PART FIFTY-SEVEN

The Collett Family of Bakers from Abbots Morton in Worcestershire,

(incorporating the Colletts of Badsey)

Update November 2011

The original details for this family were first included in error in Part 14.

Since no link has yet been found to connect it to any of the other family lines,

it has been decided to provide the information in a separate file,

until such time as further details are found and verified

The early generations of this family had their name recorded as Collet

and the earliest record at Badsey is the marriage of Joan Collet and Thomas Pegyn on 1^st February 1561.

An appendix at the end of this file includes details of other Colletts who made their home at Badsey.

57I1	John Collett was born around 1700 and he married Elizabeth Wyatt at Badsey, east of Evesham, on 5^th October 1741, and it is their eldest child who starts this introductory section of this family line. Further research is required to determine who John Collett was, and the location where he was born. One option is that he was the John Collett baptised at Ashchurch near Tewkesbury on 22^nd September 1701, the son of William and Ann Collett. If this proves to be correct then William and Ann Collett, the parents of John Collett, can be found in Part 5 – The Tewkesbury Line under Ref. 5J7.
	What is known for sure is that their son William was baptised at Badsey on Tuesday 18^th January 1742, and that he was followed by the birth of two sisters. John Collett died at the age of 62 on 16^th January 1763, and was buried at Badsey on Sunday 18^th January 1763, leaving his widow with their three children. However it was just a few months later, on 15^th October 1763, that Mrs Elizabeth Collett, widow, married Henry Smith.
	The second marriage for Elizabeth appears not to have produced any children, and her husband Henry Smith died during December 1789, with Elizabeth following ten years later, when she was buried at Badsey on 16^th August 1799.
	57K1		William Collett				Baptised on 18.01.1742 at Badsey
	57K2		Ann Collett				Baptised on 17.04.1747 at Badsey
	57K3		Elizabeth Collett				Baptised on 25.06.1757 at Badsey
57K1	William Collett was baptised at Badsey on 18^th January 1742, the son of farmer John Collett and his wife Elizabeth Wyatt. Following the death of his father in 1763 it would appear that William took on farming the land that had been previously worked by his late father. It was six years later that he married (1) Nancy Bird at Badsey on 5^th October 1769, the witness to the marriage being William’s sister Ann (below). Nancy Bird was a minor, since she was baptised at Badsey on 7^th April 1751, and needed the consent of her parents Henry and Elizabeth Bird to wed the much older William Collett.
	In addition to being the witness at the wedding of his sister Ann three weeks after he became a married man, William was also named as a witness at two marriages in 1767. The first of these was on 9^th February 1767, and the second on 9^th June 1767. Later records suggest that William may be been attached to the Badsey Church in some way, as a further seven entries in the parish records indicate that he was a witness in 1770, 1772, 1781, 1785, 1786, and 1795.
	Nine months after they were married, nineteen years old Nancy Collett presented her husband William with a son William, who was born at Badsey, and baptised there on 8^th July 1770. However, young Nancy did not survive the ordeal, and the parish records at Badsey show that Nancy Collett, the mother of William Collett junior, and the wife of William Collett senior, died on 8^th August 1770 and was buried in the churchyard of St James’ Church on Friday 10^th August 1770.
	Almost two years after the death of his wife William married (2) Mary White on Saturday 6^th June 1772 at Wickhamford parish church. Mary was the daughter of William and Elisabeth White of Wickhamford, who was baptised there on 10^th February 1731. Although Mary was nearly ten years older than William she presented him with a son, John Collett, who was born and baptised at Badsey in 1775.
	It is established that father and son were referred to in the Badsey Society’s ‘Badsey & Adlington Enclosure Map Project’ where it specifically relates to the land at Badsey known as Stockey. The land was owned by the Williams family long before 1747, and in 1787 it belonged to the Reverend Thomas Williams of Bere Regis in Dorset. He was christened at Chasleton, near Morton in Marsh, on 1^st May 1748, the son of the Reverend Edward Williams, Rector of Chastleton and wife Margaret Walker of Evesham.
	It was also in 1787 that William Collett [the elder] paid rent to the Rev. Williams, as verified in the 1787 Land Tax which stated that the Reverend Thomas Williams was the owner of Stockey, and that it was rented out to tenant farmer William Collett. Since this is the earliest Land Tax document unearthed, it is assumed that William Collett farmed the Stockey land prior to 1787, that it was possibly farmed by his father John Collett prior to his death in 1763.
	It is very interesting to note that the annual tax for Stockey paid by William Collett in 1787 was Nine Pounds Six Shillings Ten Pence, exactly the same sum that was charged to his son William in 1818, and again thirteen years later in 1831.
	Also at that same time in 1787, William Collett was farming other land under a tenancy agreement with [a] the Reverend Drummond and [b] Christopher Whiting, as well as another plot owned by John Millard and John Benton, which William farmed in partnership with his brother-in-law James Bird. There was also a plot of land that William farmed which was jointly owned by him and a Mary Roberts.
	William Collett, farmer of Badsey, died there and was buried there on Friday 29^th July 1814, at the age of 72. His eldest son William was then solely responsible for the farm, and although his father appears not to have made a Will, provision seems to have been made his widow Mary to remain living in the old farmhouse. Mary Collett nee White died when she was 95, following which she was buried at Badsey on Tuesday 20^th May 1825.
	57L1		William Collett				Baptised on 08.07.1770 at Badsey
	57L2		John Collett				Baptised on 04.02.1775 at Badsey
57K2	Ann Collett was baptised at St James’ Church in Badsey on 17.04.1747, the eldest of the two daughters of John Collett and his wife Elizabeth Wyatt. Ann was the witness at the wedding of her brother William (above) during the first week of October in 1769, and three weeks later he was witness at her wedding, when she married Benjamin Gould at Badsey on 25^th October 1769.
57K3	Elizabeth Collett was born at Badsey, where she was baptised on 25^th June 1757. Her father John Collett died in 1763 when she was only six years old, and ten years later Elizabeth died on 5^th November 1773 and was buried in the family grave at Badsey with her father on 7^th November 1773. The headstone that marks the grave also includes the name of her brother’s wife Nancy Collett (above) who had died three years earlier in 1770.
57L1	William Collett was born at Badsey and was baptised there on 8^th July 1770, the son of farmer William Collett and his wife Nancy Bird. Following the death of his mother within days of his birth, his father married for a second time in 1772 and William continued to live with his father and his stepmother in the first decade of the new century, while working on his father’s farm holding in Badsey.
	It was not until he was nearly thirty-five that he married Mary Yardington at Badsey on Wednesday 1^st May 1805, although sadly the marriage apparently did not produce any children for the couple. Mary Yardington was baptised at Bishampton on 3^rd November 1776, the daughter of John Yardington and his wife Elisabeth Fletcher. William and Mary continued to live with William’s father after they were married, and it seems very likely that the younger man eventually took over his father’s farming operations, allowing the older man to retire.
	During 1811, the last year before the act of enclosing the lands in Badsey was due, the two William Colletts held leases under the Reverend Thomas Williams, and upon the death of his father three years later in 1814, William continued to farm the land leased from the agents for the Reverend Thomas Williams, as confirmed by the 1818 Land Tax Records, when he was paying Nine Pounds Six Shillings Ten Pence in tax.
	Also at that time, and in addition to the land he farmed at Badsey, William Collett had land at Aldington, just north of Badsey, which he leased from Thomas Williams, and he still owned the house near the church, the tenant for which was Thomas Smith. Eight years later the 1826 Tax Return once again showed that William Collett was still farming the land at Badsey belonging to Thomas Williams, and that Thomas Smith was still the occupant of the house belonging to William Collett.
	Five years after that the 1831 Badsey Land Tax returns show that the land referred to as Stockey was owned by the estate of the late Reverend Thomas Williams, and that the occupier of the land at that time was William Collett, who paid Nine Pounds Six Shillings Ten Pence, the usual amount, to the exchequer on that property, and strangely the same amount paid by his father in 1787.
	Ten years later the Badsey census of 1841 recorded William and Mary still living there, where their needs were being attended to by servant girl Ann Mayo who was 19. William Collete was 70, while his wife Mary Collete was 63. By that time in their lives they were living in the house near the church, previously occupied by Thomas Smith.
	It was nearly nine years later that William Collett, age 80, died on 5^th April 1850, following which he was buried at Badsey, although no Will has ever been found. During the following year his widow Mary was recorded in the Badsey census on 1851, when she was described as Mary Collett from Bishampton, a landed proprietor aged 73, who was living at ‘The Firs’ where she was supported by two domestic servants, Matilda Watson, age 43, and Anne Ewins, who was 37.
