PART FORTY-ONE

The Middlesex Harefield Line

This line commences with Henry Collett (Ref. 1M28)

of Kempsford in Gloucestershire

Updated April 2010

This is the family line of Jean Ferguson (see Ref. 41P10) of Cheshire depicted

in capitals and Cheryl Collett (Ref. 41S1) in the USA, whose great grandfather

was George Collett (Ref. 41P6) of Harefield & Washington depicted by underlining.

As a result of the August 2008 update it is also the family line of

Trevor Collette (Ref. 41S4) of Kingston in Ontario

This update is thanks to Rebecca Humphreys of Farnham in Surrey

whose great great grandfather was Henry James Collett (Ref. 41P1)

A previous update included the family line of Brian Arthur Collett (41R23)

of Sutton in Surrey who kindly provided the new information regarding his family

41M1	HENRY COLLETT (Ref. 1M28) was the second son of Robert and Mary Collett and was born at Kempsford on 02.04.1772 where he was baptised on 27.04.1772. He was born into a tragic family as his older brother John had died an infant death, his only younger sister Elizabeth also died in the same way when he was just approaching his fifth birthday, and shortly after his father died.
	So the family that would have otherwise been six in number was reduced to just three, these being Henry, his widowed mother Mary and only surviving younger brother John. Mary then appears to have sought solace with local blacksmith Joseph Bunce, as a result of which, just over a year later, she brought into the family a base-born child. This was followed eighteen months later by a second base-born child, the father of which is not known.
	It was initially believed that at sometime in his life Henry left Gloucestershire and initially made his way to Cornwall, most likely for work reasons. It was also believed that it was there that he met Elizabeth Withiell who was born in Cornwall in 1770. Not long after they met they were married at Philleigh on 16.08.1792, and Henry was recorded as being a farmer.
	It has long been acknowledged that there was a seven years gap between the date of their wedding and the birth of their first confirmed child leading to speculation that there may have been others born during this period.
	New information has recently come to light that places a question-mark over Henry’s marriage to Elizabeth Withiell. It would be more realistic that he moved to London, rather than Cornwall, where he married Elizabeth Woods on 31.12.1798 at St Mary’s Church on Marylebone Road in the City Borough of Marylebone. This date correlates better with the birth of their first child.
	Sometime after they were married the couple left the City of London and settled at Harefield in Middlesex where all of their children were born. The baptisms for all of the children listed below were conducted out at St Mary’s Church in Harefield.
	Previously it was thought that more children than listed below had been born in the years between 1793 and 1800 and that one of these may well have been Thomas Collett born in 1793. This now seems unlikely but is still worth a mention as Thomas Collett in 1841 was the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages for the Brentford, Staines & Uxbridge registration district which included Harefield.
	In that capacity he was the registrar in December 1840 for the birth of Richard Benjamin Collett the grandson of Henry Collett and the eldest son of Richard Collett (below) born in 1809.
	At the time of his son Richard’s marriage in December 1837 Henry was reported to be working as a watchman. This too seems at odds with him being a farmer in Cornwall in 1792 and again might be a clue that he was not the Henry Collett who married Elizabeth Withiell at Philleigh.
	Four years later for the first national census in 1841 Henry and his wife Elizabeth were both listed as being 70 years of age while living at Copper Mill Lane in Harefield Living with them was their son Richard and his family, including the aforementioned grandson Richard Benjamin.
	It should be noted for this census only that the age of adults was crudely taken by the fifth and tenth years, i.e. 25, 30, 35, 40. Only the age of children was given more accurately.
	Almost four years later Henry’s wife Elizabeth died at Harefield during the second quarter of 1845 leaving Henry as a widower who was confirmed was being aged 79 at the time of the 1851 Census. The detail in the census recorded that he was born at Kempsford and was a labourer with a pension.
	Still living with Henry at that time was his son Richard, together with his wife Sarah and their eight children.
	Henry survived for almost another two years after the census day and died at Harefield during the first quarter of 1853.
	41N1	John Collett	Born and baptised in 1800
	41N2	Robert Henry Collett	Born in 1802
	41N3	WILLIAM COLLETT	Born in 1804
	41N4	Elizabeth Collett	Born in 1806
	41N5	James Collett	Baptised on 15.03.1807
	41N6	Richard Collett	Born in 1809
	41N7	Jonathan Collett	Born in 1811
	41N8	Ann Collett	Born in 1812
	41N9	Sarah Ann Collett	Born in 1816
41N2	Robert Henry Collett was born at Harefield in 1801, where he was baptised at St Mary’s Church on 09.05.1802. He was married to Ann (?) and the marriage produced at least eight children all born at Harefield. Robert was in his early thirties at the time of their wedding and Ann was about ten years younger than Robert.
	In 1841 he was listed in the census as being aged 35 and of Harefield while Ann was 25. Living with them at Harefield were sons Henry, Charles and Robert, and daughter Mary.
	So far no record of Robert has been located in 1851 although Ann was aged 38. Furthermore there are no obvious records of his whereabouts between 1851 and 1881. Although absence for the 1851 Census, Robert must have been in Harefield in 1852/53 as his wife gave parent to their last child in 1853.
	According to the 1881 Census, Robert H Collett was a widower aged 80 years who had been born at Harefield where he was living at Park Lane, just one house along from his nephew James Collett, and two doors from son Charles Collett.
	Living with Robert in the spring of 1881 were his two unmarried daughters Mary aged 44 and Edith 41, both born at Harefield. Edith was recorded as being blind. Wherever Robert was during the missing decades it would appear that Mary and Edith were with him, as they too have not be positively identified in any of the intervening census records.
	41O1	Mary A Collett	Born in 1836
	41O2	Henry Collett	Born in 1837
	41O3	Charles Collett	Born in 1838
	41O4	Edith Collett	Born in 1839
	41O5	Robert Collett	Born in 1841 before 6^th June
	41O6	Elizabeth Collett	Born in 1845
	41O7	Jonathan Collett	Born in 1849
	41O8	Frederick Collett	Born in 1853
41N3	WILLIAM COLLETT was born at Harefield in 1804, where he was baptised at St Mary’s Church on 08.12.1804. He married Elizabeth Sheerwood (see below) who was also born around 1803 but at nearby Ickenham near Ruislip in Middlesex. Once they were married the couple settled in Harefield, where all of their children were born.
	William’s occupation was that of a butcher and the 1841 Census confirmed that he was married to Elizabeth and that they were living at Harefield village with five of their children. Also living with them was Betty Sheerwood aged 65 who was very likely Elizabeth’s mother.
	William and Elizabeth were recorded as being aged 35 (sic) whereas the ages of their children were more accurately stated. Their sons William, Isaac and Jacob were aged 15, 4 and 2 respectively, while their daughters Ellen and Emma were aged 9 years and six months.
