PART FORTY-NINE

The Kirtlington (Oxon) to California Line

Updated August 2010

This is the family line of Brian Richard Collett (Ref. 49R4) of San Francisco

The previous version of this family line commenced with Charles Collett the father of Henry George Collett of Oxfordshire. New information received from Brian Richard Collett in the USA in early 2010 has enabled the line to be extended back one generation to the Oxfordshire village of Kirtlington and to Charles’ father George Collett. Additional information in this updated version has also been gratefully received from Dave Cotty in Australia relating to the Shoubridge family.

49M1	GEORGE COLLETT was born at Kirtlington around 1778, but so far no record of his parents has been found. It is however, established that George was married to Sarah Wakefield and that in the first national census in June 1841 he was 60 years old, his wife Sarah was 55, and they and their large family were living at Kirtlington within the Bicester, Brackley, Buckingham & Woodstock registration district.
	Listed with the couple at Kirklington were seven of their nine children, these being James 25, Caroline 21, Maria 20, Emmanuel 16, Isabella 14, Eliza 13, and Emma who was 12 years old. George’s two missing older sons had left the family home by then and were both married. Living nearby was his son Charles who was 24 with his wife Emma and daughter Eunice, the couple’s first child.
	George Collett died sometime during March of 1843 and is listed in the English Wales BMD index for the months of April May June. By the time of the census in 1851 Sarah was a widow aged 67. The census return described her as head of the house and a pauper who had been born at Kirtlington. Still living with her at Kirtlington on that occasion was her unmarried son Emmanuel who was 28 years of age.
	Also living in the same cottage with Sarah and Emmanuel, was Sarah’s unmarried daughter Eliza Collett and her base-born daughter Dora Collett who was a year old.
	Living nearby and within the village of Kirtlington, were Sarah’s three married sons Richard, James and Charles. It is very likely that her four other daughters, Caroline, Maria, Isabella, and Emma were all married by then, since none were recorded with the Collett surname.
	What is of interest is that George’s son Charles married Emma Wakefield who was the daughter of Joseph Wakefield, Sarah Wakefield’s brother, making Emma the niece of George’s wife Sarah Wakefield.
	49N1		Richard Collett		Born in 1811
	49N2		James Collett		Born in 1815
	49N3		CHARLES COLLETT		Born in 1817
	49N4		Caroline Collett		Born in 1819 at Kirtlington
	49N5		Maria Collett		Born in 1821 at Kirtlington
	49N6		Emmanuel Collett		Born in 1823
	49N7		Isabella Collett		Born in 1825 at Kirtlington
	49N8		Eliza Collett		Born in 1827
	49N9		Emma Collett		Born in 1829 at Kirtlington
49N1		Richard Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1811. He was an agricultural labourer and by 1851 he was married to Diana and was living at Kirtlington with the couple’s first three children. Richard was 39, Diana was 33, and their children were Andrew who was four, Emily who was three, and Edwin who was under one.
		Four more children were added to the family during the next decade, so by 1861 the census for Kirtlington that year recorded the family as Richard an agricultural labourer at 50, his wife Diana from Burton Dassett in Warwickshire who was 43, Andrew 14, Emily 13, Edwin 11, Curtis who was nine, Dan who was six, Prudence who was four, and Eli who was a year old.
		Sadly during the next ten years Diana died leaving Richard a widower with a young family. What happened to the whole family has not been determined, but in 1871 Richard was 58 and was living at Kirtlington with his son Daniel who was 16, his daughter Prudence who was 14, and his youngest son Eli who was 11.
		Living in the cottage next door was Richard’s eldest son Andrew with his wife and their first child. So far no record has been found for his daughter Emily, who was very likely married by then, and his sons Edwin and Curtis.
		By the time of the census of 1881 Richard was living on his own in Kirtlington where he was still working as an agricultural labourer at the age of 70. And it was there also that he was still living ten years later in 1891 at the age of 78 (sic), but with no further record in the census of 1901, it must be assumed that he died during the 1890s.
		49O1	Andrew Collett		Born in 1846
		49O2	Emily Collett		Born in 1848
		49O3	Edwin Collett		Born in 1850
		49O4	Curtis Collett		Born in 1852
		49O5	Daniel Collett		Born in 1854
		49O6	Prudence Collett		Born in 1856
		49O7	Eli Collett		Born in 1859
49N2		James Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1815. He was an agricultural labourer and he married Sarah Lambourne who was born in 1823. Sarah was also born at Kirtlington, the daughter of agricultural labourer Richard Lambourne from Cumnor to the west of Oxford.
		James’ father George Collett died during the 1840s and it was during the middle of that decade that James married Sarah. So by 1851 the family living at Kirtlington was made up of agricultural labourer James Collett of Kirtlington who was 35, his wife Sarah 29 and also of Kirtlington, and their three children. These were Arthur who was 7, Fanny who was 3, and John who was 9 months old.
		Living in the cottage next door to James and his family was his younger brother Charles Collett (below), with his much larger family. The other next door neighbour to James was his father-in-law Richard Lambourne a 56 year old agricultural labourer from Cumnor. Living with him was his grandson James Lambourne a 12 year old errand boy who was born at Kirtlington.
		It is possible that James eldest child died during the next few years as no later record of him has been found. Ten years later in 1861 James and his family, less Arthur, were still living at Kirtlington where James was a 46 year old agricultural labourer, Sarah was 37, and their five children at that time were Fanny 13, John 10, Thomas who was eight, Elizabeth who was five, and Harry who was 8 months old.
		There were three other people lodging with the Collett family, and these were Richard Lambourne who was 67 and an agricultural labourer, this was Sarah’s father, who had with him Sarah’s two younger brothers James Lambourne who was 20 and Arthur Lambourne who was 17.
		The 1861 Census also revealed that still living right next door to James and Sarah on the main road in Kirtlington, was the family of James’ brother Charles Collett (below) as they had been ten years earlier.
		The James Collett family may have suffered the further loss of another two children since, by the time of the census in 1871 Elizabeth, who would have been 15, and Harry who would have been 10 were missing. The remainder of the family was recorded as James who was 56 and whose occupation was that of a shepherd, his wife Sarah who was 46, and youngest daughter Anne who was 6.
		For the third consecutive census in a row, James’ brother Charles was still living in the cottage next door, and for the second census in a row Sarah’s father Richard Lambourne who was 76 was the only other occupant in the cottage.
		It is also established that James’ and Sarah’s three surviving eldest children were still living in Kirtlington. The first of these was Fanny Collett who was 23, a grocer like her cousin George Collett (Ref. 49O20), and was living with dressmaker Elizabeth Davies in the cottage adjacent to her father’s cottage. The other two were her brothers John who was 20 and Thomas 18, who were boarders at the home of their uncle Arthur Lambourne two doors from where Fanny was living on the main road in Kirtlington.
		The 1881 Census for Kirtlington described James as 65 and an agricultural labourer, and son-in-law to head of the house Richard Lambourne. On that occasion James and his wife Sarah, who was 57, were living with Sarah’s father who was a retired agricultural labourer of 86. Also still living with them was their unmarried son John Collett who was 29 and unemployed.
		And once again, living right next door was James’ brother Charles and his family. It was the same ten years later in 1891, although on this occasion James Collett of Kirtlington gave his age as 80.
		49O8	Arthur Collett		Born in 1843
		49O9	Fanny Collett		Born in 1847
		49O10	John Collett		Born in 1850
		49O11	Thomas Collett		Born in 1852
		49O12	Elizabeth Collett		Born in 1855
		49O13	Harry Collett		Born in 1860
		49O14	Anne Collett		Born in 1864
49N3		CHARLES COLLETT was born at Kirtlington in 1817 and, just like his older brothers Charles was also an agricultural labourer. It would appear that he lived the whole of his life at Kirtlington, where he was twice married.
		Around the time he was 20, Charles married (1) Emma Wakefield, the daughter of Joseph and Mary Wakefield. Emma was baptised at nearby Bletchington (today Bletchingdon) on 21.12.1817. By the time of the census in June 1841 the marriage of Charles and Emma had produced the couple’s first two children.
		The census return for Kirtlington listed the family as Charles at the age of 24, Emma 23, and their two daughters Ann who was 3, and Emma who was 1 year old. Over the next ten years a further four children were added to the family while they were still living in Kirtlington. The youngest of these was named after Charles’ father George Collett.
		At the time of the next census in 1851 Charles and his large family were living in the cottage right next door to his brother James Collett (above). The census return confirmed that Charles was an agricultural labourer of 34, his wife Emma was 32, and their six children were Ann who was 14, Eunice who was 11 and previously listed as Emma, Julia 8, Clara 6, William 4, and George who was 2 years old.
		Living with the family as a lodger was Emma’s younger brother James Wakefield who was 31 and described as a pauper and a cripple. Like his sister James was baptised at Bletchington on 21.03.1819, the son of Joseph and Mary Wakefield.
		Every member of the family was recorded as born at Kirtlington, and in the following year a final child was born into the family, but tragically this happy event may have been the reason for Emma’s death. Widower Charles was left with a young family to look after, and just prior to the census of 1861 he married (2) Emily who was 23 years younger than Charles and also born at Kirtlington.
