PART FIFTY-THREE

The South Wales Branch Line

February 2010

	Although not proved, there is a possibility that the start of this line may lie within Part 1 – The Main Line. In this there is a Walter Collett (Ref. 1M20), the son of Lawrence Collett and his wife Mary Day, who was baptised at Kempsford in Gloucestershire on 16^th July 1771. This would place his age at the time of the birth of Samuel (below) as being around forty-four, which would be acceptable if his wife Mary was a few years younger than him. See reference to possible marriage of Walter and Mary below.
	If this link could be proved, then this family line has its origin in the Gloucestershire family of Thomas Collett who was born in 1485 (Ref. 1D1).
53N1	WALTER COLLETT was born around 1770 to 1780 and it is established that he was married to Mary from the baptism record for their son Walter. This took place at St Woolos Church in Newport in June 1816, the child having been born either earlier that year or towards the end of the previous year.
	The only marriage between a Walter Collett and a Mary so far found was the one that took place at St Saviours Church in Southwark, London on 30.07.1800, the bride being Mary Marshall the daughter of John and Sarah Marshall.
	Mary Marshall was born at Southwark on 11.03.1775 and baptised there at the Church of St Olave, and she would have been around forty when her son Samuel was born. This would be acceptable for her last child; the wedding date also fitting in with the birth of Walter’s earlier son Henry.
	It is also established that another Henry Collett, a first cousin of Walter (Ref. 1M20), left Gloucestershire and moved to London where he was married eighteen months before Walter married Mary. There is a further connection with London, in that it was there that Walter’s ‘possible’ eldest son Henry was also married there.
	No record has so far been found to confirm that Henry was the son of Walter and Mary, or that he was the brother of Walter. Where there is a possible link is that the children of both families were born at Christchurch, and both had sons called Walter named after their grandfather. Also in the census of 1881, Samuel the son of Walter was living at Royal Oak Hill in Christchurch, where Walter the son of Henry was also living at that time.
	There is another possible link, albeit perhaps a bit tenuous, in that the wife of Samuel Collett was from Ireland, and it was a later generation of the Collett family whose daughter was taken in by an Irishman and his family, following the death of the child’s mother around the time she was born.
	By the time of the census of 1861 Walter Collett had died leaving his wife Mary as an eighty-four years old widow in the census that year. At that time in her life she had living with her at Christchurch, and presumably looking after her there, her grand-daughter Catherine Collett, the eldest daughter of her son Samuel who was also living nearby with the rest of his large family.
	53O1	Henry Collett	Born circa 1805
	53O2	Samuel Collett	Born circa 1815
53O1	HENRY COLLETT died at during the September quarter of 1838 and his death was registered in the Newport district of Monmouthshire. Just over five years earlier he had married Charlotte Bray at All Souls Church in St Marylebone in London on 20.05.1833, Charlotte having been born at St Aldersgate in London during the period 1804 to 1810.
	Once they were married the couple moved to Christchurch to the immediate north-east of Newport in South Wales where their three children were born.
	By the time of the first national census in June 1841, the widow Charlotte Collett was thirty-six and was living at Church Hill in Christchurch with her three children. These were daughter Charlotte who was seven, and sons Henry who was four, and Walter who was two years old.
	Ten years later the same family was living at Christchurch Hill in Christchurch, which may have been the same abode as in 1841, but with a slightly different name. On this occasion Charlotte was forty years old and her children were sixteen, fourteen, and thirteen respectively.
	No record of Charlotte or her son Henry has been found in any later census.
	53P1	Charlotte Collett	Born in 1834
	53P2	Henry Collett	Born in 1837
	53P3	WALTER COLLETT	Born in 1838
53O2	Samuel Collett was born around the end of 1815 or the beginning of 1816. He was baptised on 09.06.1816 at St Woolos Cathedral in Newport, the son of Walter and Mary Collett.
	It was around 1842 that Samuel married Catherine from Ireland, the marriage producing eight known children for the couple. Once married it would appear that Samuel and his wife settled in Christchurch where it is known that all of their children were born.
	The Christchurch census of 1851, within the Caerleon & Newport registration district, listed the family as Samuel 34, his wife Kate as 36, and their five children at that time as Walter 7, Catherine 6, William 4, Susan 2, and baby Emily who was not yet one year old.
	Within the next ten years a further three children were added to the family. So by the time of the census of 1861 the completed family comprised Samuel 45, his wife Kate 44, and seven of their eight children; Walter 17, William 14, Susan 12, Emily 10, Charles 8, Thomas 6, and four years old Henry.
	The couple’s eldest daughter Catherine was living nearby in Christchurch with her widowed grandmother Mary Collett, whom she was looking after in her old age.
	During the next ten years Samuel’s eldest son left home to be married, although he and his wife were living not far away from the family in 1871. The census return that year recorded the family of Samuel Collett as living ‘near the church’ in Christchurch.
	Still living with fifty-four years old Samuel and fifty-five years old Catherine, were sons William 24, Thomas 17, and Henry 15, together with their daughter Emily who was twenty. Head of the household Samuel was described as having been born in Newport whose occupation was that of a farmer of sixty-eight acres of pasture land. All of his children were confirmed as having been born at Christchurch.
	The absence of unmarried daughter Catherine is a mystery, although it is possible that daughter Susan may have been married by then. Son Charles was also missing and has so far not been identified in 1871.