	No trace has been found of the three missing children, George, Abraham and Sarah, in any of the national census records so it must be assumed that they died as infants prior to 1841. Nor has any trace been found of William’s youngest son John, either in the 1851 Census or later census records.
	By April 1861 William, now a master butcher, and Elizabeth were aged 57 and were living with their four unmarried sons at the High Street in Harefield. This again confirmed their places of birth as being Harefield and Ickenham. The unmarried sons were William aged 34, Jacob aged 21, David aged 17, and Job aged 15.
	Also living with the family was George Collett Jones aged 8 and born at Harefield who was listed as being the grandson of William and Elizabeth. George was the son of their daughter Ellen and was most likely base-born, hence the reason for him being with his grandparents.
	William and Elizabeth both appeared in the 1871 Census and both were aged 67. By April 1881 William was living with son Jacob and his family in the High Street in Harefield, while Elizabeth for some reason was staying with son David and his family at the Grocer’s Shop in Harefield.
	41O9	William Henry Collett	Born in 1826
	41O10	Mary Collett	Born in 1829
	41O11	Ellen Collett	Born in 1831
	41O12	George Collett	Born in 1832; infant death?
	41O13	Abraham Collett	Born in 1833; infant death?
	41O14	Sarah Collett	Born in 1835; infant death?
	41O15	Isaac Collett	Born in 1836
	41O16	JACOB COLLETT	Born in 1839
	41O17	Emma Collett	Born in December 1840
	41O18	David Collett	Born in 1843
	41O19	Job Collett	Born on 27.06.1845
	41O20	John Collett	Born in 1846; infant death?
41N4	Elizabeth Collett was born at Harefield in 1806 and was baptised there in St Mary’s Church on 26.03.1806. In the 1841 Census she was listed as being 30 years old.
41N6	Richard Collett was born at Harefield in 1809 and it was there that he was baptised in St Mary’s Church on 26.12.1809. At the age of 28 he was a labourer at a local mill and he married Sarah Bolton on 25.12.1837 at Harefield. Sarah was 26 and had been born at nearby Chalfont in Buckinghamshire in 1811 and was the daughter of gardener Henry Bolton and his wife Elizabeth.
	Richard and Sarah were residents of Harefield at the time of their wedding and both made the mark of a cross on the marriage certificate which was witnessed by Sarah’s mother. After they were married the couple continued to live with Richard’s parent at Copper Mill Lane in Harefield, where all of their children were born.
	The Registrar at Uxbridge whose name appears on the birth certificate for the couple’s second child was Thomas Collett. It is possible that he was related in some way but this has not yet been determined. Richard’s occupation, as stated on the birth certificate at that time, was that of a groom.
	Six months later the 1841 Census confirmed that the family was living with Henry and Elizabeth Collett (both aged 70) at their home in Copper Mill Lane. The family comprised Richard aged 30, his wife Sarah aged 25, their daughter Elizabeth aged 2 and their son Richard aged 6 months.
	Ten years later, according to the census of 1851, Richard aged 41 and Sarah aged 39 and their eight children at that time were still living at Harefield at the house of Richard’s father Henry Collett of Gloucestershire.
	The listed children were Elizabeth 12, Richard Benjamin 11, Sarah 9, Mary Ann 8, Ann 6, James 3, and twins John and Harriet both aged two months. All of the children were confirmed as being born at Harefield.
	During the next ten years the family left Harefield and moved to Uxbridge. Richard was 52 and was working as a labourer, while his wife Sarah was 48. The children with them at that time were Richard 20, Ann 15, James 12, Harriet 10 and Thomas aged 7.
	However, it was at Harefield that Richard died five years later on 11.06.1866 at the age of 57, although his death was recorded at Uxbridge and was reported by his daughter Elizabeth.
	The death certificate recorded that Richard was formerly a gas maker and the cause of death was bronchitis.
	41O21	Elizabeth Collett	Born in 1838
	41O22	Richard Benjamin Collett	Born on 10.12.1840
	41O23	Sarah Collett	Born in 1841
	41O24	Mary Ann Collett	Born in 1842
	41O25	Ann Collett	Born in 1845
	41O26	James Theophilus Bolton Collett	Born in 1848
	41O27	John Collett twin	Born in January 1851
	41O28	Harriet Collett twin	Born in January 1851
	41O29	Thomas Collett	Born in 1853
41N7	Jonathan Collett was born at Harefield in 1811 and it was there that he was baptised in St Mary’s Church on 17.12.1811. He married Margaret (?) and both he and his wife were listed as aged 25 in the 1841 Census. With them were their two daughters Ruth aged 2 and Mary who was not yet one year old.
	By 1851 Jonathan was aged 40 and Margaret 38 and their daughter Ruth was 11. However, there was no record of daughter Mary. The same applied ten years later when Jonathan and Margaret were both recorded as being 48, while daughter Ruth was then aged 21.
	Sometime during the next decade both Jonathan and Margaret died living their unmarried daughter Ruth alone in 1871 but still living at Harefield.
	41O30	Ruth Collett	Born in 1839
	41O31	Mary Collett	Born in 1841 before 30^th March
41N8	Ann Collett was born at Harefield in 1812 and baptised there at St Mary’s Church on 26.12.1812. She was listed in the 1841 Census as being aged 25 and a spinster, still living in the family home at Harefield.
41O1	Mary A Collett was born at Harefield in 1836. She never married and at the age of 44 was living with her father Robert Collett and her sister Edith at Park Lane in Harefield.
	So far no trace of Mary or her sister Edith or their father Robert has been found in any of the census records for 1851, 1861 or 1871 which might indicate that they were out of the country during these times.
41O2	Henry Collett was born at Harefield in 1837 and was aged three years in 1841. His occupation was that of a baker and he married Ann Sears who was born at Rickmansworth in 1835. By 1881, and at the aged of 43, baker Henry was living at Newbury Street in Wantage in Berkshire (part of Oxfordshire from April 1974).
	With him was his wife Ann aged 45 and her nephew George T Sears aged 15 from Paddington in London.
	According to the 1901 Census, Henry 63 of Harefield and Ann 65 of Rickmansworth were then living in Cheltenham, where Henry was described as a journey baker.
41O3	Charles Collett was born at Harefield in 1838. He was a general labourer and lived all of his life at Harefield. It would appear that he never married and according to the 1881 Census he was aged 42 and living at Park Lane in Harefield with his unmarried siblings Elizabeth aged 35, Jonathan another general labourer aged 31 and Frederick aged 27 who was working as a bricklayer.
	All four of them were listed as having been born at Harefield. As Elizabeth had no stated occupation it seems reasonable to assume that she performed the role of house keeper for her brothers.
