living in Camberwell was made up of Harry L Collett 37, Martha S Collett 36, Martha F Collett 15, Henry J Collett 12, Edward B Collett 8, Leonard C Collett 6, and Mary E Collett who was two years old.
	Martha was with-child on the day of the census, and the couple’s penultimate child was born into the family just after the census in 1891, and was followed two years later by the birth of their last child. Only five of the couple’s seven children were then listed with Harry and Martha in the census of 1901, since it is likely that their eldest daughter Martha had left home by then to be married.
	According to the Camberwell census that year, the family was living at 44 Barset Road in Nunhead near the Nunhead Cemetery, where the four youngest children had been born. Harry L Collett 48 was a tailor’s cutter, Martha Collett was 47, and their children were Harry J Collett 22, Edward B Collett 19, Leonard Collett 16, Mary Collett 12, and Elizabeth Collett who was nine years old.
	Curiously, the whereabouts of the couple’s youngest son and last child has been not been determined in 1901 even though he was back living with his father and sister Elizabeth ten years later in 1911.
	The census on that occasion placed Harry Leonard Collett as a 59 years old clothier’s cutter from Holborn living at 67 Linden Grove in Nunhead, adjacent to and overlooking Nunhead Cemetery. He was still recorded as being married even though his wife was not listed at the house on that day, but was recorded at another address in Nunhead where she was Martha Sarah Collett aged 58 from Bermondsey.
	The only children living at Linden Grove with Harry were his youngest two children. These were his daughter Elizabeth Collett, who was 20 and born at Nunhead, who was employed as a sewing machinist making underclothing, and his son Frederick Collett 17 and also born at Nunhead, who was a gas fitter’s mate.
	Kirkwood Road is directly opposite Tappesfield Road, off the A2214 Nunhead Lane to the north, with Tappesfield off Nunhead lane on the south side. And at the southern end of Tappesfield Road is Barset Road, and just a short walk from there is Linden Grove, all exactly the same today as it was over one hundred years ago.
	28P43	Martha F Collett		Born in 1875
	28P44	Harry Jessie Collett		Born in 1878
	28P45	Edward B Collett		Born in 1882
	28P46	Leonard C Collett		Born in 1884
	28P47	Mary E Collett		Born in 1888
	28P48	Elizabeth Collett		Born in 1891
	28P49	Frederick Collett		Born in 1893
28O46	Helena Elizabeth Collett was born in St Margaret London during 1855, the daughter of Henry Collett of Faringdon and Frances Ann Hawkins from London. When she was still a baby her family moved to Epsom, but had returned to London by 1861. The census that year placed the family living at 3 Meards Courts in the Strand & Soho district of the city, when Helena E Collett was six years of age. This extract from a family group photo was taken much later in her life.
	She was list as Helen Collett aged 15 in the census of 1871 when she was still living there with her family at Eagle Street in Holborn. However, it is established that she was later more commonly known by her second name, and it was as Elizabeth Collett that she married Frederick Hayward at Trinity Church in Stepney on 01.01.1878.
	Frederick James Thomas Hayward was born on the 12.09.1859 at 11 King's Row in Bethnal Green, London. His profession was that of a blacksmith, but at the time of his marriage to Helen he was described as a gas fitter.
	The marriage produced eight children for Helen and Frederick. However, no census records have been located in either 1881 or 1891 to confirm the details, and those census returns that may relate to this family have conflicting ages for the children. In March 1901 Frederick J T Hayward of Bethnal Green was living within the Mile End Old Town area of London, where Helen’s parents were living in 1881.
	Frederick was 41 and a tool maker, while his wife was described Elizabeth S Hayward of Pimlico who was 46 and a tailoress. Living with the couple in 1901 was their daughter Elizabeth S Hayward who was 19 and also a tailoress who had been born at Mile End.
	Back in 1881, after she Helen (Elizabeth) had married Frederick Hayward and left the family home, her mother and her three younger sisters were all working at tailoresses, and were supporting her father Henry Collett who was a military tailor.
	Helen Elizabeth Hayward nee Collett was the great grandmother of Jennifer Maddock who kindly provided information about her and her Hayward family. Jennifer also confirmed that her great grandmother continued with the profession followed by her father Henry Collett, by working as a military tailor.