	Living right next door to Samuel and his family in 1871 was the Collett family of his nephew. This was the ship-wright Walter Collett, his wife Mary Ann Thomas, and their family.
	According to the census of 1881, Samuel Collett of Newport was sixty-five and was living with part of his family at Royal Oak Hill in Christchurch, from where he worked as a cattle dealer. Living with him was his wife Kate who was sixty and from Cork in Ireland, and three of their unmarried children.
	These were their daughter Kate who was thirty-seven, and their two youngest sons Thomas who was twenty-seven, and Henry who was twenty. All three children were confirmed as having been born at Christchurch.
	Since no record of Samuel or his wife Kate or Catherine has been found in the next census of 1891, it must be assumed that they had both passed away during the 1880s.
	53P4	Walter Collett	Born in 1843
	53P5	Catherine Collett	Born in 1844
	53P6	William Henry Collett	Born in 1846
	53P7	Susan Collett	Born in 1848
	53P8	Emily Collett	Born in 1850
	53P9	Charles Collett	Born in 1852
	53P10	Thomas Collett	Born in 1854
	53P11	Henry Collett	Born in 1856
53P1	Charlotte Collett was born at Christchurch near Newport in 1834 and was baptised there on 15.06.1834, the daughter of Henry Collett and Charlotte Bray. With the death of her father in 1838 when she was four years old, Charlotte was living at Church Hill in Christchurch in June 1841 when she was seven years old.
	Upon leaving school Charlotte entered into domestic service and by 1851, when she was sixteen years old, she was working as a servant at the house of the Reed family at 42 High Street in Newport.
53P2	Henry Collett was born at Christchurch near Newport in 1837 and it was there that he was baptised on 23.04.1837, the son of Henry Collett and Charlotte Bray. He was four years old at the time of the census of 1841 when he was living with his family at Church Hill in Christchurch.
	He was still living at Church Hill in Christchurch with his widowed mother and younger brother Walter (below) ten years later when he was fourteen.
53P3	WALTER COLLETT, who was named after his grandfather, was born at Christchurch near Newport in 1838 where he would have been most likely baptised later that same year had his father not died when he was just a few weeks old.
	By 1851 he was living with his mother and brother Henry (above) when he was twelve years old. Ten years later he Walter had left the family home and was living at 17 Peel Street in Cardiff at the age of twenty-two, by which time he was a married man with a wife and child.
	Walter married (1) Mary Ann Thomas at Newport, where she was born, during the first quarter of 1859 with whom he had two children. The couple’s first child was very likely a honeymoon baby, born towards the end of 1859 when Walter and Mary were living within the Newport area.
	After the initial few months living in Newport, Walter’s work took him into Cardiff and in April 1861 the young family was living there at Peel Street. Mary Ann was twenty-one and a dressmaker, while their only child at that time, their son Henry, was just one year old. It seems likely that Walter was employed at the Cardiff docks, since his occupation on that occasion was that of a ship’s carpenter.
	After a while living and working in Cardiff, where their daughter Charlotte was born, Walter and his family made the move to Christchurch where they were living in 1871. Walter was then thirty-two and his occupation was ship-wright. His wife Mary was thirty, and their two children were Henry who was twelve of Newport, and Charlotte who was ten years old and of Cardiff.
	The family’s address in Christchurch in 1871 was given simply as ‘near the church’. Walter gave his place of birth as Bishpool, which is an area of Christchurch, and living directly next door to him and his family was his uncle Samuel Collett the farmer and his family.
	Tragically five years later in 1876, Mary Ann Collett died and her death was registered in Newport during the second quarter of that year. She was only thirty-seven years old, having been born at Newport in 1839. It is possible that she died during childbirth.
	Following the death of his wife, Walter married (2) Mary Walters. Mary was eight years younger than Walter, she having been born at Stanley Hill in Hereford in 1844. The couple were married during the third quarter of 1877
	Almost exactly one year later Mary presented Walter with the first of the couple’s two children, the birth taking place although it was registered at Newport during the third quarter of 1878. It was very likely around this time that Walter and his family moved to a new address in Christchurch.
	Walter’s and Mary’s second child was born in December 1880, and again the birth was registered in Newport.
	According to the census of 1881, the family was living at Royal Oak Hill in the town, by which time Walter was forty-two and was working as a grocer. His wife was listed as Mary aged thirty-four from Amley (Hamley) who was described as being a former cook domestic servant.
	Living with the couple were Walter’s two sons, William who was two years old, and Edward who was just four months old. Ten years later in 1891 the family was still living at Royal Oak Hill in Christchurch, when Walter was fifty-two and a dealer in stock, Mary was forty-four, William was twelve, and Edward was ten years old.
	Just after the turn of the century Walter was once again described as a grocer and shopkeeper at the age of sixty-two when still living at Royal Oak. At the time of the census at the end of March in 1901 Walter’s wife was listed as being fifty-four and was a visitor at Caerlicken Farm in Kemeys Inferior the home of Edward Rosser, where her occupation that was of a monthly nurse.
	Both of their sons had left South Wales by this time and were living and working in London, although they both returned to the Newport area sometime during the next ten years.
	Walter and Mary remained living within the Christchurch / Newport, and this was confirmed by the census in April 1911, when Walter was seventy-two and Mary was sixty-four. Living with them was their unmarried son Edward who was thirty years old. The census return confirmed that both men had been born at Christchurch.