	It is interesting to note that the house in Park Lane in which they lived was situated right next door to the family of their cousin James T B Collett (below).
	In 1891 Charles gave his age as 50 and ten years later he said he was 61, when he was still living at Harefield where he was working as a gardener and labourer.
41O4	Edith Collett was born at Harefield in 1839. It would appear that she never married and in 1881 was registered as blind and aged 41, living with her father Robert Collett and her sister Mary (above) at Park Lane in Harefield. As with her father and sister, there appears to be no earlier census records for these three members of the family.
41O5	Robert Collett was born at Harefield in 1841 before 6^th June that year. In the census his age was given as nought years. However, there are no further records to suggest that he survived beyond his early childhood.
41O6	Elizabeth Collett was born at Harefield in 1845 and it would appear that she never married. In April 1881 she was acting as housekeeper for her three unmarried brothers at the house of her older brother Charles (above) in Park Lane in Harefield.
	At the turn of the century she was still Elizabeth Collett now aged 55 and still living at Harefield with her brother Charles.
41O7	Jonathan Collett was born at Harefield in 1849. In 1851 he was aged 1 and 11 in 1861. By 1881 Jonathan was aged 31 and was working as a general labourer. He was not married but was living with three of his single siblings (Charles, Elizabeth and Frederick) at Park Lane in Harefield and next door to his cousin James T B Collett (below) and his family.
	At the time of the 1891 Census for Harefield Jonathan gave his age as being 39, when it should have been 41. Also living in Harefield at that time was 42 years old Margaret Collett who cannot be placed elsewhere and may therefore be Jonathan’s wife.
	A similar problem occurred ten years later when, in the 1901 Harefield Census, Jonathan again gave an incorrect age saying he was 48 rather than 51. At this time he was employed as a bricklayer’s labourer probably working with his bricklayer brother Frederick (below)
	Sadly by the time of the next census in April 1911, Jonathan Collett and his brother Frederick (below) were living in an institution in Harefield, which may have been the local workhouse. Jonathan Collett was sixty-two and he confirmed his place of birth was Harefield.
41O8	Frederick Collett was born at Harefield in 1853. Whilst apparently missing from some census records, he was listed as living at Park Lane in Harefield with three of his unmarried siblings (Charles, Elizabeth and Jonathan) in 1881 when unmarried and working as a bricklayer aged 27.
	The Census of 1891 placed Frederick as living at Harefield where he was aged 36.
	Ten years later according to the 1901 Census for Harefield, Frederick was now aged 43 which was very likely a misinterpretation of 48. At that time he was working as a bricklayer, possibly supported by his brother Jonathan (above) who was a bricklayer’s labourer.
	The two brothers were still together ten years later, but according to the census in 1911 they were living in an institution in Harefield, where Frederick Collett of Harefield was recorded as being fifty-eight years old.
41O9	William Henry Collett was born at Harefield in either later 1825 or early 1826 and was baptised there on 15.01.1826. The baptism record confirmed his mother as Elizabeth and his father as William, a master butcher. William Henry was listed as being aged 15 in 1841, although this may have been a ‘rounded age’ since his age varies from census to census.
	For example in 1861 he was thirty-four. At that time he was still a bachelor and was still living with his parents at their home in the High Street in Harefield. His occupation was that of Master Butcher, like his father, with whom he presumably worked.
	Seven weeks after the day of the census William married Ann Calcutt of Northamptonshire on 27.05.1861 at Limehouse in Stepney. The witnesses at the ceremony were David Collett, William’s younger brother, and Eliza Climpson. The marriage register recorded that both William and Ann were living at West India Road which was in Poplar close by Limehouse.
	Ann was born on 01.02.1838 at Steane Park just north-west of Brackley the daughter of James Calcutt and Hannah Matthews who were married at Lower Heyford in Oxfordshire on 03.11.1834. What may be of interest is that James Calcutt was a shepherd born at Stonesfield in Oxfordshire which also had a contingent of Colletts living there. See Part 38 - The Oxfordshire Stonemasons.
	Living near to William and Ann in Poplar at this time was William’s younger sister Emma who had just married George Goodman. Ann being much younger than William formed a close relationship with her sister-in-law Emma who was a similar age, and this closeness was continued by each of their eldest children, these being Henry the son of William, and Harriet the daughter of Emma, who were married nearly twenty years later.
	During the ten years following their wedding day, the marriage produced five children for the William and Ann, and all of them born at Mile End Old Town in Stepney. The birth certificate for their third child Laura revealed that the family was living at 7 William Street in Mile End Old Town.
	Within the next two years the family left William Street and by April 1871 they were living at 18 Roberts Place in Mile End Old Town in the St Philips West Tower Hamlets district of London from where William was continuing to work as a butcher.
	According to the 1871 Census the respective ages given for William and Ann was incorrect, being 40 and 39. Whereas they should have been nearer 44 and 32, with their age difference being twelve years. The reason for this may have been the ‘embarrassment’ of the difference in ages.
	In that same census William’s and Ann’s children were listed as Henry aged 8, Eliza aged 6 and Louisa (sic) aged 2. It seems highly likely that Ann was with-child on the day of the census in 1871, since the couple’s four child was born later that same year.
	A few years later Ann presented her husband with their fifth child, but this happy event was followed shortly after by a major tragedy for the family, when William died at the age of fifty.
	It was in 1875 that William Henry Collett died and was buried at St Saviours Church in Bow Common. His age at the time of his death was given as 55 which again conflicted with his actual age. So by the time of the census of 1881 Ann was recorded as being a widow. However, although she has been located within the census records for that year, she did not have her children with her.
	The 1881 Census confirmed that Ann Collett of Steane Park near Brackley was a widow and was a general servant working at the Kings Arms public house at 18 Moor Street in Soho. Ann gave her age as being forty, when in fact she was forty-two. Moor Street is still there today, just off Cambridge Circus on Shaftesbury Avenue.
	The proprietor and licenced victualler of the inn was Mr W Wheatley, 46 of Colmworth in Bedfordshire, with his younger wife Emily who was twenty-nine and of Kingland in Middlesex. The couple’s daughter was two years old Beatrice who was born at Soho.
	Three of Ann’s children were also living in the Soho area at this time, and these were Henry Collett who was head of the household, who said he was twenty-one when he was nearer eighteen, his sister Amy who was eleven, and his brother Arthur who was six years old.
	Ten years later in 1891 Ann was listed as living at 29 Hilldrop Crescent with her unmarried daughter Laura. Ann was aged 49 and was employed as a cook, while Laura was aged 20 and was a domestic housemaid. Hilldrop Crescent is still there today, just off the A503 Camden Road.
	As no record of daughter Eliza has ever been found, except in the 1871 Census, it might be assumed that she may have died around 1875 when her father passed away.
