PART SIXTY

 

The Cambridgeshire Line from Tamworth in Staffordshire to Australia

 

Updated May 2022

 

 

 

In February 2016 Cathy Young noticed that the family of Josiah Collett (Ref. 60K1) was also included in an appendix at the end of Part 43 – the Staffordshire Line to Kentucky and Michigan.  Cathy had been searching for Josiah parents for some time and could hardly believe that they had already been listed on the Collett website for quite a few years.  Therefore, this family line now goes back a further two generations, thanks to Cathy’s eagle-eye.  In the earlier versions of this family line Cathy, had provided details of likely parents of Josiah which turned out not to be so, those details now included in Appendix One at the end of this file.

 

 

 

 

 

The earliest records for this family spelt Collett with a single t and in one case the name was written as Collit, while in another it was Collott.  Today there are still members of the Collett family living in Toft near Cambridge, one of them being Koran Collett (Ref. 60R14) and his wife Gill, whose family line is denoted by the names in capital letters.  New details added during April 2013 were kindly provided by Debbie Hipgrave of Gamlingay in Cambridgeshire, a good friend of Maxine Collett (Ref. 60S9).

 

 

 

 

 

This is also the family line of Wendy Powell of New South Wales in Australia which was previously set out in the Appendix in Part 43 before it was incorporated into this family line in March 2016.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

60I1

James Collit [previously Ref. 43j1] of Staffordshire may have been born around 1650 and, as a married man in 1672, he fathered a son of the same name who was baptised in the village of Edingale, midway between Tamworth and Burton-on-Trent.  The second of those two towns is the starting location for the Collett family described in the aforementioned Part 43 – The Staffordshire Line to Kentucky and Michigan.  Although no other baptism record has been found to date, a certain George Collett and his wife Sarah were living in Tamworth at the same time as James’ son James.  So, the question might be, were they brothers?  In case they were George has been included here for completeness.

 

 

 

60J1

James Collit

Born in 1672 at Edingale

 

60J2

George Collit – not confirmed

Date of birth unknown

 

 

 

 

60J1

James Collit [previously Ref. 43k1] was baptised at Edingale on 9th August 1672, the son of James Collit.  It was as James Collet that he married Rebecca Blith (Blithe) at Tamworth on 31st March 1695.  The marriage is known to have produced at least five children, the first born prior to the couple’s wedding day.  Their son James was born at Tamworth and baptised there, while his older sister Rebecca was also baptised at Tamworth over three years earlier under the name of Rebeckah Collet.  In fact, the first five children were baptised with the name Collet, while for the sixth and seventh child the surname was recorded as Collitt.

 

 

 

In addition to seven of the children listed below, it is possible that Rebecca gave birth to a Joseph for whom no baptism record has so far been found.  The logic behind this assumption is that from 1727 to 1734 a Joseph Collet of Tamworth produced four children, the second child being named Rebecca possibly after Joseph’s mother.  His first child was named Ann, which may have been his wife’s name.  It therefore seems likely that if Joseph was the child of James and Rebecca he was born between Josiah and Ann, where he has been temporarily placed in the hope that his position in the family can be verified at a later date.

 

 

 

60K1

Rebecca Collett

Baptised on 19.01.1695 at Tamworth

 

60K2

James Collett

Born in 1698 at Tamworth

 

60K3

Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1701 at Tamworth

 

60K4

Josiah Collett

Born in 1703 at Tamworth

 

60K5

Joseph Collett – not confirmed

Born circa 1705 at Tamworth

 

60K6

Ann Collett

Baptised on 15.09.1706 at Tamworth

 

60K7

George Collett – infant death

Baptised on 05.03.1709 at Tamworth

 

60K8

George Collett

Born in 1711 at Tamworth

 

 

 

 

60J2

George Collett [previously Ref. 43k1], whose date of birth is not known, may have been the brother of James (above), and therefore the son of James.  What is known is that like James junior, George was also living in Tamworth during the first decade of the 1700s.  He was married to Sarah and their eldest son was James Collett, another likely link to George being the son of James.  In most of the baptism records the surname was written as Collit or Collitt.

 

 

 

60K9

James Collett

Baptised during Feb 1703 at Tamworth

 

60K10

Mary Collett

Baptised on 14.11.1706 at Tamworth

 

60K11

Anne Collett

Baptised on 15.06.1709 at Tamworth

 

60K12

Elinor Collett

Baptised on 11.02.1711 at Tamworth

 

60K13

Susanna Collett

Born in 1714 at Tamworth

 

 

 

 

60K2

James Collett [previously Ref. 43l3] was baptised at Tamworth on 3rd June 1698, the eldest son of James and Rebecca Collett.  At the time of the baptism of his first three children the surname was recorded as Collit, whereas for the later children it was Collet.  Sadly, there was no mention of the mother’s name on any occasion.

 

 

 

60L1

Joseph Collett

Born in 1722 at Tamworth

 

60L2

George Collett – died in 1728

Baptised on 30.12.1727 at Tamworth

 

60L3

Catherine Collett

Baptised on 13.09.1728 at Tamworth

 

60L4

George Collett

Baptised on 14.10.1729 at Tamworth

 

60L5

James Collett

Born in 1730 at Tamworth

 

60L6

William Collett – infant death

Baptised on 01.11.1734 at Tamworth

 

60L7

John Collett

Born in 1738 at Tamworth

 

60L8

William Collett

Baptised on 26.07.1741 at Tamworth

 

 

 

 

60K3

Elizabeth Collett [previously Ref. 43l3] was baptised at Tamworth on 25th March 1701, the daughter of James and Rebecca Collett.  She later married Thomas Brisco at Tamworth on 9th October 1726, when her name was recorded as Collit, like her brother Josiah (below).

 

 

 

 

60K4

JOSIAH COLLETT [previously Ref. 60K1] was baptised at Tamworth on 29th December 1703, the son of James Collett and Rebecca Blithe. 

 

It is therefore very interesting that, as Josiah Collit, he later married (1) Mary Blithe at Tamworth on 29th December 1726. 

 

Mary Collett nee Blithe died in 1841 and it is not known whether she gave birth to any children. 

 

Three years later Josiah married (2) the much younger Martha Blooden at the Cathedral in Lichfield (pictured right) on 7th September 1744.  The only children so far found for the couple were born and baptised at Tamworth, the cathedral records confirming their father was Josiah Collet.

 

 

 

60L9

John Collett

Born in 1749 at Tamworth

 

60L10

Sarah Collett

Born in 1751 at Tamworth

 

60L11

JAMES COLLETT

Born in 1753 at Tamworth

 

 

 

 

60K5

Joseph Collett [previously Ref. 43l5], whose birth, nor his baptism has been confirmed, was very likely born at Tamworth around 1705 and may have been the son of James and Rebecca Collett.  It would appear that he was married around 1726 and over the next two decades the married produced at least seven children.  The first two children were baptised as Collit, with the following children baptised using the name Collet.

 

 

 

60L12

Ann Collett – infant death

Baptised on 16.10.1727 at Tamworth

 

60L13

Rebecca Collett

Baptised on 17.10.1729 at Tamworth

 

60L14

Ann Collett

Born in 1731 at Tamworth

 

60L15

William Collett

Born in 1734 at Tamworth

 

60L16

Mary Collett

Baptised on 06.01.1742 at Tamworth

 

60L17

Joseph Collett

Baptised on 12.09.1744 at Tamworth

 

60L18

George Collett

Baptised on 17.03.1745 at Tamworth

 

 

 

 

60K8

George Collett [previously Ref. 43l8] was baptised at Tamworth on 2nd July 1711, the youngest child of James Collett and his wife Rebecca Blythe.  By 1730 he was married, and it was also while he and his wife were living in Tamworth that their two known children were born.  Both daughters were baptised with the name Collet, although neither record included the name of the mother.

 

 

 

60L19

Elizabeth Collett

Baptised on 08.03.1730 at Tamworth

 

60L20

Sarah Collett

Born in 1732 at Tamworth

 

 

 

 

60K13

Susanna Collett [previously Ref. 43l13] was baptised at Tamworth on 14th September 1714, the youngest daughter of George and Sarah Collett.  She would have been in her thirties when she married Henry Awcoat at Tamworth on 2nd June 1751.

 

 

 

 

60L1

Joseph Collett [previously Ref. 43m1] was baptised at Tamworth on 24th October 1722, the son of James Collit.  The baptism records for his three known children did not include the name of his wife.

 

 

 

60M1

Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1747 at Tamworth

 

60M2

Thomas Collett

Born in 1756 at Tamworth

 

60M3

Charles Collett

Baptised on 15.07.1759 at Tamworth

 

 

 

 

60L5

James Collett [previously Ref. 43m5] was baptised at Tamworth on 2nd February 1730, the son of James Collit.  He later married Elizabeth Kent at Tamworth on 13th September 1750, where all of their children were born and baptised.

 

 

 

60M4

Hannah Collett

Born in 1759 at Tamworth

 

60M5

Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1761 at Tamworth

 

60M6

Sarah Collett

Born in 1764 at Tamworth

 

60M7

Isaac Collettnot confirmed

Date of birth unknown

 

 

 

 

 

In addition to James Collett, the son of James Collit, there was another James living in Tamworth at the same time that the above three children were born to James and his wife Elizabeth.  That James Collett (Ref. 60L5/A) was married to Mary and their children were baptised at Tamworth in 1759, 1761, and 1763, as detailed below.

 

 

 

60M8

Nanny (Nanny Collet) Collett

Baptised on 08.06.1759 at Tamworth

 

60M9

Ettie (Etty Collet) Collett

Baptised on 07.09.1761 at Tamworth

 

60M10

Bessie (Bessy Collitt) Collett

Baptised on 30.12.1763 at Tamworth

 

 

 

 

60L7

John Collett [previously Ref. 43m7] was baptised at Tamworth on 13th May 1738, the son of James Collit.  He married Elizabeth Waters at Tamworth on 13th April 1762.

 

 

 

 

60L9

John Collett was born at Tamworth in early 1749 and was baptised there on 15th May 1749, the eldest child of Josiah Collett and his second wife Martha Blooden.

 

 

 

 

60L10

Sarah Collett was born at Tamworth in 1751 and was baptised on 8th April when her father was confirmed as Josiah Collett.  Sarah later married Thomas Rawby (Rawbey) at Tamworth on 5th December 1774 when she was 23.

 

 

 

 

60L11

JAMES COLLETT was born at Tamworth in 1753, the son of Josiah Collett and Martha Blooden, who was baptised there on 30th September 1753 as James Collet.  Tamworth is just over the county boundary from Leicestershire, and it was at Asfordby, near Melton Mowbray that James Collit married Elizabeth Marriott on 20th August 1781.  Elizabeth was born in 1753, the daughter of Henry Marriott and Mary Parker, and was in an advanced state of pregnancy on their wedding day.  Two months later the couple’s first child, their daughter Elizabeth, was born.  Sadly, she only survived for around five months when she died and was buried at Asfordby.

 

 

 

James and Elizabeth were still living in Asfordby three and a half years later when their son Henry was born there, but after a further six years the family was living in the adjacent village of Kirby Bellars, just one mile south of Asfordby when their daughter Elizabeth was born, and again five years after that when their son James was born.  It is quite likely that other children, so far undiscovered, were born into the family during the years between their four known children.  James Collett died in 1817.

 

 

 

60M11

Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1781 at Asfordby

 

60M12

HENRY COLLETT

Born in 1785 at Asfordby

 

60M13

James Collett

Born in 1791 at Kirby Bellars

 

60M14

Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1796 at Kirby Bellars

 

 

 

 

60L14

Ann Collett [previously Ref. 43m14] was baptised at Tamworth on 30th December 1731, the daughter of Joseph Collit.  It was also at Tamworth on 11th November 1757 that she married Samuel Wilkins.

 

 

 

 

60L15

William Collett [previously Ref. 43m15] was baptised at Tamworth on 11th August 1734, the son of Joseph Collit.  He married Martha Newbold at Tamworth on 23rd March 1761, where all of their children were born and baptised.

 

 

 

60M15

Sarah Collett

Baptised on 24.05.1762 at Tamworth

 

60M16

Mary Collett

Baptised on 11.09.1763 at Tamworth

 

60M17

Martha Collett

Born in 1769 at Tamworth

 

60M18

Lydia Collett

Baptised on 09.06.1771 at Tamworth

 

 

 

 

60L20

Sarah Collett [previously Ref. 43m20] was baptised at Tamworth on 23rd December 1732, the daughter of George Collett.  Sarah appears to have married fairly later in her life, when he married Thomas Rowley on 5th December 1774 at Tamworth.

 

 

 

 

60M1

Elizabeth Collett [previously Ref. 43n1] was baptised at Tamworth on 25th May 1747, the eldest known child of Joseph Collit.  In 1770 the parish records in Tamworth included the baptism of two Collett children who were baptised on the same day.  However, no name of the father was entered in the records, nor was there the full name of the mother, just that her surname was Collett.  So, it is very much an estimate that she may have been unmarried Elizabeth Collett, who appears to be the only suitable lady of the correct age.

 

 

 

60N1

Sarah Collett      twin

Baptised on 07.01.1770 at Tamworth

 

60N2

James Collett     twin

Baptised on 07.01.1770 at Tamworth

 

 

 

 

60M2

Thomas Collett [previously Ref. 43n2] was baptised at Tamworth on 10th March 1756, the son of Joseph Collit.  It was also at Tamworth where he married Mary Sketchley on 8th February 1780, and it was also while they were living in the Tamworth area that their children were born and baptised in Tamworth.  It is possible that Mary died during the birth of her last child, since there is the marriage at Tamworth of a Thomas Collett and Charlotte Spar which took place on 13th October 1800.  There is also the possibility that Thomas died six years later because at Tamworth on 30th March 1807 Charlotte Collett married John Hutton (or Hatton).

 

 

 

There is every chance that Thomas and Mary had other children between 1783 and 1799, and records have been found under the surname Collott, but at Stafford.  They relate to Thomas Collott who was born during 1788 and his sister Ann Collott who was born in 1793.  It may be of interest also, that upon the marriage of Thomas’ daughter Elizabeth in 1815, she was recorded in error as Elizabeth Collitt.

 

 

 

60N3

Thomas Collett  died 31.12.1780

Baptised on 31.12.1780 at Tamworth

 

60N4

John Collett       died 14.09.1783

Baptised on 04.05.1783 at Tamworth

 

60N5

Thomas Collett – not confirmed

Born in 1788 at Stafford

 

60N6

Ann Collett – not confirmed

Baptised on 29.12.1793 at Stafford

 

60N7

Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1799 at Tamworth

 

The following are the children of Thomas Collett and his wife Charlotte:

 

60N8

Charlotte Collett

Baptised on 11.09.1803 at Tamworth

 

60N9

Thomas Collett

Baptised on 02.06.1805 at Tamworth

 

 

 

 

60M4

Hannah Collett [previously Ref. 43n4] was baptised at Tamworth on 1st July 1759, the daughter of James Collett and Elizabeth Kent.  It was on 21st June 1779 that she married Francis Dankes in Tamworth.

 

 

 

 

60M5

Elizabeth Collett [previously Ref. 43n5] was baptised at Tamworth on 9th August 1761, the daughter of James and Elizabeth Collett, and it was at Tamworth that she married George Platts on 26th October 1789.

 

 

 

 

60M6

Sarah Collett [previously Ref. 43n6] was baptised at Tamworth on 10th April 1764, the daughter of James and Elizabeth Collett.  It was also at Tamworth where she married Richard Sketchley on 4th December 1795, fifteen years after Thomas Collett (above) married Mary Sketchley at Tamworth.

 

 

 

 

60M7

Isaac Collett [previously Ref. 43n7], whose date of birth is not known, may have been the son of James Collett and Elizabeth Kent although no baptism record has been found to confirm this.  What is known is that an Isaac Collett of Tamworth was married there to Martha Moore on 31st December 1783, and their three known children were baptised there.

 

 

 

60N10

Elizabeth Collett

Baptised on 28.03.1785 at Tamworth

 

60N11

Ann Collett

Baptised on 06.11.1790 at Tamworth

 

60N12

John Collett

Baptised on 07.09.1794 at Tamworth

 

 

 

 

60M11

Elizabeth Collett was born at Asfordby in 1781, just after her parents were married there on 20th August.  It was also there that she was baptised on 16th October 1781, the first child of James Collett and Elizabeth Marriott, and there that she died on 13th March 1782.

 

 

 

 

60M12

HENRY COLLETT was born at Asfordby in 1785, where he was baptised on 30th October 1785, the son of James and Elizabeth Collett.  Sometime during the first decade of the new century it would appear that Henry travelled the fifty miles south-east of Melton Mowbray to settle in the village of Toft, six miles west of the city of Cambridge.  It was there on 18th October 1815 that Henry Collett married Susan Beaumont who was already five months pregnant with their first child.  Susan was one of the ten children of John Beaumont and Lydia Pauley and was baptised as Susannah Beaumont on 15th July 1798 at Comberton, just one mile east of Toft.

 

 

 

Henry and Susan are known to have had nine children, eight of whom were born at Toft, with just their first child baptised at nearby Comberton only four months after they were married.  However, the first national census in June 1841 did include a number of anomalies.  The family was still living at Toft on that occasion where Henry was an agricultural labourer with a rounded age of 50, rather than 55, while his wife was named as Lucy Collett, instead of Susan, and she was 40.  By that time the couple’s eldest son had left the family home to be married, and their second daughter Ann was already working and living separately from her family but still in Toft.  Therefore, the children listed with Henry and Susan (Lucy) were Elizabeth Collett aged 20, John Collett aged 18, Stephen Collett aged 13, Susan Collett aged 11, Mary Collett who was eight, Lydia (Siddia) Collett who was five, Gifford Collett who was two years old and another Siddia Collett who was only four months old, who did not survive.

 

 

 

It is established that it was during the following year that Henry Collett, aged 57, died on 21st July 1842, his death at Toft being recorded during the third quarter of that year, leaving his wife Susan to raise their three young children.  It is also possible that whatever caused his death may have also taken the life of his youngest daughter.  By the time of the next census in 1851, Susan Collett, aged 55 and from Comberton was a widow who was undertaking general work to gain an income, when she was residing in a tenement on Main Road in Toft.  With her was her youngest surviving child for company, Gifford Collett, who was 11 years old who, even at that age, was already working as an agricultural labourer.  At that time in her life Susan was recorded as undertaking general work to provide for herself and her son, when they were living in the dwelling next door to her so Stephen who was married with a child of his own by then.  No record of her has been found in Great Britain after that time, the reason being that the entire family, excluding her eldest son Henry who died in 1853, eventually emigrated to South Australia, some of them between 1852 and 1854.

 

 

 

It was in 1857 that Susan Collett sailed to South Australia on board the ship Carnatic to be reunited with her family, and travelling with her was her married daughter Lydia and her husband, Susan’s youngest son Gifford and his wife, and her grandson Young Collett, the eldest son of the late Henry Collett who had died four years earlier.  Once settled in her new surroundings Susan Collett, who was 61 by then, worked as a midwife.  Later on, she was living at the home of her son-in-law Stephen Hindes at Finniss on the Fleurieu Peninsular of South Australia.  Twenty-six years after arriving in Australia Susan Collett nee Beaumont died there in 1883 at the age of 85 and was buried at Strathalbyn, sixty kilometres south-east of Adelaide.

