PART
THREE
The Chedworth Line
- 1800 to 2000
Updated December 2023
On Saturday 6th November 1999
Martin John Cairns of Abingdon in Oxfordshire and Elizabeth Charlotte Gegg [3R11]
from Cirencester in Gloucestershire were married at Park United Reform Church
in Reading. Nothing very surprising in
that you might think, until you realise that both young people descended from
branches of the Gloucestershire Collett family.
This section of the family history is a link line between Part Two – The
Second Gloucestershire Line, starting with Henry Collett (Ref. 2M23) of
Chedworth and coming forward in time through the Gegg family and eventually
arriving at Part One - The Main Gloucestershire Line, with Martin Cairns (Ref.
1S9) the son of Mary Cairns nee Collett (Ref. 1R4). Thus, another important loop line is
established.
Grateful thanks go to
Brian Reginald Gegg [3Q20] for kindly providing the information on the Gegg
family that connects the latter day Colletts of Chedworth with the Cairns
family of the 21st Century.
Thanks must also go to Ivor Clucas of
Herefordshire for supplying more recent information relating to his wife Marion
Young [3R1] who is a direct descendent of Richard Collett [3N1]. The July 2009 update was thanks to new
information, photographs, and drawing received from David Martin of Pontefract
in Yorkshire. Other valuable
contributions are acknowledged within the body of the file.
HENRY COLLETT [3M1 & 2M23] was baptised on 7th
July 1794 at Notgrove, the son of Henry Collett and Mary Rowland. It was also at Notgrove where he married Mary
Ann Margetts on 31st July 1815.
It may be of interest that Henry’s
nephew William Collett, the son of his brother Robert Collett (Ref. 2M24),
married Elizabeth (Betsy) Margetts from Stowell in Wiltshire shortly after
1861. All of the children of
Henry and Mary Ann were born at Chedworth but, as the parents were opposed to
the ordinance of infants, the births were simply registered at the Chedworth
Independent Church. Henry and his sister
Elizabeth (Ref. 2M21) were the only two children of Henry Collett and Mary
Rowland not to benefit from the 1818 Will of their grandfather William Rowland
(see Ref. 10K1). Henry’s occupation was
that of a shoemaker like that of his father Henry Collett and his brother
Richard Collett (Ref. 2M25). Through the
1830 Will of his father, Henry junior inherited his father’s cottage at
Naunton. And according to 1832 Electoral
Roll, Henry was listed as a Freeholder as can be seen from the contents of
following document and that of his own Will of 20th February 1850 (see
Will in Legal Documents). The
Chedworth census of 1841 listed nearly the whole family, with just the eldest
son Richard and deceased daughter Sarah missing. Henry was 46, Mary was 45, Robert was 23, Henry
was 20, John was 19, Philip was 15, Mary was 12, the second Sarah was nine,
Eliza was six and Jane was five. The
following year the Commutation of Tithes map dated 1842 indicated that Henry
Collett was the owner of a house and orchard on Green Lane near Bleakmoor,
Chedworth. He was for many years the
Deacon at Chedworth, where he was buried following his death on 16th
March 1850
In the 1851 Census for Chedworth, Henry’s widow
Mary Ann Collett was listed as being 55 years of age and her occupation was
described as being that of a grocer. Her
place of birth was confirmed as having been Notgrove. With her on that occasion were her two
youngest children, Eliza who was 16 and Jane who was 15, both of whom were
confirmed as having been born at Chedworth.
There was also a visitor staying with the family at that time, who was
Esther Rose aged 58 of no stated place of birth. The magnificent painting shown (below)
is of Mary Ann Collett, formerly Margetts, and was drawn and painted by A Betts
in 1853, as detailed on the bottom right of the picture. On the top left of the painting (but not
visible here) is a pencilled note by the Rev. Sidney John Martin that this was
his mother’s mothers mother. His mother
was Sarah Blanche Gegg, and her mother was Sarah Martha Collett, the daughter
of Mary Ann Margetts
Mary Ann Margetts was born at Notgrove around
1796 and she died in 1866 at the age of 70, so the drawing was very likely
produced when she was around 57 years of age.
Henry’s Will was proved in the same year that he died and referred to
his brother Richard Collett (Ref. 2M23) of Notgrove a shoemaker, and his friend
John William Cornley, to whom he jointly bequeathed three cottages and gardens
at Chedworth Laines and two cottages and gardens in Lower Chedworth. The Will stated that all of these properties were
purchased from Richard Harris and that his own dwelling house had been
purchased from Joseph Wilson. The
adjoining orchard (on the opposite side of Green Lane from the cottage) was
purchased from Simon Wilson.
3N1 – Richard Collett was born in 1816 at Chedworth
3N2 – Robert Collett was born in 1818 at Chedworth
3N3 – Henry Collett was born in 1820 at Chedworth
3N4 – John Collett was born in 1822 at Chedworth
3N5 – Philip Collett was born in 1826 at Chedworth
3N6 – Mary Ann Collett was born in 1828 at Chedworth
3N7 – Sarah Collett was born in 1830 at Chedworth
3N8 – Sarah Maria Collett was born in 1832 at Chedworth
3N9 – Eliza Collett was born in 1834 at Chedworth
3N10 – JANE COLLETT was born in 1835 at Chedworth
Richard Collett [3N1] was born at Chedworth
on 4th April 1816, the first-born child of Henry Collett and Mary
Ann Margetts. On 11th March
1839 he married (1) Sophia Burge who was born at Arlington on 1st
June 1807, the daughter of James Archer Burge and Mary Williams. The couple’s first child was born one year
after their wedding day, as confirmed by the census in June 1841. On that day, Richard Collett was 25 and
living at Naunton Mill in the village, a tailor, who had a young apprentice
working with him, fourteen-year-old Charles Evans. At that same time, his wife Sophia Collett,
and daughter Amy Jane Collett aged one year, were visiting the family of
Sophia’s younger brother Nathan Burge at Beckford near Winchcombe. By 1851, the
family living at Naunton was listed as Richard Collett, aged 34, a tailor of
Chedworth, his wife Sophia, aged 43 and of Arlington, and their daughters, Jane
Collett who was 10 and Sophia Collett who was nine, both of them from Naunton, their
son Walter Collett who was eight and of Lower Slaughter, and daughters Helen
Collett, also of Lower Slaughter who was seven, and Mary Collett of Naunton who
was four years old
Tragically, their youngest child was only nine
years of age when her mother died, the death of Sophia Collett, nee Burge,
recorded at Stow-on-the-Wold (Ref. 6a 40) during the third quarter of
1855. One year after being widowed, the
marriage of widower Richard Collett, aged 40 and the son of Henry Collett, and
(2) Mary Williams, aged 30 and a spinster, the daughter of Benjamin Williams,
was conducted at Birmingham on 7th July 1856. His second wife was recorded as Mary Ann
Collett at the time of the registration of the birth of her children with
Richard Collett, and again in the subsequent census returns. It is possible that Mary and Williams were in
some way related to the family of Richard’s first wife, since Sophia Burge’s
mother was Mary Burge who maiden name was also Williams. Five years prior to their wedding day, the
census in 1851 recorded Mary Williams as being 21 and born at Naunton, when she
was employed as a servant at the home of the Hambidge family in Guiting Power
Once she was married to Richard, Mary Ann took
up work with her husband as a tailoress, as confirmed by the census in 1861
when the young family was residing at Summer Hill in Naunton. At the time, Richard Collett from Chedworth
was 45 and a tailor, while his wife Mary Collett of Naunton was 32 and a
tailoress. The only children living
there with them were Truby Collett who was three and Fred Collett who was one
year old, both of them born at Naunton.
As regards Richard’s older children from his first marriage, the two
eldest daughters, Jane and Sophia were working together as general domestic
servants for a family at Bristol Road in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham. His third child, his son Walter, was an
apprenticed shoemaker living and working with Richard’s brother Henry (below)
at Chedworth, while of his two youngest daughters, Ellen was also living nearby
in Naunton, at the Summer Hill home of the Comley family. Sadly, four years prior to that same census
day, Richard’s last child by Sophia, Mary had died
Mary Ann presented Richard with two more
children during the 1860s, the first of them born at Naunton, before the family
moved to Shipton Oliffe, where their fourth child was born, prior to another
move to Guiting Power, where the family was recorded 1871. Again, Richard Collett from Chedworth was a
tailor at the age of 54, while his wife Mary Ann Collett from Naunton was
42. Listed with the couple was four of
their five children, with the fifth and last child born during the following
year when they were still residing in Guiting Power. The four current children that census day
were described as Henry T Collett who was 12, Frederick William Collett who was
10, Frank Edward Collett who was eight, all three of them born at Naunton,
while daughter Charlotte L Collett was two years of age and born at
Shipton. Sometime after the birth of
their last child, the family moved to Bourton-on-the-Water
The later census records indicate that son
Walter was born at Andoversford, which is near Shipton Oliffe & Shipton
Sollars, where both he and his half-brother Henry Truby Collett were baptised
and where their sister Charlotte was born and baptised. By the time of the census in 1881 the family,
minus all of Sophia’s children, and Mary Ann’s son Frederick William Collett,
were living at Middle Row, Woodman Inn, at Bourton-on-the-Water. Richard Collett by then was 63 and was still
working as a tailor, while his wife was 51, and their eldest son Henry T
Collett was 22, both of them described as labourers. Living there with them were their daughters
Charlotte aged 12 and Ada who was eight years old. Also living with the family in 1881 was
boarder Hannah Moulder who was 76 and from Notgrove. Living and working in Naunton on that
occasion was the couple’s youngest son Frank Edward Collett
By 1891 Richard, at the age of 75, was still
working as a tailor, and he and his wife Mary Ann, aged 60 and a laundress, had
returned to live in Naunton. Living
there with them were their two youngest children Charlotte aged 22 who had been
born at Shipton Oliffe and Ada who was 19 and born at Guiting Power. The occupation for both girls was given as a
laundress, which very likely indicates that they were working for their father. It seems highly likely that Richard Collett
died three years later, since the death of Richard Collett was recorded at
Stow-on-the-Wold (Ref. 6a 196) during the second quarter of 1894, although his
age was said to be 74, rather than 78.
After three years as a widow, the second marriage of Mary Ann Collett
and widower James Hopcraft was recorded at Stow-on-the-Wold register office
(Ref. 6a 286) during the third quarter of 1897.
James was a general dealer from Banbury, the son of James and Anne
Hopcroft, and the former husband of Hannah S Hopcraft, who was seven years
older than James
In 1881 James aged 45 and Hannah aged 52 were
living in Bourton-on-the-Water, while twenty years later James Hopcraft from
Banbury was 65 and a dairyman, and his wife Mary Ann Hopcraft from Naunton was
70 when they were residing at Naunton.
Living with the elderly couple were James’ daughter-in-law Charlotte
Lavinia Collett of Shipton Oliffe and his granddaughter Nora Lockley from
Naunton who was eight years of age.
According to the census ten years later, James Hopcraft was 75 and a
licenced peddler living in Bourton-on-the-Water in April 1911 and still living
there with him was Mary Ann Hopcraft who was 80. The former wife of Richard Collett passed
away in 1919 when her death as Mary Ann Hopcraft aged 89 was recorded at
Stow-on-the-Wold register office (Ref. 6a 450) during the final three months of
that year
The following are the children of Richard
Collett by his first wife Sophia Burge:
3O1 – Amy Jane Collett was born in 1840 at
Naunton
3O2 – Sophia Collett was born in 1841 at
Naunton
3O3 – Walter Collett was born in 1842 at
Lower Slaughter
3O4 – Ellen Collett was born in 1844 at
Lower Slaughter
3O5 – Mary Collett was born in 1846 at
Naunton
The following are the children of Richard
Collett by his second wife Mary Williams:
3O6 – Henry Truby was born in 1858 at
Naunton
3O7 – Frederick William was born in 1860 at
Naunton
3O8 – Frank Edward was born in 1862 at
Naunton
3O9 – Charlotte Lavinia Collett was born in 1840 at
Shipston Oliffe
3O10 – Ada Collett was born in 1840 at
Guiting Power
Robert Collett [3N2] was born on 17th
May 1818 at Chedworth, the son of Henry Collett and his wife Mary Ann
Margetts. It should also be noted
that, within Part 13 – The South Africa Line, there is a third Robert Collett
(Ref. 13N19) of a very similar age, who was baptised at Stroud on 10th
May 1818, the son of James Collett and Priscilla Golding, who later married
Louise Glanville Brown, from Port Isaac, in Cardiff. It was at St Andrew’s Church in Chedworth
that Robert married Martha Spencer of Caudle Green, near Cheltenham on 27th
March 1842. The witnesses at the wedding
were Robert’s father Henry Collett, and Mary Ann Spencer who was likely to be
the bride’s mother, whilst it is known from the records that Martha’s father
was blacksmith Robert Spencer.
Curiously, within the IGI there are two entries for the wedding of a
Robert Collett and a Martha Spencer, the first as detailed above, the second at
the Christ’s Church in Chalford, near Stroud, which took place on 14th
February 1842. Although all of their
children were baptised at either Chedworth Congregational Chapel or Chedworth
Independent Church, their place of birth varied from Caudle Green to
Brimpsfield near Cheltenham, to Northleach and Chedworth. According to the census of 1851, Robert
Collett, aged 32 and from Chedworth, was working as a cordwainer (a shoemaker), while his wife was Martha
who was 29 and also born at Chedworth.
At that time in their lives, they and their family were living at
Gadbridge in Chedworth, and living in the next dwelling to the family was
Robert’s brother Henry Collett (below)
Robert’s and Martha’s children were listed as
Robert Collett who was eight years old, and Adolpha Collett who was seven, both
of them born at Brimpsfield, and Anna (Hannah)
aged three and Sarah who was one year old, and both of them born at
Northleach. The couple’s missing
daughter Ann, aged four years and was born at Northleach, was living at the
Chedworth home of her grandmother, the widow Ann Spencer aged 55 and three of
her own unmarried Chedworth born children.
Ten years later in 1861 the family was still living in Chedworth and
comprised shoemaker Robert Collett, aged 42, his wife Martha 39, Ann Collett
15, Hannah M Collett 13, Sarah M Collett 11, Philip H Collett who was nine,
Mary Ann Collett who was three, and Jane Collett who was seven months old, and
on that occasion the place of birth of all of the children was confirmed as
Chedworth. According to the next census
in 1871, only three of their children were still living in the family home at
Chedworth by that time. Daughter Ann
Collett was 25 and an unemployed domestic servant, her brother Philip was 19
and a shoemaker, and the youngest sibling was Jane, who was ten years of
age. Their parents were listed as Robert
Collett, aged 52 and a shoemaker, and Martha Collett, aged 49, who was a
dressmaker. By that time, Robert’s and
Martha’s eldest son Robert was married and had started a family of his own and,
on that census day in 1871, he was living in Gloucester with his family, who
also had living there with them, Robert and Martha’s daughter Mary Ann Collett,
aged 13, who was one of the children absent from their home in Chedworth
Just over five years later, Robert Collett died
on 17th December 1876 and was buried at Chedworth, as detailed on
his gravestone. The death of Robert
Collett was recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 105), when he was 58 years
old. By 1881, Robert’s wife Martha, then
aged 59, was a widow living alone at Pancake Hill in Chedworth, while she was
continuing her occupation as a dressmaker.
Not long after that census day, Martha appears to have left Chedworth
when she moved to Cheltenham, where she was recorded in 1891 at the home of her
eldest married daughter. Head of the
household at Painswick Lawn in Cheltenham, was William Groom from Norfolk who
was 50 and a bread baker, whose wife Adolpha Groom aged 47, was the former Adolpha
Collett. Their four children were
Alfred, William, Philip and Harriet.
William’s mother-in-law was described as Martha Collett from Chedworth,
a widow who was 69. Later on, Martha
travelled to Wiltshire to live at Great Somerford, near Malmesbury, with her
third child, married daughter Ann and her husband David. Martha Collett, a widow from Chedworth, was
79, when recorded in the Great Somerford census of 1901, at the home of David
and Ann Tanner. Just under eight years
later, Martha Collett nee Spencer was still living with her daughter at Great
Somerford, when she passed away at the age of 87, her death recorded at
Malmesbury register office (Ref. 5a 76) during the first three months of 1909
3O11 – Robert Collett was born in 1842 at
Caudle Green
3O12 – Adolpha Collett was born in 1844 at
Caudle Green
3O13 – Ann Collett was born in 1845 at
Northleach
3O14 – Hannah Maria Collett was born in 1847 at
Northleach
3O15 – Sarah Martha Spencer Collett was born in 1849 at
Northleach
3O16 – Philip Henry Collett was born in 1852 at
Chedworth
3O17 – Alfred Collett was born in 1855 at
Chedworth
3O18 – Mary Ann Collett was born in 1858 at
Chedworth
3O19 – Jane Collett was born in 1860 at
Chedworth
Henry Collett [3N3] was born at Chedworth
on 31st March 1820. He was
twenty-four when he married his cousin Elizabeth Collett (Ref. 2N40) on 5th
November 1844 in the presence of his brother John Collett and Mary Wilson. See
Ref. 2M24 for a family connection through the earlier marriage of Moses White
and Catherine Wilson. Elizabeth
Collett was born on 16th April 1824 and was baptised at Chedworth on
21st June 1824, the eldest child of Robert Collett and Sarah
Wilson. When she only just eighteen
years of age, Elizabeth gave birth to a base-born child Fanny Collett who, it
appears, was rejected by her mother’s new family. As a result of their separation, the life of
Fanny Collett can be found in Part 2 – The Second Gloucestershire Line [2O67]. Six months later, while working as a servant
at a house in Cirencester she appeared in court and was sentenced on 19th
June 1843 to a year in Gloucester Gaol.
The sentence however was reduced at the Trinity Session on 27th June 1843 to just two calendar months
at Northleach (Committal Ref. Q/Gc5/7 Summer Assizes) presumably because of the
need for her to care for her six-month old daughter Fanny. In the event, she only served one week and
was released on 4th July 1843, possibly into the care of her cousin
Henry to whom she was later married. All
of their children were born at Chedworth, but none of them were baptised due to
the Henry’s objection to the ordinance of infants
In the census of 1851 Henry Collett, a
cordwainer, and his wife Elizabeth and their children were living at Gadbridge
in Chedworth. By 1861 the family had
grown, but was still living at Chedworth, where all of the children were
born. The census return listed the
following family details. Henry Collett,
aged 41, was a boot and shoemaker, Elizabeth Collett, aged 36, was a shoe
binder, Rhoda Collett was 15, Amelia Collett was 14, Mary Ann Collett was 10,
John Collett was seven years old, Sarah Collett was five, Eliza Ann Collett was
two, and Hubert Collett was just ten months old. In addition to the family, Walter Collett,
aged 18 and a nephew from Naunton, was also living with them. He was working with his uncle Henry as an
apprentice shoemaker, the eldest son of Henry’s eldest brother Richard (above). Daughter Betsy was missing from the family
home in 1861 as she was visiting her father’s sister Sarah Martha Gegg nee
Collett (below) at Hawling, Sarah having married John Gegg. Daughter Fanny Collett was also absent from
the family home in 1861 as she was living at the Chedworth home of 83 years old
widow and fund holder Elizabeth Wilson of Chedworth. In March 1863 Elizabeth wrote a birthday
letter to her daughter Amelia who was to become sixteen years of age on the
following day. That fascinating letter
is included as Appendix One at the end of this family line
By 1871 the family had been extended by a
further four children, so the family comprised Henry 51, Elizabeth 46, John 17
a shoemaker like his father, Eliza 12, Hubert 10, and the four new arrivals,
Sophia Collett, who was nine, Priscilla Collett, who was seven, Henry M
Collett, who was three, and Ebenezer Collett who was two years old. According to the Census of 1881 the family
were living at Chapel Hill in Chedworth.
Henry, aged 61, was a boot-maker as was son John Henry, aged 27. The only other members of the family still
living at home were his wife Elizabeth, aged 56, daughter Priscilla, aged 19,
son Henry, aged 13 and a farm labourer, and Ebenezer William who was 12 and a
scholar. Henry Collett died on 1st
May 1887, aged 67, his death recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 105)
Four years after being made a widow, Elizabeth
from Chedworth was 66 and living at Fosse Bridge in Chedworth. On that census day in 1891, three of her
children were recorded with her, and they were her married daughter Sarah
Maguire, and two of her unmarried sons, John Collett 37 and Ebenezer W Collett
who was 22. Six years later, Elizabeth
Collett died at Chedworth on 17th January 1897, aged 72, when her
death was also recorded at Northleach register office (Ref. 6a 172). Both she and her husband were buried in the
family grave in Chedworth Congregational Chapel graveyard with three of their
children, Fanny, Mary Ann, and Sophia (see Headstone Epitaphs)
The following is the base-born child of
unmarried Elizabeth Collett [2N40]:
2O67 – Fanny Collett was born on 13th
December 1842 at Chedworth
The following are the children of Henry Collett
and his wife Elizabeth Collett:
3O21 – Rhoda Collett was born in 1845 at
Chedworth
3O22 – Amelia Collett was born in 1847 at
Chedworth
3O23 – Betsey Collett was born in 1849 at
Chedworth
3O24 – Mary Ann Collett was born in 1851 at
Chedworth
3O25 – John Henry Collett was born in 1853 at
Chedworth
3O26 – Sarah Collett was born in 1856 at
Chedworth
3O27 – Eliza Ann Collett was born in 1858 at
Chedworth
3O28 – Hubert Collett was born in 1860 at
Chedworth
3O29 – Sophia Collett was born in 1861 at
Chedworth
3O30 – Priscilla Collett was born in 1864 at
Chedworth
3O31 – Henry Martin Collett was born in 1867 at
Chedworth
3O32 – Ebenezer Collett was born in 1868 at
Chedworth
John Collett was born at Chedworth on 18th
April 1822 and he was a grocer and mealman.