	According to the next census in 1861, Matilda Pyne Watson was by then the companion of Mary Collett, the couple of them still both living at The Firs in Badsey. Mary Collett of Bishampton, age 83, was again described as a land proprietor, while Matilda Myne (sic) Watson, who was 53, was described as companion and housekeeper. Helping Matilda manage the house was sixteen years old domestic servant Harriet Warner.
	Two years later elderly Mary Collett decided it was time to draw up a Will, and on 9^th October 1863 in the presence of Evesham solicitor Henry New she signed the document. The two witnesses were two clerks employed by Henry New. Just over fifteen months later, at the age of 87, Mary Collett died on 24^th January 1865 and was buried in the churchyard at Badsey with her husband on Tuesday 31^st January 1865, where a cross and a foot stone were erected to their memory.
	Within her Will was a bequest of £100 for her companion Matilda Payne Watson, together with money to provide blankets for the poor people of Badsey. The bulk of her estate was passed onto the Tovey family, her nephews Thomas Yardington Tovey and William Tovey inheriting Bowers Hill Farm. Her house, of The Firs, the garden and orchard, was divided equally between the same two nephews. Another dwelling and garden occupied by Joseph Jones was also bequeathed to the two Tovey brothers, as well as several parcels of land referred to as Badsey grounds, comprising 22 acres being worked by Mrs Ingles. Another Tovey, Joseph, received four acres of land known as Abraham's Well.
	Bowers Hill Farm was still the home of the Tovey family in 1881, when the census that year recorded the aforementioned William Tovey’s widow Elizabeth still living there. Elizabeth, age 60 and from South Littleton, was a farmer of 99 acres employing three men and two boys. Her eldest son William Collett Tovey, who was 31, was the farm manager, his brother Edgar Tovey, age 19, was also working on the farm, while Elizabeth’s youngest son Albert was 18 and an apprentice chemist. Elizabeth’s two daughters were Ellen Tovey, age 31, and Mary Tovey who was 13. Supporting the family Catherine Archer, age 42, the housekeeper. Apart from Elizabeth, all of the other members of the householder were born at Church Lench.
	Elizabeth Tovey’s brother-in-law Thomas Yardington Tovey was still living and working his own farm at Church Lench, which he had owned prior to inheriting his share of his aunt’s estate in 1865. What is of interest is that in 1871, and six years after the death of his aunt Mary Collett, her companion Matilda Paine Watson was a visitor at his farm in Church Lench.
57L2	John Collett was baptised at Badsey on 4^th February 1775, the only child of William Collett by his second wife Mary White. With his father being an established farmer in Badsey, it was logical that John was also farming by the time he was thirty-three. The Badsey Land Tax Records for 1808 show that John Collett paid Five Pounds for land that was owned by his father William. In addition to this John was also paying land tax on property that he farmed and which he rented from Charles Whiting and the Reverend Philott.
	Six years earlier John Collett married Ann Wheeler at Badsey on 13^th May 1802, at a time when his older stepbrother William Collett (above) was still a bachelor. Less than six months after they were married Ann presented John with a daughter who was baptised on 12^th November 1802. Sadly the child was only three years old when she died and was buried at Badsey on 19^th November 1805.
	Over twenty years later the 1826 Badsey Land Tax Records confirm that John Collett was still living at Badsey in the house that he owned, and that he was still farming land that was also in his ownership. It was five years after that when John Collett died at Badsey, where he was buried on 30^th September 1831 at the age of 56. His wife Ann survived her husband by less than six years when she died at Badsey where she was buried on 24^th January 1837.
	It seems highly likely that John was in some way attached to the church, since the name John Collett is a witness at two wedding ceremonies in Badsey, the first on 29^th September 1813, and the second on 8^th November 1814.
	57M1		Ann Collett			Born in 1802 at Badsey; infant death
	NEW LINE
	However, the Badsey Land Tax Records referred to above also include details of another, so far unconnected Collett who farmed land within the parish, and he was another William Collett Ref. 57L9), believed to be from nearby Broadway. This therefore, from now on, is the story of his family line.
57K3	Richard Collett was born at Stow-on-the-Wold around 1717 and it was there also that he married Elizabeth Keen on 3^rd October 1741. Elizabeth was the daughter of Samuel Keen and Elizabeth Beal and was baptised at Stow on 31^st January 1721. Their marriage produced seven children born at Broadway, although the first of them was born ten years after they were married, which perhaps indicates that Richard was absent from the family home in the early days of their relationship, or that any earlier children did not survive.
	57L3		Ann Collett					Born in 1750 at Broadway
	57L4		William Collett					Born in 1751 at Broadway
	57L5		Richard Collett					Born in 1753 at Broadway
	57L6		John Collett					Born in 1754 at Broadway
	57L7		Richard Collett					Born in 1754 at Broadway
	57L8		John Collett					Born in 1755 at Broadway
	57L9		William Collett					Born in 1757 at Broadway
57L3	Ann Collett was born at Broadway in 1750, where she was baptised on 20^th May 1750, the eldest known child of Richard and Elizabeth Collett of Stow-on-the-Wold.
57L4	William Collett was born at Broadway in 1751, the eldest son of Richard and Elizabeth Collett, and was baptised there on 17^th July 1751, but sadly he died there while still very young.
57L5	Richard Collett was born at Broadway during the first half of 1753 and it was there also that he was baptised on 7^th October 1753, but like his brother William (above), he too did not survive.
57L6	John Collett was born at Broadway most likely during last month of 1753 or the first month of 1754. He was baptised there in May that year but as with his two brothers before him, he did not survive beyond infancy.
57L7	Richard Collett was born at Broadway around September 1754, and was baptised there on 7^th October 1754, the son of Richard and Elizabeth Collett.
57L8	John Collett was born at Broadway in the second quarter of 1755, and it was there that he was baptised on 18^th May 1755, the son of Richard and Elizabeth Collett.
57L9	William Collett was born at Broadway in 1757 where he was baptised on 21^st December 1757, the youngest child of Richard Collett from Stow-on-the-Wold and his wife Elizabeth Keen from Worcestershire. It was when William was 32 that he married Mary Salter at Badsey on 19^th July 1790, with whom he had three children, all of them baptised at Badsey. William was a tenant farmer in Badsey, as confirmed by the Badsey Land Tax records.
	Sometime during the 1830s William Collett died, following which his wife left the village of Badsey. The census in June 1841 identified his widow Mary Collett living within the Alcester & Feckenham registration district, which includes Abbots Morton, with just her grandson John Collett for company. Mary was listed in the census return with a rounded age of 75, while her grandson was 10 years old.
	57M2		John Collett				Born during 1791 at Badsey
	57M3		Mary (Maria) Collett				Born during 1794 at Badsey
	57M4		William Collett				Born during 1804 at Badsey
57M2	John Collett was born at Badsey where he was baptised on 20^th August 1791, the first child of William Collett and his wife Mary Salter. It was also at Badsey that John Collet married Jane Hitch on 25^th December 1817.
57M3	Mary Collett was born at Badsey during 1794, where she was baptised at Maria Collett on 30^th November 1794, the daughter of William and Mary Collett. Within the Badsey baptism records is the name of John Collet, the son of Maria Collet, who was baptised on 29^th November 1812. There is a possibility that he was the base-born child of Mary Collett. Two years later Maria Collet married Charles Hartwell at Badsey on 8^th November 1814.
	57N1		John Collett				Baptised on 29.11.1812 at Badsey
57M4	William Collett was born at Badsey in 1804 according to the census in 1851, and was baptised there on 6^th January 1805, the son of tenant farmer William Collett and his wife Mary. As in the previous generations, the surname of the family was recorded with just one T, the same spelling of the name being used again by the family at the time of the census in 1851, but thereafter it was spelt with two Ts.
	William was in his early twenties when he married Ann Hulbert at Abberton in Worcestershire on 3^rd April 1826. Over the following year the couple settled in nearby Abbots Morton, to the west of Alcester, and it was there that all of their children were born.
	At the time of the census in 1841 William and Ann were still living in the village of Abbots Morton, where they were also still living three years later. The 1841 Census listed William with a rounded age of 35, and his wife Ann with a rounded age of 40. Living with them on that occasion were just four of their five known children, and they were William who was 12, Thomas who was seven, Richard who was four, and Mary who was two years old.
	Also living in the same registration district of Alcester & Feckenham, was William’s widowed mother Mary Collett who had a rounded age of 75, and she had living with her William’s missing son John Collett who was 10.
	Ten years later in 1851 William Collet, age 47 and from Badsey, was an agricultural labourer still living in Abbots Morton with his family. His wife Ann, who was 48, had been born at Flyford Flavel, just one mile from Abberton, where the couple were married. The only children still living with them at that time were their daughter Mary Maria Collett who was 12 and still at school, and their son Anthony Collett who was six years old and also attending the local school.