		The Kirtlington census of 1861 recorded that Charles Collett was 44 and that his wife Emily was just 21 years of age. Living with the couple were two children from Charles’ first marriage. These were son William who was 14, and daughter Ruth who was eight years old. It is not clear as to where his two eldest daughters were by that time, although it is possible that both girls were married by then.
		Charles’ two other daughters Julia and Clara had already left Kirtlington by then. Clara Collett was 16 and was living and working in Oxford city, while her older sister Julia had made her way to London where at the age of 19 she was living and working in the St George district of Hanover Square.
		As regards his missing son George, he was still living in Kirtlington in 1861 and was a live-in servant at the home of farmer William Goodenough. The census also indicated that he was 13 years old and living next door to his uncle Emmanuel Collett (below) who was also very likely employed on the Goodenough’s farm.
		Over the next twenty years, while they continued to live in Kirtlington, Emily presented Charles with five further children, with the first three of these being listed with the couple at the time of the census in 1871. Charles was 54, Emily was 32, and their three children were Thirza who was 8, Edith who was 4, and baby Charles who was only 2 months old.
		In addition to the aforementioned census of 1851, the following two census returns for 1861 and 1871 also confirmed that living in the cottage right next to Charles’ dwelling on the main road in Kirtlington, was his brother James Collett (above) and his family.
		However, by the time of the census of 1881 for Kirtlington, the family comprised Charles who was 64, his wife Emily who was 41, and their four children, Edith 13, Charles 10, Albert 6, and Evelyn who was just 3 months old.
		At this time in his life Charles was still working as an agricultural labourer. The census also confirmed that every member of his household had been born at Kirtlington. It also confirmed that his immediate next door neighbour was his brother James Collett with his family.
		Ten years later the Kirtlington census return for 1891 recorded the family as Charles 74, Emily 51, Edith 24, Charles 20, Albert 16, and Evelyn who was 10 years old. And once again his brother James (above) was living next door.
		By March 1901 Charles had died and his widow Emily was still living in Kirtlington at the age of 61. Living with her was her daughter Edith who was 34 and her son Charles who was 30. Living nearby was her other son Albert who was married with a daughter of his own by then.
		Also living just four doors away was Emily’s stepson William W Collett and his family, the eldest son from her husband’s first marriage.
		Emily Collett was also still living at Kirtlington ten years later in April 1911 when she was 71. Living with her at this time was her son Charles who, by then, was married to Ethel, although they had no children of their own.
		49O15	Ann Collett		Born in 1837
		49O16	Emma Eunice Collett		Born in 1839
		49O17	Julia Collett		Born in 1842
		49O18	Clara Collett		Born in 1844
		49O19	William W Collett		Born in 1846
		49O20	GEORGE COLLETT		Born in 1848
		49O21	Ruth Collett		Born in 1852
		The following is the list of the children of Charles Collett and his second wife Emily.
		49O22	Thirza Collett		Born in 1862
		49O23	Edith Collett		Born in 1866
		49O24	Charles Collett		Born in 1871
		49O25	Albert E Collett		Born in 1874
		49O26	Evelyn E Collett		Born in 1880
49N5		Maria Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1821 and had a rounded age of 20 years at the time of the Kirtlington census of 1841 when she was still living with her parents George and Sarah Collett and the rest of her family.
		With no record of a Maria Collett born at Kirtlington around 1821 ten years later in 1851, it must be assumed that she was married during the 1840s.
49N6		Emmanuel Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1823 and was 16 years old at the time of the Kirtlington census in 1841. He was yet another agricultural labour like his brothers before him and, at the time of the next census in 1851, he gave his age as being 28 and was still a bachelor living with his widowed mother Sarah Collett at Kirtlington.
		Also living with Emmanuel and his mother was his unmarried sister Eliza Collett (below) with her base-born daughter Dora.
		It was a few years after this that he married Emily who was also born at Kirtlington, and with whom he had three known children who were all born at Kirtlington. At the time of the census in 1861 Emmanuel was 37 and was an agricultural labourer living at Park Lodge in Kirtlington. Park Lodge was very likely a cottage on the farm of the Goodenough family where Emmanuel was employed.
		His wife Emily said she was 30, even though she was ten years younger than her husband, and with them on that occasion was 5 month old son Thomas. It seems very likely that Thomas E Collett did not survive beyond infancy, since no further record of him has been found.
		In addition to their own son, Emmanuel and Emily also had living with them ‘Dozia Collett’ who was described as Emmanuel’s niece. This was Dora Collett, the twelve years old base-born daughter of Emmanuel’s sister Eliza, who had been living with Emmanuel and his mother ten years earlier.
		Living next door to Emmanuel and his family, and in service with the Goodenough family, was his nephew George Collett, the thirteen years old son of Emmanuel’s brother Charles Collett (above).
		During the next five years Emily presented her husband with two further children. So by 1871 Emmanuel was 46 and Emily was 37, and with them were their two surviving children. These were William who was seven, and Mary who was four, all four members of the family confirmed as having been born at Kirtlington.
		At that time in their lives, Emmanuel and Emily were living in a cottage on Northbrook Farm, from where Emmanuel was employed as a gardener.
		Ten years later the family of four was still living at Kirtlington in the spring of 1881. Emmanuel Collett was 57, his wife Emily was 47, and their two children were once again confirmed as William J Collett who was 17 and working as an agricultural labourer like his father, and Mary A Collett who was 14.
		The family was still living at Kirtlington in 1891 when Emmanuel Collett was 67. However, on that occasion his wife was listed in error as Eliza, and still living with them was their son William who was 25.
		William left the family home at Kirtlington during the next few years and by 1901 Emmanuel and Emily were living there alone. On that occasion their ages were given incorrectly, when Emmanuel said he was 70, and Emily said she was 60, at a time in their lives when they were in fact 77 and 67.
		No record of either Emmanuel or his wife Emily has been found in the census returns for April 1911.
		49O27	Thomas E Collett		Born in 1860
		49O28	William J Collett		Born in 1863
		49O29	Mary Ann Collett		Born in 1866
49N8		Eliza Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1827 and according to the census in June 1841, she was 13 years old and living with her family at Kirtlington. Around nine years later she was unmarried and gave birth to a base-born daughter.
		At the time of the census in 1851 Eliza Collett was 25 (sic) and she and her one year old daughter Dora Collett were living at the Kirtlington home of her widowed mother Sarah Collett nee Wakefield. Also living there was Eliza’s older unmarried brother Emmanuel Collett (above).
		By the ten of the census in 1861 Eliza Collett may have been married, since no record of her under her birth name has been found. Also at that same time her daughter Dora had been taken into the family of Eliza’s brother Emmanuel Collett (above)
		49O30	Dora Collett		Born in 1849
49O1		Andrew Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1846, and was the eldest child of Richard and Diana Collett. In 1851 he was four years old, and in 1861 he was 14. On both occasions he was living with his family in the village of Kirtlington. Sometime in the years following 1861 Andrew’s mother died.
		When he was in his early twenties he married Sarah who was born at nearby Tackley in Oxfordshire. In April 1871 the couple were living in Kirtlington in a cottage next door to that of Andrew’s widowed father Richard and his three youngest siblings. By that time Sarah had presented Andrew with their first child.
		The census return for 1871 confirmed that Andrew was 23 and that his occupation was that of a miller’s labourer, his wife was Sarah from Tackley, and their son was Richard William Collett who was 11 months old and born at Kirtlington.
		Shortly after that the family of three moved to the village of Knightcote in the parish of Burton Dassett in Warwickshire midway between Banbury and Southam, where Andrew’s mother had been born, and where the remainder of Andrew’s eight children were born.
		Initially the family was extended by a further four children during the 1870s, as confirmed by the next census in 1881. This placed the family at Burton Dassett and stated that the four new children had been born there, which conflicts with later records.
		Andrew Collett from Kirtlington was an agricultural labourer of 36 years, and living with him was his wife Sarah aged 37 and from Tackley, and their five children. These were Richard who was 10 and born at Kirtlington, Emily six, Andrew three, Eli two, and baby Thomas Collett who was just one month old.
		Andrew and Sarah would appear to have spent the remainder of their lives together living at Knightcote, since it was there that the couple’s last three children were born, and where they were still living in 1901 and 1911.
		During the 1880s another son and two daughters were born into the family, but by the time of the census in 1891 the couple’s eldest daughter Emily, who would have been 16, was no longer living with her family, nor has any trace of her been found after that time. It is therefore possible that she may have died before 1891.
		The census return for the village of Knightcote listed the family as Andrew 45 and an agricultural labourer of Kirtlington, Sarah 46 of Tackley, Richard 20 of Kirtlington, and Andrew 13, Eli 12, Thomas ten, Henry six, and Elizabeth P V Collett who was three years old, all of whom were born at Knightcote.
		The following year Sarah presented Andrew with their final child and over the next few years up until the end of the century some of the older children left the family home to make their own way in life.
		According to the census for Knightcote in March 1901, Andrew at 55 was a roadsman labourer, and once again his place of birth was confirmed as Kirtlington. His wife Sarah from Tackley was 56, and only four of their eight children were still living with them.
