PART FORTY-EIGHT

The Dudley West Midlands Line

Updated April 2011

This is the family line of cousins John Collett (Ref. 48Q2)

and Elizabeth Trenchard nee Collett (Ref. 48Q3) of Somerset

as denoted by the names in capital letters

It is also the family line of Marilyn Stoddard nee Flanagan

who has kindly provided details of the fascinating life of

Sarah Collett (Ref. 48N23) of Sedgley who was married three times

Valuable new information received from Linda Binding in Australia in February 2011

has enabled the family of John Collett (Ref. 48M6) to be confirmed, where previously

there were two options included in an appendix at the end of the file. Therefore

the family previously depicted as Option One has now been assimilated into the

main body of the file, while Option Two has been retained in the appendix.

The following information is listed here in case it can be confirmed at a later date

Questions have been raised concerning Richard Collett of Dudley who would appear to have been married three times. Recent research has revealed that there were two Richard Colletts born around the same time who came from the Dudley area, both of whom were living in Dudley in April 1871. The only one previously shown here in this family line is the Richard (Ref. 48M9) who was thought to have been married three times. The ‘new’ Richard Collett was baptised at St Bartholomew’s Church in Wednesbury (not far from Dudley) on 25^th July 1802. He was the son of Abraham Collett and his wife Ann Addich who were married at West Bromwich on 28^th March 1796. So was Abraham Collett (Ref. 48L3) the brother of Samuel Collett (Ref. 48L2) who previously started this family line?

This recent discovery therefore reveals that Richard (Ref. 48M9) was NOT married three times, but just once, and that the other ‘two wives’ were in fact the wives of the second Richard.

In 1871 one Richard Collett, who was a bricklayer, was married to Sarah and they were living at Walters Row in Dudley while the other Richard Collett, who was a farmer, was living at St John Street in Dudley with his second wife Hannah and three of their sons.

This update therefore includes both Richard Colletts for the first time, in order to clarify all of the details relating to both of their families, the compilation of the first one having been aided by the fact that Richard’s brother George, and his son Noah (also of Walters Row) were also bricklayers.

~~~

Also in a previous version of this family line there was reference to a Thomas Collett in the introduction who, at that time could not be placed within the family. However, new information gratefully received from Lavinia Phillips (see Ref. 48P5) confirms the fact that Esther Collett (Ref. 48N13) married Benjamin Moss and in that previous introduction Mary Moss who married Thomas Collett turns out was the sister of Benjamin Moss.

This information has therefore helped to tie in the family of Thomas Collett, although not as accurately as one would like. The father of Thomas Collett, who married Mary Moss, was another Thomas Collett, and his father has been revealed as John Collett, and it is he that starts this family line, alongside Samuel Collett from where the original line started.