 

 

 

60N13

HENRY COLLETT

Born in 1816 at Comberton

 

60N14

Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1818 at Toft

 

60N15

John Collett

Born in 1822 at Toft

 

60N16

Ann Collett

Born in 1824 at Toft

 

60N17

Stephen Collett

Born in 1827 at Toft

 

60N18

Susan Collett

Born in 1830 at Toft

 

60N19

Mary Collett

Born in 1833 at Toft

 

60N20

Lydia Collett

Born in 1836 at Toft

 

60N21

Gifford Collett

Born in 1839 at Toft

 

60N22

Siddia Collett

Born in February 1841 at Toft

 

 

 

 

60M13

James Collett was born at Kirby Bellars in 1791, and was baptised there on 30th July 1791, the son of James and Elizabeth Collett.  It is possible that James married Mary Starkey at Sheepy Magna near Atherstone in Leicestershire on 6th June 1816.  It is also possible, but not proved, that James and Mary may have followed James’ brother Henry (above) to the village of Toft, since it was there in 1817 that a John Collett was born.  Although no baptism record for John has been found, it was around 1845 that John Collett took up with Mary Ann Rutter at Toft.  Mary was the daughter of Henry and Mary Rutter, and was baptised at Toft on 24th May 1818.

 

 

 

It was also at Toft that Mary gave birth to John’s twin children John Collett Rutter and Harriet Collett Rutter, who were baptised at Toft on 25th January 1846.  Sadly, John died on 13th March 1846, and was buried at Toft.  As regards John and Mary, and their daughter Harriet, it would appear that they emigrated to Australia, where they settled at Round Swamp, Capertree Valley in New South Wales, about seventy miles north-west of Sydney.

 

 

 

It was there that Harriet Collett married George Dowling who was born in Sydney on 29th September 1843.  The couple appear to have married in late 1864, or early in 1865, since their first child, Eliza Jane Dowling was born on 9th September 1865, and she was followed two years later by a son John Robert Dowling who was born at Round Swamp in 1867.  Tragically it was at Round Swamp that Harriet Dowling nee Collett died on 10th May 1886, and she was survived by her mother Mary Ann Collett nee Rutter who died at Round Swamp on 26th February 1905.

 

 

 

Harriet’s husband survived her by twenty-eight years, when George Dowling died at Granville in New South Wales on 23th November 1914, while his son John Robert Dowling died at Lithgow, NSW on 14th October 1931, and his daughter Eliza Jane Dowling died at Casino, NSW on 1st January 1946.

 

 

 

 

60M14

Elizabeth Collett was born at Kirby Bellars in 1796 and was the second child of that name born to parents James Collett and Elizabeth Marriott.  It was also at Kirby Bellars that she was baptised on 10th July 1796.

 

 

 

 

60M17

Martha Collett [previously Ref. 43n13] was baptised at Tamworth on 6th December 1769, the daughter of William Collett and Martha Newbold.  She later married John Miring at Tamworth on 31st October 1802.

 

 

 

 

60N5

Thomas Collott [previously Ref. 43o5] was born during 1788 and was baptised at Stafford on 7th December 1788.  However, it has not yet been proved that he was the son of Thomas Collett and Mary Sketchley whose first-born son, Thomas died in 1780 on the day he was born.  He has been included here simple because he had an interesting life and may have been the child of Thomas and Mary.  In 1821 he was arrested for burglary when he was 33 and was sentenced to life imprisonment.  He was transported to the convict hulk Justitia on 9th November 1821 when his convict number was 481.  The records at the National Archive Office indicate that he left the hulk on 15th March 1822 and sailed to Van Diemen’s Land on 1st April, arriving there on 23rd July 1822.  He retained the convict number 481 and the records at VDL described him as being 5 feet 2½ inches tall, light brown hair, grey eyes, occupation canal cutter, sentenced in Stafford on 1st September 1821, and transported for life on board the ship the Prince of Orange. 

 

 

 

His prison record, kindly sent in by Sue Collett (Ref. 21T16) in Tasmania, reveals that Thomas Collott was incapable of keeping out of trouble.  On 20th November 1824 he was caught stealing and was punished by being given just bread and water.  On 7th June 1826 he refused to carry out duties order by a constable and was given 24 lashes.  On 31st December 1829 he was charged for being absence without leave and on 8th January 1833 he was charged with being drunk and absent from his duty, as a result his ticket of leave, granted on the Queen’s birthday, was reduced.  He was charged on 11th March 1833 with being drunk in a public house and was confined for ten days, and on 12th April 1833 he was discovered drunk in the catholic burial ground.  He was confined for another six days on 22nd November 1833, again for being drunk.  Despite two more offences in 1835 and 1836 it was on 14th July 1841 that he was granted a conditional pardon, which was extended on 3rd October 1847, by which time he was around 59 years of age.

 

 

 

Appendix Two at the end of this family line also includes details of other Colletts who were on the wrong side of the law, and this is a continuation of Appendix Two in Part 43 – The Staffordshire Line to Kentucky and Michigan which includes more stories of Collett bad boys.

 

 

 

 

60N7

Elizabeth Collett [previously Ref. 43o7] was born at Lichfield and may have been born around three years old when she was baptised at Tamworth on 4th August 1799, the daughter of Thomas Collett and Mary Sketchley.  It was as Elisabeth Collit that she married John Carter at the Church of St Editha in Tamworth on 31st October 1815, when the witnesses were James Pipe and Margaret Hollier and Elizabeth signed the register in her own hand.

 

 

 

The marriage produced the following children who were born at Tamworth, although they were all baptised in St Chads Church in Lichfield.  Thomas Carter (born in 1816), Frances Carter (born in 1820), Isaac Carter (born in 1823), James Carter (born in 1826), Jabez Carter (born in 1828), William Carter (born in 1829), George Carter (born in 1832), Mary Carter (born in 1834, who died in 1835), Miriam Carter (born in 1836), and Arthur Carter (born in 1838, who died in 1895).

 

 

 

By 1841 the Carter family was living in West Leicester where they were recorded as Jno Carter 45, Elizabeth Carter 40, James 15, Jabez 14, William 12, George, who was nine, Mary, who was five, and Arthur who was three.  It is worth noting that Miriam was called Mary on that occasion after her late sister.  However, ten years later she was one of just two children still living with her parents, by which time she was using her baptised name.  John Carter was 59, Elizabeth Carter was 54, Miriam Carter was 15, and Arthur Carter was 13.

 

 

 

In the East Leicester census of 1861 Elizabeth Carter from Tamworth was 62, while her husband John, who died during the following decade, was 68.  That was confirmed in the subsequent census of 1871 when Elizabeth Carter from Tamworth was a widow still living within the East Leicester district at the age of 75.  According to the next census in 1881 Elizabeth, aged 83, was a visitor at 10 Ratcliffe Street in the Leicester suburb of Belgrave the home of cabinet maker Samuel Elliott aged 29.  The only other person living at on that occasion was Ada Elliott, who was three, the daughter of Samuel Elliott and his absent wife who was Elizabeth’s granddaughter Eliza Ann (see below).

 

 

 

Elizabeth Carter nee Collett was the 3x great grandmother of Wendy Powell of New South Wales.  She was 90 years old when she died on 3rd November 1886 of old age while she was staying at 9 Ratcliffe Street in the Leicester suburb of Belgrave, where she had been a visitor for at least the last six or more years.  That was the home of her granddaughter Eliza Ann Elliott nee Barratt, the informant of her passing, who was the daughter of Elizabeth’s youngest daughter Miriam Barratt nee Carter, the wife of Abraham Barratt from Olney in Buckinghamshire.  It was nine years earlier that Miriam and Abraham Barratt had emigrated to Australia in 1877.  Curiously the death of the widow Elizabeth Carter was recorded on fifth of November 1886 at the sub-district of Rothley within the Barrow-on-Soar registration district of Leicestershire, to the north of the City of Leicester.

 

 

 

 

60N13

HENRY COLLETT was born at Comberton in 1816, where he was baptised as Henry Collett on 18th February 1816, the eldest child of Henry Collett and his wife Susan Beaumont.  Not long after he was born his parents moved the one mile to the village of Toft where all of his siblings were born.  He was around 18 years old when he married Elizabeth Newman at Hardwick, two miles north of Toft, on 23rd October 1834.  Elizabeth, who had been born at Hardwick on 21st June 1819 and the daughter of Thomas Newman and Sarah Longstaff, was with-child on the day of their wedding and within five months their daughter was born and baptised at Toft.  Over the following five years Elizabeth presented Henry with the two more children, both of them also being born while the family was living in Toft.

 

 

 

That was confirmed by the Toft census of 1841 when Henry Collett and his wife Elizabeth were both 25, and their three children were Ann Collett, who was six, Young Collett, who was four, and Eliza Collett who was two years old.  Later that same year Elizabeth gave birth to the couple’s fourth child, and during the next ten years their family was completed with the birth at Toft of a further four children.

 

 

 

All eight children were still living at Toft with Henry and Elizabeth in 1851, their dwelling described as a tenement on the main road in the village.  Henry Collett, aged 35 and from Toft, was an agricultural labourer, his wife Elizabeth from Hardwick in Cambridgeshire was 36, and all of their children were confirmed as having been born at Toft.  They were Ann Collett, aged 16, Young Collett, aged 14 and an agricultural labourer working with his father, Eliza Collett who was 12, John who was another agricultural labourer at the age of just nine years, Henry Collett, who was seven, William Collett, who was four, Elizabeth, who was three, and latest arrival Frederick who was only three months old.

 

 

 

It was only two years later that Henry Collett suffered a premature death, his passing recorded at Caxton (Ref. 3b 266) during the fourth quarter of 1852, after which his body was laid to rest at Toft on 17th October 1852 at the age of only 37.  After just over five years as a widow Elizabeth Collett, formerly Newman, married William Caten at Toft on 25th November 1858 when her father was named as Thomas Newman and his father was John Caten.  By the time of the census in 1861 the pair of them was residing at a dwelling on the High Street in Toft when their surname was recorded as Cato.  William Cato from Great Creaton was 36, while his wife Elizabeth Cato from Hardwick said she was 40 when she was actually nearer ten years older than her husband.  Living with the couple on that occasion were the five youngest children from Elizabeth’s previous marriage.  They were John Collet who was 20, Henry Collett who was 17, William Collet who was 14, Elizabeth Collet who was 11 and Fredrick Collet who was 10, all born at Toft.

 

 

 

During the following years two of Elizabeth’s children, William and Elizabeth, left the family group to be married, and by 1871 her sons Henry and Frederick were still living and working together in Toft in 1871.  It may be the spelling of her surname and her inability to give her correct age when she was living with her much younger husband that is the reason no obvious record for Elizabeth Caten or Cato has been found in 1871.  However, by the time of the next census in 1881 Elizabeth Cato from Hardwick was more accurately recorded as being 67 when she was living alone in the High Street in Toft.  No record of her has been located in 1891 but again in 1901 she was recorded as Elizabeth Cato from Hardwick and not loving in Toft, when she was 88 and the only person of that surname living within the Caxton registration district of Cambridgeshire.

 

 

 

Previously, in error, it was stated here that Elizabeth may have died in Gloucestershire during the first three months of 1895 or that she passed away in Cambridgeshire during 1884.  However, both of these dates are incorrect, since the death of Elizabeth Cato, formerly Collett nee Newman, was recorded at the Caxton register office (Ref. 3b 212) during the third quarter of 1907 when she was 94.

 

 

 

Although never listed with the family in any census, Henry is also understood to have had a son by the name of George Collett, but it is not clear if he was born prior to Henry’s marriage to Elizabeth.  The details relating to George are that he eventually lived in Australia where he was married and had a daughter Jane, who was later married to become Jane Grimes and who had a son George Grimes.

 

 

 

60O1

Ann Collett

Born in 1835 at Toft

 

60O2

Young Henry Collett

Born in 1836 at Toft

 

60O3

Eliza Collett

Born in 1838 at Toft

 

60O4

JOHN COLLETT

Born in 1841 at Toft

 

60O5

Henry Collett

Born in 1844 at Toft

 

60O6

William Collett

Born in 1846 at Toft

 

60O7

Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1849 at Toft

 

60O8

Frederick Collett

Born in 1850 at Toft

 

 

 

 

60N14

Elizabeth Collett was born at Toft in 1818 and was the eldest daughter of Henry Collett and his wife Susan Beaumont.  It was also at Toft that she was the first member of the Collett family to be baptised there, at the Church of St Andrew (on the right) on 23rd June 1818, when her parents were confirmed as Henry and Susan.

 

When Elizabeth was approaching her middle twenties, she married Benjamin Hart at Toft on 7th December 1841.  He had been born there in 1817, and over the next two years the marriage produced two children for him and Elizabeth.  Lydia Hart was born not long after they were married and was baptised in Cambridge on 5th March 1842.  Their son Henry Hart was born

 

just over a year later and he was baptised at nearby Comberton on 5th March 1843.  The widow Elizabeth Hart nee Collett died in 1884 at the age of 66.

 

 

 

 

60N15

John Collett was born at Toft in 1822, and was baptised there on 28th July 1822, the son of Henry and Susan Collett.  In the census of 1841 John was still living with his family in Toft when he was 18 and was working with his father and brother Stephen (below) as an agricultural labourer.  No further record of him has been found in England after that time and that was because he sailed out of Plymouth on 1st May 1852 bound for Adelaide in South Australia on board the ship Gloucester.  Making the journey with him were his brothers Stephen and Gifford (below).  The only other thing known about John was that he died in 1900 at the age of 78.  Some sources believe that he eventually returned to England and that he was living at Toft in 1891 when he was 69, although no actual census return for him at Toft has been found.

 

 

 

 

60N16

Ann Collett was born at Toft in 1824, where she was baptised on 8th May 1824, the daughter of Henry and Susan Collett.  At the age of 16 Ann was still living in the village of Toft, but by that time she was working and living separately from her parents.  Just over six years later Ann married William Hindes at nearby Comberton on 16th October 1847 and seven years later they are their family emigrated to Australia where their family was raised in South Australia.  Ann and William and their two children, Susan aged six and Elizabeth who was two, sailed to Adelaide on board the ship Ostrich with her sister Mary (below), arriving there in July 1854.  Ann was two months into her third pregnancy when they sailed from Southampton on 20th April 1854.  Her brothers John (above) and Stephen and Gifford (below) had made the same journey in 1852, and her married sister Susan and her husband had travelled out there from England in 1853. 

 

 

 

Ann’s family survived the three-month journey to Australia and four months later her son William Henry Hindes was born on 10th November 1854.  The family’s move to Australia was completed in 1857 when Ann’s mother, her sister Lydia and her brother Gifford and their spouses, and her nephew Young Collett joined then in South Australia.  Four years prior to the death of Ann Hindes her brother Stephen was also living in South Australia when he passed away.  William Hindes was born in 1823 and died on 23rd July 1893 at Glen Osmond in South Australia where, less than eight years after, his widow Ann Hindes nee Collett died on 9th February 1901 at the age of 76.  Their daughter Elizabeth Hindes was born in England on 24th February 1852 and she married Patrick Corcoran at Gambierton who was born during February 1847. 

 

 

 

 

60N17

Stephen Collett was born at Toft in 1827, and was baptised there on 4th November 1827, the son of Henry and Susan Collett.  He was 13 years old and an agricultural labourer at the time of the first Toft census in 1841 when he was still living there with his family.  It was just over eight years later on 21st July 1849 that Richard married Elizabeth Baldock at Toft, where she was born, and with whom he had nine children.  The first child was born while they were still living at Toft, as confirmed by the Toft census of 1851.  By that time Stephen Collett was 22 and an agricultural labourer living in a tenement on Main Road in Toft with his wife Elizabeth who was also 22, and their son Richard from was one year old.  Living in the tenement right next door was Stephen’s widowed mother and his youngest brother Gifford Collett.

 

 

 

On 1st May 1852 Stephen, Elizabeth and their son Richard sailed on the ship Gloucester from Plymouth to Adelaide, when they settled in South Australia where their remaining children were born.  However, during the long voyage there was an outbreak of measles on the Gloucester, which was followed by scarlet fever, which resulted in the death of 23 passengers, mostly children.  Another such fatality was Richard Collett who was under three years old when he died eight days after arriving in Adelaide.  It is also rumoured within the family, that Elizabeth actually gave birth to the couple’s second child during the voyage, but that it too did not survive, and therefore is not included in the list below.

 

 

 

Once in Australia the family initially settled at Glen Osmond, where their second (or third) child was born, before moving to the Strathalbyn and Finnis area of South Australia where their later children were born.  It was also at Finnis, just south of Strathalbyn, not far from Adelaide that Stephen Collett died on 4th March 1897, when he was 70 years old.

 

 

 

60O9

Richard Collett

Born in 1849 at Toft, Cambridgeshire

 

60O10

William Collett

Born in 1854 at Glen Osmond, South Australia

 

60O11

Thomas Collett

Born in 1856 at Strathalbyn, South Australia

 

60O12

Sally Collett

Born in 1859 at Rankins Creek, South Australia

 

60O13

Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1861 at Strathalbyn, South Australia

 

60O14

Richard Henry Collett

Born in 1863 at Finnis, South Australia

 

60O15

Mary Ann Collett

Born in 1866 at Finnis, South Australia

 

60O16

Stephen Collett

Born in 1868 at Finnis, South Australia

 

60O17

Susan Collett

Born in 1871 at Finnis, South Australia

 

 

 

 

60N18

Susan Collett was born at Toft in 1830, where she was baptised on 18th April 1830, the daughter of Henry and Susan Collett.  It was also at Toft on 4th November 1850 that she married Thomas Baldock, who was in all probability the brother of Elizabeth Baldock who married Susan’s brother Stephen Collett (above) during the previous year.  In the census of 1851 Susan Baldock was 19, while her husband Thomas was 22, when they were still living in the village of Toft.

 

 

 

It is known that the couple emigrated to Australia during 1853 on board the ship Calabar where they were presumably reunited with three of Susan’s brothers John, Stephen and Gifford who had made the same journey in the previous year.  All the couple’s children were born in South Australia, the first of them being Sally Baldock who was baptised at the Church of St Michael in Mitcham, South Australia on 9th April 1854, when her parents were confirmed as Thomas and Susan Baldock.  The next four children were born after the family had settled in Nairne in South Australia, and they were James Baldock, who was born on 20th November 1861, but who died on 18th September 1865; the next two were the twins Ann and John Baldock who were born on 26th April 1864, and both of them died that same day; and Thomas Baldock, who was born on 23rd May 1865 and died the very next day.

 

 

 

Perhaps it was due to the tragedy of losing all four children at Nairne that prompted the move to a new start at Glen Osmond, as it was there that their next child was born.  Thomas Frederick Baldock was born on 10th April 1867, but three years later the family was living in Adelaide.  It was there on 17th June 1870 that another son was born, but once again he did not survive long enough even to be named, and died that same day.  The couple’s last child was Henry Thomas Baldock, and he was born at Parkside in South Australia on 12th April 1874.  Thomas Baldock died in Australia on 4th September 1890, and his widow Susan Baldock nee Collett survived him by eleven years when she died in 1911.

 

 

 

 

60N19

Mary Collett was born at Toft in 1833 and was baptised there on 21st July 1833, the daughter of Henry and Susan Collett.  She was eight years old in the census of 1841 when she was living at Toft with her family.  Ten years later she was still living in Toft, but separately from her family on that occasion, at the age of 17.  In 1854 she accompanied her married sister Ann on the sea voyage to Australia on board the ship Ostrich which sailed from England to Adelaide.

 

 

 

It was following her arrival in South Australia that Mary married Carl August Christian Schunke who was born in 1826 and died in 1894, and with whom she had seven children.  Their first child Heinrich W J Schunke died shortly he was born in 1858, Hannah Augusta Schunke was born during the following year, Wilhelm Schunke was born in 1860, Charlotte Schunke was born in 1861, Elizabeth Schunke in 1862, George Schunke in 1864 who died the following year, and Bertha Schunke who was born in 1866.  Mary Schunke nee Collett died in 1904.