		Their son Eli who was 22, was very likely working with his father since his occupation was that of a stone-breaker, son Thomas was 20 and an agricultural labourer, daughter Victoria at 13 was described as a school teacher, while the couple’s youngest son William was eight and was probably attending the school where his older sister was employed.
		Missing from the family home was Andrew’s and Sarah’s eldest son Richard, who would have been 30, for whom no record has been found anywhere in Britain at that time, so he may have been abroad, and possible fighting with the army in South Africa.
		Their two other sons, Andrew 23 and Henry 16, were both living in the Aston area of Birmingham from where they were employed by the London North Western Railway.
		By April 1911 only the couple’s youngest son was still living with them at Knightcote. Andrew was then 66, Sarah was 67, while William Collett was 18 and his place of birth was stated as being Burton Dassett instead of Knightcote.
		49P1	Richard William Collett		Born in 1870
		49P2	Emily Collett		Born in 1874
		49P3	Andrew Collett		Born in 1877
		49P4	Eli Collett		Born in 1878
		49P5	Thomas Collett		Born in 1881
		49P6	Henry Collett		Born in 1884
		49P7	Elizabeth P Victoria Collett		Born in 1887
		49P8	William Collett		Born in 1892
49O2		Emily Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1848 the eldest daughter of Richard and Diana Collett. Emily was three years old and 13 years old in the two censuses of 1851 and 1861 when she was living with her family at Kirtlington. During the 1860s Emily’s mother died at Kirtlington while she was still a teenager.
49O3		Edwin Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1850 and was under one year old at the time of the census in 1851. Ten years later he and his family were still living in Kirtlington where Edwin was eleven years of age. Sometime shortly after the census in 1861 Edwin’s mother Diana passed away, following which it is not apparent as to exactly what happened to Edwin and his siblings.
		Every effort has been made to trace Edwin in 1871 and the later census records, but with very little success. There is therefore a chance that whatever illness caused the death of his mother, may well have also been responsible for also taking his life.
49O4		Curtis Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1852 and was nine years old in the Kirtlington census of 1861. Just like his brother Edwin (above), no further trace of Curtis after this time has been found, which again, may indicate that he too had suffered a premature death.
49O5		Daniel Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1854. By 1861 Daniel was six years old was living at Kirtlington with his family and was described as Dan Collett. Following the death of his mother Diana, during the 1860s, Daniel was living with his widowed father Richard at Kirtlington in 1871 by which time he was 16.
		Curiously no record of Daniel Collett has been found in England after this time.
49O6		Prudence Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1856 and was four years old and living at Kirtlington with her family in 1861. She was still living there with her father and two brothers Daniel (above) and Eli (below) in 1871 at the age of 14, following the death of her mother Diana.
		It is very likely that she had become a married lady by the time of the census in 1881, since no record of a Prudence Collett has been discovered after 1871.
49O7		Eli Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1859. In the Kirtlington census of 1861 he was one year old and was living with his parents Richard and Diana Collett and the other members of his family. Sadly his mother died while he was still very young, although Eli remained living with his father until at least 1881.
		The census that year place Eli, at 11 years of age, living at Kirtlington with his widowed father Richard, and his two older siblings Daniel and Prudence (above).
		Although absent from the census returns in 1881, when he would have been 21, Eli Collett was living and working in London by 1891. The census that year confirmed that he had been born at Kirtlington and that he was still a bachelor at the age of 31, when he was recorded as living with the Lambeth & Brixton area of the city.
		Shortly after this he married Emily Elizabeth and before the end of the century the marriage had produced two sons for the couple. By the time of the census in 1901 the family of four was living in the Fulham district of London.
		Once again the census confirmed that Eli had been born at Kirtlington and that, at the age of 41 his occupation was that of a police constable. His wife Emily from Surrey was many years younger at the age of 28, and their two sons were listed as having been born in Fulham and were six years and five years respectively.
		Ten years later in April 1911, the family was still together and living in Fulham. Eli Collett from Kirtlington was 51, his wife Emily Elizabeth Collett was 38, and their two sons were William who was 16, and Harry who was 15.
		49P9	William Collett		Born in 1894
		49P10	Harry Collett		Born in 1895 at Fulham
49O8		Arthur Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1843 and was the first child of James Collett and Sarah Lambourne. In 1851 Arthur was seven years old but with no trace of him found after this time, it may be safe to assume that he did not survive to adulthood.
49O9		Fanny Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1847, the eldest daughter of James Collett and Sarah Lambourne. Fanny was three years old in 1851, and 13 years in 1861, and on both occasions was living with his parents at Kirtlington.
		During the next ten years she moved out of the family home and by 1871 Fanny was a grocer in the village of Kirtlington and was living there on the main road with dressmaker Elizabeth Davies and her daughter, six years old April Davies. At that time in her life Fanny was unmarried at the age of 23.
		Just a year or so after the 1871 census day Fanny Collett married Thomas Francis Norridge. Thomas was a stonemason and came from the village of Combe where many members of the Collett family were also stonemasons – see Part 38 – The Oxford Stonemasons Line.
		Over the next five years Fanny presented her husband with three children, the first being born at Kirtlington before the family moved to a private house in the village of Yarnton, to the south-west of Kidlington. The census in 1881 still recorded the couple living there with their three children.
		Thomas Norridge was 29 and four years younger than his wife Fanny from Kirtlington who was 33. The three children were Francis T Norridge of Kirtlington, who was six, Frederick H Norridge, who was four, and Florence F Norridge, who was one year old. Frederick and Florence were both born at Yarnton.
		Also visiting the family at that time was Fanny’s younger sister Anne Collett (below). She was described as Annie Collett of no occupation, aged 16 and from Kirtlington, and sister-in-law to head of the house Thomas Norridge.
49O10		John Collett was born at Kirtlington in June 1850 and was nine months old by the time of the census in 151. Most of his life was spent living and working in Kirtlington where he was ten years old in 1861, and 21 years old in 1871. However, by 1871 he had left the family home and was living at the home of his uncle Arthur Lambourne, his mother’s younger brother.
		John Collett was described as a boarder and his occupation was that of an agricultural labourer. Sharing a room with him in the Lambourne household was John’s younger brother Thomas (below) with whom he was also presumably working. Arthur Lambourne was 28 and he and his 31 year old wife, Anna E Lambourne, already had a son, George A Lambourne, who was three months old.
		During the next few years John secured work as steam plough driver and agricultural machine attendant but for some reason this appears to have only lasted for a limited period. On losing his job and becoming unemployed, John returned to live with his parents who, by 1881 were living with his grandfather, Richard Lambourne, on the main road in Kirtlington.
		John Collett of Kirtlington, who was 29, was described as an out-of-work steam plough driver and agricultural machine attendant.
		It is unclear where John was living by 1891, but just after the turn of the century John Collett of Kirtlington was living in the North Devon village of North Molton, midway between Barnstaple and Tiverton. His occupation was that of a steam engine driver on the road, and he gave his age as being 46 instead of 49 although this may have been an error in translation.
		John was also still a bachelor at the time of the census in April 1911, but by then was living and working in the Uppingham area of Rutland. The census return recorded him as John Collett of Kirtlington who was 60 years old.
49O11		Thomas Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1852 and was eight years old in 1861 when he was still living there with his family. Towards the end of the next decade Thomas left school and began work on the land. By 1871 he was living with his brother John (above) at the Kirtlington home of the boys’ uncle Arthur Lambourne, from where they were both working as agricultural labourers.
		The brothers parted company when John was taken on as a steam plough driver in Kirtlington, and Thomas left the village to take up employment as a groom in Middleton Stoney three miles north of Kirtlington. In the census of 1881 Thomas Collett was one of four stablemen, domestic servants, boarding in The Grooms’ Cottage at The Stables on the Middleton Park estate in Middleton Stoney.
		The head coachman was Frederick Chappell from High Cross in Hertfordshire age 23. He was supported by Thomas Collett who was 28, Alexander Veitch 27 from Edinburgh, Harry Rumbold 27 from Britford in Wiltshire, and Frederick Edgington 29 from Kirtlington.
		Ten years later Thomas Collett was married to Mary but in 1891 he was working away from the family home in Middleton Stoney. At the time of the census that year he was listed within the Kenilworth registration district of Warwick. He was 37 and his place of birth was confirmed as Kirtlington.
		It seems likely that he married Mary shortly after the 1881 Census, and that it was while he was working at Middleton Stoney that he had met his future wife, who came from the neighbouring village of Caulcott near Lower Heyford.
		By 1891 their marriage had produced the couple’s first three of their seven children. Mary Collett, who was listed under her second name of Jane, was 32, her daughters were Helen A Collett who was five and Violet Collett who was four, and her son was Harry Collett who was two years old.
		On the day of the census in 1891 it is possible that Mary Jane was with-child, since later that year the couple’s second son was born at Middleton Stoney. During the next year or so, the family moved to Kirtlington for a short while, and it was there that their third son was born.
		Another family moved took place over the following year when they moved to the village of Bucknell just north of Bicester. And it was there that they were living in March 1901. The whole family was together at that time, except for eldest daughter Violet who was absent. It would appear that she was already in domestic service, since a solitary Violet E Collett aged 15 was living and working at Evenley Hall in Northamptonshire at that time.