~~~

There are two other Collett families with a Dudley connection that have not yet been located within this family line and these are (a) William 45, his wife Ann 45, and their children Henry 18, Charles 16, and Eliza 14 who appear in the Dudley Census of 1841, and (b) the large family of Thomas Collett of Colborn Brook near Stourbridge which was living in Dudley in 1891. Thomas was 41, his wife Catherine was 39, and their Dudley born children were Thomas 14, Caroline 13, Clara 11, Samuel 10, Sydney 7, and George 2.

~~~

In addition to this line, there was another Collett family whose children were all born at Dudley after 1860, the details of which can be found in Part 14 – The Bourton-on-the-Water Line (Ref. 14N24).

The reference to Samuel Collett and Ann Clifford as possibly being the parents of Samuel Collett (Ref. 48L2) in the previous version of this file has been removed. This follows the receipt from Marilyn Stoddard of a family tree produced by Betty Judge which shows the family of Samuel and Ann to be unrelated to the Collett families of Dudley. Instead it is now being considered that, according to Alan Stanier, his parents were John Collett (Ref. 14K11) and Sarah Paxford whose family line is depicted in Part 14 – The John Kyte Collett Line.

48L1	John Collett may have been born around 1770 and he may have been a cousin to Samuel and Abraham Collett (below, although it is possible that he was a brother to one or other of them. Despite a thorough search, no suitable parents have been found for either John or Abraham (Ref. 48L3).
	There is however a common occupation that could link John and Abraham, since it is established that John’s son Thomas was a master gardener, while Abraham’s son Richard was a farmer and gardener.
	Around 1790 or just after, John Collett married Susannah and their known son Thomas was baptised at Throckmorton in Worcestershire. It seems very likely that other children were born into this family, but so far none have been found, apart that is from a Richard.
	Richard Collett was baptised at Throckmorton on 14.03.1802, but was the son of John and Mary Collett rather than John and Susannah. This therefore raises the questions, was he the same John Collett, and was Mary his second wife.
	48M1	Thomas Collett		Born in 1796
	48M2	Richard Collett (not proved)		Baptised on 14.03.1802 at Throckmorton
48L2	SAMUEL COLLETT (Ref. 14L12) may also have been born around 1770, although it would appear that he was six or seven years old when he was baptised at St Within’s Church in Worcester on 22.10.1777, the son of John Collett and his wife Sarah.
	Samuel Collett married Esther Southall on 13.01.1794 at St Thomas’ Church in Dudley with whom he had twelve children and all of them were born at Dudley. The wedding was conducted by banns and the witnesses to the church ceremony were W Bridgewater and Joseph Bond. It was also at St Thomas’ Church that all of their children were baptised.
	Esther Southall was the daughter of Joshua Southall and Elizabeth Evans and was baptised at St Thomas’ Church in Dudley on 30.05.1773 when she was about five years old. These details would seem to suggest that Samuel and Esther were both born around 1770.
	Double baptisms of their children were carried out at the same church in 1796, 1802, and 1806. However, there is no evidence to indicate that the children involved were twins, and it is more likely that they were born separately when taking into consideration the years in between.
	Therefore the dates of birth of the early children listed below are only an approximation, in the absence of any better information.
	During his life Samuel Collett was a carpenter, as confirmed in the marriage register for his youngest daughter Elizabeth, and it was three years after, in the second quarter of 1842, that he died while still living at Dudley.
	Exactly when Samuel died has not been determined. What is known is that his wife Esther Collett died at Dudley on 29.07.1837 at the age of 69, and this would place her date of birth around 1769. The cause of death was inflammation of the bowels and the informant for the family was her son John Collett, who was a carpenter.
	48M3	Ann Collett				Born in 1794
	48M4	Sarah Collett				Born in 1795
	48M5	Mary Maria Collett				Born in 1797
	48M6	John Collett				Born in 1800
	48M7	Richard Collett				Born in 1802
	48M8	Mary Maria Collett				Born in 1804
	48M9	Richard Collett				Born in 1806
	48M10	William Collett				Born in 1808
	48M11	George Collett				Born in 1810
	48M12	Joseph Collett				Born in 1813
	48M13	Mary Collett				Born in 1815
	48M14	Elizabeth Collett				Born in 1820
48L3	Abraham Collett, like John and Samuel (above), may also have been born in the early 1770s, although no records of his birthplace or parents have been found at this time. What is known is that on 28.03.1796 Abraham Collett married Ann Addich at West Bromwich.
	Their known son Richard Collett was baptised at St Bartholomew’s Church in Wednesbury on 25.07.1802, Wednesbury being just a short distance from Dudley.
	It would also be unreasonable to accept that Richard was their only child, so further work on investigating a possible Wednesbury branch of the Collett will be required at sometime in the future.
	48M15	Richard Collett				Born in 1802
48M1	Thomas Collett was born in 1796 and baptised at Throckmorton on 16.10.1796, the son of John and Susannah Collett. By 1841 Thomas was married to Elizabeth and living with them at Dudley was their son Charles. Thomas had a rounded age of forty, while his wife was older with a rounded age of fifty, and their son was fifteen.
	It would appear that Elizabeth died during the following decade, at which time Thomas married the much younger Phoebe with whom he had another son born at Dudley in 1849. No record of the family, or Thomas’ son Charles, has been found in the census of 1851, but by 1871 the family of three was living at 7 Rowley Road in Dudley.
	Thomas Collett of Throckmorton was 73 and his occupation was that of a master gardener at a local nursery. His wife Phoebe from Dudley was 63, and their twenty-one years old son Thomas was working as a whitesmith.
	As with the family of Abraham’s son Richard (Ref. 48M15), this Collett family also employed a servant at the house in Rowley Road, and this was William Wilkinson aged sixteen from Market Harborough in Leicestershire.
	During the 1870s Thomas Collett senior died and also during this period his son Thomas married Mary Ann Moss, the daughter of Reuben and Mary Moss of Dudley. Following the death of her husband, his widow Phoebe Collett, together with her widowed sister Mary Girzell, were recorded in 1881 as living with Thomas Collett and his wife Mary Ann at Wolverhampton Street in Dudley when Phoebe was 74.
	Phoebe Collett died during the next few years.
	48N1	Charles Collett			Born in 1825
	48N2	Thomas Collett			Born in 1849
48M3	Ann Collett was born at Dudley and possibly in late 1794. She was baptised at St Thomas’ Church in Dudley on 27.03.1796 in a joint ceremony with her sister Sarah (below), when her parents were confirmed as Samuel and Esther Collett.
	She later married Joseph Smith and this took place at St Thomas’ Church in Dudley on 24.04.1814 and happened two months after the birth of their first child. The marriage is known to have produced at least three children for the couple and all of them born at Dudley and baptised at the Church of St Thomas.
	48N3	William Smith		Baptised on 20.02.1814
	48N4	Joseph Smith		Born on 31.07.1818; bapt. on 16.08.1818
	48N5	Samuel Smith		Baptised on 26.12.1819
48M4	Sarah Collett was born at Dudley around late 1795. She was baptised in a joint ceremony with her sister Ann (above) on 27.03.1796 at St Thomas’ Church in Dudley, when her parents were confirmed as Samuel and Esther Collett.
48M5	Mary Maria Collett was born at Dudley possibly in late 1797. She was baptised at the Church of St Thomas in Dudley on 04.02.1798, the daughter of Samuel and Esther Collett. Sadly Mary died during that same year.
48M6	John Collett was born at Dudley around 1800 and was baptised with his brother Richard (below) in a joint ceremony at St Thomas’ Church in Dudley on 19.09.1802. He was the eldest son of carpenter Samuel Collett and it was logical that he followed in his father’s footsteps by becoming a carpenter. His occupation was later confirmed in the death certificate for his mother Esther Collett, who died at Dudley in 1837, when her son John Collett, a carpenter, was named as the informant of her death.
	It was around twenty-three years prior to the death of his mother when John married Martha Chance at West Bromwich on 22.11.1824. Once married the couple settled in Dudley where the four known children of John and Martha were born. However, it may have been during the birth of a fifth child in the first half of the 1830s that Martha died, since she was not recorded living with John and his children in the census of 1841.
	The census that year confirmed that John Collett was a carpenter, and that he had a rounded age of 35 (sic). At that time in his life he was living at the Minories in Dudley with his four children, John and Mary both aged 13, Catherine who was 11, and Harriet who was nine years old. The parish records confirm that all four of them were baptised at St Thomas’ in Dudley, when they were confirmed as the children of John and Martha Collett.
	The fact that there were no further children born to John after 1831 would seem to confirm that his wife had died after the birth of their daughter Harriet. In addition to the five members of the Collett family, the census also listed 25 years old Emma Perry as living at the same address, and she may well have been acting as the housekeeper to John Collett, and was looking after and caring for his children while he was at work.
	By 1851 John’s eldest daughter Mary was married and had already started a family of her own. Living with Mary and her family at 22 George Street in Dudley was John’s youngest daughter Harriet. No record of John or his other two known children have been located at that time in their lives. John himself would have been around fifty years old, but they is a possibility that he had died prior to the census in 1851.
	The 1841 Dudley family of a second John Collett, and his wife Ann, is detailed in the appendix at the end of this file, and has been included in this family line in the hope that the family may be connected to a member of this family line at some time in the future.
	48N6	Mary Collett				Born in 1825 at Dudley
	48N7	John Collett				Born in 1827 at Dudley
	48N8	Catherine Collett				Born in 1829 at Dudley
	48N9	Harriet Collett				Born in 1831 at Dudley
48M7	Richard Collett was born at Dudley in 1802. He was baptised there in a joint ceremony with his brother John (above) at St Thomas’ Church on 19.09.1802, the son of Samuel and Esther Collett. Sadly within the next six months Richard died at Dudley on 06.03.1803.
48M8	Mary Maria Collett was born at Dudley around 1804 and was named in the memory of her sister who had already passed away. She was baptised with her brother Richard (below) on 06.04.1806 at St Thomas’ Church in Dudley. Mary was the third child of the first six children of Samuel and Esther Collett to die within the space of just a few years.
48M9	Richard Collett (the bricklayer) was born at Dudley, and most likely around 1806. He was named after his brother who had died just three years earlier and was baptised at the Church of St Thomas in Dudley on 06.04.1806 in a joint ceremony with his sister Mary (above) when his parents were confirmed as Samuel and Esther Collett.
	It was originally thought that Richard may have been married more than once during his life. However, the discovery of another Richard Collett with a similar age and birthplace has led to a complete review of the life of Richard the bricklayer.
	It is established that Richard the bricklayer Collett of Dudley did married Sarah Pearson on 27.02.1827 at Kingswinford just two miles west of Dudley. A further link between the two families happened in 1864 when Joseph Collett, the son of Richard’s brother Joseph (below), married Mary Jane Pearson at nearby Stourbridge just south of Kingswinford.
	In addition to these two connections, there was a further much later link to the Pearson family. This happened after Richard’s youngest sister Elizabeth Collett (below) married Thomas Whitehouse, and it was their granddaughter Emily Whitehouse who married James Pearson around the end of the century.
	The marriage of Richard Collett and Sarah Pearson initially produced three daughters and two sons prior to the census of 1841. In an earlier version of the family history, it was suggested that Sarah may have died after the birth of the fifth child and that Richard then married Sarah Bedall with whom he had a further two children, the first of which was born before the census of 1841, the other the year after.
	However, this has been discounted in the light of new research which shows that Sarah Bedall married James Norris at Kidderminster on 8^th September 1839, the same day and place she was previously believed to have married Richard Collett. So it must be assumed that Richard was only ever married to Sarah Pearson.