 

 

 

Her daughter Elizabeth Schunke later married to become Elizabeth Hart.  During 1933, fourteen years before she died, Elizabeth was living on a farm at Yalangor, north of Toowoomba where she made a quilted bedcover measuring 2019mm x 1144mm.  Today that same quilt is recorded with the National Quilt Register (Ref. 424AM) and is the property of Alys Mercer nee Hart of South-West Queensland the maker’s granddaughter.  The quilt is made of white linen with a green border and is divided into blocks, each block containing an Australian bird.

 

 

 

Alys saying of the work “The quilt was entirely handmade.  My grandparents had settled at Darling Downs in 1902, previously having living in South Australia.  They still had the Adelaide Chronicle sent to them weekly and this is where my grandmother obtained the wild flower designs, getting a different one each week as they were published.  There was no electricity on the farm so this would have been worked with the aid of a kerosene lamp.  Daylight hours were not used for such frivolities as fancy work, and not a stitch would have been sewn on any Sunday.”

 

 

 

 

60N20

Lydia Collett was born at Toft in 1836, the youngest daughter and penultimate child of Henry and Susan Collett.  She was baptised at Toft on 31st July 1836 and in 1851 she was 14 and living in the village of Great Shelford, just south of Cambridge.  She later married John Constable at Haslingfield, not far from Great Shelford, on 24th November 1855, John having been born in 1836.  Haslingfield lies just four miles south-east of Toft and four miles west of Great Shelford.  Their wedding was recorded at Chesterton in Cambridge (Ref. 3b 1087) during the last three months of 1855.  Two years later, during 1857, the couple emigrated to Australia when they sailed to Adelaide on board the ship Carnatic accompanied by Lydia’s sister-in-law Charlotte Collett nee Thompson, her nephew Young Collett (below), and the remainder of John’s Constable family.  Charlotte’s husband Gifford Collett (below) had already travelled to South Australia with his mother Susan in April 1857, as an advanced party to pave the way for the rest of the family to join them there.

 

 

 

It was in South Australia that all of the seven children of Lydia and John Constable were born.  They were Harriet Constable who was born at Nairne on 31st March 1858 but who died at Lower Finnis in 1864, William Henry Constable who was born there on 2nd February 1863 who died in 1937 having married Nora Day around 1891 with whom he had seven children, Susan Constable who was born at Goolwa on 6th September 1865 and who married Gavin Wilson died in 1952 having had eleven children, Ellen Constable who was born at Lower Finnis on 5th November 1868 and married George Galpin 1862-1936 and they had six children before her premature death in 1911 probably during the birth of her seventh child, Harry Constable who was born in 1869, Stephen Constable who was born at Lower Finnis in South Australia on 7th July 1872, and Elizabeth Ann Constable who was born at Strathalbyn in South Australia on 20th November 1875 who married Walter T Heath with whom she had two children.  It was also at Strathalbyn that Lydia Constable nee Collett died in 1924 at the age of 87.

 

 

 

 

60N21

Gifford Collett was born at Toft in 1839, the last child of Henry Collett and his wife Susan Beaumont, whose birth was registered at Caxton (Ref. xiv 29) during the second quarter of the year.  Not long after he was born, he was baptised at Toft on 19th May 1839.  He was recorded in the June census of 1841 as being two years old, so he was only three years old when his father died during the following year.  By the time of the next census in 1851, Gifford was the only child still living with his widowed mother in a tenement on Main Road in Toft, while in the adjacent tenement lived his married brother Stephen (above).  At the age of 11 Gifford had already finished his school and by then was already employed as an agricultural labourer like other members of his family.

 

 

 

Just less than six years later, Gifford Collett married Charlotte Thompson at Toft on 4th January 1857 when he was 18 years old and confirmed as the son of Henry Collett.  Charlotte’s father was recorded as William Thompson and when she was baptised at Caxton on 2nd May 1841, she was recorded as the daughter of William and Maria Thompson.  It was also later that same year that Gifford and accompanied widowed mother Susan as they boarded the ship Carnatic on 28th April 1857, bound for a new life in South Australia.  It is likely that Charlotte made the same journey later on, when Gifford’s married sister Lydia Constable and her extended family sailed to Adelaide.

 

 

 

Where four children were previously listed below, it now seems highly likely that the previously named William Henry Collett, whose date and place of birth was not known, was actually the couple’s second child previously listed simply as Henry Collett.  All three children were born after the family settled in Finnis near Strathalbyn in South Australia.  Charlotte Collett nee Thompson died in Australia in 1916, and was followed two years later by her husband, when Gifford Collett died at Coolgardie in Western Australia during 1918 at the age of 79.

 

 

 

60O18

Eliza Ann Collett

Born in 1869 at Finnis, South Australia

 

60O19

William Henry Collett

Born in 1872 at Lower Finnis, S A

 

60O20

Susan Mary Collett

Born in 1875 at Yarrowie, S A

 

 

 

 

60O1

Ann Collett was born at Toft in early 1835 and within five months of her parents being married there.  She was baptised at Toft on 29th March 1835, when her parents were confirmed as Henry and Elizabeth Collett.  She was six years old in the Toft census of 1841, and was 16 in the Toft census of 1851 when on both occasions she was living there with her family.

 

 

 

Four major events in her life took place over the next two years.  Firstly, at the age of 17, she married John Saunders on 9th August 1852 at Bourn, just two miles west of Toft.  Six months later the couple sailed to a new life in Australia, arriving there on 15th May 1853.  And it was while the couple were in Sydney in 1853 that Ann Saunders nee Collett died, the same year that her father also died back in England.  John Saunders was the son of John and Mary Saunders, and was baptised at Bourn on 24th May 1832.  He survived his young wife by fifty-eight years, when he died in Australia in 1911.

 

 

 

 

60O2

Young Henry Collett was born at Toft in late 1836, where he was baptised on 29th January 1837, the eldest son of Henry Collett and his wife Elizabeth Newman.  In the census of 1851 Young Collett from Toft was 14 and was employed as an agricultural labourer working with his father and his younger brother John (below), while living at the family home in a tenement on the main road in Toft.  Just over two years after that his father died and in 1857, he left England on board the ship Carnatic with his aunt Lydia Collett (above) to join other members of Lydia’s Collett family from Toft in South Australia. 

 

 

 

A little while later he sailed to America where, on 12th April 1862, he married Martha Matilda Josephine Marshall at Osmond, Pierce County in Nebraska.  Matilda was born in 1841, the daughter of John Marshall.  Over the next twenty years their marriage produced eleven children for Young and Martha.  It is unclear where the couple’s first child was born, although it may have been in Nebraska, before the couple left America for a return to Australia, since it is known that all of their subsequent children were born at Glen Osmond, after they had settled in South Australia.  Young Collett died at Glen Osmond in South Australia on 11th June 1888 when his youngest child was only three years old, while his widow passed away in 1920.

 

 

 

60P1

Jack Collett

Born in 1862

 

60P2

William Henry Collett

Born in 1863 at Glen Osmond, S A

 

60P3

Frederick Young Collett

Born in 1864 at Glen Osmond, S A

 

60P4

Ellen Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1865 at Glen Osmond, S A

 

60P5

Annie Collett

Born in 1868 at Glen Osmond, S A

 

60P6

Sarah Peggy Collett

Born in 1870 at Glen Osmond, S A

 

60P7

Thomas Collett

Born in 1871 at Glen Osmond, S A

 

60P8

Elsie Collett                   twin

Born in 1878 at Glen Osmond, S A

 

60P9

Samuel Collett              twin

Born in 1878 at Glen Osmond, S A

 

60P10

Eva Collett

Born in 1879 at Glen Osmond, S A

 

60P11

George Alfred Collett

Born in 1885 at Glen Osmond, S A

 

 

 

 

60O3

Eliza Collett was born at Toft in 1838, the third child and second daughter of Henry Collett and his wife Elizabeth Newman, and it was as Eliza Collett that she was baptised at Toft on 5th May 1839.  Eliza was two years old and 12 years of age in the next two census returns for the village of Toft and was still only 14 when her father died, following which her mother remarried in 1858.  However, just a few months before the next census in 1861, when Eliza was 22, she married Joseph Wing at St Paul’s Church in Cambridge on 8th January 1861. Joseph was also 22 and his father was named as William Wing, while Eliza’s father was recorded as Henry Collett, although by that time he had died and did not see his daughter married.  The event was recorded at Cambridge (Ref. 3b 649) during the first quarter of 1861.

 

 

 

Their marriage produced a total of five children for the couple over the next seventeen years, and all of them born in the parish of St Andrew-the-Less in Cambridge.  By 1871 both Eliza and Joseph were 32 and, on that occasion, they had three children, Florence who was seven, Arthur who was six, and Sarah who was three.  At the time of the next census in 1881 the family had increased in size with the addition of two children, but had sadly seen the death of their father, Eliza’s husband Joseph.

 

 

 

The Cambridge census return listed the family as living at 5 New Court in the Holy Trinity district of the city, where Eliza Wing from Toft was a widow at 43.  To make ends meet for her young family Eliza was working as a servant in one of the colleges of the university.  Her children living with her were Florence Annie Wing who was 17 and employed at home (while her mother worked), Sarah Ann Wing aged 13, Kate Mabel Wing who was seven, Henry William Wing who was five, and Harriet Eliza Wing who was three years old.

 

 

 

By that time in his life, Eliza’s eldest son Arthur Joseph Wing, aged 16, was a boarder at 34 Bridge Street in Cambridge St Clements, from where he was working as a chemist’s apprentice.  After a further ten years, the census in 1891 placed Eliza living within the parish of St Andrew-the-Great in Cambridge.  She was 52, and still living with her were her four youngest children.  Sarah was 23, Kate was 17, Henry was 15, and Harriet was 13.

 

 

 

Eliza Wing from Toft was still employed by one of the colleges in March 1901, when she was 62.  Still living with their mother in Cambridge were three of her daughters.  Sarah Anne Wing who was 33 had no occupation, so was probably at home as the housekeeper, Kate Mabel Wing, aged 27, was a school mistress, and Harriet Eliza Wing was 23 and working as a draper’s assistant.  Six years later Eliza’s youngest daughter married Philip Edward Morse during 1907.  Eliza’s two missing son were both married before March 1901 and were living in the Woolwich district of London where they were both working alongside one another.  Arthur J Wing, aged 36, was a chemist and a druggist, while his brother Henry W Wing, aged 25, was a chemist’s assistant.

 

 

 

According to the census in 1911 Eliza Wing, aged 72 and from Toft, was still living in Cambridge, with just two of her unmarried daughters for company.  Sarah Anne Wing was 43, and Kate Mabel Wing was 37.  Her married daughter Harriet Morse, aged 33, was living in the Edmonton area of London with her husband who was also 33.  Also by 1911 Eliza was a grandmother to the seven children of her two sons.  Both families were still residing in Woolwich, where Arthur Joseph Wing, aged 46, was living there with his wife Elizabeth Jane, who was 49, and their four daughters Doris Kate, 18, Muriel Florence, 16, Evelyn Maud, 15, and Olive May Wing who was 11.  The family of Henry William Wing, aged 36, comprised his wife Elizabeth Mary, aged 33, son William Henry, who was nine, daughter Ethel Maud, who was seven, and Bernard Arthur Wing who was six.

 

 

 

 

60O4

JOHN COLLETT was born at Toft in 1841 and it was there that he was baptised on 7th November 1841, the son of Henry and Elizabeth Collett.  He was nine years old in 1851, by which time he was already working with his father and older brother Young Collett as an agricultural labourer.  Two years later his father passed away when he was only 37 and his mother remarried five years after that sad event.  At the time of the next census in 1861 John Collett was 20 and was the oldest of the five siblings still living with their stepfather William Cato and their mother Elizabeth at their home on the High Street in Toft.  Also, at that time and living nearby in Toft with her family, was Ellen Rogers, aged 21, who had been born at Toft in 1840, who would later be the wife of John Collett.

 

 

 

It was eighteen months later at Toft on 25th September 1862 that John married Ellen Rogers, the daughter of William and Mary A Rogers, and over the remaining part of the decade their marriage produced five children, all of them born at Toft.  So, by the time of the next census in 1871, the family were recorded in error under the surname of Collitt.  And they were parents John and Ellen Collitt, both 30, Gifford Collitt who was eight, William Collitt who was six, Elizabeth Collitt who was four, Sarah Collitt who was two, and Selina Collitt who was not yet one year old.

 

 

 

Two more children were added to the family during the next four years, although the extra children were offset by the departure of the couple’s eldest son who was no longer living in the family home by 1881.  The census that year recorded the family still living at Brook Lane in Toft, which comprised John Collett, an agricultural labourer of 40 years, his wife Ellen aged 41, and their six remaining children.  The eldest was William, aged 16, who was working as an agricultural labourer with his father, while his five younger siblings were all attending the village school, and they were Elizabeth aged 14, Sarah aged 12, Selina aged 10, Eliza who was seven, and Alfred who was five years old.  Every member of the household was confirmed as having been born at Toft, and living just five dwelling away in Brook Lane was John’s younger brother Frederick (below) with his wife.

 

 

 

John Collett was 49 years of age when he died at Toft early in 1891, his death recorded at Caxton register office (Ref. 3b 315) during the first three months of 1891 and prior to the census day that year.  His passing was confirmed in the census return, in which Ellen Collett aged 50 was a widow, who was still living at Toft but at Brook End on School Lane, with her two sons William and Alfred.  Also still living at the family home was Ellen’s unmarried daughter Sarah who had with her, her base-born daughter Alice Maud Collett.  One more person completed the household and he was agricultural labourer George Brown, aged 36 and from nearby Comberton, who was described as a visitor.  Nine years later, when Ellen was 60 years old, she died at Toft, with her death also recorded at Caxton register office (Ref. 3b 253) during the third quarter of 1900.

 

 

 

60P12

Gifford Collett

Born in 1862 at Toft

 

60P13

WILLIAM HENRY COLLETT

Born in 1864 at Toft

 

60P14

Elizabeth Annie Collett

Born in 1866 at Toft

 

60P15

Sarah Collett

Born in 1868 at Toft

 

60P16

Selina Collett

Born in 1870 at Toft

 

60P17

Eliza Collett

Born in 1874 at Toft

 

60P18

Alfred Collett

Born in 1876 at Toft

 

 

 

 

60O5

Henry Collett was born at Toft in 1844, and was baptised there on 24th March 1844, as Henry Collett the son of Henry and Elizabeth Collett.  He was seven years old in the census for Toft in 1851, and would have been only nine years old when his father died at Toft in 1853.  Five years later his mother remarried to become Elizabeth Cato, and it was with her and her new husband William, at their home on the High Street in Toft, that Henry was living in 1861 when he was 17, when with him were four of his Collett siblings.

 

 

 

Henry was still in the village of Toft within the Caxton registration district in 1871 when he was 27 and a labourer.  Still living with him at that time was his younger brother Fred Collett (below), while living nearby was their married brother William.  However, more importantly, also living there at that time was Elizabeth Rogers who was two years old, the base-born daughter of Henry Collett and Elizabeth Rogers, who was living with her grandmother Mary Rogers.

 

 

 

It was at Toft during the following year, on 7th July 1872, that Henry Collett married Elizabeth Rogers, the event being recorded at Caxton register office Ref. 3b 789).  Elizabeth, who was born at Toft on 7th June 1844 and baptised there on 1st June 1845, was the daughter of Joseph Rogers and Mary Nupschurch of Cambridge.  It seems likely that the family may well have been related to Ellen Rogers of Toft who married Henry’s brother John Collett (above).  Once they were married their base-born daughter took the name Elizabeth Collett.  Early in the following year Henry and his wife and their daughter emigrated to Australia.  The family of three sailed into Brisbane, the Port of Maryborough harbour, on board the ship ‘Glamorganshire’ on 3rd May 1874, the ship’s passenger list confirming that Henry Collett was 30, his wife Elizabeth was 29, and their daughter Elizabeth Collett was five years old.

 

 

 

The family settled in the Maryborough area of Queensland, just inland from Brisbane, where Henry was employed by George Walker at Brookfield Farm.  The farm lay on the banks of the Mary River and it was in the river that Henry Collett drowned on 3rd November 1874, after just six months in the country.  Brief details of his suspicious death were reported in the Maryborough Chronicle on Thursday 5th November 1874, the same day that he was buried, as follows:

 

 

 

‘Henry Collett, a labourer, was drowned in the river at Walker’s Point on Tuesday last.  He had undressed and entered the river for the purpose of bathing.  The body was recovered by the police yesterday and the inquiry will be held by the Police Magistrate this morning.’  Two day later the newspaper recorded the result of the police inquiry, as follows:

 

 

 

‘The Police Magistrate held an inquiry on the cause of death of Henry Collett, whose body was found in the Mary River.  The wife of the deceased said “I and my husband were employed by J G Walker at Brookfield on the Mary River.  On Tuesday last I saw my husband leave the kitchen with a fork to go to this work in the garden.  About 7 o’clock that evening, my husband not coming home, I went in search of him on the river bank.  When I saw his clothes laying there I called for help and some men came.  The bank of the river at this place is very steep.  A messenger was sent to the police and, assisted by some men, I searched for my husband until 11 o’clock.  Yesterday the police found his body in the river.  He was 31 years of age, a native of Toft in Cambridgeshire, England and came out to this colony in the ship Glamorganshire.  He could not swim and I never knew him go into the river before, more than to wash his feet.

 

 

 

George Walker identified the body as that of his later employee Henry Collitt.  The bank near where the clothes were found is very steep and the water deepens suddenly and is very deep.  Believed the deceased must have been affected by sunstroke, or a shark, or some large fish, attacked and dragged him in.  Constable Pickering proved the finding of the body about 300 yards from the bank.  The body was much eaten by fish.  Both hands and feet were missing, it presented a mere skeleton, with the exception of the head and face which could enable a person to identify the body.  Doctor Power had examined the body at the morgue.  The flesh is completely eaten off the bones.  Also, the internal viscera gone, a portion of the face only having flesh on it.  The body showed marks of fish, evidently a large kind, probably sharks.  The hands and feet were also entirely gone, as if eaten off by some voracious fish.  The body being a mere skeleton, it is impossible for me to say the cause of death or whether the supposed mutilation by fish occurred before or after death.”

 

 

 

It was twenty months after that tragic event that his widow married Christian Rasmussen at the Office of the District Registrar in Maryborough on 12th July 1876.  Christian had arrived in Maryborough from Hadersleben in Germany when he was 17, and on their wedding day Christian was 23 years old compared to Elizabeth who was 32.  From that second marriage Elizabeth had further children, including another daughter Anna Maria and three sons, Henry Andreas, John Charles and Ernest Augusta who was born with club feet who suffered an infant death at seven months caused by convulsions when he had whooping-cough.  She also had an adopted son.  Forty-eight years after the death of her first husband Elizabeth Rasmussen, formerly Collett nee Rogers, died at Brookfield Farm, Walker’s Point, Granville on 9th March 1922 and was buried the following day at Maryborough Cemetery.  The death notice was published in the Maryborough Chronicle on the day that she was buried.  It confirmed “Elizabeth Rasmussen, beloved wife of Christian Rasmussen, aged 77 years and 9 months died at Brookfield Farm on 9th March 1922.”

 

 

 

Her obituary read as follows:  An old identity of Maryborough, in the person of Mrs Elizabeth Rasmussen, who had been an invalid for several years, passed away peacefully yesterday morning at her residence at Brookfield Farm, Walker’s point.  The deceased, who was in her 78th year, was a native of Toft in Cambridgeshire, England and came to Maryborough in 1874 with her first husband the late Mr Henry Collett in the ship ‘Glamorganshire’, and settled at Walker’s Point for some years.  She afterwards removed to the Island plantation where she resided for a period of 28 years, but returned to Walker’s Point, where she had since resided.  She is survived by her husband and a family of two daughters and three sons, in addition to one adopted son, 23 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren.