	And it was while living within the Christchurch / Newport area that Walter Collett died in 1920, his death being registered at Newport during the first three months of the year. His age at that time was given incorrectly as being seventy-six, when in fact he was around eighty-one years of age.
	Mary survived as a widow for a further eight years before she eventually passed away during the second quarter of 1928, while still living in the Newport area.
	53Q1	Henry Collett	Born in 1859
	53Q2	Charlotte Collett	Born in 1860
	53Q3	William Collett	Born in 1878
	53Q4	Edward Collett	Born in 1880
53P4	Walter Collett was born in 1843, the eldest son and first child of Samuel and Catherine Collett who was named after his grandfather. He was seven years old in the census of 1851 for Christchurch, and was seventeen ten years later in the Christchurch census of 1861.
	Towards the very end of the next decade Walter married Harriet Senior and by 1871 the childless couple were still living, within the Newport & Caerleon registration district, when Walter was twenty-seven and his wife was twenty-six. Harriet Senior had been born at Bradwich in Devon.
	During the following decade Harriet presented Walter with four children and in 1881 the family of six was living at Somerton Farm in Christchurch. Walter Collett was described in that year’s census as being thirty-seven and a farmer who was born at Christchurch. Somerton Farm comprised 140 acres and Walter employed two men to help him manage it.
	His wife was confirmed as Harriet of Bradwich and staying with the family on that occasion was Harriet’s unmarried sister Mary Ann Senior of Bradwich in Devon. Walter’s and Harriet’s four children at that time were Edith who was five, Linda three, one year old Arthur, and Ethel who was just one month, all of whom had been born .
	In addition to the two men that Walter employed as farm-hands, his wife Harriet was assisted in the farmhouse by Christiana Merrett who was nineteen and from Christchurch who was employed as a general domestic servant.
	Two more children were added to the family during the next four years and in the census of 1891 Walter was forty-seven and Harriet was forty-five. Living with the couple were all six of their children; Edith 15, Linda 13, Arthur 11, Ethel 10, Edgar 8, and Frederick who was five years old.
	During the following ten years Harriet died, and it may have been this event which resulted in the family moving south of Newport to the village of Nash, near to the south Wales coast.
	According to the March census of 1901, Walter was a widower at the age of fifty-seven, and was still working as a farmer. Once again his place of birth was confirmed as Christchurch. Listed with him at Nash were five of their six children; Edith 25, Linda 23, Ethel 20, Edgar 18, and Fred who was fifteen, and all of them born .
	Only his son Arthur has not been traced in this census or the next, although he was listed living with his family in 1891 as Arthur W Collett aged eleven.
	By April 1911 Walter was aged sixty-seven and was still living within the Newport area, and living with him were his three youngest and unmarried children. Ethel Mary Collett was 30, Edgar Henry Collett was 28, and Frederick George was 25.
	53Q5	Edith A Collett	Born in 1875
	53Q6	Linda Harriet Collett	Born in 1877
	53Q7	Arthur Walter Collett	Born in 1879
	53Q8	Ethel Mary Collett	Born in 1881
	53Q9	Edgar Henry Collett	Born in 1883
	53Q10	Frederick George Collett	Born in 1885
53P5	Catherine Collett, who was often referred to as Kate, was born at Christchurch in 1844 and was the eldest daughter of Samuel and Catherine Collett. It was at Christchurch that she lived most of her early life, and was recorded there with her family as Catherine aged six years in 1851. Ten years later she was again living in Christchurch and was listed as Catherine sixteen who was living as a companion and housekeeper with her elderly widowed grandmother Mary Collett
	Catherine’s whereabouts in 1871 when she would have been in her mid twenties, has not yet been determined, but by the time of the Christchurch census of 1881 she was back living with her parents at Royal Oak Hill. The census return recorded that she was Kate Collett aged thirty-seven from Christchurch, and that she was an out of work domestic servant.
	During the next ten years both of Catherine’s parents died, following which, in the census of 1891, Kate Collett was forty-seven and was sharing the family home with her was her younger brother Henry (below).
	Sometime later, Catherine left Christchurch when she moved to Oystermouth in Glamorganshire. This was confirmed by the census of 1901 in which she was recorded as Catherine Collett, of Christchurch in Monmouthshire, aged fifty-seven and living on her own means.
	Living with her was her niece, apprentice dressmaker Elizabeth Collett who was sixteen and from Newport, the daughter of Catherine’s brother William Henry Collett. It seems very likely that Catherine died during the first decade of the new century, since in April 1911 Elizabeth Jane Collett was living alone at Oystermouth on the Gower Peninsula.
	It is also possible, although not yet proved, that Catherine’s younger sister Emily (below) also moved to Oystermouth, since a certain Emily Charlotte from Christchurch, the wife of David Morgan was living around this time.
53P6	William Henry Collett was born at Christchurch in 1846, the son of Samuel and Catherine Collett, and he was four years old in the Christchurch census of 1851 and was fourteen by 1861. He was still living at the family home near the church in Christchurch in 1871 when he was twenty-four and his occupation was that of a butcher.
	Shortly after the 1871 Census, William married Elizabeth at Christchurch where she had been born in 1849. By the time of the census of 1881 the marriage of William and Elizabeth had produced the couple’s first four of their ultimate eight children.