During 1845 he married (1) Mary Ann Silk at Bristol and the following
year their first child was born at Stonehouse near Stroud. The birth certificate for their daughter
Martha Ann Collett confirmed the child’s parents as grocer John Collett and
Mary Ann Collett formerly Silk. It was
during the following year that the couple’s second child was born at
Stonehouse, the child being baptised at Painswick as the son of John Collett
and Mary Ann Collett formerly Silk. Not
long after the birth of their first two children, John and Mary Ann emigrated
to Australia with Martha and John, and it was there that the couple’s third
child was born at Donta Galla in Victoria.
While the new arrival was still under two years of age, Mary Ann Collett
nee Silk died in Victoria during 1853, possibly even during the birth of a
further children who also did not survive
Faced with the prospect of living alone in a
strange land with three young children to look after John Collett decided to
return to England. Once back in
Gloucestershire, and nearly two years after the death of his first wife, John
Collett married (2) Sarah Rowland at Charlton Kings near Cheltenham on 8th
May 1855. That married produced a
further four children for John who, by that time, had returned to his home
village of Chedworth where the four children were born, the first of them being
given the second Christian name of Rowland.
Sarah Rowland [10M5] was John’s first cousin once removed, she being the
niece of Mary Rowland who married Henry Collett, who were the parents of this
John Collett’s father Henry Collett [2M23]
Further details of the connections with the Rowland
family line are provided in Part 2 – The Second Gloucestershire Line 1550 to
1775, commencing with Henry Collett [2L16] and Part 10 – Other Branch Lines.
commencing with Sarah Rowland [10M5]
By 1861 the family comprised John Collett, aged
38 and born at Chedworth, who was working as a grocer and bacon factor, his
wife Sarah Collett, aged 35 and from Sevenhampton, their sons Henry Collett,
aged 13 and a ploughboy who was born at Painswick, and John R Collett who was
five and born at Chedworth, and their daughters Mary E Collett, who was 10 and
born at Donta Galla in Victoria, and Ruth Collett who was two years old and
also born at Chedworth. Not living with
the family on that occasion, but still living in Chedworth, was the John’s
first-born child, Martha A Collett who was 15.
The family are known to have lived at High House in Chedworth, where it
is assumed that all four of their children were born. Ten years later in 1871, the family was made
up of John who was 48, Sarah who was 45, John Rowland who was 15 and a grocer
like his father, Clara who was nine and Emily who was seven. Living with them at that time, was John’s
married sister Sarah Martha Gegg nee Collett (below) who was 38 and the wife
of a carpenter, and his two nieces Eliza Ann Gegg aged 13 and one-year-old
Emily Constance Gegg, both of Hawling.
Coincidentally, on that same day, John’s own daughter Ruth Collett aged
12 and from Chedworth, was a visitor at the Hawling home of carpenter John
Gegg, Sarah Martha’s husband. Also,
described as a visitor, was Jane Collett from Naunton who was 30, Amy Jane
Collett being the first-born child of John’s eldest brother Richard (above)
John Collett was a prominent figure in
Chedworth life around that time, as can be seen by the following. It was at the start of the following year
that the residents of Chedworth began to discuss the shortage of available
space for new graves at the village churchyard.
As a result of their concerns, a Vestry meeting was held in the
schoolhouse on 9th February 1872 at which the main topic was the
sale of a piece of waste land. The land
belonged to the Highway in the Parish of Chedworth and had, until recently,
been in the occupation of Mr. Avery Newman. It was proposed by Mr Theyer
Townsend and seconded by Mr John Collett that the land be sold, and that a
preference be given to the Reverend M Cunningham in the purchase of the said
land. The proposal received the full
support of all those present. The land,
which was the subject of the discussion, was an old quarry just east of the
former Congregational Chapel, although there is no evidence available to
suggest that it was ever used as a graveyard.
However, the following announcement was made by the Reverend Cunningham
during the month of May that same year, which stated:
“The
Burial Ground at the lower end of Chedworth being so very full, we have
purchased a piece of land formerly belonging to this parish an exhausted stone
quarry and, by altering the road and removing walls etc, under the direction of
the Surveyor of Roads (Mr. Stephens) and the way-warden (Mr. Brunsden), have
considerably enlarged the said burial place.
This burial ground is open to all persons belonging to this village, and
especially to those persons whose departed ones are enclosed therein, without
respect to sect or party. This burial
ground is not private property nor does the minister, nor any other, derive the
least advantage from it whatever, as there are no charges, nor fees of any kind
excepting three shillings which is paid to the Grave Opener. The expenses incurred in the purchase of the
land and in making the alterations exceed Ł30; and any assistance rendered
towards defraying the above sum by any person will be gratefully acknowledged.”
According to the Chedworth Vestry Records a
total of fifty-five local residents gave a donation towards to Ł30, the
smallest contribution being six pence, up to Ł2, with a half crown being the
most often given. The total amount of
money raised through that exercise by the autumn of 1873 was Ten Pounds and One
Shilling. Included in the list of
donations were the following members of the Collett family: John Collett – 10s;
his brother Henry Collett (above) – 3s; and Henry’s children Rhoda
Collett – half-crown, Amelia Collett half-crown, Betsy Collett – 1s, Mary Ann
Collett - half-crown, John Collett – 1s 6d; William Collett (Ref. 2N42) – 6s
and his wife Mrs W Collett – 1s 6d.
Three other Colletts were included on the list, but to date they have
not been clearly identified, and they were Mary Collett and S Collett, who each
gave a half-crown, and S M S Collett who gave one shilling
Seven years later, according to the census of
1881, only the three youngest daughters of grocer and mealman John Collett were
still living at the family home in Chedworth with their parents. Ruth was 21, Clara was 18, and Emily was 16,
and the older two girls were listed as shop workers, who were presumably working
in their father’s shop at that time.
John and Sarah were still living at Chedworth ten years later when John
was 68 and Sarah was 63. And still
living in Chedworth were two of their unmarried daughters, Ruth aged 32, and
Clara who was 29. Three years after that
census day, Sarah Collett died at Chedworth, her death recorded at Northleach
(Ref. 6a 197) during the second quarter of 1894, at the age of 68. Four years after being widowed, John Collett
died at Chedworth, with his death recorded at Northleach register office (Ref.
6a 360) during the second quarter of 1898, when he was 76 years old
The following are the three children of John
Collett and his first wife Mary Ann Silk:
3O33 – Martha Ann Collett was born in 1846 at
Stonehouse
3O34 – Henry Collett was born in 1847 at
Stonehouse
3O35 – Mary Elizabeth Collett was born in 1851
at Donta Galla, Victoria
The following are the children of John Collett
and his second wife Sarah Rowlands:
3O36 – John Rowland Charles Collett was born in 1856 at
Chedworth
3O37 – Ruth Collett was born in 1859 at
Chedworth
3O38 – Clara Collett was born in 1862 at
Chedworth
3O39 – Emily Collett was born in 1864 at
Chedworth
Philip Collett [3N5] was born at Chedworth
on 4th April 1826. He died on
1st March 1844 and was buried at Chedworth as detailed on his
gravestone. Philip is therefore the only
child of Henry Collett (Ref. 2M18) not to be mentioned in his Will of 1850
Mary Ann Collett [3N6] was born at Chedworth
on 17th June 1828. She later
married to become Mary Ann Norton and her Chedworth gravestone gives details
that she died in America on 11th June 1851, as did her sister Eliza (below),
but five years later. Her husband was
very likely her cousin and the son of Sophia Collett and George Norton (Ref.
2M17)
Sarah
Collett [3N7]
was born at Chedworth on 5th December 1830, but sadly died on 2nd
August 1831 aged just nine months, following which she was buried at the
Congregational Chapel in Chedworth on 5th August 1831
Sarah Martha Collett [3N8] was born at Chedworth
on 29th May 1832, the daughter of Henry and Mary Ann Collett who was
nine years old in the census of 1841. On
leaving school in Chedworth she was living and working in Cheltenham in 1851,
when she was described as Sarah Collett, aged 21 (sic) from Chedworth. At the age of twenty-three she married John
Gegg of Hawling during 1855, Sarah being John’s first wife. Prior to his marriage to Sarah Martha
Collett, when he was 20 years old, John Gegg was an apprentice carpenter
working with Richard Margetts in Withington.
Richard, who was baptised on 4th December 1808, was the son
of James and Ann Margetts, nee Maisey, and was the cousin of Mary Ann Margetts
who married Henry Collett [2M22]
The Maisey family was also connected to the
Rowland family of Naunton as detailed in Part 10 – Other Branch Lines. It may be of interest that the Margetts name
appears again as a further link to the Collett family in Part 9 – The Aldsworth
Line [9O54]. John Gegg was
baptised at Withington on 24th April 1831, the eldest son of Joseph
Gegg and his wife Harriett Taylor. He
was also the first of three Gegg brothers to marry Collett girls. His younger brother Joseph Gegg married
Sarah’s younger sister Jane Collett (below), while John’s youngest
brother Charles Gegg married Martha Ann Collett who was the niece of the two
Collett sisters. During his life John
Gegg was a builder, a carpenter, and an estate agent to Lord Francis Pelham Clinton-Hope
at Hawling in Gloucestershire. It would
appear that the couple initially settled in Withington where their first child
was born, but within two years the family was living at Hawling where their
remaining children were born. Sadly,
their eldest son, who was born at Hawling in 1860, died there that same year
By April 1861 the
family living at Hawling comprised John Gegg who was 38, his wife Sarah Martha
Gegg who was 28, and their first two children, Mary Jane Gegg who was four and
Eliza Ann Gegg who was three. Also
living with the family was niece Betsy Collett [3O23] aged 12 and of Chedworth,
who was the daughter of Sarah’s brother Henry Collett (above). At that time John Gegg was listed as a
carpenter and builder who had been born at Withington, while Sarah’s place of
birth was confirmed as Chedworth. In addition
to Sarah’s niece, also living with them on that occasion were two members of
her husband’s family. They were John’s
mother Harriett Gegg aged 54 of Withington and his brother Charles Gegg aged 16
of Withington
Harriett was still recorded as being married as
her husband Joseph was at the family home in Withington at that time. While being residents of Hawling, John and
Sarah and their family lived in a private house where the couple remained for
the rest of their lives together. For
the census of 1871, Sarah Martha Gegg was listed as visiting the Chedworth home
of her brother John Collett (above) where she was aged 38 and was
described as a carpenter’s wife. With
her were two of her daughters Eliza Ann Gegg 13 and Emily Constance Gegg who
was one year old. At that same time John
was 48 and was at home in Hawling with his daughter Jane who was 14. Both were confirmed as having been born at
Withington
Sometime during the next ten years two things
happened in John’s life. One of them was
that his daughter Sarah left the family home in Hawling, and the other was that
John married (2) Margaret Reeve in 1898.
Four years later, Margaret’s sister Jane Reeve married John’s brother
Joseph, following the death of his wife Jane Gegg formerly Collett (below). John was still living at Hawling in March
1901 and at the age of 70 he was described as an employer. Living with him was his new wife Margaret
Gegg who said she 54 and from Charlton near Malmesbury. Margaret had inflated her age by five years
since her actual age at that time was 49.
Also living at Hawling at that same time was John’s youngest son who was
using his second name of Lambert. He was
married by then and had a wife and three children of his own. John Gegg died on 8th July 1908,
so by the time of the Chedworth census of 1911 Margaret was a widow. On that occasion she gave her age correctly
as 59 and her place of birth was once again confirmed as Charlton. That age corresponded with her age of 29
thirty years earlier in 1881, when she was living at Pink Lane in Charlton with
her brother farmer Charles and sister Lucy, both girls being described as farmer’s
daughters. Their parents were James and
Elizabeth Reeve who, at that time, were living at Bowling Green Farm in
Cirencester with the rest of their siblings, including their youngest sister
Jane Reeve, who was 18. Margaret Gegg
nee Reeve was approaching her eightieth birthday when she died on 23rd
January 1932
3O40 – Mary Jane Gegg was born in 1856 at
Withington
3O41 – Eliza Annie Gegg was born in 1858 at
Hawling
3O42 – Joseph Henry Gegg was born in 1860 at
Hawling; died in 1860
3O43 – Emily Constance Gegg was born in 1869 at
Hawling
3O44 – Sarah Blanche Gegg was born in 1871 at
Hawling
3O45 – George Lambert Gegg was born in 1873 at
Hawling
Eliza Collett [3N9] was born on 18th
June 1834 at Chedworth, the daughter of Henry and Mary Ann Collett. She was recorded as being six and 16 in the
Chedworth census returns for 1841 and 1851 and, sadly by the later she and her
sister Jane (below) were the only members of the family still living
there with their widowed mother. Two
years later Eliza married David Trotman at Chedworth on 4th July
1853. The witnesses at the wedding
ceremony were her uncle William Collett [2M14 or 2M27], her father having
already died by then, her sister Jane Collett and Elizabeth Margetts, a
relation of her father’s wife and very likely the future husband of William
Collett of Chedworth [2N31] her father’s nephew. At the time of the marriage David, the son of
John Trotman, was a bachelor and a labourer.
The couple emigrated to America shortly after they were married and
tragically that was where Eliza Trotman nee Collett died on 20th May
1856. Her gravestone at Chedworth
confirms the details that she died in America just three years after she was
married, as did her sister Mary Ann (above) who had passed away five
years earlier. Three years later, on 5th
July 1859, David Trotman was married to Esther Hall, at which time he was
recorded as being a widower and a labourer.
The Trotman name also occurred in
1817 in Part 1 – The Gloucestershire Main Line 1800 to 1880 [1M3]
JANE COLLETT [3N10] was born at Chedworth
on 15th December 1835, the last child born to Henry Collett and Mary
Ann Margetts who was five in the Chedworth census of 1841 when she was living
there with her parents. By 1851 Jane was
15 when it was just her and her sister Eliza (above) who were still
living there with her widowed mother. It
was just over seven years later that she married Joseph Gegg on 22nd
September 1858 at Sheep Street Chapel in Cirencester. Joseph, who was baptised on 23rd
June 1833 at Withington, was the son of Joseph and Harriett Gegg and the
younger brother of John Gegg who married Jane’s older sister Sarah Martha
Collett (above). It is not known
when the photograph (below) of Jane was taken, although it may have been
prior to her marriage to Joseph Gegg
Jane Gegg died in Cirencester on 2nd April 1898 while she and her
husband were living at 11 Tower Street. By
March 1901 widower Joseph Gegg of Withington was 67 and was living at
Cirencester where he was described as a retired grocer. Following
the death of his wife, Joseph Gegg married the much younger (2) Jane Reeve in
1902. Jane was the sister of Margaret
Reeve who had already married Joseph’s widowed brother John Gegg (above)
in 1898. Jane was born at Charlton near
Malmesbury in 1862 and was the youngest daughter of farmer James Reeve who
managed the 160-acre Bowling Green Farm at Cirencester. Nine years later in April 1911 Joseph
was 77 and was still living in Cirencester with his much younger wife Jane Gegg
who was 53. In just the same way that
her sister Margaret had inflated her age by five years in the 1901 Census, Jane
did exactly the same by saying she was 53 when in fact she was 48
The father of Joseph Gegg, John Gegg (above), and
Charles Gegg (below) was Joseph Gegg (senior).
He was born at Shipton Oliffe in 1798 and died in 1888. He was a shoemaker in Withington, eight miles
north of Cirencester. He married
Harriett Taylor (1806 to 1887) at Withington on 27th September 1826
and was involved in the foundation and running of the Methodist Church. Other children of that marriage were Henry
Gegg baptised on 20th May 1827, Richard Gegg baptised on 21st
February 1829 who was later a baker and grocer, Reuben Gegg baptised on 15th
September 1835, and Elizabeth Gegg (see below), all of whom were born at
Withington
In 1881 Joseph Gegg (senior) was
a retired shoemaker, and living with him and his wife Harriett at Withington
was their grandson John B Gegg who 14 and working with his grandfather as a
shoemaker’s apprentice. The boy had also
been living with his grandparents at Withington in 1871, aged five years. John B Gegg was born at Withington on 21st
June 1865 and was the base-born son of Joseph’s and Harriett’s daughter
Elizabeth Gegg, the boy’s father being John Bowls, a farmer’s son from
Withington. His birth, as John Bowls Gegg,
was recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 330) during the third quarter of that
year. John Bowles Gegg married Alice
Martha Brown in a grand event at Downton on the Wiltshire county boundary with
Hampshire in 1895, when John Bowles Gegg was 30 and said to be the son of John
Gegg (sic), while Alice was 27 and the daughter of William Brown. Alice was born at Sherborne, Dorset, in early
1868, the daughter of William Brown and Martha Jane Chapman. In the
census of 1901, John B Gegg from Withington was 35 and working as a grocer and
a confectioner, while residing at Forton Road, Alverstoke in Hampshire, with
his wife Alice who was 33. Staying at
the same address were sisters Sarah and Mary Brown, Alice’s two younger
unmarried sisters. During the next
decade John and Alice travelled to the north of England and, according to the
census in 1911, they were recorded at Gosforth in Cumberland where, John B Gegg
from Withington was 45 and a fancy draper and boot dealer. Alice was 43, and it was also at Cumberland
that the death of John B Gegg was recorded at Whitehaven during the summer of
1929 when he was 64. It was there to,
that Alice passed away in 1943
3O46 – Eliza Kate Gegg was born in 1859 at Chedworth
3O47 – JOSEPH HENRY GEGG was born in 1861 at Chedworth
3O48 – Alfred Frank Gegg was born in 1863 at Chedworth
3O49 – Eliza Kate Gegg was born in 1866 at Chedworth; died in 1869
3O50 – Frederick George Gegg was born in 1871 at Chedworth
Amy Jane
Collett [3O1]
was born at Naunton Mill in the first half of 1840, with her birth recorded at
Stow-on-the-Wold (Ref. xi 14) during the second quarter of that year. She was the first child of Richard Collett by
his first wife Sophia Burge. Just over a
year after she was born, the census in 1841 confirmed that her father was
living at Naunton Mill in that village, while one-year-old Amy Jane Collett and
her mother were visitors at the Beckford home of her marriage brother Nathan
Burge and his young family. Ten years
later Jane Collett from Naunton was still living there, together with her
parents and four younger siblings. Upon
the death of her mother and her father marrying for a second time, Amy Jane and
her sister Sophia (below) sought work in Birmingham and in 1861 were
working together as general domestic servants for the same family at Bristol
Road in Edgbaston, when Jane Collett was 21.
After a further ten years, Jane Collett from Naunton was 30, with no
stated occupation, and a visitor at the Hawling home of carpenter John Gegg 40
and his daughter Jane Gegg 14. Also
visiting the Gegg household was Ruth Collett from Chedworth who was 12
Later that same year, on 20th
November 1871 at St Peter’s Parish Church in Cheltenham Amy Jane Collett
married James Thomas Smith, a railways goods checker. James was born in December 1846 at Longcot,
near Faringdon in Berkshire, where he was christened on 3rd January
1847. He was the son of John Smith and
Mary Townsend. By 1881 Amy and James had
moved to Birmingham and were living at 44 Half Cardigan Street in Aston with
their five of their six children. Living
with the family at that time was Amy’s brother Fred Collett (below) who
also worked on the railway, as a goods porter.
At a later time, Amy and James lived at Great Smith Street. Five of their six children were born while
they were living in Birmingham. Only
Theodore, the oldest child, was born at Brize Norton near Witney in
Oxfordshire. According to the 1871
Census for Brize Norton, James was a groom and that was also his stated
occupation at the time of his marriage to Amy.
Amy Jane Smith nee Collett died during 1924
Of their six children, only the second child
Eliza Ann Smith has been taken forward.
The details for the other five children are as follows, starting with Theodore
Lovedin Smith who was born at Brize Norton in June 1872. He married Florence Cope in September 1898 at
Aston and in 1901 he was a railwayman at Wolverhampton. They had two daughters Doris and Gladys. Florence died in 1947. The couple’s third child was Mary Aminda
Smith was born at Aston in March 1875 where she married Timothy David
Troman in September 1897. Timothy was
employed as a jewellery craftsman and he and Mary had two children, Stan Troman
and Grace Troman who worked as a Council employee and who married Mark. Next was Albert
Jack Smith born at Aston in 1876 who, whilst employed as a railwayman he
lived at Brislington in Bristol. He
married Tilly with whom he had two children Jack Smith and May Smith. May worked in a dress shop and is known to
have married when in her fifties. And
the last child was Katherine E Smith who was born at Aston in 1885, who is believed to have married
travelling salesman Charles H Taylor in September 1912 at Aston
3P1 – Eliza Ann Smith was born in 1873 at
Birmingham
Sophia
Collett [3O2]
was born at Naunton in 1841, the second of the five children of Richard and
Sophia Collett, and her birth was recorded at Stow-on-the-Wold (Ref. xi 27)
during the third quarter of the year.
She was nine years old in the Naunton census of 1851, and five years
later her mother died, after which her father re-married. That second married produced a number of
half-siblings but, by 1861, both Sophia and her eldest sister Amy Jane (above)
had joined forces when they left the family home in Naunton, and instead, were
working together as general domestic servants for the same family at Bristol
Road in Edgbaston, Birmingham, when Sophia Collett was 19
Walter
Collett [3O3] was
born at Lower Slaughter in 1842, the only son, among four daughters, of Richard
Collett and Sophia Burge, with his birth recorded at Stow-on-the-Wold (Ref. xi
37) during the last quarter of that year.
He was eight years old in the Naunton census of 1851, and five years
later his mother died, followed a year later by Walter’s youngest sister. It was also in 1857, that his father married
for a second time, when Walter started an apprenticeship with his uncle Henry
Collett [3N3], his father’s younger brother.