	57N2			William Collett			Born in 1828 at Abbots Morton
	57N3			John Collett			Born in 1830 at Abbots Morton
	57N4			Thomas Collett			Born in 1832 at Abbots Morton
	57N5			Richard Collett			Born in 1836 at Abbots Morton
	57N6			Mary M Collett			Born in 1838 at Abbots Morton
	57N7			Anthony Collett			Born in 1844 at Abbots Morton
57N2	William Collett was born at Abbots Morton in Worcestershire in 1828, where he was baptised on 06.05.1828, the eldest child of William and Ann Collett. He was 12 years old in the census of 1841 when he was still living with his family in Abbots Morton but, upon leaving the village school, he left the family home to seek his own way in the world, although no positive record of him has so far been found in the census of 1851.
	It was around the mid-1850s that he married Mary when he was in his late twenties, and by 1861 William Collett, age 32 and from Abbots Morton, was living at Smethwick in the Kings Norton & Harborne registration district with his wife Mary, who was also 32, and their two daughters Ann Collett who was three, and Alice Collett who was one year old.
	Both girls had been born at Smethwick, where their mother had also been born, and living not far away at Handsworth at that time was William’s younger sister Mary Collett (below) and his brother John Collett (below).
	Further children were added to the family over the next decade and all of them were born while the family was still living at Smethwick. So by 1871 the family comprised William and Mary who were both 42, and their five children Ann Collett who was 13, Alice Collett who 11, Thomas Collett who was seven, John Collett who was five, and Arthur Collett who was three years old.
	It seems very likely that Mary and William were expecting the arrival of their next child, since later that same year a further son was born into the family. Sometime after the birth of the child the family left Smethwick and settled in nearby Harborne, just south of Smethwick.
	According to the census of 1881 William Collett and his family were living at The Baker’s Shop at 178 Oldbury Road in Harborne, where William worked as the baker at the age of 52. Only his eldest daughter Ann had left the family home by then, and is must be assumed that, at the age of 23, she was married by that time in her life.
	The remaining family members were William’s wife Mary, who was also 52, her daughter Alice, who was 21 with no stated occupation, and her sons Thomas H Collett 17, John Collett 15, Arthur Collett 13, and Frank Collett who was nine. Both of the younger boys were still attending school, and all of them were confirmed as having been born locally at Smethwick.
	No record of William and Mary has so far been found in the following census records.
	57O1			Ann Collett			Born in 1857 at Smethwick
	57O2			Alice Collett			Born in 1859 at Smethwick
	57O3			Thomas Henry Collett			Born in 1863 at Smethwick
	57O4			John Collett			Born in 1865 at Smethwick
	57O5			Arthur Collett			Born in 1867 at Smethwick
	57O6			Frank Collett			Born in 1871 at Smethwick
57N3	John Collett was born at Abbots Morton in 1830, where he was baptised on 26.12.1830, the son of William and Ann Collett. He was not living with his family in Abbots Morton on the day of the census in 1841 instead, at the age of 10 years, he was staying with his paternal grandmother Mary Collett within the Alcester & Feckenham registration area, which included Abbots Morton.
	Before his twentieth birthday he married the slightly older Sarah who was born at West Bromwich in 1827 and with whom he is known to have had a daughter. This was revealed by the 1861 census for Kings Norton & Harborne in which John collett was 30, his wife Sarah was 33, and their daughter Mary Ann was 11 years of age.
	Ten years later it must be assumed that their daughter was married, since by the time of the Kings Norton & Harborne census of 1871 Mary Ann Collett, who would have been 21, was not living there with John, age 40, and Sarah who was 43. By April 1881 John and Sarah were living near Lottie Road at Northfield in Worcester. John Collett, age 50 and from Abbots Morton, was working as a bricklayer’s labourer. Lodging with him and his wife Sarah, age 53 and from West Bromwich, was chocolate maker Henry Bull who was 17 and from Brierley Hill.
	John and Sarah were both listed in the Northfield, Kings Norton census return in 1891 when they were both 60, and again in 1901 when John was 70 and was still described as a bricklayer’s labourer. On that occasion Sarah, age 73, gave her place of birth as Smethwick, like her husband, rather than West Bromwich as stated in previous census returns.
	57O7			Mary Ann Collett			Born in 1849
57N4	Thomas Collett was born at Abbots Morton in 1832, and was baptised there on 03.02.1832, the son of William and Ann Collett. The census in 1841 recorded him as Thomas Collett, age seven years, living with his family at Abbots Morton but, by the time he was 19 he was living in the West Bromwich area. It was just a few years later that he married Sarah Ann who was born at West Bromwich in 1832, and it was there that the couple seem to have spent their whole life together, and it was also there that all of their children were born.
	During the first ten years of their marriage Sarah Ann presented Thomas with six children, so by 1871 the family was made up of Thomas and Sarah Ann both aged 38, and their children Elizabeth Collett who was 10, Frederick Thomas Collett who was seven, Sarah Ann Collett who was five, Thomas Collett who was four, Mary Collett who was two, and baby Arthur Collett who was not yet one year old.
	No further children were born to the couple after that time and by 1881 Thomas Collett of Abbots Morton was 48 and his occupation was that of a master baker, like his eldest brother William (above). At that time he and his wife Sarah, who was also 48, were living at 213 Spon Lane in West Bromwich with their six children. Elizabeth Collett was 20, Frederick T Collett was 17, Sarah A Collett was 15, Thomas Collett was 14, Mary Collett was 12, and Arthur Collett who was 10.
	Only the three youngest children were still at school, while curiously the older children were not credited with having any occupation. In fact Thomas and his family were supported by a servant, Henry Sutton, age 22 from Worcester, who was also employed as a baker. Most of the family were still together ten years later. Only the couple’s eldest daughter Elizabeth was missing from the family home in 1891, since she was already married by that time.
	According to the census in 1891, Thomas Collett was 58, Sarah Ann Collett was 57, Frederick T Collett was 27, Sarah Ann Collett was 25, Thomas Collett was 24, Mary Collett was 22, and Arthur Collett, age 20, who was recorded in error as Albert Collett. In addition to the Collett family of Thomas and Sarah Ann, there was also living in that same area at that same time an Emma Collett (Ref. 15N28) who was 16 and whose family feature in Part 15 – The Kenilworth & Coventry Line.
	Thomas Collett, age 68, and a retired baker from Abbots Morton was still living in the Smethwick area of Handsworth in March 1901. Living there with him at 168 Saint Pauls Road was his wife Sarah A Collett, age 65 and from West Bromwich, together with three of their unmarried children. The eldest of these was their son Thomas Collett, age 34 and a baker, who had taken over the family business from his father and who was employing his younger brother Arthur Collett, age 30, as a journeyman baker, who presumably was the delivery man. It would also appear that the family was supported by daughters Sarah Collett who was 35 and Mary Collett who was 32 who, with no stated occupation, were very likely keeping house for their elderly parents and their two brothers.
	Also living with the family at that time, was Marion Stevens who was 11 and born in Walsall, who was the granddaughter of Thomas and Sarah Collett, the first child from the marriage of their eldest daughter Elizabeth Stevens nee Collett. By that time Elizabeth had three younger children living with her and her husband nearby in Smethwick.
	Both Thomas and Sarah enjoyed a long life together, and by the time of the census in 1911, both of them were recorded at Smethwick at 78 years of age. Still living there with them, were their two unmarried daughter, and their youngest son Arthur, who was also unmarried. Sarah Ann Collett was 46, Mary Collett was 42, and Arthur Collett was 40, all three of them born at West Bromwich like their mother.
	57O8			Elizabeth Collett			Born in 1860 at West Bromwich
	57O9			Frederick Thomas Collett			Born in 1863 at West Bromwich
	57O10			Sarah Ann Collett			Born in 1865 at West Bromwich
	57O11			Thomas Collett			Born in 1866 at West Bromwich
	57O12			Mary Collett			Born in 1868 at West Bromwich
	57O13			Arthur Collett			Born in 1870 at West Bromwich
57N5	Richard Collett was born at Abbots Morton in 1836, where he was also baptised on 16.10.1836, son of William and Ann. Richard was four years old in the Abbots Morton census of 1841, but ten years after that he had finished his education and was living in the Ladywood district of Birmingham at the age of 15.
	It would have been around five years later that he married Mary and during the following year their only child was born. No record of the family of three has yet been discovered within the census of 1861, but in 1871 they were living within the St George area of Birmingham. Richard Collett was 35, his wife Mary Ann Collett was 32, and their daughter Amy was 13.
	By the time of the next census in 1881 Richard Collett from A Morton was working as a glass cutter at the age of 45. His place of residence was 18 New John Street in Birmingham, and living there with him was his wife Mary Ann Sophia Collett, age 40 and from Birmingham, and their daughter Amy Collett, age 22, who was the unmarried mother of baby Lilian Collett who was four months old, although the child was recorded as the daughter-in-law of head of the household Richard Collett.