		The remainder of her family comprised Thomas Collett, 48 year old domestic groom from Kirtlington, his wife Mary J Collett age 42 from Caulcott, Helen who was 15, Harry who was 12, John age nine, George age six, Cecil three, and Reginald who was two years old.
		Over the following years eldest daughter Helen left home to be married, daughter Violet went to work in Croydon, and son Harry moved out but stayed living in the Bicester area. By then Thomas 58, and Mary Jane 52, were living in the Woodfield district of the town of Bicester with their four sons William John 19, George Francis 16, Cecil Joseph 13, and Reginald Arthur who was 12.
		49P12	Helen Ada Collett		Born in 1885
		49P11	Violet E Collett		Born in 1886
		49P13	Harry Collett		Born in 1888
		49P14	John William Collett		Born in 1891
		49P15	George Francis Collett		Born in 1894
		49P16	Cecil Joseph Collett		Born in 1897
		49P17	Reginald Arthur Collett		Born in 1898
49O12		Elizabeth Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1855. She was five years old in the census of 1861 when she was living at Kirtlington with her family. However, with no further listing of her in any later census it has been assumed that she did not survive beyond childhood.
49O13		Harry Collett was born at Kirtlington during August in 1860 and was recorded as being eight months old in the Kirtlington census of 1861. Like his sister Elizabeth (above) no later record of Harry has been found so it may have been an illness that killed the two young children.
49O14		Anne Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1864 and was six years old in 1871 when she was living with her family at Kirtlington. Sometime during the 1870s Anne’s parents James and Sarah moved in with her elderly grandfather Richard Lambourne. It is not clear from the census in 1881 if Anne was part of this arrangement.
		Instead, at that time Annie Collett, who was 16 and from Kirtlington, was a visitor at the Yarnton home of her older married sister Fanny Norridge nee Collett.
49O15		Ann Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1837 and was the first child of Charles Collett and Emma Wakefield. In June 1841 Anne was three years old and was living at Kirtlington with her parents and her sister Emma (below). Ten years later her age was given as being 14.
		Thereafter it is not clear what happened to Ann, since no further record of an Ann Collett has been found, which might indicate that she was married by 1861 when she would have been 24.
		Although not proved, it is possible she married William Simmonds of Kirtlington with whom she had two children, and in 1881 the family of four was still living at Kirtlington. Agricultural labourer William was 47, his wife Ann was 45, and their two children were Herbert, a groom of 19, and Clara who was eight, both born at Kirtlington.
49O16		Emma Eunice Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1839 and was named after her mother. She originally appeared in the census record of 1841 as Emma Collett age one year. However, in the later census returns she used the name Eunice, when in 1851 she was 11 and living with her family in Kirtlington.
		It was also as Eunice Collett that she married William Varney Elliott. This may have taken place just prior to the census in 1861, since no record of Eunice Collett has been located, although this seems highly unlikely bearing in mind the age of her two known children.
		An essential clue to resolving this family line was the fact that William Varney Elliott was listed as one of the two witnesses at the marriage of Eunice’s younger brother George Collett (below) in 1866 in London.
		According to the census in 1881, William V Elliott from Wendlebury near Bicester in Oxfordshire was 38 and a glazier living at 61 Hanover Street in the St George Hanover Square district of London. Living there with him was his wife Eunice Elliott who was 41 and from Kirtlington, and their two children. These were Henry Charles Elliott, age five, and Frederick George Elliott who was one year old, both boys being born at Pimlico.
49O17		Julia Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1842 and was eight years old in the census for that village in 1851. By 1861 Julia had left Oxfordshire to seek work in London. The census that year placed Julia Collett of Kirtlington at 19 years of age living and working in the St George Hanover district of London, although another source states the place as St Giles St George Bloomsbury.
49O18		Clara Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1844 and was six years old in 1851 when she was with her family at Kirtlington. After leaving school Clara sought work in Oxford where she was recorded in 1861 at the age of 16. Over the following decade it is very likely that she became a married woman since there are no records for an equivalent Clara Collett in the subsequent census returns
49O19		William W Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1846 and was recorded as living there with his family in 1851 when he was four and again in 1861 when he was 14. When he was in his early twenties he married a girl from Kirtlington by the name of Sarah.
		By the time of the Kirtlington census in 1871 the marriage had resulted in the birth of the couple’s first child. The census that year listed the family of three as William W Collett who was 24, his wife Sarah who was 23, and their daughter Emma W Collett who was just one year old.
		Five more children were added to the family during the next ten years, and all of them born while William and Sarah continued to live in Kirtlington. This was confirmed by the census in 1881 when agricultural labourer William was 34, Sarah was 33, and their six children were Emma 11, George nine, Clara seven, Ann five, William two, and baby Fanny who was only five months old.
		During the next decade the number of children born into the family still living at Kirtlington increased from six to ten, although by the time of the census in 1891 only the six youngest children, together with the couple’s eldest son George were still living with William and Sarah in the family home.
		The Kirtlington census in 1891 listed the family as William 44, Sarah 43, George 19, William 12, Fanny ten, Margaret eight, Jessie seven, Frederick three, and Eva who was one year old. It is not clear where the three eldest daughters were on this occasion, but all three have certainly been located in 1901.
		According to the census in March 1901 the family comprised William W Collett 54, who was a general agricultural labourer, Sarah 53, sons George 29 and Frederick 13, and youngest child Eva F Collett who was eleven.
		Living just four doors away in Kirtlington was 61 years old widow Emily Collett with her daughter Edith and her son Charles. This was William’s stepmother and his half-sister and half-brother from his father’s second marriage.
		By April 1911 only daughter Eva was still living with her parents in Kirtlington, so that family was simply William Collett who was 64, Sarah Collett who was 63, and Eva Collett who was 21.
		49P18	Emma W Collett		Born in 1869
		49P19	George Collett		Born in 1871
		49P20	Clara Collett		Born in 1873
		49P21	Ann Collett		Born in 1875
		49P22	William Collett		Born in 1878
		49P23	Fanny Collett		Born in 1880
		49P24	Margaret M Collett		Born in 1882
		49P25	Jessie Elizabeth Collett		Born in 1883
		49P26	Frederick Collett		Born in 1887
		49P27	Eva Collett		Born in 1889
49O20		GEORGE COLLETT was born at Kirtlington around 1848, the son of Charles Collett and Emma Wakefield. At the time of the census in 1851 George was three years old and was living with his family at Kirtlington.
		It should be noted that during his married life it would appear that he let his wife believe that he was one year old than her so, when she composed his obituary, the age she gave indicated he was born in 1845 or early 1846.
		While George was still a young boy he suffered the loss of his mother who tragically died around the time that his sister Ruth was born in 1852. This sad event left his father with seven children between the ages of one and 13 to look after. Unable to cope with this, it would appear that the children were looked after by other members of the Collett family in Kirtlington.
		However, some little time after the death of his mother, George’s father was married again, this time to a young lady who was half his age. From the census in 1861 only George’s brother William and sister Ruth were living with their father Charles and his new wife.
		George on the other hand, who was 13 by then, was living with the family of farmer William Goodenough in Kirtlington, next door to his uncle Emmanuel Collett (above), his father’s younger brother. The Goodenough family was sufficiently affluent to employ six servants, of which George Collett was the youngest.
		No baptism records have been so far been found for any members of this line of the Collett family but, sometime after the census of 1861, George started to refer to himself as Henry George Collett. The first actual recording of this name was at the time of his marriage just five years later.
		While still living in Kirtlington it is likely that George began working with his cousin Fanny Collett (Ref. 49O9), who was roughly the same age as George, since both of them were recorded as being grocers. It was also during his later teenage years George left Oxfordshire and made his way to London to seek a new life, and it was there that he worked in a grocer’s shop. The shop was in a good area of London and very likely served a high class clientele, through which he may have met his future wife.
		In order to create the right impression George Collett, now Henry George Collett, gilded the lily a little by saying that he was the son of builder Charles Collett. Another falsehood was that he stated was three years older than his actual age, a fact that he apparently never revealed to his future wife.
		It would have been either in 1865 or 1866, when he was actually around 18 years old, that he met Selina Sarah Shoubridge. She was the daughter of artist William Shoubridge and Selina Mott who were married at St Paul’s Covent Garden on 09.04.1844.
		In 1861 William Shoubridge and his family were recorded as living in Hounslow within the Brentford & Isleworth registration district of London, when his eldest daughter was listed as Selina Sarah Shoubridge age 13 years.
		The full Shoubridge family at that time comprised William 49, his wife Selina 36, and their children William 15, Selina 13, Sydney Garrett nine, Lucy Ann five, Walter George three, and Beatrice Emily who was under one year old. Sadly just one year later, William’s wife died on 29.04.1862 when the family was living at Staines Road in Heston.
		The informant for the death of Selina Shoubridge was an Ann Chapman who may have been related to William Shoubridge, since his mother Sarah’s maiden name was Chapman. Curiously the cause of death was given as ‘suffering from the brain for five months’.
		Selina’s daughter, Selina Sarah Shoubridge was 14 when her mother died in 1862, following which she was looked after by her grandmother, Sarah Shoubridge who died two years later in 1864 at the age of 86.
