PART THIRTY-ONE

The Wiltshire to New Zealand Line

including the family line of Captain Clive Franklyn Collett (Ref. 31O16)

Updated August 2011

The July 2009 update saw the withdrawal of a random Collett family from the Appendix Two at the end of this line, which has now been placed in its rightful place in Part 35 – The Melksham Line

This is the family line of Phil Collett (Ref. 31R1) which is denoted by the names in capital letters and Shirley Anderson nee Collett (Ref. 31Q22) of Wiltshire whose line is denoted by the names underlined

It is also the family line of Ian King of Plymouth whose great great grandmother was Sarah Elizabeth Collett (Ref. 31N31), and Paul Martin of Stokesley in North Yorkshire whose grandmother was Florence Collett (Ref. 31P10)

Previously this line started with William Collett (Ref. 44K7) whose earlier family members, dating back to 1595, can be found in Part 44 – The Malmesbury District Line (incorporating Broughton Gifford), with another branch of the family featuring in Part 35 – The Melksham Line. However, new information received from Brian Townsend during 2011 indicates that the family had earlier ancestors living within the village of South Wraxall near Melksham, where this line now starts. In addition to which the line from the aforementioned William Collett has been retained for completeness

Even earlier than all of this, the family line of Captain Clive Franklyn Collett of New Zealand, was contained in two separate files which have now been amalgamated into this single line

Philip Goddard (Ref. 1R8) was the eldest son of Nell Collett (Ref. 1Q5) and Leslie Goddard and was born in Swindon on 02.08.1947. As a member of the Royal Air Force for almost fifteen years he had a great interest in everything to do with aviation. And so it was that, just prior to his untimely death in January 2005, he was making steady progress gathering together the details of the family and the life of the New Zealand First World War fighter pilot Captain Clive Franklyn Collett.

This section of the Collett family history was initially completed using the information he had collected, and to which other information has since been added.

There are locations in New Zealand in this family line that also appear in Part Six – The New Zealand Line, but to date no direct connection has been made that would link the two lines together

~~~

All of the locations referred to in this family line such as South Wraxall, Bradford-on-Avon, Atworth, Box, Monkton Farleigh, Walcot in Bath, Frankleigh in Bradford, and Melksham, all lie within a few miles of each other

In addition to all of the Colletts listed in this family line, many others with a South Wraxall connection have been found during its compilation. For future reference, and in the hope that they might one day be included in the main body of this file, they are currently listed in Appendix Two and Appendix Three.

31J1	John Collett was born at South Wraxall around 1700. He was a carpenter, and around thirty years old when he married Elizabeth of South Wraxall, with whom he had a son late in his life. The fact that his known son Jonathan was born at South Wraxall in the early 1750s, when John would have been fifty, may suggest that he was married twice during his life, with the much younger Elizabeth being his second wife.
	31K1		Jonathan Collett				Born in 1751 at South Wraxall
31K1	Jonathan Collett was baptised at South Wraxall on 08.07.1751, the son of John and Elizabeth Collett of South Wraxall. According to the parish records for St James’ Church in South Wraxall, Jonathan Collett was 26, single and a carpenter of that parish, when married a Betty (Elizabeth) Batten, age 25 and spinster of that parish, on the 23.03.1778. Also listed in the church records are the details of only four of the couple’s seven children, and they are William, James, James, and Mary.
	31L1		Jonathan Collett				Born in 1784 at South Wraxall
	31L2		John Collett				Born in 1787 at South Wraxall
	31L3		William Collett				Born in 1790 at South Wraxall
	31L4		James Collett				Born in 1792; died 1795 at S Wraxall
	31L5		James Collett				Born in 1795 at South Wraxall
	31L6		Mary Collett				Born in 1797; died 1797 at S Wraxall
	31L7		Mary Collett				Born in 1798 at South Wraxall
31K2	William Collett, whose place and date of birth or baptism has not so far been determined, married Ann Morris at South Wraxall on 06.10.1791. That event possibly fixes William’s date of birth as being prior to 1770. However, with South Wraxall being less than five miles from Melksham, there is the possibility that William had previously been married to Hester (Rudman) Redman, and was the son of Thomas Collett and Jane Woodman (Ref. 44J12). Therefore, Ann Morris may have been his second wife.
	The only confirmed child of William and Ann that has been found to date is John, who was born at South Wraxall, but it seems highly likely that Drinkwater, who was also born at South Wraxall, was also the son of William and Ann, particularly since both John and Drinkwater later settled in nearby Atworth.
	It is possible, although not proved, that it might have been William and Ann who were the parents of George Collett who was born at South Wraxall in 1796, of Thomas Collett who was born there in 1802, and William Collett who was born there in 1808. At the moment, the known details of these three gentlemen can be found in Appendix Two at the end of this file, but who have now been included here in the hope that their place within this family might be confirmed in due course.
	See Appendix 2 - 31m2			George Collett				Born in 1796 at South Wraxall
	31L8			John Collett				Born in 1799 at South Wraxall
	31L9			Drinkwater Collett				Born in 1801 at South Wraxall
	See Appendix 2 - 31m4			Thomas Collett				Born in 1802 at South Wraxall
	See Appendix 2 - 31m4			William Collett				Born in 1808 at South Wraxall
31L0	WILLIAM COLLETT (Ref. 44L8) was born at Melksham in March 1785 and was baptised there on 09.01.1786, the son of William Collett and Hester (Rudman) Redman [see Part 44 – The Malmesbury District Line for more details]. He later married Harriet Mence at St James’ Church in Paddington, London on 21.12.1811. Harriet was born at St Pancras in London around 1790.
	William has been inserted here, simply because there is a connection with the village of South Wraxall through the information provided by his eldest son William Collett in the later census records, and the fact that Mary Collett (Ref. 31L7) married Thomas Rudman (Redman) in 1820. It may also be of interest that, in Part 35 – The Melksham Line, there is also a marriage between Joseph Collett (Ref. 35K16) of Broughton Gifford and Jane Rudman (Redman) of Melksham.
	In addition to this, it was previously thought that William may have been related to John Collett (Ref. 31L2) below, who was born around the same time. The similarity here is that William later moved to London, where the children of John also moved, following his premature death and that of his wife Charlotte.
	It would seem that the early years of the married life of William and Hester were spent within the Melksham area where their first two children were born, even though those same two children were later baptised after the family had moved to London in the early months of 1814. It may be of interest that their eldest son William later gave his place of birth as South Wraxall. However, it was in London that all of the couple’s other children were born.
	At the time of the first UK national census in June 1841 William and Harriet were living at Shoreditch where many of their children were born. The census listed William and Harriet as both having a rounded age of 50 - most adult ages were ‘rounded’ to 5 and 10 years in this first census, while the age of children was recorded more accurately.
	William’s and Harriet’s children on that occasion were recorded as sons Charles 20, Edwin 17 and George 12, and daughters Helen 15, and Louisa who was 10, the couple’s four eldest children having already left the family home by that time.
	Ten years later William was more accurately described as being 65, while his wife was 61. At that time their place of residence was within the St Leonards district of Shoreditch, and with them was their widowed son Charles, age 29, their unmarried son George, age 21, their daughter Louisa who was 19, and son Frederick who was 17.
	William died just over five years later on 27.10.1856 at Dalston, a district without the Borough of Hackney in London. A search of the 1861 Census has not revealed the existence of his wife, so it may be assumed that Harriet had also died sometime after 30^th March 1851 and before 7^th April 1861.