	Although this new information shows that Sarah Pearson survived to old age, there had been two known deaths in the Collett family between 1832 and 1841. These were Richard’s and Sarah’s two sons Samuel and Matthew, both of whom were missing from the family listed at Dudley in 1841.
	No actual record of the death of Samuel Collett has been found, but Matthew Collett was just over one year old when he died at Dudley on 8^th April in 1838, when his parents were confirmed as Richard and Sarah Collett.
	For the process of updating this version of the family history, it has been assumed that the Richard Collett who married Sarah Bedall during the third quarter of 1839 was Richard the farmer Collett (Ref. 48M15). The wedding of this couple took place at Kidderminster and this does not correspond to the details given in later census records which indicate that Sarah was of Dudley and not Kidderminster.
	By the time of the first national census in June 1841 the family of Richard and Sarah Collett was living at Church Field Row in Dudley. This comprised Richard and Sarah, both with a rounded age of 35, and their five surviving children, Sarah aged 14, Eliza aged 12, Esther who was six, and baby son Noah who was only three months old.
	Unfortunately the census of 1851 is not reliable but there two Richard Colletts of the right age, one living in the Wolverhampton & Bilston area, and one in the Wolverhampton & Tettenhall area, but neither with any apparent connection to Dudley.
	Ten years later in the census of 1861, the family was incorrectly listed under the name ‘Collin’. Richard of Dudley was 57 and his occupation was that of a bricklayer, while his wife was Sarah who was also 57 and from Dudley.
	Only the couple’s two youngest children were listed as living with them at Vicarage Prospect on West Wellington Road in Dudley, and these were twenty-one years old Noah and nineteen years old Maria, both of them confirmed as having been born at Dudley.
	By this time Richard’s and Sarah’s three daughters Sarah, Eliza, and Esther were all married with families of their own. See their individual records for exact details.
	All of their children had left the family home by 1871, leaving Richard Collett of Dudley aged sixty-seven who was still working as a bricklayer. During the years since the previous census the couple had left Vicarage Prospect, and instead Richard and Sarah were living at Walters Row in Dudley, where Sarah Collett of Dudley was sixty-nine (sic).
	Again no record has been found of the deaths of Richard and Sarah who are understood to have died during the next decade, since neither of them feature in the census of 1881.
	48N10	Sarah Collett				Born in 1827
	48N11	Eliza Collett				Born in 1829
	48N12	Samuel Collett				Born in 1832
	48N13	Esther Collett				Born in 1835
	48N14	Matthew Collett				Born in 1837
	48N15	Noah Collett				Born on 27.02.1841
	48N16	Maria Collett				Born in 1842 at Dudley
48M10	William Collett was born at Dudley possibly in late 1808 and he was baptised there at St Thomas’ Church on 06.03.1808, the son of Samuel and Esther Collett.
	William later married Ann and by June 1841 the couple had had three children and were living in Dudley. William and Ann both had rounded ages of 30, while their children were Elizabeth aged 9, Ann aged 5 and three years old Emma.
	48N17	Elizabeth Collett				Born in 1831 at Dudley
	48N18	Ann Collett				Born in 1835 at Dudley
	48N19	Emma Collett				Born in 1837 at Dudley
48M11	George Collett was born at Dudley in 1810 and was baptised on 21.10.1810 at St Thomas’ Church in Dudley, the son of Samuel and Esther Collett. When he was twenty-seven he married (1) Jane Brickes and the marriage took place on 27.12.1837 at Tipton just one mile from Dudley.
	Around nine months later and during the third quarter of the following year Jane presented George with the first of their two children, both of which were born at Dudley. So by June 1841 the family of three were recorded in the census as living in the Cross Guns to Freebodies Lane district of Dudley.
	George had a rounded age of 30, Jane was 25, and their son Thomas was two years of age. All three were simply listed as having been born within the county of Worcestershire.
	Within two years of the census day in 1841 the size of the family was increased with the arrival of the couple’s second son in the first three months of 1843. Tragically when the new baby was just over two years old George’s wife Jane died leaving her husband with his two young sons to look after.
	The Dudley census of 1851 confirmed that George aged 39 was a widower and that living with him was his two sons Thomas aged 12 and Samuel aged 6.
	It is of interest that on the occasion of the census of 1841 and 1851, and at the registration of his wife’s death, the surname was recorded as Cullett whereas on all other occasions it was Collett.
	It would appear that George remained a widower for almost nine years that is, until he married (2) Eliza Turner at Dudley during the first three months of 1854. Eliza was the daughter of Arthur and Sarah Turner of Dudley.
	It is worth pointing out at this stage that Eliza Turner was baptised at St Thomas’ Church in Dudley on 28.03.1802 and that she was around two years old at the time. It is very likely that she gave a much younger age in the census records because she was ten years older than George and that this was done to save embarrassment for the couple.
	Her greater age would also account for the reason why their marriage produced no further children for George, as Eliza would have been 54 compared to her husband who was 44.
	Six years later, at the time of the census of 1861, George was 49 and was working as a bricklayer. He and his family were living at Angel Street in Dudley where his wife was listed as Eliza who was 48 and born at Dudley. With the couple were George’s two sons Thomas 21 and Samuel 17.
	Also staying with the family at that time was George’s nephew, eleven years old Thomas Whitehouse of Dudley. He was the son of George’s younger sister Elizabeth Collett (below) and her late husband Thomas Whitehouse senior who had died in the early 1850s.
	It is interesting to note in both 1861 and 1871 that George’s sister Elizabeth Hill nee Collett, formerly Elizabeth Whitehouse (below) was also living in Angel Street in Dudley
	It seems very likely that during the 1860s George died at Dudley since no record of him has so far been found in the census of 1871. Instead his widow Eliza ‘Cullett’ was still living at Dudley, and on this occasion she gave her age more accurately as being 70 years old.
	On that occasion, in April 1871, Eliza was living with her stepson Samuel and his wife Elizabeth at Dock Lane Court in Dudley, where Elizabeth’s mother Ann Haden was also living at that time. Eliza only survived for a further three and a half years when she died at Dudley during the last quarter of 1874 aged 74, thus confirming her year of birth as 1800.
	48N20	Thomas Collett				Born in 1838
	48N21	Samuel Collett				Born in 1843
48M12	Joseph Collett was born at Dudley in late 1812 or early in 1813 and was baptised there at St Thomas’ Church on 28.03.1813, the youngest son of Samuel and Esther Collett.
	Joseph married Esther Hartshorn by banns at the parish church in Kingswinford on 12.09.1838. The marriage certificate confirmed the following details for the couple. Joseph was a carpenter and bachelor of full age and was residing at Buck Pool prior to the wedding.
	Buck Pool was an area between Brierley Hill and Wordsley and was formerly known as Brewer Street.
	Joseph’s father was acknowledged as Samuel Collett carpenter deceased. Spinster Esther’s father was Edward Hartshorn a collier deceased, and her address was also stated as being Buck Pool. The witnesses at the ceremony were Joseph’s youngest sister Elizabeth Collett (below), and William Taylor.
	By June 1841 the marriage had produced the couple’s first child. At that time the family of three was living with Esther’s widowed mother sixty years old Hannah Hartshorn and her sister Sarah Hartshorn at Grave Yard in Sedgley just north of Dudley and within the Dudley, Wolverhampton and Seisdon registration district.
	Joseph and Esther were both listed with a rounded age of 25, while their son Samuel, who was named after the child’s grandfather, was one year old. It is possible that Esther was with child on the day of the census, since later than same year she gave birth to a daughter Sarah who was born at Sedgley.
	The next child was also born at Sedgley but after that the family moved to Dudley where the couple’s fourth child was born. The census of 1851 recorded the family living at Dudley where Joseph was 37, Esther 35, their daughter Sarah was 9, and sons Joseph and Richard were aged 7 and 4 respectively.
	The couple’s first born child Samuel was not listed with the family on this occasion as he had died almost exactly one year after the previous census.
	At the time of the 1861 Census the name was spelt with just one ‘t’. The family was confirmed as living at Vicarage Prospect on the West Wellington Road in Dudley and comprised Joseph 47, his wife Esther 46, and their two sons Joseph of Sedgley who was 17 and Richard of Dudley who was 15.
	Joseph’s occupation was that of a carpenter and his place of birth was confirmed as Dudley, whereas his wife had been born at Sedgley. Living with the family was their married, and already widowed, daughter Sarah Guest aged 19 and her one year old son Thomas Guest.
	The next census of 1871 confirmed that Joseph was 56, that Esther was 54, and that their son and his wife and their first child were living with them at Dudley. Richard was 24, his wife Elizabeth was 23, and their daughter Sarah was not yet one year old.
	Six years later on 10.03.1877 Joseph died while he and Esther were living at 24 Cromwell Street on Kates Hill in Dudley. He was 63 and a carpenter and the cause of death was cancer in the stomach. Esther was present at his passing and it was she also that informed the authorities.
	Following the death of her husband, Esther went to live with her son Richard and his family. This was recorded in the 1881 Census when Esther was listed as a widow and a servant aged 66 while living at the Dudley home of Richard Collett. Also living in the house at 29 Price Street was two of Esther’s grandsons.
	The first was Joseph Guest aged 19, the second child of her daughter Sarah from her first marriage, while the other grandson was John Bowen, the son from her daughter Sarah’s second marriage.
	Just over ten years later Esther died at 16 Price Street on Kates Hill in Dudley on 24.12.1890 at the age of 74. The death certificate revealed that the cause of death was paralysis and bronchitis, and that the informant was her daughter Sarah Flanagan of 29 Stone Street in Dudley who was present at the death.
	48N22	Samuel Collett				Born in 1839
	48N23	Sarah Collett				Born in 1841
	48N24	Joseph Collett				Born in 1843
	48N25	Richard Collett				Born on 06.11.1846
48M13	Mary Collett was born at Dudley on 15.11.1815 and was named after her two older sisters, both of whom had died while very young. She was nearly three years old when she was baptised at Dudley in the Church of St Thomas on 01.11.1818, the daughter of Samuel and Esther Collett.
48M14	Elizabeth Collett was born at Dudley in late 1819 or very early in 1820 and like all of her eleven siblings before her she was baptised there in St Thomas’ Church on 09.01.1820, the last child of Samuel and Esther Collett.
	During her life she had two husbands. On the first occasion she married (1) Thomas Whitehouse at the Parish Church in Rowley Regis in Staffordshire on 08.07.1839, the witnesses being John Breasier and Edward Bridgewater. The parish register confirmed she was a spinster of Tividale (between Dudley and West Bromwich) and that her father’s name was Samuel Collett.
	This marriage produced three children for Elizabeth and Thomas, Samuel, Emily, and Thomas. The census for Dudley of 1851 listed the family living at 183 Minories as Elizabeth 30, Thomas 33, and their children Samuel 5, Emily 3, and one year old Thomas junior.
	However, not longer after the census day Thomas Whitehouse senior died.
	Elizabeth then married (2) Eli Hill on 06.02.1854 at Netherton within the parish of Dudley. On that occasion Elizabeth was recorded as being a widow aged 34, while Eli was a bachelor of 35 and his occupation was that of a miner. Both were listed as being residents of Queen’s Cross.
	Elizabeth’s father was again confirmed as carpenter Samuel Collett (deceased), and likewise Eli’s father was named as tailor William Hill (deceased). The witnesses at the wedding were James MacKay and Elizabeth Binal.
	This second marriage produced just one child for Elizabeth and Eli with the birth of a son. By 1861 the family was living at 21 Angel Street in Dudley and comprised Elizabeth 42 and coal miner Eli also 42 of Wolverley, and their son William aged 4. Also living with the family were two of Elizabeth’s three children from her first marriage, these being Samuel Whitehouse and Emily Whitehouse.
	It was also in Angel Street that Elizabeth’s brother George Collett (above) was living at that time in 1861 and staying with him was Elizabeth’s other son Thomas Whitehouse.