	The family at that time was made up of William who was thirty-four, his wife Elizabeth who was thirty-one, and their children Kate 8, Charles 5, Alfred 3, and baby Edmund who was just five months old. William Collett was a butcher and a cattle dealer of Christchurch, and he and his family were living at Royal Oak Farm in Christchurch.
	Living with the family was the widow Mary Ann Evans aged forty-four of Christchurch who was curiously described as being William’s step-sister. Supporting the Collett family were two servants, the widow Hannah Jones 57, and her son Arthur Jones who was 16.
	During the next decade the remaining four children were added to the family which was still living at Christchurch in 1891. The head of the household was recorded as William Hy Collett aged 44, Elizabeth was 30, their seven children were listed as Rose (Kate) 17, Charles 14, Alfred 12, Edward (Edmund) 10, Henry 8, Elizabeth 7, and Florrie who was two.
	It seems highly likely that William’s son Henry was in fact five years old, rather the eight, and that this was a misinterpretation of the census return. Certain it would appear that his sister Elizabeth was the older of the two children. There is also a question as to where daughter Betty was on this occasion.
	Just after the start of the new century William Henry Collett, the butcher and dealer from Christchurch was 53 and was living with his family within the Newport registration area, according to the census of 1901. His wife Elizabeth was 50 of Maindee in Monmouthshire and still living with them was six of the eight children.
	The census return confirmed them as Charles S Collett 21, Alfred 19, Edmund 17, Henry 15, Bettie (Betty) 13, and Florence H Collett who was eleven. From this it must be assumed that William’s third son was indeed called Edmund, and that Edward in 1891 was an error in translation.
	At this time in March 1901, William’s second eldest daughter Elizabeth was living with her maiden aunt Catherine Collett (above) at Oystermouth in Glamorgan. During the next ten years all of the couple’s children, with the exception of their youngest daughter, left the family home to be married.
	So by April 1911, the depleted Collett family had left the Newport area and instead was living within the Merthyr Tydfil registration district where William was 63, Elizabeth was 60, and the only child still living with them was twenty-one years old Florence Collett.
	53Q11	Catherine Collett	Born in 1873
	53Q12	Charles S Collett	Born in 1876
	53Q13	Alfred Collett	Born in 1878
	53Q14	Edmund Collett	Born in 1880
	53Q15	Elizabeth Jane Collett	Born in 1883
	53Q16	Henry Collett	Born in 1885
	53Q17	Betty Collett	Born in 1887
	53Q18	Florence H Collett	Born in 1889
53P7	Susan Collett was born at Christchurch in 1848, the daughter of Samuel and Catherine Collett, and she was two years old at the time of the Christchurch census of 1851 and twelve years old in 1861. By the time of the census of 1871 Susan was no longer living at her parent’s house in Christchurch, and may well have been married by then.
53P8	Emily Collett was born at Christchurch in 1850, the daughter of Samuel and Catherine Collett, and was recorded as being under one year old in the Christchurch census of 1851 and ten years old in 1861. Emily was still living with her family at Christchurch in 1871 when she was twenty.
	No record of Emily has been found in 1881 when she would have been thirty so she may have been married by then. It is known that an Emily Charlotte from Christchurch married a David J Morgan and that in 1891 and 1901 the childless couple were living at Oystermouth where it is known that Emily’s sister Catherine Collett (above) was living at this time.
	In 1911 this Emily Charlotte Morgan was a widow from Christchurch age sixty who was still living at Oystermouth. The positive linking of this Emily to Emily Collett has still to be made.
	The only other members of the Collett family from Christchurch to live at Oystermouth during this time are Catherine Collett (Ref. 53P5), who was Emily’s older unmarried sister, and their niece Elizabeth Jane Collett (Ref. 53Q15).
53P9	Charles Collett was born at Christchurch in 1852, the son of Samuel and Catherine Collett. In 1861 he was eight years old and ten years later he was seventeen, and on both occasion he was living with his family at Christchurch.
	It is unclear what happened to Charles over the following year since he has not been positively identified in any of the subsequent census returns in the United Kingdom.
53P10	Thomas Collett was born at Christchurch in 1854, the son of Samuel and Catherine Collett. In the census for Christchurch in 1861 he was six years old and it was there that he was fifteen years old in 1871.
	By 1881 Thomas was still a bachelor at the age of twenty-seven and he was still living with his parents at Royal Oak Hill in Christchurch. His father Samuel was a cattle dealer, and this was also the profession that Charles had taken up, and at this time in his life he was working with his father and his brother Henry (below).
	Just like his brother Charles (above), it is not known exactly what happened to Thomas Collett during the years after 1881 and before the end of the century, except it is established that he married Mary sometime during this time in his life.
	According to the census in March 1901, Thomas Collett of Christchurch was forty-eight (although 46 would have been more accurate) and his occupation was that of a cattle dealer. He was still living in Christchurch and with him was his wife Mary who was forty-three and from Llandeyvth. No record of any children has so far been found.
	By April 1911 the couple were still living in Christchurch where Thomas was fifty-seven and from Christchurch, while his wife Mary was fifty-six.
53P11	Henry Collett was born at Christchurch in 1856, and was the youngest son of Samuel and Catherine Collett. In successive census records for Christchurch he was aged five in 1861, fifteen in 1871, and in 1881 he was still a bachelor living at Royal Oak Hill in Christchurch with his parents. His correct age would have been twenty-five, but the census recorded it in error as being twenty, making him seven years younger than his brother Thomas (above) rather than just two years.