	With no record for Ann found in the 1901 Census, coupled with no mention of her in 1894 at the time her daughter Laura was married, it must be assumed that she had died between April 1891 and October 1894.
	Prior to this update, the original information on William suggested that he died at Uxbridge in 1913, but this was obviously not correct and could not have been this particular William Collett.
	41P1	Henry James Collett	Born on 31.12.1862
	41P2	Eliza Collett	Born on 05.06.1865
	41P3	Laura Collett	Born on 07.06.1869
	41P4	Amy Collett	Born in 1871 after 2^nd April
	41P5	Arthur Collett	Born in 1874
41O10	Mary Collett was born at Harefield in 1829 and was aged 22 in 1851
41O11	Ellen Collett was born at Harefield in 1831. As Ellen she was listed as being aged 9 in 1841. Around the age of twenty-one she fell pregnant and in 1853 she gave birth at Harefield to a base-born son given the name George Collett Jones. It would appear that her illegitimate son was taken into the care of his grandparents in Harefield. At some later time Ellen appears to have married the boy’s father or possibly his brother or other relative
	The whereabouts of Ellen and her husband has not been determined from the 1861 Census, but Ellen’s son was then aged 8 and was confirmed as still living with his grandparents at their home in the High Street in Harefield. It would appear that when old enough, Ellen’s son dropped Jones from his name. It may also have been a result of the shame associated with having an illegitimate child that Ellen left Harefield and moved into London where she referred to herself as Helen.
	By 1881 Ellen, now confirmed as Helen Jones, was a widow aged 50 who had been born at Harefield. She was working as a letter carrier while living in the third house along the High Street in Harefield. Also living in the High Street at that time was her brother Jacob Collett and his family (see below).
	Living with her were her sons Frederick Jones aged 18 and David Jones aged 16, both working as brick maker’s labourers, together with her daughter Caroline Jones aged 11. All three children were confirmed as having been born at Harefield.
	It seems likely, although not confirmed, that in 1871 Helen Jones, her husband and two sons were living in the Southwark St Saviour area of London and that she only returned to live at Harefield upon the event of the death of her husband sometime between 1872 and 1880.
	Within the Collett Family Bible there is a reference to the death of Helen Ellen Morgan nee Collett who died on 7^th June 1927. Since Ellen Collett of Harefield in 1831 was recorded in 1881 as Helen Jones it is possible that she married a Mr Morgan some time after this. Unfortunately there is no mention of Helen Ellen Morgan’s age at the time of her death, but if she was Ellen Collett she would have been ninety-four.
	41P6	George James Collett (Jones)	Born on 15.06.1853
41O15	Isaac Collett was born at Harefield in 1836. He was confirmed as being aged 4 in the 1841 Census and 14 in 1851 and living with his parents at Harefield, but there is no record of him living in the UK thereafter.
41O16	JACOB COLLETT was born at Harefield in 1839. He was listed as being aged 2 in 1841. On leaving school he took up employment as an agricultural labourer and in 1861 he was aged 21 and was unmarried and living with his parents at the High Street in Harefield.
	Five years later at Uxbridge he married Margaret Lacey in early 1865 and the couple settled in Harefield, where all of their children were born. Margaret was born at High Wycombe in 1845, the daughter of Alice Lacey.
	At the time of the 1871 Census for Harefield, Jacob gave his age as 32, while Margaret stated she was 26.
	Ten years later for the 1881 Census Jacob was working as a brick maker at Harefield but he gave his age in error as 39. This was the year he was born, rather than the 41 years of age that it should have been. Margaret stated she was 35 of High Wycombe. At that time they were living in the High Street in Harefield only a few doors away from Jacob’s sister Helen Jones nee Collett.
	The couple’s children living with them at that time were Isaac 14, Ellen 11, Emma 9, Flora 5, and Alfred 2, and all confirmed as having been born at Harefield. Also living with the family was Jacob’s father and butcher William Collett aged 77. There was also a lodger, 14 years old Robert Bugbee of Harefield who was an agricultural labourer.
	Jacob’s son Isaac followed in his father’s footsteps and in 1881 was working with his father as a brick maker’s labourer. It would appear that sons Jonas and David were subject to infant deaths as neither was listed in the 1871 Census or any subsequent census records.
	The 1901 Census continued to find Jacob living at Harefield where he was aged 62 and now working as a bricklayer’s labourer rather than a brick maker as he had been twenty years earlier. Still living with Jacob was his wife Margaret aged 55 and some of their younger children.
	41P7	Jonas Collett	Born in 1865; infant death
	41P8	Isaac Collett	Born in 1866
	41P9	David Collett	Born in 1868; infant death
	41P10	ELLEN ELIZABETH COLLETT	Born on 06.09.1870
	41P11	Emma Collett	Born in 1872
	41P12	Flora Collett	Born in 1875
	41P13	Thomas Alfred Collett	Born in 1878
	41P14	Mabel Collett	Born in 1880
	41P15	Lewis Collett	Born in 1882
	41P16	Ethel Collett	Born in 1884
41O17	Emma Collett was born at Harefield in December 1840 and was aged six months in the 1841 Census which took place on 6^th June that year. By 1851 Emma was aged 10 and was living with her family at Harefield in the Uxbridge & Hillingdon registration district.
	It would appear that on leaving school Emma sought work in the Watford area and in the 1861 Census she was incorrectly listed as being aged twenty-two. It was probably while she was at Watford that she met miller George Goodman and less than a year after the census day they were married at Holy Trinity Church in Kentish Town on 20.01.1862.
	George was a similar age to Emma, having born at Rickmansworth in 1839. The couple’s first child, Harriet Goodman, was born in July the same year that they were married. Not long after that the family settled in Poplar, living near to where Emma’s older brother William Henry Collett (above) was living at that time. There then followed further thirteen children over the next two decades.
	In 1871 the family of seven was living in the ‘Leather Market’ district of St Olave Southwark on the south side of the River Thames in London. The census return listed the family as living in a house in William Street in Bermondsey, where George was 31 and still working as a miller, his wife Emma was 30, and their five children at that time were Janet 8, Alice 7, Eliza 5, David 3, and George who was 2.
	Rather curiously the couple’s eldest child Harriet was not listed living with the family on that occasion. Instead, it looks as though she was living with her father’s brother Robert Goodman and his wife Emma Goodman formerly Washbrook at Watford, when she was described as being 11 and a silk winder.
	During the next ten years a further three children were added to the family which, by the time of the census in 1881 was living at 4 Abbey Street South in Bermondsey. Abbey Street today is the B202 link road between Tower Bridge Road (A100) and Jamaica Road (A200).