	31M1		Harriet Collett					Born in 1812
	31M2		William Collett					Born in 1814
	31M3		Hester Collett					Born in 1815
	31M4		Henry Collett					Born in 1817
	31M5		Charles Collett					Born in 1821
	31M6		EDWIN COLLETT					Born in 1824
	31M7		Helen Collett					Born in 1825
	31M8		Alfred Collett					Born in 1827
	31M9		George Collett					Born in 1829
	31M10		Louisa Caroline Collett					Born in 1831
	31M11		Frederick William Collett					Born in 1833
	31M12		Horace Walter Collett					Born in 1835
31L1	Jonathan Collett was born at South Wraxall around 1784, and was possibly the eldest child of Jonathan Collett and Elizabeth (Betty) Batten. He later married Jane and their only known child (so far) was born at South Wraxall, where he also died, at the age of just five years.
	Within Appendix Two at the end of this file, is the previously unknown husband of Mary Collett (Ref. 31m1) who was a widow at 57 in the census of 1841. There is therefore the possibility that her husband may have been previously married to Jane, thus making Mary the second wife of Jonathan Collett. This assumption has been included here in the hope that it might be proved or disproved at some time in the future.
	31M13		John Batten Collett					Born in 1806; died 1811
31L2	John Collett was born at South Wraxall during August in either 1786 or 1787, the son of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Betty) Collett. It was at Melksham that he married Charlotte Crook on 28.11.1811. John’s occupation was that of a farmer and he died at South Wraxall, two years before his wife, on 22.08.1835 at the age of 48, following which he was buried there in the family tomb – see details below.
	Charlotte Crook was born in 1789 and came from the village of Beanacre, near Melksham. She died at South Wraxall on 09.09.1837 at the age of 48, following which she was buried with her husband in the family tomb.
	In the first national census of 1841 the children of John and Charlotte were living at “Wraxhall Chapelry, Bradford”, within the Bradford Union North Western registration district. This is understood to be South Wraxall, which lies two miles north of Bradford-on-Avon which distinguishes it from Wraxall in Somerset, to the south of Shepton Mallet, and Wraxall near Nailsea to the west of Bristol.
	John and Charlotte are known to have had at least eight children between 1811 and 1830, as listed below, and all of whom were born at South Wraxall near Bradford-on-Avon. However, only the baptism records for two of the children have been located, and they are the brothers John and Andrew. At their baptism, in the Church of St James at South Wraxall, their parents were confirmed as John and Charlotte Collett. In addition, the brothers’ appearance in the census of 1841 also serves to confirm a further three of their siblings.
	In the census document that year the family was still involved in farming, since all of the members of the family, irrespective of their age, were recorded as being ‘yeoman’. They were Wm Collett, age 24, who was married and the head of the household, ‘Betsey’ Collett 23, John Collett 20, Arabella Collett 19, and Andrew Collett who was 11.
	The Will of yeoman farmer John Collett made on 2^nd March 1833 and proved on 22^nd March 1836, named his wife Charlotte as executor of his estate, in which everything was bequeathed to his wife Charlotte, and upon her death to his son William, providing that she did not re-marry following his demise. With Charlotte dying just two years after John, the estate presumably then passed onto their surviving children. It was shortly after the census in 1841, that the children of John and Charlotte moved to London, except their son Andrew who went to live in Bath.
	The churchyard of St James in South Wraxall contains the tomb of this particular Collett family, where John and his wife Charlotte are laid to rest, with their children Matilda and Edward, and possibly others although the names have long since disappeared with age. On one side are the words, “Also Edward the infant son of John and Charlotte Collett who died Feb 27^th 1828 aged 14 months. Also Matilda their daughter who died May 14^th 1841 aged 24 years” This means that she could not have been alive at the time of the 1841 census which took place on 6^th June, suggesting that Betsey Collett was not an alternative name for Matilda, but two separate children.
	31M14	Elizabeth Collett				Born in 1812
	31M15	William Batten Collett				Born in 1815
	31M16	Matilda Collett				Born in 1817
	31M17	Betsy Collett				Born in 1818
	31M18	John Collett				Born in 1820
	31M19	Arabella Jane Collett				Born in 1822
	31M20	Edwin Collett				Born in 1826
	31M21	Andrew William Collett				Born on 01.04.1829
31L7	Mary Collett was born at South Wraxall in 1798, the youngest child of Jonathan Collett and Elizabeth Batten. It was on 04.01.1820 that Mary Collett, of South Wraxall, married Thomas Rudman (Redman) at St James’ Church in South Wraxall, just one of many links between the Collett family and the Rudman (Redman) family around that time.
	Thomas was baptised at South Wraxall on 11.03.1798, and the marriage produced nine children for the couple, and all of them baptised at South Wraxall. They were Samuel (bp. 12.08.1821), William (bp. 25.12.1822) who died on 30.04.1864, George (bp. 07.06.1827), Michael (b. 27.03.1831) who died before 1839, John (bp. 23.02.1834), Mary Watson Rudman (bp. 10.06.1836), Caleb (bp. 18.03.1838) who died before 1880, Michael (bp. 09.06.1839), and Henry Rudman (bp. 27.03.1842).
31L8	John Collett was born at South Wraxall in 1799, although the exact details of his birth and his parentage have still to be discovered. What is known is that he married Martha, probably sometime just after 1820, and their two known sons were born while they were living at Atworth.
	Although no baptism record has been found for son John, the Atworth parish record for son Thomas gave the name of his parents as John and Elizabeth Collett. According to the census of 1841 John and Martha were living within the Bradford–on-Avon registration district, where both of them were listed with a rounded age of 40.
	Although rather strangely, there is a record of an Edwin Collet being baptised at Atworth on 10.08.1845, to parents John and Elizabeth Collett, the same description as twenty years earlier for Thomas Collett. Martha or Elizabeth would have been around 45 years of age, so it is quite possible that Edwin was the son of John and Martha.
	What happen next in the life of this family remains a mystery, no record of John Collett around the age of 50 has been located in the 1851 Census, while his wife Martha Collett, age 55, was listed as living alone within the south-eastern registration district of Bradford-on-Avon.
	It would further appear, although not proved, that Martha/Elizabeth may have died during the next decade, and by 1861 John reappeared and was listed in the census return for that year. In the Atworth census, within the south-eastern Bradford-on-Avon registration district, John Collett was 60 years old and a widower, and had living with him his son Edwin Collett who was 15. Ten years later in 1871, John Collett was 71 years old.
	According to the next census in 1881, widower John Collett was 81 and was working as a general labourer, while living at Main Street in Bradford-on-Avon. Living with him was his unmarried son Thomas Collett who was confirmed as having been born at Atworth.
	Atworth lies to the north-west of Melksham and is situated fairly close to South Wraxall. It seems very likely that John and Martha may have had more than just the three children indicated below.
	31M22	John Collett				Born in 1823 at Atworth
	31M23	Thomas Collett				Born in 1825 at Atworth
	31M24	Edwin Collett				Baptised on 10.08.1845 at Atworth
31L9	Drinkwater Collett was born at South Wraxall in 1801, and was very likely the son of William Collett and Ann Morris, and the brother of John Collett of South Wraxall (above).
	Around the mid to late 1820s he married Ann with whom he had four children, all born at nearby Atworth. It was also at Atworth around this time that the family of Drinkwater’s brother John Collett (above) and his wife Martha were living with their two sons John and Thomas.