	At this time in his life Henry was working with his father Samuel Collett, and his brother Thomas, who were all employed as cattle dealers. However, during the next few years both of Henry’s parents passed away, and by the time of the census of 1891, Henry was a bachelor of thirty-five and was living with his older unmarried sister Kate Collett (above) at Christchurch.
	Ten years later in 1901 Henry Collett of Christchurch was forty-five and unmarried, and was living at Pleasant View in Christchurch from where he was working as a butcher and a cattle dealer, having his own account – that is being self-employed. However, a search of the census of 1911 has not been successful in locating him, so it is possible that he died young or left the country.
53Q1	Henry Collett was born during the first three months of 1859 and this is likely to have taken place within the parish of St Woolos in Newport, with the birth registered in Newport. He was the son of Walter Collett and Mary Ann Thomas and was recorded as living with his parents at 17 Peel Street in Cardiff in 1861 aged one year, and again in 1871 at the age of twelve years.
	At the time of the later census the family was recorded as living ‘near the church’ in Christchurch and, right next door in the adjacent property, was the family of the farmer Samuel Collett who had been born in the St Woolos area of Newport. He was the uncle of Henry’s father Walter Collett. At twelve years old Henry Collett was still attending the local school at that time.
	With the death of his mother in 1876, his father remarried and it was possibly around this time that Henry moved out of the family home in Christchurch. So far no record of him has been found in the census of 1881, so at the age of around twenty-two, he may have been out of the country.
	Around the mid 1880s Henry married the widow Elizabeth Hall of Bedminster near Bristol, who already had two sons and a daughter from her previous marriage. By early 1891 the marriage between Henry and Elizabeth had produced three children for the couple and in the census that year the family was living at 42 Stow Hill.
	Stow Hill in Newport lies in the parish of St Woolos, so Henry had returned to settle with the same area that he had been born. The census return for 1891 listed him and his family as Henry Collett 32, his wife Elizabeth 36, her sons George Hall 19 and Ernest Hall 16, and Henry’s three children as Edith Collett 4, Henry Collett aged one year, and Gladys Collett who was just three months old.
	By this time in his life Henry Collett was an established groom and cab driver who was managing his own cab business, for which he employed the services of his two stepsons as cab drivers. Whilst the place of birth of his own three children was given correctly as Newport, Henry curiously stated for some reason that he had been born in London.
	In addition to the two Hall boys, two other cab drivers were boarding with the family, and perhaps were also employed by Henry. These were Edward Powell 28 of Newport, and Worthy Gilson 21 from Bath.
	In 1881 the two Hall sons of widow Elizabeth were living with their grandparents George and Jane Hall at their Somerset home at 3 Richmond Terrace in Bedminster. George Hall (of Bristol) was nine and Ernest Hall (of Bath) was five, and also with them was their younger sister Mary Ann Hall who was two years old.
	In fact in the same census (1881) Elizabeth was a widow at the age of twenty-six, and at that time she was employed as a night nurse at the Bristol General Hospital in Commercial Road in Bedminster, not far from where her parents lived with her three children.
	Over the next five years the family of Henry and Elizabeth increased in size, and it may have been this that prompted a move to another house on Stow Hill in Newport. Just after the start of the new century the family were recorded in the census of 1901 as living at 78 Stow Hill in the parish of St Woolos.
	Henry Collett, at the age of forty-one years, was a cab proprietor and an employer, and on this occasion he did acknowledge that he had been born at Newport. With him was his wife Elizabeth who was forty-six, but gone by this time were her two sons.
	Eldest daughter Edith had completed her education and had since left the family home for work purposes at only fourteen years of age (see separate details later). All of the couple’s remaining children were listed as Henry 12, Gladys 10, Mary Ann 8, and Gwendoline who was five.
	Ten years later the same family was listed in the 1911 Census of Newport as Henry 56 (sic), Elizabeth 56, Henry Arnold Collett 21, Amy Gladys 20, Mary Ann 18, and Gwendoline 15.
	53R1	Edith Florence Collett	Born in 1886
	53R2	Henry Arnold Collett	Born in 1889
	53R3	Amy Gladys Collett	Born in 1891
	53R4	Mary Ann Collett	Born in 1893
	53R5	Gwendoline Collett	Born in 1895
53Q2	Charlotte Collett was born in 1860 at Cardiff when her parents Walter Collett and Mary Ann Thomas were living at 17 Peel Street. Sometime after she was born her father, who was a ship’s carpenter, may have lost his job in Cardiff, because the family was living at Christchurch in a house near the church in April 1871, when Charlotte Collett of Cardiff was ten years old.
	Although not proved, it seems very likely that Charlotte married William Saunders when she was barely the legal age to do so. If this is confirmed, in 1881 Charlotte Saunders was the mother of three children by then.
	The census return that year placed the Saunders family as living at 8 Upper Lewis Street in the parish of St Woolos in Newport where it is known Charlotte’s father was born. Her husband William was 21 of Newport with no stated occupation, Charlotte of Newport was 20, and the couple’s three children were Maud 3, Margaret 1, and Annie who was just six weeks old.
53Q3	William Collett was born at Christchurch in 1878, the birth being registered during the third quarter of the year to parents Walter Collett and his second wife Mary Walters. In April 1881 he was living with his parents at Royal Oak Hill in Christchurch when he was two years old. He was still there ten years later at the age of twelve.