It was at Chedworth in 1861, that Walter Collett from Naunton was 18
years of age and confirmed as an apprentice shoemaker, living and working with
Henry Collett. For whatever reason,
Walter was around twenty-two years old when he was baptised at Shipton Oliffe
& Shipton Sollars on 19th March 1865, just one week before his
half-brother Henry Truby Collett (below) and three years before his
half-sister Charlotte (below) were both baptised there
Six years later, in 1871, Walter Collett from
Lower Slaughter was 28 and a shoemaker, was single and a lodger at the home of
John Swallow and his wife Jane at Fox Hill in Guiting Power, when his father
and his stepmother also living in Guiting Power that day. Jane Swallow’s maiden name was Dowler and she
was the aunt of the lady who Walter eventually married. Curiously in the census of 1881 Walter, still
unmarried, gave his age as 34 and place of birth as Andoversford, which is only
one mile from Shipton Oliffe & Shipton Sollars, where he was baptised. At that time in 1881 his occupation was a
cordwainer and he was a boarder at the Cross Keys Inn in Cross Keys Lane in
Gloucester St Mary Crypt where the landlord and father of two children was John
Evans of Treforest
Walter Collett married Sarah Anne Dowler [10O1]
on 12th March 1891, the event recorded at Winchcombe (Ref. 6a
101). Sarah was the daughter of herdsman
William Dowler of Naunton and Anne Preston of Sevenhampton. She was born at Brockhampton on 26th
February 1851, the birth being registered at Northleach. She was baptised one month later at St
Andrew’s Church in nearby Sevenhampton on 23rd March 1851. In her previous years she was recorded as
living at Brockhampton in 1851, at Roel (?) in Gloucestershire in 1861, and at
Kineton near Temple Guiting in 1871. On
11th April 1874, Sarah was a witness at the wedding of her brother
John Dowler and Phoebe Woodward at St James’ Church in Longborough near
Bourton-on-the-Water. At the end of 1877
Sarah gave birth to a base-born child and it may have been that event which
forced the family to leave Gloucestershire.
By 1878 the Dowler family had moved to neighbouring Warwickshire and
were living at High Furze Farm in Shipston-on-Stour where Sarah was a domestic
cook. By the time of the next census in
1881 the family had moved again, on that occasion to Highfurze in Tidmington,
one mile south of Shipston. Sarah, who
was then aged 30, gave her place of birth as Sevenhampton, when she was still
working as a cook domestic for her herdsman father William Dowler and his wife and
family
Also listed as living with the Dowler family in
1881 was Sarah Ann's illegitimate daughter Bertha Maud Dowler aged four years,
who was born on 29th December 1877 at Winchcombe. The child’s birth certificate did not reveal
the name of the father. Twenty-four days
after they were married, Walter and Sarah were living at North Street in
Winchcombe, as recorded in the census carried out on 5th April 1891
and in which Walter Collett was listed as a shoemaker aged 46, while Sarah A
Collett was aged 40 and of Brockhampton.
At the same time in 1891, Sarah’s thirteen-year-old daughter Bertha Maud
Dowler, was also living near Winchcombe at Gretton, but with her maternal
grandparents William and Anne Dowler [10N6 Rowl] in Part 10 – Other Branch
Lines
Ten years later on 31st March 1901,
Walter and his wife Annie (Sarah) were living at Longborough just north of
Stow-on-the Wold with their only daughter Beatrice Annie Collett, aged eight
years, who was born at Winchcombe.
Walter Collett, then aged 57 and of Lower Slaughter, was still working
as a shoemaker, while Annie Collett was described as being aged 49 and from
Brockhampton. Not long after that census
day, the three of them left Gloucestershire when they travelled north-west to
the Evesham area of Worcestershire. And
it was at Evesham register office (Ref. 6c 304) that the death of Walter
Collett was recorded during the second quarter of 1910, at the age of 64. One year after his passing, his widow and
daughter were recorded at Cow Honeybourne, to the east of Evesham on the day of
the census in 1911. Sarah Anne Collett
from Brockhampton was 59 and her daughter Beatrice Collett from Winchcombe was
18. In addition to being confirmed as a
widow, Sarah was described as a domestic housekeeper, while Beatrice was not
credited with any occupation. It should
be noted that both Walter Collett and Sarah Anne Dowler were the great great
grandchildren of William Rowland [10K1] and Mary Stiles. See
Part 10 – Other Branch Lines for full details of the connection between the two
families
3P2 – Bertha Maud
Dowler was born on 29th December 1877 at Winchcombe
3P3 – Beatrice Dowler
Collett
was born in 1892 at Winchcombe
Ellen Collett [3O4] was born at Lower
Slaughter in 1844, her birth recorded at Stow-on-the-Wold (Ref. xi 8) during
the second quarter of 1844. She was
seven years old in the Naunton census of 1851 and, five years later, her mother
died. Her widowed father Richard then
re-married and he and his new wife were living at Summer Hill in Naunton in
1861, by which time Ellen had already moved out of the family home. However, Ellen was also living on Summer
Hill, but at the home of the Comley family, where Ellen Collett from Lower
Slaughter was 18 and employed as one of the three servants at the
premises. Curiously, Ellen was also
described as an annuitant. It is
possible that she was the Ellen Collett who was later married at Cheltenham in
1868
Mary Collett [3O5] was born at Naunton,
the last of the five children of Richard Collett and his first wife Sophia
Burge, her birth recorded at Stow-on-the-Wold (Ref. xi 34) during the fourth
quarter of 1846. She was living with her
parents at Naunton in 1851 at the age of four year, but died six years later in
early 1857, a year after her mother suffered a premature death
Henry
Truby Collett [3O6] was
born at Naunton in 1858, his birth recorded at Stow-on-the-Wold (Ref. 6a 7)
during the third quarter of that year.
He was three years old in the Naunton census of 1861, the eldest of two
sons living with Richard Collett and his second wife Mary Williams at Summer
Hill. He was baptised at Shipton Oliffe
& Shipton Sollars near Andoversford in Gloucestershire four years later on
26th March 1865 one week after his half-brother Walter (above)
and three years before his half-sister Charlotte Lavinia Collett (below)
was baptised there. Around that time the
family was residing in Shipton Oliffe and by 1871 they were living in the
village of Guiting Power when Harry T Collett was 12 and working as a farm
servant. At the time of the next census
in 1881, Henry T Collett aged 22 was a labourer and was still living with his
parents Richard and Mary Ann and his sisters Charlotte and Ada at Middle Row,
Woodman Inn, at Bourton-on-the Water. It
was immediately prior to the census day in 1891, when the marriage of Henry
Truby Collett and Henrietta Guy, from Frampton-on-Severn, was recorded at
Gloucester (Ref. 6a 95). Henrietta was
the daughter of labourer Thomas Guy, with whom the newly-wed couple was living
in 1891, when general labourer Harry Collett was 31 and Henrietta Collett was
30. By the end of the century, Henrietta
provided Henry with five children, all of them born in Gloucester
According to the census in March 1901 Henry
Truby Collett from Naunton was 42 and a railway platelayer employed by the
Great Western Railway, his wife Henrietta from Frampton was 40, and they were
living within the St Nicholas district of Gloucester with their five
children. Florence A L Collett was nine,
Elsie May Collett was eight, Harry Truby George Collett was six, Albert E C
Collett was two, and Sidney A J Collett was one year old. Ten years later in April 1911, Henry Truby
Collett from Naunton was 52 again working as a plate-layer with the Great
Western Railway. Living with him in
Gloucester was his wife Henrietta who was 50, and just their three youngest
children, Harry T G Collett who was 16, Albert E Collett who was 12, and Sidney
A J Collett who was 11. The couple’s two
eldest children had already left the family home for work reasons, by the time
of the census in 1911. Florence Ada
Lavinia Collett, aged 19, was still living and working in Gloucester not far
from her family, at the home of Sidney Wellington and his wife Maud, with whom
she was employed as a general domestic servant.
Her sister Elsie Mary Collett, who was 18 and also born in Gloucester,
was also a general servant, living and working within the Westbury-on-Severn
district of Gloucester, at the home of elderly John and Clara Stephens. It was at the marriage of Henry’s youngest
child Sidney, that the groom’s father was referred to as Henry Truby Collett,
as it was fourteen years earlier, for the marriage of his older son
Albert. It was in 1941, at the age of
83, that the death of Henry T Collett was recorded at Gloucester register
office (Ref. 6a 57) during the fourth quarter of that year
3P4 – Florence Ada
Lavinia Collett was born in 1891 at Gloucester
3P5 – Elsie Mary Collett
was born in 1892 at Gloucester
3P6 – Harry Truby
George Collett
was born in 1895 at Gloucester
3P7 – Albert Edward
Charles Collett
was born in 1890 at Gloucester
3P8 – Sidney Arthur
John Collett
was born in 1900 at Gloucester
Frederick
William Collett [3O7]
was born at Summer Hill in Naunton in 1860, his birth recorded at
Stow-on-the-Wold (Ref. 6a 157) during the third quarter of that year, as simply
Fred Collett. It was also as Fred
Collett that he was one year old in the Naunton census of 1861, when living at
Summer Hill with his parents Richard and Mary Collett, and his older brother
Truby Collett (above). By 1871,
Frederick William Collett was 10 years of age when he and his family were
living in Guiting Power. On leaving
school it would appear that he moved north to Birmingham, where he was living
at the home of his married sister Amy Jane Smith nee Collett (above) at
44 Half Cardigan Street in the Aston district of the city. At that time, he was working as a railway
goods porter. Five years later Frederick
William Collett, aged 26 and the son of Richard Collett, married Kate Bedwell,
aged 24 and the daughter of James Bedwell, on 22nd August 1886 at St
Mary’s Church in Birmingham. The
marriage produced at least two children born in Birmingham, the first of whom
was recorded with the couple in the next census in 1891. By that day the family was living at
Artillery Street in Bordesley, where Frederick William Collett from Naunton in
Gloucestershire was 30 and a railway carman, his wife Kate Collett from Burford
in Oxfordshire was 28, and their daughter Florence Ada Collett was three years
of age. Boarding with the family were
John Knight aged 58 and Thomas J Smallwood aged 24
Just over one year later Kate presented Fred
with a son who was given his father’s name, as confirmed in the census of 1901
when the family was residing at Lawrence Street Terrace in Birmingham. Frederick W Collett from Naunton was 40 and
was still gainfully employed as a railway carman. Kate Collett was 38 and her place of birth
was stated as being Westle Douris. Their
two children were listed as Florence A Collett who was 13 and Fred W Collett
who was eight years of age. During the
next decade the family moved to 45 Gopsall Street within the Duddeston area of
Birmingham, and it was there, as Fred W Collett of Naunton aged 50, that he
working again working as a railway carman in 1911. Wife Kate from Burford was 48 and son Fred W
Collett was 18. Their absent daughter
Florence was most likely married by then
3P9 – Florence Ada
Collett
was born in 1887 at
Birmingham
3P10 – Fred William
Collett
was born in 1892 at
Birmingham
Frank
Edward Collett [3O8] was
born at Naunton in 1862, his birth recorded at Stow-on-the-Wold (Ref. 6a 10)
during the third quarter of the year, but only as Frank Collett. However, when he was baptised at Shipston
Oliffe on 26th March 1865, he was confirmed as Frank Edward Collett
the son of Richard and Mary Ann Collett.
Three years later, his young sister Charlotte Lavinia Collett (below)
was born at Shipston Oliffe, but after that the family settled in Guiting
Power, where they were recorded in 1871.
That was the only occasion in his life when Frank Edward Collett, aged
eight years, was recorded living with his parents. His family then settled in Bourton-on-the-Water,
where they were recorded on the day of the census in 1881. On that day, Frank E Collett from Naunton was
18 and an agricultural labourer living with the family of William and Sarah
Gleed in Naunton, to where Frank’s parents and two youngest siblings moved
sometime later during that decade. It
was around three-and-a-half-years later that the marriage of Frank Edward
Collett and Fanny Maria Grover, from Great Barrington, was recorded at
Winchcombe (Ref. 6a 209) during the fourth quarter of 1884
Once married the couple initially settled in
Naunton, where their first child was born, before moving to Birmingham where a
further three children were born. It was
at Bordesley village, within the Aston area of Birmingham, that Frank and Fanny
were living at 6 Leeds Place in 1891.
Frank Edward Collett from Naunton was 28 and a carman working for the
Midland Railway. His wife Fanny Maria
Collett was 25, their son Albert Fred Collett also from Naunton was five years
of age, and their Birmingham born daughter Alice Maria Collett was one year
old. Fanny may have been with-child on
the day of the census, since she presented Frank with another daughter later
that year. Three years earlier, and when
the family was still living at Naunton, Fanny gave birth to a daughter who did
not survive long enough to be named, with her birth and death recorded at
Stow-on-the-Wold during the third quarter of 1887. It was just after that tragic event, that the
family moved to Birmingham, where the enlarged family was residing at 44 Gordon
Street in Bordesley, on the day of the census in 1901
The census that month listed the family as
Frank Collett aged 38 and still employed as a carman by the Midland Railway,
his wife Fanny Collett who was 34 and from Barrington, their son Albert Collett
aged 15 who was described as a railway carman’s assistant – perhaps indicating
that he was working with his father, plus daughters Alice and Elsie, who were
eleven and nine years old, respectively.
To supplement the household income, Fanny had a boarder living with the
family, William Smith who was twenty-six and another railway carman. It was the next census in 1911 that confirmed
the couple had given birth to four children, with just three living by
then. At that time in their lives Frank
and Fanny were living at 45 Gordon Street in Bordesley, off Garrison lane and
not far from the London-Birmingham mainline railway. Living at the six-roomed dwelling were: Frank
Edward Collett from Naunton who was 48 and still working as a railway carman
employed by the Midland Railway; Fanny Maria Collett from Great Barrington who
was 45 and working at home, although no trade was given; unmarried Albert Fred
Collett who was 25 and also from Naunton who was a carter with the Midland Railway;
Alice M Collett who was 21 and a shorthand typist with a public company; and
Elsie Fanny Collett who was 19 and a relief stamper for a stationery
company. Both daughters were confirmed
as having been born in Birmingham, while the census return also stated that
Frank and Fanny had been married for 26, during which time they had lost one of
their four children. Thirteen years
following that census day, the death of Frank E Collett was recorded at Aston
register office (Ref. 6d 33) during the second quarter of 1924, when he was 61
3P11 – Alfred Fred
Collett was born in 1885 at Naunton
3P12 – an unnamed
Collett daughter was born in 1888 at Naunton; died in 1888
3P13 – Alice Maria
Collett was born in 1889 at
Bordesley, Birmingham
3P14 – Elsie Fanny
Collett was born in 1891 at
Bordesley, Birmingham
Charlotte
Lavinia Collett [3O9] was born at Shipton Oliffe in 1868 and was baptised on 20th
November 1868 in the parish church at Shipton Oliffe in Sollars, also known as
Shipton Oliffe and Shipton Sollars. The
parish records confirmed that she was the child of Richard and Mary Ann
Collett, while it was at Northleach that the child’s birth was registered (Ref.
6a 376) during the last quarter of 1868.
According to the census in 1871 Charlotte L Collett was two years old
and living with her family in Guiting Power, where her baby sister Ada was born
within the next couple of years.
Following the birth, the family first settled in Bourton-on-the-Water,
where Charlotte was 12 in 1881, and later returned to Naunton where Charlotte
was 22 in 1891. Her place of birth was
confirmed as Shipton Oliffe and her occupation was that of a laundress, like
her sister Ada
Her father died at Naunton in 1894 and three
years later her mother married widower James Hopcraft, and it was with her
mother and her new husband that unmarried Charlotte Lavinia Collett aged 32 and
from Shipton Oliffe was living at Naunton in 1901. When James and Mary Ann Hopcraft moved to
Bourton-on-the-Water spinster Charlotte remained in Naunton where she took up
employment as the housekeeper for John Wilkes.
However, within two years of the 1901 census Charlotte became pregnant
and gave birth to a son at the end of March in 1903. By April in 1911 both mother and child were
using the surname Wilks when living at the home of John Wilks, although it is
established that they were never married.
The census that year recorded the three members of the household at
Naunton as widower John Wilks from Milton-under-Wychwood in Oxfordshire who was
63, a widower and a labourer working on a farm, his servant Lottie (Charlotte)
Wilks from Shipton who was 43, single and a domestic housekeeper, and their son
Joseph Wilks (born Joseph Truby Collett) who was eight years of age and born at
Naunton. The death of John Wilks aged 66
was recorded at Stow-on-the-Wold register office (Ref. 6a 406) during the third
quarter of 1914. What happened to
Charlotte and Joseph immediately after that is not currently known, although it
was as Charlotte L Collett that her death was recorded at North Cotswold
register office (Ref. 7b 37) during the second quarter of 1954 when she was 85
3P15 - Joseph Truby
Wilks Collett
was born in 1903 at Naunton
Ada Collett [3O10] was born at Guiting
Power in 1872, the last child of Richard Collett and Mary Ann Williams, her
birth recorded at Winchcombe (Ref. 6a 8) during the fourth quarter of that
year. Shortly after she was born her
family moved to Bourton-on-the Water where, in 1881, Ada was eight years of age
and with her family at Middle Row, Woodman Inn, in the town. By 1891 she was one of two children still
living with her parents at Naunton, the other being Charlotte (above)
when Ada Collett from Guiting Power was 19 and a laundress
Robert Collett [3O11] was born on 1st
December 1842 at Caudle Green, just south of Brimpsfield, midway between
Gloucester and Cirencester. However, he
was later baptised at the Chedworth Congregational Chapel on 9th
July 1843, even though his parents were still living at Caudle Green, when his
sister Adolpha (below) was born.
He was the eldest child of Robert Collett and Martha Spencer of
Chedworth and was eight years old in 1851, when he was living with his family
at Gadbridge in Chedworth. On that census
day, both he and his sister Adolpha were recorded as having been born at
Brimpsfield, although later in her life, his sister stated that she was born at
Birdlip, within the same location as Caudle Green and Brimpsfield
The whereabouts of Robert Collett, aged 18, at
the time of the census in 1861, has not been determined, but it is established
that seven years later, the marriage of Robert Collett and Jane Bennett was
recorded at Cirencester (Ref. 6a 109) during the first three months of
1868. Jane had been born at Cirencester
during the summer of 1843, where her birth was recorded (Ref. xi 16), the
eldest child of George and Jane Bennett.
The couple’s first child was born at the start of the following year,
but was living with his maternal grandparents on the day of the census in 1871
at North Cerney, where he had been born.
By that time, his parents were residing at Wotton-St-Mary within the
Kingsholm district of Gloucester. Robert
Collett from Northleach was 28 and a blacksmith, and his wife Jane Collett from
Cirencester was 27, and had only just presented Robert with their second, Mary
J Collett, who was one-month-old. Living
with the family of three on that occasion was Robert’s younger sister Mary Ann
Collett who was 13 and a scholar, who was presumably helping his wife look
after their latest baby
Four more Gloucester-born children were added
to the family during the next decade, which was recorded living at Fosse Bridge
Villa on the Oxford Road in North Hamlet of Gloucester city in 1881. Robert Collett, aged 38 and from Caudle
Green, was employed as a turn-cock at the local waterworks, his wife Jane was
37 and from Cirencester, and with them on that occasion were all six of their
children. They were, Harry G Collett who
was 12 and born at North Cerney, Mary J Collett who was 10, as were Frederick W
Collett who was seven, Ellen L Collett who was four, Robert S Collett who was
two, and Martha K Collett who was five months old. After that census day, Jane presented Robert
two more children to complete their family, but then Robert died when his
youngest child was only four years of age
To avoid any confusion, it needs to be noted
that daughter Martha, was indeed given the birth name of Martha Kate, as
recorded at Gloucester, but who later referred to herself as Kate Martha, which
was how she was recorded from 1891 onwards.
By March 1901, widow Jane Collett, aged 57 and from Cirencester, was
living at 87 Oxford Road in the Gloucester parish of St-John-the-Baptist. As ten years prior to that, she was not
listed with any occupation, whilst living there with her that day, were just
two of her children, Ellen Collett who was 24 and also had no stated job of
work, and Albert E Collett who was 15.
Eighteen months later, the death of Jane Collett was recorded at
Gloucester register officer (Ref. 6a 334) during the last three months of 1902,
when she was 59, following which her unmarried daughter Ellen moved to
Cheltenham where she was working in 1911
3P16 – Harry George
Collett
was born in 1868 at North Cerney
3P17 – Mary Jane
Collett
was born in 1871 at Gloucester
3P18 – Frederick
William Collett
was born in 1873 at Gloucester
3P19 – Ellen Louisa Collett was born in 1876 at
Gloucester
3P20 – Robert Spencer Collett was born in 1878 at
Gloucester
3P21 – Martha Kate Collett was born in 1880 at
Gloucester
3P22 – Emily Louisa Collett was born in 1883 at
Gloucester
3P23 – Albert Edward Collett was born in 1885 at
Gloucester
Adolpha Collett [3O12] was born at Caudle
Green, near Brimpsfield, on 19th March 1844, although she was
baptised at the Chedworth Congregational Chapel on 26th May 1844,
the eldest daughter of Robert and Martha Collett of Chedworth. It would appear that sometime during the
following year her family left Caudle Green and settled in Northleach, where
they lived until the end of 1849. By the
time of the census in 1851, Adolpha and her family were living at Gadbridge in
Chedworth, where she was seven years old and her place of birth was recorded as
Brimpsfield, midway between Gloucester and Cirencester. At the age of 17, Adolpha Collett had left
Chedworth by 1861 and was living and working for the large Sharland family at
their Cirencester home of Gosditch Street in the town. Adolpha was a house servant, one of four
servants employed by Thomas Sharland, a draper, when her place of birth was
recorded as Birdlip. Birdlip, Caudle
Green and Brimpsfield are all within a short distance of each other
Five years later, Adolpha was in Suffolk where
she met her future husband, the marriage of William Groom and Adolpha Collett
recorded at Plomesgate (Ref. 4a 116) during the third quarter of 1866. The couple later settled back in
Gloucestershire, but not before Adolpha had given birth to a son, who was born
while the newly married couple was still living at Saxmundham, in Suffolk. By 1881 Adolpha Groom, aged 37 and from
Chedworth, was a dressmaker living with her husband William Groom, aged 40, who
was a baker from Loddon in Norfolk. At
that time, they and their family were living at 3 Painswick Lawn Cottages in
Cheltenham, their four sons being Alfred Groom, Edward Groom, William
Groom, and Philip Groom. It was at Chedworth,
just over three years later, that Adolpha gave birth to daughter, Harriett, who
was born on 23rd November 1884.