28O47	Alice Collett was born at Epsom in Surrey in 1859, the daughter of Henry Collett of Faringdon and Frances Ann Hawkins from London. By the time of the census in 1861 her parents had moved back into central London and were living at 3 Meards Court in the Strand & St Anne Soho area, where Alice was two years old. Ten years later Alice Collett was 11 years of age and was living with her family at Eagle Street in Holborn. During the following decade her parents moved again and in 1881, when Alice was 20 and a tailoress like her sisters and her mother, the family was living at 30 Jupps Road in Mile End Old Town in London.
	Just over a year after that Alice married Henry Webb at Mile End Old Town (aka Stepney) on 06.08.1882. It is also understood that it was in the Stepney area of London that Henry was born on 14.04.1862, where he was baptised at St Dunstan’s Church on 11^th June 1862, the son of printer William Webb and his wife Elizabeth Bills on 51 Jupps Road in Stepney.
	Shortly after they were married the couple emigrated to Australia during 1884, following which they initialled lived in Tasmania for a couple of years before finally settling in North Melbourne, Victoria. If so, then the couple’s first two children were born while they were living in Tasmania, while the remaining children were most likely born after the family had arrived in Melbourne. Their children were Henry (born 1884), Frances (born 1886), George (born and died in 1887), William (born in 1888), Thomas (born in 1890), Joseph (born 1896), Alice (born 1899), and Alfred Webb who was born in 1901.
	The couple’s youngest child, Alfred Webb, was the grandfather of Di Schutz nee Webb, and it was Di who provided the information that Henry Webb died shortly after Alfred was born, when he passed away on 3^rd April 1901. The delightful, but tragic, picture on the right was taken not long after Alice was made a widow, and shows her with her seven surviving children. Another family photograph taken around the start of The Great War, and again kindly supplied by Di Schutz, shows Alice Webb nee Collett with just her two youngest children, teenagers Alice and Alfred.
	It was while she was living in East Melbourne that Alice Webb nee Collett died during 1932. Sixteen years earlier, Alice was living at 7 Thistlewaite Street in South Melbourne where she received the sad news of the death of her son Thomas Richard Webb on 19^th July 1916. Thomas was a private [2910] with the 60^th Battalion of the Australian Infantry Forces and died during the Battle of Fromelles in France at the age of 26. His body was buried in a mass grave for 250 soldiers at Pheasant Wood Military Cemetery in Fromelles, but was only formally identified in 2010 through the use of DNA. So after ninety-five years he has been given a proper military burial, the grave site being marked by a headstone bearing his name.
28O50	George F Collett was born at Holborn in London in 1869 and was one year old in the 1871 Census when he was living with his family at Eagle Street in Holborn, where he was very likely born. Ten years later when he was 11, he was living at 30 Jupps Road in Mile End Old Town with his father Henry from Faringdon, who was a tailor, and his mother Frances, who was a tailoress.
	The remainder of his family at that time comprised just his three old sisters Alice, Mary and Victoria, who had left school by then and were all working with their parents as tailoresses.
	George was the only child still living with his parents Henry and Frances Collett at 87 Bridge Street in Mile End Old Town in the spring of 1891. For the first time, he was described as George F Collett was 21, while his parents Henry and Frances were both in their early sixties. On that occasion George’s place of birth was recorded as St Pancras, while his occupation was that of a tailor, the same as his father.
	No apparent record of George has been found the in the census of 1901. There was however, another George Collett who was born within the Holborn/Shoreditch/Mile End area of London in 1869, and he was curiously George Frederick Collett (Ref. 31N37), the son of Andrew William Collett of Wiltshire and his wife Sarah Curnick.
	Therefore George Collett, the son of Henry and Frances, may have been out of the country at this time in his life, perhaps even involved in the Boer War in Africa like so many of his age were at that time.
	It is understood that George later reappear in England and that he married and had children. It is also understood that his children were born in the West Ham area of London, and that they were Florence Collett, Charles Collett, William H Collett, and Robert A Collett. With no record of the family in the 1911 Census, it is assumed that the children were all born after 2^nd April that year.
	Furthermore, it is also believed that George Collett died at Canning Town in London on 07.04.1923 while his children were still very young, but this may be a reference to George Frederick Collett (Ref. 31N37) whose last known child was born at Canning Town in 1911.