	George was no longer a miller, his occupation then being that of a carman, and living with him was his wife Emma and six of their children. These were Eliza 15 who was working as a domestic servant, David 14 who was still at school, George 13 who was an errand boy, Edmond 9, Ellen 2, and Ernest who was just seven months old having been born on 12.08.1880.
	Two more children were born into the family shortly after the census year and so by 1891 the Bermondsey family comprised George 54, Emma 52, George 22, Edmond 18, Ellen 12, Ernest 10, Alfred 8, and John aged 7 years.
	Just after the turn of the century George was still working as a carman in London at the age of 62. Emma was then 61 and the only one of their children still living with them was John aged 17 who was employed as a wharf clerk.
	The couple’s first child, and eldest daughter Harriet Goodman, married her cousin Henry James Collett in 1881. See Henry James Collett (Ref. 41P1) for further details of their family.
	Emma’s and George’s son Ernest Obid Goodman, who was born on 12.08.1880, married Charlotte Payn on 17.07.1907. Charlotte was the daughter of fishmonger Harvey Payn of Westminster and his wife Elizabeth Payn of Bradford. In 1901 Charlotte was a shop assistant living with her parents in the Newington area of London.
	Ernest and Charlotte had many children but only one daughter, Irene Lillian who was born on 04.08.1924 who later married Ronald Heard Valsler. And it was their daughter-in-law Janey Bullock, the wife of their son Colin Valsler, who kindly provided the details to open this branch of the family.
41O18	David Collett was born at Harefield in 1843 and was listed in the 1861 Census as aged 17 and still living at home with his parents at the High Street in Harefield. He was employed as an agricultural labourer at the time of the census.
	David was one of the witnesses at the Stepney Limehouse wedding of his older brother William Henry Collett (above) on 27.05.1861, at which David made his mark.
	He later married Charlotte Ward at Uxbridge during the April-June quarter of 1866, Charlotte having been born at Reading in 1839. Once they were married the couple moved to Harefield where they lived for the rest of life.
	Five years later in 1871 the couple were confirmed as living at Harefield where David was 28 and Charlotte 32. Also listed with them were their two daughters Lottie aged 4 and Elizabeth, who was born within the year, and their son William David age 3, all three of them having been born at Harefield.
	Ten years later the Harefield census of 1881 confirmed that David was 37 and that he was working as a builder. Living with him was his wife Charlotte aged 41 whose occupation was stated as being that of a grocer. This was perhaps an indication that she was the proprietor of the grocer’s shop in Harefield.
	Living with David and Charlotte in April 1881 were their seven children. These were Lottie aged 14 who had left school and was assisting her mother in her grocer’s shop, William aged 12, Elizabeth 10, Joseph 8, Alfred 6, Alice 5, and Grace who was two years old.
	Also living with the family at that time was David’s mother Elizabeth Collett aged 79 and of Ickenham, together with David’s younger brother Job Collett (below).
	In the 1891 Census for Harefield David was 48 and Charlotte was 51. The children still living with them on that occasion were Lottie 24, William 21, and Elizabeth 20 who was referred to as Clara Beth.
	By the turn of the century David was still working as a builder and was then aged 57. He was still living at Harefield with his wife Charlotte who was 61 and who seems to have retired from running the Harefield grocer’s shop by that time as she was listed as having no occupation.
	According to the Harefield census of 1911, David Collett of Harefield was sixty-seven and was still living there with his wife Charlotte who was seventy-one and also from Harefield. Still living with the elderly couple was their unmarried son Alfred Collett who was thirty-six, and David’s brother Job Collett (below) who was sixty-five.
	In addition to these, David and Charlotte’s daughter Alice had returned to the family home, together with her baby son. The census listed the two on them as Alice Creighton aged thirty-five, who was born at Harefield, and her son Francis Collett Creighton who was just one month old.
	Just over five years later, on 23.06.1916, Charlotte died while still living in Harefield, and she was followed two years later by David, who died there on 21.04.1918. A headstone in the churchyard of St Mary’s marks their joint graves.
	41P17	Lottie Collett	Born in late 1866
	41P18	William David Collett	Born in 1868
	41P19	Clara Elizabeth Collett	Born in 1870
	41P20	Joseph Collett	Born in 1872
	41P21	Alfred Collett	Born in 1874
	41P22	Alice Collett	Born in 1875
	41P23	Grace Collett	Born in 1878
41O19	Job Collett was born at Harefield on 27.06.1845 and on leaving school he became a bricklayer. In 1861 he was aged 15 and was living at the family home in the High Street in Harefield and 26 in 1871.
	A further ten years later and Job was still a bachelor but was now aged 34 and working as a bricklayer like his cousin Charles (above). According to the 1881 Census, Job was living with his brother David Collett in the property known as the grocer’s shop in Harefield.
	He reappeared in the 1891 Census aged 45 but strangely there was no record of him in 1901. It is known that he was a bachelor all his life and that he was a very eccentric character and was very careful, virtually Scrooge-like, with his money. At one time later in his life he was employed as a bird scarer, presumably at nearby London Airport.
	On the occasion of the 1911 census for Harefield, Job Collett was living there with his brother David Collett (above) and his wife Charlotte, and their son Alfred. Job was confirmed as being a bachelor at the age of sixty-five years.
	Job died at Harefield on 10.06.1934 aged 89 and left a considerable sum of money in his Will. His life is marked by a marble vault in St Mary’s Church at Harefield on which there is the following inscription ‘Job Collett son of William and Elizabeth of Harefield born 27^th June 1845 died 10^th June 1934’.
	The newspaper article reproduced in Appendix Two of this family line refers to Job visiting the church and planning the expensive tomb sixteen years before he died.
	His first Will was made on 5^th December 1923, over ten years before he died. This dictated that his estate would be held in trust for twenty years after his death and then divided into three, split equally between nephews Harry Collett and his son Bert, Arthur Collett, and Isaac Collett and his son Isaac.
	The aforementioned Harry Collett and Arthur Collett were Henry James Collett (Ref. 41P1) and his brother Arthur (Ref. 41P5), while Harry’s son Bert was a reference to Herbert Collett (Ref. 41Q1) the eldest son of Henry James Collett. Isaac was the cousin of Harry and Arthur.
	In fact it was only as a result of a visit from Henry James and his son Herbert after the making of his first Will, that Job re-wrote the document excluding the two of them because they did not adhere to Job’s strict abstinence policy.
	A Codicil to the Will was therefore made on 3^rd November 1925 which removed Harry and Bert Collett, who were replaced by Thomas Collett and his son Thomas. Also Isaac’s grandson was added, this being in addition to the inclusion of his son Isaac. However, all of these terms and conditions were later superseded when Job made his last Will and Testament.