Upon being baptised at Chedworth Independent Church on 14th
August 1887, her father was listed in the Register of Baptisms as ‘William
Groom of Cheltenham’
According to the next census in 1891, Adolpha
Groom was 47 and her husband William Groom was 50 and a bread baker, who were
still residing at Painswick Lawn in Cheltenham.
Living with them were four of their children; Alfred W Groom who
was 23, William M Groom who was 13, Philip J Groom who was 11,
and Harriet C Groom who was six years old. Staying with the family at that time in her
life, was Adolpha’s elderly widowed mother Martha Collett from Chedworth, who
was 69. Nearly seven years later, the
death of William Groom was recorded at Cheltenham register office (Ref. 6a 247)
during the last three months of 1897, at the age of 56. Her loss was confirmed in the census of 1901,
when Adolpha Collett was a widow aged 57, who was a dressmaker with her own
account, who again said she had been born at Birdlip. She and the two youngest members of her
family were still living in Cheltenham; Philip J Groom was 21 and Harriet C
Groom was 16, both born at Cheltenham.
On the day of the next census in 1911, Adolpha Groom, a widow from
Caudle Green, was a dressmaker aged 67, when she was living at the Chedworth
home of her nephew Charles Beames. He
was Robert Charles Beames who was 33 and a stonemason from Chedworth, the
eldest son of Adolpha’s widowed younger sister Hannah Maria Beames (below),
who was also living at the same dwelling.
Adolpha later return to Cheltenham and, eight years later, the death of
Adolpha Groom, nee Collett, was recorded at Cheltenham register office (Ref. 6a
487) during the final quarter of 1919, when she was 75
Ann Collett [3O13] was born at Northleach
on 17th October 1845, her birth recorded at Northleach (Ref. xi 40),
the third child of Robert Collett and Martha Spencer. Perhaps for health reasons, her baptism was
delayed by over six years when, on 2nd May 1852, she was baptised in
a combined ceremony at the Chedworth Congregational Chapel with her two much
younger siblings, Sarah Martha Collett and Philip Henry Collett (both
below). Although not listed as living at
the home of her parents at Gadbridge in Chedworth in 1851, she was in fact
living nearby at the home of her maternal grandmother and widow, Ann Spencer
aged 55 and of Chedworth, where Ann Collett was described as being four years
old and born at Northleach. Completing
the household were three of Ann’s unmarried children, Sarah Spencer 26, Reuben
Spencer 23 and Elizabeth Spencer 21, all of whom had been born at
Chedworth. Ann later returned to the
family home in Chedworth, and it was there that she was living in 1861, when
she was 15 and, on that occasion, the eldest of the six children still living
with their parents
Ten years after that census day, Ann Collett
from Northleach was 25 and a domestic servant out of employment, when she was
one of three children still living at the Chedworth home of her parents. Then in 2020, thanks to Barry Regan, it was revealed by wife Monica Lesley Regan, nee, Compton,
of the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia USA, just outside Roanoke, exactly what
happened to Ann Collett after 1871
Monica
was born at Chippenham in Wiltshire, her mother’s side of the family coming
from the Gloucestershire line of the Collett family. Her mother’s grandmother was Ann Collett of
Northleach who married David Tanner (born on 7th February 1845
and from Great Somerford, where he was baptised on 8th March 1846)
on 14th May 1873 at nearby Malmesbury. David Tanner, the son of Richard and Eliza
Tanner, was a well-known stonemason in that area of Wiltshire and he and Ann
had one daughter Martha Tanner, later Martha Lewis, the grandmother to
Monica Lesley Compton. Monica also
provided the photograph of Ann Collett, her great grandmother (below)
Armed with this new information, it was then
straightforward to track the family which was residing in Great
David and Ann were both 55 years old in the
Great Somerford census of 1901, when the only member of the family living there
with them, was Ann’s widowed mother Martha Collett from Chedworth who was 79,
who passed away during the following decade.
For the first time, in the next Great Somerford census in 1911, David
Tanner was 65 when described as a builder and a farmer, as he had been in 1901,
while Ann Tanner was 66. Eight years
after that day, the death of David Tanner was recorded at Malmesbury register
office (Ref. 5a 34) during the last three months of 1919, when he was 73. By 1911, the couple’s married daughter had
already given birth to five children, all of them born at Startley with Great
Somerford, like Martha Lewis. William
John Lewis was a blacksmith in 1901, and a shoeing and general smith in 1911,
while their five children were Percy Lewis (born 1898), Ethel Annie Lewis (born
1900), William Cecil Lewis (born in 1902), Muriel Alice Lewis (born in 1903),
and Gladys Lewis (born in 1907) who married Leslie W Compton in 1936, their
wedding recorded at Chippenham register office (Ref. 5a 51) during the third
quarter of the year, with the birth of their daughter Monica Lesley Compton
also recorded there (Ref. 5a 25) during the second quarter of 1943, when the
mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Lewis.
Just over twenty-three years after being born, the marriage of Barry A
Regan and Monica L Compton was also recorded at Chippenham register office
(Ref. 7c 14) during the third quarter of 1966, just after the England football
team had won the World Cup
Hannah
Maria Collett [3O14] was
born in 1848 at Northleach, but within two years she and her family were living
in Chedworth. The Chedworth census of
1851 listed her as Anna Collett of Northleach, aged three years, who was living
with her parents at Gadbridge in Chedworth.
She was still living there ten years later when, in the census return
for 1861, she was recorded as Hannah M Collett who was 13 but, after a further
ten years, she was no longer living at Chedworth with her family. It was near the end of the decade, that the
marriage of Hannah Maria Collett and George Beames was recorded at Northleach
(Ref. 6a 166) during the last three months of 1870. They were very likely married at Chedworth,
where George was born, the son of Charles and Mary Beames. A few months later, Hannah presented George
with their first child just prior to the day of the Chedworth census in 1871,
when stonemason George was 24, Hannah was 23 and Mary May Beames was a
new-born baby. It was at Pancake Hill in
Chedworth that the enlarged family was living in 1881, where George was 36 and
a stonemason, Hannah M Beames was 33, Mary M Beames was ten, Martha K Beames
was nine, Margaret E Beames was five, Robert C Beames was three, and Sarah
J Beames was two years old, every member of the family had been born at
Chedworth
After a further decade, the family was residing
at Well Hill in Chedworth, where the family members were recorded as stonemason
George Beames was 46, Hannah was 43, Mary was 20, Robert Charles was 13, Sarah
was 12, plus two new arrivals George H Beames who was nine and Dora A Beames
who was seven. According to the
following Chedworth census in 1901, only three of their children were still
living at the family home, and they were Robert Charles Beames who was
23 and a stonemason, working with his father, George Heman Beames who
was 19 and a painter, and Dora Augusta Beames who was 18. Six years later, Hannah Maria was made a
widow, when the death of George Beames was recorded at Northleach register
office (Ref. 6a 286) during the fourth quarter of 1907. That sad event may have led to his eldest son
Robert inheriting the family stonemason business, because in 1911, unmarried
Robert Charles Collett, aged 33, was head of the household and a stonemason
working in the building industry. Living
at the same address with him, was his widowed mother Hannah Beames from
Northleach who was 64, and her widowed older sister Adolpha Groom from Caudle
Green who was 67
Sarah Martha Spencer Collett [3O15] was born at Northleach
on 31st October 1849, where her birth was also recorded (Ref. xi
74). However, upon being baptised at the
Chedworth Congregational Chapel on 2nd May 1852 in a joint ceremony
with her sister Ann Collett (above) and brother Philip Henry Collett (below),
she was referred to simply as Sarah Martha Collett, the daughter of Robert
Collett and Martha Spencer. Sarah
Collett was one-year-old in the census of 1851, when she was living at
Gadbridge in Chedworth with her family.
It was there also, that she was living ten years later, when she was
recorded as Sarah M Collett who was 11 years old. Like her sister Hannah (above), Sarah
was also missing from the family home in Chedworth in 1871, and that was
because she was a general servant, and the only servant, at the Cheltenham home
of middle-aged couple Edward and Caroline Lowe, when as Sarah Collett from
Northleach she was 21
Around thirty months later, the marriage of
Sarah Martha Collett and John Graham from Tewkesbury was recorded at Northleach
(Ref. 6a 195) during the last three months of 1873, with whom she had three
children before the end of the decade.
It was at Theresa Street in South Hamlet, Gloucester, that the family
was recorded in the census return in 1881.
John Graham from Tewkesbury was 33 and an engine fitter, Sarah Graham
from Northleach was 31, and their three children were named as Harry Graham who
was three and born in Birmingham, John Graham who was two, and William E Graham
who was one-year-old, both of them born at Stafford.
Thanks to the aforementioned Barry Regan in
Connecticut, we now know more about the family of Sarah Martha Spencer
Graham. After
she married John Graham at Chedworth on 25th December 1873, they
moved about quite a bit in England while raising a family of five sons. They were: Harry Graham (born
It is again thanks to Barry Regan
that it has been established that John Graham sailed to America exactly three
months earlier onboard the S S Adriatic, arriving in New York from Liverpool on
5th July, the day after the country celebrated Independence Day
At
the time of the census in 1900, Connecticut was a thriving industrial centre,
offering new opportunities for John and his family. Between 1886 and the 1900 US census John and
Sarah had a daughter Eliza Martha Graham (born 1890 in Connecticut) and
another son Henry Graham, born there in 1892, although still alive in 1910,
Henry was one of two children missing from the family in the town of Bridgeport,
Fairfield, census in 1900. The census
return stated that John (born
in March 1849) and Sarah (born in October 1849) had been married for 26 years and had
given birth to eight children, of whom only six were still alive. Harry was 23, John was 21, William was 20, Robert was 17, Bertram was
15, and Eliza was ten. Just prior to that census day, the couple’s second son John
had become a married man, with both he and his wife Daisy B Graham, their 21-year-old
daughter-in-law, still living with John and Sarah that day
It
was the 1910 US census that confirmed John was 62 and a machinist at a gun
shop, and Sarah was 61, when they were living on Main Street in the town of Stratford, Fairfield,
along with just three of their children. William was 29 and working in a toy shop, Eliza was 20 and a singer in
a church choir, and Henry was 18 and a labourer working in a factory. Eight years later John Graham died there on
22nd April 1918 and was buried at Bridgeport in Connecticut. After being widowed, Sarah continued to live
with her unmarried son William, as confirmed in the US census returns for 1920
and 1930 when, for the latter, Sarah M Graham from England was 80 years old and
living at Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut.
Her son William E Graham from England was 49 and a die maker at a
machine shop. After a further three years Sarah Martha Graham
died on 7th of January 1933 in the town of Stratford, Fairfield,
according to the Connecticut death records
Sadly, the Commerce Building,
which housed the vast majority of the US census records, suffered from The Great
Fire of January 19th in 1921 which destroyed or ruined beyond repair
the bulk of the 1890 census. Therefore,
we only have the record of the birth of the couple’s only daughter to indicate
that it was to Connecticut that the family made their way arriving disembarking
at Ellis Island
Philip Henry Collett [3O16] was born at Gadbridge
in Chedworth on 25th March 1852 and was baptised at the Chedworth
Independent Church on 2nd May 1852.
He appeared in the Chedworth census of 1861 as Philip H Collett aged
nine years, and again in the next census for Chedworth in 1871, when he was
19. On leaving school he became a
shoemaker, working with his father Robert, as confirmed by the census in
1871. It was around five years later
that Philip married Catherine May Cooke, and their first two children were both
baptised at Chedworth Congregational Chapel.
Philip and Catherine were recorded in the Register of Baptisms as being
‘of Cheltenham’ for both of their children, even though their son was born at
Birmingham, while their daughter was born after the couple had settled in
Cheltenham
In 1881 the family was living at 2 Portman
Terrace in Cheltenham, when the census return confirmed that Philip H Collett,
aged 29 and from Chedworth, was a boot and shoemaker, while his wife Catherine
M Collett, aged 30, was born at Road in Somerset. Their two children were listed as Robert H
Collett aged three years and from Birmingham, and Kate M Collett who was just
under one year old and from Cheltenham.
It was during the following year that Catherine presented Philip with
their third child, while the family was still living in Cheltenham. There may have been other children born into
the family after that, but by 1888 when the couple’s last child was born, the family
was living at Bisley in Surrey. However,
not long after that Philip’s work took him to the Oxfordshire village of
Kingham, which lies midway between Stow-on-the-Wold and Chipping Norton. And it was there that the family was living
at the time of the next census in 1891
It would also appear from the census return
that the couple’s only daughter Kate had suffered an infant death not long
after the census day in 1881. The family
living at Kingham in 1891 comprised Philip H Collett, aged 39, his wife
Catherine M Collett, aged 40, and their three sons Robert H Collett, aged 13,
Frederick W Collett, who was eight, and Philip D Collett who was two years old
and born at Bisley near Woking in Surrey.
Ten years later, when the census of 1901 was conducted the family was
still living in Kingham, by which time the couple’s eldest son Robert appears
to have been out of the country in 1901, perhaps even serving abroad with the
army. So, on that occasion, the
remainder of family was recorded as Philip H Collett, aged 49 and from
Chedworth, who was a superintendent of house, his wife Catherine M Collett,
aged 50 who was working at the same establishment as the matron, and their two
youngest sons who were listed as Frederic W Collett, aged 18 from Cheltenham,
who was a publisher’s assistant, and Douglas Collett who was from Bisley in
Surrey who was still attending school at the age of 12
Over the following decade it would appear that
Philip’s and Catherine’s youngest son left home to be married, and that event
may have coincided with the family’s move back to the West Midlands and to
Walmley, south of Sutton Coldfield, where Philip Collett from Chedworth was
described as being 59 and a former boot maker who was unable to work because he
paralysed by then. His wife Catherine
Collett from Road in Somerset was 60 and, completing the family was their unmarried
son Frederick Collett, aged 28 and from Cheltenham. Not long after that son Frederick was
married, with Philip and Catherine then moving south to Sparkhill, midway
between Birmingham and Solihull. Just
over five months after that census day, Philip Henry Collett died at 54 Benton
Road in Sparkhill, on 23rd September 1911 at the age of 59, his
death being recorded at the Solihull register office (Ref. 6d 642) during the
last three months of that year.
Administration of his estate amounting to Ł160 18 Shillings was granted
to his widow Catherine May Collett on 26th October 1911, when the
date of his passing was stated as being 9th October 1911
3P24 – Robert Henry
Collett
was born in 1877 at Birmingham
3P25 – Kate Marianne
Collett
was born in 1880 at Cheltenham
3P26 – Frederick
William Collett
was born in 1882 at Cheltenham
3P27 – Philip Douglas Collett was born in 1889 at
Bisley, Surrey
Alfred Collett [3O17] was born at Chedworth
on 6th February 1855 and was baptised at the Chedworth
Congregational Chapel on 8th April 1855, the son of Robert and
Martha Collett, whose birth was recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 9). He was around two-and-half-years-old when he
died at Chedworth, his death also recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 27) during
the third quarter of 1857
Mary Ann Collett [3O18] was born at Chedworth
on 20th February 1858, her birth recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a
20). It was nearly three years later, on
4th November 1860, that she was baptised in a joint ceremony with
her younger sister Jane Collett (below) at the Chedworth Independent
Church. By the time of the Chedworth
census in 1861 Mary A Collett was listed with her parents as being three years
old. Ten years later in 1871, Mary A
Collett, who was 13 and from Chedworth, was still attending school when she was
living with her married brother Robert Collett at his home in the hamlet of
Wotton-St-Mary, within the Gloucester parish of St Mary de Lode, following the
birth of his first child, Mary Jane Collett.
By 1881, at the age of 23, Mary Ann Collett of Chedworth, was unmarried
and was a servant and a nurse maid at the home of Daniel Rutter Pitt, a
provisions merchant, at 93 Dyer Street in Cirencester. No obvious record of Mary Ann has been found
within the census returns for 1891 and 1901, whilst it was during 1908 that the
death of Mary Ann Collett aged 49, was recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 86) in
the last three months of that year
Jane Collett [3O19] was born at Chedworth
on 4th September 1860 and was baptised at the Chedworth Independent
Church on 4th November 1860, the same day as her sister Mary Ann (above). Jane was the youngest child of Robert Collett
and Martha Spencer, and was under one year old at the time of the census in
1861, when she was living at Chedworth with her family. She was still living there ten years later in
1871, when she was 10 years old
Rhoda Collett [3O21] was born at Chedworth
on 8th July 1845 as a honeymoon baby, being born exactly nine months
after the marriage of her parents, cousins Henry Collett and Elizabeth
Collett. Her birth was recorded at
Northleach (Ref. xi 11) and she was five years old in the Chedworth census of
1851. By the time she was 15, she had
left school but was not credited with any form of job of work according to the
Chedworth census of 1861. Shortly
thereafter, Rhoda entered into domestic service and in 1871, she was the only
servant at the Cheltenham home of the widow Elizabeth Arkell and her family,
when she was 25. After a further ten
years, Rhoda Collett (pictured below) from Chedworth was 35 and the servant at
3 Chesterton Terrace in Cirencester, the home of 73-year-old Eliza Brewin, a
lady of independent means. It is also of
interest, that Rhoda’s sister Betsy was a servant at the Cirencester home of
William Brewin, with another sister, Mary Ann, being the servant of Sarah
Brewin in Cirencester over two decades.
She was still in service in 1891, but at Dollar Street in Cirencester
when she was 45 and the cook
|
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By 1901, Rhoda was reunited with her younger
brother John Henry (below), who was the head of the household at
Chedworth, where they had both been born.
Their home on that occasion was Badger Cottage on Chapel Hill which
boot maker John had inherited on the death of his widowed mother. John Collett was 47 and 55-year-old Rhoda
Collett was his housekeeper. It was
the same situation in 1911, when the two siblings with still residing at
Badger Cottage in Chedworth. |
Unmarried Rhoda Collett lived a long life and
was 95 years old when she died at Badger Cottage in Chedworth on 15th
May 1940, after which she was buried in the family grave in the graveyard of
Chedworth Congregational Chapel along with her brother John Henry Collett and
sister Eliza Ann Collett (below) (see Headstone Epitaphs). The photograph of Badger Cottage (above)
was taken during the summer of 2010 and was kindly provided by Barbara Edmonds
and Michael Stuart Collett [3R8]
Amelia Collett [3O22], known as Melly by the
family, was born on 13th March 1847 at Chedworth, where she married
Andrew Lloyd Scotford during 1874.
Andrew was also born at Chedworth, on 12th March 1844,
Amelia Scotford was
still living at Chedworth in March 1901 when she was 54. By that time, she only had three of her eight
children living with her, the youngest of whom was John L Scotford who was 14
and a teamster working on a farm. This
very likely indicates that Amelia’s eighth child had suffered an infant death,
otherwise Ellen Scotford would have been eleven years old. The two other children were Agnes Scotford,
who was 21, and Sophia Scotford who was 16.
Of her other children, eldest son Andrew Henry Scotford, aged 25, was an
asylum attendant, and Fanny Scotford, aged 18, was a general domestic servant
living and working in Cirencester. Ten
years later in April 1911, Amelia was 64 and the only member of her family
still living with her was her youngest surviving child, John Lloyd Scotford who
was 24. Amelia spent the last
thirty-five years of her life as a widow, which came to an end when she died in 1923. This
is the family line of Bob and Ann Scotford of Severn Beach near Bristol
In April 1911 Betsy of Chedworth was 62, and
her husband William was 73, and at that time the couple were living at
Axminster in Devon. After her husband
died in 1917 Betsy moved back to Chedworth to live with her sister Mary Ann (below)
at Gilgal at the top of Pancake Hill.
Also following the death, William’s son Joe took over management of the
family bakery business in Cirencester.
Betsy King nee Collett died on 17th January 1936, aged 86,
and was buried in a tomb in Chedworth Independent Church graveyard (see
Headstone Epitaphs)
That was confirmed five years later in the
April census of 1911, Eliza was recorded as being 52 and from Chedworth in
Gloucestershire. Sir Harry was married
to the daughter of the First Viscount Ruffside [Clifton Brown] who was the
Speaker from 1943 to 1951. Eliza
eventually returned to Chedworth where she lived with her sister Rhoda and her
brother John Henry (both above). Eliza
Ann Collett died on 25th June 1946 when she was 87 years of
age. She was buried in a family grave in
the churchyard of Chedworth Congregational Chapel with her siblings Rhoda and
John Henry (see Headstone Epitaphs)
Hubert and Hannah initially settled in
Cheltenham where their daughter was born, before moving the short distance east
to Charlton Kings where their son was born and where the family was living in
March 1901. The census conducted at the
end of that month listed the family as Hubert Collett, aged 41 and from
Chedworth, his wife Hannah P Collett, who was 31, and their two children, Anne
P Collett, who was eight years old, and Cecil J Collett, who was five. The next census in April 1911 confirmed that
Hubert was employed as a civil servant and was fifty years old and born at
Chedworth. The census details also
confirmed that he and his family were living at a house named ‘St Brandon’ on
Haywards Road in Charlton Kings. Hubert
had been married for 19 years to Hannah Phillipine Collett aged 41 of Kimbolton
in Herefordshire, and their two children were described as Anne Priscilla
Collett aged 18 of Cheltenham and Cecil John Collett aged 15 of Charlton Kings
Very little else is known about Hubert except
it is established that he sat on the jury at the inquest into the death of a
woodsman named Isaac Norman, who was killed in an accident in 1889. However, it is known that Hubert Collett died
in 1940. His widow survived for a
further ten years, and it was at ‘Inglenook’ 12 St Julian’s Avenue at Ludlow in
Shropshire that Anna Phillipine Collett died on 21st March
1950. Administration of her estate,
valued at Ł2,692 15 Shillings, was granted at Birmingham on 15th May
1950 to her daughter Anne Priscilla Collett, a spinster
3P28 – Anne Priscilla
Collett
was born in 1892 at Cheltenham
3P29 – Cecil John
Collett
was born in 1895 at Charlton Kings
Sophia Collett [3O29] was born at Chedworth
on 1st December 1861 and was referred to as Sophy for
Henry Martin Collett [3O31] was born on 16th
May 1867 at Chedworth, and it was there that he spent the early years of his
life. In 1871 he was three years old,
and by April 1881 Henry had left school and was working as a farm labourer at
the age of thirteen. At that time, he
was still living with his family at Chapel Hill in Chedworth. Within the next decade he left the family
home and by 1891 he was recorded in that year’s census as living with his older
siblings Eliza Ann and Hubert (above) in Cheltenham. And it was at Cheltenham that he met his
future wife Elizabeth to whom he was married in 1892. Elizabeth had been born at Cheltenham in
1866. Within a year of being married the
couple were living at Birmingham where their first child was born. Over the next seven years Elizabeth presented
Henry with a further three children, all of them born in Birmingham
According to the census in 1901, Henry M
Collett of Chedworth was 33 and his occupation was that of a carpenter. He was living in Birmingham with his wife
Elizabeth, who was 34, and their first four children, Olive who was seven,
Jessie who was six, Henry who was three, and Alfred who was one year old. During the next decade a further two children
were added to the family which was living at 37 Montpellier Street in the
Sparkbrook district of Birmingham between Balsall Heath and Small Heath in
April 1911. Montpellier Street is still
there today, just off the A4540 Highgate Road.