	Elizabeth and Eli Hill were still living at Angel Street in Dudley in April 1871 when both of them were 52 and their son William Hill was then 14. Also living at the same house in Angel Street but as boarders was Elizabeth’s son Thomas Whitehouse and his wife and child.
	During the next decade Elizabeth Hill passed so by April 1881 her husband Eli was living as a widower at number five 2 Court, Queens Cross in Dudley with his son William. Both were listed as being unemployed coal miners, Eli at the age of 62 and William as a bachelor of 24.
	48N26	Samuel Whitehouse				Born in 1845 at Dudley
	48N27	Emily Whitehouse				Born in 1847 at Dudley
	48N28	Thomas Whitehouse				Born in 1849 at Dudley
	48N29	William H Hill				Born in 1856 at Dudley
48M15	Richard Collett (the farmer) was born in 1802 and was baptised at St Bartholomew’s Church in Wednesbury on 25.07.1802, the son of Abraham and Ann Collett.
	Richard was married when in his late forties and seems to have been a man of mystery in his younger years, since no record of him has been found in the census of 1841, or 1851 by which time it is known that he was married.
	Richard married (1) Esther Broad at Cheltenham during the first three months of 1850. Tragically it would appear that Esther died before the marriage produced any children for the couple, perhaps even during childbirth.
	Following the loss of his wife it would seem that prior to 1854, or at the start of that year, Richard married (2) Hannah Day with whom he had four children. According to the Dudley census of 1861, Richard was 58 and his wife was listed as Hannah aged 48, although the surname was recorded in error as Callett and not Collett.
	Just three of their four children were listed with them on that occasion and these were Mary 7, John 5, and William 3. The couple’s fourth and last child was born at Dudley later that same year, which may indicate that Hannah was probably with child on the day of the census.
	On that day, April the seventh in 1861, the family was living at Dixons Green in Dudley. Richard was no longer working as a farmer and his occupation was that of a gardener and day worker. His wife Hannah had been born at Himley just south of Wombourne in Staffordshire, and their three children Mary, John and William, had all been born at Dudley.
	Richard’s place of birth was curiously listed as Thomastown in Worcestershire which was a reference to the area of Dudley known as St Thomas Town, so named after the parish church. It was perhaps Richard’s former occupation as a farmer that had brought some wealth to the family, since the census of 1861 also listed a nurse / housemaid living with the family. This was 16 years old Ellen Hartill of Dudley.
	By 1871 the family was living at St John Street in Dudley where Richard was 67 and of Worcestershire, his wife Hannah was 58 and from Staffordshire, and the children still living with them on that occasion were their sons John 14, William 13, and Thomas who was nine years old, and all of Worcestershire.
	Richard died just prior to the census in April 1881. The census return stated that Hannah was a widow aged 67 and that she was living at 47 St John Street in Dudley with her two youngest sons, William who was 23 and Thomas who was 19. Hannah’s place of birth was confirmed as Himley in Staffordshire.
	Ten years later in 1891 widow Hannah Collett from Himley was seventy-seven and was still living at 47 St John Street, and still living with her were her two bachelor sons William and Thomas. Also living with the family at that time was Amelia Lloyd aged 13 of Dudley who was employed as a general servant.
	It must be assumed that Hannah passed away during the next few years, since no record of her has been found in the census of 1901.
	48N30	Mary Collett				Born in 1854
	48N31	John Collett				Born in 1856
	48N32	William Collett				Born in 1857
	48N33	Thomas Collett				Born in 1861
48N1	Charles Collett was born in 1825 and was the son of Thomas Collett and his first wife Elizabeth. Charles was fifteen at the time of the census on 1841 when he was living with his parents in Dudley, where it is likely that he was born, although no later census records have been found to verify this.
48N2	Thomas Collett was born at Dudley in 1849 and was the son of Thomas Collett and his second wife Phoebe. He first appeared in the Dudley census of 1861 at the age of thirteen, and ten years after he was twenty-one when he was living at 7 Rowley Road in Dudley with his parents.
	It seems highly likely that, prior to this date, he was introduced to the Moss family by his cousin Esther Collett (below) through her married in 1855 to Benjamin Moss the son of Reuben Moss. The Moss family comprised father Reuben who was baptised in Dudley at the Church of St Thomas on 29.10.1809, his wife Mary who was born in 1810, and their two children Benjamin who was born in 1833 and Mary who was born in 1836.
	Reuben Moss was a whitesmith and, on leaving school Thomas Collett was probably employed by Reuben who taught him the trade of a whitesmith.
	A whitesmith is a person who works with "white" or light-colored metals such as tin and pewter. While blacksmiths work mostly with hot metal, whitesmiths do the majority of their work on cold metal, making things such as tin or pewter cups, water pitchers, forks, spoons, and candle holders.
	In 1871 the Moss family was recorded living in Dudley where Reuben was sixty-one, his wife Mary was sixty, and living with the couple was their daughter Mary Moss who was thirty-four. Thirty years earlier the complete family comprised Reuben 30, Maria 30, Benjamin 8, and Mary who was five.
	Through his working relationship, Thomas Collett became friendly with Reuben’s much older daughter Mary Moss whom he eventually married during the 1870s, possibly around the time of the death of his father. Perhaps because of her advanced years, the marriage did not produce any children for the couple.
	By the time of the census of 1881 Thomas Collett of Dudley was 31 and by then he had taken over a draper’s shop at 177 and 178 Wolverhampton Street in Dudley. Living there with him was his wife Mary Ann Collett who was 44, together with his father-in-law Reuben Moss aged 71 who was described as a whitesmith.
	Also living with Thomas and Mary was Thomas’ widowed mother Phoebe Collett who was 74 and from Dudley, and her widowed sister Mary Girzell who was 71. Working for Thomas Collett in his draper’s shop was draper’s assistant Emily Ward who was twenty-eight and from Dudley.
	What happened after 1881 is not known precisely but, in addition to the deaths of Thomas’ mother and his parents-in-law, it would appear that his wife Mary also died. All of this prompted Thomas to leave Dudley and he moved to Bradford.
	However, following the death of his first wife Thomas married another Mary Ann of Dudley who was four years younger than Thomas. It seems logically that the couple met while they were in Dudley, but whether they were married there has not been discovered.
	Thomas and Mary were living in Bradford from around 1885 and it was there during the following year that the first of their four children was born. All four children were born at Bradford where the family appeared to have settled for the rest of their life.
	In 1891 Thomas Collett of Dudley was 41, while his wife Mary Ann also of Dudley was 37, and with them were their two sons Frederick William who was four and one year old Harry, and their daughter Edith Annie who was three. During the next ten years three more children were added to the family.
	Although one more child was added to the family before the end of the century, there was a tragedy in the family when son Harry died since he was not listed with the family in either 1901 or 1911. According to the Bradford census of 1901, Thomas Collett was 51, Mary A Collett was 47, and their children were Frederick Wm Collett 14, Edith A Collett who was 13, and Sidney was seven years old.
	Thomas’ occupation on this occasion was stated as being that of a commercial traveller in steel, so during his working life he had gone from whitesmith, to manager of a draper’s store, to selling steel items, perhaps the tin or pewter cups, water pitchers, forks, spoons, and candle holders, previously mentioned.
	By April 1911 the family was still living in Bradford where Thomas Collett from Dudley was 61, his wife Mary Ann Collett was 57, and the three children still living with them were Frederick William Collett who was twenty-four, Edith Annie who was twenty-three, and seventeen years old Sidney Collett.
	48O1	Frederick William Collett				Born in 1886 at Bradford
	48O2	Edith Annie Collett				Born in 1887 at Bradford
	48O3	Harry Collett				Born in 1889 at Bradford
	48O4	Sidney Collett				Born in 1893 at Bradford
48N6	Mary Collett was born at Dudley towards the end of 1825, almost one year after her parents were married there in November 1824. Mary was only a few months old when she was baptised at St Thomas’ Church in Dudley on 12.02.1826, the eldest child of John Collett and his wife Martha Chance.
	At the time of the census in 1841, Mary Collett and her brother John (below) were both recorded as being 13 years old, when in fact she was 15. On that occasion they were living at the Minories in Dudley with their father and their two younger siblings Catherine and Harriet. Mary’s mother had died during the previous decade, and she and her brother and sisters were being cared for by Emma Perry age 25, while her father carried on the family occupation of being a carpenter.
	It was around 1847 when Mary was 22 that she married Sargent Parsons who was baptised at the Church of St Thomas in Dudley on 27.04.1823, the son of John and Frances Parsons. By the time of the census in 1851 Mary had presented her husband with their first two children, when she and her family were living at 22 George Street in Dudley. Mary’s husband was recorded in error as Serjent Parsons, who was 27 and a shoe maker. Mary was 26, and their two daughters were Martha Parsons, who was two years old, and Harriet Parsons who was eleven months old.
	Living with the family was Mary’s youngest sister Harriet Collett, age 20, who was a housemaid and described as sister-in-law.
	Over the following years further children were added to the family, although no record of the family has been located in the census of 1861. Ten years later Mary Parsons was 45, and was still living in Dudley were her husband Sargent Parsons, age 49, her daughters Martha (Maria) Parson who was 23, and Amelia Parsons who was 12, and her son William Henry Parsons who was 14.
	The census in 1881 confirmed that the family was living at Court No. 3 on Newhall Street in Dudley, from where Sargent Parsons, age 56, was still employed as a shoe maker. Mary was 55, and the only children still living with them were William H Parsons, age 24 and a clog maker, and Amelia Parsons who was 22 and a dressmaker.
48N7	John Collett was born at Dudley in 1827 and baptised at the Church of St Thomas on 15.07.1827, the only son of John and Martha Collett. In the Dudley census of 1841 he was recorded by his widowed father as being 13 years of age, the same as his sister Mary (above) who was actually nearly two years older. No record of John, or his father or his sister Catherine, has been found in the census if 1851.
	However, it is known that John married Susan Smith at Stourbridge during the fourth quarter of 1851, the marriage producing six children within the following eleven years. All of them were baptised at St Thomas’ Church in Dudley, when they were confirmed as the children of John and Susan Collett.
	By April 1861 the family was living at Bath Street in Dudley and comprised John who was 33 and a carpenter and joiner, Susan who was 31, and their children Mary Ann Collett who was eight, John Collett who was six, Sarah J Collett who was three, and nine month old twins Thomas and Edward. Every member of the family had been born at Dudley. Also living with them was Susan’s older unmarried sister Elizabeth Smith, who was 40 and also from Dudley.
	The surname was recorded as Collet in 1861, and just a year later the family of John and Susan was completed with the birth of their last child.
	It was on just over one year later, that John and his entire family travelled down to London, from where they sailed on 23^rd July 1863 on board the sailing ship Brother’s Pride, bound for New Zealand. The total cost of the assisted passage to the Provincial Government for the majority of each single man and woman was 13 pounds and 6 shillings. The 1236 ton ship, built at Sackville in New Brunswick, Canada in 1852 measured 179 feet long by 37 feet wide. The vessel’s passenger list recorded the Collett family as follows:
	John Collett, age 36 and a carpenter, Susan Collett, age 35, Mary Ann Collett, age 10, John Collett, age 8, Sarah Jane Collett, age 6, Edward Collett, age 2, Thomas Collett, age 2, and Elizabeth Collett, age 1. The total number of passengers on board the ship was 371, of which only 120 were males of the age 15 years and upwards. This included 69 from England, 48 from Scotland, and 3 from Ireland.