		It is understood that upon the death of his wife, William Shoubridge returned to Italy and this was the reason why his daughter Selina Sarah was left in the care of her grandmother. Therefore Selina Sarah Shoubridge was once again left on her own following the death of her grandmother at only 16 years of age. So it is perhaps not surprising that she agreed to marry Henry Collett in 1866.
		Her father William Shoubridge was baptised on 30.10.1811 at St George’s Church in Hanover Square, and was the son of James Shoubridge Esquire. He was educated at Cheam School and later went to Caius College in Cambridge where he studied architecture under the prolific British architect Decimus Burton who designed some of the buildings at London Zoo, and the Palm House at Kew Gardens which was the first large structural use of wrought iron.
		William Shoubridge received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1841, but then pursued a career as an artist in oil painting. And it was his interest in art that took him and his wife Selina to Florence where their daughter Selina Sarah Shoubridge was born in 1847.
		By the time of the census in 1871 widower William Shoubridge had returned to England from Italy and was living in London with his son Walter. Ten years later in 1881 he was living at 1 Colne Villa in Teddington in Middlesex. Living there with him were his three youngest children, all of whom had been born at Hounslow.
		William Shoubridge was 69 years old and was described as a widower and an ‘artist with a BA in oil painting’. The three children with him were Walter George age 23, who was a civil engineering draughtsman, and Lucy Anne 24, and Beatrice Emily 20, who were both described as housekeepers.
		Just over ten years after that William Shoubridge died on 12.11.1891 when he was living at ‘Piercefield’ on the Emmerdale Road in Richmond. The informant was his unmarried daughter Lucy Anne Shoubridge who had been looking after him, and the cause of death was angina pectoris syncope.
		Because of his superior education and standing in the community, it seems highly likely that William Shoubridge may have been opposed to the marriage between his daughter Selina and young Henry George Collett.
		It may have been for this reason that Henry George Collett and Selina Sarah Shoubridge were married quite quickly and without any of the bride’s family being present, and it is this combination of the facts that give rise to the idea that they did not receive the approval of the Shoubridge family.
		The wedding took place on 12.10.1866 at St Michael’s Church within the parish of St Peter Pimlico in London. The record of the event confirmed that Henry George Collett age 21 (when he was actually 18), a bachelor and a grocer of 13 Upper Ebury Street, and the son of builder Charles Collett, married 19 year old Sarah Shoubridge also of 13 Upper Ebury Street, whose father was artist William Shoubridge.
		It is highly significant that the two witnesses to the wedding ceremony were William Varney Elliott and Anne Sinclair. Had the young couple married with the consent of Selina’s father, one might have expected to see a member of the Shoubridge family as a witness. What is known is that William Varney Elliott was the husband of Eunice Collett, who was Henry George’s older sister and, it is also possible, that Anne Sinclair was his eldest married sister.
		The address at 13 Upper Ebury Street may have been where the young couple were lodging, or may have even been the shop where Henry worked as a grocer.
		It is interesting to note that the parish of St Peter Pimlico is situated on the north side of the River Thames and adjacent to the Westminster area of the city. Not far away is Ebury Street which runs parallel to Buckingham Palace Road. From old maps, Upper Ebury Street refers to the section of the road to the south-west, near to Pimlico Road and Chelsea Barracks.
		Another discrepancy on the marriage certificate is related to the bride’s name. The name is given as Sarah, even though she was originally named Selina Sarah Shoubridge after her mother Selina Shoubridge nee Mott. It should be noted that in all later records she used another name, that of Salina Collett.
		Henry and Sarah were blessed with the birth of their first child in London just under eighteen months after they were married, the child being named after the town in Italy where Sarah had been born. The registration of the child’s birth confirmed the father was Harry Collett, a proprietor of houses, and his wife as Selina Sarah Collett, both of 43 Sewardstone Road West in Bethnal Green.
		Shortly after the arrival of baby Florence Emily Collett, the couple were making plans to emigrate to a new life in New Zealand. And so it was that on 14^th November 1868 the family of three sailed out of Gravesend on the clipper ship ‘Percy’, skippered by Captain James Cooper.
		The ship’s passage list recorded the family as Henry George Collett aged 22, his wife Selina Sarah aged 21, and their daughter Florence who was described as one to two years old. The voyage lasted three and half months, and they finally docked at Auckland on the 3^rd of March 1869.
		Shortly after their arrival in New Zealand, Salina gave birth to the couple’s second child Helen Wakefield Collett. The child’s second name was a tribute to Henry’s mother Emma Wakefield. Tragically though the child was killed in a freakish accident when she was just 15 months old.
		It would appear that the motivation for their move to a new life on the other side of the world was driven by the New Zealand gold rush of the 1860s. Certainly it has been established that Henry brought sufficient money with him from England to purchase five hundred shares of a mining company stock, this considerable sum of money likely to have been realised from Salina’s side of the family.
		Henry and Selina lived in New Zealand for nearly two years, during which time their third daughter, Salina, was born. It was in the latter half of 1872 that they sailed from New Zealand to the west coast of America, arriving at San Francisco in early 1873.
		The family then settled in San Francisco and it was there that eight more children were born into the family. This was in part confirmed by the 1880 Census for San Francisco which also included the name of the couple’s oldest son who was named after Henry’s own father, Charles Collett.
		Henry G Collett of England was 33 and a ‘col in a cigar factory’. His wife was Salina S Collett aged 32 and from Italy, who was described as ‘keeping house’. Of the six children born into the family by that time, only five were listed with their parents, following the death of baby Helen ten years earlier.
		These were Florence E Collett from England who was 12 and attending school, Salina E Collett from New Zealand who was nine, Charles W Collett six, Harry G Collett two, and Clara L Collett who was just two months old. All of the three youngest children had been born in California.
		Also living with the family on that occasion was James P McSweeney age 35 and from Ireland, and a widower who was working as a lithographer.
		Over the next seven years two further children were added to the family, and these were also born while Henry and Salina were still living in San Francisco.
		Tragically when the couple’s youngest child Richard was only three years old, Henry George Collett died in a wagon accident on 05.04.1891 and the age of 46. The obituary notice in a local San Francisco newspaper stated that he had been born in Oxfordshire in 1845.
		His wife Salina would have been 44 at that time, and unbeknown to her, her husband was actually 43 when he died. Selina was living in San Francisco with her daughter Selina Edith and Selina Edith’s husband Frank Gumper at the time of her death in 1907, having survived the Great Earthquake of 1906.
		A single combined family burial site has been located in a cemetery in Colma, a town just south of San Francisco, and this contains the final resting place for George Collett, his wife Selina, and their children Florence Emily Collett , Selina Edith Gumper nee Collett (and her husband Frank Gumper), and Henry George Collett.
		49P28	Florence Emily Collett		Born in 1868
		49P29	Helen Wakefield Collett		Born in 1869
		49P30	Selina Edith Collett		Born in 1871 in New Zealand
		49P31	Charles William Collett		Born in 1874
		49P32	Henry George Collett		Born in 1877
		49P33	Clara Lucy Collett		Born in 1880
		49P34	Walter Sydney Collett		Born in 1881
		49P35	Edgar H Collett		Born in 1882 in San Francisco
		49P36	Alfred E Collett		Born in 1884 in San Francisco
		49P37	Richard Claude Collett		Born in 1885
		49P38	Albert Victor Collett		Born in 1887
49O21		Ruth Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1852, the last daughter from the marriage of Emma Wakefield and Charles Collett. This was because her mother died either during the birth or shortly after. Following this tragic event Ruth’s father re-married and by the time of the census in 1861 when Ruth was eight years old, she was living with her father and her stepmother Emily Collett at Kirtlington.
		Ten years later Ruth was living and working in the Kensington area of London. She gave her age as being 20 and she gave her county of birth as Oxfordshire. Over the following years she is likely to have married since no further records of Ruth Collett have been found.
49O22		Thirza Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1862 and was the first child from the second marriage of widower Charles Collett to his new wife Emily, following the death of his first wife during the 1850s.
		Thirza was eight years old in 1871 when she was living with her parents at Kirtlington. Upon leaving school she sought work in the city of Oxford. By 1881 she was working as a live-in general servant at the home of Frederick Lovegrove MA, a private tutor from Over Norton in Oxfordshire, at 15 St John’s Street in the St Mary Magdalen district of the city.
		At 18 years of age, Thirza Collett from Kirtlington was the only servant employed by the Lovegrove family. No further record of Thirza Collett has been found after this time which probably means that she was eventually married.
49O23		Edith Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1866 and by 1871 she was four years old and living with her parents in Kirtlington where she continued to live into her middle age. Edith was 13 in 1881 and 24 in 1891, and on both occasions she was still living with her parents at Kirtlington.
		Following the death of her father Charles Collett in the 1890s, Edith and her brother Charles (below) were the only members of the family still living with her widowed mother Emily Collett in 1901. Edith was unmarried and 34 years old at that time.
		During the first decade of the new century Edith Collett married Walter William Boddington, and by April 1911 the couple were living in Bicester where Edith Boddington from Kirtlington was 44 and her husband Walter was 49.