	Similarly, two of the sons of Drinkwater and Ann were named John and Thomas, perhaps another indicator that Drinkwater and John were brothers. In the census of 1841, Drinkwater was listed with a rounded age of forty, as was his wife Ann, while their children were John 11, Hannah 9, Thomas 1, and William who was under one year old.
	It seems likely that son Thomas may have been born during the first few months of 1840. Tragically during the following years the family not only suffered the loss of mother Ann, but also the death of her two youngest sons, perhaps as a result of the same illness.
	Although Drinkwater was recorded as being 42 in the next census in 1851, it is highly likely that this was an error in translation, having regard for his given age ten years later in the census of 1861. The census return for 1851 described Drinkwater Collett as a widower who was working as an agricultural labourer, while he was living at Upper Wraxall. His place of birth was confirmed as South Wraxall.
	The only member of his family still living with him at Upper Wraxall was his daughter Hannah who was seventeen and born at Atworth. She was described as being ‘at home’, presumably because she was looking after her father as his housekeeper.
	Hannah may have married during the next ten years since, in 1861 Drinkwater Collett was a lodger at the home of James Pearce in Lower Street in Chalfield-by-Wraxall. He was described as a widower of sixty years of age from South Wraxall, at which time he was still working as an agricultural labourer.
	31M25	John Collett			Baptised on 09.08.1829 at Atworth
	31M26	Hannah Tabitha Collett			Baptised on 25.09.1836 at Atworth
	31M27	Thomas Collett			Baptised on 14.06.1840 at Atworth; infant death
	31M28	William Collett			Born during the first half of 1841; infant death
31M1	Harriet Collett was born at Melksham around 1812, shortly after her parents were married there during the previous year. She was approaching two years of age when her parents left Wiltshire and moved to London. And it was after their arrival in London that she was baptised in a joint ceremony with her brother William (below) on 01.06.1814 at Old Church in St Pancras, when her parents were confirmed as William and Harriet Collett.
	It is understood that Harriet was later married to become Harriet Dalloway. This is believed to have taken place in London, where the couple lived for many years in the Shoreditch area of the city, and where Harriet’s three younger brothers were born. In the 1881 Census Harriet Dalloway, age 67, was a widow who had been born at Melksham, who was working as a laundress, while living at 31 St James Street in Shoreditch.
	Living with her at that address was her daughter Ellen Dalloway, who was 22 and a milliner, born at Shoreditch. Ellen was very likely the youngest of Harriet’s children taking account of the difference in their ages.
31M2	William Collett was believed to have been born at Melksham in 1814, although he later stated that he was born at South Wraxall, near Bradford-on-Avon. While he was still only a few months old, his parents left Wiltshire, when they moved into London. And it was there, at Old Church in St Pancras that William was baptised in a joint ceremony with his older sister Harriet (above) on 01.06.1814.
	It would appear that once he became an adult, he returned to his Wiltshire roots, where he met his future wife and where he began his occupation as a carpenter, just one of many men in this family who worked with wood. It was during the early 1840s that he married Ellen (Helen) who had been born at Monkton Farleigh in Wiltshire in 1818.
	By the time of the next census in 1851, the family of William and Ellen Collett was living at Bubble Hill (Rubble Heep in 1861 and Bubble Heap in 1881) in Monkton Farleigh, where William from ‘South Wraxhall’ was 34 and a carpenter. His wife Ellen from Monkton Farleigh was 32, although the census return seemed to have her age incorrectly as 38.
	On that occasion William and Ellen already had four children, all born at Monkton Farleigh, and they were Edwin who was five, Ann who was four, Whyatt who was three, and William who was two years old. The family was supported by a general domestic servant, Mary Elliot who was 15 and from Bradford-on-Avon.
	Ten years later the family was listed within the census of 1861 as residing at Rubble Heep in Monkton Farleigh. William Collett, age 44 and from ‘South Wraxhall’, was a carpenter, while his wife Helen was 42 and from Monkton Farleigh. Living there with them were eight of their children who were all born at Monkton Farleigh, and they were Edwin Collet, age 15 who was also a carpenter, Ann Collett, age 14 who was a servant, Whyatt Collett, age 13, who was still at school, as was William Collett who was 12, Thomas Collett who was eight, and Helen Collett who was four. The two youngest members of the family were George Collett, who was three, and May Collett (sic), who was one year old.
	Part of the family was still living at Monkton Farleigh in 1871, when William Collett was 56, Helen Collett was 52, and the four children still living at home with them were Whyatt, age 23, Ellen who was 15, George who was 12, and Mary who was ten years old.
	In 1881 William, age 64 and from South Wraxall, was still working as a carpenter, while living at Bubble Heap in Monkton Farleigh with his wife and one of his children.
	His wife Helen was 62, and their unmarried son George Collett was 22. George was confirmed as having been born at Monkton Farleigh and his occupation was that of a carpenter, like his father William, and his older brothers Edwin and Whyatt.
	31N1	Edwin Collett				Born in 1845 at Monkton Farleigh
	31N2	Ann Collett				Born in 1846 at Monkton Farleigh
	31N3	Whyatt Collett				Born in 1847 at Monkton Farleigh
	31N4	William Collett				Born in 1848 at Monkton Farleigh
	31N5	Mary Jane Collett				Born in 1851 at Monkton Farleigh
	31N6	Thomas Collett				Born in 1853 at Monkton Farleigh
	31N7	Helen Collett				Born in 1856 at Monkton Farleigh
	31N8	George Collett				Born in 1858 at Monkton Farleigh
	31N9	Mary Collett				Born in 1859 at Monkton Farleigh
31M3	Hester Collett was born on 07.10.1815 at St James in Clerkenwell, Middlesex and was later baptised at Pentonville Chapel in St James on 25.10.1815.
	Hester married Edward Randall and by 1861 the couple were living in Clerkenwell with their four children. Esther was 45, Edward was 38, and their daughters Emma and Elizabeth were 12 and 4 respectively, while their sons William and Charles were 8 and 3.
	Twenty years later in 1881 Esther A Randall who had been born at Clerkenwell was 65 and a widow. At that time she was working as a general servant at the home of James D Cook a thirty-three years old maker of printing material living at 6 Gayhurst Road in Hackney with his large family.
31M4	Henry Collett was born on 05.09.1817 at Shoreditch in Middlesex and was later baptised at Christchurch St Leonard in Middlesex on 29.10.1817. However, with no apparent record of him in any census it is likely that he had died before 1841, although he would have been 24 and may have left the UK by then.
31M5	Charles Collett was born at Shoreditch on 15.04.1821 and was baptised there at St Leonard’s Church in Shoreditch on 14.10.1921. At the time of the census in 1841 Charles, age 20, was living at Shoreditch with his parents.
	He married (1) Elviner Mayhew Merry on 26.05.1847 at Hackney in London. Elviner was born on 04.09.1824 at Shoreditch and was the daughter of George and Charlotte Mayhew. However, within a year of their wedding day Elviner died on 15.02.1848 while the couple were living at Hackney. She was buried at Abney Park Cemetery in London on 19.02.1848.
	The 1851 Census recorded Charles as being a widower aged 29, by which time he had returned to living with his parents at Shoreditch St Leonards. During the period after the death of his wife Charles met (2) Martha Yates whom he eventually married at Hackney on 24.07.1852.
	Charles died eight years later while he was still living in Hackney area and, just like his first wife he too was buried at Abney Park Cemetery on 15.03.1860. It is not known whether their marriage produced any children during the 1850s.
31M6	EDWIN COLLETT was born at Shoreditch on 09.01.1824 and was baptised at St Leonard’s Church in Shoreditch on 30.01.1824. He was listed as being 17 years of age in the census of 1841, when he was living at Shoreditch with his family.