	The edition of The Lyttelton Times published on 8^th December announced the imminent arrival of the ships Bahia and Brother's Pride in the following way. “During the whole of yesterday the signals on the flagstaff at Diamond Harbour announced two vessels in sight. They were seen in offing on Sunday evening towards dusk. Early on Monday morning Captain Sproul left with his man, and on boarding the Bahia, and on enquiry made out the other to be the Brother’s Pride, both from London. They left at the latter end of July, about the 22nd and 23rd. The Bahia was seven weeks in getting to the line, and was there becalmed. The Brother’s Pride met with similar drawbacks and, in addition, has had to put into the Cape for medical and other necessaries. The circumstances will, to some extent, account for their non-appearance earlier. The Bahia is anchored off Port Levy Heads, and the other some distance to the north of Godley Head. Captain Sproul is on board the Bahia; all her passengers are well. It is not intended to bring her to the anchorage till the south-west gale moderates.”
	The Brother’s Pride arrival at Lyttelton on 8^th December 1863 was the end of an horrendous 103 days voyage and, two days after the first published item in The Lyttleton Times (above), there was printed the following article in the same newspaper on 10^th December 1863. This read as follows:
	“On Tuesday last we briefly noticed the arrival of this vessel at the Heads, and although we possessed the information, since proved to be too true, respecting the amount of sickness on board, for the sake of the friends on shore we refrained from publishing the melancholy intelligence that forty-four deaths had occurred during the passage. In our columns will be found a list of sufferers as well as the number of births. We hear that Captain Sproul, on board the vessel, was refused the charge of the ship, and the offer of the pilot to place his boat and crew at the service of the ship to obtain fresh supplies for the sick children was also refused.
	On Tuesday evening the anchor was raised and sail made before half a gale of wind blowing from the south-west, and at daylight the next morning the vessel was out of sight. She returned yesterday morning when off Camp Bay, and was immediately ordered to hoist the Yellow Jack. This pre-emptory order of the Health Commissioner not appearing to suit this cavalier officer, in two or three hours the anchor was again up and, with the assistance of the light breeze from the north-east, the Brother's Pride was brought up just astern of the Lancashire Witch. We presume the authorities will not permit their orders, to be set at defiance, and the law treated with contempt.”
	Included in the 44 deaths that occurred during the voyage was that of the twins Thomas Collett, who died on 26^th November 1863 and Edward Collett, who died on 29^th November 1863, within one week of the ship’s arrival in New Zealand. And tragically for the family, just three weeks earlier, John Collett, age 8½, died on 2^nd November 1863.
	It is currently not known what immediately happened to the family after their traumatic arrival in New Zealand, except that John Collett died in 1914. His age at that time was given in error as 93, and this may be from a transcription error of the year he was born, being 1827, but mis-interpreted as 1821. The person who informed the authority of his passing was named as Pauline Kelsall, who was his granddaughter Ruahine Kelsall, yet another error in translation.
	Ruahine was the fifth of the six children of John’s married daughter Sarah Jane Kelsall nee Collett.
	48O5	Mary Ann Collett				Born on 13.09.1852 at Dudley
	48O6	John Collett				Born on 23.07.1854 at Dudley
	48O7	Sarah Jane Collett				Born on 07.04.1856 at Dudley
	48O8	Thomas Collett				Born on 12.06.1860 at Dudley
	48O9	Edward Collett				Born on 12.06.1860 at Dudley
	48O10	Elizabeth Collett				Born on 11.04.1862 at Dudley
48N9	Harriet Collett was born at Dudley in 1831, where she was baptised St Thomas’ Church on 03.04.1831 the youngest of the four children of John Collett and Martha Chance. It seems highly likely that Harriet’s mother either died during the birth, or at the birth of a subsequent child who also did not survive.
	At the time of the Dudley census of 1841 Harriet Collett was nine years old, when she was living at the Minories in Dudley with her widowed father and her three old siblings. Following the marriage of her eldest sister Mary (above), it would appear that Harriet went to live with her married sister, where she was employed as a housemaid.
	This was confirmed in the Dudley census of 1851, when ‘Harriett’ Collett, age 20 and from Dudley, was living at 22 George Street with Mary and her husband and their two young children. On that occasion Harriet was described as the unmarried sister-in-law of head of the household Serjent Parsons.
48N10	Sarah Collett was born in 1827 according to the census of 1841 in which she was listed with her family living at Church Field Row in Dudley at the age of fourteen. Whilst baptism records have been found at St Thomas’ Church in Dudley for her next three siblings, no such record has been found for Sarah.
	No record Sarah or her family have been found in the 1851 Census, but thirty months later she married Richard Hawkins at Dudley where the marriage was registered during the third quarter of 1853. Over the next decade Sarah presented her husband with the first four of their six known children.
	All of the children were born at Dudley, and in April 1861 Sarah and her family were living at Vicarage Prospect in West Wellington Road in Dudley, where her married sister Eliza (below) and their parents Richard and Sarah Collett were also living at that time.
	The census return listed the family as Richard Hawkins, a coalminer who was 38, and his dressmaker wife Sarah who was 34. The couple’s four children at that time were Sarah 6, Eliza 4, Samuel 2, and Alma who was just two months old, with every member of the family having been born at Dudley.
	Sadly baby Alma Hawkins did not survive beyond infancy, but the loss to the family was partially compensated by the birth of another daughter just after. So by the time of the next census in 1871 the family comprised Richard 48, Sarah 44, and daughters Sarah 16, Eliza 14, and Myra who was seven.
	By that time the family had left Vicarage Prospect and was living at Furnace Row in Dudley, and although their son Samuel was not included with the family, he was back living with his mother by 1881.
	According to the Dudley census of 1881, Sarah Hawkins was a widow of fifty-four, and living with her was her son Samuel, who was 22 and a bachelor working as a nail warehouseman, and her daughter Myra who was 17 and a machinist working in the boot trade. On that occasion the family was living at 14 Himley Street in Dudley.
48N11	Eliza Collett was born at Dudley in 1829 where she was baptised at St Thomas’ Church on 25.10.1829, the baptism record confirming that she was the daughter of Richard and Sarah Collett. By the time of the census of June 1841 Eliza was recorded with her family aged twelve years when living at Church Field Row in Dudley.
	During the second quarter of 1853 Eliza married James Castle at Dudley but it would appear from the subsequent census returns that the marriage never produced any children for Eliza and James.
	By 1861 the couple were living at Vicarage Prospect in Wellington Road in Dudley, where Eliza’s sister Sarah Hawkins (above) and their parents were also living at that time. James Castle of Dudley was a shoeing-smith aged 35, and his wife Eliza was 31 and employed as a boot binder.
	Ten years later in 1871 the childless couple were 45 and 41 respectively and by then had moved to Furnace Row in Dudley, where Eliza’s sister Sarah and her family were also living on that occasion. By 1881 James and Eliza were still living at 5 Furnace Row where James was 55 and was still working as a shoeing-smith, while Eliza was 51 and was still working in the boot trade.
	The couple later moved house and ended up living very close to Eliza’s widowed sister Sarah. Sarah was living at 14 Himley Street in 1881, and it was at 45 Himley Street in Dudley that James 65 and Eliza 60 were living in 1891, when James was described as a blacksmith.
48N12	Samuel Collett was born at Dudley on 31.08.1832 and it was there that he was baptised at the church of St Thomas on 16.09.1832. His absence from the family in the 1841 Census probably indicates that he suffered an infant death, although no actual record has been found to confirm this.
48N13	Esther Collett was born at Dudley in 1835 and she was baptised at St Thomas’ Church in Dudley on 25.01.1835. By the time of the 1841 in June that year Esther was aged 6 and was living with her family at Church Field Row in Dudley.
	Esther married Benjamin Moss in Dudley during the third quarter of 1855 and by 1861 the marriage had produced two children for the couple, who were living at Dixons Green in Dudley. The census that year described Benjamin as being of Dudley, aged 27, and with an occupation as a draughtsman working within a fire fender iron manufacturing company.
	His wife Esther of Dudley was 25, and their two children on that occasion were Reuben Moss who was two years and one year old Milton Moss, both sons having been born at Dudley. Two more boys were born into the family during the next decade, and during this period the family left Dixons Green and moved to Vicarage Prospect in Dudley where Esther’s two sisters had been living ten years earlier.
	According to the 1871 Census, Benjamin was 37, Esther 36, and their eldest son Reuben who would have been 12 was not with them on this occasion. The only children with the couple were Milton 11, and the two newest members of the family, Benjamin W Moss who was 8, and William H Moss who was 6. The couple’s last child was born at Dudley during the following year.
	By 1881 the Moss family had moved again, this time to Furnace Row in Dudley, near to where Esther’s sister Eliza was also living in 1881. At this time the complete family was listed in the census return, this being Benjamin 47 and a whitesmith, Esther 46, Reuben 22, Milton 21, Benjamin 18 – the three sons working as a whitesmith working with their father, William 16, and nine years old Frederick Eli Moss.
	Within the passing of the next ten years, all bar one of the children of Benjamin and Esther left the family home to make their own way in the world. Another family move also took place during this time in their life, when the couple left Furnace Row to live at 91 King Street in Dudley.
	And it was there that they were living in April 1891. Head of the house Benjamin was 57 and was still working as a whitesmith, while his wife Esther was 55. The only child still living with then was their youngest son Frederick who was 19 and a whitesmith like his father.
48N14	Matthew Collett was born at Dudley on 21.01.1837 and was the last of the five children born to Richard Collett and Sarah Pearson.
	Matthew was baptised at St Thomas’ Church in Dudley on 05.03.1837 but he died just over a year later, his death being recorded at Dudley on 08.04.1838.
48N15	Noah Collett was born at Dudley on 27.02.1841 where he was baptised in St Thomas’ Church on 21.03.1841, the baptism record confirming that he was the son of Richard and Sarah Collett. By the time of the census in June 1841, Noah was recorded as being three months old and living with his family at Church Field Row in Dudley.
	By the time of the census of 1861 Noah, who was twenty-one and was working as a bricklayer with his father Richard, was still living his family at Vicarage Prospect in West Wellington Road in Dudley.
	Just over six years later Noah married Elizabeth Davies who was born at Kidderminster in 1837. The wedding took place at Dudley during the third quarter of 1867 following which they are known to have had at least three children born at Dudley, the first named after Noah’s father and the second after his mother.
	Three and half years after they were married the family was confirmed in the Dudley census of 1871 as Noah aged 31, Elizabeth was 34, and their two children at that time were Richard aged 2 and Sarah who was one year old. It seems very likely that Noah and his family were living at Walters Row at that time, with his parents Richard and Sarah living close by also at a Walters Row address.
	By 1881 the family was living at 33 Walters Row in Dudley and whilst their new son was listed with them, there was no trace of daughter Sarah. Noah was confirmed as working as a bricklayer at the age of 40, his wife Elizabeth was 44, and his two sons were Richard aged 12 and four years old Noah.
	The family was still living at Dudley in 1891 and, although they were at a different address, they were still living in Walters Row. Their new address was Back 7 in Walters Row where Noah was 51 and a cow keeper, his wife Elizabeth was 50, and the only children still living with them were sons Richard 21 and Noah who was 14.
	It can perhaps be assumed that Noah’s daughter Sarah was married by 1891, and had since left the family home in Dudley.
	It would appear that Noah died during the 1890s since in 1901 Elizabeth was a widow living in Dudley. She was listed in the census that year as being sixty years of age and was working as a milk cow keeper.
