PART THIRTY-SIX

The Barwick-in-Elmet (Leeds) Line

Updated September 2010

All Saints Church at Barwick-in-Elmet (pronounced Bar-rick)

lies within the Church of England Diocese of Ripon & Leeds.

The August 2010 update was a radical change to this family line, resulting from the

removal of the complete family line from Richard Collett (Ref. 36L2) of Barwick-in-Elmet,

whose details are now contained in Part 55 – The Wakefield & Leeds Line.

During this process, a number of other families were displaced, and these can now

be found in the new Appendix 5 at the end of this file, until such time as they

can be correctly reconnected to a branch of this Collett family.

This is the family line of Mark Collett (Ref. 36T1), the line denoted by the names in capitals,

and Joyce Collett (Ref. 36S14) whose line is denoted by the names underlined,

And it was Mark who was instrumental in contact being made with the

publisher of the magazine The Barwicker which included two articles

on the Collett blacksmiths of Barwick-in-Elmet, the information from which

has now been incorporate into this family line as Appendices 2 to 4

During an earlier update there was one Collett family with a Barwick connection

that remained unresolved due to the apparent early death of the male

head of the household. Therefore, for completeness, the details of his wife

and his two known daughters are included in Appendix 1

36I1	RALPH COLLETT was born around 1610, and very likely at Featherstone near Pontefract. It was on 13.02.1631 that, with a licence from the Court, Ralph married Anne Vevers at Barwick-in-Elmet, which was presumably where Anne was living at that time, and where she may have been born.
	After they were married the couple appear to have lived the rest of their lives together at Barwick, where their seven known children were born, and where Ralph and Anne both died.
	Anne Collett nee Vevers died at Barwick in 1663, and was followed by Ralph who died there seven years later in 1670.
	The Vevers family of Scholes and Potterton originally came from Evre (Iver in Buckinghamshire) in the 14^th Century. They were yeoman farmers and tenants of the lord of the manor and landowners in the parish of Barwick-in-Elmet, although very secondary to the Gascoigne family who owned the Manor and after whom the current village inn is named ‘The Gascoine Arms’.
	William Vevers lived at Scholes Hall, but also owned land in Morwick and Potterton. His cousin Stephen Vevers owned Morwick Hall. Although the male line of this branch died out in 1767, the eldest son, and to a lesser extent the second son, was always married off as well as possible. The daughters and younger sons mostly married within the local area, although the head of the house tended to try and check whether their choice of spouse was worthy of the family
	36J1	William Collett		Born in 1632
	36J2	RALPH COLLETT		Born in 1634
	36J3	Edith Collett		Born in 1637
	36J4	Robert Collett		Born in 1639
	36J5	Mary Collett		Born in 1643
	36J6	Richard Collett		Born in 1646
	36J7	Jane Collett		Born in 1650
36J1	William Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet around 1632. It was also there that he was baptised at All Saints Church on 11.11.1632, the eldest son of Ralph Collett and Anne Vevers. Sadly, he died during the following year.
36J2	RALPH COLLETT was around 1634 at Barwick-in-Elmet where he was baptised at All Saints Church on 07.05.1635, the second son of Ralph Collett and Anne Vevers.
	He later married Elizabeth with whom he had two known sons before he died, when the youngest child was only two years old. Ralph Collett died at Barwick in 1670, while his wife Elizabeth survived him by over thirty years, when she died at Barwick in 1701.
	36K1	Ralph Collett		Born in 1664
	36K2	WILLIAM COLLETT		Born in 1668
36J3	Edith Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1637 and was baptised there at All Saints Church on 05.11.1637, the eldest daughter and third child of Ralph Collett and Anne Vevers. She was around twenty years of age when she married James Hopwood at Barwick on 28.05.1657.
	Over the next twelve years Edith presented James with five children, and all of them born while the family was still living at Barwick. However, in each case the baptism record at All Saints Church in Barwick gave only the father’s name, which was David Hopwood.
	The five children of David Hopwood were Mary Hopwood (baptised 14.03.1662), Jennet Hopwood (baptised 07.08.1664), Christopher Hopwood (baptised 11.03.1666), Isabell Hopwood (baptised 08.03.1668) and Elizabeth Hopwood (baptised 13.02.1670).
36J4	Robert Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1639. He was baptised at All Saints Church on 02.04.1640, the son of Ralph Collett and Anne Vevers. Robert was twenty-one when he married Jennet Taylor at Barwick on 18.11.1661, Jennet having been baptised there on 02.10.1636.
	Their marriage produced eight children for the couple between 1662 and 1678, and all of them were born while the family was living in Barwick. The youngest of their eight children was only eighteen years old when both his parents died during the same month of the same year.
	Tragically Robert Collett was 57 and his wife Jennet was 60 when they died during November 1696. During his life Robert Collett was a churchwarden in 1673 and was an overseer of the poor in 1673 and 1689.
	36K3	Richard Collett		Born in 1663
	36K4	Robert Collett		Born in 1665
	36K5	William Collett		Born in 1667
	36K6	John Collett		Born in 1669
	36K7	Anne Collett		Born in 1671
	36K8	Mary Collett		Born in 1673
	36K9	Matthew Collett		Born in 1676
	36K10	Thomas Collett		Born in 1678
36J5	Mary Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1643, the daughter of Ralph and Anne Collett. All that is known about Mary is that she married John Taylor on 06.11.1666 at All Saints Church in Barwick, and they had four children who were born while Mary and John were still living at Barwick.
	And they were John Taylor (baptised 27.08.1667), Thomas Taylor (baptised 16.11.1671), William Taylor (baptised 15.10.1673), and Ann Taylor (baptised 23.05.1677).
36J6	Richard Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1646, the youngest son of Ralph Collett and Anne Vevers. Later in his life Richard married Margaret, and he and his wife had three children.
	Margaret Collett died at Weeton in September 1705, and was followed four years later by her husband Richard Collett who died at Weeton in 1709, and who was buried at All Saints Church In Harewood on 23.11.1709.
	36K11	Richard Collett		Born in 1667
	36K12	Ann Collett		Born in 1670
	36K13	Ralph Collett		Born in 1673
36J7	Jane Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1650, the youngest child of Ralph Collett and Anne Vevers. She was born during the time of the English Republic established between 1649 and 1653 which followed the execution of King Charles I on 30^th January 1649, this being referred to as ‘The Commonwealth Period’
	Jane Collett was twenty-three when she married David Tuke at Barwick on 06.08.1673.
36K1	Ralph Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet around 1664 and was the eldest son of Ralph and Elizabeth Collett. He was baptised at Barwick on 09.02.1665, and it was also at Barwick that Ralph married Hannah Breatcliffe on 17.11.1686.
	Their marriage resulted in the birth of four known children, and they were all born at Barwick where they were also baptised, and where two of them are known to have died while still very young.
	36L1	Jane Collett		Born in 1689
	36L2	Mary Collett		Born in 1691
	36L3	John Collett		Born in 1693
	36L4	Matthew Collett		Born in 1695
