PART FIFTY

The London to New Zealand Line

1670 to 2000

Updated July 2011

This is the family line of Pauline MacKenzie nee Collett (Ref. 50S1) of Queensland

in Australia and her brother Bryan Collett (Ref. 50S3) in New Zealand

It is very likely that there were other children born into each of the families listed in the early part of this family line but, as yet, no further details are available at this time

The pre-1825 information has been taken from the website www.familysearch.org

50I1	EDMUND COLLETT may have been born between 1665 and 1675 although no trace of such a person has so far been found within the London area.
	What is known about Edmund is that he married Anne Durrant at St Dunstan’s Church in Stepney on 21.05.1696 with whom he has a son who was baptised at the same church during the following year. The marriage register confirmed that Edmund Collet (with one t) was born in Stepney.
	50J1	JOHN COLLETT	Born circa 1697
50J1	JOHN COLLETT was at Stepney and possibly in 1697. He was baptised at St Dunstan’s Church in Stepney on 20.05.1697 where his parents had been married during the previous year. These were confirmed as being Edmund and Anne Collett, although the surname was recorded at Collitt which was a common error.
	John later married Elizabeth Ward on 06.01.1719 also at St Dunstan’s Church in Stepney and with whom he had a son. The baptism took place at St Mary’s Church in Whitechapel (also within the Stepney area of London) and this recorded that John Collett was baptised on in July 1724 and that his parents were John and Elizabeth Collett.
	50K1	JOHN COLLETT	Born circa 1724
50K1	JOHN COLLETT was born around 1724. He was baptised on 05.07.1724 at St Marys Church in Whitechapel and his parents were recorded as being John and Elizabeth Collett.
	He later married Mary and together they were named as the parents of William Collett who was born in late 1749. The St Giles Cripplegate baptism register for their son recorded their surname as Collott which may have been a simple error made in transcribing the details.
	John Collett was a renowned painter and engraver and his paintings of London and life in the city were very much in vogue, both during his life time and afterwards. From 1766 to 1773 John and his family lived at Cheyne House in Upper Cheyne Row in Chelsea, which was built for the Duchess of Hamilton in 1715, and from whom it was tenanted. Upper Cheyne Row is still there today, close to the River Thames, near Albert Bridge.
	In 1773 John and Mary left Cheyne House, when they moved back to just north of where John was born. The last seven years of his life were spent at Paradise Row in Bethnal Green, one mile north of Whitechapel. And it was at Paradise Row, that John Collett died in 1780 at the age of 55.
	Paradise Row runs parallel to the A107 Cambridge Heath Road, not far from Bethnal Green Station. It is also interesting to note that, after John’s departure from Cheyne House, the property became a school from the end of the 18th century through to the first half of the 19^th century, and is marked on the 1836 map of Chelsea published by Frederick Philip Thompson as "Cheyne House Academy”.
	50L1	WILLIAM COLLETT	Born circa 1750
50L1	WILLIAM COLLETT was born around the end of 1749 and was baptised on 03.01.1750 at St Giles Church in Cripplegate, the baptism record confirming his parents as John and Mary Collett.
	William later married Martha Caulet on 16.07.1768 at St Stephen Walbrook. Rather interestingly a Martha Collet (with one t) was born on 05.01.1748 and baptised at St Leonards Shoreditch on 29.01.1748.
	Martha was the daughter of Jonathan and Mary Collet although no earlier record of Jonathan or this family has been found.
	It is also interesting to note that St Giles Cripplegate lies just to the north of both St Stephen Walbrook and St Martin Vintry referred to below, and all of them not far from St Leonards Shoreditch.
	50M1	WILLIAM COLLETT	Born in 1772
50M1	WILLIAM COLLETT, who was born on 25.06.1772, was baptised at St Stephen Walbrook Church on 23.07.1772. The baptism record confirmed that his parents were William and Martha Collett. St Stephen Walbrook is just a short distance to the east of St Martin Vintry (see below).