	On leaving school William began working with wood which prompted a moved to London for him and his brother Edward (below). By the end of March in 1901 the brothers were both living at 5 Sonardale Road in Wandsworth, where William was described as a timber merchant’s manager aged twenty-two.
	Within the next year or so, William returned to Newport where he married (1) Beatrice Harriet Perrett during the final quarter of 1903. Beatrice was born at Llangattock near Crickhowell in 1875, the daughter of John and Elizabeth Perrett. In 1881 Beatrice was five years old and was living with her gamekeeper father and the rest of her family at Llangrwyney near Crickhowell.
	Just prior to her marriage to William Collett, Beatrice was unmarried and was living with her family at Abersychan near Pontypool, where she was recorded as being twenty-six in the census of 1901. The family home at that time was a hotel in the town, which was being managed by her father John.
	Once married the couple settled within the Pontypridd area, and it was there that the marriage produced two children for William and Beatrice. However, it would appear that the marriage only lasted for around eighteen months when Beatrice died at, or shortly after, the birth of their daughter.
	The death was registered at Pontypridd during the second quarter of 1905, when Beatrice’s age was given in error as being twenty-six which was William’s age, when in fact she was nearly thirty. The birth of her daughter Hetty was also registered at Pontypridd during this same period of 1905.
	Three years later, and following the death of his first wife, William married (2) Florence Price from Maindee in Newport with whom he had another son. However, the Newport census return for 1911 only listed William Collett, his wife Florence Collett, and their son William John Collett.
	At that time the family of three was living at 30 Somerton Road in Newport. William was thirty-two and a coal merchant, his wife of three years Florence was thirty, and their son William John was two years old and had been born at Maindee in Newport, where his mother had also been born.
	53R6	Roscoe Elrick Collett	Born in 1904
	53R7	Hetty Beatrice Collett	Born in 1905
	53R8	William John Collett	Born in 1908 at Maindee, Newport
53Q4	Edward Collett was born at Christchurch in December 1880 when his parents, Walter Collett and Mary Thomas, were living at Royal Oak Hill where Edward was recorded as being four months old in the census of 1881. Ten years later he was listed as being ten years old when still living at Royal Oak with his family.
	Edward would appear to have followed in his father’s footsteps by becoming a carpenter and a joiner, and during the latter half 1890s he accompanied his older brother William when they moved to London to seek work. In March 1901 the two brothers were living at 5 Sonardale Road in Wandsworth where Edward was confirmed as being twenty years old.
	When Edward’s brother returned to South Wales, Edward also returned to Newport and at the age of thirty he was back living at the home of his elderly parents in April 1911. It has not been established whether or not he later in his life he became a married man.
53Q5	Edith A Collett was born at Christchurch in 1875 the first child of Walter Collett and Harriet Senior. In 1881, at the age of five years, Edith A Collett was living at Somerton Farm in Christchurch with her parents. Ten years later she was still living with her parents at Christchurch.
	However, sometime during the last ten years of the century Edith’s mother died and it may have been this sad event that prompted her father to leave Christchurch and move to the village of Nash near the south coast. And it was at Nash that she was living with her father in March 1901 at the age of twenty-five.
	It is very likely that she was married during the next decade, since no record of Edith Collett of Christchurch has been found in the census of 1911.
53Q6	Linda Harriet Collett was born at Christchurch in 1877, and it was as Linda H Collett that she was recorded in the Christchurch census of 1881 as being three years old when living at Somerton Farm with her parents. Ten years later she was thirteen and still at Christchurch, but after a further ten years she was living in the village of Nash south of Newport with her widowed father at the age of twenty-three.
	No record of Linda Collett has been found in 1911 so it is presumed that she was marred by then.
53Q7	Arthur Walter Collett was born at Christchurch in 1879 and this probably took place at Somerton Farm where his family was living in 1881, when Arthur W Collett was one year old. He was still living there ten years later in 1891 when he was eleven.
	What happened to Arthur after this time has not been discovered since no record of him has been found in either of the census returns for 1901 and 1911.
53Q8	Ethel Mary Collett was born at Somerton Farm in Christchurch in February 1881 and was one month old in the census that year. She was still living at Christchurch with her family in 1891 when she was ten, but, following the death of her mother, she was living with her father at Nash in 1901 when she was twenty. Sometime during the next few years the family returned to Newport.
	The 1911 Census for the Newport registration district included Ethel Mary Collett of Christchurch as a spinster of thirty years, who was acting as housekeeper to her widowed father and her two younger brothers. It is not known at this time whether she was ever married.
53Q9	Edgar Henry Collett was born at Somerton Farm in Christchurch in 1883 and was still living there with his family in 1891 when he was eight years old. Not long after this his mother died and his family then moved to Nash, south of Newport. By March 1901 Edgar was eighteen and still living at Nash with his family, from where he was working as an ironmonger’s assistant.
	In 1911 Edgar was a bachelor at twenty-eight years of age when he was still living with his father Walter, his sister Ethel (above), and his brother Frederick (below), the three of them having left Nash and by then were living in the Newport area.
53Q10	Frederick George Collett was born at Somerton Farm in Christchurch in 1885 and was five years old in the census of 1891 while still living there with his family. Frederick was still very young when his mother died during the next few years, at which time, it is assumed, the family left Christchurch and moved south to the village of Nash near the south coast of Wales.