	Also living at the same address was schoolgirl Kate Mernaugh from Ireland who was 14, who was described as Richard’s niece, most likely through his wife. With only having the one child, Richard and Mary had by 1881 adopted Arthur Johnson who had been born in Birmingham during the previous year. The family also had a lodger staying with them on that occasion, and he was George Bliss, age 22 from Birmingham, who was a pearl piece maker.
	57O14			Amy Collett			Born in 1858 at Birmingham
	57O15			Arthur Johnson - adopted			Born in 1879 at Birmingham
57N6	Mary M Collett was born at Abbots Morton in 1838, although unlike her brothers, no baptism record for her has been found to date. Over the following years it would appear that she and her siblings moved north to the Midlands. By 1861 she was recorded as living and working within the West Bromwich & Handsworth registration district of the West Midlands at the age of 22. Her married brothers William and John were also living in that same area on the occasion.
	No trace of her as Mary Collett has been found thereafter, so it can probably be assumed that she was married sometime during the 1860s.
57N7	Anthony Collett was born at Abbots Morton in 1844. So far no records for him have been found in 1841, 1851 and 1861. By 1871 he was aged 26 and was living in West Bromwich. A few years later he married Eliza who was born at nearby Oldbury in 1849 with whom he had four children before 1881.
	According to that year’s census Anthony and Eliza were living at 127 Bilston Road in Wolverhampton and just like his older brothers, Anthony was also a master baker and employed one man to assist him. Eliza was 31 and their four children were Anthony aged 5, Adelaide aged 3, Emily aged 2, and one year old Lizzie. The family was supported by 15 years old Prudence Westwood of Sedgley. The first three children had been born while the family was living at West Bromwich, while Lizzie had been born after the move to Wolverhampton.
	A further four more children were born into the family over the next ten years so by 1891 the family living at Wolverhampton was Anthony aged 46, Eliza aged 42, with sons Anthony 15 and Enoch aged 4, and daughters Gertrude 13, Emily 12, Lizzie 11, Annie 9, Mary 8, and Fanny aged six years. Both Anthony Collett senior and junior were listed in error as Aubrey.
	By the turn of the century most members of the family were still living in Wolverhampton. Anthony of Abbots Morton was still working as a master baker aged 56, and with him was his wife Eliza aged 52 and their eight children. The full list was Anthony, age 25, who was then also working as a baker with his father, Adelaide, age 23 of no occupation, Emily, age 22 who was a dress mantle maker, Lizzie, age 21 who was a school teacher, as was Mary who was 18, Fanny who was 16 and a tailoress, and Ernest who was 14 and a clerk at an iron works. For some reason Annie, age 19, was not listed with an occupation, so she may have been helping her mother to support the family.
	57O16			Anthony Albert Collett			Born in 1875 at West Bromwich
	57O17			Adelaide Gertrude Collett			Born in 1877 at West Bromwich
	57O18			Emily Collett			Born in 1878 at West Bromwich
	57O19			Elizabeth (Lizzie) Collett			Born in 1879 at Wolverhampton
	57O20			Anne (Annie) Collett			Born in 1881 at Wolverhampton
	57O21			Mary Collett			Born in 1882 at Wolverhampton
	57O22			Fanny Collett			Born in 1884 at Wolverhampton
	57O22			Enoch Ernest Collett			Born in 1886 at Wolverhampton
57O3	Thomas Henry Collett was born at Smethwick in 1863 where he was living with his parents in 1871 aged 7. Around 1880 he and his family moved to Harborne where they were living at 178 Oldbury Road in April 1881. As the eldest son of baker William Collett he did not follow in his father’s footsteps like his younger brothers, but instead Thomas Collett became a teacher.
	The 1881 Census listed his occupation as that of a pupil teacher at the relatively young age of just 17. It was therefore very likely that his work eventually took him away from the West Midlands, since he married Beatrice from Woolwich, London towards the end of the 1880s. By the time of the next census in 1891 Thomas H Collett, age 27 and from Smethwick, was living in Reading his wife Beatrice M Collett who was also 27. At that time in their life, their marriage had been blessed with the first of their four known children as living with them was Thomas A Collett who was under one year old.
	Before the end of that decade Beatrice presented Thomas with three more children, the first of which was also born at Reading like their first child, but around the middle of the 1890s the family moved to Lewisham, where their last two children were born. However, just one year later the family was recorded in the census of 1901 as living in the Deptford area of London.
	Thomas H Collett from Smethwick was 37, as was his wife Beatrice M Collett who was born at Woolwich in London, and by that time Thomas was an Assistant Elementary Teacher at the London School of Business. Living with the couple were their sons Thomas A Collett, age 10, and Frank A Collett who was eight, both of whom had been born at Reading, their daughter Dorothy M Collett, who was two, and baby Robert C Collett who was one year old and had been born at Lewisham like his sister Dorothy.
	Within the next ten years Thomas’ eldest son left the family home, so by April 1911 the family comprised Thomas Henry Collett who was 47, as was his wife Beatrice Maria Collett, and their three youngest children Frank Ambrose Collett who was 18, Dorothy Mary Collett who was 12, and Robert Cecil Collett who was 11 years old. At that time the family was living in the Greenwich area of London. Thomas’ place of birth was again confirmed as Smethwick, while the three children were confirmed as having been born at Reading and Lewisham.
	14P1			Thomas Arthur Collett			Born in 1891 at Reading
	14P2			Frank Ambrose Collett			Born in 1893 at Reading
	14P3			Dorothy Mary Collett			Born in 1898 at Lewisham
	14P4			Robert Cecil Collett			Born in 1899 at Lewisham
57O4	John Collett was born at Smethwick in 1865 and was five years old in 1871 and was 15 in 1881 by which time the family had moved from Smethwick to Harborne where they were living at the Baker’s Shop at 178 Oldbury Road. John’s occupation at that time was that of a glass cutter. Towards the end of that decade John married Nellie, and their marriage had been blessed with the birth of their first child by the time of the census in 1891.
	The Smethwick census that year recorded the family as John Collett, age 25, his wife Nellie Collett as 22, and their daughter Minnie who was still under one year old. Over the next ten years three more children were added to the family, so in the census for 1901 the Smethwick family comprised John Collett, age 35, who was working as a general labourer, his wife Nellie who was 32, Minnie Collett who was 10, Mabel E Collett who was seven, Ida N Collett who was two, and Florrie M Collett who was not yet one year old. Every member of the household was confirmed as having been born at Smethwick.
	Just two further children were born into the family during the following years, and by April 1911 the family still living in Smethwick was recorded as John Collett who was 45, Nellie Collett who was 42, Minnie Collett, age 20, Mabel Collett, age 17, Nellie Collett, age 12, Florrie Collett who was 10, Harry Collett who was four, and Barbara Collett who was one year old.
	57P5			Minnie Collett			Born in 1890 at Smethwick
	57P6			Mabel E Collett			Born in 1893 at Smethwick
	57P7			Ida Nellie Collett			Born in 1898 at Smethwick
	57P8			Florrie M Collett			Born in 1901 at Smethwick
	57P9			Harry Collett			Born in 1906 at Smethwick
	57P10			Barbara Collett			Born in 1909 at Smethwick
57O5	Arthur Collett was born at Smethwick in 1867 and was listed as being aged 3 and 13 in the two census records of 1871 and 1881. For the latter he was living with his family at 178 Oldbury Road in Harborne, which was also the village’s Baker Shop.
	By 1891 he was living and working in Birmingham when he was twenty-three, but shortly after this he married Alice with whom he had three sons. Before the end of the century Arthur and his family had returned to Smethwick and his place of birth, within the Kings Norton registration district.
	Arthur Collett was a baker and corn flour dealer and in April 1911 he and his family were recorded in the Smethwick census return for the Kings Norton area as Arthur Collett, age 43 and from Smethwick, his wife Alice who was 39, and their three sons Arthur Wilfred Collett who was 16, Albert Collett who was 14, and Henry Collett who was nine years old.
	14P11			Arthur Wilfred Collett			Born in 1894
	14P12			Albert Collett			Born in 1896
	14P13			Henry Collett			Born in 1901
57O6	Frank Collett was born at Smethwick in 1871 but after the second of April that year. Sometime between 1871 and 1881 Frank and his family left Smethwick and moved the short distance to 178 Oldbury Road in Harborne.
	According to the Harborne census in 1881, Frank was nine years old and from Smethwick. Twenty years later he was working as a baker for his older brother Arthur (above) in Smethwick, following the death of their father, the baker William Collett. This was confirmed in the census of 1901, which listed Frank Collett as being age 29 and from Smethwick.