	William later married Sarah Wittle (Whittle) at St Bride’s Church in Fleet on 31.03.1795. During the following year the couple were recorded as the parents of William Collett who was baptised at St Leonard’s Shoreditch in the June of that year. And it was there also that another son was baptised a few years after.
	50N1	WILLIAM COLLETT	Born in 1796
	50N2	Henry Lawrence Collett	Born in 1803
50N1	WILLIAM COLLETT was born on 14.03.1796 almost exactly one year after his parents William Collett and Sarah Whittle were married, thus making him the oldest child of the family. Exactly three months later he was baptised on 14.06.1796 at St Leonard’s in Shoreditch.
	When he was twenty-five years old William married Elizabeth Loader, the wedding taking place within the London parish of St Martin Vintry on 08.10.1821. The actual church of St Martin Vintry on the north bank of the Rover Thames was destroyed in the Fire of London in 1666 and was never rebuilt.
	The parish of St Martin Vintry lies just south of the Shoreditch area of London where William was born.
	William was recorded as being forty in the first national census in the United Kingdom held on sixth June 1841. Living with him was his wife Elizabeth Collett who was also forty. It should be noted that in this particular census the ages for adults were rounded to the nearest five years, so Henry and his wife may have been older or younger than forty.
	The couple were listed as living in Acton within the Brentford & Kensington census registration district. Only one other Collett was living in Acton at that time and this was Sarah Collett who was 30 and may have been William’s sister or sister-in-law.
	Ten years later in 1851 Elizabeth Collett of Acton was 52 and was living in the Brentford area. This would place her year of birth as being 1798.
	50O1	HENRY COLLETT	Born in 1823
50N2	Henry Lawrence Collett was born on 21.12.1803 and he was baptised a month later on 29.01.1804 at St Leonards Church in Shoreditch. The baptism record confirmed that he was the son of William and Sarah Collett.
	It would appear that, simply as Henry Collett, he married Harriet Ford on 01.04.1831 at the church of St Michael Bassishaw, just immediately south of Shoreditch. The original church was destroyed by the Fire of London and rebuilt by the office of Christopher Wren. In 1900 the church on Basinghall Street was demolished, and the land on which it stood is now the site of the Barbican Centre.
50O1	HENRY COLLETT was born at Acton in 1823, Acton being adjacent to Kensington and Hammersmith where Henry was living later in his life with his wife Sophia who was born in Somerset around 1823.
	The couple were married in the Kensington area of London and it was at Kensington that the event was registered during the third quarter of 1847. During their life together it has been established that Sophia presented Henry with nine known children.
	By the end of March in 1851 the family living in the Kensington area of London was made up of Henry 28, his wife Sophia 27, and their two children Susan who was three and Henry who was not quite one year old.
	During the next ten years a further four children were added to the family so by 1861 Henry was 39, Sophia E Collett was 38, Henry junior was 11, Matilda was 8, Mary A Collett was 5, Joseph E Collett was 2, and the latest addition to the family was Harriet who was one year old.
	The missing child, eldest daughter Susan Collett, was recorded in the census as being at Islington where she was twelve years old. Over the next four years to more children were added to the family while they were living in Kensington.
	However, sometime around 1866/1867 Henry and Sophia moved west from the Kensington and Paddington area of the city and settled in Hammersmith where their last child was born and where the family was living in 1871.
	On this occasion the family comprised Henry of Acton and Sophia, both aged 47, and seven of their nine children. These being Henry 21, Mary 17, Joseph 15, Harriet 13, Elizabeth 9, Louisa 7, and Sophia who was three.
	It would appear that Henry’s wife Sophia died during the next few years, since by 1881 he was a widower aged 58 of no occupation who had been born at Acton. At that time he was a lodger at 19 Rendle Street, the home of bricklayer George Kidd and his family. No record of Rendle Street exists today.
	By this time all of his children had gone their separate ways, although four of them were living in Herries Street in 1881. It would seem that Henry died during the following decade as no record of him has been found in the census of 1891.