	Under his final Will the eventual main beneficiaries to his estate were his nephews, although it would appear that the Will was not proved until 1937, perhaps because of family disputes over its contents. In October that year the Sunday Pictorial included a headline article about the ‘miser’ Job Collett. This is reproduced in an Appendix at the end of this family line.
	Upon his death the cottage in which he had lived most of his later life passed to his eldest nephew Isaac Collett, with the stipulation that it must be renovated before he received his inheritance. In the newspaper article, Isaac makes reference to the eight years following the death of Job that it would take before any of the beneficiaries would receive their inheritances.
41O21	Elizabeth Collett was born at Harefield in 1838 and was twelve years old in 1851. She later married the younger James Green who was born at Rickmansworth in 1845. This happened after 1861 when, as Elizabeth Collett, she was a witness at the wedding of her brother Richard (below).
	In 1881 James Green was an attendant at the public baths in Clerkenwell when, at the age of thirty-five and with his wife Elizabeth who was forty-one, the couple were living at 7 Cumming Street in Clerkenwell.
	Living with the couple at that time was their daughter Julia Green aged 17 and of Rickmansworth, and Elizabeth’s niece Emily Collett aged 13 and born at Harefield. Emily was the base-born child of Elizabeth’s younger sister Mary Ann Collett (below), with whom she was actually living in 1891.
41O22	Richard Benjamin Collett was born at Harefield on 10.12.1840 and was 11 in 1851 and 20 in April 1861. Five months later on 14.09.1861 at Hillingdon he married Caroline Hughes who was born at Harefield in 1842. Richard’s occupation at that time was that of a zinc worker.
	Caroline’s father, who was a witness at the wedding, was William Henry Hughes also of Hillingdon, who was a copper worker. The second witness to sign the marriage certificate was Richard’s sister Elizabeth Collett (above).
	Shortly after they were married Richard and Caroline were living at Abbey Road in Merton in Surrey where their first child was born. The child’s birth certificate stated that Richard Benjamin Collett was a copper forge.
	A year or so later the family had made the one mile move from Merton to Wimbledon where they were living at the time of the birth of the couple’s second and third child. The 1871 Census for Kingston & Wimbledon listed Richard as 30 and Caroline 29 and their two children as aged 5 and 2 respectively.
	The birth certificate for the couple’s third child placed the family as living at 2 Vine Cottages in Hubert Road in Wimbledon and made reference to Richard being employed as a foreman at the Garratt Copper Mills.
	Four years later the census of 1881 recorded the family of five as still living at 2 Vine Cottages but with Richard then working as a commercial clerk at the copper works.
	The family at that time comprised Richard B Collett aged 40 and Caroline aged 39, both of Harefield, and their three children Arthur F Collett 15 who was a draper’s porter, Clara C Collett aged 12 and Bernard B Collett aged 3.
	A further twenty years on and Richard aged 60 and Caroline aged 59 were living at Nutfield near Redhill in Surrey where Richard was working as a foreman at the Fullers Earth Works. Living with the couple at Nutfield was their 23 years old son Bernard who was also employed at the Fullers Earth Works, but as an engine driver.
	At the time of the marriage of his son Arthur, Richard was recorded on the marriage certificate as a Works Foreman.
	Sometime during the next few years Richard and Caroline left Nutfield and moved to Horley, south of Reigate in Surrey, although it would appear from Richard’s death certificate that he continued to work at the Fullers Earth Works in Nutfield and very likely with his son Bernard.
	And it was at Reigate that Richard and Caroline were confirmed as living at the time of the census in 1911. Richard Benjamin Collett was seventy, while Caroline was sixty-nine. Also living nearby in Reigate at that time was their youngest son Bernard and his family.
	Sadly it was later that same year that Richard Collett died on 09.10.1911 and, according to the certificate drawn up at Horley on 10^th October 1911, this happened at Cockley Pits in Nutfield where Richard was a foreman at the Fullers Earth Works.
	The certificate also confirmed his age as being seventy, and the cause of death was acute bronchitis. His passing was reported by his son Bernard who was present at Cockley Pits at the time of death.
	Following the death of her husband, Caroline moved to Newbury to live with her son Arthur at Shaw-cum-Donnington, where she died almost exactly eight years later on 11.10.1919.
	41P24	Arthur Frederick Collett	Born on 30.11.1865
	41P25	Clara C Collett	Born in 1868
	41P26	Bernard Bolton Collett	Born on 25.05.1877
41O23	Sarah Collett was born at Harefield in 1841 and was aged 9 in 1851. She may have married Charles Holloway a brick maker from Denham in Buckinghamshire. In 1881 she and Charles were living at Railway View in Horton Road in Hillingdon with their seven children.
41O24	Mary Ann Collett was born at Harefield in 1842 and was aged 8 at the time of the 1851 Census when she was living with her family at the home of her grandfather Henry Collett of Gloucestershire. No trace of her has so far been found in the 1861 Census.
	Around 1867 Mary Ann is thought to have given birth to a base-born daughter Emily, but neither mother nor daughter has been located in the 1871 Census.
	In 1874 Mary Ann married Thomas Crook who was born at Hill End in Harefield in 1846. The marriage certificate confirmed that Mary Ann was the daughter of Richard Collett, a labourer of Harefield. It seems likely that Mary Ann’s daughter was being cared for by other members of the family from the time the child was born up to 1881.
	It is possible that Thomas Crook had been previously married and brought into his marriage to Mary Ann Collett a son who had been born at Harefield around two years before he married Mary Ann.
	By the time of the 1881 Census, Mary Ann Crook was aged 38 and her labourer husband Thomas was 34 and they were living at Hill End in Harefield with two children. These were Henry Crook aged nine and Ernest Crook who was one year old who had also been born at Harefield.
	Ten years later the family was still living at Hill End where Mary Ann was 49, Thomas 43 and son Ernest was 11. Eldest son Henry, who would have been 19, was not living at the family home. However, there were two members of the Collett family living with them at that time.
	These were Emily M Collett aged twenty-three, the base-born daughter of Mary Ann, and Herbert E Collett (Ref. 41P31) who was nineteen. Both were described as being the stepchildren of the head of the house Thomas Crook. Whilst this was true in the case of Emily, the reference to Herbert as a stepchild would appear to be an error.
	Just after the turn of the century Mary was listed in the 1901 Census as being aged 57, while her husband Thomas was 53. Both were still living at Harefield where Thomas was employed as a general labourer and where Mary Ann died two years later.
	The Harefield Parish Register recorded that Mary Ann Crook was buried during June 1903.
	41P27	Emily Mary Collett	Born in 1867
41O25	Ann Collett was born at Harefield in 1845. Ann later married house painter Frederick Ridrup who was born in 1843 and by 1901 both of them were still living in Harefield. However, it is likely that she married Frederick after 1891 as there is no listing of her as Ann Ridrup in the earlier census records.