	He married Mary Cook on 15.04.1847 at Lambeth in Surrey. Mary was born at Southwark in London in 1824 and was the daughter of William Cook. The couple’s first two children were born at Lambeth but they then moved to live at Leytonstone where the next four children were born.
	By 1851 Edwin was aged 27 and Mary was 28 and the family was living at Leytonstone in the West Ham registration district of East London.
	Rather strangely there was no obvious census record of the family in the UK in 1861 even though their last three daughters were born at Hackney either side of this date. However, both Edwin and Mary were listed in the 1871 Census and were living at Hackney where Edwin was 47 and Mary 48.
	Two of their children were missing from the family in 1871 and these were their eldest daughter Mary who had died ten years earlier and their second daughter Clara who is also believed to have died, but no record to confirm this, apart from her absence in 1871, has so far been found.
	Edwin’s and Mary’s remaining children were listed as Horace 23, William 20, Julia 17, Eugenie 14, flora 12, Lily 10, and Elvina who was eight years old.
	Again, rather oddly, the family appear to be missing from the 1881 Census, but had reappeared by 1891 and on that occasion Edwin and Mary were living at Wandsworth when they were 67 and 68 respectively.
	Just over two years later Edwin died at Brixton on 15.07.1893, following which his wife later moved to Croydon. It was at Croydon where she was living in 1901, age 78, and it was also there that she died on 27.03.1919.
	31N10		HORACE EDWIN COLLETT					Born in 1848
	31N11		Mary Louise Collett					Born in 1849
	31N12		William Collett					Born in 1850
	31N13		Clara Collett					Born in 1852
	31N14		Julia Collett					Born in 1853
	31N15		Eugenie Collett					Born in 1856
	31N16		Flora Emily Collett					Born in 1858
	31N17		Lily Collett					Born in 1860
	31N18		Elvina Mary Collett					Born in 1863
31M7	Helen Collett was born at Shoreditch on 31.12.1825 and was baptised there a month later on 27.01.1826 at St Leonard’s Church. She was aged 15 in 1841 and was living with her family at Shoreditch. At sometime within the next ten years it seems very likely that she was married as there was no record of her as Helen Collett in 1851.
31M8	Alfred Collett was born at Shoreditch on 03.07.1827 where he was baptised the following year at St Leonard’s Church on 16.03.1828. Unlike his siblings he was not living with his family at Shoreditch in 1841 when he would have been 13 or 14 years old, nor has he been located anywhere else.
31M9	George Collett was born at Shoreditch on 07.07.1829 and was baptised there on 20.09.1829 at St Leonard’s Church. By 1841 he was aged 12 and was living at the family home in Shoreditch.
	Ten years later he was aged 21 and was still living with his parents at Shoreditch St Leonards, but no trace of him has been found thereafter.
31M10	Louisa Caroline Collett was born at Shoreditch on 31.07.1831. She was baptised on 18.09.1831 seven weeks later in St Mary’s Church at nearby Haggerstone. In 1841 she was aged 10 and in 1851 was aged 19 and on both occasions was living with her parents at their Shoreditch home.
	Four years later she married John Cairns on 10.09.1855 at St John’s Church in Hackney. John’s parents were Charles Cairns and Frances Rockcliffe.
31M11	Frederick William Collett was born at Shoreditch on 29.05.1833 and was baptised there at St Leonard’s Church on 10.07.1833.
	He married Sindia Frances Turner on 18.05.1857 at Old Church in St Pancras. Sindia was born in 1836 at Bethnal Green and was the daughter of Joseph Turner.
	At the time of the birth of their only child, Frederick was working as a book keeper with a carrier company at a time when he and Sindia were living at 18 Weymouth Terrace in Shoreditch.
	By 1881 Frederick and Sindia had moved to Islington and were living at 11 Pleasant Row. Frederick was aged 47 and was confirmed as having been born at Shoreditch. His occupation was that of a cabman. His wife was aged 44 and was of Bethnal Green and she was working as a milliner.
	Whether by coincident or not, but living at 5 Pleasant Row in nearby Shoreditch in 1871 was Frederick’s cousin Andrew William Collett (below) and his family.
	And it was also at Islington that Frederick died in 1886. Sindia, who was referred to sometimes as Lydia in some census records, died in 1901.
	31N19	Charles Frederick Collett				Born on 25.09.1857
31M12	Horace Walter Collett was born at Shoreditch on 22.08.1835 where he was baptised on 11.09.1835 at St Leonard’s Church. Sadly he only lived to be four years of age before he died at Bethnal Green on 21.11.1839 and was buried there at St Matthews Church.
31M14	Elizabeth Collett was born at South Wraxall in 1812, the eldest child of John Collett and Charlotte Crook. It would appear that she only survived for a few years, when she died in 1815.
31M15	William Batten Collett was born at South Wraxall in 1815, and around the time that he was twenty years old his father died in 1835, and two years after that, his mother died in 1837, leaving William to look after the welfare of his four younger surviving siblings.
	During the spring of 1839 William Batten Collett married Sarah Penelope James at South Wraxall, the marriage being registered at Bradford-on-Avon during the second quarter of that year. Sarah was born at Newgate Street in London in 1816. Once they were married, the couple initially settled in South Wraxall where their first child was born in 1840.
	The census of 1841 recorded that William and Sarah were living at “Wraxhall Chapelry, Bradford” in Wiltshire with their first child Matilda, who was one year old. William’s occupation was stated as being that of a yeoman, def. ‘a man who cultivates his own land’. It was as Wm Collett, age 24, that he was recorded, while his wife Sarah was 23.
	Living with the couple and their daughter were four of William’s siblings, and they were Betsey, 23, John 20, Arabella who was 19, and Andrew who was 11. All of them were noted as yeoman. Supporting the family at that time was Ann Shepherd, age 20, who was a servant.
	Shortly after the census day in June that year the family was extended by the birth of a son while William and Sarah were still living within the Bradford-on-Avon area, although like all their other children, he was also baptised in London, to where the family moved just after he was born. The child’s second forename of Miles is very interesting, because the Collett family were known to have formed a relationship with the Reverend Miles, after whom the child was named, as were others of William’s family. It therefore seems very likely that the Rev Miles helped William to support his brothers and sisters following the death of both parents in the 1830s.
	It now also appears that three out of the four siblings of William, who were living with him at South Wraxall in 1841, also made the journey to London with him or sometime after. Only his youngest brother Andrew William Collett (below) seems not to have made that move, since he is known to have moved to Bath when he was still in his teenage years.
	It seems rather curious that no further children were added to William’s family during the remainder of the 1840s, unless of course they suffered premature death. By the time of the 1851 Census William and Sarah were living in London when their family home was at 20 Prospect Place in St Mary Stoke Newington, within the Finsbury & Hackney registration district of the city. William, age 36 and from Bradford, Wilts, was a gardener, and with him was his wife Sarah, age 35 and from London, and their three children.
	Curiously William, and his two eldest children, were all recorded as having an impediment; either indicating that they were blind, deaf or dumb, since for each of them there was a tick in the final column of the census return. The three children were Mary Matilda Collett, age 11 and a scholar from Bradford, Wilts, William Henry Miles Collett, age 9 and also a scholar from Bradford, and John Miles Collett who was only two months old and born at Stoke Newington.