	50P1	Susan Margaret Collett	Born in 1848
	50P2	Henry Collett	Born in 1849
	50P3	Matilda Collett	Born in 1852
	50P4	Mary Ann Collett	Born in 1854
	50P5	Joseph Ernest Collett	Born in 1856
	50P6	Harriet Collett	Born in 1859
	50P7	Sarah Elizabeth Collett	Born in 1862
	50P8	Louisa Collett	Born in 1865
	50P9	Sophia Collett	Born in 1868
50P1	Susan Margaret Collett was born at Kensington where the birth was registered during the third quarter of 1848 in either July or August or September. She later married Reuben E Sommins who was born at Kensington in 1840 and it seems likely that this took place around 1869 when she was twenty-one.
	During their first ten years together the marriage produced six children for Susan and Reuben so by the time of the census of 1881 the family was as listed below. Susan was 31 and of Kensington, while Reuben was 40 and also of Kensington. On that occasion the family was living at Ferndale House in Herries Road where Reuben was a cellarman.
	Their six children were listed as being aged 10, 8, 6, 4, 3 and six months respectively. In addition to the family, two of Susan’s siblings were also living with them. These were brother Joseph and sister Sophia (below) who were described as brother-in-law and sister-in-law to head of the household Reuben.
	Ferndale House must have been a sizeable property because, in addition to the aforementioned ten people, the family also had a female lodger M Sharp who was twenty-four and from Hammersmith.
	No record of any member of this Sommins family has been found in 1891 or 1901, unless a different spelling of the name was used.
	50Q1	Harry W Sommins	Born in 1870 at Clerkenwell
	50Q2	Adela L Sommins	Born in 1872 at Kensington
	50Q3	Edward L Sommins	Born in 1874 at Kensington
	50Q4	Nelly M Sommins	Born in 1876 at Hammersmith
	50Q5	Edith H Sommins	Born in 1877 at Hammersmith
	50Q6	Reuben J Sommins	Born in September 1880 at Kensington
50P2	Henry Collett was born in London in 1849 and the birth was registered at Wandsworth during the third quarter of that year. Wandsworth is on the south bank of the River Thames in London and is some distance south of Kensington and Paddington where most of his siblings were born.
	However, it is the baptism record for Henry that confirms his parents as Henry and Sophia Collett, the baptism taking place at Holy Trinity Church in Paddington.
	Earlier information suggested Henry was Henry Richard Collett but this was not correct since he was born on 28^th June 1849 and was baptised at St Mary’s Church in Battersea, the son of Robert Collett and his wife Mary Hannah.
	According to the census of 1861 Henry was 11 and was still living with his family in Kensington, as he was ten years later when he was twenty-one. No record of Henry (or Harry) has been found in any census returns after 1871.
50P3	Matilda Collett was very likely born at Paddington in 1852 although a later census return gave her place of birth as Teddington, which is thought to be an error in transcribing. In the census of 1861 she was eight years old and still living with her family. No record of her has been found in 1871.
	However, following the death of her mother in the latter part of the 1870s, Matilda and all of her siblings, and the children’s widowed father, left the family home and went their separate ways. Matilda linked up with her sister Harriet (below) and went into domestic service.
	By April 1881 Matilda and Harriet were working for wine maker Frederick Campbell of Scotland and his family who lived at 17 Dorset Square in the Marylebone area of London. Matilda was still a single lady of twenty-seven and was employed by the Campbell family as their cook. Her place of birth was given as Teddington which, it is believed, was incorrect.
	Ten years later she was recorded as Matilda F Collett aged 37, living in the Holborn registration district of London. It therefore seems likely that she never married, although no record of her has been found in the census of 1901.
50P4	Mary Ann Collett was born at Paddington in 1854 and the birth was registered at Kensington during the second quarter of 1854 in April, May or June. She was listed as being 5 and 17 in the following census returns, but no record of Mary has been found in 1881, by which time she was very likely married.