	48O11	Richard Collett				Born in 1869
	48O12	Sarah Collett				Born in 1870 at Dudley
	48O13	Noah Richard Collett				Born in 1876
48N20	Thomas Collett was born at Dudley during the third quarter of 1838 and by the time of the 1841 census he was listed as living with his parents in the Cross Guns to Freebodies Lane area of Dudley. It seems highly likely that the Cross Guns may have been an inn or a public house since there are three establishments with this name in that area of the West Midlands today.
	Sadly Thomas’ mother Jane died in 1845 when he was seven years old and his brother Samuel (below) was two. Thereafter for the next nine years the two boys were brought up by their father.
	Six years after his mother died, according to the 1851 Census, Thomas was 12 and was still living at Dudley with his younger brother Samuel (below) and the boys’ father George. The family name was once again recorded as Cullett, as it had been ten years earlier in the census of 1841.
	Three years later in 1854 when Thomas was 15 his father marriage Eliza Turner at Dudley so, by 1861 Thomas was living at Angel Street in Dudley with his father George and his brother Samuel, together with his stepmother Eliza. Thomas was 21 and his occupation was that of a vice maker.
	Thomas has been difficult to locate in the years following 1861 simply because he left the family home in Dudley and moved to Manchester. He also changed his occupation and seemed to be confused as to when he was born, giving varying ages in the subsequent census records, in addition to which his surname was incorrectly spelt in the 1881 Census.
	In the first of these in 1871 he was a lodger at premises in Crown Street in Manchester, but by which time he was a carriage spring maker. On this occasion he gave his age as being 28 rather than 31 although his place of birth was correctly given as Dudley.
	Ten years later in 1881 Thomas was still a bachelor and was still living in Manchester where he was still working as a carriage spring maker. At this time his name was recorded as Thomas Colit of Dudley but his age was more accurately recorded as 43.
	The address at which he was staying in Manchester on this occasion was 7 Gaythorne Street. The premises were managed by the widow Mary Smith nee Hooley aged 35 and her two younger brothers William and George Hooley. It must have been an enormous property since in addition to the three Hooleys there were also sixty-one male lodgers. Mary Smith was the only female living there.
	During the next decade Thomas may have lost his job as a carriage spring maker in Manchester and this may have prompted his return to the West Midlands. By the end of the decade he was in Wolverhampton where he married Ann Glover during the first quarter of 1891.
	His wife Ann was six years older than Thomas, having been born at Broseley in Shropshire around 1832. From 1841 when she was 11 until 1871 when she was 38 and a milliner she had remain living with her parents in Broseley High Street until their deaths, following which she took over looking after the family.
	By April 1881 Ann had moved to Barbers Row in Broseley where she was a dressmaker aged 52. The only relative still living with her was her nephew Edward Eyre aged 16 who was an unemployed general labourer from Bilston.
	The 1891 Census took place just a few weeks after Thomas and Ann were married and this placed the couple as lodgers at Court 7 on the High Street in Willenhall. Thomas’ occupation at that time was that of a blacksmith and on this occasion he gave his age as 48 instead of 53, although this might have been an error in transcription. Ann gave her age correctly as being 59.
	The couple were still together ten years later and had settled in Wednesfield near Willenhall. Thomas was listed in the 1901 Census as being 59 and from Wolverhampton (sic), while Ann gave her age as 64 which may have been a misinterpretation of 69, which would have been her correct age.
	Thomas was still working as a blacksmith, but this was then at a local colliery and the full description for him was ‘coalmine blacksmith’.
	The 1911 Census may reveal that Ann had died by then, since there was a Thomas Collett aged 70 who had been born at Dudley and who was living there at that time.
48N21	Samuel Collett was born at Dudley during the first quarter of 1843. Just over two years after he was born his mother Jane died at Dudley so by the time of the 1851 Census Samuel (aged 6 - sic) was living with his father George and older brother Thomas (above). His correct age should have been eight.
	In 1854 Samuel’s father married for a second time so by 1861 the family living at Angel Street in Dudley comprised George and his two sons Thomas and Samuel, and their stepmother Eliza. By that time Samuel was working as an agricultural labourer and was 17 years of age.
	Towards the end of 1867 Samuel married (1) Elizabeth Haden who was the daughter of William and Ann Haden, the event being recorded at Dudley in the final quarter of that year.
	Just over three years later Samuel and Elizabeth were living at Dock Lane Court in Dudley, although as before in 1841 and 1851 the couple’s surname was recorded as Cullett. At that time in April 1871, Samuel was 28 and Elizabeth was 30, and living with the childless couple were Samuel’s widowed mother Eliza Cullett and Elizabeth’s widowed mother Ann Haden.
	No record of Samuel or his wife Elizabeth has been found in the census of 1881.
	Sadly it would appear that Elizabeth died sometime during the latter part of the 1880s, following which Samuel married (2) Mary Jane Pettifer, the marriage being recorded at Walsall during the December quarter of 1890 under the name of Collett.
	However, as before, the census carried out during the next year recorded the couple’s surname as Cullett and listed them living at 24 New Hall Street in Dudley. Samuel was 48 and a labourer from Dudley, while his wife Mary who was born at Claverley in Shropshire was six years older at 54.
	Neither Samuel Collett nor Samuel Cullett has been located in the 1901 Census, and no trace has been found of his wife Mary Jane.
48N22	Samuel Collett was born at Sedgley during April 1839 and was the eldest child of Joseph Collett and Esther Hartshorn. In June 1841 he was listed with his parents and was one year old. Tragically, just over one year later he died at Dibdale Bank in Sedgley on 26.06.1842.
	His death certificate confirmed he was two years and ten months at the time he died, and that he was the son of carpenter Joseph Collett. The cause of death was ‘hydrophobia caused the bite of a mad dog’, or rabies. The informant was Henry Smith, the Coroner for Wolverhampton.
48N23	Sarah Collett was born at Sedgley on 02.10.1841 when her parents were living at the Grave Yard. They were carpenter Joseph Collett and Esther Harthorn.
	At the time of the Dudley census of 1851 she was nine years old and was living with her parents and two brothers (below). Towards the end of the next decade she married (1) Isaac Guest and this took place at Dudley during the third quarter of 1859. Around nine months later she gave birth to a son, Thomas Guest, who was born at Dudley.
	By the time of the 1861 Census as Sarah Quest she was 19 and was living with her parents at Vicarage Prospect, West Wellington Road in Dudley. Sarah’s occupation was that of a dressmaker and with her was her son Thomas Guest who was one year old. It would also appear that Sarah was expecting her second child by Isaac Guest, since shortly after the census day she gave birth to the couple’s second son, Joseph Guest.
	Tragically for Sarah, Isaac Guest died four years later at Dudley during 1865. With two young children to look after and support, it was not long after the death of her husband that Sarah married (2) John Bowen, with whom she had a son and a daughter born in 1867 and 1870 respectively.
	More tragedy was to strike the family when, during the first three months of 1871, John Bowen died at Dudley. That was confirmed shortly after his passing, by the census in 1871, which described Sarah Bowen, age 29, as a widow, who was living with her parents at 25 Cromwell Street in Dudley. Living there with her was her daughter Rachel Bowen, aged four years, and her son John Bowen, who was one year old. Also still living with her at that time were her two earlier sons, Thomas Guest who was 11, and nine years old Joseph Guest.
	Also living in Cromwell Street at that time was widower Patrick Flanagan, who was a lodger at 16 Cromwell Street, from where he was working as an upholsterer. It was within this close local community that Sarah must have been introduced to John Patrick Flanagan.
	It is therefore established that, two years later, Sarah Bowen went to live with John Patrick Flanagan at 29 Stone Street in Dudley. As a consequence of that arrangement, Sarah gave birth to five further children in 1874, 1875, 1878, 1881 and 1883, all of them being fathered by John Flanagan. They were Elizabeth Flanagan, Patrick Michael Flanagan, Roderick Flanagan, Daniel Flanagan, and Mary Flanagan who were all born at 29 Stone Street.
	What is of particular interest are the details on birth certificates of these children. Elizabeth was born at 29 Stone Street on 06.03.1874 to Sarah Bowen formerly Collett, a washerwoman living at 25 Cromwell Street. On 16.08.1875, Patrick Michael Flanagan was born at 29 Stone Street, and again no father was named, just the mother as Sarah Bowen, mattress maker, living at 29 Stone Street.
	Next to be born to the couple was King Roderick Flanagan on 11.05.1878 at 29 Stone Street, and on that occasion the parents were recorded as Patrick Flanagan and Sarah Flanagan, formerly Collett. Just one week after the census in 1881, Sarah gave birth to Daniel Bowen Flanagan at 29 Stone Street on 15.04.1881, the child of Patrick Flanagan and Sarah Flanagan, formerly Collett.
	It is therefore not surprising that on the day of the census in 1881, when Sarah was due to given birth, that her two sons Joseph A Guest, age 19 and a brass caster from Dudley, and John Bowen, age 11, were living with her brother Richard Collett and his family at 29 Price Street in Dudley. Also living there was Sarah’s widowed mother Esther Collett.
	Only one of Sarah’s two missing children has been located in 1881. By that time Thomas Guest was a married man, and was living with his wife Clara at 21 Brook Road in Sedgley. Both of them were 22, while Thomas’ occupation was that of a whitesmith. No record of her daughter Rachel Bowen, who would have been 14, has been found at all.
	According to the census of 1881, Sarah Bowen was recorded as Sarah Flanagan, who was married to upholsterer Patrick Flanagan, age 53 and from Ireland, with whom she was living at 29 Stone Street in Dudley, even though the couple did not marry until 1894. Sarah was 38 and stated she was born at Gornal, Upper Gornal being an area to the south of Sedgley.
	Living with the couple were their three children, Elizabeth Flanagan aged six and attending the local school, Patrick M Flanagan who was five and also at school, and two years old Roderick, who was described as ‘King Roderick Flanagan’. All three children were confirmed as having been born at Dudley.
	Following the birth of her son Daniel in mid April 1881, Sarah suffered another loss less than two years later when Daniel Flanagan died on 06.01.1883 at 29 Stone Street. The death certificate confirmed that he was the son of Patrick Flanagan, upholsterer, and that his death had been reported by his mother, Sarah Flanagan. The cause of his death was bronchitis and exhaustion.
	Almost exactly ten months after the death of her son Daniel, Sarah’s and Patrick’s fifth and final child was born. The birth certificate for Mary Flanagan, who was born at 29 Stone Stone on 04.11.1883, confirmed her parents as Patrick Flanagan and Sarah Flanagan, late Bowen, formerly Collett
	And it was at that same address, nine years later, that Sarah was still living when she reported the death of her mother in December 1890. The death certificate confirmed the address of the informant, Sarah Flanagan, as being 29 Stone Street in Dudley.
	Sarah Bowen, formerly Guest nee Collett, married (3) John Patrick Flanagan at St John’s Church in Dudley on 17.06.1894. The marriage certificate confirmed that mattress maker John was a widower of 65, and that Sarah was indeed the widow Sarah Bowen, who was 50.
	John’s father was named as Patrick Flannigan, a farmer deceased, while Sarah’s father was named as Joseph Collett, a carpenter deceased. The witnesses at the wedding were Benjamin Grundy and Elizabeth Williescraft.
	John Flanagan, who was born at Tulsk in County Roscommon in Ireland in 1830, was well-known in the Dudley area for establishing, with his brother Michael, the mattress factory that made Hushabye and Easibed, the company being passed down through three subsequent generations of the Flanagan family, until its closure in 1970. Sadly John passed away just shortly before the census day in 1901.