	Ten years later in 1861 William B Collett, age 46, was still a gardener, but with the addition of being a journeyman as well. On that occasion he and his family were living within the Edmonton with Tottenham registration district, and with him was his wife Sarah P Collett, age 45, and four of their five children. They were Henry who was 20, Edward who was nine, Amy who was seven, and Francis who was four years old.
	William’s occupation had changed back to farmer by 1871, this being consistent with him being described as a yeoman thirty years earlier. The family living at Tottenham comprised William B Collett 56, his wife Sarah 54, and their daughter Amy who was 15, and their son ‘Frank’ (Francis) who was 13.
	According to the next census of 1881 William and his wife were living at The Poplars, 9 Markfield Road in Tottenham. William gave his place of birth as South Wraxall and his aged as 67. His occupation was then recorded as that of a dairyman. Markfield Road was still there in 2009.
	His wife was aged 63 and her place of birth was confirmed as the City of London. Living with William and Sarah was their youngest daughter Amy who was then married to James Watson of London.
	Also listed with the family was granddaughter Ada Collett aged 13 years a milkmaid born at Tottenham. She was the daughter of the couple’s oldest son William Henry Collett. It can safely be assumed that Ada was working with her grandfather William at that time and in the same dairy business.
	Sarah Penelope Collett nee James died at Edmonton during the second quarter of 1888, and was followed one year later by her husband William Batten Collett, who also died at Edmonton, during the second quarter of 1889.
	31N20	Mary Matilda Collett				Born in 1840 at South Wraxall
	31N21	William Henry Miles Collett				Born in 1841 at South Wraxall
	31N22	John Miles Collett				Born in January 1851 at London
	31N23	Edward Collett				Born in 1852 at London
	31N24	Amy Collett				Born in 1854 at London
	31N25	Francis James Collett				Born in 1857 at London
31M16	Matilda Collett was born at South Wraxall in 1817, the daughter of John and Charlotte Collett. Sadly, following the death of first her father in 1835, and then her mother in 1837, Matilda died on 11^th May 1841 at the age of 24, when her body was placed inside the Collett family tomb with her parents and her younger brother Edwin Collett (below).
31M17	Betsy Collett was born at South Wraxall in 1818, the daughter of John and Charlotte Collett. With both of her parents having died during the six years prior to the census on 6^th June 1841, Betsy and her three younger siblings were looked after by her older married brother William Collett and his wife Sarah. So in the 1841 census for “Wraxhall Chapelry, Bradford”, Betsy was recorded as Betsey Collett age 23, living at the South Wraxall home of her brother William, with all of her surviving brothers and sister.
	In the previous version of this family line, Betsy Collett and Matilda Collett (above) were considered to be the same person, but the inscription on the family tomb at St James Church in South Wraxall, proves that Matilda had died prior to the 1841 census, and therefore see could not have been Betsy Collett, hence the reason for her inclusion now as an additional child of John and Charlotte Collett.
	Just a short while later Betsy’s married brother William Batten Collett left South Wraxall, when he and his family moved to London. Betsy and her brother John and her sister Arabella also travelled to London, although it has not been determined if this happened at the same time as William’s move, or a little thereafter. With no further record found of Betsy Collett, it must be assumed that she was very likely married in London during the 1840s.
31M18	John Collett was born at South Wraxall in 1820, but was baptised at Bradford-on-Avon on 17.05.1820, the son of farmer John and Charlotte Collett. He was only 15 years old when his father died, and two years after that his mother died in 1837.
	According to the census in 1841, John Collett was 20 and was living in “Wraxhall Chapelry, Bradford” within the Bradford Union North Western registration district with his older married brother William who was head of the household. Other members of his family living in the same dwelling were John’s sisters Betsy (above) and Arabella (below), together with his younger brother Andrew (below). All of them, including the girls, were described as yeoman.
	It is known that John’s married brother William Batten Collett settled in London during the early 1840s, and that John and his sisters Betsy and Arabella also left Wiltshire for the city, either at that same time or shortly thereafter. It is established that the orphaned siblings had some contact with the Reverend Miles while in London, with John’s older brother William naming his children after him, and his younger sister Arabella being employed by him. It is also known that when the Reverend Miles and his wife left London for Bingham in Nottinghamshire, Arabella went with them. It is therefore possible that John also ended up in Bingham, since it was there that a John Collett died during the first quarter of 1851.
	There would appear to be no other John Collett that this could apply to, so it is therefore a possibility that this was John Collett from South Wraxall. And if so, it then brings into question all of the following details below, written about him. As a further side issue, there was another John Collett, a labourer who was recorded at 6 West Row in the Chelsea St Luke area of London in 1851, who was 28 and born at Bradford in Wiltshire, less than two miles from South Wraxall. Living there with him was his wife Ellen Collett from Kent (formerly Ellen Page of Medway, Kent) who was 21 and a laundress. But for the moment he has been discounted.
	The following notes on the John Collett who said he was from Broughton Gifford, whose wife may have been Sarah Whitby, have been retained here until such time as it can be verified that this was NOT John Collett, the son of John and Charlotte Collett. Thanks go to Brian Townsend, who raised these issues during 2011.
	It may well have been in London where John met his future wife, since it would appear that he married Sarah from Harwick in Essex sometime before the census in 1851. By that time John and Sarah were living at Rose Cottage in Atworth Chapelry, near Melksham, where their two known children were born.
	However, it is the census return for 1851 that raises a big question regarding John Collett, since his place of birth was given as Broughton Gifford, rather than South Wraxall, although the villages are only two miles away from each other. In addition to that, the occupation of John Collett, age 31, was that of a master shoemaker, for which he employed two men and two boys. His wife was confirmed as Sarah Collett, age 27 and from Harwich.
	It is possible that Sarah was Sarah Whitby, because living with the couple was widow Sarah Whitby, who was 60 and from Harwich in Essex. There were two other females visiting the Collett household on that occasion, and they were sisters Emily Lewis, 14, and Laura Lewis 12, who were both born at Atworth.
	The couple’s two children were born at Atworth over the following six years, so in 1861 the census return that year recorded the family of four as, John Collett, who was 42, his wife Sarah Collett who was 37, their daughter Sarah M Collett, who was eight years old, and their son John S Collett who was three years old.
	It was during the next decade that John Collett died, following which the next census in 1871 gave more precise details of Sarah and her two children. The census return for the Bradford-on-Avon South-Eastern district listed widow and head of the household as Sarah Halstead Collett, age 48, her daughter as Sarah Mary Collett, who was 18, and her son as John Stanier (sic) Collett, who was 13.
	And again in the census of 1881 Sarah H Collett, age 59 and from Harwich in Essex, was a widow living at Main Street in Bradford-on-Avon. Also living on Main Street that same year was 81 years old John Collett (Ref. 31L8) and his son Thomas (below) aged 56.
	Living with Sarah was her unmarried son John S Collett, age 23, who was a carpenter who had been born at Atworth. By that time Sarah’s unmarried daughter Sarah Mary Collett was 27 and had already left the family home, and was living and working at Shaw Hill House on the Bath Road in Melksham.
	31N26	Sarah Mary Collett				Born in 1853
	31N27	John Stamin Collett				Born in 1857
31M19	Arabella Jane Collett was born at South Wraxall in 1822. It was as Arrabella Collett, age 19, that she was recorded in the 1841 census for “Wraxhall Chapelry, Bradford”, when she was living there with her older married brother William Batten Collett (above), following the deaths of both of their parents during the previous five years.