 

 

 

It is now known, thanks to information received via Cathy Young from Leanne Wroe, an historian and researcher in Maryborough, that Elizabeth was bedridden for seven years prior to her death due to a broken hip and during those years she never left her bedroom.  Her daughter Anna (Annie) Maria continued to live at the farm to look after her mother, even after she was married.  At Elizabeth’s funeral Annie had a fall when she was pregnant with her son Kenneth who was later born with a slight deformity which was blamed on that fall.  Annie later had another child, Frank, whose father was a kanaka – a person of Polynesian descent.  Leanne Wroe is a direct descendent of Henry Collett.

 

 

 

Following the death of her mother, Annie Maria Steinhardt and her husband Edward remained at the family’s Brookfield Farm in Walker’s Point, and it was there that Annie passed away during 1928.  Annie died from cancer at the age of 48, just two months before the death of her son Kenneth who was only six when he died from an appendicitis which turned into peritonitis. Edward Steinhardt continued to reside at Brookfield Farm with his father-in-law, up until he remarried.  Christian Rasmussen was still living at Brookfield Farm when he died on 30th January 1931, at the age of 78, from the injuries he received when he was gored by a bull.

 

 

 

60P19

Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1868 at Toft

 

 

 

 

60O6

William Collett was born at Toft in 1846, where he was also baptised on 30th August 1846, the son of Henry and Elizabeth Collett.  He was four years old in the Toft census of 1851, when living there with his family at Main Road Tenement, and was just six years old when his father died.  After five more years his mother remarried and it was with her and her new husband that William and four of his siblings were living at toft in 1861 when he was 14.  Seven years later William Collett married Jane Townsend at Toft on 1st November 1868, the event recorded at St Ives (Ref. 3b 623) during the last quarter of 1868.  Their marriage resulted in the birth of eight children, although their first-born son, who may have been born at St Ives or at Toft, did not survive beyond a few months.  It may have been that sad event, or a job opportunity, that prompted the couple to move into the city of Cambridge, where all of their remaining children were born.

 

 

 

Jane Townsend had been born at Pidley near St Ives in Huntingdonshire, her birth registered at St Ives (Ref. xiv 218) during the second quarter of 1847, the daughter of Joseph and Susan Townsend.  According to the census in 1871, the childless couple was living at Toft, when they were awaiting the birth of their first child who was born in the weeks and months after the census day.  Irrespective of where the child was born, it was baptised at Toft during July that same year, but died shortly thereafter.  On the census day in 1871, William Collett was 24 and his wife Jane was 23.

 

 

 

By the time the next census was conducted in 1881, William and his young family were living at 4 Cavendish Terrace in Cambridge, within the parish of St Andrew-the-Less.  William, aged 34 and from Toft, was employed on the railway, his wife Jane from Pidley was 33, and their four surviving Cambridge born children, at that time, were William H Collett who was eight years old and attending the local school, Florence A Collett aged five years, Albert H Collett who was three, and Sidney H Collett who was one year old.  Three years later, at the time of the birth of their next child, William and Jane had left Cambridge and had travelled thirty miles north to Wisbech area of Cambridgeshire, where the births of their final three children were all recorded.

 

 

 

The census in 1891 is very confusing because there are two separate entries for the very same Collett family, but at differing location descriptions.  Within both census returns the ages and names of the family members was the same, so perhaps one form was completed by William and the other completed by Jane.  The individual members were recorded as William Collett aged 44, Jane Collett aged 43, Florence Collett who was 16, Sidney Collett who was 11, Eliza Collett was seven, Lily Collett was four years old, and Daisy Collett was only a few days old.  Again, both census returns included boarder George French aged 25 who in one was a tram driver, and the other a railway servant.  Similarly, head of the household William was described as a tram conductor in one and a rail servant in the other.  The two different dwellings were described as Silt Road in Emneth, the other as South End in Wisbech St Peter.

 

 

 

Living not far away from his family in 1891, and within the same area of the county, was William and Jane’s absent son Albert, who was incorrectly recorded by his employer as Alfred K Collett from Cambridge who was 14, while the couple’s eldest son William had already left the family by 1891, and was living and working in Leicester.  Ten years later, William Collett, aged 54 and from Toft, was a tram conductor living with his family in the village of Emneth, just south-east of Wisbech.  Listed in the census return with him was his wife Jane, aged 53, who on that occasion said she had been born in Fenton, the village right next to Pidley, her previously stated place of birth.  The children still living with them were Florence, aged 26 and a dressmaker from Cambridge, Eliza 17 and a milliner from Wisbech, and Daisy who was ten and also from Wisbech.

 

 

 

After a further ten years it was just Eliza and Daisy who were the only children still living with William and Jane at Emneth in 1911.  William Collett from Toft was 64 and still working as a tram conductor, while his wife Jane Collett, from Fenton was 63.  The couple’s two daughters were described as Eliza Jane Collett from Wisbech who was 27 and a milliner, and Daisy Evaline Collett, who had no stated occupation, was 20 years of age and also from Wisbech.  Jane Collett, nee Townsend, died in 1921 at the age of 73, her death recorded at Cambridgeshire register office (Ref. 3b 535).  Nearly five years later her husband William Collett died in 1926 when he was 79, his death being recorded at Cambridge register office when he was living within the Chesterton area of the city.  The aforementioned Cathy Young is a direct descendent of William Collett.

 

 

 

60P20

William Henry Collett

Born in 1871 at St Ives/Toft

 

60P21

William Henry Collett

Born in 1872 at Cambridge

 

60P22

Florence Annie Collett

Born in 1875 at Cambridge

 

60P23

Albert Henry Collett

Born in 1878 at Cambridge

 

60P24

Sidney Herbert Collett

Born in 1880 at Cambridge

 

60P25

Eliza Jane Collett

Born in 1884 at Wisbech

 

60P26

Lily Collett

Born in 1886 at Wisbech

 

60P27

Daisy Evaline Collett

Born in 1891 at Wisbech

 

 

 

 

60O7

Elizabeth Collett was born at Toft on 11th March 1849, and was baptised there that very same day, the daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Collett.  She was three years old in the census of 1851 and, following the death of her father two years later, her mother remarried when Elizabeth was 10 years old.  In the Toft census of 1861, Elizabeth Collett was 12 years old when she was living there with four of her siblings at the High Street home of William and Elizabeth Cato.  No record of her has been found after 1861.

 

 

 

 

60O8

Frederick Collett was born at Toft towards the end of 1850, with his birth registered at Caxton (Ref. xiv 31) during the last quarter of the year.  He was just three months old at the time of the Toft census on 30th March 1851, when he and his family were living in a tenement on the main road through the village. He was baptised at St Andrew’s Church in Toft on 31st August 1851, the youngest child of Henry Collett and his wife Elizabeth Newman.  He was two years old when his father was tragically taken from the family in 1853, after which his mother was married for a second time in 1858.  Three years later Fredrick Collett was 10 years old when he and four of his older siblings were living with their mother Elizabeth Cato and her husband at a property in the High Street in Toft.

 

 

 

By 1871 it was as Fred Collett aged 20 that he was living with his older brother Henry (above) when they were very likely working together as general labourers.  Living close by in Toft was their married brother William with his new wife.  Thirty months after that census day, Frederick Collett, a bachelor, married Elizabeth Ellen Shadwell, a widow from Ramsey in Huntingdonshire, at Toft on 28th September 1873.  Seven years later, the childless couple was recorded as Frederick Collett from Toft, aged 30 and a farmer of 20 acres, and his wife Elizabeth E Collett from Ramsey who was 35.  At that time, they were living in the first dwelling on Brook Lane in the village of Toft, the same lane where Frederick’s older brother John Collett (above) and his wife Ellen and their family were also living on that occasion, just five doors away.

 

 

 

Ten years later in 1891, farmer Frederick Collett was 40, and his wife Elizabeth was 45, and they were still living in Toft at Church Lane.  However, over the following year they left the village, when they moved to Chapel Lane in Wimblington (the Isle of Ely), midway between Chatteris in the south and March in the north.  And it was there that they were living in 1901, when Frederick from Toft, was an ordinary farm labourer aged 46, while his wife Elizabeth from Ramsey was 48.  Why they gave reduced ages is a mystery, when in fact they were 50 and 55 years of age respectively.

 

 

 

By April 1911, Frederick Collett from Toft, was 60 and a labourer working on a farm, when he was living at Doddington, just a mile south of Wimblington, with his wife Elizabeth Collett who was 63 and from Ramsey.  Frederick Collett died in 1936 when he was 85, with his death recorded at Cambridgeshire register office (Ref. 3b 641).  The Will of Frederick Collett, who died on 15th January 1936, was proved at Cambridge on 20th August 1936 when William Henry Collett was named as the beneficiary.  He was most likely the eldest surviving son of Frederick’s older brother William Collett (above), who raised his family in Leicester and died there in 1947.

 

 

 

At some time in his life Fred Collett is reputed to have had a liaison with a Mrs Lindsay, which resulted in the birth of a daughter, who may have been named Elizabeth Collett.  It is possible, although not proved, that Mrs Lindsay may well have been the wife of Peter Lindsay of Toft, whose wife was the former Sarah Collett of Toft (Ref. 60P15).  If so, she was the daughter of Fred’s older brother John (above) and was born in 1868, Sarah therefore being his niece and eighteen years younger than Fred.

 

 

 

 

60O9

Richard Collett was born at Toft during the second half of 1849, and within four months of his parents’ wedding day.  He was baptised later that same year on 11th November 1849, the eldest child of Stephen Collett and his wife Elizabeth Baldock.  On the day of the census in 1851, the three of them were still living in Toft, where Richard was one year old.  It was during the following year, when he and his parents sailed out of Plymouth on board the ship Gloucester, bound for a new life in Australia.  Tragically, during the long sea voyage there were outbreaks of measles and scarlet fever which took the lives of 23 of the passengers.  Sadly Richard, who had survived the journey, died eight days after the family arrived in Adelaide when he was still under three years old.

 

 

 

 

60O10

William Collett was born at Glen Osmond in South Australia on 14th May 1854, two-years after his parents Stephen and Elizabeth arrived there from England.  Although no positive records have been so far been found that, there is a chance that William was later married and possibly had a son Stephen – named after his father, around 1880.  The reason for thinking this is because the military service record for Stephen Collett, who was born at Millicent in South Australia, named his father and next-of-kin as William Collett.  The same record also stated the place of his enlistment was Melbourne.  Nothing more is known about him at this time, except that he died during 1941.

 

 

 

 

60O11

Thomas Collett may have been born at Glen Osmond like his brother William (above), although the birth was registered at Strathalbyn in South Australia on 13th November 1856, when his parents were confirmed as Stephen and Elizabeth Collett.  It was on 2nd March 1887, when he was 31 that Thomas married Jessie Williamson in South Australia, their union providing them with two children who were both born at Strathalbyn.  Jessie was born on 26th May 1858 at New Hambourg in South Australia, the daughter of Alexander Russell Williamson and his wife Margaret Belfour Reid.  Thomas Collett was 75 years of age when he died at Strathalbyn on 7th January1931.

 

 

 

60P28

Margaret Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1889 at Strathalbyn, S Australia

 

60P29

John Williamson Collett

Born in 1890 at Strathalbyn, S Australia

 

 

 

 

60O12

Sally Collett was born at Rankins Creek in South Australia on 16th March 1859, the eldest daughter of Stephen Collett and his wife Elizabeth Baldock.  She later married George Werrey/Werry.

 

 

 

 

60O13

Elizabeth Collett was born at Strathalbyn in South Australia on 20th May 1861, the daughter of Stephen and Elizabeth Collett, and she later married John Dawson.

 

 

 

 

60O14

Richard Henry Collett was born at Finnis near Strathalbyn on 2nd September 1863, the son of Stephen and Elizabeth Collett.  He married Emily Lenard Fidock who was born in 1861 and who died in 1937.  Richard Henry Collett had died some thirty-four years earlier, when he passed away during 1903 at the age of 40.  There is no record of any children born to the couple, which might indicate that they were married shortly before Richard’s death.

 

 

 

 

60O15

Mary Ann Collett was born at Finnis on 24th March 1866, the daughter of Stephen and Elizabeth Collett.  She married Albert Edward Henley on 26th March 1891 at Finnis when she was 25, and they had six children.  Albert was born in 1865 and died in 1957, sixteen years after his wife.  Mary Ann Henley nee Collett died at Wyalong in New South Wales on 24th May 1941, at the age of 75.  Their six children were Ethel May Henley (1891-1966), Albert Lewis Henley (1893-1972), Iva Maud Henley (1896-1988), Percival Collett Henley (1898-2002), Herbert Edward Henley (1900-1969), and Jean Elizabeth Henley (1908-1989).

 

 

 

 

60O16

Stephen Collett was born at Finnis on 17th December 1868, the youngest son of Stephen and Elizabeth Collett.  He was nineteen when he married Ethel May Jackson at Milang in South Australia on 2nd March 1898, with whom he had a daughter.  Stephen Collett died seven months before his eightieth birthday, when he passed away on 27th May 1948.  Ethel May Collett nee Jackson, who was born in 1874, survived him by eighteen years, when she died in 1966.

 

 

 

60P30

Gwendoline Victoria Pearl Collett

Born in 1898 at Finnis, S A

 

 

 

 

60O17

Susan Collett was born at Lower Finnis, Strathalbyn in South Australia on 14th November 1871, the last child born to Stephen Collett and his wife Elizabeth Baldock.  Susan was 31 years old when she married Joshua Retchford at Claremont, Western Australia on 6th January 1903.  Their marriage produced two daughters Olive Louie Retchford and Doris May Retchford.  Joshua Retchford was born in Adelaide on 13th September 1874, the son of Edmund Retchford (1838-1903) from at Alcester in Warwickshire, and Anne Retta Constable (1841-1905) from Toft in Cambridgeshire, who were married at Blakiston, South Australia on 23rd June 1859.  It was also at Adelaide where Joshua Retchford died on 22nd November 1952.  After seventeen years as a widow, Susan Retchford, nee Collett, died at Mildura in Victoria, Australia, on 8th June 1970, when she was five months short of her 99th birthday.  Susan was the grandmother of Sharon Barends in Australia who, in 2020, kindly provided all of the details of the life and children of Susan Retchford, nee Collett.

 

 

 

As regards their two girls, Olive Louie Retchford was born at Leederville in Western Australia on 11th November 1903.  It on her twenty-sixth birthday that she married Victor Albert Williams Cox (1897-1971) at Port Pirie South in South Australia, with whom she gave birth to a daughter Sharon, and a son, no longer alive in 2020.  Olive Louie Cox, nee Retchford, died at Mildura in Victoria on 28th September 1990, at the age of 87.  Her sister Doris May Retchford was born at Cannington in Western Australia on 13th May 1906.  Doris later married Reginald Oswald Jamieson married at Torrensville in South Australia on 1st July 1933, Reginald having been born on 8th December 1902 at Barunga, Daly in South Australia.  Doris was only 52 years old when she died in Adelaide on 22nd May 1958.  She and Reginald never had any children, and it was also at Adelaide where he passed away on 5th December 1990.

 

 

 

 

60O18

Eliza Ann Collett was born at Finnis in South Australia on 1st May 1869, the eldest of the three known children of Gifford Collett and Charlotte Thompson.  She married James Collett before 1893, but it is not apparent at this time who he was or from which branch of the Collett he came.  Eliza and James had three children, the last of whom only survived for a short while and died within a year.  Eliza Ann Collett died at St Peters in South Australia on 27th October 1939 aged 70.

 

 

 

60P31

Ethel May Collett

Born in 1893 at Adelaide, S Australia

 

60P32

Christopher Collett

Born in 1897 at Port Pirie, S Australia

 

60P33

Henry Percival Collett

Born in 1904 at Adelaide, S Australia

 

 

 

 

60O19

William Henry Collett was born at Lower Finnis during 1872, and was the son of Gifford and Charlotte Collett.  All that is known is that he married Adelaide Eliza Woodruffe, although it has not yet been established whether they had any children or not.

 

 

 

 

60O20

Susan Mary Collett was born at Yarrowie in South Australia on 7th August 1875, the last child of Gifford Collett and his wife Charlotte Thompson.  She was nearly 21 when she married William Morgan on 15th April 1896 at Melrose in South Australia, and over the following years they had seven children.  William Morgan was born in 1869 and died in 1935, after which his wife Susan Mary Morgan nee Collett was a widow for eighteen years until her death at Mount Margaret in Western Australia during 1953 at the age of 78.

 

 

 

They seven children of Susan and William were Daisy Ellen [Ella] Morgan (1897-1976 who married Walter H Gribble 1889-1966 with whom she had a son Walter Gribble 1920-2004), Frederick Gifford Morgan (1898-1899), Dorothy Pretoria Morgan (1900-1980 William C Ticehurst 1895-1958), Olive Una Morgan (1902-), John H Morgan (1906-1971), Clarice Mabel Morgan (born 1910 who married Donald A Sullivan), and William J G Morgan (1912-1912).

 

 

 

 

60P1

Jack Collett was born in 1862, the eldest child of Young Collett and Martha Marshall who were married in Nebraska in the April of that year.  At some time after his parents were married, they left America and sailed to Australia, where they set up home at Glen Osmond in South Australia.  It is not known at this time, whether Jack was born in America or Australia, or somewhere in between.

 

 

 

 

60P2

William Henry Collett was born at Glen Osmond in 1863, the son of Young and Martha Collett. He married Sarah Jane Anderson and they had six children before the end of the century.  William Henry Collett died in 1945 at the age of 82.

 

 

 

60Q1

William Darsey Anderson Collett

Born in 1886 at Eastwood, S Australia

 

60Q2

David Arnold Young Collett

Born in 1889 at Eastwood, S Australia

 

60Q3

Kenneth James Collett

Born in 1891 at Eastwood, S Australia

 

60Q4

Malcolm Ross Collett

Born in 1893 at Eastwood, S Australia

 

60Q5

Edwin Lancelot Collett

Born in 1896 at Glen Osmond, S A

 

60Q6

Bernard Young Collett

Born in 1898 at Glen Osmond, S A

 

 

 

 

60P3

Frederick Young Collett was born at Glen Osmond in 1864, the third son of Young and Martha Collett.  He later married Elizabeth Ann Smith and was only 37 when he died in 1901.

 

 

 

 

60P4

Ellen Elizabeth Collett was born at Glen Osmond in 1865, the fourth child and eldest daughter of Young and Martha Collett.  She married Alfred Badcock and died at Kalgoorie in Western Australia on 12th July 1932 aged 67.

 

 

 

 

60P5

Annie Collett was born at Glen Osmond in 1868 and she later married George Phillips, with whom she had a daughter Florence Violet Phillips who was born in 1888 and who died in 1961.  George was born in 1865 and died in 1941, having spent the last three years of his life as a widower, following the death of Annie Phillips in 1938.

 

 

 

 

60P6

Sarah Peggy Collett was born at Glen Osmond in 1870 and she later married William Hart with whom she had a son John William Hart who was born in 1893.  Sarah Peggy Hart nee Collett was 74 when she died in 1944.

 

 

 

 

60P7

Thomas Collett was born at Glen Osmond in 1871, one of the sons of Young and Martha Collett, and all that is known about him is that he died during 1908 at the age of 37.

 

 

 

 

60P8

Elsie Collett was born at Glen Osmond in 1878 and was the twin sister of Samuel (below).  She was married to Fraser, although it is not clear if that was her husband’s surname or his christian name.  Presumably she died as Elsie Fraser nee Collett in 1919 when she was only 41.

 

 

 

 

60P9

Samuel Collett was born at Glen Osmond in 1878 and was the twin brother of Elsie (above).  Nothing more is known about him, except that he too died during 1919, like his twin sister.

 

 

 

 

60P10

Eva Collett was born at Glen Osmond in 1879, the youngest daughter of Young and Martha Collett.  She married Frank Adolph Grimes and it was as Eva Grimes nee Collett that she died in 1952 at the age of 73.