36K2	WILLIAM COLLETT was born at Barwick-in-Elmet around 1668, and it was there also that he was baptised on 03.06.1668, the son of Ralph and Elizabeth Collett. William later married Margaret Berry of Featherstone Moor, and this took place at Featherstone on 07.02.1696.
	Once married the couple settled in Barwick-in-Elmet where eight of their nine children were born and baptised. The last child added to the family was born after they had left Barwick and had moved to Leeds. It was also at Leeds that William Collett around thirty years later in 1748.
	The Will of William Collett was made on 7^th May 1743 and proved on 17^th June 1749. In this there is reference to his four surviving sons Thomas, Richard, Benjamin, and Arthur, and his three surviving daughters Margaret Collett, Sarah Hebden and Elizabeth Pitt (see Will in Legal Documents).
	It is also from his Will that we learn that William Collett of Leeds was a schoolmaster. Other records for Barwick confirm that he was a schoolmaster and churchwarden in the village in 1692, and that in 1699 and 1700 he was a constable.
	36L5	Sarah Collett		Born in 1697
	36L6	Elizabeth Collett		Born in 1698
	36L7	Margaret Collett		Born in 1700
	36L8	Elizabeth Collett		Born in 1704
	36L9	Thomas Collett		Born in 1707
	36L10	Richard Collett		Born in 1710
	36L11	Benjamin Collett		Born in 1712
	36L12	Joseph Collett		Born in 1715
	36L13	Arthur Collett		Born in 1719
36K3	Richard Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1663, where he was baptised on 21.02.1664, the eldest son of Robert Collett and Jennet Taylor.
36K4	Robert Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet towards the end of in 1665, and was baptised at All Saints Church in Barwick on 09.01.1666, the son of Robert and Jennet Collett.
36K5	William Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1667, the third son of Robert Collett and Jennet Taylor. William was only around eighteen years old when he married Mary Batley on 19.10.1685 at Whitkirk, midway between Leeds and Garforth.
	Following their wedding day, the couple returned to William’s place of birth, where they set up home and where all of their five children were born.
	36L14	Mary Collett		Born in 1691
	36L15	Jane Collett		Born in 1693
	36L16	William Collett		Born in 1695
	36L17	Margaret Collett		Born in 1699
	36L18	John Collett		Born in 1701
36K6	John Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1669, and was baptised at All Saints Church in the village on 17.12.1669, the son of Robert Collett and Jennet Taylor.
36K7	Anne Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1671, the eldest daughter Robert Collett and Jennet Taylor.
36K8	Mary Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1673, and it was there at All Saints Church that she was baptised on 23.02.1674, the youngest daughter of Robert Collett and Jennet Taylor.
36K9	Matthew Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1676, where he was baptised on 06.09.1676, the son of Robert Collett who died in 1670.
36K10	Thomas Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1678, the youngest child of Robert Collett and Jennet Taylor. Thomas was baptised at All Saints Church in Barwick on 07.08.1678. Thomas can have hardly known his father, since he died when Thomas was only two years old.
36K11	Richard Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1667 where he was baptised on 06.02.1668, the eldest of three known children of Richard Collett.
	In the early 1690s Richard married Hannah with whom he had eight children. During his life he was known as Richard Collitt of Weeton, which was a hamlet midway between Harrogate to the north and Leeds to the south, lying within the parish of Harewood.
	The continuation of this family line is provided in Part 27 – The Yorkshire Line
36K12	Ann Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1670 and was baptised there at All Saints Church on 26.05.1670, the only known daughter of Richard Collett. Anne was 72 years old when she died at Healthwaite Hill in Weeton in September 1743.
36K13	Ralph Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1673 the youngest of the three known children of Richard Collett. Ralph was baptised at All Saints Church in Barwick on 07.05.1673, and it was there also, that he married Anne Glover on 03.08.1715.
	However, there is a record of a Ralph Collett who died at Weeton in November 1689. Further work therefore needs to be undertaken to resolve if it was this Ralph Collett who died in 1689 or married in 1715.
36L1	Jane Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1689, the eldest of the four children of Ralph Collett and Hannah Breatcliffe. It was at All Saints Church in Barwick that Jane Collett was baptised on 20.03.1689.
36L2	Mary Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1691, where she was baptised on 25.05.1691, the daughter of Ralph and Hannah Collett.
36L3	John Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1693, the eldest of two sons of Ralph Collett and Hannah Breatcliffe. John was baptised at All Saints Church on 17.05.1693, but sadly he died when he was around three years old.
36L4	Matthew Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1695, the youngest of the four children of Ralph and Hannah Collett. He was baptised on 20.08.1695, but died just one year after his brother John (above), when he passed away in 1697.
36L5	Sarah Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1697, the eldest child of William Collett of Barwick and Margaret Berry of Featherstone. When she was twenty years old Sarah and her family left Barwick and moved to live in Leeds.
	And it was in Leeds, at the age of twenty-four, that Sarah Collett married Thomas Hebden on 11.04.1721. Twenty-seven years later, and following the death of her father in 1748, Sarah was named as a beneficiary under the terms of his Will as follows “Unto my daughter Sarah, the wife of Thomas Hebden of Leeds, butcher, I give the sum of Five Pounds”.
36L6	Elizabeth Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1698 where she was baptised on 18.04.1698. It has been assumed that, with another Elizabeth being added to the family in 1704, that this second daughter of William and Margaret died sometime between 1700 and 1704.
36L7	Margaret Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1700 and was baptised there at All Saints Church on 28.08.1700. When she was nearly seventeen years old her family moved to Leeds, taking Margaret and her other surviving siblings with them.
	It would appear that Margaret never married, since in the 1743 Will of her father William Collett, which was proved in 1749, she was named as a beneficiary in the following way. “Unto my daughter Margaret Collett, servant to Sir Basil Dixwell, I give the sum of Five Pounds”.
	Her employer, Sir Basil Dixwell, was the Second Baronet of Broome House in Kent, and he died during 1750, so what became of Margaret after his death is not known, unless she was retained by Sir Basil’s sister Elizabeth Oxenden (see historical note below).
	The Baronetcy of Dixwell of Broome House, Kent was created on 19^th June 1660 for Basil Dixwell the great nephew and heir of Sir Basil Dixwell of Tirlington, from whom he inherited the Broome House estate.
	His son, the aforementioned Sir Basil Dixwell, the Second Baronet, was Governor of Dover Castle and Member of Parliament for Dover from 1689 to 1690, and from 1699 to 1700. The Broome House estate then passed to his sister Elizabeth Oxenden.
36L8	Elizabeth Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1704 and was very likely named in memory of her older sister who had just recently died. It was at All Saints Church in Barwick that Elizabeth Collett was baptised on 14.04.1705.