At that time the complete family was made up of head of the house Henry
Martin Collett 43 of Chedworth who had been married to Elizabeth, 44 and from
Cheltenham, for nineteen years. Henry
was described as being a carpenter and a joiner. The couple’s children were Olive Elizabeth,
aged 17, Jessie Priscilla, aged 16, Henry Garth, aged 13, Alfred Martin, aged
11, Hubert John who was three, and their latest arrival Susan who was just one
month old, and all of them born at Birmingham.
Henry Martin Collett died in 1946
3P30 – Olive Elizabeth
Collett
was born in 1893 at Birmingham
3P31 – Jessica
Priscilla Collett
was born in 1895 at Birmingham
3P32 – Harry Garth Collett
was born in 1897 at Birmingham
3P33 – Alfred Martin Collett was born in 1899 at
Birmingham
3P34 – Hubert John Collett was born in 1907 at
Birmingham
3P35 – Susan Collett
was born in 1911 at Birmingham
Ebenezer William Collett [3O32], who was referred to as
Ebby by the family, was born at Chedworth on 6th December 1868. According to the two censuses of 1871 and
1881 Ebenezer was two years and twelve years old respectively, and was living
with his family at Chapel Hill in Chedworth.
By the time of the census of 1891 he was listed as Ebenezer W Collett
who was 22 and working as an agricultural labourer, while he was still living
in Chedworth with his widowed mother Elizabeth and his older brother John, who
also had staying with them Chedworth-born Sarah Maguire, their married sister
from Scotland. And it was at Chedworth
where he later married (1) Elizabeth who was born at Northleach in 1873. The census of 1901 confirmed that Ebenezer
was born at Chedworth, that he was 32, and that he was a carpenter on a farm,
although it is known that he later became estate carpenter at Ampney Crucis. In March 1901 Ebenezer was living at Village
Street in Ampney St Mary with his twenty-seven years old wife Elizabeth H Collett
and their one-year old son Ebenezer W Collett who was born at Chedworth. Ebenezer’s wife Elizabeth, who was also known
within the family as Eliza, tragically died while giving birth to the couple’s
second son Henry John Collett in April 1903 at Ampney Crucis
A little while after the death of his wife
Ebenezer married (2) Fanny and within the next few years the family returned to
Ampney St Mary where they were living in April 1911. The census that year recorded that Ebenezer
Collett of Chedworth was 42, his wife Fanny of Burford was 51, and his two sons
were Ebenezer William Collett of Chedworth who was 11 and Henry John of Ampney
Crucis who was seven. Ebenezer’s new
wife Fanny had been born in 1860 at Burford in Oxfordshire, where she had a
nephew Alfred Francis who for many years was the undertaker at Burford, while
Alfred’s wife was a teacher at Burford Primary School. The 1931 marriage certificate of Ebenezer’s
son Henry John Collett confirmed that the boy’s father Ebenezer Collett had
been a carpenter. It was thirteen years
after that happy event that Ebenezer William Collett senior died in 1944
3P36 – Ebenezer William
Collett was
born in 1899 at Chedworth
3P37 – Henry John
Collett was
born in 1903 at Ampney St Peter
Martha
Ann Collett [3O32] was
born at Stonehouse near Stroud on 30th April 1846. Her birth certificate confirmed she was the
daughter of John Collett, grocer, and his wife Mary Ann Collett nee Silk. Shortly after, or at the time she was born, her
mother died and her father remarried and within three years of being born her
family emigrated to Australia, but returned to England after just a few
years. By the time of the census of 1861
Martha A Collett had left the family home in Chedworth and was lodging at
Cirencester with her sixty-six years old grandmother Mary Anne Collett. On that occasion the census recorded the pair
staying at the home of Joseph Gegg and his wife Jane (formerly Collett) where
Martha met her future husband. At that
time Martha employed as a draper’s assistant.
Six years later in 1867 she married Charles Gegg who was born at
Withington in 1844. Charles was the son
of Joseph and Harriett Gegg and he worked as a carpenter for his older brother
John Gegg. During their life together Charles
and his wife Martha were commonly known within the family as Charlie and
Patti. By 1871 the couple was listed in
that year’s census as being 26 and 24 respectively, while living within the
Northleach registration district. It
would appear that the marriage of Charles and Martha produced just two children
although, shortly after they were married, they suffered the infant death of
their son
According to the census in April 1881, the
couple was living alone at Brockhampton Quarry near
Her husband Charles Gegg died at Brockhampton
on 12th January 1915. After
nearly seven years as a widow Martha died, at which time her daughter Ethel,
then 36, moved to Brockhampton to live with Sarah Blanche Gegg. The Will of Martha Ann Gegg, nee Collett, was
proved in Gloucester on 23rd December 1921, following her death on
30th October 1920, when the beneficiary was name as Ethel Marion
Gegg. Ethel remained a spinster until
1942, when the marriage of Ethel M Gegg and Thomas R Barlow was recorded at
Cheltenham register office (Ref. 6a 105) during the first three months of that
year
Henry
Collett [3O34]
was born at Stonehouse in 1847 but was baptised at Painswick, the only son of
John Collett and his first wife Mary Ann Silk.
While he was still very young his family emigrated to Australia where
they lived for a couple of years, but where tragically Henry’s mother died in
1853. That sad event prompted his father
to return to England, where he was remarried in 1855. Once back in Gloucestershire the new family
made their home at Chedworth where Henry’s father John was born. Henry later married the slightly older (1)
Sarah Ann Long of Huntley and the 1881 Census recorded the couple as living at
Hill Cottages in Cowley just south of Cheltenham. Henry’s details stated that he was a baker
aged 33 of Painswick which means he followed a similar career to that of his
father John Collett who was a grocer and meal man in Chedworth. His wife Sarah Ann was listed as being 40
years of age and born at Huntley just west of Gloucester. At that time, they were living at the home of
Sarah Ann’s 60 years old mother Sarah Long who was born at Cowley and whose
occupation was that of a beer retailer.
However, sometime during the 1880s Henry’s wife must have died because
living with him thereafter was his second wife (2) Mary, although when and
where they were married has still to be discovered
In 1891 Henry Collett, a master baker from
Stonehouse, was 44 and still residing at Hill Cottages in Cowley with his new
wife Mary Collett from Elkstone who was 42.
Boarding with the couple was William Saight who was 40 and a carter from
Withington. Ten years later the Cowley
census of 1901 listed baker Henry Collett aged 53 still married to Mary Collett
aged 52 from Elkstone. Sadly, Mary
suffered some mental illness during the next decade and was admitted into a
lunatic asylum in Gloucester on 8th April 1910, where she was
recorded in the census the following year.
On the census day Mary Collett was described as being married at the age
of 61 and a patient at Gloucester Lunatic Asylum on Horton Road in the Barnwood
parish of Gloucester. On that same day
in 1911 her husband Henry Collett was 63 and was once again living in
Chedworth, where he was described as a married man and a retired baker. What happened to Henry after 1911 is not
known, but his wife Mary Collett died on 21st March 1924 at the age
of 74 when she was still an inmate at the asylum
It may be interesting to note that there were
other members of the Collett family living in Cowley in 1881 and two of them
were also listed in the census as being residents at Hill Cottages like Henry
and Sarah Collett (above). The
first, and eldest of them, was Richard Collett who was born around 1810 at
Fyfield near Eastleach Martin who had moved there to be married in 1840 and who
remain there for the rest of his life.
Living with him from the time of the death of her husband was his sister
Elizabeth Lafford nee Collett of Fyfield.
Also living at Cowley but at the ‘school’ was George Richard Collett,
the eldest son of the aforementioned Richard Collett. Living George was his wife Emily and their
six children (at that time) two of which had been born at Cowley. George produced a Collett Family Bible but
sadly, this did not reveal any clues as to whether his line was in any way
connected to the Chedworth Colletts or any other Collett family of
Gloucestershire. Further work is
therefore still needed to determine whether there was a link. For more details on the families of Richard
Collett of Fyfield [47M9] and George Richard Collett of Cowley [47N14] see Part
47 – The Fyfield & Eastleach Martin Line
John
Rowland Charles Collett [3O36] was born at Chedworth in 1856, the eldest of
the four children of John Collett and Sarah Rowland. By the time he was 15 he had left school and
was working as a grocer with his father, but ten years later, at the time of
the census in 1881, he was no longer living with his family at Chedworth. It was nearly six years later, on 3rd
January 1887 at St James’ Church in Cheltenham, that John Rowland Charlie
Collett aged 30 and the son of John Collett married his cousin Elizabeth
Johanna Wake Rowland who was 28.
Elizabeth was born at Charlton Kings in 1858 and was the eldest daughter
of grocer Benjamin Rowland and his wife Annie Tarry; Benjamin being the brother
of John’s mother Sarah Rowland. In 1881
Elizabeth was 22 and was a dressmaker living at Bath Road in Cheltenham with
her family, when her father’s occupation was that of a butcher. Further details of this further connection
with the Rowland family line can be found in Part 10 – Other Branch Lines for
Elizabeth Johanna Wake Rowland [10N1]
The couple’s only known child was born just
over a year after they were married and, according to the Cheltenham census of
1891, John was referred to as Rowland Collett aged 35, his wife Elizabeth
Collett was 32, and their daughter Daisy G Collett was three years old. Ten years after that, in March 1901, John
Rowland Collett of Chedworth was recorded in the census as living at 2 Exmouth
Buildings in the St James district of Cheltenham. At that time in his life he was 45 and was a
furniture dealer having his own account, and was working at home in
Cheltenham. With him there, was his wife
Elizabeth from Cheltenham, who was 42, and their daughter Daisy Gladys Collett
who was 13 and born at Cheltenham
The home at 2 Exmouth Buildings had on one side
the Exmouth Arms Inn, and on the other side was living Elizabeth’s mother Ann
Rowland, a grocer aged 73, with her two sons John, aged 39 and a pork butcher,
and David, aged 37, who was a mealman.
Looking after the three of them was Elizabeth’s younger sister Ruth
Rowland, aged 31, who was described as a domestic servant. The three members of the Collett family were
still living at Cheltenham ten years later in 1911. John Rowland Collett was 55 and his wife was
listed as Elizabeth J Collett who was 52.
Still living with them was their daughter who was 23. Ten years later John Rowland Collett was 65
years of age when he died during late September 1921, following which he was
buried in Cheltenham on 1st October 1921. It was only three months after his passing
that his widow Elizabeth Johanna Wake Collett nee Rowland also passed away and
was buried with her husband on 18th January 1922. She was 63 years of age
3P38 – Daisy Gladys
Wake Collett
was born in 1888 at Cheltenham
By 1891, unmarried Ruth Collett was 32 and
described as a grocer’s assistant still living at the Chedworth home and
grocer’s shop of her elderly parents, one of only two children still residing
with the couple, the other being Ruth’s younger sister Clara (below). Following the deaths of both of their parents
during the 1890s, the census in 1901 revealed that Ruth Collett was again
living at Chedworth, where she was recorded as being 42 and living on her own
means, who still had living with her, her sister Clara Collett. It would appear that neither of the two
sisters ever married and, by April 1911 they had both left Chedworth and were
recorded as still living together, but at Blunsden to the north of Swindon,
where Ruth Collett from Chedworth was 52 and existing on private means. It was also at Swindon register office, that
the death of Ruth Collett aged 72 was recorded (Ref. 5a 96) during the first
three months of that year, virtually straight after the death of her sister
Clara was also recorded there during the same quarter of 1932
Clara
Collett [3O38] was
born in 1862 at Chedworth where, in 1881, she was an unmarried shop woman aged
19 still living with her parents John and Sarah Collett and sisters Ruth and
Emily. John was a grocer and mealman and
it seems likely that Clara was employed by him.
In both 1891 aged 29 and 1901 aged 39 Clara was still living at
Chedworth with her sister Ruth (above) and the census information for
the latter census indicated that she was “living on her own means” following
the death of her parents. It is likely
that Clara never married and remained a living companion with her sister. Between 1901 and 1911 the two of them moved
away from Chedworth and settled in the Blunsden area just north of Swindon
where they were living together in 1911, when Clara was 49. The death of Clara Collett was recorded at
Swindon register office (Ref. 5a 76) during the first quarter of 1932 at the
age of 70, just immediately prior to the death of her sister Ruth whose passing
was also recorded during the first quarter of 1932
Emily
Collett [3O39] was
born in 1864 at Chedworth. In 1881 she
was 17 when she was living with her parents John and Sarah Collett and her two
older sisters Ruth and Clara. Upon being
married she became Emily Cripps and it may have been during childbirth that she
suffered a premature death in 1889 when she was only 35 years old. She was living at Stroud, where her death was
recorded (Vol. 62 295) during the final quarter of 1899
Mary Jane
Gegg [3O40] was
born at Withington in 1856, the eldest of the five surviving children of
builder John Gegg and his first wife Sarah Martha Collett. She was four years old and 14 years of age
when she was living at the family home in Haling in both 1861 and 1871. It was thirteen years later, in 1884 that she
married James (Jim) Dowler
Eliza
Annie Gegg [3O41] was
born at Hawling in 1858, the daughter of John and Sarah Gegg. She was three years old in 1861 when she was
living with her family in Hawling, but ten years later, at the age of 13, she
was one of two siblings with their mother visiting their uncle John Collett at
Chedworth in 1871. In 1881 when she was
23 and unmarried, she was still living with her family at Hawling. It was during the following years that she
married M Greening
Emily
Constance Gegg [3O43] was born at Hawling in 1869, another daughter of John and
Sarah Gegg. At the time of the census in
1871 Emily, who was one year old, and her older sister Eliza (above),
together with their mother, were recorded in the village of Chedworth, where
they were visitors at the home of their mother’s brother John Collett. By 1881 she was 11 years of age, and it was
nine years later that she married William Franklin in 1890. Tragically it was during the following year
that she died, very likely during childbirth
Sarah
Blanche Gegg [3O44] was
born at Hawling on 18th July 1871.
At the age of nine in April 1881 she was living with her family at
Hawling, but sometime during the next decade her mother passed away. By 1891 Sarah was 19 and was living with her
widowed father at the family home in Hawling, within the Winchcombe
registration district. She continued to
live with her father until she was 28.
However, in 1893 Sarah gave birth to a base-born daughter Norah
Dowler. The child was born at Station
House in Notgrove on 17th October 1893 and the birth certificate
confirmed the mother as Sarah Gegg who was a grocer. In the end the child was brought up by Jim
and Mary Jane Dowler nee Gegg, above, as one of their own. Sarah continued to live with her father at
Hawling until he remarried when she was 28, after which, just before the end of
the century, that she left Hawling and moved to Cheltenham. And it was there, in April 1901 that she was
living at the age of 29 and where she was employed as a general farmhouse
helper at Arle Court Farm, the home of Frank and Amy Brown
Around two and a half years later she married
Harry Martin at Winchcombe on 3rd September 1903. Harry was ten years younger than Sarah,
having been born in 1881. Within a year
of them being married Sarah presented her husband with a son. That was Sidney John Martin who was born at
Winchcombe and who later became the Reverend Sidney John Martin whose own son,
David Anthony Martin, kindly provided the details of his family. By April 1911 the Martin family was still
living in Winchcombe where Sarah Blanche of Hawling was 39, her husband Harry
was 29, and their son Sidney John was six years old. It would appear that Sarah and Harry lived
all of their married life together at Winchcombe, since it was there that Sarah
Blanche Martin nee Gegg died on 11th September 1951
George
Lambert Gegg [3O45], who
was known as Bert by his family, was born at Hawling in 1873, while it was at
Winchcombe that his birth was recorded during the second quarter of that
year. It was at Hawling that he was
living with his family at the time of the census in April 1881 when he was
eight years old. He was the only son and
the youngest of the five surviving children of John Gegg and his first wife
Sarah Martha Collett. Ten years later at
the age of 18 George was living and working in Gloucester. His occupation was that of a carpenter, like
his father before him. It was during
August 1894 that he controversially married Edith Maud Mary Cheater at a
registry office, when she was already five months pregnant with his first
child, who was born just four months after they were married. Edith was only 18, having been born at
Southampton in 1876, the eldest of the three children of publican and farmer
William Howard Cheater and his wife Ellen Pritchard, and it was her mother who
took it very badly that her daughter was married under such circumstances. It was only around sixteen years later that
the tension between mother and daughter was eased
Following their wedding day, the couple settled
in Hawling where, over the next five years, Edith presented George with three
children. That was confirmed by the Hawling
census of 1901 in which carpenter George Gegg 27 was recorded under his second
name of Lambert, his wife Edith M M Gegg of Southampton was 24, and their three
children were Lambert J H Gegg 5, George D Gegg 4, and Constance E S Gegg who
was two years old. All three children
and their father were confirmed as having been born at Hawling. Over the following years a further four
children were added to their family, and they were Robert, Dorothy, Albert
Edward – later known as Ted, and Gertrude.
Tragically George Lambert Gegg, who is reputed to have been a groom and
farmer during his life, died at Hawling nine years later in 1910 and around the
time of the birth of his last child
Following his death, the majority of his family
was residing at Charlton Kings near Cheltenham in April 1911. His widow Edith Gegg was 34, and with her
there were just four of her seven children.
They were George, who was 14, Dorothy, who was four, Albert, who was
two, and Gertrude who was just ten months old.
Also, in 1911 George’s and Edith’s eldest daughter Constance Gegg, known
as Connie, and from Hawling, was 12 years old.
By that time in her life she was living in Withington within the
Northleach registration district, where she was staying with her maternal
grandparents, Howard and Ellen Cheater, who were 62 and 63 respectively. She may have been there helping to support
her grandparents in their old age, or to relieve overcrowding in the family
home in Charlton Kings, following the recent arrival of her baby sister. So, it may have been the sad loss of Edith’s
husband that brought her closer to her mother once again
What had happened to the couple’s eldest child,
Lambert, is not known, but it is established that their son Robert, who was
born at Shornhill, west of Withington, was initially listed with his family in
1911 at the age of six years, but that the detail was crossed out. It is therefore possible that he was living
somewhere else at that time, although no record of a Robert Gegg born in 1904
has been located. However, he lived in
Withington for much of his early life, where he worked as a gardener. He was married twice, the second time to
Sadie, when they moved to the High Wycombe area of Buckinghamshire where they
were jointly employed by a family. It
was at nearby Beaconsfield that the couple settled, where their children were
born, and where they were still living when they both died during the 1980s
Although no details are known regarding his
first wife, it was only after his death that it was discovered amongst his
papers that he had been married prior to marrying Sadie. After the death of George Lambert Gegg, his
widow married (2) Fennel Stevens during the first few months of 1913. Once again by that time Edith was with-child,
and in March 1913 their daughter Vivian Pearl Stevens was born. Further tragedy struck the family, when in
1914, Edith Maud Mary Stevens died in the Workhouse Infirmary in Charlton
Kings, following which her daughter Vivian Pearl was taken in by the girl’s
grandparents Howard and Ellen Cheater
3P39 – Lambert John
Howard Gegg
was born in 1894 at Hawling
3P40 – George Douglas
Gegg
was born in 1896 at Hawling
3P41 – Constance E S
Gegg
was born in 1898 at Hawling
3P42 – Robert Ernest
Gegg
was born in 1904 at Shornhill, Withington
3P43 – Dorothy Gegg was
born in 1906 at Rendcomb
3P44 – Albert Edward
Gegg
was born in 1908 at Duntisbourne
3P45 – Gertrude Maud
Gegg was born in 1910; died 1911 at Charlton Kings
Eliza Kate Gegg [3O46] was born in 1859 at
Chedworth even though her parents lived all their married life together at
Cirencester. In 1871 Eliza was 11 and
ten years later in April 1881 she was 21 and was still living with her parents
at 183 Gloucester Road in Cirencester where her father was a grocer. She later married Frank Jones who was the
brother of Gertrude Jones who married Eliza’s brother Frederick George Gegg (below). According to the census of 1911 Eliza and
Frank were living in the Cirencester area with their daughter, although they
also had a son, Christopher Jones. Eliza
Kate Jones of Cirencester was 51, her husband Frank Christopher was 53, and
daughter Kate was 23. Minnie Kate
Jones was born at around 1887 and she
later married William Clappen and they had two children, Frances and Josephine
Clappen. William was very likely a
member of Sally Clappen’s family who married Minnie’s uncle Alfred Frank Gegg (below)
JOSEPH HENRY GEGG [3O47], who was referred to as
Harry by the family, was born at Chedworth in 1861 when his parents were living
at Cirencester where his father was a grocer.
In the 1871 Census for Cirencester Joseph was nine years old. By 1881 he was 20 and was employed by his
father as an assistant grocer while still living with the family at 183
Gloucester Road in Cirencester. A few
years later in the mid to late 1880s Joseph married Alice Frances Hiscock with
whom he had three children. In 1891 the
census for Cirencester listed the family as Joseph 30, Alice 22, and baby
Gladys Frances Juliet who was one year old.