 

 

 

 

60P11

George Alfred Collett was born at Glen Osmond in 1885, the last child of Young Collett and his wife Martha Marshall.  He later married Mary Emma Evelyn Gore and the marriage produced three daughters for the couple.  George Alfred Collett died on 21st March 1967.

 

 

 

60Q7

Ella Martha Collett

Born in 1906 at Magill, South Australia

 

60Q8

Annie Evelyn Collett

Born on 02.10.1907 at South Australia

 

60Q9

Nancy May Collett

Born in 1912 at Summertown, S A

 

 

 

 

60P12

Gifford Collett was born at Toft in 1862, the eldest child of Henry Collett and Ellen Rogers.  His birth was registered at Caxton (Ref. 3b 420) during the last quarter of that year.  It was at Toft church, when he was around one year old, that he was baptised on 22nd February 1863, the son of Henry and Ellen Collett.  He was eight years old when he was living with his family at Toft in 1871, but by 1881 he had left the family home at Brook Lane in the village.  At that time in his life Gifford Collett from Toft was 17 and a lodger at the St Marys Street, Ely home of widow Sarah Watson and her two sons.  His occupation was recorded as being that of a (corn miller) Militia Recruiting, similar to another lodger at the house, Tom Thorpe who was 20 and a (farm labourer) Militia Recruiting.  Presumably the two young men were awaiting a call to join the army or the police force.

 

 

 

By 1891 Gifford Collett was 27 and was living and working in the Fulham & Hammersmith district of London, where interestingly other Colletts were living at that time, although none of them appear to have been related to Gifford or his family.  Seven years after that day, the marriage of Gifford Collett and Annie Allen was recorded at St Pancras register office in London (Ref. 1b 132) during the second quarter of 1898.  Anne Allen was baptised at Lindridge in North Worcestershire on 5th January 1868, the daughter of William and Ellen Allen.  Where Gifford and Annie were three years later has not been determined, but it may be that Gifford was with the military in South Africa, that separation resulting in the birth of their first child five years after their wedding.

 

 

 

According to the census in 1911, the family was living in the Kentish Town area of London where Gifford Collett from Toft in Cambridgeshire was 47 and working as a general labourer.  His wife Annie Collett was 43 and from Lindridge in North Worcestershire, and their three children were Alfred Collett who was six, William Collett who was four, and Evelyn Collett who was just five months old, all three of them born after the couple made their home in Kentish Town.  Gifford was still residing in London where he died at the age of 64, when the death of Gifford Collett was recorded at London register office (Ref. 1b 103) in 1927.

 

 

 

It is likely that Gifford Collett junior was born at the end of 1903, with his birth recorded at St Pancras register office (Ref. 1b 128) during the first three months of 1904. Tragically, a few weeks later, the death of Gifford Collett junior was also recorded at St Pancras register office (Ref. 1b 97) during the same three months of 1904.  The birth of second son Alfred Collett was also recorded at St Pancras register office (Ref. 1b 144) during the quarter of 1905.  The birth of William Collett was recorded at St Pancras register office (Ref. 1b 103) during the second quarter of 1907.  The birth of the couple’s only known daughter Evelyn was also recorded at St Pancras register office (Ref. 1b 125) during the last three months of 1910.

 

 

 

60Q10

Gifford Collett

Born in 1903 at Kentish Town, London

 

60Q11

Alfred Collett

Born in 1905 at Kentish Town, London

 

60Q12

William Collett

Born in 1907 at Kentish Town, London

 

60Q13

Evelyn Collett

Born in 1910 at Kentish Town, London

 

 

 

 

60P13

WILLIAM HENRY COLLETT was born at Toft in 1864 and his birth was registered at Caxton (Ref. 3b 438) during the third quarter of that year.  It was also at Toft where he was baptised on 20th November 1864, the second child of John and Ellen Collett.  He was six years old in the Toft census of 1871, and by 1881 he and his family were living at Brook Lane in Toft, where he was working with his father as an agricultural labourer at the age of 16.  In both of the census returns he was simply listed as William Collett.

 

 

 

William’s father died during the 1880s, so by 1891 William, aged 26 and an agricultural labourer from Toft, and his youngest brother Alfred, and their sister Sarah (below) were the only siblings living at Brook End on School Lane in Toft with their widowed mother.  Also living with them was Alice Maud Collett, who was six months old and the base-born daughter of William’s unmarried sister Sarah, together with visitor and agricultural labourer George Brown aged 36 from Comberton.  Nine months after the census that year William Henry Collett married (1) Eliza Adams at Toft on 25th December 1891.  The wedding was recorded at Caxton register office (Ref. 3b 1036).  Eliza was 25 and over the next eleven years she presented William with five children.

 

 

 

According to the next census in 1901 William, Eliza and their four children were living at Brook Lane in Toft.  Every member of the household had been born at Toft, with the exception being William’s wife.  William Collett was 35 and an ordinary farm labourer, while his Eliza Collett was also 35 but from Chesterton in Cambridge.  Their four children were recorded as Albert Collett who was eight, Nellie Collett who was six, Wilfred Collett who was three, and Alfred Collett who was one year old.  Living in the house next-door was William’s married sister Sarah Lindsay nee Collett (below) with her husband Peter and their two daughters, plus Sarah’s older base-born daughter Maud Collett.

 

 

 

Just less than two years after that census day, Eliza gave birth to her fifth and last children on 1st February 1903, but did not survive the ordeal.  The premature death of Eliza Collett, nee Adams, was recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 3b 309) during the third quarter of 1903, where her son’s birth was also recorded, with the extra forename of Adams.  Having to work to support his family as a lone parent, it was agreed that the new baby should be passed into the hands of William’s youngest brother Alfred who was married, but had no children.  Left with his four older children to look after, it was not long before William married (2) Margaret Ellen York at Toft on 26th November 1903.  Margaret was born on 6th November 1873 at Raunds in Northamptonshire, and that marriage resulted in the birth of a further three children during the remainder of first decade of the new century.  The new Collett family was still living in Toft, at Brookside, by the time of the next census in 1911, and still living with them were the three sons from William’s first marriage.

 

 

 

The household was listed as William Collett aged 45 and a horseman on a farm, Margaret Collett aged 37, Albert Collett aged 18 and a farm labourer, Wilfred Collett aged 13 and another farm labourer, Alfred Collett aged 11, Gladys Collett who was six, Oliver Collett who was two years old, and Ralph Collett who was only six months old.  Everyone in the household had been born at Toft, with the exception of Margaret.  On that same day, and living nearby in Toft, was eight-year-old Arthur Adams Collett, the nephew of Alfred and Louisa Collett.  William Henry Collett died in 1941 at the age of 76, his death recorded at Cambridgeshire register office (Ref. 3b 1357), while his much young second wife was 99 when she died in 1972.  The death of Margaret Ellen Collett was recorded at Cambridgeshire register office (Ref. 4a 1035).

 

 

 

60Q14

Albert Collett

Born in 1892 at Toft

 

60Q15

Nellie May Collett

Born in 1895 at Toft

 

60Q16

Wilfred Henry J Collett

Born in 1897 at Toft

 

60Q17

Alfred John Collett

Born in 1900 at Toft

 

60Q18

Arthur Adams Collett

Born in 1903 at Toft

 

The following are the children of William Henry Collett and his second wife Margaret.

 

60Q19

Gladys Florence Collett

Born in 1904 at Toft

 

60Q20

Oliver Raymond Collett

Born in 1908 at Toft

 

60Q21

Ralph Collett

Born in 1910 at Toft

 

60Q22

CHRISTOPHER ERNALD COLLETT

Born in 1912 at Toft

 

60Q23

Kenneth H Collett         twin

Born in 1914 at Toft

 

60Q24

Royston W Collett        twin

Born in 1914 at Toft

 

60Q25

Sybil A Collett

Born in 1916 at Toft

 

 

 

 

60P14

Elizabeth Annie Collett was born at Toft on 7th October 1866, and was baptised there as Elizabeth Annie Collett on that same day, the eldest daughter of John and Ellen Collett.  It was as four years old Elizabeth Collett that she was recorded in the Toft census of 1871 when she was living there with her parents, as she was ten years later in 1881.  On that occasion the family was living in a cottage in Brook Lane, in the village, from where Elizabeth was attending the local school at the age of 14.  Eight years later, the premature death of Elizabeth Collett was recorded at Caxton (Ref. 3b 257) during the fourth quarter of 1888, when she was only 22.

 

 

 

 

60P15

Sarah Collett was born at Toft in 1868, the daughter of John Collett and his wife Ellen Rogers.  Her birth was registered at Caxton (Ref. 3b 450) during the last three months of the year.  She was two years old and 12 years of age in the two census returns following her birth when, on each occasion she was living with her family at Brook Lane in Toft.  Around nine years later she gave birth to a base-born child and in the Toft census of 1891 Sarah was still living with her widowed mother and her two brothers William (above) and Alfred (below) at Brook End on School Lane.  Unmarried Sarah Collett, aged 22 and from Toft, had living with her, her daughter Alice Maud Collett who was seven months old, who was described as the granddaughter of head of the household Ellen Collett.

 

 

 

It was later that same year, that the marriage of Sarah Collett and Peter Lindsay, also of Toft where they were married, was recorded at Caxton register office (Ref. 3b 1035) during the last three months of 1891.  Their marriage produced two daughters, both born at Brook Lane in Toft, where the family was still living in 1901.  Peter Lindsay was clearly not the father of Sarah’s base-born daughter, since the census that year continued to record her surname as Collett.  According to the Toft census that March, Peter Lindsay was 30 and an ordinary agricultural labourer, his wife Sarah Lindsay was also 30, and their three children were described as Maud Collett, aged 10 and a boarder with the family, and daughters Constance Lindsay who was nine, and Dora Lindsay who was seven.

 

 

 

All five occupants of the dwelling in Brook Lane had been born in Toft while, in the adjacent dwelling was Sarah’s brother William Collett and his family.  By the time of the census in 1911 only Peter and Sarah Lindsay were still living in Toft, when they were both 40 and, by which time, their daughter Constance Lindsay, from Toft, was living and working in Cambridge at the age of 18.  Sometime later Constance Lindsay, who was known within the family as Connie, emigrated to Canada where she married Jack Saunders at Windsor in Ontario.

 

 

 

It is rumoured that a Mrs Lindsay had a relationship with Fred Collett (Ref. 60O8), the youngest brother of Sarah’s father, although nothing has been found to verify or disprove this.  However, there is a possibility that the liaison was with Sarah Collett, Fred’s niece, before she became Sarah Lindsay and that he was the father of her base-born daughter, even though the rumour suggests the child’s name was Elizabeth Collett.

 

 

 

60Q26

Alice Maud Collett

Born in 1890 at Toft

 

 

 

 

60P16

Selina Collett was born at Toft in 1870 when her birth was registered at Caxton (Ref. 3b 447) during the fourth quarter of the year.  She was another daughter of John and Ellen Collett, with whom she was living at Brook Lane in Toft on the day of the census in 1881, when she was ten years of age and attending school.  Selina Collett was twenty-four years old when her marriage was recorded at Caxton register office (Ref. 3b 673) during the first quarter of 1894.  Unfortunately, the corresponding record for the groom at Caxton has still to be found.

 

 

 

 

60P17

Eliza Collett was born at Toft in 1874 and was the youngest daughter of John and Ellen Collett.  Her birth was recorded at Caxton (Ref. 3b 40) during the second quarter of 1874.  By 1881, Eliza Collett from Toft was seven years old and attending school, while living at Brook Lane in Toft with her large family.  It is understood within the family, that she was eventually banned from attending the village school in Toft for being a ‘disruptive influence’.  After leaving school, she also left Toft, and in 1891 Eliza Collett from Toft was 16 years old and a domestic servant in the Holy Trinity area of Ely and Market Hill, the younger of two servants at the address.  She never married and her life was cut short at the age of 24, when the death of Eliza Collett was recorded at Caxton register office (Ref. 3b 278) during the third quarter of 1898.

 

 

 

 

60P18

Alfred Collett was born at Toft in 1876, the last child born to John Collett and his wife Ellen Rogers.  As with all of his older siblings, the birth of Alfred Collett was also registered at Caxton (Ref. 3b 490) during the second quarter of 1876.  It would appear that he spent most of his early life in Toft, where he was five years old in 1881, when he was living with his family at Brook Lane.  With the death of his father during the next decade Alfred Collett, aged 15, was living with his widowed mother in 1891, together with his two unmarried siblings William and Sarah (above), plus Sarah’s ten-month-old illegitimate baby Alice Collett. 

 

 

 

Just before the next census in 1901, Alfred became a married man, when he married the much older Louisa.  It would be logical, considering the age gap, that Louisa was possibly a widow when she married Alfred.  No suitable manage of an Alfred and a Louisa has been located.  However, there is every chance that she was Louisa Chapman from Bourn, just west of Toft, the daughter of Thomas and Mary Ann Chapman, who was baptised at Bourn on 6th June 1858.  So, by the time of the 1901 census, Alfred Collett, aged 25 and an ordinary farm labourer from Toft, was still living in the village, but with his wife Louisa Collett who was 42 and from Bourn.  Within two years of that census day, Alfred’s sister-in-law Eliza Collett nee Adams, the wife of his eldest brother William Henry Collett (above), died after giving birth to Arthur Adams Collett.  With his brother already having four children, and with Alfred and Louisa unlikely to have any children of their own, it was decided to allow the couple to look after baby Arthur.  That was certainly the situation by the time of the next census in 1911, when the three of them were still residing in Toft.  Alfred Collett from Toft was 35 and a labourer working on a farm, and his wife Louisa Collett from Bourn was 52.  Living with the couple, was their nephew Arthur Adams Collett from Toft, who was eight years old and a scholar.  Completing the household in 1911, were two other nephews of Alfred and Louisa, and they were schoolboys Victor Hands from Hampshire who was 11, and Walter Harden from Islington who was nine.  It therefore seems highly likely that the three boys were being schooled by Louisa at the couple’s home in Toft.

 

 

 

 

60P19

Elizabeth Collett was born at Toft in 1868, the base-born daughter and only child of Henry Collett and Elizabeth Rogers who were later married at Toft during July 1872.  It was as Elizabeth Rogers that her birth was registered at Cambridge (Ref. 3b 517) during the first two months of 1868.  Furthermore, Elizabeth Rogers was baptised at Toft on 1st March 1868, the daughter of Elizabeth Rogers.  In 1871, at the age of two years, she was recorded in the census living with her grandmother Mary Rogers.  When she was just five years old her parents emigrated to Australia and arrived in Brisbane on 3rd May 1874, on board the ship ‘Glamorganshire’.  The early years of her life were spent at Brookfield Farm, Walker’s Point, a farmstead on the banks of the Mary River.  Tragically, after living there for less than six months, her father drowned in the river and his body was badly eaten by sharks.

 

 

 

In July 1876 her mother married Christian Rasmussen following which Elizabeth then had a half-sister and three half-brothers.  Nine months later Elizabeth Collett was admitted into Glanville State School on 16th April 1877.  Just over ten years after that, when Elizabeth was around eighteen years old, she married Christian Peter Jensen at the Church of St Paul in Maryborough on 7th June 1887.  Christian Peter Jensen was born at Jutland in Demark during 1859 and he sailed to Australia during 1878, on board the ship Herschel.  He arrived at Maryborough that same year and initially stayed at the immigration barracks for a short while, before moving to other accommodation.  He died on 10th August 1910 at Maryborough, in Queensland, and was buried there during the following day.

 

 

 

Once married the couple settled at Central Farm, Island Plantation aka Raingauge Road in Maryborough.  On moving to Central Farm, the pair of them first lived in a shed that was elevated off the ground, while they built a house on the property which sadly got washed away in the flood of 1890.  The Great Flood of 1890 was a major flood with only the tops of houses and the roof of the Island Plantation Mill visible above the water.  The devastation of cane, hay, corn and Lucerne was fearful and small crop farmers like Christian Jensen and his stepfather-in-law Christian Rasmussen lost everything. The children are listed on the St Helens School Registers all except the oldest three.

 

 

 

Over twenty-three years, the marriage produced twelve children for Elizabeth and Christian, and all of them survived to old age.  The class registers at St Helens School curiously included the names of only nine of their children, missing just the three eldest children.  The couple’s last child was born in 1910, the same year that Christian Peter Jensen passed away from pneumonia and influenza.  With the death of her husband Elizabeth found it difficult to keep her family together because of the lack of money.  However, her mother’s Rasmussen family came to her aid.  Three years later Elizabeth joined the religious group United Christians Convention (aka Two by Two) in 1913.

 

 

 

Elizabeth Jensen, nee Collett formerly Rogers, appears to have suffered a fall in her old age and was perhaps admitted to hospital where she died at Maryborough on 1st August 1948 aged 82 and 6 months, the cause of death being uraemia an illness associated with kidney failure.  The death certificate also confirmed she had a fractured right leg.  Following her death Elizabeth was buried at Maryborough Cemetery on Tuesday 3rd August 1948.  Eighteen years prior to that, the Electoral Roll for Maryborough included Elizabeth Jensen residing at 95 Saltwater Creek Road in the town, from where she was undertaking domestic duties on 10th April 1930. 

 

 

 

The twelve children of Elizabeth Collett and Christian Jensen were Annie E Jensen (1887-1988 who married George A Baumgart 1889-1962), Henry C Jensen (1889-1950 who married Auguste J L Sakrzewski 1888-1965), Florence M Jensen (1891-1971 who married Ernest E Schwarzrock 1883-1966), Charles W Jensen (1893-1992), Martha Louise Jensen (7.12.1894-Feb 1957 who married Wilhelm A Bandholz 1888-1961 at Maryborough on 11.05.1918), Ernest R Jensen (1897-1967 who married Isabel Lesilea Muller 1901-1988), Ethel Mary Jensen (1898-1994), Walter Percy Jensen (1900-1982 who married Jessie I Ditchmen 1906), Rose Alice Jensen (1903-1903), Minnie M Jensen (1904-1988 who married Fredrick W Bandholz), Arthur E Jensen (1906-1999 who married Beatrice A Abell 1910-2002), and Stanley H Jensen (1910-1992 who married Gladys Flora Backer 1914-1992).

 

 

 

 

60P20

William Henry Collett may have been born at St Ives at the home of his maternal grandparents, just after the census day in 1871, but it was at Toft that he was baptised on 16th July 1871, the first child born to William Collett and his wife Jane Townsend.  Sadly, he did not survive and died shortly after, since the next son born into the family was given the same name.

 

 

 

 

60P21

William Henry Collett was born at Cambridge towards the end of 1872, the eldest surviving child of William and Jane Collett.  His birth was registered at Cambridge (Ref. 3b 518) during the last quarter of that year.  Before he was born, his parents had spent their first years together at Toft and may have moved to Cambridge for work purposes.  And it was at Cambridge that William Henry Collett was baptised at St Paul’s Church on 6th February 1873, to parents William and Jane.  By the time of the census in 1881 William H Collett was a scholar who was eight years old, living with his family at 4 Cavendish Terrace in Cambridge.  The next census in 1891 recorded William H Collett from Cambridge living and working within the Leicester East registration district, although his age was recorded in error as being 20, instead of 18.

 

 

 

It was in the middle of the following decade that the marriage of William Henry Collett and Maude Tryphena Robinson, who was born in Leicester in 1874, was recorded there (Ref. 7a 546) during the third quarter of 1896.  After two years together, Maude discovered she was expecting the birth of the first of the couple’s two sons.  The census return in March 1901 placed the family of three living at Berners Street within the area of Leicester that was formerly known as St Margaret’s.  William H Collett, aged 28 and from Cambridge, was a letterpress printer, his wife Maude T Collett was 26, and their son Cecil W B Collett was two years old, having been born in Leicester.  Staying with the family at that time was William’s sister Lily Collett (below) from Wisbech, who was only 14.