	There is a chance that she was first married to William Windfield and, although his wife was Ann Elizabeth, she was also born at Harefield in 1844.
41O26	James Theophilus Bolton Collett was born at Harefield in 1848. It would appear that he lived most of his life at Harefield apart for a brief period shortly after he married Ann (?). He married Ann very close to his twentieth birthday and their first child was born at Marston Moretaine south-west of Bedford where Ann was born in 1848.
	During the two years after the birth of their first child the family of three moved to Harefield where their remaining children were all born. By 1881 James was aged 33 and was working as a gardener and labourer, while his wife Ann was aged 32.
	Living with them at Park Lane in Harefield were their daughters Margaret 13, Harriet 11, Sarah 9, Rose 5, and their sons Walter 3 and James aged one year. And right next door to their house in Park Lane was the home of four of James’ cousins (see Charles Collett above).
	In 1901 at the age of 52 James was still working as a gardener and was still living in Harefield with his wife Ann aged 51. Living with them at that time was their unmarried eldest daughter Margaret whose age was given incorrectly as 30 rather than 33, and she and her mother were both confirmed as having been born at Marston Moretaine.
	Also living with them were the couple’s two youngest children Reginald who was fourteen and Daisy who was twelve years old, both of them confirmed as having been born at Harefield.
	By April 1911 only their son Reginald was still living with James and Ann. James Collett of Harefield was sixty-two, his wife was sixty-one, and their unmarried son was strangely twenty-eight, although once again this could have been a transcription error for twenty-three.
	It is not clear whether, at sometime after the children had grown up, that James and Ann moved from Harefield to live at Uxbridge, since Harefield lies within the Uxbridge district. What it known is that James’ death in 1916 was registered at Uxbridge.
	41P28	Margaret Collett	Born in 1867
	41P29	Harriet Collett	Born in 1869
	41P30	Sarah Ann Collett	Born in 1871
	41P31	Herbert Henry Collett	Born in 1872
	41P32	Rose Collett	Born in 1875
	41P33	Walter Herbert Collett	Born in 1877
	41P34	James Thomas Collett	Born in 1879
	41P35	Reginald Richard Collett	Born in 1887
	41P36	Daisy Beatrice Collett	Born in 1889
41O28	Harriet Collett was a twin with her brother John and was born in January 1851. John appears not to have survived beyond his early childhood but Harriet was recorded as being age 10 in 1861 and born at Harefield, where she was living at that time with her family.
	All that is known about Harriet after this is that she moved with her family to Uxbridge in the 1860s where she died in 1916.
41O29	Thomas Collett was born at Harefield in 1853. Shortly after he was born his family left Harefield and moved to Uxbridge where Thomas died in early 1871, before 2^nd April census day.
41O30	Ruth Collett was born at Harefield in 1839. According to the records she lived at Harefield where in 1841 she was 2, in 1851 she was 11, in 1861 she was 21 and in 1871 she was 31 and still a spinster. However, there was no record of her as Ruth Collett in the 1881, so she may have been married by then.
41P1	Henry James Collett was born at Mile End Old Town in Stepney on 31.12.1862. He was eight years old at the time of the census in 1871 when he and his family were living at 18 Roberts Place in Mile End Old Town from where his father William Henry Collett was working as a butcher. Sadly Henry’s father died four years later, following which his widowed mother Ann was forced to enter into domestic service when she took up the position of general servant at the Kings Arms public house in Soho. It was not previously known what had actually happened to Henry and his four siblings at this time in their lives, since none of them were living with their mother by the time of the census in 1881.
	However, thanks to new information received from his great great granddaughter Rebecca Humphreys in 2010, the full story of his life can now be told. The photograph of Henry (above) was also supplied by Rebecca and is an extract from a larger family group picture taken during the First World War.
	In April 1881, Henry Collett was living at 16 Church Street in Soho with his younger brother Arthur who was six, and his sister Amy who was eleven. He gave his age as being twenty-one, although he was actually nearer eighteen years old, and on that occasion he was working as a porter for a printer.
	The three siblings had probably moved to Soho to be nearer to their widowed mother Ann, who had found work as a general servant at the Kings Arms in Moor Street in Soho. Also living at 16 Church Street was eighteen years old Harriett Goodman who was recorded as a visitor.
	In fact Harriet Goodman (show on the right around 1916) was the first cousin of Henry James Collett, her mother being Emma Collett, the sister of Henry’s father William Henry Collett, and her father being George Goodman. It is possible, although not proved, that Henry and Harriet may have already been in a relationship by this time in April 1881, since the couple were married just a few months later. The marriage took place at the church of St James in Piccadilly towards the end of 1881 when Harriet was around nineteenth years old, having been born on 26.07.1862.
	By that time Henry and Harriet were living at Golden Square in Soho, between Regent Street and Shaftesbury Avenue. Henry’s occupation was recorded as being that of a porter for a bricklayer, that is, a hod-carrier.
	The couple’s first child, Herbert, was born during the following year in Soho. The marriage produced a further three children for Henry and Harriet before they left Soho for a move to South London, these being Louisa, Harry and Dorothy.
	By 1891 the family of six was living in the Lambeth district of Newington at 6 Monkton Street, which is still there today and is just off the Kennington Road (A23). According to the census that year, Henry was twenty-nine years old and was employed as a hotel porter.
	Harriet was also 29, and their four children were listed as Herbert 10, Louisa 7, Harry 6, and Dorothy who was three years old. Over the next ten years a further five children were added to the family, including a set of twin boys.
	The census return at the end of March in 1901 placed the Collett family living at 6 Victoria Dwellings (D Block) in the Battersea district of London. Henry was thirty-eight and was working as a resident mechanic, while his wife Harriet was also 38 and was described as a housekeeper.
	Henry’s and Harriet’s children, still living at the family home on that occasion were, Herbert who was nineteen, Dorothy who was twelve, twins Edmund and George who were both five years old, Irene who was four, Violet who was two, and baby Laura who was just twelve days old.
	By that time in 1901 the couple’s eldest daughter had left home to marry William Joyce. The only other missing child was their second son Harry, who may have died while still a child, since no further record of him has been found after 1891, nor has any member of the family any memory of him.
	The family’s accommodation in 1901 was built by The Metropolitan Artizans' and Labourers' Dwellings Association, and although Henry’s occupation was recorded as the resident mechanic, he was in fact the caretaker for Victoria Dwellings, with his wife being the housekeeper there. The Association had bought some of the land around Battersea Park from the Crown for the project at £1,600 per acre.
	Other bodies were also involved in developing the area, such as the Artizans' and General Labourers' Dwellings Company, who built Shaftesbury Estate. Charles Barry Junior was the architect to the MA&LD Association, which also had dwellings in King's Cross and later became known as the Victoria Dwellings Association.