	Frederick was still attending school in 1901 and was fifteen years old while living at Nash with his family. A little while later Fred, as he was referred to in 1901, and his father and two youngest siblings left Nash and moved back to Newport.
	According to the next census in April 1911, Frederick George Collett from Christchurch was a bachelor of twenty-five living in Newport with his father Walter Collett, and his sister Ethel and brother Edgar (above).
53Q11	Catherine Anne Collett, who was sometimes referred to as Kate, was born at Christchurch in 1873, the eldest child of butcher and cattle dealer William Henry Collett of Royal Oak Farm. It was as Kate that she was recorded in the census of 1881 when she was eight years old.
	Ten years later in the Christchurch census of 1891 she was incorrectly recorded as Rose Collett aged seventeen while still living with her family, but this may have been a simple misinterpretation of the name Kate.
	By March 1901 Catherine was married to Alfred White of Newport and the childless couple were living in Christchurch. Catherine was listed as Catherine Anna White, twenty-eight of Christchurch, and Alfred was thirty-three, who was working as a jobbing gardener.
	During the next few years Catherine presented her husband with two daughters, both of whom were born at Christchurch, where the family of four was still living in April 1911. Alfred White was 43, Catherine Anne White was 38, and their two children were Doris Irene Kate White who was nine, and Ida Lilian Lucy White who was six years old.
53Q12	Charles S Collett was born at Christchurch in 1876, the eldest son of William and Elizabeth Collett of Royal Oak Farm, where he was most likely born. In 1881 Charles was five and ten years later he was fourteen, on both occasions he was living with his family on the farm in Christchurch.
	During the 1890s the Collett family left Christchurch and moved into the town of Newport where Charles S Collett was living with his parents in 1901. Rather curiously his age was stated as being twenty-one rather than twenty-four, although his occupation was similar to that of his father, being that of a pork butcher.
	Over the next couple of years Charles married Mary Ann with whom he had a daughter and by 1911 the family of three was living in Cardiff. Charles Collett and his wife Mary Ann were both listed in the census return as being thirty-two, and their daughter Doris Jane Collett was five years old.
	53R9	Doris Jane Collett	Born in 1905
53Q13	Alfred Collett was born at Royal Oak Farm in Christchurch in 1878 and was three years old in the census of 1881. He was twelve years old ten years later and was still living at Christchurch with his parents.
	In 1901 he gave an incorrect age, just as his brother Charles (above) had on that same occasion when they were both living and working together with their father, the butcher and cattle dealer William Collett. And just like his brother, Alfred also reduced his age by three years, saying he was nineteen instead of twenty-two.
	Alfred’s place of birth was confirmed as Christchurch, and his occupation was stated as being that of a butcher and cattle dealer, the same as his father. During the next decade Alfred married Letitia who was around five years older than Alfred.
	So by the time of the census of 1911 Alfred gave a more accurate account of his age, by saying he was thirty-three. His wife Letitia was thirty eight and the childless couple were living in the Merthyr Tydfil area at that time.
53Q14	Edmund Collett was born at Royal Oak Farm in Christchurch in October 1880 and was five months in the census of 1881. He and his family were still living in Christchurch in 1891 when he was incorrectly listed as Edward Collett aged ten years, but following that his family moved to Newport.
	On leaving school Edmund took up the same profession as his father and his brothers (above) by becoming a butcher. The Newport census of 1901 confirmed this, and that he was born at Christchurch.
	However, as with his two brothers Charles and Alfred who were also living at the family home, Edmund’s age was given incorrectly as being seventeen rather than twenty, and a third occurrence of the age being reduced by three years.
	No record of Edmund Collet has been located in the census of 1911.
53Q15	Elizabeth Jane Collett was born at Royal Oak Farm in Christchurch in 1883 and was seven years old in the Christchurch census of 1891. On leaving school she became a dressmaker’s apprentice, and by 1901 she had left the family home which by then was in Newport.
	Elizabeth had given up life in Newport to live as a companion with her maiden aunt Catherine Collett (Ref. 53P5) at her home in Oystermouth in Gower. And it was there that she was recorded with her aunt in 1901 at the age of sixteen when she was described as an apprentice dressmaker.
	Sometime during the early years of the new century Catherine Collett passed away leaving Elizabeth living alone in Oystermouth. This was confirmed in the census in April 1911 when Elizabeth Jane Collett of Newport was twenty-seven and was the only Collett living at Oystermouth in Gower.
	There is a possibility however, that Emily Charlotte Morgan from Christchurch, who was also living at Oystermouth in 1911, was formerly Emily Collett (Ref. 53P8) the sister of Catherine Collett, and therefore another of Elizabeth’s aunts.
53Q16	Henry Collett was born at Christchurch in 1885 and possibly at Royal Oak Farm. Rather oddly he was five years old in 1891 while still at Christchurch with his family, but was aged fifteen ten years later when he and his family had moved to Newport.
	On leaving school Henry became a merchant’s clerk, as recorded in 1901, but to date no record of him has been found in 1911.
53Q17	Betty Collett was born at Christchurch in 1887, although no record of her has been found in the census of 1891. In the 1890s her family left Christchurch and moved to nearby Newport when she was living with them in 1901 at the age of thirteen under the name of Bettie Collett of Newport.
	What became of her after this is not clear, since no suitable record has been found in the census of 1911
53Q18	Florence H Collett was born at Christchurch in 1889 and was referred to as Florrie Collett aged two years in the Christchurch census of 1891. Ten years after this her family had left Christchurch and were living in Newport, where Florence H Collett was eleven in March 1901.