57O8	Elizabeth Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1860, the eldest child of Thomas and Sarah Ann Collett. She was 10 years old at the time of the census in 1871, and was 20 when she was still living with her family at 213 Spon Lane in West Bromwich in 1881. It may have been towards the end of the 1890s that she married John Stevens and they initially lived at Walsall, where their first child was born, although the family was living Ladywood district of Birmingham by the time of the next census in 1891. Elizabeth Stevens from West Bromwich was 30, her husband John Stevens was 31, and their daughter Marion Stevens was one year old. It is very likely Elizabeth was pregnant with the couple’s second child on the day of the census since he was born later that same year at Ladywood.
	Three further children were born to Elizabeth and John over the following years, and in March 1901 the family was living in the Smethwick area of Handsworth. According to that month’s census John Stevens was 41 and an iron puddler from Bilston, his wife Elizabeth from West Bromwich was 40, and living with them were just three of their four children, while Elizabeth was already expecting the couple’s fifth and final child. Perhaps because of the impending arrival of their last baby, Elizabeth’s eldest child, her daughter Marion Stevens aged 11 years, was staying nearby with the child’s grandparents Thomas and Sarah Collett at 168 Saint Pauls Road in Smethwick.
	The three children living with Elizabeth and John were recorded as Thomas Stevens who was 10 and born at Ladywood, Gertrude Stevens who was eight and born at Smethwick, and John Stevens who was six years old and also born after the family had settled in Smethwick. Living just a few dwellings along Saint Pauls Road in Smethwick from where the couple’s eldest daughter was staying, at number 174, were the parents of John Stevens. They were William Stevens, age 75 from Norwich who was a retired licenced victualler, and his wife Mary A Stevens who was 74 and from Oldbury, near Smethwick.
	Sadly for Elizabeth and her family, it would appear that John Stevens died while only in his forties. According to the Smethwick census in April 1911, Elizabeth Stevens from West Bromwich was a widow at 51, and living with her by then were just her four youngest children. Marion Stevens would have been around 21 and was very probably married by then. The other four children were listed as Thomas Stevens, age 19, Gertrude Stevens, age 18, John Stevens, 16, and Ruth Stevens who was nine years old.
57O9	Frederick Thomas Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1863 and followed his father into the family bakery business. He was seven years old in the census of 1871 and was 17 in 1881, while living at 213 Spon Lane in West Bromwich with his family.
	Ten years later he was 27 and about three years after the census day in 1891, when he was around thirty years old, Frederick Thomas Collett married twenty years old Ada Wickes, with whom he had at least six children.
	Ada was born at Birmingham in 1873 and was the daughter of master pork butcher Joseph Wickes of Lutterworth and his wife Ann from Leicester. At the time of the 1881 Census, the Wickes family was living at 13 Digbeth in Birmingham, where it is possible that Ada was born.
	By 1901 Frederick had progressed in his profession to become a master baker, as his father had been twenty years earlier. He was still living in West Bromwich at that time in his life, and on that occasion he had living there with him his wife and two of their first three children.
	The census that year confirmed Frederick T Collett was 37 and that he had been born in West Bromwich, where his two children Bernard, who was four years old, and Sydney, who was not yet one year old, had also been born. His wife Ada Collett was 27 and the census return also confirmed that she had been born in Birmingham.
	It would appear that their eldest son Ronald, who was five, was staying with Ada’s parents in Kings Norton, just south of Birmingham at that time, perhaps to allow Ada to spend more time with the latest addition to her family. During the next decade a further three children were added to the family as confirmed by the census of 1911.
	By that time Frederick Thomas Collett from West Bromwich was 47 and was simply described as a baker. His wife Ada Collett from Birmingham was 37, and the census return that year recorded that she and Frederick had been married for sixteen years. Their six children were listed as, Ronald Frederick Collett, age 15, Bernard Collett, age 14, Sydney Thomas Collett, age 10, Phyllis Collett who was eight, Kathleen Collett who was seven, and Norman Wickes Collett who was two years old, and all of them born at West Bromwich. It is not known if any further children were born into the family during the following years.
	It is interesting that Frederick and his family were still living at 213 Spon Lane in West Bromwich in April 1911, where Frederick had been living with his parents thirty years earlier. It is therefore possible that, upon his father’s retirement from being a baker, Frederick took over the responsibility of continuing to manage the family bakery business which was obviously based at Spon Lane.
	Six years later Frederick and Ada Collett were living at 177 Heathfield Road in the Handsworth area of West Bromwich, when they received the tragic news of the death of their eldest son Ronald who was killed at Ypres during September 1917.
	57P14			Ronald Frederick Collett			Born in 1895 at West Bromwich
	57P15			Bernard Collett			Born in 1897 at West Bromwich
	57P16			Sydney Thomas Collett			Born in 1900 at West Bromwich
	57P17			Phyllis Collett			Born in 1902 at West Bromwich
	57P18			Kathleen Collett			Born in 1904 at West Bromwich
	57P19			Norman Wickes Collett			Born in 1908 at West Bromwich
57O10	Sarah Ann Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1865 and it would appear that she never married during her life. Certainly by April 1901 Sarah Ann was thirty-five and was still living with her widowed mother Sarah Ann Collett at Smethwick, together with other of her unmarried siblings.
	Ten years later, and following the death of her mother, spinster Sarah Ann Collett of West Bromwich, at the age of forty-six, was living with her sister Mary (below) and brother Arthur (below) at Kings Norton.
57O11	Thomas Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1866, the son of Thomas and Sarah Ann Collett. He was four years old in 1871, and was 14 in 1881 when he was living at the family home at 213 Spon Lane in West Bromwich. Ten years later he was 24, and by March 1901 he was still a bachelor at the age of 34, while still living with his parents at 168 Saint Pauls Road in the Smethwick area of Handsworth. His place of birth was again confirmed as West Bromwich, and his occupation at that time was that of a baker, like his older brother Frederick Thomas Collett (above) and his father who had retired from the business.
	Around the middle of the first decade of the new century Thomas married Emma from Birmingham. This was confirmed by the census in 1911, which indicated that the couple had been married for five years. At that time the childless couple were living on the outskirts of Redditch, following Thomas’ retirement from the bakery business. Thomas Collett from West Bromwich was 45 and a retired baker living at Rose Cottage in Mappleborough Green, to the north of Studley, with his wife Emma Collett who was 46.
57O12	Mary Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1868 and was two years of age in 1871 and 12 years old in 1881 when living at 213 Spon Lane in West Bromwich with her family. By 1891 she was 22 and by 1901 she was 32 and was living with her widowed mother and other unmarried siblings.
	Following the death of her mother, Mary continued to live with her sister Sarah Ann (above and brother Arthur (below), and by 1911 the three of them were living in Kings Norton where Mary was recorded as being forty-two and from West Bromwich.
57O13	Arthur Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1870 and was ten years of age in 1881. At that time he was living with his master baker father and his family and later took up the same occupation. According to the census of 1901 Arthur was aged 30 and of West Bromwich and was living in Smethwick where he was described as a journeyman baker.
	It is not known if ever married, but by April 1911 he was still a bachelor at the age of forty, when he was living in Kings Norton with his sisters Sarah Ann Collett and Mary (above). The place of birth for all three was confirmed as West Bromwich.
57O14	Amy Collett was born at Birmingham in 1858, the only birth child of Richard and Mary Ann Sophia Collett. Although no record of her or her parents has been positively identified within the census of 1861, in the Birmingham St George census of 1871 Amy Collett was 13. She was still living with her parents ten years later at 18 New John Street in Birmingham, from where 22 years old Amy was employed as a fancy nail maker.
	Also listed as living with the family, was four months old Lillian Collett of Birmingham, who was described in error as ‘daughter-in-law’ to head of household Richard Collett, even though the child was more than likely the base-born daughter of unmarried Amy Collett.
	It is possible that Amy was married some time during the following years, and this may have resulted in her daughter also taking up the surname of her husband, since neither Amy or Lillian have been discovered in any subsequent census with the Collett name.
	57P20			Lillian Collett			Born during December 1880
57P1	Thomas Arthur Collett was born at Reading in 1891 but after 5^th April. It seems highly likely that his mother Sophia died either during or very shortly after the birth. His father Thomas Henry Collett then married Beatrice by whom he had a further three children.
	In March 1901 Thomas was ten years old and was living at Deptford with his father, his stepmother, and his three half-siblings.
	Ten years later when Thomas’ father and his new family were living in Greenwich in London, bachelor Thomas Arthur Collett from Reading who was twenty, was living and working in the Rugby area of Warwickshire.
57P14	Ronald Frederick Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1895. At the time of the West Bromwich census of 1901 Ronald’s mother had just given birth to her third child, and this may have been the reason that five years old Ronald was staying with his grandparents in Kings Norton.
	Ten years later the whole parents comprising Ronald’s parents and his five siblings were recorded as still living within the West Bromwich registration district when Ronald was fifteen.
	With the outbreak of war three years later, eighteen years old Ronald joined the 2^nd/6^th Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment as Private Collett 24228 and during 1917 he was fighting on the frontline in the Battle of Polygon Wood which formed part of the Third Battle of Ypres.