 

 

 

During the following year, Maude gave birth to the second of William’s sons, after which the family of four left Leicester and settled in Birstall, within the Barrow-upon-Soar district of the county, where they were living in 1911.  William Henry Collett from Cambridge was 38 and a commercial traveller in printing ink, his wife was Maude Tryphena Collett who was 36, and their two sons were recorded as Cecil William Bunting Collett, aged 11, and Douglas Willis Collett, who was eight years old.  On that census day, the family was employing Minnie Newton, a 28-year-old domestic servant.  Also, exactly thirteen years later, William’s wife died at Birstall in Leicester on 9th March 1924.  Her Will which was proved at Leicester on 23rd April 1924 contained £22 12 Shillings and 6 Pence, which was passed to her husband William Henry Collett, whose occupation was that of a metal salesman.

 

 

 

In 1936, William Henry Collett was named as the sole beneficiary under the terms of the Will of his uncle Frederick Collett, his father’s younger brother.  Just over twenty-two years after being widowed, William Henry Collett died in Leicestershire on 27th January 1947, following which his Will was proved there on 25th April 1947, when the two beneficiaries were named as Albany Gordon Smith and Reginald Arthur Siddons.  By then, although his two sons were married, they never had and children and had left England many years earlier.  So, perhaps there was no close relationship between.  Albany Gordon Smith was born in Leicester on 26th January 1898 and died in 1970, and Reginald Arthur Siddons was another who was born in Leicester, near the end of 1895, who died in 1949.

 

 

 

60Q27

Cecil William Bunting Collett

Born in 1899 at Leicester

 

60Q28

Douglas Willis Collett

Born in 1902 at Leicester

 

 

 

 

60P22

Florence Annie Collett was born at Cambridge in 1875, with her birth registered there (Ref. 3b 500) during the third quarter of the year.  It was at the Primitive Methodist Chapel in Cambridge that she was baptised on 20th February 1876 as Florence Anna Collett, the eldest daughter of William Collett and Jane Eliza Townsend.  It was at 4 Cavendish Terrace in Cambridge that the family was living in 1881, when Florence A Collett was five years old.  During the next decade the family moved to Emneth, just south of Wisbech, and was living there at Silt Road in 1891, when Florence was 15, had left school, but had no job of work.  She was again living with her parents in 1901, but at Westmeadowgate in Emneth, where she was 25 and a dressmaker.  Almost immediately after that census day, the marriage of Florence Annie Collett and John William Aspland was recorded at Wisbech register office (Ref. 3b 1280) during the second quarter of 1901.

 

 

 

Three years after their wedding day, Florence gave birth to a daughter, with the three members of the family residing at Peterborough in 1911, where their daughter was born.  Florence Annie Aspland from Cambridge was 35, John William Aspland from Chatteris was 38 and an iron-turner in general engineering, while Edith May Aspland was seven years of age.  Florence Annie Aspland died on 31st December 1954 and was buried Grantham Cemetery in Lincolnshire, when her death was recorded at Lincoln register office (Ref. 3b 84) during the first quarter of 1955 at the age of 79.

 

 

 

 

60P23

Albert Henry Collett was born at Cambridge during the third quarter of 1878, and was three years old in the Cambridge census of 1881 when he was living at 4 Cavendish Terrace with his family.  During the next few years, he and his family moved out of Cambridge and settled in Wisbech.  By the time he was 14, his stated age in the census of 1891, his employer gave his name in error as Alfred K Collett when he was living separately from his family but not far away from them within the Wisbech area.  Towards the end of the following decade Albert married Mary Ann Topliss, one of the daughters of Jemima Topliss.  In the census of 1891, married Jemima from Leicestershire was 49 and living at Lamcote Grove in Nottingham with her three daughters.  They were Mary Topliss who was 18 and a teacher at a day school, Jemima Topliss aged 16, and Sarah E Topliss who was 15.  Their father was absent from the family home that day.  By March 1901, the childless couple was residing at 18 Annesley Terrace in the Gorton district of Manchester.  Albert Henry Collett from Cambridge was a railway porter aged 23, while his wife Mary A Collett was 28 and from Cavendish Bridge in North Leicestershire, right on the county boundary with Derbyshire.  Her occupation was that of a day school teacher.  Staying with the couple that day was Mary’s unmarried sister Sarah E Topliss from Long Eaton, near Cavendish Bridge, who was 25 and described as living on her own means.

 

 

 

Ten years later Albert’s wife Mary Collett aged 38 and from Cavendish Bridge was a visitor at the Nottingham Colwick home of her brother-in-law Arthur Foster who was 43 and an oil storeman with the Great Northern Railway.  His wife Elizabeth Ann Foster, Mary’s older married sister, was 44, and their two children were bookshop assistant Alice Jemima Foster aged 14, and Bernard Topliss Foster who was 10.  This is another validation that Mary Collett was formally Mary Ann Topliss whose birth was registered at Leicester (Ref. 7a 226) during the second quarter of 1873.  The reason Mary was staying with the family was because, less than four weeks before the census day in 1911, Albert had sailed to America on the White Star Line ship Dominion which left Liverpool on 9th March 1911 bound for Portland, Maine.  The vessel’s passenger listed included Albert H Collett, aged 33, whose occupation was lecturer, and one month later his wife was the visitor at 22 Woodland Grove in Colwick within the Nottingham parish of St Mary the Virgin.

 

 

 

Curiously three years prior to that there is a record of an A H Collett, his wife and his child Edrea, sailing on board the very same ship, the Dominion, although it was making the return journey, having left Portland in Maine and arriving at Liverpool on 3rd March 1908.  It seems highly likely that this was the same family, even though no record of daughter Edrea Collett has been found, either in the UK or North America.  Sometime after Albert Henry Collett arrived at Portland in 1911, he eventually chose Canada rather than America in which to live, presumably with his wife, who very likely joined him later on. 

 

 

 

What is known for sure is that it was during the month of June in 1919, when he was 41, that he arrived in Niagara Falls where he spent the next few years.  However, it was on 30th November 1923 that Albert H Collett, aged 46, sailed into Southampton Harbour on board the SS Minnedosa of the Canadian Pacific Line from Montreal in Canada.  The ship’s manifest stated that the address where he would be staying was 93 High Street, Old Chesterton in Cambridge, and that his occupation was that of an auctioneer.  Upon his passing, at the age of 76, Albert Henry Collet was buried at Kingston (upon Thames) Cemetery & Crematorium on 10th August 1955.

 

 

 

 

60P24

Sidney Herbert Collett was born at Cambridge in 1880, the son of William and Jane Collett, his birth registered there (Ref. 3b 529) during the second quarter of the year.  He was one year old at the time of the census in 1881 when he was living with his family at 4 Cavendish Terrace in Cambridge.  During the next few years his father’s work took the family to Emneth, just south of Wisbech, where they were living at Silt Road in 1891, when Sidney Collett from Cambridge was 11.

 

 

 

By March 1901 Sidney Herbert Collett from Cambridge was 21, when he was a leather salesman living and working in the Bromley area of Kent in London.  Five years later, the marriage of Sidney Herbert Collett and Louisa Maud Seal was recorded at the Surrey Epsom register office (Ref. 2a 83) during the third quarter of 1906.  Louisa, who was born on 1st May 1880, gave birth to the first of the couple’s two daughter one year after their wedding day.  According to the April census in 1911, the family of three was living in Leicester where Sidney Herbert Collett from Cambridge was 31 and a commercial traveller in the rubber industry.  His wife was Louisa Maud Collett from Sutton in Surrey who was 30, and their daughter Phyllis Mary Collett from Woodside in Surrey was three years old.  Completing the household was domestic cook Janet Ferguson who was 27.  On the day of the census, Louisa was in an advanced state of her second pregnancy, with the couple’s second child was born during the second quarter of 1911.

 

 

 

It is perhaps surprising that Sidney H Collett from Cambridge, and the son of William Collett at Wisbech, arrived in San Francisco, California, onboard the SS Ventura on 21st January 1919.  The details on his arrival card recorded that he was 38, a married man and a merchant, living at Birmingham in England, who had previously been to the USA as a tourist in 1913.  It also stated that he had no relatives in America.  Therefore, it is assumed that his was the initial visit to the country, taken on behalf of his siblings later crossed the Atlantic for a new life in Canada.

 

 

 

It was Sidney’s brother Albert Henry Collett (above) and his twice-married sister Daisy Evaline Tustin (below) who both emigrated to Canada with their respective families in 1919 and 1921.  Sadly, Daisy died while she and her family were living at Niagara Falls, where Albert also lived.  It is uncertain whether her two children, one from each of her two marriages, were minors or adults when she died, but it is known that after she died her husband Frank Tustin returned to England and stayed at the home of Sidney Herbert Collett and his wife Louisa Maud.  During the Second World War the couple’s youngest daughter was married and her children were eventually born after the war in Australia.  It therefore seems highly likely that the eldest daughter of Sidney and Louisa was still unmarried and was still living with her parents when Frank Tustin arrived from Canada.  Despite their twenty-year age difference, Frank married his niece-in-law Phyllis Mary Collett, and they lived out their lives at Hastings in Kent.

 

 

 

Coincidentally, it was also at Hastings that Sidney Herbert Collett died on 1st September 1959, his death recorded at Sussex register office (Ref. 5h 306) at the age of 79.  His Will was proved in London on 23rd October 1959 when it was stated that Sidney Herbert Collett lived at 101 Lower Park Road in Hastings where he died on 1st September 1959.  Probate also named the joint executors of his Will as Louisa Maud Collett, his widow, and Hugh Roberts Wade, a solicitor, when his personal estate was valued at £16,471 12 Shillings and 9 Pence.  It was twenty-one years after that when Louisa Maud Collett passed away, her death being recorded at Hastings & Rother register office (Ref. 18 0933) during March 1980 when she was 101 years old.

 

 

 

60Q29

Phyllis Mary Collett

Born in 1907 at Woodside, Croydon

 

60Q30

Sybil M P Collett

Born in 1911 at Leicester

 

 

 

 

60P25

Eliza Jane Collett was born at Wisbech in 1884, the daughter of William and Jane Collett, with her birth recorded at Wisbech register office (Ref. 3b 633) during the second quarter of the year.  As Eliza Collett, aged seven years, she was living with her family at South End within the St Peter parish of Wisbech.  Not long after that her family moved the short distant to Emneth, and where they were living at Westmeadowgate in 1901, when Eliza was 17 and a milliner.  It was as Eliza Jane Collett, aged 27, that she was recorded living with her parents at Emneth in 1911 when she was still working as a milliner.

 

 

 

It was during the second quarter of the following year that Eliza J Collett married Arthur G Hayward at Wisbech, when the event was recorded at the Wisbech register office (Ref. 3b 1373).  The witnesses at the wedding were Robert W Elvin and Eliza E Plumb.  It is not known if Eliza and Arthur ever had any children.  Arthur G Hayward died at Cambridge during March 1947 when he was 61, while Eliza Jane Hayward nee Collett survived him by just over twenty years when her death was recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 4a 215) during June 1967 at the age of 83.

 

 

 

 

60P26

Lily Collett was born at Wisbech in 1886, the daughter of William Collett and his wife Jane Eliza Townsend, whose birth was registered at Wisbech (Ref. 3b 591) during the fourth quarter of the year.  She was four years old in the census of 1891 when she was living with her family at Silt Road in Emneth just south of Wisbech.  Ten years later she was staying with her eldest brother William, at his home on Berners Street in Leicester, when she was recorded as Lily Collett, born at Wisbech, who was 14 years old.  She later returned to the family home, since it was at Wisbech register office (Ref. 3b 1051) that the marriage of Lily Collett and Walter William Ward was recorded during the last quarter of 1910.

 

 

 

By the time of the census in 1911, their marriage had already produced the first of their three children while they were living at Wisbech St Peter.  Walter Ward from Manchester was 28 and a commercial traveller in drapery, his wife Lily Ward of Wisbech was 24, and their daughter was Eileen Lilian Ward, who was seven months old and also born at Wisbech.  It was also at Wisbech that the couple’s next child was born six months later, that same year, before the family moved to Chesterton in Cambridge, where their last child was born.  Walter William Ward died in Suffolk during 1956.  Lily Ward nee Collett died whilst in Wembley Hospital on 23rd March 1965.

 

 

 

60Q31

Eileen Lilian Ward

Born in 1910 at Wisbech

 

60Q32

Jack Ward

Born in 1911 at Wisbech

 

60Q33

Stanley Ward

Born in 1914 at Chesterton

 

 

 

 

60P27

Daisy Evaline Collett was born in Wisbech, her birth recorded at Wisbech register office (Ref. 3b 623) during the second quarter of 1891, the last child born to William Collett and his wife Jane Eliza Townsend.  The fact that she was simply listed as Daisy Collett in the Wisbech St Peter census of 1891 means that she was born before the fifth of April that year.  Therefore, she was very likely only a few days old, when she and her family were residing at South End in Wisbech St Peter.  During the next few years her parents took the family across the county boundary into Norfolk, to live in the village of Emneth, just south-east of Wisbech.  It was there, at Westmeadowgate, that the family was living in 1901 when she was again recorded as Daisy Collett, aged 10 years and from Wisbech. 

 

 

 

In the next census for Emneth in 1911, Daisy Evaline Collett aged 20 and with no job of work, was still living there with her elderly parents, perhaps having taken the role of housekeeper.  It was either at the end of the following year, or early in 1913, when the marriage of Daisy E Collett and (1) Philip D Campbell was recorded at Middlesex Brentford register office (Ref. 3a 254) during the first three months of 1913.  Philip was born in Northumberland in 1885 and may have been an orphan because he was living with his elderly widowed grandfather Philip Beddall in Cambridge in 1891, when he was six years old.  Daisy presented Philip with an only son Alan Campbell in 1913.  The absence of other children may be an indication that Philip served with the armed forces during the First World War.  Certainly, it looks very much like Philip may well have been killed in the last year of the war, with his death recorded at the Norfolk St Faiths register office (Ref. 4b 126) during the first quarter of 1918.  It was two years after her loss, that the marriage of Daisy Evaline Campbell and (2) Frank Tustin was recorded at Peterborough register office (Ref. 3b 686) during the last quarter of 1920.  Just over six months later Daisy and Frank emigrated to Canada.

 

 

 

Apparently, during her life, Daisy was known within the family as Eva.  And so it was that she and her new husband eventually settled at Niagara Falls in Ontario, where their only child, Norton Eric Tustin was born on 25th March 1922.  It was also to Niagara Falls that Eva’s older brother Albert Henry Collett (above) had moved in 1919.  It was during the month of June in 1921 that Frank Tustin, aged 31, and his wife Daisy E Tustin, aged 30, sailed on the SS Scandinavian to Quebec City, when Frank’s occupation in England was that of a policeman, who was intending to secure work as a salesman in Ontario.  Also included on the same passenger list, and also heading for Niagara Falls, was Cecil W B Collett who was 22 and the eldest son of Daisy’s eldest brother William Henry Collett, therefore he was Daisy’s nephew, who was only eight years younger than his aunt, with whom he was very likely a travelling companion.

 

 

 

Eva’s eldest son Alan joined his mother in Niagara Falls, where he changed his name to Alan Tustin, although later in his life, after a failed marriage, he reverted back to be Alan Campbell once again.  During the Second World War, Eva’s youngest son was a mechanic with the Royal Canadian Air Force who, on 6th June 1942, travelled to Sweet Grass in Toole County, Montana, USA.  The travel manifest, included his date of birth (as above), together with confirmation that he was the son of Frank Tustin of 841 Fourth Avenue, Niagara Falls, his onward destination was Great Falls in Montana, where he knew no one, and would only be there for three days.

 

 

 

Upon the premature death of Daisy Evaline Tustin, nee Collett, (date not known, but after the 6th June 1942), her widowed husband Frank Tustin returned to England, where he was reunited his brother-in-law Sidney Herbert Collett (above), his late wife’s older brother.  And it was Sidney’s eldest daughter Phyllis Mary Collett who became the second wife of Frank Tustin, following which the couple then made their home at Hastings in Kent. 

 

 

 

 

60P28

Margaret Elizabeth Collett was born at Strathalbyn in South Australia on 2nd March 1889, the eldest child and only daughter of Thomas Collett and his wife Jessie Williamson.  On 18th September 1912 she married Joseph Rupert Verner at Strathalbyn and they had four children.  Joseph was born on 15th February 1890 at Wirrabara in South Australia, the son of Robert Verner and Janet Adair.

 

 

 

Doris Irene Verner was born in 1913 and died in 2000, Rupert Lindsay Verner was born in 1916 and died in 1974, Jessie Madge Verner who was born in 1918 and she died in 2001, and Robert Thomas Verner who was born in 1925 and died that same year.  Joseph Rupert Verner died on 10th June 1964 at Mount Barker in South Australia, while his wife survived him by just over eleven years when Margaret Elizabeth Verner nee Collett died on 21st October 1975.

 

 

 

 

60P29

John Williamson Collett was born on 29th May 1890 at Strathalbyn, the only son of and second child of Thomas Collett and Jessie Williamson.  John married Myrtle Dodd in South Australia during 1913, and their marriage produced six children for John and Myrtle, although apart from one of them, their dates of birth are not known at this time.  Therefore, the order of the names listed below may not be correct.

 

 

 

Myrtle Dodd was born at Lake Plains in South Australia on 12th May 1891, the daughter of Frederick Robert Dodd and Emily Sarah Putland.  The only other known fact about John Collett is that he died in South Australia during 1957, and was followed seven years after by his wife who died in 1964.

 

 

 

60Q34

Thomas (Tom) Gifford Collett

Born circa 1914 at Strathalbyn; died 2001

 

60Q35

Stephen (Steve) John Collett

Born circa 1916 at Strathalbyn; died 1997

 

60Q36

Clarence James Collett

Born during 1919 at Strathalbyn

 

60Q37

Margaret Collett

Born circa 1921 at Strathalbyn

 

60Q38

Lawrence Roy Collett

Born circa 1923 at Strathalbyn; died 2014

 

60Q39

James (Jim) Vincent Collett

Born circa 1925 at Strathalbyn; died 1996

 

 

 

 

60P30

Gwendoline Victoria Pearl Collett was born at Finnis in South Australia during 1898, the only child of Stephen Collett and his wife Ethel May Jackson.  On 14th August 1920 she married Frank Turner Sellick at Adelaide who was born in 1892 and who died in 1964.  Their marriage produced two children and they were Fay Olive Sellick who was born in 1922 and Bruce Collett Sellick who was born in 1924 and who died in 2005, having served as a pilot during the Second World War.  Gwendoline Victoria Pearl Sellick nee Collett died at Adelaide in 1991.  Gwendoline was an accomplished singer and her talent was acknowledged in Australia where she received a national award for her singing career.  Most of the time during her concerts she was accompanied on the piano by her sister-in-law.

 

 

 

After the war Bruce Collett Sellick continued flying when he became a pilot for a commercial airline company.  It was through his work that he met and married Marie Membrey who was an air hostess.  Their marriage gave them three children, Lynette Sellick (1954-1971), Susan P Sellick, born in 1956, and Kym E Sellick who was born in 1961 who later married Rick Stucke.

 

 

 

As regards the eldest child of Gwendoline Collett and Frank Sellick, Fay Olive Sellick married John Graham Bolton and they had: (a) Alan Graham Bolton, born in 1949 who Elizabeth Home with whom he had Thomas Bolton (born 1976) and Julie Bolton (born 1979); (b) Abigail Bolton, born in 1950 who married Nigel Streeter with whom she had Jethro Streeter (born 1975) and Nicholas Streeter (born 1977); (c) Yvonne Bolton in 1956; and (d) Bruce Bolton who was born in 1961.