	Florence was twenty-one and the only member of her family still living with her parents in April 1911. By that time they had moved from Newport and were living in Merthyr Tydfil, where her older brother Alfred Collett (above) and his wife were also living on that occasion.
53R1	Edith Florence Collett was born at Newport in 1886 and was the eldest child of Henry Collett and Mrs Elizabeth Hall. In 1891 Edith was four years old and was living with her family at 42 Stow Hill in Newport.
	Upon leaving school, Edith had the opportunity of entering the teaching profession but this required a move north to Longton near Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. And it was there that she was recorded as Edith F Collett, an elementary school teacher in 1901 at the very young age of fourteen.
	Whether she secured this position with the help of a distant family relative living in the village of Longton at that time has not been confirmed. This was Josiah George Collett 31 and from Wednesbury in Staffordshire, and his wife Alice Maud Mary Collett 29 of Hanley, Staffordshire. Their family at that time comprised sons George Ernest Collett 6, and William Edward Collett 4, both born at Longton.
	Edith was still a single lady ten years later in April 1911, when she was still living and working in Longton. In the census return she was recorded as Edith Florence Collett aged twenty-four from Newport.
53R2	Henry Arnold Collett was born at Newport in 1889 and was the eldest son of Henry and Elizabeth Collett. He was one year old in 1891 when he was living with his family at 42 Stow Hill in Newport, and ten years after in 1901 he was twelve years of age and was living at 78 Stow Hill with his family.
	It was as Henry Arnold Collett that he was recorded in the census of 1911 when he was twenty-one and still living with his family in Newport.
53R3	Amy Gladys Collett was born at Newport in January 1891 and, as Gladys Collett, she was three months old at the time of the census in April that same year when she was living at 42 Stow Hill with her family.
	It was again as Gladys Collett that she was listed in the next census in March 1901 when she was ten years old and living with her family at 78 Stow Hill in Newport, from where he father Henry operated a cab company.
	It was in April 1911 that she was recorded as Amy Gladys Collett who was twenty, unmarried, and still living with her parents in Newport.
53R4	Mary Ann Collett was born at Newport in 1893 and this may have taken place whilst her parents were living at 42 Stow Hill in Newport. However, sometime after she was born her family moved to another house on Stow Hill, this being number 78, where they were living in 1901 when Mary Ann was eight.
	Ten years later Mary Ann Collett was eighteen and was still living with her parents in Newport.
53R5	Gwendoline Collett was born at Newport in 1895, and this may have happened while her family were living at 42 or 78 Stow Hill in Newport. It was at the latter that Gwendoline was living with his parents in 1901 when she was five, and she was still living with them at Newport in 1911 at the age of fifteen.
53R6	Roscoe Elrick Collett was born in 1904, the birth being registered at Pontypridd during the second quarter of that year. He was the son of William Collett and his first wife Beatrice Welshman.
	Three years after the death of his mother in 1905, around the time of the birth of Roscoe’s sister Hetty (below), his father remarried, following which he settled in Newport and was living at 30 Somerton Road in 1911. However, by this time it is known that his sister Hetty had been adopted by the Collins family (see details below), although what became of Roscoe following the death of his mother has not yet been determined. Nor has any record of him been found in the census of 1911.
	What is known is that Roscoe E Collett married Doris Mason at Gloucester during the first quarter of 1935, Doris having been born in 1907. The only other known fact about this couple is that they lived at Middleyard in Kings Stanley near Stonehouse in Gloucestershire. Doris survived for many years as a widow until 2002, which might indicated that Roscoe was somehow involved in the Second World War during which he may have been killed.
	The Pontypridd census of 1911 included a Doris Mason who was born in 1907, the youngest daughter at that time of Joseph and Lucy Mason. The other children of that family were Frederick who was 8, Ivor who was 7, and Phyllis who was five. It is only because of the possible Pontypridd connection with Roscoe Collett that this information has been included here.
	Roscoe was known as Ross, while Doris Collett nee Mason was referred to by the family as Dolly. She was the great aunt of Keith Brown of Australia, whose wife Judy kindly provided much of the information for the compilation of this family line, as well as some for her own line in Part 35 – The Melksham Line.
	Dolly Mason was the daughter of Oliver Mason and his wife Miss Cox, whose parents were Thomas and Eliza Cox. It was this couple’s other daughter, Louisa Cox who married Thomas Lewis, and in turn it was their son William Lewis who was the grandfather of the aforementioned Keith Brown.
53R7	Hetty Beatrice Collett was born in 1905, the birth being registered at Pontypridd during the second quarter of that year. Following the death of her mother Beatrice during the birth or very soon after, Hetty was taken into care. It is also very likely that this also applied to her brother Roscoe (above).
	By April 1911 Hetty was five years old and was living at 3 Prosser Street in Pontypridd with the Collins family. Her place of birth was given at Penrhiwceiber which lies about five miles to the north of Pontypridd
	Head of the household was Meredith Collins a coalminer from Lurgan in County Armagh. His wife was Amy Jane from Veryan in Cornwall and they had been married for eight years and had a daughter Selina who was four years old who was also born in Cornwall.
	Rather strangely, Hetty Beatrice Collett was described as ‘stepdaughter’ which was obviously not correct, but perhaps had been used in place of foster daughter or even adopted daughter.