	Sadly he was killed in action on 29.09.1917 and was buried at Bridge House Cemetery near Ieper in Belgium. The cemetery contains just forty-five graves of which four are unidentified and was named after a farmhouse and was established by 59^th North Midland Division at the end of September 1917.
	At the time of his death at the age of twenty-two he was still a bachelor, and by which time his parents as his next-of-kin were living in the Handsworth area between West Bromwich and Birmingham.
	APPENDIX
		Unplaced Colletts recorded on the Badsey History website include, Edward Collett who was a witness at a wedding on 31^st August 1788, and William Collett, born circa 1760, who was buried there on 23^rd June 1823 at the age of 63. Another was the family of William Collett (Ref. 57A/N4) who was born at Willersey but who moved there on living school prior to 1861, where he married a Badsey lass, with whom he created a whole new branch of family from 1864 onwards.
57A/L1		William Collett was married to Nelly and they had a son James who was born and baptised at Willersey in 1815. It is likely that other children were also born to the couple.
		57A/M1		James Collett			Born circa 1815 at Willersey
57A/M1		James Collett was born at Willersey around 1815 and was baptised there on 7^th August 1815, the son of William and Nelly Collett. And it was also at Willersey that James married Mary Ingles on 13^th September 1837. Mary was baptised at Willersey on 26^th January 1817, the daughter of Richard Ingles and Mary Knight. There is confusion in the later census records regarding the couple’s eldest son, who was listed on different occasions as Charles Collett, Charles J Collett, Charles I Collett. It seems highly likely that he was in fact Charles Ingles Collett, like two of the couple’s grandchildren.
		By the time of the census in 1841 James, age 25, and Mary, age 20, had their first two children, Charles who was three and William who was one. Sadly only the older son survived, with the younger one suffering a childhood death before he was a few years old. Ten years later their family had grown to be five sons. Although James was absent from the family home in Willersey in 1851, the remainder of his family was recorded as Mary, age 36, Charles, age 13, James who was seven, William who was five, Hubert who was three, and Richard who was not yet one year old.
		By 1861 only sons James and Hubert were still living with their parents, so the census that year listed the family still living at Willersey as James Collett 45, his wife Mary Collett 44, James Collett 18, and Herbert Collett who was 13. Ten years after that it was only Hubert who was still living at the family home. The Willersey census return for 1871 recorded the family as James, age 55, Mary, age 54, and their son Hubert Collett who was 23.
		According to the census in 1881 it was only James and Mary that were still living on the main village street in Willersey. James Collett, age 65 and born in the village, was a market gardener, while his wife Mary, who was 64 and also from Willersey, was employed as an agricultural labourer.
		57A/N1		Charles [Ingles] Collett			Born circa 1838 at Willersey
		57A/N2		William Collett			Born circa 1840 at Willersey
		57A/N3		James Collett			Born circa 1842 at Willersey
		57A/N4		William Collett			Born circa 1845 at Willersey
		57A/N5		Hubert Collett			Born circa 1847 at Willersey
		57A/N6		Robert Collett			Born circa 1850 at Willersey
57A/N1		Charles [Ingles] Collett was born at Willersey in 1838 and was three years old and 13 years old in the Willersey census returns for 1841 and 1851, when he was living there with his parents James and Mary Collett. Seven years later Charles was married to (1) Victoria and, within the next two or three years, they had two sons, both of them being baptised at Cleeve Prior.
		This was confirmed by the census in 1861, by which time the family was living at Badsey within the Evesham & Broadway registration district. Charles Collett, age 23, said he was born at Willersey, and his occupation was that of a blacksmith. His wife Victoria was also 23 and was born at Laverton, to the south of Broadway, while the couple’s two Cleeve Prior born sons were James Collett, who was two, and John Collett who was under one year old.
		Over the following decade five more children were added to their family. The first of them was born while the family was still living at Badsey near Evesham in 1862, and it was there also that Charles Collett was named as a witness at a wedding in Badsey church on 27^th February 1864. However, shortly after that Charles took his family to live in the hamlet of Bickmarsh to the south of Bidford-on-Avon, where his next four children were born. With no church at Bickmarsh the children were baptised at Bidford, before another family move saw them arrived at Old Stratford, where they were living by 1871.
		Charles J Collett was 33, as was his wife Victoria, James was 12, John was 10, Catherine was seven, Ellen was five, Charles was three, William was one year old, and Mary V Collett was just a few months. Sadly Victoria died sometime after the census in 1871, perhaps even during the birth of a further child who also did not survive. Following that tragic event, Charles and his young family returned to Cleeve Prior, where Charles later married (2) Elizabeth of Laverton, all of which was confirmed in the census of 1881.
		Once again Charles Collett, age 43, who was a blacksmith, gave his place of birth as Willersey. His wife Elizabeth Collett was 49 and a laundress from Laverton, and by that time only four of Charles’ children were still living with him and his second wife. They were Ellen Collett, age 15 and a domestic servant, Charles Collett, age 13 and an agricultural labourer, William Collett who was 11, and Mary V Collett who was 10, and both of them still attending school. All four children were confirmed as having been born at Bickmarsh.
		Charles and Elizabeth were still living at Cleeve Prior in 1891, but with just their two youngest children. Charles I Collett was 53, Elizabeth was 59, William Collett was 21, and Mary V Collett was 20. With her advancing years, Elizabeth died during the 1890s, leaving Charles free to marry for a third time.
		The parish records at Cleeve Prior include the entry that Charles Collett of Cleeve Prior married (3) Ann Fairfax in the village on 1^st June 1899. Ann had been baptised at Cleeve Prior on 8^th May 1842 and was the daughter of Samuel and Anne Fairfax.
		According to the Cleeve Prior census in March 1901, Charles Collett from Willersey and his wife Anne Collett were 63 and 54 respectively, and by that time in his life Charles was a fruiterer. Ten years later, in the census of 1911, Charles Collett, age 73 and from Willersey, was living at Cleeve Prior, where Annie Collett, age 64 of Cleeve Prior, was also living at that time.
		Other Collett families of Cleeve Prior can be found in Part 56 – The Alcester & Bidford-on-Avon District Line
		57A/O1	James Collett		Born in 1858 at Cleeve Prior
		57A/O2	John Collett		Born in 1860 at Cleeve Prior
		57A/O3	Catherine Collett		Born in 1862 at Badsey, nr Evesham
		57A/O4	Ellen Collett		Born in 1865 at Bickmarsh, nr Bidford
		57A/O5	Charles Ingles Collett		Born in 1867 at Bickmarsh, nr Bidford
		57A/O6	William Collett		Born in 1869 at Bickmarsh, nr Bidford
		57A/O7	Mary Victoria Collett		Born in 1870 at Bickmarsh, nr Bidford
57A/N2		William Collett was born at Willersey during the first half of 1840 and was one year old in June 1841 when he was living at Willersey with his parents and older brother Charles (above). Tragically he did not survive, and with a later child being given the same name, it is assumed that William died before 1844.
57A/N3		James Collett was born at Willersey around 1842, where he was baptised on 26^th May 1842, the son of James and Mary Collett. He may have only been a year old when his brother William (above) died. He was seven years old in the Willersey census of 1851, and was 18 ten years later when he was still living there with his parents.
		Around the middle of the 1860s he married Elizabeth from Bidford-on-Avon, after which the couple settled in the Gloucestershire village of Aston Subedge two miles north-east of Willersey. By the time of the next census in 1871, the couple already had three children who had been born there. James was 28, his wife Elizabeth was 26, and their three children were Mary A Collett who was five, James who was three and Harry who was one year old.
		Four more children were added to the family during the next decade, three of them while they were still living at Aston Subedge. Around 1878 the family left Aston Subedge when they moved two miles to Mickleton where the fourth child was born. In 1881 the census that year recorded the family living at Pauls House in Mickleton from where James Collett, age 38 and from Willersey, was working as an agricultural labourer. His wife Elizabeth was 36, and their seven children were Mary A Collett, age 15 who was helping her mother at home, scholars James 13, Harry 11, Kate 9, Fanny 7, and Hubert 5, plus latest arrival William who was two years old. All of the children, except William of Mickleton, had been born at Aston Subedge.
		Elizabeth Collett died during the 1880s and by 1891 widower James Collett, age 48, was still living in Mickleton with his eldest daughter Mary A Collett, age 25, acting as his housekeeper, and his two sons James, age 23, and William who was 12. Living nearby in the same census registration district of Shipton-on-Stour & Blockley was two more of James’ children they being Harry and Fanny. It is also assumed that James died before the end of the century, since there is no apparent record of him in any later census.
		It should be noted that more than one of their children gave their place of birth as Campden or Chipping Campden in the later census records, rather than Aston Subedge.