50P5	JOSEPH ERNEST COLLETT was born at Paddington in 1856 and the birth was registered at Kensington during the second quarter of 1856. This gave his name as Joseph E Collett
	Curiously Joseph E Collett was recorded as being two years old in the census of 1861, although he was more accurately listed as being fifteen years of age a decade later.
	Joseph’s mother died prior to 1881 by which time Joseph was working as a painter while living with his eldest sister Susan and her husband Reuben Sommins at Ferndale House in Herries Road in London. Joseph was described as Reuben’s brother-in-law and was 23 and born at Paddington.
	Almost living at the house was Joseph’s and Susan’s youngest sister Sophia Collett of Hammersmith.
	Within two years of the 1881 Census Joseph married Amelia Rogers of London. Judging by the date of birth of the couple’s first child it seems very likely that the marriage took place in 1883.
	By the time of the census in 1891, which took place on fifth April, the family was living at Swinbrook Road in Kensington where Joseph was a 34 years old painter, Amelia was 29, and their three children were William who was 6, James who was 4, and Ellen who was two years old.
	On the day of the census Amelia was with-child, and so it was that just over four months later she presented her husband with their fourth child and third son George.
	The child’s birth certificate confirmed once again that Joseph’s occupation was that of a painter, as it had been just over ten years earlier in the April census of 1881. The certificate also confirmed that the family was living at 25 Swinbrook Road in Kensington where baby George was very likely born.
	What happened to the family after August 1891 has not been determined, although no trace of any member of the family has been in the census of 1901, nor is it known whether any further children were born into the family.
	50Q7	William Collett	Born in 1884
	50Q8	James Collett	Born in 1886
	50Q9	Ellen Collett	Born in 1888
	50Q10	GEORGE ALBERT COLLETT	Born on 14.08.1891
50P6	Harriet Collett was born at Paddington in 1859 and the birth was registered at Kensington during the last three months of 1859. She was listed as being one year old in the census of 1861 and 13 in the census of 1871.
	With the death of her mother sometime during the 1870s, Harriet joined forces with her older sister Matilda (above) and entered into domestic service. The census of 1881 recorded that both girls were working for wine maker Frederick Campbell in the Marylebone area of London.
	The census return described Harriet as being 22 and born at Paddington, and her occupation as that of a parlour-maid while living and working at 17 Dorset Square. Frederick Campbell and his wife Emilie from Java had seven children between the ages of one and eleven.
	In addition to this and the two Collett girls, the household was supported by four other female servants including an elder nurse, an elder ‘monthly nurse’, a young ‘under nurse’, and a housemaid.
50P7	Sarah Elizabeth Collett was born at Kensington where the birth was registered as taking place during the second quarter of 1862. By the time of the census of 1871 she and her family were living in Hammersmith where she was recorded as being Elizabeth Collett aged nine.
50P8	Louisa Collett was born at Kensington during the first three months of 1865. Not long after she was born the family left Kensington and moved the short distance to the west to Hammersmith where they were living in 1871 and where Louisa was curiously recorded as being seven years old.
	Ten years later in April 1881 Louisa had left the family home following the death of her mother. At that time she was working as a domestic servant at the home of builder William H Rudkin at 34 Herries Street. Today there is a Herries Street in West Kilburn.
	Louisa was listed in the census return as being aged sixteen and born at Kensington. It should be noted that also living in Herries Street at that same time were three of Louisa’s siblings. These were eldest sister Susan Sommins nee Collett (above), brother Joseph (above), and younger sister Sophia (below).
50P9	Sophia Collett was born at Hammersmith in 1868 and was named after her mother. The birth was registered at Kensington during the first three months of 1868. She was confirmed as being three years old in the census of 1871 when she was living with her parents in the Kensington St Paul & Hammersmith registration area.
	Following the death of her mother during the 1870s the family appears to have ‘broken up’, with Sophia going to live with her older married sister Susan. This was confirmed by the census of 1881 when she was thirteen and living at Ferndale House in Herries Street, the home of Reuben and Susan Sommins.
	No record of Sophia or Sophie has been found in 1891 when she would have been twenty-three and possibly married.