Ten years later the family was
still living at Cirencester and comprised Joseph 40, Alice 31, Gladys 11,
Jessie 9, and Reginald Victor who was four
By April 1911 the
family was still living in Cirencester where Joseph Henry was 50, his wife
Alice Frances was 42, and their three children were Gladys Frances 21, Jessie
May 19, and Victor Reginald aged 14. Joseph Henry Gegg lived
a long life and died in 1945 at the age of 84.
Only their son has been taken forward, with the details of their two
older daughters provided here. Gladys
Frances Juliet Gegg was born at Cirencester in 1889 and it was there she
was living with her parents in 1891, 1901 and again in 1911. She never married and died in 1959. Jessie May Gegg was born at
Cirencester in 1891 where she was living with her family in 1901 and 1911 and,
like her older sister, she too never married and died in 1931
3P46 – VICTOR REGINALD GEGG was born in 1896 at
Cirencester
Alfred Frank Gegg [3O48] was born in 1863 at
Chedworth and was recorded as being aged seven years in the Cirencester census
of 1871. Ten years later in 1881 he was
17 and was still living with his parents at 183 Gloucester Road in Cirencester
where he was working alongside his older brother Joseph (above) in his
father’s grocer shop. He later married
Sally Clappen but they had no issue.
Unlike his brother Joseph, Alfred only lived to be 63 when he died in
1926
Frederick George Gegg [3O50] was born towards the
end of 1871 and, unlike his older siblings, who were born at Chedworth, his
birth was recorded at Cirencester (Ref. 6a 115) during the fourth quarter of
that year. It was also at Cirencester that
his family had been living on the census day earlier that year. Ten years later the family’s address in
Cirencester was confirmed as 183 Gloucester Road, when Frederick G Gegg was
nine years old. On leaving school and
the family home, Frederick became a photographic artist who was a lodger at
Park Street in Stow-on-the-Wold in 1891, when he was 19. Before the end of the century, Frederick
married Gertrude Emily Jones from Birmingham.
Gertrude’s brother Frank had previously married Frederick’s sister Eliza
Kate Gegg (above)
Once married, Frederick and Gertrude set up
home in Evesham, where the family was living in 1901 and 1911, when Frederick’s
occupation was that of a photographer aged 29 and 39 respectively; his place of
birth confirmed as Cirencester on both occasions. Fifteen years later, the death of Frederick
George Gegg, aged 54, was recorded at Worcester register office as having taken
place on 20th December 1925, with his Will proved there on 25th
March 1926, the sole beneficiary being his widow, Gertrude Emily Gegg. It was also during 1926, that his older
brother Alfred Frank Gegg (above), passed away. Their two Evesham born children were Frederick
Kitchener Gegg who was born in 1900 and Elsie Gertrude Jane Gegg who
was born in 1903
Eliza Annie Smith [3P1] was
born at Birmingham in March 1873 and she married Edward Lawrence Florida from Newport in South Wales in June 1899
at Aston. Around the time of her wedding
Eliza was a book binder although later in her life she was involved in market
gardening. Edward was the son of
George Lawrence Florida and Rosa Jane Davies and was born in Newport in June
1874. He was a carpenter with the Great
Western Railway in Newport but was sent to work in Birmingham where he met Eliza. Edward collapsed and died of a heart attack
in Shaftesbury Street in Newport when just fifty years of age in December 1924
and was buried in Malpas churchyard.
Immediately prior to his untimely death he had visited the Empire
Exhibition at Wembley. Following his
death, Eliza married (2) Albert Thomas Wright on 20th February 1926
at St Marks Church in Newport. Albert,
who was a railway guard, was born on 5th October 1864 at Lea near
Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire. Albert
Thomas Wright died on 21st December 1950 at Newport and was buried
in the churchyard at St Woollos. Eliza
died in 1957, the cause of death being a stroke, and she too was buried in the
churchyard at Malpas
Of the couple’s two daughters, only the eldest
has been taken forward. The younger
daughter was Mona Lawrence Florida
was born in August 1909 at Newport. She
attended Crindau Elementary School and later Brynglas Central School. On leaving school she worked as a shop
assistant at Halse’s Grocers Shop before pleurisy and tuberculosis brought her
working life to an end in the 1930s. She
married travelling salesman Harry A R Hallett at St Michael’s Church in
Llantarnam in 1936 and shortly after the wedding they lived for a while at
Llantarnam before moving to Brynmill. At
the outbreak of war in 1939 Harry joined the Royal Navy and Mona returned to
live with her parents in Bolton Street.
On Harry’s return at the end of the war the couple set up home at
Highfield Road in Newport. Mona and
Harry had two children Judith Hallett born on 11th July 1938 and
Robert Edward Hallett born on 23rd February 1943 whom was a
policeman and later a Baptist lay preacher who married Virginia Harris in
1968. Mona Hallett died during 1982
3Q1 – Jessie Lawrence Florida was born in 1899 at
Newport, Wales
Beatrice Dowler Collett [3P3] was born at Winchcombe
on 17th September 1892, her birth recorded at Winchcombe register
office (Ref. 6a 295). At the time of the
census in 1901, Beatrice Collett was listed as being aged eight years and of
Winchcombe, when she was living with her parents Walter Collett and (Sarah)
Annie Collett at Longborough, near Stow-on-the-Wold. During the first decade of the new century,
the family of three moved to the village of Cow Honeybourne, east of Evesham in
Worcestershire, where Beatrice’s father died in 1910. In the census, for Cow Honeybourne the
following year, Beatrice Collett was 18, with no stated job of work, who was
living there with her widowed mother Sarah Anne. It was simply as Beatrice Collett that, five
years later, she married Richard F Holtom, their wedding recorded at the
Warwickshire register office in Shipston-on-Stour (Ref. 6d 5) during the second
quarter of 1916. Their marriage produced
five children, the births of all of them recorded at Shipston-on-Stour, when
the mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Collett. They were Douglas F Holtom (1917), Geoffrey
Holtom (1918), Ronald D Holtom (1922), Leslie B Holtom (1927),
and Daphne B Holtom (1929). In
her later years, it is known that Beatrice Holtom lived at 2 Greenway Road at
Blockley, near Moreton-in-Marsh
Harry
Truby George Collett [3P6] was born at Gloucester in 1895, his birth recorded there
(Ref. 6a 110) during the first three months of that year. He was the third child and eldest son of
Henry Truby Collett and Henrietta Guy.
As Harry Truby Collett and Harry T G Collett respectively, in the
Gloucester City censuses of 1901 and 1911, he was living there with his family
aged six years and 16 years. Having
already left school by the time of the latter, his occupation was that of a
general labourer involved with the sewing of sheets. Harry was in his late twenties, when the
marriage of Harry T G Collett and Maud Harris was recorded at Gloucester
register office (Ref. 6a 44) during the third quarter of 1924. Just under one year later, Harry and Maud had
a son who was also born at Gloucester, believed to be their only child
3Q2 – Frederick H
Collett
was born in 1925 at Gloucester
Albert Edward Charles Collett [3P7] was born at Gloucester
on 22nd April 1898, the second son and fourth child of Henry and
Henrietta Collett. On the occasion of
the Gloucester census in both 1901 and 1911 he was recorded with his family
respectively as Albert E C Collett who was two and Albert E Collett who was
12. He was 26 when he married Dorothy
Beatrice Gibbins at St Stephen’s Church in Gloucester on 23rd August
1924. Dorothy was 27 and had been born
on 9th November 1898, the daughter of Alfred Albert Edward Gibbins,
while Albert Edward Charles Collett was confirmed as the son of Henry Truby
Collett. At this moment in time it is
not known if the marriage produced any children for Albert and Dorothy. What is known is that Dorothy Beatrice
Collett nee Gibbins was 80 years of age when she passed away in 1977, her death
recorded at Gloucester register office (Vol. 22 1683) during September that
year. The death of widower Albert Edward
C Collett aged 81 was also recorded at Gloucester (Vol. 22 2170) in March 1980
Sidney Arthur John Collett [3P8] was born at Gloucester
in 1900 the youngest child of Henry Truby Collett and his wife Henrietta. When Sidney was one-year-old, he and his
family were recorded in the census of 1901 at the Gloucester parish of St Nicholas,
while they were still there in 1911 when Sidney A J Collett was 11. The birth of Sidney Arthur J Collett was
recorded at Gloucester register office (Ref. 6a 330) during the second quarter
of 1900. He was 38 when he was married
using his full name of Sidney Arthur John Collett at Maisemore, just north of
Gloucester on 1st August 1938.
The record on that day confirmed he was the son of Henry Trilby (?)
Collett, while his bride was Phyllis Shepherd aged 33, the daughter of
Frederick Shepherd. After twenty-six
years together Sidney and Phyllis were residing at 1 Swinley Cottages in
Maisemore when Sidney Arthur John Collett died at the Gloucester Royal Hospital
on 20th October 1964, following which he was buried at
Maisemore. Administration of his estate
of Ł1,050 was granted in favour of his widow Phyllis Collett by the probate
office in Gloucester on 8th December 1964. She survived her husband by nineteen years,
when the death of Phyllis Collett nee Shepherd, aged 78, was recorded at
Gloucester register office (Vol. 22 1721) during September 1983. The death certificate also confirmed that she
had been born on 26th April 1905
Florence Ada Collett [3P9] was born at Birmingham
in 1887, her birth recorded there (Ref. 6d 336) during the third quarter of
that year. In the census conducted in
1891 the family was identified at Artillery Street in Bordesley where Florence
Ada Collett was three years of age, the only child living with her parents
Frederick William Collett and Kate Bedwell.
After a further ten years Florence A Collett was 13 and still living
with her family, but at Lawrence Street Terrace in Birmingham. Just over seven years later Florence Ada Collett
from Birmingham married either Charles Burton or John William Proctor at Aston
(Ref. 6d 731) during the third quarter of 1908
Fred William Collett [3P10] was very likely born at
Artillery Street in Bordesley, Birmingham on 22nd July 1892, the
only known son of Frederick William Collett and Kate Bedwell. His birth was recorded in Aston, Birmingham
(Ref. 6d 136), during the third quarter of that year, while it was on 7th
August 1892 that he was baptised there, the son of Fred Wm and Kate
Collett. By 1901 Fred W Collett was
eight years of age and living with his family at Lawrence Street Terrace in
Birmingham, while it was at 45 Gopsall Street in Duddeston, Birmingham in 1911,
by which time Fred W Collett was 18 and had the occupation of a cost clerk with
Drewy surgical manufacturers. Fourteen
years after that, Fred W Collett from Birmingham married Amy I M Noble at
Birmingham (Ref. 6d 99) during the second quarter of 1925. Around one year later, Amy presented Fred
with a son while they were still living in the Birmingham area of the country.
Nothing further is currently known about Fred and Amy, except that Fred William
Collett was living in Weston-super-Mare when he died at the age of 87. It was at Weston register office (Vol. 22
1207) that his passing was recorded during the month of September in 1979
3Q3 – Graham Frederick
Collett
was born in 1926 at Birmingham
Joseph Truby Wilks Collett [3P15] was born at Naunton as
Joseph Truby Collett on 24th March 1903, the base-born son and only
child of Charlotte Lavinia Collett from Shipton Oliffe. He and his mother were taken in by widower
John Wilks (1848-1914) from Milton-under-Wychwood in Oxfordshire at his home in
Naunton, for whom his mother was the housekeeper. The birth of Joseph Truby Collett was
recorded at Stow-on-the-Wold register office (Ref. 6a 431) during the second
quarter of 1903 and he was eight years old in the Naunton census of 1911 when
he was named as Joseph Wilks. At the
time of his marriage to Clara Reeves at North Cotswold register office (Ref. 6a
2098) during the third quarter of 1940 he was recorded as Joseph T W
Collett. Very little else is known about
Joseph except that the death of Joseph Truby W Collett was recorded at North
Cotswold register office (Vol. 22 1966) during December 1983 when he was 80
years old
Harry George Collett [3P16] was born at North
Cerney, either at the end of 1868 or early in 1869, the eldest child of Robert
Collett and Jane Bennett. His birth was
recorded at Cirencester (Ref. 6a 258) during the first three months of 1869. By the time of the census in 1871, his
parents and his just-born baby sister Mary (below), were living in the
Kingsholm district of the City of Gloucester, when two-year-old Harry Collett
from North Cerney was living there with his grandparents, George and Jane
Bennett and their three youngest children.
Over the next ten years four more children were added to the family
which, by the time of the next census in 1881, was living at Fosse Bridge Villa
in Oxford Road, in North Hamlet Gloucester.
It was on that occasion that he was recorded as Harry G Collett from
North Cerney who was 12 years old.
During 1889, Harry’s father died and, by 1891 Harry Collett, aged 22 and
a grocer’s assistant, was the eldest of the six children still living at Oxford
Road in Gloucester with his widowed mother
It was during the second quarter of 1895, that
the marriage of Harry G Collett from North Cerney and Fanny Phillips from
Birmingham was recorded at Gloucester (Ref. 6a 238). Fanny had been born in Birmingham in 1868 and
in 1891 she was 22 and a general domestic servant at the home of the large
Smith family on London Road within the Wotton St Mary parish of
Gloucester. By the time of the next
census in 1901, the marriage had produced the first three children for the
couple. Harry Collett from North Cerney
was 32, and his occupation was that of a grocer’s assistant, while he and his
family were still living in Gloucester.
It is possible that it was at the same grocer’s shop that his younger
brother Robert (below) was employed as a clerk. His wife Fanny Collett was also 32, and their
three children at that time were William who was three, Harry who was one year
old, and Emily Collett who was five months old, all of them born at Gloucester
Two more children were added to the family
during the next two years, when they were still living in Gloucester. Then, during the following five years, the
family moved to Charlton Kings, near Cheltenham, where the couple’s last two
children were born, and where Robert’s unmarried sister Ellen was also living
in 1911. The family by that time, living
at Parkville on Lyefield Road, comprised Harry G Collett from North Cerney who
was 42 and the manager of a grocer’s shop owned by the Co-Operative Society, his
wife Fanny Collett from Birmingham who was also 42 and their six children. They were William R Collett aged 13, Harry G
Collett aged 11, Emily M Collett who was nine, Ethel F Collett who was eight,
Albert E Collett who was seven, and Charles S Collett who was two years
old. It was under the name Harry George
Collett that his estate of Ł698 4 Shillings was settled at Gloucester on 2nd
September 1952. The administration of
his estate confirmed that he had died on 11th July 1952, while a
patient at The Delancey Hospital in Cheltenham, when his home address was 19
Cleeve View Road in Cheltenham. It was
his eldest son William Robert Collett, a cashier, who the assigned as the
administrator of his father’s personal effects.
The death of Harry G Collett was recorded at Cheltenham register office
(Ref. 7b 147), when he was 83 years of age
3Q4 – William Robert
Collett
was born in 1897 at Gloucester
3Q5 – Harry George
Collett was born in 1899 at Gloucester
3Q6 – Emily May Collett was born in 1901 at
Gloucester
3Q7 – Ethel F Collett
was born in 1902 at Gloucester
3Q8 – Albert E Collett
was born in 1903 at Charlton Kings
3Q9 – Charles S Collett
was born in 1908 at Charlton Kings
Mary Jane, who was only five feet tall, was
known within the family as Polly. It was
just over two years later that Mary Jane married baker Charles George Guest
from Churchdown in Gloucester on 18th September 1893. By the time of the Gloucester census in 1901
their marriage had produced four children for the couple. Charles Guest was 29, Mary Guest was 30, Albert
Guest was six, Harold Guest was four, Percival Guest was two, and Charles Guest
was still under one year old. Tragically,
around the time of his second birthday Charles junior died, with the next child
born into the family in early 1904 also being given the name of Charles. In addition to him, two further children were
added to the family in the years up to the census in 1911
It was the occupation of Charles
George Guest as a baker that took the family to Cinderford in the Forest of
Dean in the spring of 1910, and it was there that the couple’s last child was
born. At Cinderford the family resided
at 24 Littledean Hill Road from where Charles was the manager of the
Co-operative Wholesale Society Bakery department in the town. The house remained the home of the Guest
family until the death of Mary Jane Guest nee Collett on 22nd May
1946 when she was living there with her married son Albert and his family. According
to the census return for 1911 the enlarged family was living at 24 Littledean Hill Road in Cinderford, within the
Westbury-on-Severn registration district.
Charles Guest was 39, Mary Guest, was 40, Albert Guest was 16, Harold
Guest was 14, Percival Guest was 12, Charles Guest was seven, Dorothy Guest was
five, and Edward Guest was only eleven months old. The later death of Mary J Guest was recorded
at the Forest of Dean register office (Ref. 6a 18) during the second quarter of
1946, when she was 75 years of age
More details of their seven children are as
follows: Albert Robert Guest was born on 23rd March 1895 and died on 9th
February 1965. He was the father of
Pamela (Pam) Green nee Guest, born in 1932, who kindly provided these new
details, and her two brothers John Guest, who was born in 1924, and
Michael Guest who was born in 1928, both of whom are living in Australia in
2013. The
other six children of Charles and Mary Jane were: Harold Charles George
Guest was born on 17th September 1896 and was awarded an MBE
during his later life; Percival John Guest was born on 16th
December 1898 and he was killed in France during the First World War on 27th
May 1918, his name one of those listed on the on Soisson Memorial; Charles
Victor Guest was born on 27th November 1900 and he died on 22nd
November 1902; Charles Victor Guest was born on 7th January
1904 and was awarded an OBE during his life; Dorothy May Guest was born
on 21st August 1906 and died on 2nd September 1906; and Edward
Reginald Guest was born in May 1910 and was killed in action in France
during the Second World War on 19th August 1944, where he was buried
at the Bayeux Cemetery
Frederick William Collett [3P18] was born at Gloucester
in 1873, the third child and second son of Robert and Jane Collett. His birth was recorded at Gloucester (Ref. 6a
175) during the third quarter of that year.
In 1881 he was Frederick W Collett, aged seven years, living with his
family at Fosse Bridge Villa in Oxford Road, North Hamlet of Gloucester. In the census of 1891, and following the
death of his father just a few years earlier, Frederick had moved out of the
family home in Gloucester, and was an inmate at the Gloucester County Lunatic
Asylum at Wootton St Mary within the Kingsholm registration district of
Gloucester, where his sister Mary Jane (above) was recorded at that
time. Frederick William Collett was 18
on that occasion, when he was described as an idiot and an errand boy. By the time of the next census in 1901 he was
still a patient at the Lunatic Asylum, when he was recorded as Frederick
William Collett, aged 28, having no occupation.
It was the same situation ten years later in the census of 1911, when
unmarried Frederick William Collett, aged 38 and from Gloucester, was recorded
as living at Gloucester County Lunatic Asylum, an institution within the
Barnwood sub-registration district of Gloucester, as he had been ten years
earlier. It was nearly nine years later
that Frederick William Collett died at the age of 47, his death recorded at
Gloucester register office (Ref. 6a 118) during the last three months of 1920
Ellen Louisa Collett [3P19] was born at Gloucester
in 1876, the daughter of Robert and Jane Collett, her birth recorded there
(Ref. 6a 41) during the second quarter of the year. It was as Ellen L Collett that she was listed
with her family in the census of 1881, when she was four years old. At that time the family was living at Fosse
Bridge Villa in Oxford Road, North Hamlet of Gloucester. With the death of the father around five
years later, Ellen continued to live with her mother in Gloucester well into
her twenties. In the census of 1891 she
was 14 and, ten years later in 1901, Ellen Collett aged 24 was looking after
her elderly widowed mother, one of only two children still living at the home
on Oxford Road in Gloucester. Towards
the end of the following year, her mother passed away, and that was when Ellen
was forced to seek employment, resulting in her leaving Gloucester for pastures
new. At the age of 35, Ellen Louisa
Collett was still single when she was a general domestic servant employed by
fifty-year-old Pattie Pyne at her home in Prestbury, near Charlton Kings,
Cheltenham, in the April census of 1911
Robert Spencer Collett [3P20] was born at Gloucester
in 1878, the third son of Robert Collett and Jane Bennett, with his birth
recorded there (Ref. 6a 81) during the third quarter of that year, using his
full name. He was two years old in the
North Hamlet, Gloucester census of 1881.
He was living with his family at Fosse Bridge Villa in Oxford Road,
where his father died before Robert reached ten years of age. In 1891 Robert was living with his widowed
mother in Gloucester at the age of 12, but eight years later he became a
married man. It was during the first
three months of 1899, that the marriage of Robert Spencer Collett and Vitilena
Emma Griffiths was recorded at Gloucester register office (Ref. 6a 169). According to the Gloucester census in March
1901 Robert Collett, aged 22 and from Gloucester, was a clerk working for a
grocer in the city. By that time his
marriage had been blessed with a daughter who, it would appear later, would be
the couple’s only child. Robert’s wife
was named as Vitilena Collett, who was also 22 and from Gloucester, while their
daughter Daisy Collett was just four months old. It was the same situation ten years later
when, on the occasion of the census in 1911 Robert Collett was 32, as was his
wife Vitilena Collett, while their daughter Daisy Collett was 10 years old
It was as Robert Spencer Collett that he died
on 16th October 1924, when he was living at 19 Furlong Road in
Gloucester with his wife. The death of
Robert S Collett was recorded at Gloucester register office (Ref. 6a 100) at
the age of 46. His estate was valued at
Ł429 1 Shilling and 11 Pence and his Will was proved at Gloucester on 31st
October 1924, when the money was bequeathed to his widow Vitilena Emma
Collett. She survived her husband by a
further seventeen years and when Vitilena Emma Collett nee Griffiths passed
away on 1st February 1942 she was still living at 19 Furlong Road. The Will of Vitilena Emma Collett was proved
at Gloucester on 10th March 1942 when the sole executor was named as
Florence Annie Carter, the wife of Peter Thompson Carter, the estate being
valued at Ł687 4 Shillings and 10 Pence
3Q10 – Daisy Florence
Collett
was born in 1900 at Gloucester
Martha Kate Collett [3P21] was born
at Gloucester near the end of 1880, the daughter of Robert and Jane Collett,
her birth recorded at Gloucester (Ref. 6a 260) during the last three months of
that year. Martha K Collett was five
months old in the census of 1881 when she was living with her family at Fosse
Bridge Villa in Oxford Road, North Hamlet of Gloucester. Sometime after that day, Martha Kate was
henceforth known as Kate Martha, and it was as Kate Collett, aged nine years,
that she was recorded in 1891 living with her widowed mother, following the
death of her father two years earlier, at Oxford Road in Gloucester. By 1901 she was Kate M Collett, aged 21 and
from Gloucester, who was living in Minchinhampton, where she was working as a
domestic housemaid for elderly couple Charles and Isabella Bowstead. Three years later, the marriage of Kate
Martha Collett and George Atkins-Green was recorded at the Staffordshire
Lichfield register office (Ref. 6a 111) during the second quarter of 1904
George had been born at Burntwood in
Staffordshire, where the couple set up home, and where their children were
born. By 1911, Kate Martha Atkins-Green,
aged 30 and from Gloucester, had given her husband three children. George Atkins-Green was 37 and a colliery
clerk, Herbert Spencer Atkins-Green was six, John William
Atkins-Green was three, and Charles Robert Atkins-Green was
one-year-old. Three more children were
added to the family after 1911, all of the births recorded at Lichfield
register office, when the mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Collett on each
occasion. In the second quarter of 1913
it was Nellie E Atkins-Green (Ref. 6b 52), in the third quarter of 1915
it was Albert E Atkins-Green, and during the second quarter of 1921 the
last child was Hilda M Atkins-Green.