	28P50	Florence Collett		Date of born unknown
	28P51	Charles Collett		Date of born unknown
	28P52	William H Collett		Date of born unknown
	28P53	Robert A Collett		Born in 1917 at West Ham
28O51	Leonard Collett was born at Faringdon in 1863 and was named after his grandfather. It seems very likely that he was the base-born of Clara Collett 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. By the time of the Census in 1871 Emma was living with her grandparents George and Jane Collett at Alvescot. Mary later married her father’s brother-in-law William Wise (see Ref. 28N28); William having been born at Weston-on-the-Green in 1852 and christened there on 22^nd May 1853. The marriage took place during the last quarter of 1871, with William still unmarried on the day for the census earlier that year. This photograph of Mary Wise nee Collett was taken outside her home during her twilight years, and was provided by her great granddaughter Jennie Cordner.
	William Wise was the youngest son of Joseph Wise and Ann Porter and the brother of Joseph Wise who married Mary Collett (Ref. 28N28) his ‘Auntie Mary’, she being the sister of George Collett (Ref. 28N27) who was the father of his wife Mary. According to the 1881 Census for Alvescot, Mary Wise, age 31 and of Alvescot, was living with her agricultural labourer husband William Wise, who was 27 and from Weston on the Green. Living with the couple were their four daughters, Minnie Wise who was 10, Caroline Ann Wise who was seven, Edith J Wise who was four, and Elizabeth Ellen who was two, all of whom were born at Alvescot. Mary was very likely with-child on the day of the census, since she gave birth to another daughter later that same year.
	The family continued to live at Alvescot until 1890 when William’s work took him to Aldsworth in Gloucestershire. The census in 1891 again confirmed that William was born at Weston on the Green, and by that time he was 38 and living at Allens Lodge in Aldsworth, where his occupation was that of an agricultural cow man. Living there with him was his wife Mary A Wise, age 40 and from Alvescot, his four youngest daughters Elizabeth E Wise, age 12, Sarah S Wise, age 9, Eva A Wise who was two, and Martha E Wise who was only nine months old. Also living with the family was William’s two sons William G Wise who was seven, and John T Wise who was five years old. All of the children had been born at Alvescot.
	After living at Aldsworth for a short while, the family moved again, and on that occasion it was to the Oxfordshire village of Filkins, just two miles west of Alvescot. And it was there that the couple’s last child, Sidney Wise, was born. How long the family lived at Filkins has not been determined, but by the start of the new century they had moved three miles north to Holwell, just south-west of Burford.
	At the time of the census in March 1901 William Wise, age 49, and his wife Mary A Wise, age 51, were living at Holwell Downs Farm, where William was working as a shepherd. Curiously Mary’s place of birth was recorded as Marston in Oxford, rather than Alvescot where all but one of her children had been born. William G Wise was 17, John J Wise was 15, Eva A Wise was 12, Martha E Wise was 10, while Sidney was seven. This photograph of William and Mary was taken prior to the census day in 1901, on the occasion of the wedding of their daughter Elizabeth Ellen Wise. Ten years later the couple were living alone at Alvescot, when William was 59 and Mary was 61. William Wise died on 15^th November 1929 at the age of 77, his death being recorded at Headington in Oxford.
	28P54	Emma Collett		Born on 22.09.1867 at Alvescot
	28P55	Minnie Wise		Born in 1872 at Alvescot
	28P56	Caroline Ann Wise		Born in 1874 at Alvescot
	28P57	Edith J Wise		Born in 1876 at Alvescot
	28P58	Elizabeth Ellen Wise		Born in 1878 at Alvescot
	28P59	Sarah S Wise		Born in 1881 at Alvescot
	28P60	William G Wise		Born on 04.08.1883 at Alvescot
	28P61	John T Wise		Born in 1885 at Alvescot
	28P62	Martha E Wise		Born during July 1890 at Alvescot
	28P63	Sidney Wise		Born in 1893 at Filkins
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.
	28P64	Clara Elizabeth Collett		Born in 1882
	28P65	John Charles Collett		Born in 1885
	28P66	Rosa Belinda Collett		Born in 1887
	28P67	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).
	28P68	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.
	28P69	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. 28N30) 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. 28N30) 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.