	It was at 29 Stone Street (next door to the mattress factory) that he died from bronchial asthma and exhaustion on 08.03.1901, at the age of 70. The death certificate confirmed he was a mattress manufacturer, and that it was his daughter Elizabeth Paskin who was present at his death, she also being the informant.
	Just over three weeks later Sarah Flanagan was recorded as being 58 in the census held on the thirty-first of March 1901. She was still living at 29 Stone Street, while living with her was her married daughter Elizabeth Paskin and her husband Samuel Paskin. Sarah’s occupation was stated as being a case maker with her own account working at home, which indicated that she was producing the cases for the mattress factory. And again she gave her place of birth as Gornal near Sedgley.
	According to the next census in April 1911, Sarah Flanagan, age 64, was still living at 29 Stone Street. On that occasion she had living with her, her married daughter Mary Taylor and her husband Alfred. Alfred Taylor was a coal miner, and by that time Mary had presented him with two daughters, Jenny Patricia Taylor, who was four, and Ida Agatha Taylor, who was two years old. Sarah Flanagan was once again described as a case maker, working at home for the mattress factory.
	John’s widow Sarah survived for another sixteen years, when she died on 12.08.1917 at the age of 73. At that time she was living at 81 Park Lane in Tipton, and the cause of death was pernicious anaemia. The informant on that occasion was her daughter Rachel Curthrop nee Bowen at whose house Sarah had been living.
	John Patrick Flanagan was also the great grandfather of Marilyn Stoddard nee Flanagan who kindly provided the details of her family back to Samuel Collett and Esther Southall, the grandparents of Sarah Collett.
48N24	Joseph Collett was born at Sedgley in 1843 and was listed as being aged 7 and 17 in the Dudley census records for 1851 and 1861. In the latter he was living with his family at Vicarage Prospect in West Wellington Road in Dudley and around three years later he married Mary Jane Pearson at Stourbridge in the first quarter of 1864.
	Mary Jane was born at Dudley during the June quarter of 1845. She was the daughter of John Pearson (deceased) and his wife Ann Hodgetts who in 1861 was a tailoress and a widow living with her widowed mother Mary Hodgetts, a house proprietor, at her home at Vicarage Prospect in Wellington Road in Dudley – the same address as her future son-in-law. Mary Jane Pearson was listed as being aged 15 and a dressmaker.
	By 1871 the marriage of Joseph and Mary Jane had produced three children for the couple and all of them were registered with the name Pearson, as were all of the following children. Two years earlier Joseph and his brother Richard (below) were baptised at St Thomas’ Church in Dudley during April 1869.
	The census in April 1871 revealed that Joseph and his young family were living in Dudley where he was aged 28, his wife Mary Jane was 26, and their three children were Martha 4, Sarah 2, and Mary who was under one year old.
	During the next ten years a further four children were added to the family so by 1881 the family living at Occupation Street in Dudley comprised Joseph aged 36 who was a carpenter, Mary Jane also of Dudley who was 34, and their seven children.
	These were Martha 14, Sarah 12, Mary 10, Joseph 8, Richard 5, Ada 2, and baby John who was only eight months old. Four more children were added to the family during the next seven year, although it was also during this time that the three eldest daughters left the family either to be married or to seek work.
	So by early April in 1891 the family was still living at 10 Occupation Street in Dudley and was made up of Joseph 47, Mary Jane 46, Joseph 18, Richard 16, Ada 14, John 11, and new arrivals Ruth who was 9, Alice who was 8, Mabel aged 5, and son Horace who was three years old.
	Head of the house Joseph was still employed as a carpenter, and working with him was his two sons Joseph and Richard. It was stated that every member of the family, with the exception of daughter Ada, was born at Dudley. According to the census record Ada was born at Birmingham.
	It is not certain that Mary Jane died during the 1890s but by 1901 Joseph was living in South Wimbledon with his son John and daughter Ruth. Joseph was a 56 years old carpenter, while his son was 20 and his daughter 19.
	48O14	Martha Pearson Collett				Born in 1866
	48O15	Sarah Ann Pearson Collett				Born in 1868
	48O16	Mary Pearson Collett				Born in 1870
	48O17	Joseph Pearson Collett				Born in 1872
	48O18	Richard Pearson Collett				Born in 1875
	48O19	Ada Pearson Collett				Born in 1877
	48O20	John Jabez Pearson Collett				Born in August 1880
	48O21	Ruth Pearson Collett				Born in 1881
	48O22	Alice Pearson Collett				Born in 1883
	48O23	Mabel Pearson Collett				Born in 1885
	48O24	Horace Pearson Collett				Born in 1887
48N25	Richard Collett was born at Dudley on 06.11.1846 and was four years old in March 1851. Ten years later he was fifty years of age according to the census in 1861, when he was living with his parents at Vicarage Prospect in West Wellington Road in Dudley.
	Eight years later in April 1869 Richard and his older brother Joseph (above) were baptised at St Thomas’ Church in Dudley in a joint adult ceremony and this event for Richard may have been prompted by marriage of Richard being planned for the following year.
	And so it was that less than one year later Richard marriage to Elizabeth Warne at Stourbridge during the first quarter of 1870. Once married, the couple settled in Dudley where their first child was born and where the family was living in April 1871. The census recorded that Richard was 24, Elizabeth was 23, and their daughter Sarah was not yet one year old.
	It may be worth highlighting that there was another Collett marriage at Stourbridge during the first quarter of 1870, and that this was between Richard Collett and Eliza Guest. This is of interest since Richard’s sister Sarah Collett (above) had married Isaac Guest at Dudley in 1859.
	Over the next few years two more children were added to the family. According to the census of 1881 Richard of Dudley was aged 34 and was working as a railway carpenter. He was living at 29 Price Street in Dudley with his wife Elizabeth who was 33 and who occupation was that of a laundress. Listed with them were their three children, Sarah 10, Samuel 7, Elizabeth 2, and all of them born at Dudley.
	Also living with the family was Richard’s widowed mother Esther Collett aged 66 and two of her grandsons. These were Joseph A Guest a brass caster aged 19, and John Bowen aged 11 both of Dudley, who were two of the children of Richard’s sister Sarah who was twice married.
	Sometime later in that same year, but after the April census day in 1881, Elizabeth presented Richard with their fourth and last child. During the 1880s the family left Dudley and moved to Stourbridge where the complete family was living in 1891.
	The census that year recorded Richard as 44, Elizabeth as 43, and their four children as Sarah 21, Samuel 17, Elizabeth 12, and Joseph who was nine years old.
	And it was at Stourbridge that some of the family were still living ten years later in 1901. Richard of Dudley was aged 53 and was still working as a carpenter for the railway company. His wife Elizabeth was 52 and her place of birth was simply stated as London.
	By that time their eldest daughter Sarah had left the family home and was married, but still living with their parents were Samuel aged 27, Elizabeth aged 22 and Joseph who was 19. All were confirmed as having been born at Dudley.
	In 1911 Richard was 64 and Elizabeth was 62 and they were both still living at Stourbridge. Also still living at Stourbridge were their two sons Samuel and Joseph.
	48O25	Sarah Collett				Born in 1870
	48O26	Samuel Collett				Born in 1873
	48O27	Elizabeth Collett				Born in 1878
	48O28	Joseph Collett				Born in 1881
48N26	Samuel Whitehouse was born at Dudley in 1845 and was aged 5 at the time of the 1851 Census when he was living with his family at 183 Minories in Dudley. Only a very short time after the census Samuel’s father Thomas Whitehouse died around the age of 34, leaving Samuel’s mother Elizabeth with three young children.
	Three years after the death of his father, his mother married Eli Hill at Dudley where the family continued to live. For the census of 1861 Samuel should have been 15. He had left school and was working as a glass cutter while living with his mother and stepfather at Angel Street in Dudley. Rather oddly, he gave his age as being 20, an error he also made ten years later in 1871 and again in 1881.
	According to the 1871 Census Samuel of Dudley was married to Elizabeth of Wolverhampton where the childless couple were living at Brook Street and where Samuel’s occupation was still that of a glass cutter. On this occasion he gave his age as 32, while his wife was 31 and was employed as a laundress.
	Ten years later the couple were still living in Wolverhampton but had moved to Peel Street where they were the residents of Court 4. Both Samuel and his wife gave their age as being 41 and their respective places of birth were again Dudley and Wolverhampton. Samuel had now given up being a glass cutter and instead was working as a gardener.
48N28	Thomas Whitehouse was born at Dudley in 1849 and was just over one year old when his father died shortly after the Dudley census of 1851. Three years later Thomas’ widowed mother married Eli Hill with whom she had a further daughter and son, although it appears that the daughter did not survive.
	This might have been the reason why Thomas at the age of eleven was living at the home of his uncle George Collett just along Angel Street in Dudley from where his mother was living in 1861 and 1871.
	Towards the end of the 1860s Thomas married Mary who was born at Stourport in 1847 and by 1871 their marriage had produced a son for the couple. In April 1871 Thomas and Mary, together with their one year old son William Whitehouse, were boarders at the Angel Street home of Thomas’ mother in Dudley.
	Over the next decade a further four children were born into the family of Thomas and Mary, the first at Dudley but then around 1876 the family moved to Wollescote near Halesowen. By 1881 the family of seven was living at Brook Street in Wollescote from where 31 years old Thomas was an iron plate worker.
	With him was his wife Mary who was 33, and their five children – William 11, Thomas 9, Elizabeth 8, Mark 3, and Emily who was one year old. Shortly after the census day in 1881 the family moved again and this time it was the very short distance to nearby Lye where the couple’s last two children were born. Then sometime between 1886 and 1891 the whole family moved to Mary’s home town of Stourport.
	According to the census in 1891 Thomas was still working as an iron plate worker and on this occasion he and his family were living at 26 Bagley Street in Stourport. Thomas and Mary were both recorded as being 32, while the couple’s two oldest sons William 21 and Thomas 19 were both working with their father as iron plate workers, and 13 years old son Mark was a blacksmith’s labourer.
	The remaining four children were confirmed as Elizabeth 18, Emily 11, Diana 8, and John Edward Whitehouse aged six years. Sometime during the 1890s the family moved again, this time from Stourport back to Wollescote where they were living just after the end of the century.
	The 1901 Census recorded Thomas as being 52 and from Dudley, living at Wollescote where he was still employed as an iron plate worker. His wife Mary was 52 and still living with the couple were sons William, Mark and Edward who were all working with their father as iron plate workers.
	The only daughter still living with the family was seventeen years old Diana who was a tailoress. Also living close by to the family in Wollescote was Thomas’ and Mary’s married daughter Emily, now Emily Pearson and married to iron plate worker James Pearson.
	It may be worth pointing out that the census records for 1891 and 1901 both indicate the place of birth for Thomas’ last four children was Lye which conflicts with information in the 1881.
	During the compilation of this Whitehouse family an interesting discovery has been made. And that is that in 1881 53 years old widow Mary Whitehouse a dressmaker from Upton Warren south-west of Bromsgrove in Worcestershire was living at the home of Thomas Collett at Broomfield in Harborne midway between Halesowen and Birmingham.
	Thomas Collett was a shoe maker of 53 and had been born at Bromsgrove. His wife was Elizabeth Collett aged 50 who had been born at Upton Warren like her married but widowed sister Mary Whitehouse. Thomas and Elizabeth had four children and all of them born at Smethwick just north of Harborne. These were William Collett 18 (a turner), Laura 13, Jane 10, and Minnie aged six.
48N30	Mary Collett was born at Dudley during the third quarter of 1854. By the time of the census of 1861 Mary was seven years old and was living with her parents at Dixons Green in Dudley. Within the next ten years the family moved to St John Street in Dudley where Mary’s parents lived for the remainder of their life.