	Around 1717 her parents took the family to live in Leeds, and it was there, seven years later when Elizabeth was twenty, that she married John Pitt on 28.05.1724. All of the seven children were born while Elizabeth and John were living in Leeds.
	The seven children were Margaret Pitt (born 17.03.1725; bapt 22.03.1725), Joseph Pitt (born 1727; died 11.02.1730), Elizabeth Pitt (born 15.03.1729; bapt 31.03.1729), Benjamin Pitt (born 05.02.1730; bapt 11.02.1730), John Pitt (born 03.03.1733; bapt 22.03.1733), William Pitt (born 02.05.1736; bap 20.05.1736), and Thomas Pitt (born 09.09.1738; bapt 26.09.1738).
	Elizabeth’s husband, John Pitt, died when the couple’s youngest child was only eighteen months old, when he passed away at Leeds on 05.03.1740. As a result of this, Elizabeth was referred to in her father’s Will of 1743 as “my daughter Elizabeth Pitt, widow” who received Eight Pounds and her father’s bed and all the rest of his household goods.
36L9	Thomas Collett was the son of William Collett of Barwick-in-Elmet and Margaret Berry of Featherstone Moor. He was born at Barwick-in-Elmet, perhaps in 1707, where he was baptised on 22.08.1707. When he was around ten years old his parents left Barwick when they went to live in Leeds, presumably for work reasons.
	However, unlike most of his siblings, Thomas appears to have returned to Barwick after a few years in Leeds. As an adult he married Elizabeth Watkinson at Barwick on 23.02.1730 and they subsequently had six children of their own, all of whom were also baptised at Barwick.
	At the time of the writing of his father’s Will in 1743, William Collett referred to his eldest son as ‘Thomas Collett of Barwick-in-Elmet, butcher’ who received Five Pounds. This was also the previously known occupation of Thomas’s youngest son Benjamin Collett of Barwick, so very likely handed down father to son.
	In addition to the aforementioned Five Pounds left to him by his father, a later clause in his Will bequeathed Thomas Collett and his brother Richard Collett (below) a further Three Pounds each. Thomas Collett died at Barwick-in-Elmet on 27.01.1792.
	A headstone in the churchyard of All Saints Church marks his grave, with the inscription “Sacred to the Memory of Thomas Collett of this town, who died the 27^th day of January 1792, aged 85 years. Also of his son Thomas Collett of Garforth, who died the 13^th day of January 1794 aged 57. This stone was erected by William Collett of Garforth, the son of the last named T Collett, the 4^th day of March 1817”.
	36M1	William Collett		Baptised on 29.12.1734
	36M2	Thomas Collett		Baptised on 16.05.1736
	36M3	James Collett		Baptised on 25.08.1740
	36M4	Betty Collett		Baptised on 28.04.1745
	36M5	Sarah Collett		Baptised on 28.04.1745
	36M6	BENJAMIN COLLETT		Baptised on 07.06.1749
36L10	Richard Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1710, where he was baptised on 01.05.1710. He married Mary Healey of Wakefield on 03.06.1734 at All Saints Church in Wakefield, where the couple settled and where all of their nine children were born and baptised.
	For the continuation of this family line see Part 55 – The Wakefield & Leeds Line
36L11	Benjamin Collett was born in 1712 at Barwick-in-Elmet where he was baptised on 03.09.1712, the son of William and Margaret Collett. At the time of writing his Will in 1743, Benjamin’s father referred to his son Benjamin Collett as “of the Excise Office in London” for which he received Five Pounds.
36L12	Joseph Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1715 the son William Collett and Margaret Berry, who was baptised at All Saints Church in Barwick on 03.08.1715. Sadly he only survived for a short while, when he died later that same year.
36L13	Arthur Collett was born at Leeds on 13.02.1719 and was baptised at St Peters Church in Leeds on one month later on 12.03.1719, the youngest child of William Collett of Barwick-in-Elmet and Margaret Berry of Featherstone.
	Arthur’s father died when he was twenty-nine years old, and his Will made in 1743 and proved in 1749, indicates that Arthur remained in Leeds when his family returned to Barwick-in-Elmet. Being the youngest son, Arthur Collett of Leeds, only received Four Pounds under the terms of the Will.
36L14	Mary Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1691, the eldest child of William Collett and Mary Batley who was baptised at All Saints Church in Barwick on 25.10.1691.
36L15	Jane Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1693 where she was baptised on 23.02.1693, the daughter of William Collett and Mary Batley.
36L16	William Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1695, and was baptised there on 03.07.1695, the eldest of two sons of William Collett and Mary Batley.
36L17	Margaret Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet on 08.11.1699, the youngest daughter of William Collett and Mary Batley. She was baptised at All Saints Church in Barwick on 28.08.1700 when the IGI records the event using the names ‘Margareta Collet the daughter of Gulielme Collet’.
36L18	John Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1701, the youngest of the five children of William Collett and Mary Batley. It was at All Saints Church in Barwick that ‘Johannes Collet’ was baptised on 13.01.1703, the son of ‘Gulielme Collet’, according to the IGI.
36M2	Thomas Collett, the son of Thomas Collett and Elizabeth Watkinson died at Garforth, south of Barwick, on 13.01.1794 at the age of 57. This places his date of birth around 1736, when an unnamed child of Thomas and Elizabeth Collett was baptised at Barwick-in-Elmet on 16.05.1736. The actual baptism record indicated that the child was female, which must have been made in error.
	Thomas Collett (junior) was buried at All Saints Church in Barwick in the same grave used for his father Thomas Collett of Barwick, who was a butcher in the village, who died there exactly two years earlier in January 1792.
	The headstone that marks the joint grave was erected on 4^th March 1817 by William Collett of Garforth, the son of Thomas Collett (junior). This provides the confirmation that Thomas Collett (junior) was married, and therefore there may have been other children besides his son William.
	The double reference to the town of Garforth may indicate that it was there that the Collett family lived. However, included in Appendix 5 of this file there was previously an unplaced Thomas Collett of Barwick who was married to Ann Wilson. This would make Thomas around 36 years old.
	This couple was married at Aberford near Garforth on 14.04.1772, and for the first few years of their married life they were living at Garforth where their son, the aforementioned William Collett of Garforth, was born and where he was baptised. Other children may have followed.
	Judging by the later birth of their daughter, the family had moved to Barwick by the time she was born, and it was there, just seven years later that Thomas Collett of Garforth died and was buried at the age of 57.
	In addition to all of this, it seems highly likely that Ann Wilson was the second wife of Thomas Collett since, on 21.02.1757 when he would have been nearly twenty-one, Thomas Collett married Agnes Thompson at Barwick-in-Elmet. So far no details have been found of any children from this marriage.
	36N1	William Collett		Born on 04.11.1775 at Garforth
	36N2	Sarah Collett		Born on 12.03.1787 at Barwick
36M6	BENJAMIN COLLETT was baptised at Barwick-in-Elmet on 07.06.1749, the son of Thomas Collett. Benjamin married Elizabeth Knapton at Barwick on 02.05.1768 and the couple were named as the parents of their sons Thomas Collett in 1768 and John Collett in 1777.
	It was at the time of the registration of the birth of their son William Collett at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1771 that Benjamin was confirmed as being a butcher.