50Q10	GEORGE ALBERT COLLETT was born in London on 14.08.1891. At the time of his birth his parents, Joseph Ernest Collett and his wife Amelia formerly Rogers, were living at 25 Swinbrook Road in Kensington, midway between Kensal Town and Notting Hill. George later became an able seaman and left England to make a new life for himself in New Zealand around 1911. And it was in Auckland in New Zealand that he married Edna Tamar Finey on 21.12.1922. Edna’s parents came from England, although she was born in Auckland. The marriage later produced three sons for the couple. In 1926 George and Edna adopted a three years old girl by the name of Lesly Iris Tozer who took the Collett name to become Lesly Iris Collett.
	The photograph of George Albert Collett (above) was taken on the occasion of Lesly Iris Collett’s wedding day.
	It was in 1934, twelve years after they had been married, that Edna present George with the first of their three children, the second child being born three years later, and the third child three years after that.
	During his life George worked as a fireman and tragically was thrown off the back of a fire engine when on an emergency call and lost his left eye as a result of the accident. This did not deter George, who enrolled with the New Zealand Air Force on 13^th December 1940 to add his support to the war effort.
	He entered the service as a leading aircraftsman and he had been promoted to Mess Sergeant by the time he was discharged from his duties on 26^th October 1947.
	George Albert Collett died while living in Auckland and was buried there at the Waikumete Cemetery.
	50R1	Lesly Iris Collett (formerly Tozer)	Born on 26.07.1923
	50R2	George Bernard Collett	Born on 11.08.1934
	50R3	DENE COLLETT	Born on 09.07.1937
	50R4	Glen Collett	Born on 18.04.1940
50R2	George Bernard Collett was born in New Zealand on 11.08.1934. He never married and died at Auckland on 09.03.1994 and was buried with his father George Albert Collett at Waikumete Cemetery in Auckland.
50R3	DENE COLLETT was the son of George Albert Collett and Edna Tamar Finey and was born in New Zealand on 09.07.1937. He married Grace (Gracy) Takurangi Campbell on 29.11.1957. Gracy was a New Zealand Maori and it was through this that Maori names were introduced to the Collett family. The photograph on the right shows Dene and Gracy on their wedding day, flanked by Dene’s mother Edna to the left, and Gracy’s mother Leah on the far right. Over the following years Gracy presented Dene with a son and a daughter.
	Gracy Takurangi Collett passed away on 23^rd April 2011.
	50S1	PAULINE MARINO COLLETT	Born on 29.04.1958
	50S2	Graham Dene Collett	Born on 21.12.1959
	50S3	Bryan Wayne Collett	Born on 24.01.1961
	50S4	Jennifer Grace Collett	Born on 15.03.1962
	50S5	Patricia Gayle Collett	Born on 22.06.1967
	50S6	Lesly Anne Collett	Born on 28.03.1969
	50S7	Robyn Kirioho Collett	Born on 08.07.1971
50R4	Glen Collett was born in New Zealand on 18.04.1940. He has never married and is currently living in Auckland.
50S1	PAULINE MARINO COLLETT is the daughter of Dene Collett and Gracy Campbell and was born in New Zealand on 29.04.1958. She is married to Allan MacKenzie and the couple are living at MacKay in Queensland in 2009. This is a photograph of the happy couple taken on their wedding day in 2004. Pauline and Allan currently live in Mackay in Queensland, and it is Pauline who kindly provided the initial information relating to her great grandfather George Albert Collett, that this family line has been developed.
50S4	Jennifer Grace Collett was born in New Zealand on 15.03.1962 and she married to become Jennifer Grace Beachen.
50S5	Patricia Gayle Collett was born in New Zealand on 22.06.1967 and she married to become Patricia Gayle Hutchinson.
50S6	Lesly Anne Collett was born in New Zealand on 28.03.1969 and she married to become Lesley Ann Tito.
50S7	Robyn Kirioho Collett was born in New Zealand on 08.07.1971 and she was very recently married to become Robyn Kirioho Tereappii.