	When Mary was seventeen in 1871 she was not listed with the family living at St John Street but was living and working in the West Bromwich area at that time. It was at Dudley nine years later during the third quarter of 1880 that Mary Collett married John Vernon Orchard.
	Six months after they were married the couple were living at a private house in Rectory Street in Kingswinford. Glass engraver John Orchard was 27 years old and had been born at Birmingham, while his wife Mary was 26 and her birthplace was confirmed as having been Dudley.
	Living with the couple was Mary’s younger brother John Collett (below).
48N31	John Collett was born at Dudley during the third quarter of 1856. By 1861 he was listed as living with his parents at Dixons Green in Dudley when he was five years old. Ten years late the family was living in St John Street in Dudley by which time John fourteen.
	On leaving school he entered the world of education and by April 1881 he had moved to Kingswinford near Stourbridge where he was a schoolmaster at the age of 24. At that time he was a boarder at the home of engraver John Vernon Orchard at his home in Rectory Street in Kingswinford.
	Living with John Orchard was his wife Mary Orchard nee Collett who was John’s older sister. It is curious though, why the census record did not refer to him as the brother-in-law of John Vernon Orchard.
	Towards the end of the following year John married (1) Fanny Mary Holmes during the October to December quarter of 1882 and this took place at nearby Stourbridge. Fanny was born at nearby Clent during the fourth quarter of 1859 and was referred to as Kit by the family.
	Once married the couple settled in Wordsley where all of their children were born. The family lived at New Street in Wordsley from where John was a teacher at Wordsley School. Sometime later, perhaps in the early 1890s John was made the Headmaster of Wordsley School, a position he was certainly holding in 1894.
	Historical note: The deputy headmaster at the school during the 1950s was another John Collett who was also a cabinet maker, so perhaps he was the woodwork teacher. Since then the school has closed and been demolished.
	The 1891 Census for Kingswinford & Stourbridge, which included Wordsley, list the family as John aged 34, his wife Fanny 31, and their three children as Fanny 7, Frederick 6, and Katie G Collett aged 3. By this time their son Richard had already died two years earlier, while Katie G must have been a reference to their daughter Gwendolyn.
	Tragically John’s wife died during the birth of the couple’s last child in 1893. No record of John or his family has so far been found in the census records for 1901. However, it is known that in 1904 he married (2) Ellen although she was not readily accepted into the family by John’s children.
	Seven years later in April 1911 only two members of John’s family were still living with him and Ellen at Stourbridge. At that time John was 54, Ellen was 52 and the two children were his sons Fred aged 26 and Tom aged 18. This photograph of John was taken around 1915, and sitting alongside him is his son Tom who was very likely preparing to leave home to take up active service in the Great War.
	Because of the difficulties with their stepmother, Fred and Tom eventually left the family home shortly after 1911 and emigrated to Australia but they returned to England just a few years later to serve King and country during the First World War.
	John Collett continued his teaching work at Wordsley School up until he died there in 1931, following which he was buried in the churchyard of Holy Trinity Church in Wordsley.
	48O29	Fanny Mabel Mary Collett					Born in 1883
	48O30	Frederick John Richard Collett					Born in 1885
	48O31	Gwendolyn Pauline Collett					Born in 1887
	48O32	Richard Collett					Born in 1889
	48O33	Tom Herbert Collett					Born on 24.03.1893
48N32	William Collett was born at Dudley in 1857 and was three years old and thirteen respectively in the Dudley census records of 1861 and 1871, when he was living with his family at Dixons Green and St John Street in Dudley.
	William’s father Richard Collett died around 1880, so in the following year he was living with his widowed mother Hannah at 47 St John Street in Dudley. William was 23 and was working with his younger brother Thomas (below) as a shop assistant in a local boot and shoe shop. Both of the brothers were listed as bachelors born in Dudley.
	By the time of the census of 1891, William was 33 and was still a bachelor working with his brother Thomas in the shoe shop while they were both still living at 47 St John Street in Dudley with their mother Hannah.
	Almost exactly one year later William married Annie Elizabeth Cox at Dudley during the first quarter of 1892. Annie was born at Lye Cross in nearby Rowley Regis in 1859 and was the daughter of licensed victualler Joseph Cox and his wife Sophia.
	In 1881 Annie was 21 and was still living with her family at 35 Oakham (Road/Street) in Rowley Regis. This included her sister Mary Sophia Cox aged 19 who, only a few months before Annie’s own wedding to William Collett had married William’s brother Thomas Collett (below).
	Sometime after William and Annie were married, and before the end of the century, the couple moved to Tipton where, in 1901, William’s brother Thomas and Annie’s sister Mary were also living with their family.
	According to the census in 1901 William was aged 43 and from Dudley and was living at Tipton with his wife Annie E Collett aged 41 of Rowley Regis. Just as he had been ten and twenty years earlier, William had an occupation within the boot and shoe trade, but on this occasion he had been elevated to being the manager of a boot shop manager, the same description given to his brother Thomas (below).
	The whereabouts William and his wife after this time has not been discovered and so far no record of them has been found in the census of 1911.
48N33	Thomas Collett was born at Dudley in 1861 but after the second of April that year as he was not listed with his parents on the day of the census. It seems very likely though that his mother Hannah was with-child on that occasion. He first appeared living with his family at St John Street in Dudley at the time of the census of 1871 when he was nine years old.
	Ten years later Thomas was 19 and was living with his widowed mother at 47 St John Street in Dudley. The census recorded that his place of birth was Dudley and that his occupation was that of an assistant in a boot and shoe shop where his older brother William (above) also worked.
	He was still living with his mother and older brother William ten years later in April 1891 at the age of twenty-nine, and was still working with William as a boot shop assistant. It was during the final quarter of 1891 that Thomas Collett married Mary Sophia Cox the daughter of Joseph and Sophia Cox of Rowley Regis and the sister of Annie Elizabeth Cox (above) who married Thomas’ brother William.
	Immediately prior to both weddings, the two Cox sisters were living with their parents at 1 Turners Hill, Wednesbury in Tividale. Annie was a 31 years old spinster, while her spinster sister Mary was 29.
	The closeness of the relationship between the two couples continued after they were married when they both ended up living at Tipton, as recorded in the 1901 Census.
	By that time Thomas was 39 and had risen to be a boot shop manager, the same as his brother, and possibly at a shop they ran in joint ownership. Listed with Thomas was his wife Mary Sophia Collett aged 39 from Rowley Regis and their three children.
	The first child Anne aged 7 had been born at Dudley, while the next two were born after the family had moved to Tipton around 1894 and were Nellie 5 and William aged 3.
	By 1911 Thomas was 49 and was living at Stourbridge with his wife Mary Sophia who was also 49. However, for whatever reason their three children were listed at Dudley at that time and were Annie Gwendoline 17 of Dudley, Nellie Sophia aged 15 of Tipton, and William John aged of Tipton.
	48O34	Anne Gwendoline Collett				Born in 1893 at Dudley
	48O35	Nellie Sophia Collett				Born in 1895 at Tipton
	48O36	William John Collett				Born in 1897 at Tipton
48O5	Mary Ann Collett was born at Dudley on 13.09.1852, where she was baptised on 17.10.1852, the eldest of the six known children of John Collett and Susan Smith. It was as Mary Ann Collett that she was recorded in the census of 1861, at the age of eight years, when she was living with her family at Bath Street in Dudley.
	On 23^rd July 1863 Mary Ann’s parents took the family on a sea journey of just over one hundred days, from London to Lyttelton in New Zealand. The voyage, on board the Brother’s Pride, ended tragically on 8^th December 1863, by which time three of Mary Ann’s brothers had died at sea.
	Fifteen years after arriving in New Zealand, it is believed that Mary Ann’s youngest sister Elizabeth (below) died at the age of 17. So the only children of John and Susan Collett to survive to adulthood were Mary Ann and her sister Sarah Jane (below). However, no record has ever been found to indicate that Mary Ann Collett ever married.
	Mary Ann Collett was recorded as being 74 years of age when she died during 1927.
48O6	John Collett was born at Dudley on 23.07.1854, and was baptised four months later on 19.11.1854 at St Thomas’ Church, the eldest son of carpenter John Collett and his wife Susan. According to the census return for 1861 John, age six years, was living with his family at Bath Street in Dudley.
	In 1863 John and his family emigrated to New Zealand, to seek a new life in the colony. However, it was on board the ship Brother’s Pride, on 2^nd November 1863, after already spending seventy-two days at sea, that John Collett, age eight and a half years, died on 2^nd November, one month before the ship arrived at its final destination of Lyttelton. Sadly he was followed three weeks later by his brothers, the twins Thomas and Edward.
48O7	Sarah Jane Collett was born at Dudley on 07.04.1856, and was baptised there at the Church of St Thomas on 24.08.1856, the third child of carpenter John Collett and his wife Susan Smith. By the time of the Dudley census in 1861, Sarah J Collett was recorded as being three years old and was living at the family home in Bath Street.
	Sarah Jane was six years old when her parents decided to leave Dudley and emigrate to New Zealand. From Dudley the whole family headed south to London where, on 23th July 1863, they boarded the sailing ship Brother’s Pride, which was bound for Lyttelton just south-east of Christchurch.
	The terrible 103 days spent at sea had a dire effect on the young family, resulting in the deaths of all three of Sarah Jane’s brothers. In 1880 her youngest sister Elizabeth (below) died, leaving just Sarah Jane and her old sister Mary Ann still living with their parents.
	It was seven years later, in 1887, that Sarah Jane Collett married Joseph Kelsall, with whom she had six children. At the time of the birth of her fifth child in January 1895, the birth certificate also gave the age of the mother as being 38, which corresponds closely with the year that Sarah Jane Collett was born.
	The six children of Joseph and Sarah Jane Kelsall were, Dorothy Ann Kelsall, who was born in 1889, Winifred Kelsall, who was born in 1890, Every Kelsall, who was born in 1891, May Kelsall, who was born in 1893, Ruahine Kelsall, who was born in 1895, and Ashton Kelsall who was born in 1897.
	Upon the death of her grandfather, John Collett in 1914, it was Ruahine Kelsall who was named as the informant. And it was Ruahine who was the grandmother of Linda Binding, who kindly provided all of the information that has enabled this family line to be included here, having previously only been listed in the appendix at the end of the file.
48O8	Thomas Collett was one half of a set of twins born at Dudley on 12.06.1860, where he was also baptised with his twin brother Edward (below) on 15.07.1860, the son of John and Susan Collett. Thomas, and his brother, were both recorded as being nine months old in the census of 1861 when they were living at Bath Street in Dudley with the rest of their family.
	Thomas was just three years old when his family emigrated to New Zealand in July 1863. However, the arduous sea journey took its toll on the Collett family when, following the death at sea of his brother John (above), Thomas Collett died on board the ship Brother’s Pride on 26^th November 1863, just one week prior to the ship’s arrival at Lyttelton, and three days before his twin brother Edward passed away.
48O9	Edward Collett was the twin brother of Thomas (above) and was born at Dudley on 12.06.1860. He was also baptised there in a joint ceremony with his twin brother on 15.07.1860, the third son of John and Susan Collett. Edward, like his brother, was just nine months old when living at Bath Street in Dudley on the day of the census in 1861.
	Following his family leaving England for a new life in New Zealand on 23^rd July 1863, Edward died at sea on 29^th November 1863, nearly 100 days after sailing out of London on board the ship Brother’s Pride. His death was the third in the family on that fateful voyage, his parents having already lost his older brother John three weeks earlier, and his twin brother Thomas just three days prior to Edward’s passing.
48O10	Elizabeth C