	It was also during the 1840s that the orphaned Collett children gave up living in South Wraxall, when they moved to London, either with or just after their married brother William moved there. It may have been before they left for London that they were comforted in their grief at the loss of their parents by the Reverend Miles. At the time of the census in 1841 the Rev. Miles was living in London where he was receiving training for the ministry. It may therefore have been him, who was instrumental in the families move to the capital city.
	What is certainly known is the Rev. Miles became a married man during the 1840s and that after that he left London when he took up a position at Bingham in Nottinghamshire. His move north may have also coincided with his offer of work to Arabella Collett, who eventually joined him and his wife there. Such was the impact the Rev Miles had on the young Collett family, that Arabella’s brother William Batten Collett, gave the Miles name to some of his children.
	By the time of the Bingham census in 1851 the Rev. Robert H W Miles, age 32, and his wife Mary Miles, age 27, had six children, and to help look after them they employed Arabella Collett age 28. Ten years later Arabella Collett was still being employed by the Reverend Miles when, according to the 1861 Census for Bingham, she was recorded as being Anabella J Collett, age 38. At that time the Miles family was living at a house in Church Street in Bingham, just to the east of Nottingham.
	It was five years later at Bingham, and during the first quarter of 1866, that Arabella Collett married George Oaks. At the time of the Bingham census in 1871 the couple were residing at a dwelling in the Market Place where George Oakes, age 54 and from Nottinghamshire, was a printer and an auctioneer, while his wife Arabella Oakes from Wraxhall in Wiltshire was 48. George Oaks was born in 1817 at Mansfield Woodhouse in Nottinghamshire, and at the time of the previous census in 1861 he was married to Ann by whom he had a daughter Jane who was born in 1844. Sadly for George his second married to Arabella only lasted for ten years, when he died at Derby during 1876, at the age of 59.
	Following the death of her husband, Arabella was living at Alma Cottage in Chilwell, to the west of Nottingham, in 1881 when she was recorded as being an annuitant. It was also while she was still living in Nottinghamshire that she died there in 1890, at the age of 68.
31M20	Edwin Collett was born at South Wraxall in December 1826, the son of John Collett and Charlotte Crook, but also died there on 27^th February 1828 when he was only fourteen months old. With the death of his parents in 1835 and 1837, and then the death of his sister Matilda in 1841, a family was erected in the churchyard of St James Church in South Wraxall, where they were all laid to rest.
31M21	Andrew William Collett was born at South Wraxall on 01.04.1829 and was baptised that same day at St James’ Church in South Wraxall, the son of John and Charlotte Collett nee Crook.
	Following the death of his father when he was only six years old, followed by the death of his mother when he was only eight years of age, Andrew William Collett was placed under the care of his older married brother William Collett (above) at his home in “Wraxhall Chapelry, Bradford” where he was 11 years old in the census of 1841.
	At the time of his marriage to Sarah Curnick, nine years later on 12.05.1850 at Walcot Parish Church in Bath, Andrew was a resident at 7 Guinea Lane in the Walcot district of the city. In addition to this, the marriage register also confirmed that his late father’s name as John Collett, and that he was a farmer.
	Sarah was the daughter of Robert and Hester Curnick and was baptised on 03.06.1827 at Winsley a village to the west of Bradford-on-Avon. In 1841 Sarah was living with her parents at Beanacre near Melksham, but at the time of the wedding her address was given as being 5 Myrtle Place in Walcot.
	Ten months after their wedding day the couple were living at Atworth in the Melksham registration area where they were recorded in the 1851 Census. Andrew, age 22, was a cabinet maker, and his wife Sarah was 24. Shortly after this the couple moved to live at Portsea in Portsmouth where their first child was born.
	It would appear that they were only at Portsea for a short while since their next two children were born while the family was living south of the Thames in London. However, their fourth and fifth children, Sarah and William, were born at Shepton Mallet and Clifton in Bristol respectively, before the family returned to London where the last two children were born.
	These changes of address in fairly quick succession perhaps indicate that it was Andrew’s occupation as a cabinet maker that was the reason for their mobility.
	At the time of the birth of their son John Collett in March 1856, Andrew and Sarah were living at 54 Hardwick Place in Plumstead near Woolwich, but five years later in 1861 the census confirmed that the family had moved again and on this occasion they were living at 20 Holywell Row in Shoreditch.
	Appendix Four, at the end of this family line includes another connection with Plumstead.
	The family at that time comprised Andrew, who was 32, his wife Sarah, and their children, Margaret Collett (who must have been Mary) was eight years old and born at Portsmouth, Thomas R Collett (who must have been John R) was five, Sarah E Collett was three, and William A Collett was under one year old.
	In addition to the changed names for the couple’s two oldest children, there was no daughter Charlotte. Instead there was a child by the name of Blanche who was the corresponding age of six years that Charlotte would have been. The differing name for their oldest son continued in subsequent censuses.
	Further changes of address took place during the 1860s and the 1870s. In 1871 they were living at 5 Pleasant Row in Shoreditch at which time the family comprised Andrew 42, Sarah 44, and their children Mary A Collett 18, John R Collett 15, William A Collett 11, Henry 5, and 2 years old George.
	It may be of interest to note that in 1881, 11 Pleasant Row in nearby Islington was the home of Andrew’s cousin Frederick William Collett (above) who was born at Shoreditch.
	By the twenty-second of April in 1877 the family was residing at George Street in Bethnal Green, but four years after that they had moved yet again, and were recorded in the 1881 Census as living at 31 Homer Road in the Homerton area of Hackney.
	The family at that time was made up of cabinet maker Andrew who was 52, Sarah, age 54, who was an upholstress born at Winsley in Wiltshire, and their sons William, age 20, who had been born at Bristol, Henry, age 15, who had been born within the City of London, and George who was eleven and who had been born at Shoreditch.
	The house at 31 Homer Road must have been a fairly large property since it was also home to two of Andrew’s and Sarah’s married children. The first of them was their son Thomas (previously John) and his wife Sarah, and the second was their eldest daughter Mary and her husband William Cottle, plus their three children.
	Sometime during the next ten to fifteen years Andrew and Sarah moved to 2 The Grove in Mare Street in Hackney where they were living at the time of Andrew’s death. He died on 28.10.1899 at the Homerton Infirmary (Hackney Wick Infirmary) in Hackney, the cause of death being recorded as senile decay, and acute pneumonia with which he had suffered during the previous eight days.
	Following the death of her husband, Sarah left The Grove and settled in her new home at 72 Chalgrove Road in Hackney where she continued to work as an upholsterer. However, Sarah was only a widow for just over two years when she died on 12.01.1902 at the Braxton Infirmary in Hackney. The cause of death was recorded as senile decay and bronchitis.
	31N28	Mary Arabella Collett				Born in 1852
	31N29	Charlotte Matilda Collett				Born in 1854
	31N30	John Robert Collett				Born on 21.03.1856
	31N31	Sarah Elizabeth Collett				Born on 23.04.1858
	31N32	William Andrew Collett				Born in 1860
	31N33	Henry John Collett				Born in 1865
	31N34	George Frederick Collett				Born in 1869
31M22	John Collett was born at Atworth in 1823, and was the eldest of two sons of John and Martha Collett. He married Ann in the late 1840s and they subsequently moved to Maesteg in South Wales where they were living in 1851. The only other person listed living with the couple on that occasion was John’s younger brother Thomas (below), although four years later Ann presented John with a daughter.
	No record of the family has been found in 1861 but, according to the census of 1871, they were still living at Maesteg near Bridgend. John Collett was aged 47 and his place of birth was confirmed as having been Atworth, while his wife was 48 and their daughter Mary Collett was 14 years old.