		57A/O8	Mary A Collett		Born in 1865 at Aston Subedge
		57A/O9	James Collett		Born in 1867 at Aston Subedge
		57A/O10	Harry Collett		Born in 1869 at Aston Subedge
		57A/O11	Kate Collett		Born in 1871 at Aston Subedge
		57A/O12	Fanny Collett		Born in 1873 at Aston Subedge
		57A/O13	Hubert Collett		Born in 1875 at Aston Subedge
		57A/O14	William Collett		Born in 1878 at Mickleton
57A/N4		William Collett was born at Willersey in 1845, the son of James Collett and his wife Mary Ingles. It was nineteen years later on 27^th February 1864 that he married Charlotte Robins at Badsey, where their first child was baptised four months after. It would appear that William had already settled in Badsey by the time of the census in 1861, in which he was described as a servant at the age of 15. William and his wife stayed in Badsey following the birth of their daughter Mary Anne, since it was there that all of their later children were born and baptised, and where William and Charlotte eventually established a thriving market gardening business.
		During the first six years of their life together the couple was blessed with the birth of three children prior to 1870, although sadly in the second month of that year the couple suffered the death of their first son, while he was still under one year old. According to the Badsey census that year William Collett, age 25, was an agricultural labourer, and his wife Charlotte was 27. Living with them were just two of their first three children, Mary A Collett, who was six, and Lydia E Collett who was three. The three females were all confirmed as having been born at Badsey, where Charlotte was working at home as a glover.
		After a further ten years another four children had been added to the family, so the census in 1881 recorded the family at Badsey as William Collett, age 35 and a market gardener, Charlotte Collett, age 37, Mary A Collett, age 16, Lydia E Collett, age 13, their three sons who were attending the village school, John Collett who was nine, Thomas W Collett who was seven, and Charles J Collett who was five, and their youngest daughter Kate Collett who was two years old.
		On the day of the census Charlotte was already pregnant with the couple’s eighth child, and it was in August that their son Alfred was baptised at Badsey. However, he only lived for a short while, and was buried there on 24^th September 1881. Nearly one year later William’s and Charlotte’s eldest daughter Mary Ann was married, and two years after that the couple’s second eldest daughter Lydia Ellen was also married during 1884.
		So by 1891 the family still living at Badsey comprised market gardener William who was 45, Charlotte, age 47, John who was 19, William (aka Thomas) who was 17, Charles who was 15, Kate who was 12, Ernest who was eight, George who was three, and Rose Collett who was one year old. Just after the start of the new century the majority of the family was still living together at Badsey. By then William Collett, age 55 and from Willersey, was a market gardener, his wife Charlotte was 57, and with them were five of their children.
		They were market gardeners Thomas W Collett, age 27, and Charles I Collett, age 24, Ernest H Collett, age 18 who was a labourer at the family’s market garden, George Collett who was 13, and Rosa A Collett who was 11, both of them possibly still at school.
		Over the next few years most of the children left the family’s home in Badsey, and by the time of the census in 1911 it was only the couple’s youngest son who was still living at Badsey with them. By that time William was 65, Charlotte was 67, and their son George was 23. The Kelly’s Directory in 1912 once again confirmed that William Collett was a market gardener, although this could equally apply to father and son Thomas William Collett.
		57A/O15		Mary Anne Collett			Born in 1864 at Badsey
		57A/O16		Lydia Ellen Collett			Born in 1867 at Badsey
		57A/O17		William Collett			Born in 1869 at Badsey
		57A/O18		John Collett			Born in 1871 at Badsey
		57A/O19		Thomas William Collett			Born in 1873 at Badsey
		57A/O20		Charles Ingles Collett			Born in 1875 at Badsey
		57A/O21		Kate Collett			Born in 1878 at Badsey
		57A/O22		Alfred Collett			Born in 1881 at Badsey
		57A/O23		Ernest Hubert Collett			Born in 1883 at Badsey
		57A/O24		George Collett			Born in 1887 at Badsey
		57A/O25		Rosa Annie Collett			Born in 1889 at Badsey
57A/O1		James Collett was born at Cleeve Prior, and was baptised there on 30^th January 1859, the eldest child of Charles and Victoria Collett. He was two years old in the Cleeve Prior census of 1861, and was 12 when he was still living with his large family at Old Stratford in 1871.
		Upon leaving school, James became a blacksmith like his father, and eventually left the family home to pursue his career. The census in 1881 placed him as a lodger with blacksmith George Taylor at his home at 8 Greenhill Street in Stratford-on-Avon. George Taylor from Newbold-on-Stour was 40, his wife Ellen from Little Wolford near Shipston-on-Stour was 42, and their two children were Ellen H Taylor, age 11, and George A Taylor, age 9. Living with the family was George’s father, blacksmith John Taylor who was 80, and blacksmith James Collett from Cleeve Prior, who was 23 and unmarried.
		It is unsure what happened to James Collett after 1881, since no record of him has been found in Great Britain after that time.
57A/O2		John Collett was born at Cleeve Prior, where he was baptised on 10^th March 1861, the son of Charles and Victoria Collett. He was under one year old at the time of the Cleeve Prior census in 1861, and after a temporary move to Badsey near Evesham, his family lived at Bickmarsh, south of Bidford, before they moved to Old Stratford where the family was living in 1871 when John was 10 years old.
		By the time of the next census in 1881 John Collett was a married man. Also by that time the marriage had produced the first of his eight known children. John Collett, an agricultural labourer from Cleeve Prior, was 20, as was his with Ellen, who was from North Littleton, one mile south of Cleeve Prior. On that occasion John and Ellen were living at Tower Hill in Bidford-on-Avon with their son Albert C Collett who was one year old.
		Five more children were added to their family during the 1880s while the couple was still living at Bidford. So by 1891 the family comprised John, who was 30, his wife Ellen, who was 31, and their son Charles (previously Albert) who was 11, plus the five new arrivals. They were twins Harriet and Elizabeth, who was nine, James who was six, Mary who was three, and Catherine who was one year old.
		In March 1901 the family was still living at Bidford, although by then the couple’s two eldest children had left the family home, but also by then a seventh child had been added to their family. However, the new child, Albert, was given the same name as his eldest brother. This might indicate that Albert (the elder) may have possibly died or been killed while serving his country. Albert Charles Collett would have been 21, so that is a possibility.
		According to the census that month, John Collett, who was 41 and from Cleeve Prior, was working as a labourer on main roads. His wife Ellen from North Littleton was 42, and their six children were Elizabeth who was a domestic cook age 19, James who was a railway porter, age 18 rather than 16, Mary Victoria who was a general domestic servant at the age of 13, Catherine who was 11, and Albert Collett who was seven.
		Just shortly after the census day, Ellen presented John with the couple’s last child and, by the time of the next census in April 1911, the family had relocated to nearby Salford Priors where only three of their children were still living with them. John and Ellen were both 51, and the children were unmarried James Collett who was 26, Albert Collett who was 17, and Hilda Ellen Collett who was nine years old.
		57A/P1	Albert Charles Collett		Born in 1880 at South Littleton, nr Evesham
		57A/P2	Harriet Collett twin		Born in 1882 at Bidford-on-Avon
		57A/P3	Elizabeth Collett twin		Born in 1882 at Bidford-on-Avon
		57A/P4	James Collett		Born in 1884 at Bidford-on-Avon
		57A/P5	Mary Victoria Collett		Born in 1887 at Bidford-on-Avon
		57A/P6	Catherine Collett		Born in 1889 at Bidford-on-Avon
		57A/P7	Albert Collett		Born in 1893 at Bidford-on-Avon
		57A/P8	Hilda Ellen Collett		Born in 1901 at Bidford-on-Avon
57A/O3		Catherine Collett was born at Badsey near Evesham in 1862, and it was there also that she was baptised on 19^th July 1863, the eldest daughter of Charles and Victoria Collett. Not long after she was born her family left Badsey and settled in Bickmarsh, just south of Bidford-on-Avon, but by 1871 they had moved again and were living at Old Stratford in 1871 where Catherine was seven years old. Ten years later she was working at The Three Tuns Royal Hotel in Pershore where, as Catherine Collett, age 19 and from Badsey, she was described as a servant at the inn.
57A/O4		Ellen Collett was born in the hamlet of Bickmarsh, to the south of Bidford-on-Avon, in 1865 and was baptised at Bidford on 16^th July 1865, the fourth child of Charles and Victoria Collett. By the time of the census in 1871, when Ellen was five years old, she and her family were living in Old Stratford. Following the death of her mother during the 1870s, her widowed father eventually returned to Cleeve Prior where he was married for a second time. The Cleeve Prior census in 1881 recorded that Ellen Collett, age 15 and from Bickmarsh, had already left school and was employed in domestic service while she was still living at the family home with her father and stepmother.