Curiously, all three births were also recorded there under the singular
surname of Green, and with different reference numbers
“Death
from asphyxia from coal-gas poisoning, the deceased having taken her own life
while the balance of her mind was disturbed, was the verdict recorded by the
City Coroner Mr Trevor Wellington at the inquest yesterday afternoon on Miss E L
Collett, age 68, of 26 Parkend Road (in Gloucester). The verdict was in accordance
with the evidence of Doctor E N Davey who had made a post-mortem
examination. Evidence of identification
was given by Daisy Florence Collett [3Q10], clerk, of 19 Furlong Road, Gloucester, a
niece. She said her aunt had been
depressed for some time past as the result of an illness a year or more
ago. On Wednesday afternoon the witness
had been told her aunt had been found dead in bed.”
Albert Edward Collett [3P23] was born at Gloucester
on 18th July 1885, and that very likely took place at Oxford Road
where his family was living in 1881, and where he and his mother were living in
1901, following the death of his father Robert Collett not long after Albert
was born. At the time of the census in
1891, as the youngest child in the family, Albert was five years old when he
was living with his mother in the St John the Baptist area of Gloucester and
five of his siblings. In the March
census of 1901, Albert E Collett was still living with his widowed mother Jane
Collett, at the family home at 87 Oxford Road in the St Catherine parish of
Gloucester. The only other member of the
family still living there with them as Albert’s older sister Ellen Collett who
was 24. Albert, who was 15 and had been
born at Gloucester, was the only member of the household who was in
employment. On leaving school, it would
appear that he was possibly working at the offices of a local newspaper,
because his occupation was listed as a junior clerk (press)
It was at the end of that decade that Albert
Edward Collett married Mabel Eveline Longmore at West Bromwich, the event being
recorded there (Ref. 6b 1240) during the second quarter of 1910. Just less than one year later, Albert Edward
Collett aged 25 and from Gloucester, was working as a clerk with a printing company, when he was
living in West Bromwich on the day of the census in April 1911. Living with him was his wife Mabel Eveline
Collet who was also 25. The couple had
no children at that time, although Mabel was pregnant with their only child,
who was born later that same year. After
the Second World War Albert and Mabel were residing at 48 Nicholls Street in
West Bromwich when Albert Edward Collett died as a patient at Hallam Hospital
in the town on 1st August 1952.
Probate of his Will was granted to his widow Mabel Eveline Collett at
Birmingham, when his estate was valued at Ł2,121 10 Shillings and 5 Pence. His wife was born on 16th February
1886 and she died at West Bromwich in 1969, at the age of 83, where her death
was recorded (Ref. 9b 64) during the third quarter of that year
3Q11 – Phyllis Mabel
Collett
was born in 1911 at West Bromwich
Robert
Henry Collett [3P24] was
born at Birmingham on 1st September 1877, but was baptised at
Chedworth, the eldest child of Philip H Collett and his wife Catherine M
Cooke. However, by 1880 he and his
family were living in Cheltenham where his sister Kate was born that same
year. According to the census of 1881
Robert and his family were living at 2 Portman Terrace in Cheltenham from where
his father was a boot and shoemaker, when Robert H Collett from Birmingham was
three years old. After a few years
Robert’s family left Cheltenham when they moved to Kingham in Oxfordshire,
where Robert H Collett was 13 in 1891.
It is not clear where Robert was at the time of the next census in 1901,
when he would have been 23, so perhaps he was in the army and serving overseas,
like many young men at that time of the Boer War. However, he was once again living in England
shortly after that, since he married Edith Lillian Hollis at Medway in Kent
where the marriage was recorded during the last three months of 1903 (Ref. 2a
1291). with whom he had two children before the next census day in April 1911
Edith Lillian was six years younger than
Robert, having been born around 1883.
The census in 1911 recorded the family of four still living in the
Medway area of Kent. Robert’s place of
birth was again confirmed as Birmingham and his age was 33, compared to his
wife who was 27. Listed with them were
their two children Robert Henry Collett who was six years old and May Catherine
Collett who was four and was named after Robert’s mother. Tragically it was just less than ten years
later that Robert Henry Collett died at Chatham in Kent while based at Brompton
Barracks. Administration of his estate
of Ł180 18 Shillings was granted to his widow Edith Lilian Collett, which
confirmed his date of death as 26th January 1921 while at 22a Block,
WO Quarters at Brompton Barracks, where he was most likely a Warrant Officer at
the age of 43
3Q12 – Robert Henry Collett
was
born in 1904 at Medway, Kent
3Q13 – May Catherine Collett
was born in 1906 at Medway, Kent
Kate Marianne Collett [3P25] was born at 2 Portman
Terrace in Cheltenham on 10th May 1880, the only daughter of Philip
and Catherine Collett, her birth recorded at Cheltenham (Ref. 6a 246). It was also at Portman Terrace that Kate M
Collett was eleven months old in the census of 1881, although no further record
of her has been found
Frederick
William Collett [3P26] was born at Cheltenham during 1882, the son of Philip and
Catherine Collett, his birth recorded using his full name at Cheltenham (Ref.
6a 190) during the first three months of the year. After Cheltenham, his family lived in Surrey
for a short while before moving to Kingham in Oxfordshire where they were
living in 1891, when Frederick W Collett was eight. It was as Frederic W Collett, aged 18 from
Cheltenham, that he was still living with his family in 1901, when the census
that year confirmed that he was employed as a publisher’s assistant. During the next decade Frederick and his
parents moved again, on that occasion to Walmley, to the south of Sutton
Coldfield in the West Midlands, where Frederick Collett, aged 28 and from
Cheltenham, was still a bachelor and a bookseller’s assistant. However, it was during the last quarter of
that same year that Frederick Collett married Florence Elizabeth Merritt, the
event being registered at Cheltenham (Ref. 6a 1001). It would appear that Frederick and Florence
lived all of their married life in Cheltenham, since it was there on 1st
January 1950 that Florence Elizabeth Collett died. Her Will was proved at Gloucester on 22nd
February that same year
Philip
Douglas Collett [3P27] was born at Bisley near Woking in Surrey on 1st
April 1889 to Philip H Collett, a boot and shoe maker from Chedworth, and his
wife Catherine M Collett of Road in Somerset.
Shortly after he was born, his birth was recorded at the Chertsey
register office (Ref. 2a 54), following which his parents left Surrey and
settled in the Oxfordshire village of Kingham, and it was there he was living
with his family in 1891 when he was described as Philip D Collett, aged two
years from Surrey. Philip was still
living there ten years later in 1901, although for some reason on that occasion
he was recorded in the Kingham census by his parents as simply Douglas Collett,
a schoolboy of 12 years. His place of
birth was confirmed as Bisley in Surrey.
It was ten years later, and during the first three months of 1911, that
Philip Douglas Collett married Ella Wilmot Mildon who was born at Kings Worthy
near Winchester in 1888, the daughter of domestic gardener George Richard
Mildon and his wife Emma. The marriage took place at Salisbury when the two
witnesses were named as Walter E Earney and Lotta Lodge. The fact that no member of either family was
present might be because Ella was already with-child, since shortly thereafter
they settled in the Poole area of Dorset where their son was born just a few
months later
The census at the end of March 1911 confirmed
that the childless couple was living within the Poole registration district
when Philip Douglas Collett from Bisley was 22, as was his wife Ella Wilmot
Collett whose place of birth was recorded as Kingsworthy. Over the following years Ella presented
Philip with a total of three children who were all born while the couple was
still residing within the Poole area.
One other member of the Collett family was also recorded as living
within that same census area in 1911 and he was bachelor Reginald Collett, aged
20, who had been born at Dorchester in Dorset.
For further information about Reginald and his branch of the Collett
family go to Part 49 – The Kirtlington (Oxon) to California Line under [49P13]
3Q14 – Denis Frederick Jack Mildon Collett was born in 1911
at Poole, Dorset
3Q15 – Eric Philip Douglas
Collett
was born in 1914 at Poole, Dorset
3Q16 – Peggy N Collett was born in 1916 at
Poole, Dorset
Anne
Priscilla Collett [3P28], who was referred to as Nancy, was born
at Cheltenham in 1892. So far, no record
of Nancy, or her mother and father, nor her brother Cecil, has been found in
the 1901 Census. On 4th
February 1910, when she was 17 years of age, Nancy entered service with the
General Post Office. That was confirmed
by the April census of 1911 in which she was listed as Anne Priscilla Collett
aged 18 of Cheltenham who, at that time, was living with her parents at ‘St
Brandon’ in Haywards Road in Charlton Kings.
Her occupation was stated as being that of a Post Office assistant. Following the death of her father in 1940,
Anne’s mother Anna Phillipine Collett was living at Inglenook, 12 St Julian’s
Avenue at Ludlow in Shropshire when she died ten years later. And it was Anne Priscilla Collett, a
spinster, who was the sole executor of her estate. The only other known fact about Anne
Priscilla Collett is that she died during 1978 at the age of 85
Cecil
John Collett [3P29] was
born at Charlton Kings in 1895. No
record of him or his family has been found anywhere in Britain in 1901 but by
April 1911 they were back living at Charlton Kings. The census at that time recorded Cecil as
being 15 and not in employment, so perhaps he was still at school. He was still living with his parents at their
home in Haywards Road in Charlton Kings at a house named ‘St Brandon’. A few years later, around the time of the
start of the Great War, Cecil wrote a letter to his parents before he departed
for Cairo to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. Later in the campaign he ended up in
France. As Sapper C J Collett 452448 he
was a member of 74th Division of the Signals Regiment of the Royal
Engineers. Sadly, Cecil died on 4th
November 1918, one week before the Armistice was signed by the Germans
He was buried in the churchyard at Yarpole
north-west of Leominster and the inscription on his headstone indicates that he
died from the effects of gas poisoning.
And it was at that same churchyard in Yarpole that Cecil’s grandparents
John and Phillipine were also buried.
John and Phillipine were the great grandparents of John Cross who kindly
provided new information about Hubert Collett and his two children Nancy and
Cecil. Upon the death of John’s great
aunt Anne Priscilla [Nancy] Collett (above) in 1978 John Cross was
presented with a First World War Memorial plaque made out in the name of
Nancy’s brother Cecil John Collett. Croft Castle, a National Trust
property, near Yarpole, lies within the civil parish of Croft & Yarpole and
includes a plaque commemorating those lost in both World Wars. Under the list for 1914 – 1918 the fifth name
is that of Spr C J Collett of the Royal Engineers
Olive
Elizabeth Collett [3P30] was born at Birmingham on 4th September 1893
where she was living with her parents in April 1901 at the age of seven. Ten years later, after leaving school, she
was working with her sister Jessie (below) as a pawnbroker’s assistant
at the age of 17, while she was still living with her family at 37 Montpellier
Street in the Sparkbrook district of Birmingham. It is likely that she never married since the
death of an Olive Collett aged 95 died at Birmingham where her passing was
recorded (Vol. 32 514) during December 1988
Jessie
Priscilla Collett [3P31] was born at Birmingham on 25th January 1895 and
in 1901 at the age of six years that was where she was recorded as living with
her family. Like her sister Olive (above),
Jessie also took up employment as a pawnbroker’s assistant on leaving
school. At sixteen years of age in April
1911 she was still living with her parents at the family home at 37 Montpellier
Street in Sparkbrook, just south of Birmingham’s city centre. It would seem that she never married, since
she was recorded as Jessie Priscilla Collett at the time of her death at
Birmingham (Vol. 32 0461) during the last three months of 1978 when she was 83
Alfred
Martin Collett [3P33] was born at Birmingham in 1899, a son of Henry and
Elizabeth Collett. Alfred was one year
old in the Birmingham census of 1901 and by 1911 he and his family were living
at 37 Montpellier Street in the Sparkbrook district of Birmingham where Alfred
Martin Collett 11 years old. Alfred
Martin Collett was only 17 when he died, his premature death recorded at Aston
register office (Ref. 6d 337) during the third quarter of 1916
Hubert
John Collett [3P34] was
born at Birmingham in 1907, the youngest son of Henry Martin Collett and his
wife Elizabeth. He was three years old
in the census of 1911, but tragically died during the summer of 1914 when he
was only seven years of age. His death
was recorded at the Aston register office (Ref. 6d 386) during the third
quarter of the year
Ebenezer William Collett [3P36] was born on 27th
July 1899 at Lower Chedworth and was baptised at the Chedworth Independent
Church on 3rd September 1899.
Not long after he was born his family left Chedworth and by March 1901
they were living in village street at Ampney St Mary where Ebenezer was one
year. Within a year or so the family
moved again, that time to nearby Ampney Crucis where Ebenezer’s brother Henry
John Collett (below) was born.
Sadly, it was also around that time, when the boys’ mother died,
following which the family returned to live at Ampney St Mary. By April 1911 Ebenezer was eleven and he was
living at Ampney St Mary with his brother and his father who had taken a second
wife by then. Ebenezer later married
Daisy Bickham but they had no children of their own. Instead they adopted (1) Ivor from
Barnoldswick in Lancashire who was later known in the family as Bill after his
adopted father, and (2) Judy Bickham the illegitimate daughter of Daisy’s
sister. The family lived at Ledbury in Herefordshire
where Ebenezer worked in the grocery trade.
The family later moved to Swansea where they had their own grocery
shop. Ebenezer died at Swansea in 1974
aged 75, Daisy having died eight years earlier in 1966
Violet was born midway between Faringdon and
Witney at Langford on 28th March 1905 and at the time of the
marriage was living with her shepherd father Albert Bridges and her mother Ada
nee Whittock at Home Farm in Cokethorpe south of Witney. Prior to the wedding she was in service at Hatherop
Castle and later took up the role of cook at Burford Cottage Hospital. Henry later became a baker at Scott’s in the
High Street at Burford. He died from a
heart attack on 31st December 1975 while living at 3 Wydom Way in
Burford. The death certificate recorded
he was a retired baker. Present at the
death was son Gordon John Collett who at that time was living at South Terrace,
Station Road in Brize Norton. Rightly or
wrongly, Henry’s death certificate gave his place of birth as Ampney Crucis
rather than Ampney St Peter. His wife
Violet passed away on 9th April 1988 at Widford midway between
Burford and Asthall. Present at the
death was son Gordon John Collett who was then living at Plumado, Station Road
in Brize Norton
3Q17 – Gordon John
Collett
was born in 1932 at Burford, Oxfordshire
3Q18 – Christopher
Francis Michael Collett was born in 1933 at Burford, Oxfordshire
3Q19 – Andrew Stephen Collett was born in 1949 at
Burford, Oxfordshire
Daisy Gladys Wake Collett [3P38] was born at Cheltenham
in 1888 and was the only known child of John Rowland Charles Collett and his
cousin Elizabeth Johanna Wake Rowland.
Her birth as simply Daisy Gladys Collett was recorded at Cheltenham
(Ref. 6a 423) during the second quarter of 1888. Daisy G Collett was three years old in the
Cheltenham census of 1891 and by 1901 she and her family were living at 2
Exmouth Buildings in Cheltenham, next door to Daisy’s grandmother Ann
Rowland. That year she was included on
the census return as Daisy Gladys Collett from Cheltenham who was 13 years of
age, and she was still there with her parents in April 1911 when she was
23. Both of her parents were still alive
when Daisy was married in 1918. That
happy event was the first time her full name was used, since it was as Daisy
Gladys Wake Collett aged 28, and the daughter of John Rowland Charles Collett,
that she married Stanley Augustus Atkins aged 27, the son of August
Atkins. That took place on 26th
December 1918 at St Mary’s Church in Cheltenham and was recorded at Cheltenham
register office (Ref. 6a 992). The
marriage produced three children over the next seven years, but tragically the
youngest child was only two years old when Daisy Gladys Wake Atkins died at the
end of July 1927 at the age of 39, following which she was buried at Cheltenham
on 4th August 1927
Lambert John Howard Gegg [3P39], who was known as
Howard, was born at Hawling during December 1894, just four months after his
parents were married. It was as Lambert
J H Gegg, aged five years, that he was recorded with his family in the Hawling census
of 1901. Where he was in 1911 has not
been discovered, but five years later he married Aileen Mary Robins-Masters in
1916. The marriage is known to have
produced four children for the couple, while Howard died in 1968
George Douglas Gegg [3P40] was born at Hawling in
1896 and was four years old in the Hawling census of 1901 when he was recorded
with his family as George D Gegg.
Following the death of his father in 1910 George Gegg, aged 14, was
living with his widowed mother at Charlton Kings. He was married twice in his life, the second
time to Hilda Alice Taylor, and he died in 1970
Constance E S Gegg [3P41], who was known as
Connie, was born at Hawling in 1898. She
was two years old at the time of the Hawling census of 1901, but sadly after
her father died in 1910 her mother took the family to live in Charlton Kings, while
Connie Gegg, aged 12 years, went to live with her elderly grandparents Howard
and Ellen Cheater at Withington, where she was recorded in 1911. It was later that she married Reginald (Reg)
Wood
Robert Ernest Gegg [3P42], who was known as Bob,
was born at Shornhill, near Withington, in 1904. Whilst he was missing from the family home at
Charlton kings in 1911, there was an entry for him on the census return stating
that he was born at Shornhill, and that he was four years old. Where he actually was on that occasion has
not been discovered. She was married
twice in his life, the first time in 1927 when he married Daisy, and later
Sadie with whom he had two children, Pamela Gegg and David Gegg. And it was David’s daughter Sarah Gegg who
kindly provided more details about the Gegg family
Albert Edward Gegg [3P44], who was known as Ted,
was born in 1908, just two years before his father died. By April 1911 Albert Gegg, aged two years,
was living at Charlton Kings with his widowed mother and three of his seven
siblings. He was around 24 years old
when he married Clarice Amy Ockwith in 1932, with whom he had a daughter Joan
who was born in 1933. Joan later married
Graham Parker and they had four children.
It is thanks to Joan Parker nee Gegg, together with Sarah Gegg (above),
that the Gegg family detailed have been expanded
VICTOR REGINALD GEGG [3P46] was born at
Cirencester in 1896 and was four years old in 1901 when he was recorded as
Reginald Victor Gegg. Ten years later in
the census of 1911 for Cirencester he was listed as Victor Reginald Gegg, aged
14. He later married Millicent Ann
Manners after the First World War with whom he had three children. He died in 1989. Of his two daughters, Janet Millicent Gegg
was born in 1939. She married (1) Alan
Beardmore who was born in 1934 and (2) Alan John Alexander Pritchard who was
also born in 1934. The first marriage
produced two children: Howard Beardmore who was born in 1963 and Katherine
Beardmore who was born in 1965. The
youngest of the two daughters was Susan Margaret Gegg was born in 1946
and she married Roger Sinclair Dyer who was born in 1945. Their marriage produced two children,
Caroline Jane Dyer (born in 1970) and Christopher James Dyer (born in 1975)
3Q20 – BRIAN REGINALD
GEGG
was born in 1931 at Stroud
Jessie
Lawrence Florida [3Q1] was born on 8th August 1899 at Dos Road in
Newport. She attended Crindau Elementary
School and was amongst the first intake at the new Higher Elementary School on
Stow Hill which she left when aged 14.
She married Edward John Charles on 16th September 1920 at St
Mark’s Church in Newport with her sister Mona as the only bridesmaid. Edward was born on 3rd August 1891
the son of Thomas Charles and Amelia Dix.
Prior to the wedding Jessie worked as a clerk in the office of Lovell’s
Sweet Factory, while Edward was a carpenter.
After the couple were married, they lived in furnished rooms in Malpas
Road but in 1922 prior to the birth of their first daughter the couple moved to
Bolton Street to live with Jessie’s parents.
Edward enlisted in the Royal Engineers in Cardiff on 5th
August 1914 and saw active service in France.
He was invalided out of the army in 1917 after collapsing while
suffering from fever and exposure. On
returning home he was employed at Newport Docks and continued working until he
was 70. Jessie died at Newport in
November 1962 thirty-six hours after being taken into St Woollos Hospital with
heart pains. The funeral was conducted
at a full-to-capacity All Saints Church which reflected the high regard in
which she was held by the local community.
She was buried in Malpas Churchyard.