	In addition to the couple’s four confirmed children listed below, it would be realistic to assume that there were other children born to Benjamin and Elizabeth and that one of these may have been Richard Collett who originally started this line when it was first compiled.
	However, no further information about Benjamin or his wife Elizabeth, or any other children is available at this time, although it is hoped that this might be resolved in the future.
	36N3	Thomas Collett		Born before September 1768
	36N4	William Collett		Born before November 1771
	36N5	Elizabeth Collett		Baptised on 21.08.1774 at Barwick
	36N6	John Collett		Born on 10.06.1777
	36N7	Sarah Collett		Born on 31.12.1784
36N1	William Collett was born on 04.11.1775 at Garforth, two miles to the south of Barwick-in-Elmet, and just a short distance from Aberford where his parents were married just over two years earlier. William was baptised at Garforth on 07.11.1775, the son of Thomas Collett and Ann Wilson.
	Not a great deal is currently known about William, except that on 4^th March 1817 he erected the headstone on the combined grave of his father Thomas Collett (junior) and his grandfather Thomas Collett (senior) in the churchyard of All Saints Church in Barwick-in-Elmet.
36N3	Thomas Collett was born around 1768 and was baptised at Barwick-in-Elmet on 09.09.1768, the son of Benjamin and Elizabeth Collett. By the time of the first census in June 1841 Thomas was living at Barwick-in-Elmet with his wife Martha. That year’s census gave a rounded age of 70 for, Thomas with his wife being slightly older at 75.
	Their son Thomas was baptised at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1799 when the records confirmed the child’s parents were Thomas and Martha Collett. Nearly ten years later the couple’s other son listed below was also born and baptised at Barwick. It seems highly likely that other children were born into the family during the intervening years.
	3601	Elizabeth Collett		Born on 29.01.1797
	3602	Thomas Collett		Born before September 1799
	3603	William Collett		Born on 22.03.1809
36N4	William Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1771 and it was there that he was baptised on 03.11.1771, the son of butcher Benjamin Collett and his wife Elizabeth.
	William did not follow into the trade of his father instead he became a blacksmith and was the first of many in the family. His occupation as a blacksmith was first confirmed in 1796 when he married Frances Pool who was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1761.
	After they were married William and Frances lived in Potterton Lane where their two sons were born. Frances died in 1846 at the age of 84 and William followed nine years later when he died at Barwick in 1855 aged 83. However no record of him has been found in the 1851 Census.
	In June 1841 William was aged 65 and living with him and his wife Frances was his grandson John Collett, the oldest son of William Collett and Elizabeth Dalby. Even though the house address was not stated in the census, it is thought their home was at what was later 70 Main Street close to where their son William was living at what was later 50 Main Street.
	William was affectionately referred to as William Collett the First (blacksmith of Barwick-in-Elmet) and was followed in the family business by his son William Collett (the Second), his grandson John Collett, and then by his great grandson William Richardson Collett (the Third).
	36O4	John Collett		Born on 12.12.1797
	36O5	William Collett		Born on 05.11.1799
36N6	John Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet on 10.06.1777 and was baptised there on 13.07.1777, the son of Benjamin Collett and Elizabeth Knapton.
36N7	Sarah Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet on 31.12.1784, and it was there also that she was baptised 23.01.1785, when she was confirmed as the daughter of Benjamin Collett and Elizabeth Knapton.
3601	Elizabeth Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet on 29.01.1797, and less than two months later was baptised there on 05.03.1797, the daughter of Thomas and Martha Collett.
36O2	Thomas Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1799, where he was baptised on 24.09.1799, the son of Thomas and Martha Collett. At some time in his life, possibly during the mid to late 1820s, he married Elizabeth. The couple were listed with a rounded age of 40 in June 1841 and their children at that time were Thomas 10, Elizabeth 7, and George who was under one year old.
	From this it may be safe to assume that the couple’s elder son George had died before reaching ten years of age.
	In 1851 Thomas was aged 52 and was living in the Barwick area at that time and by 1861 he was 61 and his wife Elizabeth was 67. Ten years later they were 71 and 77 respectively although Thomas’ wife was then referred to as Betty Collett.
	According to the census of 1881 agricultural labourer Thomas Collett, who was aged 81 and had been born at Barwick, was married to Elizabeth who was aged 87 and from Brotherton just north of Pontefract.
	At that time the couple were living at Potterton Lane in Barwick-in-Elmet.
	36P1	George Collett		Born in 1827
	36P2	Thomas Collett		Born in 1830
	36P3	Elizabeth Collett		Born in 1833 at Barwick-in-Elmet
	36P4	George Collett		Born in 1840 at Barwick-in-Elmet
36O3	William Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet on 22.03.1809, and was baptised there on 07.05.1809, the son of Thomas and Martha Collett. Sometime around 1830 he married Sarah and together they appeared in the 1841 Census for Leeds, both aged 30 years. Listed with them were their four daughters aged 8, 5, 2 and under one year old respectively, the first two girls having been baptised at St Peter’s Church in Leeds.
	In 1851 William was aged 39 and was living in the Tadcaster & Appleton Roebuck district which included Barwick-in-Elmet although there appears to be no trace of his wife.
	No further record of the family has been located in either the 1861 or 1871 census records.
	However, by 1881 William, a former agricultural labourer, was a pauper and a widower aged 70 who was living at the Tadcaster Union in West Tadcaster about five miles north-east of Barwick.
	36P5	Maria Collett		Born in 1832
	36P6	Sarah Ann Collett		Born in 1835
	36P7	Emma Collett		Born in 1838 at Barwick-in-Elmet
	36P8	Ellen Collett		Born in June 1840 at Barwick
36O4	John Collett was born at the family home in Potterton Lane in Barwick-in-Elmet on 12.12.1797, and was baptised in the village on 07.01.1798. He was the eldest son of blacksmith William Collett and Frances Pool but it seems likely that he may not have survived beyond childhood as it was his younger brother that is known to have taken over the family blacksmith business.
36O5	William Collett was born at the family home in Potterton Lane in Barwick-in-Elmet on 05.11.1799, and was baptised at Barwick on 01.12.1799. He was the son of blacksmith William Collett and Frances Pool. He married Elizabeth Dalby of Barwick-in-Elmet at the parish church there on 01.01.1821 and their first child was born in November that same year, but tragically did not survive and died in 1823.
	In addition to this child William and Elizabeth are known to have had eight further children and all of them were born and baptised at Barwick-in-Elmet.
	By 1841 the family was complete and comprised parents William and Elizabeth both aged 40 and living at Barwick-in-Elmet with six of their children. These were sons George aged 15, Joseph aged 13, Benjamin aged 5 and Thomas aged 2, and daughters Ann aged 11 and Emma aged 9.