	Sometime during the next decade the family move to 2 Concrete Cottages in Cwmdu in Glamorgan where they were living in April 1881. John’s occupation was that of a carter and haulier at the age of 57 and Ann was 58. No place of birth was given for either of them in the 1881 Census, by which time their daughter had married and left the family home.
	31N35	Mary Ann Collett				Born in 1856
31M23	Thomas Collett was born at Atworth in 1825, the son of John and Martha Collett, although for his baptism at Atworth on 20.02.1825, his parents were named as John and Elizabeth Collett. At the time of the 1851 Census he was confirmed as having been born at Atworth and was 26, while living at Maesteg near Bridgend in South Wales with his brother John (above).
	Although no record of Thomas has so far been found in 1861, he was back living with his recently widowed father at Bradford-on-Avon by April 1871, when he was unmarried at 46.
	He never married and in 1881, when he was 56, he was still living with his eighty-one years old father John Collett at Main Street in Bradford-on-Avon. Under occupation, the census return described Thomas as being a former domestic servant.
31M24	Edwin Collett was born at Atworth where he was baptised on 10.08.1845, the son of John and Elizabeth Collett. By the time of the census in 1861, Edwin’s mother had died, and he was living with his father John Collett. At that time Edwin Collett of Atworth was 15, and the registration district in which he and his father were residing was Bradford-on-Avon South Eastern.
31N1	Edwin Collett was born at Monkton Farleigh where he was baptised on 10.08.1845, the eldest child of William and Ellen Collett. By the time of the census in 1851 Edwin was listed as being aged five years, and ten years later in 1861, he was 15, and had already left school and was working with his father as a carpenter. On both occasions he was living with his family in Monkton Farliegh, at Bubble Hill, then Rubble Heep, which may well be one and the same place.
	It seems likely that it was his occupation as a carpenter that resulted in him travelling a lot to find work and, at the time of the next census in 1871, the only Edwin Collett of the right age was working at Branborough in Doncaster, at the age of 25.
	Shortly after that it would appear that he returned to the west country and initially settled in Bath, where he married Mary Ann and where their first child was born. Within a year, the family of three had moved to Bristol, where their second child was born, before returning to Bath for the birth of their third child. It is possible that it was during those years in the late 1870s that Edwin suffered an accident that rendered him blind, which forced him to give up his work as a carpenter.
	According to the 1881 Census, Edwin and Mary Ann Collett were living at 7 Dover Terrace in the Walcot district of Bath. The census return on that occasion confirmed that Edwin, age 35, had been born at Monkton Farleigh and that he was blind and an out of work carpenter. His wife was 31 and her place of birth was confirmed as Bath. The couple’s three sons at that time were listed as William H Collett, age six years, who had been born at Bath, Edwin G Collett, age four, who was born at Bristol, and ten months old Reginald H Collett, who had also been born at Bath.
	With Edwin unable to earn a wage his wife Mary Ann was the income provider through her work as a milliner. The family also took in lodgers to supplement Mary’s income and living with them at that time was lodger and bird stuffer Julia Stower aged 24 from Box. The couple’s fourth son was born during the following year, while the family was still living at Walcot in Bath.
	Sometime after the birth of the child and before 1891, Edwin Collett died, leaving his widow and three of his four sons still living at Walcot by the time of the census that year. Mary Ann Collett was 41, William H Collett was 16, Edwin G Collett was 14, and Arthur T Collett was eight years old. By 1901 his wife Mary A Collett of Bath and aged 51 was a widow and was continuing her occupation as a milliner while still living in Bath. With her was her youngest son Arthur who was 18 and also born at Bath.
	Mary Ann Collett was again recorded as living at Bath in April 1911 when she was 61. And it was while she was living at 6 Highbury Terrace in Bath in October 1917 that she received the tragic news of the death of her youngest son Arthur who was killed at Ypres in the Great War.
	31O1	William H Collett				Born in 1874
	31O2	Edwin G Collett				Born in 1876
	31O3	Reginald H Collett				Born in 1880
	31O4	Arthur Thomas Collett				Born in 1882
31N2	Ann Collett was born at Monkton Farleigh in 1846, where she was baptised on 09.08.1846, the daughter of William and Ellen Collett. She was four years old in the Monkton Farleigh census of 1851 when she was one of four children living there at Bubble Hill with her parents. Ten years later, in the Monkton Farleigh census of 1851, she was still living there at Rubble Heep with her family when she was 14 years old.
	At the age of 35 she was still a spinster and was working as a domestic servant and house maid at Clifton in Bristol. The census of 1881 recorded her as Annie 35, living and working at the home of George R Woodward a magistrate, alderman and vinegar maker of 1 Cornwallis Grove in Clifton.
	It seems likely that she eventually married a Mr Mortimer as an Ann Mortimer born at Monkton Farleigh was aged 45 and 55 in the 1891 and 1901 Census records and was living at Trowbridge for the latter.
31N3	Whyatt Collett was born at Monkton Farleigh in 1847, the son of William and Ellen Collett. It was a Bubble Hill that he and his family were living in 1851, and at Rubble Heep in Monkton Farleigh in 1861 when he was 13 and still attending the village school. It was there also that he was living ten years later in 1871 when he was 23.
	It was around two years after that when Whyatt married Jane during, since according to the census in 1911 they were described as having been married for 37 years. By the time of the census in 1881 Whyatt, age 33 and a carpenter, like his father and eldest brother Edwin (above), was living at 8 Lambridge Street in the Walcot district of Bath. Living with him was his wife Jane, age 37, who was confirmed as having been born at Churchill in Somerset.
	Living with them were their sons Edgar aged six years who had been born at Atworth, Whyatt aged three years who had been born at Frankleigh in Bradford-on-Avon, and one year old Frederick who had been born at Walcot, plus their daughter Frances who was five years old and also born at Frankleigh.
	Three more children were added to the family over the next ten years and sometime between 1884 and 1888 the family left the Walcot district of Bath and by 1891 they were recorded as living at Twerton to the west of Bath. That year’s census recorded the family as Whyatt aged 43, Jane 47 and their children Edgar 16, Frances 15, Whyatt 12, Frederick, 9, Sidney 8, Albert 5, and Helen aged 4.
	At the turn of the century they were still living at Twerton where 53 years old Whyatt was employed as a carpenter and binder. Jane was then 57 and just five of her children were still living in the family home. These were Whyatt 23, Frederick 21, Sidney 18, Albert 16 and Helen aged 14.
	The Bath census of 1911 also confirmed that Whyatt and Jane were living at 106 West Avenue in Twerton. Carpenter and joiner Whyatt Collett of Monkton Farleigh was 63, while his wife Jane from Churchill near Weston-super-Mare in Somerset was 67. The only member of their family still living with them at that time was their son Whyatt.
	31O5	Edgar William Collett				Born in 1874
	31O6	Frances E Collett				Born in 1875
	31O7	Whyatt Collett				Born in 1877
	31O8	Frederick John Collett				Born in 1879
	31O9	Sidney James Collett				Born in 1883
	31O10	Albert E Collett				Born in 1885
	31O11	Helen Collett				Born in 1887
31N4	William Collett was born at Monkton Farleigh in 1848, where he was living with his family at Bubble Hill in 1851 and Rubble Heep in 1861, at the age of two and 12. Just after he was twenty years of age he married Harriet who was eight older than William, she having been born in London in 1840. Although no picture of William has been unearthed to date, the smart young lady shown on the right is believed to be his wife Harriet ‘Hetty’ Collett, the photograph possibly being taken on her wedding day. Olive, the eldest daughter of Florence Collett (Ref. 31P10) who was born in 1922, remembers visiting Great Aunt Hetty Collett around 1930 when she was ninety years old.