Edward was deeply affected by the sudden death of his wife and, although
he lived on for another twelve years, he never really recovered from the
shock. Tragically he died in May 1974 in
the living room at the family home in Walford Street in Newport
The information on the couple’s eldest child,
have been carried forward. The youngest
daughter was Edwina Charles who was born at Newport on 21st
November 1926 and baptised at All Saint’s Church. She obtained a teaching certificate at
Stockwell Training College which enabled her to work at schools in Birmingham,
Newport, Singapore and Hong Kong. It was
while she was in Hong Kong in 1952 that she married Paul Cheetham. Paul, who was a textile salesman, was born on
23rd February 1930 and was from Lancashire. The couple had four children: Simon John
Cheetham who was born in 1952 and who died on 13th August 2005;
Judith Victoria Cheetham born on 3rd November 1954; Edward Llewelyn
Cheetham born in 1958; and Claerwen Marguerite Cheetham born on 22nd
October 1959. Tragedy struck the family
in 1974 when their son Edward, then only sixteen years of age, died as a result
of a tractor accident while in Ireland and was buried at Port Laoise. Edwina died on 3rd November 2005
in the Hereford County Hospital and was buried at Eardisley on 10th
November 2005
3R1 – Mavis Charles was born in 1922 at
Newport, Wales
Frederick
H Collett [3Q2]
was born at Gloucester in 1925, the only known child of Harry Truby George
Collett and Maud Harris. His birth was
recorded at Gloucester register office (Ref. 6a 91) during the first three
months of the year, when his mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Harris. He was thirty-three-years -old when the
marriage of Frederick H Collett and Ruby E M Barnard was recorded at the City
of Gloucester register office (Ref. 7b 70) during the last three months of
1958. The only record of any children
born into a parental partnership with the names Collett/Barnard, took place in
the East of England. Therefore, for
completeness, and in case they were the two children of Frederick and Ruby,
they have been included here until such time as it can be proved that they are,
or are not, the offspring of the couple from Gloucester. The birth of Valerie Collett was recorded at
Ipswich register office (Ref. 4b 45) during the fourth quarter of 1959, while
the birth of Bryan Richard Collett was recorded at Cambridge register office
(Ref. 4a 37) ten years later during the fourth quarter of 1969. In both cases, the mother’s maiden name was
Barnard
3R2 – Valerie Collett
was born in 1959 at Ipswich
3R3 – Bryan Richard
Collett was born in 1969 Bedford
Graham
Frederick Collett [3Q3] was born at Birmingham in 1926, his birth recorded at the
Birmingham North register office (Ref. 5d 49) during the second quarter of that
year, when his mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Noble. He was the only known child of Fred William
Collett and Amy I M Noble. It is
possible that he was the Graham F Collett who married Joan M Harrison, whose
marriage was recorded at Worthing register office (Ref. 5h 110) in Sussex during
the third quarter of 1954. But this has
not been proved
William
Robert Collett [3Q4] was
born in Gloucester in 1898, the eldest child of Harry George Collett and his
wife Fanny Phillips, whose birth was recorded at Gloucester register office
(Ref. 6a 273) during the first three months of the year. At the age of three years William was living
with his parents in Gloucester but, just after 1901, the family moved to
Cheltenham, where William R Collett was 13 in 1911. What exactly happened in the life of William
Robert Collett after that is not known at this time, although it is established
that he was still alive in 1952 when his father passed away. It was as the administrator of his father’s
estate that William Robert Collett, a cashier, was named at Gloucester on 2nd
September 1952. It was just nine years
later that William Robert Collett of 22 Spencer Road in Cheltenham died at
Coney Hill hospital in the Barnwood district of Gloucester on 18th
March 1961. Administration of his
personal estate of Ł9,017 5 Shillings and 5 Pence was granted to Emily May
Jones, the wife of Leslie Frank Jones, on 9th May that same
year. It is now known that Emily May
Jones was William’s eldest sister (below)
Emily May
Collett [3Q5] was
born at Gloucester towards the end of 1900, the third child and eldest daughter
of Henry and Fanny Collett. Her birth
was recorded at Gloucester register office (Ref. 6a 278) during the last
quarter of that year. As Emily M Collett
she was nine years old in the census of 1911 when she and her family had
settled at Parkville on Lyefield Road in Charlton kings near Cheltenham. It was sixteen years later when she married
Leslie F Jones at Gloucester (Ref. 6a 1017) during the second quarter of
1926. Upon the death of her brother
William (above) it was Emily May Jones, the wife of Leslie Frank Jones,
who was granted administration of his estate on 9th May 1961
Daisy
Florence Collett [3Q10] was born at Gloucester on 14th November 1900,
the only known child of Robert Spencer Collett (1878-1924) and his wife
Vitilena Emma Griffiths. In 1911 Daisy
was 10 years old in the census that year when she was living in Gloucester with
her parents. She was 24 and unmarried in
the autumn of 1924 when her father died, when the family home was recorded as
residing at 19 Furlong Road in Gloucester.
It was also at that same address that Daisy was living with her mother
when she passed away in 1942. Nine years
later in 1951 Daisy Florence Collett of 19 Furlong Road was report in the
Gloucester newspaper as being the niece of Miss E L Collett, aged 68, who had
taken her own life, with Daisy being named at the court hearing as the person
who identified the body. See Emily Lizzie
Collett [3P22] for more details. Daisy
never married and was still living in Gloucester when she died during April
1984 at the age of 83. The record of her
death at the Gloucester register office (Vol. 22 1823) also included her date
of birth as above
Phyllis
Mabel Collett [3Q11] was
born at West Bromwich during the second half of 1911. She was the only child of Albert Edward
Collett and his wife Mabel Eveline Longmore.
It would appear that, like her parents, she remained living in West
Bromwich where she married Frederick Charles King and had a daughter. It was also at West Bromwich that Phyllis
Mabel King nee Collett died on 11th November 1984
Robert
Henry Collett [3Q12] was
born at Medway in Kent during 1904, the eldest of the two children of Robert
Henry Collett and Edith Lilian Hollis.
He was six years old in the Medway census of 1911, and other than that,
all that is currently known about him is that he died in 1981
Denis
Frederick Jack Mildon Collett [3Q14] was born at Poole in Dorset in the summer of
1911, the eldest child of Philip Douglas Collett and Ella Wilmot Mildon who
were only married during the first three months of that year. His birth was recorded at the Poole register
office (Ref. 5a 469) during the third quarter of 1911. All that is currently known about him is that
he emigrated to Canada just before his nineteenth birthday and arrived in
Montreal on 7th June 1930. It
was also in Canada, at Barrie on the western edge of Lake Simcoe in Ontario,
that Denis Frederick Jack Mildon Collett died in 1983
Eric
Philip Douglas Collett [3Q15] was born at Poole in 1914, the son of Philip
and Ella Collett. He followed his older
brother Denis (above) to Canada, arriving there during 1931. He too died there, at Markham twenty miles
north of Toronto
Peggy N
Collett [3Q16] was
born at Poole in 1916 the last of the three children of Philip Douglas Collett
and Ella Wilmot Mildon. It was at the
London Battersea register office (Ref. 1d 50) that the marriage of Peggy N
Collett and Ronald F Pickard was recorded during the third quarter of
1944. Ronald’s birth had been recorded
at Bromley in Kent at the start of 1912.
Six years later, the birth of Jacqueline T A Pickard was recorded
at nearby Lambeth register office (Ref. 5c 61) during the third quarter of
1950, when her mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Collett
Gordon John Collett [3Q17], referred to as John,
was born on 22nd May 1932 at Burford and was baptised there at The
Church of St John Baptist on 25th June 1932. He was educated at Burford Primary School and
Burford Grammar School following which he served his National Service with the
Royal Air Force in Egypt. It was whilst
in Egypt that he met his future wife who was serving with the Women’s Royal Air
Force. He married Elizabeth (Betty)
Grace Thornley at Burford Church on 20th August 1955, she having
been born on 7th December 1932 and from Teddington. In the early part of their married life the
couple lived at Chipping Norton where all four of their children were born and
where John was a part-time retained member of the Oxfordshire County Fire
Service from 24th December 1957 to 30th September
1964. In his spare time John was an
enthusiastic campanologist and rang the bells at the churches near where he
lived. He learnt the art of campanology
while he was Head Chorister at St John the Baptist Church in Burford, during
which time the choir made two recordings on His Master’s Voice records. John also played football and cricket for
Burford while living there and later played cricket while living at Brize
Norton
After a spell working as a buyer for building
companies John set up his own roofing business working in the Cotswolds with
stone and slate, repairing and restoring roofs for the National Trust and
English Heritage. Upon his retirement,
youngest son Graham Leslie Collett took over the business. At the beginning of the twenty-first century
John and Betty were living at Boston in Lincolnshire, to where they later
returned after spending a couple of years living near Towcester Racecourse in
Northamptonshire. Betty Collett (Elizabeth Grace Thornley) died
peacefully in her sleep on the morning of 17th May 2010, at the age
of 77. A service of thanksgiving was
held on 28th May at St Botolph’s Church in Boston, locally known as
The Stump, where John and Betty were bell-ringers and active members of the
church. Some years after losing his
wife, John left Lincolnshire when he moved to Chipping Norton, and his eldest
son Martin, who had previously emigrated to Australia, returned to England and
in 2017 was living not far from John at Witney, also in Oxfordshire
3R4 – Martin John
Francis Collett
was born in 1956 at Chipping Norton
3R5 – Paul David
Collett
was born in 1959 at Chipping Norton
3R6 – Elizabeth Janet
Collett
was born in 1961 at Chipping Norton
3R7 – Graham Leslie
Collett
was born in 1963 at Chipping Norton
Christopher Francis Michael Collett [3Q18], referred to as Michael, was born in
1933. He married Marjorie Freeman who
was born in 1935 and they lived in Cheltenham.
Like his brother John Collett (above), he too was a keen
campanologist and also played football for Burford. For many years he worked for John Cook at
Witney Street in Burford, where he lived most of his life. He and Marjorie moved to the Isle of Wight in
their retirement years
3R8 – Michael Stuart
Collett
was born in 1957 at Oxford
3R9 – Derek S Collett was born in 1958 at
Chipping Norton
3R10 – Edward J Collett was born in 1963 at
Chipping Norton
Andrew Stephen Collett [3Q19] was born at Burford on St. Andrew's Day, 30th November 1949, where he lived for the majority of the
early part of his life, apart that is for a short time in Oxford. He married Fran Butler at Witney on 4th
April 1981, Fran having been born at Colchester during 1953. Once married the couple moved to live in
Kidlington, to the north of Oxford, to be nearer to Andrew’s place of work at
Blackwell’s Book Shop in Oxford where he was the New Titles Manager. It was at Blackwells that he was employed
from 1970 until 2006, and where Fran was employed from 1983 until she retired
in 2011. See [3O23] for an earlier
reference to Blackwells Book Shop and William King who also worked there. From 2006 until he retired in 2014 Andrew
worked at the University of Oxford in the Clinical Trial Service
Department. Following retirement, Andrew
and Fran left Oxfordshire when they moved to Bovey Tracey in Devon, as
confirmed by Andrew in the autumn of 2018
BRIAN REGINALD GEGG [3Q20] was born in 1931, his
birth recorded at Stroud register office (Ref. 6a 30) during the fourth quarter
of that year. The later marriage of
Brian Reginald Gegg and Rosemary Eileen May, who was born in 1929, was recorded
at Wokingham register office (Ref. 6a 132) during the third quarter of 1957. Their two eldest children were Graham
Nicholas Gegg who was born at Reading in 1960, who married Margaret S Hemming-Clarke
at Gravesend during the spring of 1993, with whom he had two daughters,
Charlotte Margaret Stella Gegg who was born in 1994 and Beatrice Rosemary
Rachel Gegg who was born in 1996, and Sarah Nicola Gegg who was born in
1964 and married James Michael de Jode at Henley in 1987, who was born in 1963
3R11 – ELIZABETH
CHARLOTTE GEGG
was born in 1972 at Reading
Mavis Charles [3R1] was born at Walford
Street in Newport on 11th February 1922 and was baptised at All
Saint’s Church, Newport that same year.
She attended Shaftesbury Street Infants and Crindau Elementary Schools
before completing her secondary education at Newport High School. A second-class honours degree in history and
a diploma in education were achieved while at St Hilda’s College in Oxford
which enabled her to take up the occupation of that of a history teacher. Her first teaching job was at Wolverhampton
where she taught at the Bilston Girls Grammar School from 1945 to 1947. On 1st August 1947 Mavis married
John Young at Sirhowey Registry Office in Gwent the son of Wyndham Young and
Gladys Lottie Hughes
John, who was known as Jack and who was born on
23rd July 1919 at Abertillery, was a metalwork and woodwork
teacher. Initially Mavis then worked at
various schools in Newport and between 1951 and 1957 she was a part-time
teacher at Crumlin Technical College prior to returning to full-time teaching
thereafter. From the day they were
married until 1957 the couple lived at 18 Victoria Road, Six Bells in
Abertillery where their three children were born. Jack then built a house in Hafodrynys which
they named Rivendell and in which they lived until their retirement in
1981. At that time the couple then moved
to Presteigne where they lived at 8 Scottleton Street. Shortly after Jack’s death on 9th
December 1983, Mavis bought a house with son John and his wife at Monkswood
near Usk where she lived until her death in 2001. Mavis died of an aneurism while in the
Neville Hall Hospital at Abergavenny on 15th February 2001. She donated her body for research at the
Cardiff Medical School at the hospital there
The first of the couple’s three children was Marion Young was born at Abertillery on 3rd June 1948. Her occupation was that of a
statistician. She married Ivor John
Clucas on 24th December 1971 at Willesden Green in London. Ivor, who kindly provided details of this
family line, was the son of Arthur William Clucas and Clarice Olive Brooks and
was born on 25th June 1947 at St Martin’s Hospital in Bath. Ivor’s occupation was that of a fish
technologist. The marriage produced two children: Alan Clucas who was born on 8th
April 1975 at Lusaka in Zambia and who later was employed as a computer
software design engineer; and Megan Clucas who was born on 20th May
1977. The two younger sons of Mavis and
John Young were David Young (born on 9th April 1951)
and John Charles Young (born on 16th September 1952
Martin John Francis Collett [3R4] was born at Chipping
Norton in Oxfordshire on 4th October 1956, the eldest of the four
children of Gordon John Collett and Elizabeth Grace Thornley. Following an education at Burford Primary and
Burford Secondary Schools, Martin joined Lloyds Bank in 1973 and served at
branches in Lechlade, Witney, Oxford and Burford. He married Mandy Anne Prior on 19th
July 1986 at Hailey Church in Hailey near Witney in Oxfordshire. Mandy was born at Witney on 12th
March 1960. The couple emigrated to
Australia on 19th February 1997, where they lived on the Gold Coast
of Queensland. Martin continued his
employment in banking, working at the Colonial State Bank and later at St
George Bank. Following in his father’s
footsteps, he played football and cricket and later became a football referee,
eventually being promoted to the rank of first-class referee. In 2014, after the couple had retired, Martin
and Mandy left Australia and had resettled in Oxfordshire, living at Witney,
not far from Chipping Norton, where Martin’s widowed father was also living at
that time
Paul
David Collett [3R5] was born on 9th
August 1959 at Chipping Norton. He
married Belinda Hughes who was born on 31st March 1961. At some point the couple moved to Aberdeen
where their children were born. The
family later moved to Toddington in Buckinghamshire and then spent two years in
Oman where Paul was an engineer working on a new oil refinery. At the end of the two years in 1999 the
family returned to live in Buckingham where they were still living in 2006
3S1 – Sarah Louise
Collett
was born in 1988 at Aberdeen
3S2 – Richard David Collett
was born on 11th October 1990 at Aberdeen
3S3 – James Collett was
born on 22nd April 1993 at Aberdeen
Elizabeth
Janet Collett [3R6] was born on 6th
April 1961 at Chipping Norton. She
married (1) David Mason before later marrying (2) Jonathan Millward on 30th
October 1999. Jonathan was born on 1st
March 1965. Elizabeth had one son,
Jonathon Mallows who, with Cisca, has a daughter Grace who was born on 26th
June 2016. The family lived in Higham
Ferrers for a while, before moving to Iepers in Belgium where they run a bed
and breakfast hotel
Graham
Leslie Collett [3R7] was born on 3rd
February 1963 at Chipping Norton, the last child of Gordon John Collett and
Elizabeth Grace Thornley. Graham L
Collett was thirty-two when he married Vivien Clare Fewtrell, nee Bond, who was
born on 27th September 1966, their wedding recorded at the West
Oxfordshire register office (Vol. 706) during the spring of 1995. Vivien already had a son Daniel born on 14th
January 1989, and presented Graham with a further three children, all three
births recorded at Oxford, when the mother’s maiden name was confirmed as
Bond. However, in 2006 the couple were
divorced
3S4 – Connor William
Collett was born on 30th June 1999 at Oxford
3S5 – Lucy May Collett
was born on 12th February 2001 at Oxford
3S6 – Charles Robert
Collett was born on 14th January 2004 at Oxford
Michael
Stuart Collett [3R8] was born in 1957, the
eldest of the three sons of Christopher Francis Michael Collett and Marjorie
Freeman, his birth recorded at Oxford register office (Ref. 6b 51) during the
third quarter of that year, when his mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Freeman. He later married Vanessa S Hastings who was
born in 1959, their marriage recorded at West Oxfordshire register office (Vol.
20 17) during the second quarter of 1982.
Vanessa presented Michael with two children, their birth recorded at
Oxford register office, when the mother’s maiden name was confirmed as
Hastings. Michael and Vanessa were later
divorced
3S7 – James Thomas
Collett was born in 1985 at Oxford
3S8 – Jennifer May
Collett was born in 1989 at Oxford
Derek S
Collett [3R9] was born in 1958, his
birth recorded at Chipping Norton register office (Ref. 6b 9) during the last
three months of the year, the second of the three sons of Christopher Francis
Michael Collett and Marjorie Freeman. He
married Phyllis H Sandalls, who was born in 1958, their wedding day recorded at
Cirencester during the summer in 1977, by which time, the first of their three
children attended the wedding. At the
time of the birth of the couple’s three children, the mother’s maiden name was
confirmed as Sandalls. Tragically Phyllis H Collett died aged just 33 years in
1991, and was buried at Chipping Norton Cemetery
3S9 – Stephen Collett
was born in 1975 at Swindon
3S10 – Cheryl Ann
Collett was born in 1979 at Cirencester
3S11 – Rachael Jane
Collett
was born in 1983 at Swindon
Edward J
Collett [3R10] was born in 1963, the
youngest of the three sons of Christopher Francis Michael Collett and Marjorie
Freeman, his birth recorded at Chipping Norton register office (Ref. 6b 37)
during the first three months of the year.
As with his two older brothers (above), the record of his birth
confirmed that his mother’s maiden name was Freeman. He later married twenty-year-old Sian E
Griffiths, who was born in 1968, their wedding recorded at Sedgemoor in
Somerset (Vol. 23) during the summer of 1988.
It is possible they had three children, all born in London, Jack
Jonathon Collett in 1993 at Hammersmith, Anna Marie Collett in 1996 at
Kensington, and Holly Rosie Collett in 1998 at Lambeth. In each case, the mother’s maiden name was
confirmed at Griffiths
ELIZABETH CHARLOTTE GEGG [3R11] was born in 1972, her
birth recorded at Reading register office (Ref. 6a 12) towards the end of that
year, when her mother’s maiden name was confirmed as May. She married Martin John Cairns [1S9] on 6th
November 1999 at the Park United Reform Church in Reading, the second of the
four sons of Mary Collett and Nicholas Cairns of Abingdon-on-Thames. See Part 1 – The Main Gloucestershire Line
for more details of that branch of the Collett Family
Sarah Louise Collett was born at Aberdeen on
9th August 1988, the eldest of the three children of Paul David
Collett and his wife Belinda Hughes. It
was on 28th April 2012 that Sarah married Oliver Stanley Walker at
Crockwell Farm near Canons Ashby in Northamptonshire. Their daughter, Abigail Walker, was born on
16th November 2016
Rachael Jane Collett was born in 1983, her birth recorded at Swindon register office, the
youngest child of Derek S Collett and Phyllis H Sandalls. Rachael gave birth to a son in
2001, the mother’s maiden name was recorded as Collett, at the Oxford register
office near the end of that year
3T1 - Lewis Collett was born in 2001 at Oxford
APPENDIX ONE
A SIGN OF THE TIMES
The following is a transcript taken from a
letter written on 12th March 1863 by Elizabeth Collett [3N3 & 2N33]
to her daughter Amelia Collett [3O22] immediately prior to her sixteenth
birthday. The letter indicates that
Amelia is probably in service and living away from home. It shows the concern of a mother as her
daughter approaches mature womanhood. It
says something about that era, which is sadly lacking today in the twenty-first
century
My dear child,
I hope this will find you quite well as it
leaves us at present. I have been
thinking of writing this a month or more, but was so busy. I expected to hear from you before this but I
suppose you are busy too now. You will
be sixteen years old tomorrow, one year nearer eternity. The Lord grant that as you grow in years you
may grow in grace and increase in knowledge of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ which is able to make you wise unto salvation. You will find many trials and temptations to
encounter with in passing through life, but I hope the Lord will give you
strength to resist every evil. My dear
child when sinners entice thee consent thou not and remember these words. Thou God seest me never mind been laughed at
by fellow servants or anyone else
Do what is right in the sight of God and your
own conscience. Let others do as they
will, follow no bad example and remember the Sabbath day to keep in holy,
frequent no place of amusement on that day and keep good company. If you should have the misfortune to live
with some that sets a bad example you try and set them a good one. Remember it’s the first wrong step that ruins
many young men and women too. One step
taken wrong may ruin your body, soul and character too for life. One wrong step at first leads to many more
and be sure mind and honest, touch not a single thing that’s not your own, nor
take part with them that do. May you
like Joseph of old when tempted to evils, say how can I do this great
wickedness and sin against God. May the
Lord give you grace to do as is the prayer of your affectionate Mother.
The
letter continued to talk about the boots that will be the birthday gift from
mother to daughter and the celebration of the wedding of the Prince (King
Edward VII to Alexandra) that took place on the previous Tuesday when the whole
village was supplied with a roast sheep dinner, tea and cake for the women and
children and beer, bread and cheese for the men