	The couple’s eldest son John Collett was living in Barwick-in-Elmet at that time but with his grandfather William Collett perhaps because of overcrowding in his own home. Also missing from the family was their son William who was born in 1834 and who had died shortly after.
	Although this census, being the first national census, was rather vague in the exact location of dwellings, it is believed that the family at this time were living at 50 Main Street or very close thereto. William’s parents were also believed to be living just a few doors away at No 70.
	Just over two months after the census day in 1841, William’s wife Elizabeth died in the August of that year leaving forty-two years old William with a young family to look after. However, he wasn’t a lone parent for long as just two doors away was thirty-five years Isabella Groves who was working as a servant to the elderly couple of Edward and Jane Wales. And it was she that he married.
	The couple were married at the parish church in Leeds rather than at Barwick, and this may have been out of deference for his late wife and her family. Isabella was the daughter of linen weaver Joshua Groves and had been born in Northumberland.
	It seems more than likely that the marriage may have been made out of necessity and perhaps because of propriety or an attempt to protect the reputation of his new wife, the marriage does not appear to have produced any children for William and Isabella.
	Although William’s father William Collett did not die until 1855, in the census of 1851 William junior was living with his family at 70 Main Street the house previously occupied by his father. Living with William at the age of 51 was his wife Isabella aged 45 and their sons George 24, Joseph 21, Benjamin 15, and Thomas aged eleven.
	Living right next door in the adjoining cottage at 72 Main Street was William’s eldest son John aged 25 who was still a bachelor but who was married shortly thereafter.
	In early April in 1861 the family living at Barwick had reduced in size. William was aged 61 and Isabella 56, and still living with them was William’s youngest son Thomas aged 21. Also back living at the family home was William’s youngest daughter Emma aged 28.
	By the end of the next ten year period William aged 71 was recorded as being a retired blacksmith and was living alone with his wife Isabella, all of his children now having left to make their own way in the world.
	Isabella died in 1876 at the age of 74 leaving William as a widower for the second time in his life.
	The census of 1881 recorded William Collett as being aged 81 and was still living on Main Street in the Up Town part of Barwick-in-Elmet. His place of birth was simply stated as Potterton. The only other person listed with William on 3^rd April 1881 was his housekeeper, 66 years old Ann Dearlove from Huddersfield.
	And it was just two months later, in June 1881 that William died at the age of eighty-one years.
	During his life William was a staunch Methodist and played a very active role in the church. A typical Sunday would be spent at communion in the parish church, with Sunday School at 9.00 am followed by Chapel at 10.00, a further service at 1.30 in the afternoon, following by a second Sunday School session from 2 to 4 p.m.
	Such was William’s standing in the local community that the following obituary was written by the prominent Barwick Methodist minister William Varley and was printed in the Methodist 'Book of Obituaries' and quoted in Arthur Bantoft's 'A Greater Wonder - A History of Methodism in Barwick'.
	‘William Collett of Barwick was a member of the Wesleyan Methodist Society for upwards of 60 years. He filled the office of class leader and Sunday School Superintendent and was regular and efficient in the discharge of his duties until compelled to resign on account of deafness and failing health. During his latter days in great suffering and weakness he gave clear testimony to the sustaining power of divine grace - in fact he lived in anxious expectation of the Master's coming and in constant readiness for it’
	36P9	John Collett		Born in 1821
	36P10	John Collett		Born in 1823
	36P11	George Dalby Collett		Born in 1825
	36P12	Joseph Collett		Born in 1828
	36P13	Ann Collett		Born in 1830
	36P14	Emma Collett		Born in 1832
	36P15	William Collett		Born in 1834
	36P16	Benjamin Collett		Born in 1836
	36P17	Thomas Collett		Born in 1838
36P1	George Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1827 and was baptised there on 04.11.1827, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Collett.
36P2	Thomas Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1830 where he was baptised on 09.09.1830, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Collett. Sometime around 1850 he married Hannah who was born at Armley in Leeds in 1831. Between 1851 and 1876 the marriage produced seven children for the couple, all of whom were born at Wortley in Leeds except for the youngest who was born at Batley south of Leeds.
	However, it would appear that sometime after 1876 Thomas died or was killed perhaps while working as a coal miner like his brothers, because by April 1881 Hannah was married to George Funess of Gomersal and was living with all of her children at his home in Hill End Road at Armley in Leeds.
	Although the whereabouts of Thomas and Hannah has not been identified in 1891, their daughter Rachel A Collett was 14 and was living in Wortley-in-Bramley area of Leeds.
	36Q1	Robert Collett		Born in 1851
	36Q2	Kezia Collett		Born in 1855
	36Q3	Lavina Collett		Born in 1858
	36Q4	Albert Collett		Born in 1860
	36Q5	Ann Collett		Born in 1863
	36Q6	Flora Collett		Born in 1866
	36Q7	Rachel A Collett		Born in 1876
36P6	Maria Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1832 and was baptised at St Peter’s Church in Leeds on 12.08.1832, the daughter of William and Sarah Collett. She was listed as being eight years old and living with her family at Barwick-in-Elmet in June 1841. No further census record for Maria has been found in either 1861 or 1871.
	It is possible that she married general labourer John Newton who was eleven years younger than Maria and was born at nearby Appleton Roebuck, although in the census of 1881 she gave Tadcaster as her place of birth. Maria and her family were living in Rockcliff Yard in West Tadcaster at that time close to where her uncle William Collett was recorded as living.
36P7	Sarah Ann Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1835 and was baptised at St Peter’s Church in Leeds on 28.02.1836, the daughter of William and Sarah Collett. As Sarah Collett, she was five years old at the time of the Barwick census in 1841. No further census record for Maria has been found in either 1861 or 1871.
	It is thought that she married either railway platelayer William Brown from Suffolk or agricultural labourer John Robinson of Askham Bryan near York, both men being the same age as Sarah.
	In 1881 Sarah and William Brown were living at 56 Grange Street at Wortley-in-Bramley, while Sarah and John Robinson were living at a farm house in Bilbrough near Askham Richard.
36P9	John Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1821, where he was baptised on 12.11.182, the eldest son of William and Elizabeth Collett. It was appear from the name given to the couple’s next child, that John died within the same year.
36P10	John Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet and this most likely took place at the end of 1823 or very early in 1824, as it was there that he was baptised on 21.01.1824.
	At the time of the June census of 1841 John was 15 and was living with his grandparents William and Frances Collett at their home in Potterton Lane in Barwick-in-Elmet. It was probably while he was there that he was trained to be a blacksmith like his father and his grandfather.