49O24		Charles Collett was born at Kirtlington during the month of February in 1871, and was just two months old on the second of April 1871, the census day. Charles was ten years old in the next census in 1881 when he was living at Kirtlington with his family.
		When he was 20 he was still living with his parents Charles and Emily at the family home in Kirtlington. However, during the next few years his father died and by March 1901 it was only Charles and his older sister Edith (above) who were still living there with their widowed mother.
		Charles was described as working as an ordinary agricultural labourer at the age of 30. Sometime after this Charles’ sister Edith left the family home to be married, at which point in his life Charles also became a married man.
		According to the April census in 1911, Charles Collett of Kirtlington was 40, while his wife Ethel was only 30. At that time in their lives the couple had living with them Charles’ 71 year old widowed mother, Emily Collett, but no children of their own.
		It is therefore possible, in view of Ethel’s age, that she and Charles may have had children that were born after this time.
49O25		Albert E Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1874 and was living there with his family in 1881 when he was six years old and again in 1891 when he was 16. Not longer after this, his father Charles died at Kirtlington, and a few year later towards the end of the century Albert married Ann.
		The couple’s first child was born prior to the census in 1901, since this recorded the family of three living at Kirtlington as domestic gardener Albert Collett who was 26, his wife Ann who was 32 and from Northend near Burton Dassett in Warwickshire, and their daughter Ethel who was not yet one year old and had been born at Kirtlington, where all the couple’s subsequent children were born.
		Three further children were added to the family during the next decade, so by April 1911 the family still living at Kirtlington comprised Albert who was 36, Ann who was 42, and their four children Ethel ten, Linda 9, Albert 7, and Constance who was two years old.
49O26		Evelyn E Collett was born at Kirtlington during December in 1880 and was the last child born to Charles Collett and his second wife Emily. The census on the second of April the following year listed Evelyn E E Collett as being just three months old. Ten years later at the age of ten Evelyn was still living in Kirtlington with her family.
		Two things appear slightly odd in the next two census returns. The first in 1901 placed Evelyn E E Collett of Kiddington, rather than Kirtlington, working as a parlour maid in the Headington district of Oxford at the age of 23.
		The second ten years later in 1911 identified an Evelyn Townsend from Kirtlington aged 31 living in the Islington area of London with her children. However, with no husband listed Evelyn was described as being a male, when perhaps she was a widow.
		One other possibility in the census of 1911 is an Evelyn Tyler of Kirtlington who was married to Harry Tyler of Little Haseley near Oxford who, together with their two sons, was living in Oxford. Harry was 42 and a labourer, Evelyn was 33, Lionel Tyler was 13, and Clarence Tyler was ten years old.
49O27		Thomas E Collett was born at Kirtlington during November in 1860 and was five months old at the time of the Kirtlington census in 1861. He was the son of Emmanuel Collett who would have been in his mid to late thirties when he married Thomas’ mother Emily who was around twelve years younger.
		Apart from his inclusion in the census of 1861, no other record of Thomas has been found, and he was not listed with his parents and his two younger siblings in the census returns for 1871 and 1881. It must therefore be assumed that he died while he was still under ten years of age.
49O28		William J Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1863, and was most likely the only surviving son of Emmanuel and Emily Collett. In 1871 and 1881 he was seven years old and 17 years of age respectively while living at Kirtlington with his father, mother and sister Mary (below).
		By 1891, sister Mary had moved out of the family home in Kirtlington leaving just William as the only child still living with his parents. William was recorded as being 25 rather than 26 or 27, but after this no trace of him has been found anywhere in the United Kingdom in either 1901 or 1911, so it seems likely that he had possibly emigrated by the end of the nineteenth century.
49O29		Mary Ann Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1866 and was four years old at the time of the Kirtlington census in 1871. In 1881 she was still living there with her family at the age of 14, but thereafter no record of her has been found, which may suggest that she became a married lady.
		Just before 1891 Mary Ann Collett of Kirtlington married Amos John George of Kirtlington and shortly after they were married the couple moved into the St Aldates area of Oxford. The census in 1891 recorded the couple as Amos J George 31, and his wife Mary A George 25.
		The following year their only son Frederick John George was born in Oxford during 1892 as confirmed in the Oxford census of 1901. This stated that Amos J George of Kirtlington was a temperance secretary at 41, his wife Mary also of Kirtlington was 35, and their son was eight years old.
		By April 1911 Mary Ann George from Kirtlington was living still living in the St Aldates district of Oxford at the age of 45, and with her was her husband 51 year old Amos John George, and their son Frederick who was 18.
49O30		Dora Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1849, and was the base-born daughter of unmarried Eliza Collett of Kirtlington. By the time Dora was one year old the Kirtlington census of 1851 placed her living with her mother at the home of her grandmother Sarah Collett nee Wakefield.
		It is likely that Dora’s mother was married during the following years but did not take her daughter into the marriage. Instead, in 1861 Dora Collett, listed in that year’s Kirtlington census at Dozia Collett, was 12 years old and was living with her uncle, Emmanuel Collett and his family.
		Ten years later Dora was no longer living with her uncle and, being over 20 years of age, may have been married by the time of the 1871 Census.
49P1		Richard William Collett was born at Kirtlington in May 1870 and was recorded as being 11 months old in the Kirtlington census of 1871. He was the eldest child of Andrew Collett of Kirtlington and his wife Sarah from Burton Dassett in Warwickshire.
		When Richard was just a couple years old his parents moved to Warwickshire and settled in the village of Knightcote within the parish of Burton Dassett. And it was there that all of Richard’s seven siblings were born over the following years. By 1881 he was ten years old and after a further ten years Richard was working as an agricultural labourer at the age of 20.
		At that time in his life, in 1891, he may have been working with his father and his two younger brothers Andrew and Eli (below), since all four of them were recorded in the census return as agricultural labourers. However, it is possible that Richard later joined the army as no record of him has been found in 1901 at the time of the Boer War, or again in 1911 when he may have moved abroad.
49P2		Emily Collett was born at Knightcote in 1874 after her parents moved there from Kirtlington. By the time of the census in 1881 Emily was six years old and was living with her family at Knightcote. No further record of her after this time has been found, and she was certainly not living with her family in 1891, so it may be safe to assume that she died as a result of some childhood illness.
49P3		Andrew Collett was born at Knightcote in 1877 where he was living with his family in 1881 at the age of three years, and again in 1891 when he was 13 and was working as an agricultural labourer with his two brothers Richard (above) and Eli (below), and their father.
		Eventually Andrew left Knightcote and move to Birmingham where in 1901 he was recorded as living within the Aston area of the city. Living with him on that occasion was his younger brother Henry (below) and both of them were employed by the London North Western Railway. Andrew was 23 and his occupation was that of a plate layer, while his place of birth was confirmed as Knightcote.
		Towards the end of the next decade Andrew married Ada and this produced two children for the couple prior to April 1911. Andrew was 32 and once again living in the Aston district of Birmingham. His wife Ada was 25, and their two children were Alfred Sidney Mos Collett who was two, while Samuel Mos Collett who only four months old.
		49Q1	Alfred Sidney Mos Collett		Born in 1908 at Birmingham
		49Q2	Samuel Mos Collett		Born in December 1910 at Birmingham
49P4		Eli Collett was born at Knightcote in 1878 and was two years old in 1881. Within ten years he had left school and in 1891 he was already working with his father and two older brothers as an agricultural labourer at the age of 12.
		Eli was still living in the family home at Knightcote in March 1901, and by that time he was 22 and his occupation was that of a stone-breaker, possible working with his father who was a roads man. Unfortunately, just like his older brother Richard (above), no trace of Eli Collett has been found in the census of 1911, and both of them may have emigrated by that time.
49P5		Thomas Collett was born at Knightcote in early March in 1881 since he was only one month old for the census that year on third April. He was still living with his family at Knightcote in 1891 and 1901. For the first of these Thomas was ten years old and was still attending the village school.
		On leaving school a few years later he began his working life as an agricultural labourer like his father and his older brothers. Just after the turn of the century Thomas who was born at Knightcote was still living there with his parents at the age of 20, when he was confirmed as an agricultural labourer.
		It was some time after March 1901 that Thomas married Edith, and by April 1911 the childless couple were living at Knightcote not far from Thomas’ parents. He was confirmed in the census return as 30 years old although his place of birth was stated as being Burton Dassett rather than Knightcote. His wife Edith was 29.
49P6		Henry Collett was born at Knightcote in 1884 and was only recorded as living with his parents in the Knightcote census of 1891 when he was six years old. Upon leaving school around six years later it would appear that Henry went to live at Aston in Birmingham with his older brother Andrew (above).
		It also seems likely that it was Andrew who secured work for his young brother as a railway porter with the London North Western Railway. This was verified by the census in 1901 when 16 year old Henry Collett of Knightcote was living in the Aston district, and where he was described as a porter lad.
		Rather curiously the only male Collett born at Knightcote around 1884 was serving with the Royal Navy at Devonport in Devon. This was someone described as A W Collett aged 26 who was definitely born at Knightcote in Warwickshire, so the only query is over the use of the initials A W, which may be a misinterpretation of H W.