 

 

 

 

60P31

Ethel May Collett was born at Adelaide on 1st October 1893, the eldest child of Eliza Ann Collett and her husband James Collett from another branch of the Collett so far undetermined.  She married Edward Stanley Burgess at Norwood in South Australia on 30th October 1913.  Edward was born at Cygnet River in South Australia on 22nd July 1890.  Very shortly after they were married Ethel gave birth to a daughter, Gwendoline Phyllis Burgess, who was born before the end of that year.  Gwendoline later married William John Lawton who was born in 1905 and who died in 1987.  By then he had outlived his wife by forty years, as Gwendoline Phyllis Lawton nee Burgess died during 1947.

 

 

 

 

60P32

Christopher Collett was born at Port Pirie on 16th August 1897, the eldest son of Eliza Ann and James Collett.  Just after the start of the First World War Christopher enlisted with the 12th Infantry Battalion at Adelaide.  He was given the rank of Private and the service number 3702 and he sailed out of Adelaide Harbour on board the RMS Malwa on 2nd December 1915.  While still in Europe, and following his safe return from the fighting there, he married (1) Nellie Patterson McVake at Glasgow in Scotland during 1919.

 

 

 

What happened after that is not clear because Christopher must have married (2) Dorothy Louisa Jackson in the first half of the 1920s since she presented him with a son in 1925.  Eleven years later the family was living at Marrickville in the Dalley area of New South Wales in 1936, and it was there that they were still living in 1943.  Dorothy Louisa Jackson had been born at Carlton in Victoria in 1902, and she died at Auburn in New South Wales during 1962.  Eight years after that Christopher Collett died at Cabramatta in New South Wales on 17th March 1970.

 

 

 

60Q40

Gordon William Collett

Born in 1926

 

 

 

 

60P33

Henry Percival Collett was born at Adelaide on 1st August 1904, the youngest child of Eliza Ann Collett and her husband James Collett.  Nothing more is known about him at this time, except that Henry Percival Collett died at Burnside in South Australia on 6th May 1905.

 

 

 

 

60Q1

William Darsey Anderson Collett was born at Eastwood in South Australia during 1886, the first-born child of William Henry Collett and his wife Sarah Jane Anderson.  All that is known about his life is that he was around sixty-eight when he died in 1954.

 

 

 

 

60Q2

David Arnold Young Collett was born at Eastwood in South Australia during 1889, the son of William and Sarah Collett.  He served with the Australian Imperial Forces during the First World War, and his military confirmed his service number as 810 12603, that he was born at Adelaide S A, that he enlisted at Morphettville S A, and that his wife and next-of-kin was Amy Findon.  The only other information currently known about David is that he died during 1976.

 

 

 

 

60Q3

Kenneth James Collett was born in 1891 at Eastwood, South Australia, another son of William and Sarah Collett.  Like his three of his brothers, he saw active service during the First World War, and it is from his military service records that we know just a little bit more about him, as follows.  His place of birth was confirmed as Eastwood S A, he enlisted at Keswick S A – as did his brother Malcolm (below), maybe together at the same time, his service number was 75, and that his mother and next-of-kin was Sarah Jane Collett. 

 

 

 

 

60Q4

Malcolm Ross Collett was born at Eastwood in South Australia during 1893, the son of William Henry and Sarah Jane Collett.  He was relatively young when Malcolm Ross Collett died in 1932.  Malcolm enlisted with the army at Keswick, S A, and was Private 2333 with the 48th Battalion Australian Imperial Forces at the time of the First World War, when he mother Sarah Jane Collett was named as his next-of-kin.  However, on 10th October 1917 he was the subject of a Court Martial.

 

 

 

 

60Q5

Edwin Lancelot Collett was born at Glen Osmond in 1896, the son of William Henry and Sarah Jane Collett, and he died in 1959.  Nothing further is known about him at this time.

 

 

 

 

60Q6

Bernard Young Collett was born at Glen Osmond in Australia during 1898, the last child born to William Henry Collett and his wife Sarah Jane Anderson, and he died during 1952.  His military service record confirmed that he was born at Glen Osmond in South Australia, that his service number was 57507, and that he enlisted for service in the First World War at Adelaide.  However, it is the name of his next-of-kin which is rather curious, because it stated that it was his father August John Collett.

 

 

 

 

60Q7

Ella Martha Collett was born at Magill in South Australia during 1906, the eldest of the three daughters of George Alfred Collett and his wife Mary Emma Evelyn Gore.  Ella later married Sidney Albert Curtis.

 

 

 

 

60Q9

Nancy May Collett was born at Summertown in South Australia on 29.01.1912, the youngest of the three children of George Alfred and Mary Emma Evelyn Collett.  All that is known about Nancy at this time is that she died at Kelmscott in Western Australia on 21st June 1990.

 

 

 

 

60Q14

Albert Collett was born at Toft in 1892, the eldest of the four children of William Henry Collett and his first wife Eliza Adams.  Albert was eight years old in 1901 when he was living with his family at Toft, and was 18 by the time of the census in 1911 when he was living with his father who had remarried following the death of Albert’s mother not long after 1901.  It was in 1924 that he married Grace Craft in Cambridgeshire with whom he had two children; the first born in Cambridge before the family moved to Hertfordshire, where the second child was born.  All that is currently known about Albert apart from this, is that he died during 1975.

 

 

 

60R1

Conway Albert William Collett

Born in 1927 at Chesterton, Cambridge

 

60R2

Cecil E Collett

Born in 1933 at Royston, Hertfordshire

 

 

 

 

60Q15

Nellie May Collett was born at Toft on 12th January 1895, the daughter of William and Eliza Collett.  Her birth was recorded at Caxton register office (Ref. 3b 457) during the first quarter of 1895.  She was living with her family at Brook Lane in Toft in 1901, when she was six years old, but shortly after that her mother died and her father married for a second time.  Upon leaving school, Nellie entered into domestic service and by 1911 she was living and working at Chesterton in Cambridge, where her mother had been born.  On that occasion she was recorded in the census as Nelly Collett from Toft who was 16 and the younger of two servants employed by boat-builder James Foster, a widower aged 86.  Twenty years later, the marriage of Nellie M Collett and John T Hooks was recorded at Chesterton in Cambridge (Ref. 3b 1183) during the last three months of 1931, John having been born in Cambridge in 1897.  No children were born out of their married, with the death of Nellie M Hooks recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 4a 506) during the third quarter of 1971.

 

 

 

 

60Q16

Wilfred Henry J Collett was born at Toft in 1897, and was named after his brother who had died during the previous year.  The birth of Wilfred Henry Collett was recorded at Caxton register office (Ref. 3b 432) during the third quarter of the year.  By 1901 Wilfred was three years old when he was still living at Toft with his mother and father and his three surviving siblings.  Following the death of his mother during the next few months, and his father marrying again, Wilfred Collett aged 13, was living at Toft in 1911 with his father and his stepmother and their young family.  It was during the spring of 1928 that the marriage of Wilfred H Collett and Ada Webber was recorded at Caxton register office (Ref. 3b 1125).  The marriage is known to have produced two children for the couple, the birth of their youngest son recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 3b 1311) during the last three months of 1939.  The later death of Wilfred Henry J Collett was recorded at the Cambridgeshire register office (Ref. 9 0735) during 1981.

 

 

 

60R3

Kenneth W H J Collett

Born in 1929 at Cambridge

 

60R4

Michael B Collett

Born in 1939 at Cambridge

 

 

 

 

60Q17

Alfred John Collett was born at Toft on 31st March 1900, another child of William Henry Collett by his first wife Eliza Adams.  His birth was recorded at Caxton register office (Ref. 3b 454) during the second quarter of the year.  The family was altogether for the Toft census in March 1901, when Alfred was one year old, but sadly just after that his mother passed away.  Alfred was eleven years old in 1911 when he was still living with his father and his stepmother at Brookside in Toft.  The only other fact known about Alfred is that he died during 1978, with his death recorded at the Cambridgeshire register office (Ref. 9 0925) as Alfred John Collett.

 

 

 

 

60Q18

Arthur Adams Collett was born at Toft on 1st February 1903, the last child of Eliza Adams, the first wife of William Henry Collett.  Shortly after he was born, or maybe even during the birth, Eliza Collett died and Arthur’s father remarried.  However, sometime before then, baby Arthur was passed into the care of William’s youngest brother Alfred Collett ad his wife, who had no children of their own.  And it was with them that eight-year-old schoolboy Arthur Adams Collett was living with them in 1911.  The birth of Arthur Adams Collett was recorded at Caxton register office (Ref. 3b 401) during the first three months of 1903, and all that is currently known about him, is that he was still residing in Cambridgeshire when he died in 1993

 

 

 

 

60Q19

Gladys Florence Collett was born at Toft during 1904, the first child of William Henry Collett by his second wife Margaret Ellen York.  Her birth was recorded at Caxton register office (Ref. 3b 416) during the third quarter of the year.  All that we know about her is that she was six years old in the Toft census of 1911, when she was living there with her parents and two younger siblings, and that she died in 1989.

 

 

 

 

60Q20

Oliver Raymond Collett was born at Toft on 4th January 1908, the second child of William and Margaret Collett.  His birth was recorded at Caxton register office (Ref. 3b 366) and he was two years old in 1911 when he was living with his family at Toft.  The later marriage of Oliver R Collett and Lily E Day was recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 3b 1601) during the third quarter of 1937.  The births of their four children were all recorded at Cambridge, where the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Day.  It was during 1995 that Oliver Raymond Collett passed away at the age of 87, his death recorded at the Cambridgeshire register office (Ref. 3311c c32c).

 

 

 

60R5

Raymond W Collett

Born in 1938 at Cambridge

 

60R6

David B Collett

Born in 1945 at Cambridge

 

60R7

Averil J Collett

Born in 1949 at Cambridge

 

60R8

Mavis A Collett

Born in 1956 at Cambridge

 

 

 

 

60Q21

Ralph William Collett was born at Toft on 20th September 1910, the son of William and Margaret Collett, his birth recorded at Caxton register office (Ref. 3b 354) during the last quarter of the year.  As just Ralph Collett aged six months, he was living with his family at Brookside in Toft on the census day in 1911.  Ralph was thirty-six years old when he married widow Ellen Osborne, nee Duncan, who was born at St Olave in Bermondsey during 1917.  The wedding of Ralph W Collett and Ellen V Osborne was recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 4a 777) during the second quarter of 1947.  By that time in her life, Ellen already had a son from her previous marriage, and he was Terence Osborne who had been born at Hailsham in Sussex during 1939.  In addition to son Terence, Ellen presented Ralph with four children over the next twelve years when they were living in Cambridge.  It was during 1995 that the death of Ralph William Collett was recorded at the Cambridgeshire register office (Ref. 3311c c32c).

 

 

 

60R9

Barry W Collett

Born in 1948 at Cambridge

 

60R10

Anthony John Collett

Born in 1949 at Cambridge

 

60R11

Rosemary Collett

Born in 1953 at Cambridge

 

60R12

Jacqueline M Collett

Born in 1959 at Cambridge

 

 

 

 

60Q22

CHRISTOPHER ERNALD COLLETT was born at Toft on 20th August 1912, the son of William and Margaret Collett, his birth recorded at Caxton register office (Ref. 3b 710) during the last quarter of the year.  The spelling of his second forename may simply be a genuine error, in so far as his name may have been Arnold rather than the otherwise unheard of Ernald.  It was during the summer of 1937, at Lothingland in Suffolk, that farmworker Christopher Collett married Violet May Burgoyne, their wedding recorded there (Ref. 4a 410) during the third quarter of that year.  Once married the couple initially settled in Cambridge, where their first three children were born, before moving into the village of Toft, where another three children were added to the family.  The family’s home was a thatched cottage at Brookside in Toft, Provenance Cottage, which was still there in 2013.  The only other detail so far known about Christopher, is that he died on 18th February 2001 when he was 89, and when his death was recorded at Cambridgeshire register office (Ref. 3311b b48c) as Christopher Ernald Collett.  His wife Violet May Collett, nee Burgoyne, was born on 9th August 1911, and survived her husband by four years, when she passed away during July 2005, the death of Violet May Collett recorded at Cambridge register office.

 

 

 

60R13

Christopher Keith Collett

Born in 1938 at Cambridge

 

60R14

KORAN W G COLLETT

Born in 1940 at Cambridge

 

60R15

Margaret Ann Collett

Born in 1942 at Cambridge

 

60R16

Gerald Paul Collett

Born in 1947 at Toft

 

60R17

Marilyn E Collett

Born in 1949 at Toft

 

60R18

Linda J Collett

Born in 1954 at Toft

 

 

 

 

60Q23

Kenneth H Collett was the twin brother of Royston (below) and was born at Toft in 1914, the twin sons of William and Margaret Collett.  His was the first birth to be recorded at Caxton register office (Ref. 3b 729) during the third quarter of the year.  His mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as York, but very tragically, his death was also recorded at Caxton (Ref. 3b 434) during that same three-month period in 1914.

 

 

 

 

60Q24

Royston W Collett was the twin brother of Kenneth (above) and was born at Toft in 1914, with his birth recorded at Caxton register office (Ref. 3b 729) during the third quarter of the year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as York.  Around six months later the death of Royston W Collett was recorded at Caxton register office (Ref. 3b 795) during the first three months of 1915.

 

 

 

 

60Q25

Sybil A Collett was born at Toft in 1916, the final child of William Henry Collett and his second wife Margaret Ellen York.  Her birth, as Sybil A Collett, was recorded at Caxton register office (Ref. 3b 639) during the fourth quarter of the year, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as York.  Sadly, when she was approaching one year of age, the death of Sybil N Collett was also recorded at Caxton register office (Ref. 4b 455) during the last three months of 1917, having died at Toft.

 

 

 

 

60Q26

Alice Maud Collett was born at Toft during the summer of 1890, her birth recorded at Caxton register office (Ref. 3b 423) during the third quarter of the year.  She was the base-born daughter of Sarah Collett, with speculation that her father may have been Fred Collett (Ref. 60O8), Sarah’s uncle and her father’s youngest brother.  In the Toft census of 1891, Sarah and her seven-month-old baby Alice Maud Collett were living at the Brook End, School Lane home of Alice’s widowed grandmother Ellen Collett, nee Rogers.  When her mother married Peter Lindsay near the end of 1891, Alice retained her Collett surname, as confirmed in the Toft census of 1901.  On that occasion, ten-year-old Maud Collett from Toft was living at the Brook Lane home of her stepfather Peter Lindsay, her mother Sarah Lindsay and her two half-siblings Constance Lindsay aged nine and Dora Lindsay who was seven.  Just prior to the next census day, the marriage of Alice Maud Collett was recorded at Caxton register office (Ref. 3b 857) during the second quarter of 1910.  Not having her married name, means she has not been identified within the 1911 Census.

 

 

 

 

60Q27

Cecil William Bunting Collett was born at Leicester in 1899, possibly at Berners Street, the eldest of the two sons of William Henry and Maud Collett.  His birth, as Cecil William B Collett, was recorded there (Ref. 7a 292) during the second quarter of the year.  It was as Cecil W B Collett aged two years that he was living at Berners Street in Leicester with his parents in 1901.  Sometime after the birth of his brother Douglas (below) the family of four moved to Birstall within the Barrow-upon-Soar area of Leicestershire, where they were living in 1911, when Cecil was recorded under his full name of Cecil William Bunting Collett at the age of 11.  Ten years later, Cecil W B Collett aged 22 and a clerk, sailed across the Atlantic to Quebec City on board the SS Scandinavian in June 1921, bound for Niagara Falls in Ontario.  On the same vessel was his recently married, for a second time, aunt Daisy Evaline Tustin nee Collett, the youngest sister of Cecil’s father, with her new husband.  She was only eight years older than Cecil, when they were travelling together to establish a new life at Niagara Falls, where Daisy’s brother Albert Henry Collett had already settled two years earlier.  It was in Canada that Cecil met and married Muriel Sparling.  It is also known that the couple adopted a son William, who became William Collett and eventually married Mary Mesita.  When Cecil William Bunting Collett died in 1953, he was buried at Lundy’s Lane Cemetery in Niagara, at the age of 54.

 

 

 

60R19

William Collett [adopted]

Date of birth unknown

 

 

 

 

60Q28

Douglas Willis Collett was born in Leicester, the younger of the two sons of William Henry Collett from Cambridge and his wife Maud Tryphena Collett from Leicester.  It is possible that he was born, either at the end of 1902, or early in 1903, with his birth was recorded at Leicester register office (Ref. 7a 267) during the first quarter of the latter.  Shortly after he was born, his family moved four miles north to Birstall, within the Barrow-upon-Soar district of the county, and it was there they were living in 1911.  On that occasion he was described as Douglas Willis Collett from Leicester who was eight years old.  He was nearly twenty-seven years old when the banns of marriage for Douglas Willis Collett and Winifred Irene Brown were first read at the Anglican Church in Birstall on 1st December 1929.  It was at the end of the year that the couple was married at Birstall on 30th December 1929, when the wedding register stated that Douglas was 26 and living at Homeleigh on Birstall Hill, the son of William Henry Collett, while Winifred, who was known as Rene, was 22, from Birstall, and the daughter of William Oswald Brown.

 

 

 

Douglas was 54 years old when his death was recorded at Leicester register office (Ref. 3a 494) during the third quarter of 1957.  He was buried in the cemetery at St James the Great in Birstall on 10th September 1957, the church record confirming the date he died as 6th September.  During his life, it is understood that he spent some time living in Singapore.

 

 

 

 

60Q29

Phyllis Mary Collett was born on 10th July 1907 at Woodside, just north-east of Croydon, the eldest of the two daughters of Sidney Herbert Collett and his wife Louisa Maud Collett.  The birth of Phyllis Mary Collett was recorded at Croydon register office (Ref. 2a 343) during the third quarter of that year.  She was three years of age in the Leicester census on 1911 when her place of birth was recorded as Woodside in Surrey.  All that is currently known about Phyllis is that she was unmarried when her father’s brother-in-law visited the family after the death of his wife Daisy Evaline Tustin, nee Collett, possibly during the years leading up to the Second World War.  Even though Frank Tustin was around twenty years older than Phyllis, they were later married and lived together at Hastings on the Kent coast.  It was also at Hastings that Phyllis’ father Sidney died in 1959, while she passed away during 1995 when she was living within the county of Sussex.

 

 

 

 

60Q30

Sybil M P Collett was born at Leicester shortly after the census day in 1911, the youngest daughter of Sidney and Louisa Collett.  Her birth as Sybil M P Collett was recorded at Leicester register office (Ref. 7a 291) during the second quarter of that year.  She was 32 years old when the marriage of Sybil M P Collett and David McKay was recorded at Hendon register office (Ref. 3a 1343) during the last three months of 1943.  All three of the couple’s children were born while they were still living in England, before the family emigrated to Australia.  The family sailed out of Southampton on 30th July 1952 onboard the ship, ‘New Australia’, a vessel of the Shaw Savill Line, bound for Sydney, New South Wales.  The passenger list included the name of Master Alistair McKay who was under one year old. 

 

 

 

It is known that the family settled in Brisbane, where they were still living in 2013.  The three children of Sybil and David were Sheila M McKay whose birth was recorded at the Sussex Battle register office (Ref. 5h 23) during the second quarter of 1946, Elizabeth Jean McKay whose birth was recorded at Hasting register office (Ref. 5h 298) during the first quarter of 1949, and Alistair McKay whose birth was also recorded at Battle register office (Ref. 5h 10) during the last three months of 1951, making him around nine months old when the family left England.  In all three cases, the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett.

 

 

 

Sheila McKay married Gilbert Forward and they had Cameron Forward who was born in 1985, and Bradley Forward who was born in 1989.  Jean McKay has a daughter, Lynette McKay, while Alistair McKay is married to Karen and they have three children, Jason (born 1972), Debbie (born 1976, who is married to Jason Shugg, with two sons), and Tamara (born 1982).