	The early married years for the couple were spent in London, initially at Putney where their first child was born, and later at Hoxton just north of Shoreditch. Like many of the Collett men in this family line, William was a carpenter and joiner and it was his work that then took him to Birmingham where the couple’s third child was born.
	By 1881 William and his family had left Birmingham and were then living at 84 Warrington Road in Prescot near St Helens in Lancashire. He was 33 and was working as a joiner. His wife Harriet was 40 and their three children were Annie 10, Helen 8 and Minnie 7.
	Although no record of the family has so far been located in 1891, William and Harriet left Prescot sometime during the twenty years after 1881 and had moved to the Manchester area. This move, like those before, may have been as a result of William securing new work.
	By the end of the century all of the couple’s three daughters were married and had moved out of the family home leaving their parents living alone at Salford in Manchester. In the 1901 Census for Salford William was 52 and a timber joiner from Monkton Farleigh while his wife Harriet was 60 and of Islington in London.
	Within the next ten years William’s wife passed away, and so by 1911 he was a widower aged 62 who was still living in Lancashire, but in the Blackburn registration district. William’s place of birth was once again confirmed as Monkton Farleigh in Wiltshire.
	31O12	Annie Collett				Born in 1870 at Putney, London
	31O13	Helen Collett				Born in 1872 at Hoxton, London
	31O14	Minnie Collett				Born in 1873 at Birmingham
31N5	Mary Jane Collett was born at Monkton Farleigh in 1851 but after the thirtieth of March. She was not recorded living with her family at Rubble Heep in Monkton Farleigh at the time of the census in 1861, and therefore she may have suffered an infant death.
31N6	Thomas Collett was born at Monkton Farleigh in 1853 and was eight years old in the April census of 1861, when he and his family were living at Rubble Heep in the village. By the time of the next census in 1871 Thomas was no longer living with his family, and after a further ten years he was listed in the census of 1881 as being a bachelor at the age of 27. The census record also confirmed that his place of birth had been Monkton Farleigh.
	On that occasion in his life Thomas working as a butler in the service of Justice of the Peace for Wiltshire Horatio N Goddard at his home at The Manor, Clyffe Pypard south of Wootton Bassett. Seven other servants were employed at the house, supporting Horatio and his wife, their daughter and her husband, and their two grandchildren children.
	By the turn of the century Thomas was 47 and was living in Bristol where he was no longer in employed in domestic service, but was recorded as being an ex-butler. His place of birth at that time was simply stated as being Bradford-on-Avon.
31N7	Helen Collett was born at Monkton Farleigh in 1856 and was four years old at the time of the 1861 Census when she was living with her family at Rubble Heep, while attending the village school in Monkton Farleigh. It was as Ellen Collett, age 15, that she was recorded with her parents in the next census for Monkton Farleigh in 1871. Thereafter there is no record of her as Helen or Ellen Collett, so it must be assumed that she was married by 1881.
31N8	George Collett was born at Monkton Farleigh in 1858 and was three years old and living at Rubble Heep in Monkton Farleigh with his family in 1861. He was 12 years old ten years late in 1871, when still living there, and was a bachelor at the age of 22 in 1881. On that occasion George was still living with his parents William and Helen Collett at Bubble Heap in Monkton Farleigh, when his occupation was that of a carpenter like his father and his older brothers Edwin, Whyatt and William (above).
31N9	Mary Collett was born at Monkton Farleigh in 1859 and was one year old at the time of census in 1861 when she was recorded as May Collett, the youngest child of Edwin Collett and his wife Helen. It seem very likely that she was named in honour of her older sister who died when she was still very young.
	She was correctly recorded as Mary Collett, age ten years, in 1871 when she and her family were still living at Monkton Farleigh. Ten years after that, Mary Collett of Monkton Farleigh was curiously recorded as being 25 years old, when she was still single and was employed as a parlour maid by the Rector of Monkton Farleigh Thomas H Tooke. It is assumed that after that time she became a married lady.
31N10	HORACE EDWIN COLLETT was born at Lambeth on 20.01.1848. By the time he was 23 Horace was still a bachelor and was still living with his family at Hackney in April 1871. Some time thereafter he emigrated to New Zealand.
	When he arrived in New Zealand has not been determined but it was there on 04.09.1882 that he married Alice Marguerite Radford. The wedding took place at a private residence in Marlboroughtown which today is Spring Creek in the Marlborough region of New Zealand’s south island.
	Alice had been born on 21.11.1860 at Shoreditch and was the daughter of Samuel Radford and his wife Sarah Anne Helena Benham. How or when she sailed to New Zealand has also not been discovered, but there is a possibility that she met Horace during the sea voyage.
	At the time of the birth of the couple’s second son at Blenheim within the Marlborough district, the child’s birth record stated that his father Horace Collett was from Tauranga on the Bay of Plenty to the south of Auckland on the north island of New Zealand.
	And certainly Horace was living on the north island of New Zealand when he died on 20.12.1902 at Auckland and was buried the following day at Purewa Cemetery at Meadowbank in Auckland.
	His widow Alice survived him by almost thirty years when she later died at Epsom (near Meadowbank) in Auckland on 18.08.1931. Alice was buried with Horace at Purewa Cemetery in Meadowbank the day after she had died.
	31O15		Horace Claude Collett					Born in 1883
	31O16		Clive Franklyn Collett					Born in 1887
	31O17		Norman Edwin Collett					Born in 1888
	31O18		Spencer Huia Collett					Born in 1892
31N11	Mary Louise Collett was born at Lambeth on 15.03.1849. She was a few months short of her thirteenth birthday when she died on 01.11.1861 at Hackney and was buried at Abney Park Cemetery on 06.11.1861.
31N12	William Collett was born at Leytonstone on 30.09.1850 and was aged 20 in 1871 when he was still living with his parents. Having seen his older brother Horace (above) sail off to a new life in New Zealand, it seems likely that this may have influenced him to emigrate to South Africa.
	Once in South Africa William met and later married Anna Susanna Basson who was born at Uitenhage in South Africa in 1860. It is likely that the couple were married just after 1880 although not record of this has so far been found.
	Their marriage produced five children for William and Anna and this may have happened while they were living at Port Elizabeth before William died there at the age of fifty-three.
	He died at Moor Park in Port Elizabeth in South Africa on 21.11.1902, while Anna lived on at Port Elizabeth for another forty-three years before she died on 17.07.1945 at Port Elizabeth on the Cape of Good Hope.
	31O19		William Edwin Collett					Born circa 1884
	31O20		Constance Louise Beatrice Collett					Born circa 1886 at Port Elizabeth
	31O21		Horace Owen Collett					Born circa 1888
	31O22		Reginald Harry Collett					Born circa 1890
	31O23		Neville Collett					Born circa 1892 at Port Elizabeth
31N13	Clara Collett was born at Leytonstone on 03.04.1852 but it would appear that she too, like her sister Mary (above), also suffered a childhood death as no further record of her has ever been found. Certainly she was not listed with her family at Hackney in 1871.
31N14	Julia Collett was born at Leytonstone on 30.12.1853 and she was aged 17 at the time of the Hackney census of 1871 when she was still living with her family.
	She later married Henry Astill Geake on 13.04.1882 at All Hallows Church in Tottenham. Henry was born at Mayfair in 1855 and both of their children were born at Southwark.