	Ten years later John was aged 25 and was the sole occupant of 72 Main Street when living in the adjoining cottage to his father who lived at 70 Main Street at that time. However, within a year or so of the 1851 Census day he was no longer living alone.
	He married Elizabeth who was nine years younger than John, she having been born at Leeds in 1832. It would appear that the marriage took place when Elizabeth had just reached the legal age to do so, as their first child was born around 1853.
	The census of 1861 confirmed that John was married to Elizabeth and they were living at Potterton Lane in Barwick-in-Elmet. Blacksmith John was aged 36, his wife was 26, and living with them were their three children, William aged 4, Emma aged 2, and Ann who was not yet one year old.
	All of the couple’s eleven children listed below were born at Barwick-in-Elmet and by April 1871 the whole family was still living there in Potterton Lane. This comprised blacksmith John aged 45, his wife Elizabeth 35, with William 14, Emma 12, Ann 10, Albert 7, John 5, Benjamin 3, and one year old Charles.
	By 1881 the family had made the short move to Potterton, just one mile north of Barwick. This may have happened during the few months prior to the census day that year as all of John’s and Elizabeth’s children were confirmed as having been born at Barwick.
	John was aged 58 and his occupation was confirmed as being that of a blacksmith like his father William and also his brothers George and Thomas. And at least three of John’s sons also continued in that profession.
	The 1881 census also confirmed that John was born at Barwick-in-Elmet and that his wife Elizabeth aged 49 was born at Leeds. Since the previous census a further four children had been added to the family. The full list on that occasion was William aged 24 and a blacksmith, John 15, Benjamin 13, Charles 11, George 9, Fred 6, Mary 3, and one year old Ernest.
	In 1891 the family living at Barwick was reduced to John aged 68, Elizabeth aged 56, and living with them was sons John T Collett 25, Charles Collett 21, and Ernest Collett aged 11, and their daughter Mary H Collett aged 13.
	John Collett, a blacksmith of Barwick-in-Elmet, was listed in the 1893 edition of Kelly’s Directory. The house and blacksmith’s shop were situated at 70 Main Street, the house having been built by the Collett family some two hundred years earlier.
	Both John and Elizabeth were still living in Barwick just after the turn of the century. According to the Barwick census in 1901, John was aged 77 and his wife was 68, although this may have been an error in transcription, since she was nearer 66 juding by most of the earlier census returns. Even at the age of 77 John’s occupation was still recorded as being a blacksmith.
	When John eventually retired from the family blacksmith business in Barwick, it was his eldest son William took it over. He was supported by his much younger brother Frederick who worked under William as an apprentice. The boys father John Collett died sometime during his eighties in the first decade of the new century.
	John Collett died during the first decade of the new century, as confirmed by the next census in 1911. In that it was recorded that, Elizabeth Collett from Leeds and the widow of the late John Collett, was still living in Barwick-in-Elmet at the age of seventy-five.
	36Q8	William Richard Collett		Born in 1856
	36Q9	Emma Collett		Born in 1858
	36Q10	Ann Elizabeth Collett		Born in 1860
	36Q11	Albert Batty Collett		Born in 1863
	36Q12	John Thomas Collett		Born in 1865
	36Q13	Benjamin Collett		Born in 1867
	36Q14	Charles Collett		Born in 1869
	36Q15	George H Collett		Born in 1871
	36Q16	Frederick Collett		Born in 1874
	36Q17	Mary H Collett		Born in 1877
	36Q18	Ernest Collett		Born in 1879
36P11	George Dalby Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1825 and his second name came from his mother’s maiden name. He was baptised at Barwick on 04.09.1825, the son of William and Elizabeth Collett.
	In 1841 he was aged 15 and was 24 years old at the time of the 1851 Census when he was working as a blacksmith while living with his father and mother, and his younger brothers at 70 Main Street in Barwick.
	A few years later towards the end of the 1850s George married Ada who was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1832. All of their children were born at Barwick-in-Elmet and the first two of these were present at the time of the 1861 Census. These were Edwin aged 2 and Henry who was under one year, while their parents were 34 and 28 respectively.
	Three more children were added to the family over the next decade, so by 1871 the family living at Potterton Lane in Barwick comprised blacksmith George 44 and his wife Ada 38, and their children Edwin 12, Henry 10, John 8, Joseph 6, and Alfred aged three.
	In 1881 the family was still living at Potterton Lane in Barwick-in-Elmet, where many other members of this branch of the Collett family also lived at that time. The family then was made up of blacksmith George aged 53, his wife Ada 48, and five of their seven children.
	These were Edwin aged 22 and John aged 18 who were both blacksmiths working with their father, Alfred aged 13, George 9, and six years old Kate.
	It has not been established where son Henry was at that time, but the couple’s other missing son Joseph was working as a farm servant in the Up Town part of Barwick on that occasion. A search of the 1881, 1891 and 1901 Census records has reveal no evidence that Henry was living in England, so it might be that he had left the country or had died between 1871 and 1881.
	Sometime in the 1880s it would appear that George and his wife Ada were separated, perhaps for work reasons. In 1891 George Collett was living alone in Keighley at the age of 63, while his wife Ada, who was 58, was still living in Barwick with her son John W Collett 28, and daughter Kate Collett 16.
	During the next decade it would appear that Ada passed away, since no record of her has been found in the 1901 Census. However, George Collett of Barwick, who was 73 years, was still living at Keighley where he was described as a farmer. Also living in Keighley in April 1901 was George’s nephew Richard Collett and his family. Richard was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1852 and was the oldest son of George’s brother Joseph (below).
	36Q19	Edwin Collett		Born in 1858
	36Q20	Henry Collett		Born in 1860 at Barwick-in-Elmet
	36Q21	John William Collett		Born in 1862
	36Q22	Joseph Collett		Born in 1865
	36Q23	Alfred Collett		Born in 1867
	36Q24	George Arthur Collett		Born in 1871
	36Q25	Kate Collett		Born in 1874 at Barwick-in-Elmet
36P12	Joseph Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1828 as confirmed by the 1841 Census in which he was listed as being aged 13 years and living with his parents in Barwick. By 1851 he was aged 21 and was living at 70 Main Street in Barwick where he was working with his father in the family blacksmith business.
	Soon after the census day in 1851 Joseph married Catherine who was a dressmaker who was also born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1831. In the Barwick census ten years later Joseph was listed as being aged 32 while his wife Catherine was 30, and with them on that occasion were their children Richard aged 8 and Martha aged 7.
	No record of the family has been found in 1871 although it is assumed that Joseph died sometime during this phase of their family life.
	According to the census of 1881 Catherine was a widow aged 50 and was living alone at Potterton Lane in Barwick where she continued with her work as a dressmaker.
	Catherine was still living in Barwick in 1891 at the age of 60 but was missing from the 1901 Census so it must be assumed that she passed away during the 1890s.