57A/O5		Charles Ingles Collett was born at Bickmarsh during 1867 and was baptised at Bidford-on-Avon on 28^th July 1867, the son of Charles and Victoria Collett. He was three years old in the Bickmarsh census of 1871, but sometime after that, possibly following the death of his mother, his father took the family to live at Cleeve Prior, where they were living in 1881 when Charles, age 13, was working as an agricultural labourer.
		It would appear that Charles, and his younger brother William (below), both sought work in the area of Shipston-on-Stour, since it was there, just three miles north of the town, within the registration district of Halford, that Charles was living with his wife Sarah in 1891. The census that year included the couple, together with their first child, as Charles J Collett of Bickmarsh and Sarah J Collett of Childswickham, who were both 24, and their son Charles J Collett, who was one year old and born at Newbold-on-Stour.
		It was very likely at Newbold-on-Stour, just one mile from Halford, that Charles and Sarah settled just after their wedding day since, not only was their first child born there, it was also while the family was still living there that their next three children were born. According to the next census in 1901, Charles and his enlarged family were still living in the village of Newbold-on-Stour within the Tredington registration district.
		The occupation of Charles Collett, age 33 from Bickmarsh, was that of a blacksmith, like his father and his eldest brother James (above). Charles’ wife Sarah was 34, their two sons were Charles who was 11, and William who was seven, and their daughters were Agnes who was three, and Amy who was not yet one year old. Amy was later referred to as Eva Collett, so she may have been so young on the day of the census that her name was changed at the time of her baptism.
		Sometime after 1901 the family left Newbold, and during the next seven years two more children were added to the family. When they moved from Newbold took them is not known for sure but by April 1911 the family was living in the Alcester area, by which time the two eldest sons had left, to make they own way in the world.
		Therefore the census that year recorded the family as Charles Collett, who was 43, Sarah Collett, who was 44, Agnes Collett, who was 13, Eva Collett (rather than Amy Collett) who was 10, Ethel Collett who was five, and Alfred Collett who was two years old.
		Of the couple’s two missing children, Charles Collett from Newbold-on-Stour was 21 and was living and working in the area of Stratford-on-Avon, while William Collett from Newbold-on-Stour was 17 and was living and working in the Kings Norton area, to the south of Birmingham.
		57A/P9	Charles Collett		Born in 1889 at Newbold-on-Stour
		57A/P10	William Collett		Born in 1893 at Newbold-on-Stour
		57A/P11	Agnes Collett		Born in 1897 at Newbold-on-Stour
		57A/P12	Eva (Amy) Collett		Born in 1901 at Newbold-on-Stour
		57A/P13	Ethel Collett		Born in 1905
		57A/P14	Alfred Collett		Born in 1908
57A/O6		William Collett was born at Bickmarsh but was baptised in the parish church at Bidford on 8^th August 1869, the youngest son of Charles and Victoria Collett. Not long after he was born his family left Bickmarsh when they moved to Old Stratford, and it was there that he was living with his family in 1871, when he was one year old. During the next decade his mother died and his father re-married and by 1881, when William was 11, he was still attending school, and he and his family were living at Cleeve Prior by then.
		It is not clear where he was in 1891, but it was during the years immediately following the census that year when William married Mary Ann from Armscote, near Shipston-on-Stour in Warwickshire, where their first two children were born, before the family settled in Cleeve Prior, where the next two children were born before the end of the century.
		By the time of the census in March 1901 the young family was living in Cleeve Prior, where William Collett age 31 and from Bickmarsh was working as a labourer at a market garden. His wife Mary A Collett was 30, and their four children were Albert H Collett, who was five, Charles E Collett, who was four, Ollie M Collett, who was two, and Percy W Collett, who was one year old.
		It was first few years of the new century it seems that William’s work took the family to Stratford-on-Avon, where a further four children were added to the family. By April 1911, the family was still living there, and was made up of William Collett 41, Mary A Collett 39, Albert Collett 15, Charles Collett 14, May Collett 12, Percy Collett 11, plus Ida Collett who was six, Doris Collett who was four, Gladys Collett who was two, and Ralph Collett who was just nine months old.
		57A/P15	Albert H Collett		Born in 1895 at Armscote
		57A/P16	Charles E Collett		Born in 1896 at Armscote
		57A/P17	Ollie May Collett		Born in 1898 at Cleeve Prior
		57A/P18	Percy William Collett		Born in 1899 at Cleeve Prior
		57A/P19	Ida Collett		Born in 1904 at Stratford-on-Avon
		57A/P20	Doris Collett		Born in 1906 at Stratford-on-Avon
		57A/P21	Gladys Collett		Born in 1908 at Stratford-on-Avon
		57A/P22	Ralph Collett		Born in July 1910 at Stratford-on-Avon
57A/O7		Mary Victoria Collett was born at Bickmarsh in 1870 and was baptised at Bidford-on-Avon on 4^th December 1870, the last child of James and Victoria Collett. Not long after she was baptised her family left Bickmarsh and moved to Old Stratford in Stratford-on-Avon where they were living in 1871 when Mary V Collett was just a few months old.
		Sometime after 1871 Mary’s mother died, perhaps during the birth of a subsequent child who also did not survive. Following his loss, her father then married the older Elizabeth presumably to look after his young family. By 1881 Mary V Collett was 10 and was living with her family at Cleeve Prior, and ten years later she was one of just two child still living at Cleeve Prior with her father and her stepmother. Mary V Collett was 20 at that time in 1891.
		It is very likely that Mary Victoria Collett was married during the next decade as no record of her as an unmarried lady has been found in the next census of 1901, by which time her father had married for a third time and was still living at Cleeve Prior.
57A/O8		Mary Ann Collett was born during 1865 at Aston Subedge, two miles north-east of Willersey, the eldest child of James Collett of Willersey and his wife Elizabeth from Bidford-on-Avon. In the Aston Subedge census of 1871 Mary A Collett was five years old, but by 1881 she and her family were living at Pauls House in Mickleton where Mary A Collett was 15 and had left school and was presumably helping her mother look after the rest of her family.
		With the death of her mother sometime during the 1880s, Mary A Collett, age 25, was keeping house for her widowed father at the time of the Mickleton census of 1891. It was also in November 1891 that Mary Ann Collett was the witness at the wedding of her brother Harry (below) at Badsey near Evesham. Following the death of her father before the end of the century it is assumed that Mary was eventually marriage, since no record of her as a single lady has been found in the next census in 1901.
57A/O9		James Collett was born at Aston Subedge in 1867 the second child and eldest son of James and Elizabeth Collett. He was three years old in 1871 when living at Aston Subedge with his family, and by 1881, at the age of 13, he was attending school in Mickleton while living with his family at Pauls House in Mickleton. And it was also there that he was living ten years later in 1891 when he was 23.
		Before the end of the century James married Rose Ellen from Broad Campden, and in March 1901 the childless couple were living in Chipping Campden. James Collett from Aston Subedge was 33 and a farm labourer, while his wife Rose E Collett, also age 33, was from Broad Campden. Ten years later in April 1911 they were recorded within the census for the Shipston-on-Stour registration district, as James and Rose Ellen Collett, both being 33 years of age.
57A/O10		Harry Collett was born at Aston Subedge in 1869, the son of James and Elizabeth Collett. It was as Harry Collett that he was recorded with his family at Aston Subedge in 1871, when he was one year old, and again in 1881, by which time he and his family were living at Pauls House in Mickleton. On that occasion he was 11 years old and was attending school there. It was the same situation in 1891, when Harry Collett was 21, but by which time he had moved out of the family home and was living separately within the same registration district.
		Later that same year, as Henry Collett, he married Julia Dyer at Badsey on 9^th November 1891, the witness at the ceremony in St James Church being his older sister Mary Ann Collett. It would appear from the birth of the couple’s first child that the first year or so of their married life was spent in living Chipping Campden, but that they later returned for a while to live in Badsey where the next two children were born. However, the birth of their son was tinged in sadness since he was buried at Badsey just month after he was baptised there.
		According to the Badsey census conducted at the end of March in 1901 Harry Collett from Campden was 31 and his occupation was that of a journeyman baker. His wife was Julia, also aged 31, who was from Kidderminster. Their two children at that time were Elsie Collett from Campden, who was eight, and Lilian Collett of Badsey, who was six years old.
		Within a few months of the census day in 1901 Julia fell pregnant with the couple’s four child, and just after the start of the following year Julia presented Harry with their second son. So by the time of the next census in April 1911 the family living within the Shipston-on-Stour registration district comprised Harry Collett, age 42, Julia Collett, also 42, and their three surviving children Elsie Collett, age 18, Lily Collett, age 16, and Francis Collett who was nine years old.
		57A/P23		Elsie Collett			Born in 1892 at Chipping Campden
		57A/P24		Lilian Kate Collett			Born in 1894 at Badsey
		57A/P25		Herbert James Collett			Born in 1897 at Badsey
		57A/P26		Francis Harry Collett			Born in 1902 at Badsey