	The buildings comprising Victoria Dwellings consisted of three blocks; one for artisans made up of 98 tenements of 3 or 4 rooms, and two for labourers each having 90 tenements of 1 or 2 rooms). They were of four storeys and were built in yellow stock brick. The Victoria Dwellings at Battersea Park Road were demolished in 1983.
	It seems rather odd that, to date, no record of any member of the family has been identified within the census returns completed in April 1911, except the eldest daughter Louisa who was married by then.
	Henry James Collett was extremely patriotic and joined up at the outbreak of the First World War. However, due to the fact that he was fifty-one he could not be put on front line duty and so was part of the volunteer non-combatant force. It is believed that he was awarded the military medal for his service to King and Country.
	In 1920 Henry and Harriet were living at 31 Landseer Street in Battersea where they received the tragic news that their son George had died as a victim of the flu pandemic. George had not been well as a result of his capture by the Germans during the Great War, and his enforced labour in a salt mine.
	At this time in his life Henry was employed as a maintenance man at the Royal Mail Sorting Office on Lavender Hill. Henry and Harriet were at the centre of a very lively and closely knit family. Their youngest daughter Laura lived on the top floor of 31 Landseer Street with her family. Her husband was a strong communist and had lively debates with his father-in-law. Henry’s eldest daughter Louisa lived at 62 Landseer Street, whilst his other daughter Irene lived next door to her at number 60.
	Henry’s and Harriet’s house hosted all manner of family gatherings and get-togethers and their grandchildren would often be found there. Harriet did everything she could to support her children during great difficulties, especially her daughters.
	Sometime around 1924, Henry went to visit his rich uncle Job Collett in Harefield. Unfortunately, Job was a strong believer in abstinence and did not approve of Henry’s social habits and, as a result of this, Job removed Henry (referred to as Harry) and his eldest son Bert from the second writing of his Will in 1925.
	In Appendix 2, at the end of this family line, there is a newspaper article which was published in 1937 after the Will of Job Collett was proved and settlement of his estate finally resolved, the main beneficiary being Henry’s cousin Isaac Collett (below).
	Henry James Collett died just before the start of the Second World War. He was a real character and could often be seen walking home swinging his walking stick and wearing his light, near white, planter’s suit. Landseer Street was bombed at the time of the blitz on London during WWII, hence the reason it does not exist today.
	41Q1	Herbert Collett	Born in 1882
	41Q2	Louisa Ellen Collett	Born in 1884
	41Q3	Harry Collett	Born in 1885
	41Q4	Dorothy Collett	Born in 1888
	41Q5	Edmund John Collett twin	Born in 1895
	41Q6	George A Collett twin	Born in 1895
	41Q7	Irene Harriet Rose Collett	Born in 1896
	41Q8	Violet Collett	Born in 1899
	41Q9	Laura Julia Collett	Born in 1901
41P2	Eliza Collett was born at Mile End Old Town in Stepney on 05.06.1865. The only other information so far found relating to Eliza is the 1871 Census in which she was aged six and was living with her family at 18 Roberts Place in Mile End Old Town.
	Her father died in 1875 and by April 1881 Eliza’s widowed mother was working as a general servant at the Kings Arms in Soho. No trace of Eliza or her sister Laura (below) has been found at this time.
	Two of Eliza’s siblings reappeared in the census of 1891, but nothing after 1871 has ever been found for Eliza so it must be assumed that she had passed away as a child.
	However, an entry in the Collett family bible includes the information that William Hayes and his wife Eliza both died in May 1933. It is therefore possible that Eliza Hayes may have been the former Eliza Collett and if so she would have been sixty-eight at the time of her death.
	Other entries in the bible record the deaths of Eliza’s brother Arthur Collett (below) on 3^rd August 1933 and Helen Ellen Morgan nee Collett on 7^th June 1927. The position of the latter of these two individuals within the family has not been positively identified, although it is possible that she was Ellen Collett (Ref. 41O11).
41P3	Laura Collett was born at Mile End Old Town in Stepney on 07.06.1869 and at that time her family was living at 7 William Street. Her birth certificate confirmed her parents as William and Ann Collett.
	Laura was listed in the 1871 Census as living with her family at 18 Roberts Place in Mile End Old Town, but was recorded in error as ‘Louise’ aged two years. So far no record of Laura or her sister Eliza (above) has been found ten years later in the census of 1881 following the death of their father in 1875.
	By 1891 Laura was twenty years old and was a domestic housemaid living once again with her widowed mother Ann Collett at 29 Hilldrop Crescent in Islington St Lukes, midway between Kentish Town and Lower Holloway.
	Three and a half years later on 01.10.1894 Laura married George Pitts by banns at All Saints Church in Great Barford just to the east of Bedford. George was a railway porter from Great Barford and was living at Caledonian Road in Islington at the time of their wedding.
	The church records indicate that it was Laura’s brother Henry Collett who gave away the bride, with no reference made at all to her deceased father, or her mother, who may have also passed away by then.
	Just over six years after Laura and George were married they were living in Islington with their first child and, according to the census return for 1901, the family of three was listed as Laura Pitts aged 30 from Stepney, and George Pitts aged 31 of Great Barford who was working as a builder’s general labourer, and their son George Pitts who was one year old and born at Kings Cross.
	During the next decade two further children were added to the family which, by April 1911 was living in the Greenwich registration district of London. The family on that occasion comprised George Pitts of Great Barford who was 42, Laura Pitts of Stepney who was 40, and their son George who was eleven, and their two daughters Dorothy who was nine and Ena who was four. All three children were listed as having been born at Islington prior to the family’s move to Greenwich.
	They later had another daughter Emma Pitts who appears to have been born at Great Barford. Emma was the grandmother of Phil of Harrow who kindly provided the information relating to his family line. Phil was born and lived in Ipswich and after attending university he moved to Harrow, coincidentally close to his ancestral roots at Harefield.
	Later in their lives, Laura and George Pitts lived at 47 Friendly Street in Lewisham that is, until George passed away, at which time Laura moved to Finchley Road in Ipswich to be near to her daughter Emma and her family.
	Laura Pitts nee Collett was described as a small, happy lady, who was always whistling and who loved her canaries.
41P4	Amy Collett was born after the second of April 1871, and this probably took place at 7 William Street in Mile End Old Town in the Stepney area of London where her family was living on the day of the census that year.
	Four years later in 1875, Amy’s father William Collett died and this tragic event appears to have resulted in the family being separated. According to the census in 1881, Amy was eleven and was living at 16 Church Street in Soho under the care of her older brother Henry (above), who was head of the household at the age of twenty-one. Also living there with them was their brother Arthur (below).