	36Q26	Richard Collett		Born in 1852
	36Q27	Martha Collett		Born in 1854 at Barwick-in-Elmet
36P13	Ann Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1830. At the time of the first nation census in June 1841 Ann was living with her family in Barwick and was eleven years of age.
	Ten years late at the age of 21 Ann had left the family home and was working as a servant for Wesleyan minister Joseph Sawton at his home in Springfield Terrace in Leeds.
36P14	Emma Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1832 and was aged 9 at the time of the June census in 1841 when with her family at Barwick.
	Like her sister Ann (above), Emma also entered into domestic service and in 1851 she was aged 19 and was working at 5 Elmwood Grove in Leeds, the home of forty years old widow Mary Ann Scarthe.
	After working away from home for some years, Emma had returned to Barwick by April 1861 and at the age of 28 was once again living with her father and her stepmother.
36P15	William Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1834 and it was there that he was baptised on 02.11.1834, the son of William and Elizabeth Collett. Tragically he died within a few weeks of being born.
36P16	Benjamin Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1836 and in June 1841 he was five years of age. Ten years later at the age of 15 Benjamin had left school and was working with his father and older brothers as an apprentice blacksmith from their home at 70 Main Street in Barwick.
	At some point in his life before the end of the 1850s he left Barwick and moved to Gomersal near Cleckheaton, south-west of Leeds where he married Mary who was born there in 1836. It was also at Gomersal that all of the couple’s children were born.
	All of this was confirmed in the 1861 Census for Gomersal when Benjamin of Barwick was aged 26 and was living with his wife Mary aged 24 and their first born child Joseph who was under twelve months old at that time.
	In addition to leaving the family home it would also appear that Benjamin stopped being a blacksmith and took up the trade of a painter and later in his life he became a master painter.
	By 1871 the family living at Gomersal comprised Benjamin aged 35, his wife Mary 34, and their five children Joseph A Collett 10, William H Collett 9, Alfred 7, George H Collett 4, and Charles who was under one year old.
	In the census of 1881 master painter Benjamin of Barwick was 45, Mary his wife of Gomersal was 44, and with them at Oxford Road in Gomersal were four of their five children. These were Joseph 20, Alfred 17, George H 15, and eleven years old Charles.
	Benjamin’s eldest son Joseph was also a painter presumably working with his father. Their missing eighteen years old son William was living nearby in Oxford Road in Gomersal. At that time in 1881 the family employed a domestic servant Hannah Millner from Knaresborough who was aged 13.
	Ten years later Benjamin and Mary were still living at Gomersal where they were 55 and 54 respectively. Only two of their sons were still living with the couple and these were Joseph aged 30 and William aged 29.
	Just after the turn of the century Benjamin was 65 and was then working as a painter and paper-hanger. He was still living in Gomersal with his wife Mary aged 64 and still working with him was his son Joseph who was also a painter.
	Also living in Gomersal in 1901 was Benjamin’s nephew 33 years old Benjamin Collett of Barwick-in-Elmet the son of John Collett of Barwick and Benjamin’s older brother.
	According to the census in April 1911, Benjamin Collett from Barwick-in-Elmet was seventy-five years old and was still living at Gomersal, but on that occasion he had living with him as his housekeeper, twenty-three years old Lillie Collett from Barnsley, the daughter of his late son Alfred Collett.
	36Q28	Joseph Arthur Collett		Born in 1860
	36Q29	William Henry Collett		Born in 1862
	36Q30	Alfred Collett		Born in 1863
	36Q31	George Herbert Collett		Born in 1865
	36Q32	Charles Henry Collett		Born in 1869
36P17	Thomas Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1838 and was two years old by June 1841. The census of 1851 recorded Thomas as being aged 11 and living at 70 Main Street in Barwick with his stepmother, and his father and older brothers who were all blacksmiths at that time.
	By April 1861 Thomas was aged 21 and was the only son still living at the family home in Barwick where he was still working in the family blacksmith business with his father William Collett.
	It was towards the end of the 1860s that he married Ann who was born in 1839 but at Gosberton north of Spalding in Lincolnshire. The records so far seem to reveal that Thomas and Ann only had the one son.
	It was in the census registration district of Leeds & Kirkstall that the family of three was living in 1871. Thomas was 31, Ann was 32 and baby son Walter was not yet one year old.
	Ten years later according to the census of 1881 Thomas and Ann were living at Burley Village in Headingley-cum-Burley, just north of Leeds city centre. Both were 40 years of age and living with them was their only son Walter who was born at Bramley in Leeds and who was ten years old.
	So far neither Thomas nor his wife Ann have bee identified in the census records for 1891 and 1901, although their son Walter aged 20 was living at Kirkstall & Leeds registration area in 1891, and by 1901 he was married and living with his wife and child in Leeds.
	36Q33	Walter Ewart Collett		Born in 1870
36Q1	Robert Collett was born at Wortley in 1852 and at the age of 29 years he was a bachelor working as a brick yard labourer with his brother Albert (below). Shortly before this his father had died, following which his mother remarried, so by 1881 Robert was still living with his mother but at the home of his stepfather at Hill End Road in Armley in Leeds.
36Q2	Kezia Collett was born around 1855 and at aged 25 was unmarried and still living with her mother and her stepfather at Hill End Road in Armley. At that time in 1881 Kezia’s occupation was that of a woollen weaver like her sister Lavina (below).
36Q3	Lavina Collett was born at Wortley in Leeds around 1858 and was a woollen weaver like her sister Kezia (above) and in 1881 she was still living with her family at Hill End Road in Armley in 1881.
36Q4	Albert Collett was born at Wortley in Leeds around 1860. One of his first jobs that that of a brick yard labourer working with his older brother Robert (above), both of whom were still living with their mother and her new husband at Hill End Road in Armley in April 1881.
	Two or three years later Albert married Mary Ellen Lawton of Leeds with whom he had seven sons. In 1891 Albert was 30 and Mary Ellen was 25 and they were living in the Wortley and Bramley registration district of Leeds with their three sons aged 5, 3 and one respectively.
	Ten years later the family was recorded as living at Armley in Leeds where 40 years old Albert was working as a brick-maker. His wife Mary E Collett was 35 and their seven sons were 15, 13, 11, 7, 5, 3 and one year, all having been born at Leeds.
	Albert’s wife was probably expecting the imminent arrival of the couple’s eighth child on the day of the census in 1901, because later that same year she gave birth to their only daughter. A further child was added to the family five years after that, and it may have been during the birth of her ninth child that Mary Ellen Collett nee Lawton died, since no record of her has been found with her family in 1911.
	The census return for that year listed the family at Armley as Albert who was 50, David 17, Harold 15, Walter 13, Norris 11, Lily 9, and Clarence who was four years old.