49P7		Elizabeth P Victoria Collett was born at Knightcote in 1887. It was as Elizabeth P V Collett aged three years that she was recorded in the Knightcote census of 1891 when she was living there with her large family.
		Ten years later she completed her education, but went back to the village school in Knightcote to train as a school teacher. In the census return for March 1901 she was described as 13 years old Victoria Collett of Knightcote whose occupation was that of a school teacher.
		Elizabeth was still living with her parents and at the same village school was her younger brother William (below). Elizabeth Collett was still unmarried ten years later when she was living and working in London. The census in 1911 listed her as being 24 and from Warwickshire.
49P8		William Collett was born at Knightcote in 1892 and was the last child born to Andrew Collett of Kirtlington and his wife Sarah from Tackley in Oxfordshire. In March 1901 he was eight years old and was attending the village school in Knightcote where his sister Elizabeth (above) was working as a teacher.
		William was the only child still living with his parents in April 1911 when he was 18 years old. Although the earlier records showed he was born at Knightcote, on this occasion his place of birth was given as Burton Dassett.
		Additional information: There were two other Colletts living in Knightcote in April 1911. The first of these is featured in Part 46 – The Charlton-on-Otmoor Line and this is Eliza Collett who was 55 and living alone, the widow and second wife of Henry Collett (Ref. 46O12) of Murcott.
		The second unfortunately has not yet been placed in any of the other Collett families featured on the Collett website. He was bachelor William Collett who was 25 and his little known details have therefore been included here, in the hope that his full family background can be identified at some time in the future.
		William Collett living at Knightcote in April 1911 was an agricultural labourer who was born at Bishop’s Itchington in Warwickshire in 1885. His parents were William Collett of Shutford near Banbury, who was also an agricultural labourer, and his wife Elizabeth Collett of Bishop’s Itchington.
		Four years before he was born William’s parents were 33 and 31 respectively and were living at Bishop’s Itchington with their daughter Jane A Collett. William’s sister Jane was four years old in 1881 and the census return stated that she had been born at Thornhill Lees near Dewsbury in Yorkshire. Living with the family on that occasion were general labourers Edward Gardner 37 of Burton Dassett and Edward Randall 27 of Bishop’s Itchington.
		By the time of the next census in 1891 the family comprised William Collett 44, Elizabeth 41, and their two children William J Collett who was five, and Ruth A Collett who was three. It would appear from the census that their daughter Jane Collett was already living and working in Leamington Spa by then at the age of 15, when he place of birth was confirmed as Bishop’s Itchington.
		Ten years later in March 1901 the family had moved to nearby Burton Dassett. William Collett from Shutford was 55, his wife Elizabeth from Bishop’s Itchington was 51, and their two children were William who was 15 and Ruth Ann who was 13, both of them born at Bishop’s Itchington, and both father and son working as agricultural labourers.
		In 1911 a Ruth Ann Glenn from Warwickshire was 23 and was living in Coventry with her husband Frederick William 26, and their two sons Frederick William John Glenn who was two, and Ernest George Glenn who was one. It is not known for sure at this time that she was formerly Ruth Ann Collett.
		William’s father, William Collett who was born at Shutford in 1847, was the son of Ann Collett of Stretton-on-Fosse. In 1851 Ann was 29 and was married, but a pauper working as an agricultural labourer, which might suggest that her husband was away at that time. She was living with her son William, who was three, at the Radway home of her widowed father, Charles Mander from Avon Dassett.
		In the following two censuses she was listed as Ann Collett 38, and Annie Collett 47 while living within the Swalcliffe & Banbury area with her son William who was 13 and 23 respectively.
49P9		William Collett was born at Fulham in 1894, the eldest son of Eli Collett of Kirtlington and his wife Emily Elizabeth Collett from Surrey. In both the census of 1901 and 1911 William was living at Fulham with his parents and younger brother Harry.
		It is understood that at the outbreak of war William joined 61^st Company Machine Gun Corps of the Infantry but tragically lost his life in battle on 15.04.1918. Panel 11 of the Ploegsteert Memorial bears his name.
		By that time in his life it would appear that he had moved out of London and was living in Leagrave near Luton. With no next-of-kin listed in his army records, it may indicate that he was not married.
49P12		Helen Ada Collett was born in 1885 at Middleton Stoney which is just three miles north of Kirtlington. She was the eldest daughter and first child of Thomas and Mary Jane Collett. In 1891 Helen A Collett was five years old and was living at Middleton Stoney with her parents and siblings Violet and Harry (below).
		Shortly after the census day in 1891 Helen and her family left Middleton Stoney when they moved to Bucknell to the north of Bicester. And it was there that Helen was living in March 1901 at the age of 15.
		By 1911 an Ada Helen Freeman aged 25 who was born at Middleton Stoney was living there, although no husband or child was listed with her at that time. It is therefore possible that this was, or was not, Helen Ada Collett.
49P11		Violet E Collett was born at Middleton Stoney in 1886, where she was living with her family at the time of the census in 1891 at the age of four years. During the following year Violet and her family moved to Bucknell near Bicester, but by 1901 she had started work and was living in the Evenley area of south Northamptonshire where she was recorded as Violet E Collett aged 15 and from Middleton Stoney.
		One of the major establishments in the Evenley area was the children’s home of Evenley Hall, and this may have been where she first worked before moving south to London. According to the April census of 1911, Violet Collett from Middleton Stoney was 24 and was living and working in the Croydon district of Surrey.
49P13		Harry Collett was born at Middleton Stoney in 1888 and was two years old at the time of the Middleton Stoney census of 1891. Ten years later, after the family had moved to Bucknell, Harry Collett was listed with his family living there at the age of 12.
		After another ten years Harry Collett was an unmarried man of 22 still living and working within the Bicester registration district.
49P14		John William Collett was born at Middleton Stoney in 1891 but this took place after the fifth of April that year. Not long after he was born he and his family left Middleton when they moved to Bucknell near Bicester. At the time of the Bucknell census in March 1901 he was simply listed as John Collett aged nine years.
		Ten years after this, in April 1911, he and his family were still living in the Bicester area but on this occasion he was recorded as William John Collett of Middleton Stoney who was 19.
49P15		George Francis Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1894, although before this his parents had been living at Middleton Stoney, and after his birth they were living at Bucknell. The Bucknell census in 1901 included the Collett family of George Collett who was six years old.
		The next census in April 1911 listed George, again with his family, under his full name of George Francis Collett of Kirtlington who was 16.
49P16		Cecil Joseph Collett was born at Bucknell near Bicester in 1897 and, as Cecil Collett age three years, he was living there with his family in 1901. It was as Cecil Joseph Collett age 13 that he was recorded in the next census of 1911.
49P17		Reginald Arthur Collett was born at Bucknell in 1898, the youngest child of Thomas and Mary Jane Collett. He was living with his family at Bucknell in 1901, when the census that year listed him as two years old Reginald Collett of Bucknell. Ten years later in the Bicester area census on 1911 he was Reginald Arthur Collett of Bucknell who was 12 years old.
49P18		Emma W Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1869, the eldest child of William W Collett and his wife Sarah who was one year old in the Kirtlington census of 1871. By 1881 Emma was 11 years old and was still living at Kirtlington with her family.
		The whereabouts of Emma has not been discovered in 1891, but a few years after this she married William Rogers of Kirtlington and the couple settled in the village of Lower Heyford just three miles north of Kirtlington. And it was at Lower Heyford where their children were born and where the family was living in 1901.
		William Rogers aged 34 was a plate-layer on the railway, his wife Emma Rogers was 31, and their two children at that time were Elsie Rogers who was four, and William Rogers who was two. It would also appear from the census that Emma’s young sister Jessie Collett (below) was also living with the Rogers family at that time. However, no trace of the family has been found in 1911.
49P19		George Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1871, the eldest son of William and Sarah Collett. He was nine years old in 1881 and nineteen years old in 1891, and on both occasion he was living with his family at Kirtlington.
		According to the census in March 1901, George Collett from Kirtlington was still living there at the age of 29, where he was working as a domestic gardener. Ten years later in 1911 he was back living and working in the Bicester area at the age of 39.
49P20		Clara Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1873 and was seven years of age in the census of 1881. By the age of 17 Clara had already left the family home in Kirtlington and in March 1901 she was employed as a lady’s maid in the Chelsea area of London at the age of 27.
		Her place of birth was confirmed as Kirtlington, and living and working in the house with her was her younger sister Margaret M Collett (below), also of Kirtlington.
		Clara was not married ten years later in 1911, when she was recorded in the census that year as Clara Collett from Kirtlington in Oxfordshire who was 37 and still living and working in the Chelsea registration district of London.
49P21		Ann Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1875. She was five years old at the time of the census in 1881 when she was still living at Kirtlington with her family, although ten years later in 1891 she had already moved away from the village.
		Like two of her earlier ancestors, Ann married a member of the Wakefield family of Kirtlington, who may have been a direct descendent from the earlier family of Joseph and Mary Wakefield. Ann Collett married Fred Wakefield sometime during the latter half of the 1890s and by 1901 the childless couple were living in Kirtlington where Fred was a bread baker.
		He was 28 and his wife Annie Wakefield was 25. Ten years later the couple were still living in Kirtlington when Fred was 38 and Annie was 35.
49P22		William Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1878 and he was two years old by the time of the Kirtlington census of 1881. He was still there with his parents ten years later at the age of 12. Curiously no further record of William has been found in either 1901 or 1911.
49P23		Fanny Collett was born at Kirtlington during November 1880 and was recorded as being five months old in the census of 1881. She was ten years old in 1891, and by the time she was 20 in 1901 Fanny was living in the St Giles district of Oxford city.
		Fanny’s place of birth was confirmed as Kirtlington, but rather oddly for an unmarried lady, she was not credited in the census return as having an occupation. No record of her has been found in 1911, so it might be assumed that she was married by then.
49P24		Margaret M Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1882 and was eight years old by the time of the Kirtlington census of 1891 when she was living there with her family.
		By the time of the next census in March 1901, Margaret M Collett was 18 and was working as a parlour maid at a house in the Chelsea area of London where her older sister Clara Collett (above) was also employed. Both girls were recorded as having been born at Kirtlington in Oxfordshire.
49P25		Jessie Elizabeth Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1883. By 1891 she was seven years old and was living with her family at Kirtlington, although by 1901 she had left the family home and was living with her married sister Emma Rogers nee Collett (above) and her family at nearby Lower Heyford. The census return listed her as Jessie Collett from Kirtlington who was 15 and employed as a housemaid.
		It would seem likely that the lure of work in London, where her two sisters Clara and Margaret (above) were working in 1901, was sufficient enough to persuade Jessie to try to seek her fortune there, since it was there that she was recorded in the census of 1911.
		At that time her sister Clara was still living and working in the Chelsea area, while Jessie was living and working within the Paddington census registration district. The census return for Paddington confirmed that she was Jessie Elizabeth Collett from Kirtlington, who was 26 years old and unmarried.
49P26		Frederick Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1887 where he was listed as being three years old in 1891. He was still living there with his parents in 1901 when he was 13 years of age.
49P27		Eva Collett was born at Kirtlington in 1889 and was the youngest child of William and Sarah Collett. Eva was one year old in 1891 and was 11 years old in March 1901. On both occasions she was living with her parents at Kirtlington, and was the only one of the couple’s ten children still living with them in April 1911 when she was 21.
49P28		Florence Emily Collett was born at Bethnal Green in London on 15.03.1868. At that time her father was referred to as Harry Collett and her mother was recorded as Selina Sarah Collett, and they were living at 43 Sewardstone Road West in Bethnal Green. Her father’s occupation was stated as being that of a proprietor of houses, and this could well be a link back to the building business of his father.
		By the time Florence was eight months old, she and her parents were sailing to New Zealand, eventually arriving at Auckland in March 1869. The family only stayed in New Zealand for a short few years before moving onto America. Sadly, Florence died in San Francisco in 1897 at the age of 29.
		Florence Emily Collett was buried in the family grave at the cemetery in Colma, to the south of San Francisco, where her parents and two of her siblings were also buried.
49P29		Helen Wakefield Collett was born in New Zealand in 1869 and the birth appears to have taken place within a few months of her parents’ arrival in New Zealand. Three years after she was born her family left New Zealand and sailed to America.
		However, Helen did not make the journey with them as she had died when she was just fifteen months old. Tragically, Helen died in a freak accident involving a horse drawn wagon carrying quarried material from a nearby mine.
49P30		Selina Edith Collett was born in New Zealand during 1871, and so made the long journey with her parents and sister to San Francisco. Later, going by her middle name Edith, she married Frank Gumper in 1905 and then had one child Norma R. Gumper born in 1908.
		Sadly, both Edith and Frank met a tragic end as they were killed in single car accident in which the car that Frank was driving plunged off a winding mountain road south of San Francisco and disappeared into the steep canyon below. A search party led by Edith’s brother Albert eventually found the wreckage.
		Selina Edith Gumper, and her husband Frank were buried in the Collett family grave at Colma, to the south of San Francisco, where her parents and two of her siblings were also buried.
49P31		Charles William Collett was born at San Francisco in 1874 shortly after his parents arrived there from New Zealand. As the oldest son, it can be assumed that Charles was pressed to find employment, as his father died suddenly when Charles was only 16.
		Eventually he successfully established a tailoring business, partnering with his brother Albert Victor Collett (below) and R. McDonald. Charles was ultimately the proprietor of three tailor shops – two in San Francisco and one in Seattle.
		He later married Henrietta Driscoll and the marriage produced two children for Charles and Henrietta, both born while the couple were living in San Francisco.
		49Q3	Charles Elmer Collett		Born in 1903
		49Q4	Edith Marie Collett		Born in 1908
49P32		Henry George Collett was born in San Francisco in 1877. He was listed in the 1900 census as an actor and shortly after he married May Collett but did not survive to the next decade, his death occurring in 1904.
		Henry George Collett was buried in the family grave at Colma Cemetery, to the south of San Francisco, where his parents and two of his sister were also buried.
49P33		Clara Lucy Collett was born in San Francisco in 1880. She married Charles E Barry in 1900 and had two children, Florence born 1903 and Edward born 1904. Clara outlived her husband by many years dying in 1980 at the age of 100.
49P34		Walter Sydney Collett was born in San Francisco in 1881. He married Ida Schmaling in 1908, had one daughter Clara Dolores Collett in 1909 but, working as a utility lineman, met a tragic death in 1909.
49P37		Richard Claude Collett was born at San Francisco on 07.07.1885. Although born and raised in San Francisco, Richard lived much of his life in nearby Marin County with his wife Josephine. He died in January 1971 at the age of 86.
49P38		Albert Victor Collett was born at San Francisco on 21.06.1887. He later married Marie McCafferty with whom he had a son Albert V Collett junior. Albert worked with his brother Charles William Collett (above) at one of their tailor shops. Albert lived the majority of his life in San Francisco and died in February 1975 while living at Daly City in San Mateo County in California.
		49Q5	Albert Victor Collett	Born circa 1915 - 1925
49Q3		Charles Elmer Collett was born at San Francisco in 1903. Charles was married at San Francisco in 1939 when in his mid-to-late thirties and just prior to America’s involvement in the Second World War. In the event Charles married Marjory Coutts, and their marriage produced four children for the couple.
		Marjory Coutts was born in 1916 and was the daughter of Adam Mitchell Coutts (1881–1978) and his wife Elizabeth Reddie. The couple had emigrated to Canada at an earlier time and then inexplicably returned to Scotland around 1915 and 1916, during which time their daughter was born.
		The birth of Charles’ and Marjory’s four children took place while the couple were still living in San Francisco, but shortly after the arrival of their last child the family left San Francisco and moved to Mill Valley at Marin County in California where they spent the rest of their lives together.
		However, despite the family living at San Francisco, the birth of the couple’s second child Charles Elmer junior took place at Oakland in California. This was very likely a matter of convenience for Marjory and a result of the navy’s benefit programme during the war years which allowed the families of enlisted personnel to choose the hospital where their child could be born.
		During his life Charles Elmer Collett was a captain of the Stanford water-polo team, and later the goalkeeper for the United States of America’s 1924 Olympic water-polo team that won the bronze medal at the Paris Olympic Games.
		As a result of his achievements in the world of water-polo, he was later honoured for his contribution to the sport by being selected for the USA Hall of Fame.
		Charles also saw active service during the Second World War when he was a Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy. He was involved in the Pacific Campaign for which he received a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.
		He was eventually promoted to the rank of captain, and on leaving the navy he became a United States District Attorney, which he did for about thirty years prior to his retirement. In addition to his interest in sport, he was also an actor in amateur dramatics and an accomplished piano player.
		Charles Elmer Collett lived to be 64 and died at Mill Valley in California in 1968 and was followed by Marjory seventeen years later, when she died there in 1985 at the age of 69.
		49R1	Joan Adele Collett		Born in 1942
		49R2	Charles Elmer Collett		Born in 1944
		49R3	Cedric William Collett		Born in 1946
		49R4	Brian Richard Collett		Born in 1948
49Q4		Edith Marie Collett was born at San Francisco in 1908 and lived there her entire life. In her later years she did extensive travelling, visiting Central America, South America, China, Russia, and Egypt in her many travels. She survived her brother Charles Elmer Collett (above) by eighteen years when she died at Moss Beach in California in 1986.
49Q5		Albert Victor Collett was the only son of Albert Victor Collett and his wife Marie McCafferty, and it was whilst his parents were living in San Francisco that he was born. His exact date of birth is not known, except that it very likely took place during the second or third decade of the 1900s.
		Albert married Anne and they adopted two children, Michael J, born in 1959 and Mary, born around 1962.
		49R5	Michael J Collett		Born in 1959
		49R6	Mary Collett		Born in 1962
49R1		Joan Adele Collett was born at San Francisco in 1942. Her education had a parallel with that of her father, in that she too was a Stanford graduate. Following her graduation Joan entered the world of education and was a teacher for around twenty-five years.
		At some time in her life Joan married Fred Brown.
		Since the turn of the century, Joan has been an artist and has served with the Organisation for Security and Co-operation In Europe (OCSE) as an observer for elections in Serbia, Bosnia, Albania and East Timor.