	During the Great War, Albert Collett was still living at Armley where he received the tragic news of the deaths of two of his sons. At the time of the death of son William in July 1917 both Albert was recorded as living at Armley. However, by November 1918 when son Albert died of his injuries, the reference to his parents read “son of the late Albert and Ellen Collett”.
	From this it can be deduced that Albert died after July 1917 and before November 1918, but it is not clear from the war graves commission record whether ‘the late’ also referred to Ellen who may have already died around 1906, as indicated above.
	36R1	Arthur Collett		Born in 1885
	36R2	Albert Edward Collett		Born in 1887
	36R3	William Lawton Collett		Born in 1889
	36P4	David Collett		Born in 1893 at Leeds
	36R5	Harold Collett		Born in 1895
	36R6	Walter Collett		Born in 1897 at Leeds
	36R7	Norris Collett		Born in 1899
	36R8	Lily Collett		Born in 1901 at Leeds
	36R9	Clarence Collett		Born in 1906 at Leeds
36Q8	William Richard Collett, who was later referred to as Bill, was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1856 and was the eldest son of blacksmith John Collett.
	He was listed as William in the censuses of 1861 and 1871 when he was aged 4 and 14 respectively while living with his parents in Potterton Lane in Barwick.
	By 1881 and at the age of 24 he was a blacksmith like his father and his grandfather before him. He was not married and was still living at the family home which was now one mile north of Barwick in the village of Potterton.
	It is understood that shortly after the census day William married Mary Hannah Todd at Barwick and at some later date the couple left Potterton and settled at Roundhay on the outskirts of Leeds where William continued his trade as a blacksmith.
	After a few years living and working at Roundhay, William and his family returned to Barwick where they were living in 1891 when William R Collett was 34 and Mary H Collett was 29. Their children were recorded as Ella R Collett was 9, Annie J Collett 5, Albert V Collett 3, Hilda Collett was one year old, and baby Sarah was under one year old.
	By 1901 William was 44 and his occupation at Barwick was confirmed by the census as being that of a blacksmith. His wife was listed in the census as Mary H Collett of Thorner aged 39. Living with them at that time were their daughters Ella 19, Hilda 11, Sara 10, Mabel 8, and their sons Albert 13, and William who was one year old. Daughter Lina had already left the family home.
	The marriage of William and Mary produced a total of eleven children for the couple, the last being son Leslie who was born in 1904. In addition to the blacksmith business William doubled as a horse doctor, while his wife Mary performed the role of a quack doctor for the village people. More information on this is provided in Appendix 4.
	William took over the family blacksmith business upon the death of his father in the first ten years of the twentieth century. In those early days William also employed his much younger brother Frederick Collett (below) as an apprentice blacksmith who had left the business by April 1911. This photograph was taken around 1909 and shows Bill Collett (on the right) outside the blacksmith’s shop with Sidney Plews who married Bill’s daughter Sally. The small boy in the picture is Bill’s youngest son John Leslie Collett.
	According to the census return for 1911, the family living at Barwick-in-Elmet at that time comprised blacksmith William Richard Collett 54, his wife Mary Hannah Collett 49, and their children Lina Collett 26, Albert Victor 23 and a blacksmith working with his father, Hilda 21, Olive Irene 13, William Edward 11, John Leslie 6, and grand-daughter Marrion Braithwaite Collett who was two years old and the base-born daughter of Lina Collett. All of them except Mary Hannah were born at Barwick-in-Elmet.
	YE OLDE SMITHY
	The building containing the blacksmith’s shop and smithy was originally built with a thatched roof (as seen in the photo above) and was attached to the back of two adjoining cottages that fronted Main Street. The two cottages were ‘Ye Attic Abode’ and ‘The Drop Inn’ – see previous article from the Leeds Mercury of June 1930.
	Early one morning in 1911 Bill Collett opened up the smithy in the usual way to light the forge for the day’s work, following which he returned to the house for his breakfast. All of a sudden the thatched roof collapsed and fell in on the smithy, but fortunately, under the weight of the thatch, the fire was smothered.
	However, the structure of the smithy suffered severe damage and had to be demolished and a new workshop was built on the site. The two adjoining cottages were also demolished shortly after and they too were rebuilt. At that time the artists occupying ‘Ye Attic Abode’ moved to alternative premises at The Boyle in Barwick.
	The replacement buildings are still there today and the workshop is now used as a garage by the present occupants of number 70 Main Street. And it was the dwelling today known as 70 Main Street that had been built by the Collett family over two hundred years earlier and had remained in their ownership until 1966 when Hilda, the last daughter of blacksmith Bill Collett, died there.
	Frederick Collett later left the family business in the capable hands of his brother Bill who continued to manage it until his death in 1936 at the age of eighty. At that time with no further male members of the family to take it over the business passed out of the Collett family after nearly one hundred and fifty years.
	In June 1930 the Leeds Mercury ran a story with the headline “Blacksmith of 76 – The Oldest in Yorkshire”. The full transcript of the article can be found in Appendix 2 at the end of this family line.
	In a later article in the same newspaper printed in April 1932, Bill Collett recalls earlier times in his life in the village of Barwick and a copy of this is provided in Appendix 3.
	An article in The Barwicker Magazine in 2008 written by Joyce Hidden nee Collett of Frinton-on-Sea referred to this William Collett as William the Third (Collett blacksmith). Joyce’s great great grandfather was William Collett the Second and her grandfather was the aforementioned apprentice blacksmith Frederick Collett.
	36R10	Ella R Collett		Born in 1882
	36R11	Lina Collett		Born in 1884
	36R12	Annie J Collett		Born in 1886
	36R13	Albert Victor Collett		Born in 1887
	36R14	Hilda Collett		Born in 1889
	36R15	Sarah Collett		Born in 1890
	36R16	Edith Mabel Collett		Born in 1892
	36R17	unknown Collett		infant death
	36R18	Olive Irene Collett		Born in 1897
	36R19	William Edward Collett		Born in 1899
	36R20	unknown Collett		infant death
	36R21	John Leslie Collett		Born in 1904
36Q9	Emma Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1858. In the census records of 1861 and 1871 she was listed as being aged 2 and 12 and on both occasions was living with her family at Potterton Lane in Barwick.
	Ten years later in April 1881 Emma was aged 22 and of Barwick and was working as a domestic servant and housemaid at the home of the Reverend Vicar William H Elliot at Blue Bell Road in Stainton.
36Q10	Ann Elizabeth Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1860 and was one year old in 1861 when living at Potterton Lane in Barwick with her family and ten years old in 1871.
	In 1881 at the age of 20 years Ann was working as a kitchen maid at Potterton Hall in Barwick, the home of Justice of the Peace and landowner Bathurst E Wilkinson who was born in India.
36Q11	Albert Batty Collett was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1863 and was aged 7 in the census of 1871, although no further record of him has been found in subsequent census listings.
36Q12