 

 

 

 

60Q32

Jack Ward was born at Wisbech 24th September 1911.  He was the second child and eldest of the two sons of Walter William Ward and his wife Lily Collett.  He married Gladys Olive Jessie Harris, who was known as Olive, around the time of the start of World War Two, and the marriage produced three children, the first born during the war years and the other two a few years after it was all over.

 

 

 

Carole Brenda Ward was born at Southend-on-Sea in 1942, whereas Gillian Ward was born there in 1950, and David Ward was born in Harrow during 1956.  David was only twenty years old when his father died at South Harrow in Middlesex during 1976.  Jack’s eldest daughter Carole, who was born at Southend-on-Sea, first married Colin Thompson, and later she married Russell Accorsini.  It was with Colin that she had two daughters Jacqueline and Catherine.

 

 

 

Catherine, who was born in 1964 at Bushey in Hertfordshire, married Nicholas Young with whom she had five children.  Today, in 2011, Cathy Young lives in Spalding in Lincolnshire, and it has been with her help and support that this family line has been constructed.  Jack Ward, a merchant seaman during the Second World War, died at home at 7 Brooks Avenue in South Harrow on 10th April 1976.

 

 

 

 

60Q33

Stanley Ward was born at Chesterton in Cambridgeshire during 1914, the son of Walter and Lily Ward.  He later married Amy Halliday and they had a daughter Christine who was born in 1944.  She in turn married Ronald Kibble with whom she had two daughters before Ronald died in 2007.  Their eldest daughter, Debbie, was married and is now divorced but not before she gave birth to Jessica and Oliver.  Christine and Ronald’s second daughter was Linda, and she married Will Dodge with whom she has a son Ryan Dodge.

 

 

 

 

60Q36

Clarence James Collett, known as Jim, was born at Strathalbyn in South Australia during 1919 and was one of the six children of John Williamson Collett and his wife Myrtle Dodd.  His second name came from his grandmother’s maiden-name.  During the Second World War Clarence was a member of the Australian Infantry in which he was Private Clarence James Collett, service number SX11962.  Tragically, he was captured by the Japanese forces and very likely died in captivity on 27th October 1943 at the age of 24, and was buried at the Kanchanaburi Cemetery in Thailand (then Siam).  His next-of-kin were named as John Williamson Collett and Myrtle Collett of Strathalbyn.

 

 

 

During the previous year in 1942, Kanchanaburi came under Japanese control.  It was there that Asian forced labourers and Allied prisoners of war built the infamous Burma Railway, and constructed a bridge, as immortalised in the film Bridge on the River Kwai.  Almost half of the prisoners working on the project died from disease, maltreatment and accidents.  At Kanchanaburi, there is a memorial and two museums to commemorate the dead.  In March 2003, the Thailand-Burma Railway Museum opened and the JEATH War Museum is dedicated to the bridge and the Death Railway, the construction of which is modelled on the huts used to house the prisoners.  JEATH stands for Japanese, English, Australian, Thai, and Holland, the nationalities involved in the tragedy.

 

 

 

 

60Q40

Gordon William Collett was born at Sydney in New South Wales on 8th March 1926, the only child of Christopher Collett and his wife Dorothy Louisa Jackson.  Apparently, it must have been just after the Second World War that he married Sybilla Eileen Croll at Queensland, when he would have been around twenty or twenty-one.  There is a question-mark over this since it is alleged that she had married Lionel Kent in 1940 (see below), so why was she not Sybilla Kent.  By 1949 Gordon and Sybilla were living at Glenmore in East Sydney, when he was 23 and she was 34.  There is no record of any children, and Gordon William Collett died while in Sydney on 1st August 1983. 

 

 

 

His wife Sybilla, who was born at Sydney on 25th November 1915, the daughter of Allan Watson Croll and his wife Sybilla Margaret Bluett, survived him by twenty-three years when she died during 2006 at Murwillumbah in New South Wales.  A record on the Ancestry website states that Sybilla married Lionel Ernest Kent in 1940 and that the wedding took place at Rockdale in New South Wales, the same record also indicating that Lionel Kent later died in 1979.  Therefore, Sybilla must have been divorced from him after the war, to enable her to marry Gordon William Collett prior to 1949.

 

 

 

 

60R1

Conway Albert William Collett was born at Chesterton in Cambridgeshire on 20th August 1927, the eldest of the two children of Alfred Collett and Grace Craft.  His birth as Conway A W Collett was recorded at Chesterton register office (Ref. 3b 574) when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Craft.  The later marriage of Conway A W Collett and Marjorie O Hookham, who was born at St Ives during 1929, was recorded at St Ives register office (Ref. 4b 981) during the third quarter of 1950.  It was around two years later that their son was born when they were living at St Neots.  Conway Albert W Collett was in Northamptonshire when he died, where his death was recorded (Ref. 9 1194) during February 1975.  Afterwards his body was taken to Fen Stanton, near St Ives, where he was buried in the churchyard there on 27th February 1975, under his full name of Conway Albert William Collett, aged 67.

 

 

 

60S1

David C E Collett

Born in 1952 at St Neots, Huntingdonshire

 

 

 

 

60R2

Cecil E Collett was born at Royston, Hertfordshire in 1933, where his birth was recorded (Ref. 3a 1076) during the last quarter of that year, and when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Craft.  He was younger of the two sons of Alfred and Grace Collett.  It was also as Cecil E Collett that his marriage to Jane A Cooper was recorded at St Ives register office (Ref. 4b 615) during the last three months of 1958.  Four years later, the couple was still living in the St Ives area, when their son’s birth was also recorded.

 

 

 

60S2

Steven J Collett

Born in 1962 at St Ives

 

 

 

 

60R3

Kenneth W H J Collett was born at Cambridge in 1929, the eldest of the two sons of Wilfred Collett and Ada Webber.  The birth of Kenneth W J Collett was recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 3b 609) during the first quarter of 1929, his mother’s maiden-name confirmed as Webber.  Curiously, it was as Kenneth W H Collett, when he was still living in the Cambridge area, that his marriage to Phyllis L M Sutcliffe was recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 4a 628) during the first three months of 1953.  Two children were then born to the couple, with the birth of daughter Denise A Collett recorded at St Neots register office, twenty miles to the west of Cambridge, (Ref. 4b 548) during the first quarter of 1954.  It was just over a year later, that son David J Collett was born, with his birth recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 4a 298) during the second quarter of 1955.  The birth record for both children confirmed the mother’s maiden-name was Sutcliffe.  Nine years later, the premature death of Kenneth W H J Collett was recorded at the Cambridgeshire register office (Ref. 4a 210) in 1964 at the age of only 36 years.

 

 

 

60S3

Denise A Collett

Born in 1954 at St Neots, Huntingdonshire

 

60S4

David J Collett

Born in 1955 at Cambridge

 

 

 

 

60R5

Raymond W Collett was born at Cambridge near the end of 1938, the eldest of the four children of Oliver Raymond Collett and Lily Day.  His birth was recorded there (Ref. 3b 597), when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Day.  It was also at Cambridge register office that the later marriage of Raymond W Collett and Wendy J Scott was recorded (Ref. 4a 591) during the second quarter of 1967.  The marriage resulted in the birth of two daughters, their births also recorded at Cambridge, when their mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Scott, Deborah Maria – during the fourth quarter of 1968 (Ref. 4a 406), and Kathryn Louise – during the first quarter of 1971 (Ref. 4a 1209).

 

 

 

60S5

Deborah Maria Collett

Born in 1968 at Cambridge

 

60S6

Kathryn Louise Collett

Born in 1971 at Cambridge

 

 

 

 

60R6

David B Collett was born at Cambridge in 1945, the son of Oliver and Lily Collett, where his birth was recorded (Ref. 3b 896) during the fourth quarter of the year, with his mother’s maiden-name confirmed as Day.  Again, as David B Collett, his marriage to Sandra L Barnard was recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 4a 859) during the first quarter of 1968.  Sandra was also born in Cambridge during 1948.  It was towards the end of the following year that the birth of their son was recorded at Cambridge (Ref. 4a 1213).

 

 

 

60S7

Bryan Richard Collett

Born in 1969 at Cambridge

 

 

 

 

60R7

Averil J Collett was born at Cambridge in 1949, where her birth was recorded (Ref. 4a 402) during the second quarter of that year, and when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Day.  A very young Averil J Collett married Bruce King during the last three months of 1966, the event also recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 4a 710).  Over the next four years, Averil gave birth to two sons, with the birth of Andrew Paul King recorded at Cambridge (Ref. 4a 484) during the second quarter of 1967.  By the time of the birth of their second child, the couple had moved the short distance east to Newmarket, where the birth of Robert Bruce King was recorded (Ref. 4b 4566) during the second quarter of 1970.  For both births, the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett.

 

 

 

 

60R8

Mavis A Collett was born at Cambridge in 1956, the last of the four children of Oliver Raymond Collett and his wife Lily Day.  Her birth was recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 4a 351) during the second quarter of the year, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Day.  It was also at Cambridge register office (Ref. 9 0532) where the marriage of Mavis A Collett and Roger J Tovell early in 1978.

 

 

 

 

60R9

Barry W Collett was born at the start of 1948, the first child born to Ralph Collett by his wife Ellen Duncan.  His birth was recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 4a 328) during the first three months of that year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Duncan.  Barry was still living within the Cambridge area when he married Elizabeth D Dimock, their wedding recorded at Cambridge (Ref. 4a 799) during the second quarter of 1971.  Elizabeth was also born at Cambridge during in 1951.

 

 

 

 

60R10

Anthony John Collett was born in the Cambridge on 27th March 1949, the son of Ralph and Ellen Collett, his birth recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 4a 392), when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Duncan.  He was married twice, the first time to (1) Renee J Gifford with their wedding recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 4a 1126) during the third quarter of 1969.  Renee was born at Gamlingay in 1952 and presented Anthony with two daughters, the births of both were recorded at Cambridge; Donna Marie (Ref. 4a 1181) during the last three months of 1970, Maxine Claire (Ref. 4a 1060) during fourth quarter of 1973.  On both occasions, the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Gifford.  His youngest daughter was nearly four years old when Anthony married (2) Moira A Turner, their marriage also recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 9 1097) during the third quarter of 1977.  Tragically, Anthony John Collett was on a day trip to France, when he died at Calais on 6th November 2004.

 

 

 

60S8

Donna Marie Collett

Born in 1970 at Cambridge

 

60S9

Maxine Claire Collett

Born in 1973 at Cambridge

 

 

 

 

60R11

Rosemary Collett was born in the Cambridge area during the first three months of 1953, her birth recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 4a 355), the third child of Ralph and Ellen Collett, her mother’s maiden-name confirmed as Duncan.  Rosemary was only nineteen years old when she gave birth to a base-born daughter, when the birth of Rachel Allison Collett was recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 4a 1106) during the first quarter of 1972, her mother’s maiden-name confirmed as Collett.

 

 

 

60S10

Rachel Allison Collett

Born in 1972 at Cambridge

 

 

 

 

60R12

Jacqueline M Collett was born within the Cambridge area early in 1959, the last of the four children of Ralph Collett and his wife Ellen Duncan.  The birth of Jacqueline M Collett was recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 4a 429) during the first quarter of the year, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Duncan.  It was at the start of 1981 that the marriage of Jacqueline M Collett married Cephas Thorpe was recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 9 0544) during the first three months of the year.  During the remainder of that decade Jacqueline gave birth to three children, whose births were all recorded at Cambridge, when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett.  They were Rebecca Michelle Thorpe – her birth recorded during the summer of 1981 (Ref. 9 1479), Dominic Aaron Thorpe – his birth recorded during March 1988 (Ref. 9 1146), and Oliver Samuel Thorpe whose birth was recorded there (Ref. 9 1320) during December 1990.

 

 

 

 

60R13

Christopher Keith Collett, who is known as Keith, was born in Cambridge on 15th January 1938, the eldest of the six children of Christopher Ernold Collett and his wife Violet Mae Burgoyne.  The marriage of Christopher K Collett and Jennifer Ann Lawson was recorded at the Suffolk Deben register office (Ref. 4b 2239) during the third quarter of 1961.  They were later divorced in 1980, prior to which they had three daughters who were born at Toft, whose births were recorded at Cambridge register office, when their mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Lawson.  The three daughters were Joanne M Collett who was born on 2nd March 1963 (Ref. 4a 623), Lucy M Collett - her birth recorded during the first three months of 1965 (Ref. 4a 576), and Helen Mary Collett whose birth was recorded during the last three months of 1967 (Ref. 4a 501).  Keith was still living on the High Street in the village of Toft during 2013.

 

 

 

60S11

Joanne M Collett

Born in 1963 at Toft

 

60S12

Lucy M Collett

Born in 1965 at Toft

 

60S13

Helen Mary Collett

Born in 1967 at Toft

 

 

 

 

60R14

KORAN W G COLLETT was born at Toft in the summer of 1940, his birth recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 3b 1299) during the third quarter of the year, when his birth record confirmed that his mother’s maiden-name was Burgoyne.  He was one of the six children of Christopher Ernold Collett and his wife Violet Mae Burgoyne.  It was in the first half of 1968 that the marriage of Koran W G Collett and Gillian Turner was recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 4a 580) during the second quarter of that year.  Five years later, they had two children, both of whom were born at the hospital in Cambridge.  Koran, whose occupation was that of a haulier, returned to the village of his birth with his young family during 1971 when they purchased a property in Mill Lane, where he and Gill were still living in 2013.

 

 

 

60S14

Mathew Andrew Collett

Born in 1971 at Cambridge

 

60S15

Steven Luke Collett

Born in 1973 at Cambridge

 

 

 

 

60R15

Margaret Ann Collett was born in Cambridge in 1942, the only daughter of Christopher and Violet Collett.  Her birth was recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 3b 933) during the third quarter of the year, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Burgoyne.  Later in her life she married an American serviceman, Richard Parrish, and had a large family in America.  Tragically, the family did not enjoy the best of health, and lost two sons to cancer while still in their childhood.  Margaret Ann Parrish nee Collett also died with cancer when she was living at Warner Robins in Georgia in 1985, and was followed shortly after by one of her adult sons with the same illness.

 

 

 

 

60R16

Gerald Paul Collett, who was known as Paul, was born at Toft on 26th June 1945, the son of Christopher and Violet Collett.  The birth of Gerald P Collett was recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 3b 865) during the third quarter of the year, his mother’s maiden-name confirmed as Burgoyne.  In 1967 Paul emigrated to Australia where he later married Sue, with whom he had two children as indicated below.

 

 

 

60S16

Shannon Collett

Born in Australia, date unknown

 

60S17

Nicole Collett

Born in Australia, date unknown

 

 

 

 

60R17

Marilyn E Collett was born at Toft in 1949, the daughter of Christopher and Violet Collett.  Her birth was recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 4a 378) during the third quarter of the year, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Burgoyne.  The later marriage of Marilyn E Collett and Malcolm D Skoulding was also recorded at Cambridge (Ref. 4a 813) during the second quarter of 1972.  All three of their children’s births were recorded at Great Yarmouth register office, when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett.  Aimee Skoulding was born in 1976, Hannah Skoulding was born in 1978, and Lee Skoulding was born during 1982.

 

 

 

 

60R18

Linda J Collett was born at Toft in 1954, the last of the six children of Christopher Ernold Collett and Violet Mae Burgoyne.  Her birth was recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 4a 320) during the first quarter of the year, where her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Burgoyne.  Linda never married and in 2013 she was still living in Toft, where she was a retired nurse.  At some time during her working life, she was the nurse looking after cosmologist and author Stephen Hawking.

 

 

 

 

60R19

William Collett was the adopted son of Cecil William Bunting Collett and his wife Muriel Sparling of Canada.  No date of birth is known, but it is established that William married Mary Mesita, with whom he had three children. 

 

 

 

60S18

Roseanne Collett

Born in 1969 in Canada

 

60S19

Debra Lynn Collett

Born in 1973 in Canada

 

60S20

Jeffrey (Jeff) Collett

Born in 1978 in Canada

 

 

 

 

60S1

David C E Collett was born at St Neots during 1952, the only child of Conway Collett and his wife Marjorie Hookham.  It was as David C E Collett that his birth was recorded at St Ives register office (Ref. 4b 462) during the last three months of 1952, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Hookham.  It was during the second quarter of 1977 when the marriage of David C E Collett and Jane E Richardson was recorded at March register office in Cambridgeshire (Ref. 9 1108).  March was where Jane had been born in early 1955 and, after their wedding day, the couple settled in Cambridge where their two children were born.  The birth their daughter was recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 9 1388) during spring of 1980, when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Richardson.

 

 

 

60T1

Louisa Jane Collett

Born in 1980 at Cambridge

 

60T2

Graeme David Collett

Born in 1982 at Cambridge

 

 

 

 

60S2

Steven J Collett was born at St Ives in 1962, the only child of Cecil Collett and Jane Cooper.  His birth was recorded at the St Ives register office (Ref. 4b 873) during the first quarter of the year, with his mother’s maiden-name confirmed as Cooper.  Steven was thirty-eight years old when he married Anita M Hart, their wedding recorded at Huntingdon register office (Ref. 9 1144) during the spring of 1990.  The births of both of the couple’s two children were recorded at Huntingdon register office, when the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Hart.  For the first of them, George Edward J Collett, his birth was recorded during the spring of 1994 (Ref. 3331b f25b), with Emily Jane M Collett’s birth recorded towards the end of 1997 (Ref. 3331b g3b).

 

 

 

60T3

George Edward J Collett

Born in 1994 at Huntingdon

 

60T4

Emily Jane M Collett

Born in 1997 at Huntingdon

 

 

 

 

60S14

Mathew Andrew Collett was born in hospital at Cambridge in 1971, the eldest of the two sons of Koran Collett and Gill Turner who were living in Mill Lane in Toft that same year.  His birth was recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 4a 1540) during the first three months of the year, with his mother’s maiden-name confirmed as Turner.  Mathew’s partner of twelve years (in 2015) is Sarah Numan, nee Jackson, who has two children from her former marriage.

 

 

 

 

60S15

Steven Luke Collett was born in hospital at Cambridge in 1973, the youngest son of Koran and Gill Collett who were living at Mill Lane in Toft at that time.  His birth was recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 4a 1271) during the third quarter of the year, with his mother’s maiden-name confirmed as Turner.  On St Valentine’s Day in 2012, Steven and his partner Sheena Catherine Cotter were living in Belfast when their daughter was born.  Just over a year later the family of three was still living in Belfast when the family was enlarged by the birth of twins.  By the summer of 2015 the family had returned to England and was living in Lincolnshire.

 

 

 

60T5

Edie Catherine Collett

Born on 14.02.2012 at Belfast

 

60T6

Evan William Collett

Born on 07.11.2013 at Belfast

 

60T7

Molly Gill Collett

Born on 07.11.2013 at Belfast

 

 

 

 

60S17

Nicole Collett was born in Australia to Gerald Paul Collett and his wife Sue.  She married Mike and they have two sons Luke and Jake.

 

 

 

 

60S19

Debra Lynn Collett was born in Canada during 1973, the daughter of William Collett and Mary Mesita, and she later married Paul Sadowsky at Niagara Falls.  Once married the couple settled in Niagara Falls and it was there that their two daughters were born.

 

 

 

 

60T2

Graeme David Collett was born at Cambridge in 1982, the youngest of the two children of David Collett and Jane Richardson.  His birth was recorded at Cambridge register office (Ref. 9 1250) during the spring of that year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Richardson.  The later marriage of Graeme D Collett and Jacqueline A Mastin was recorded at Peterborough register office in the spring of 2003 when he was 21 years old.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

APPENDIX ONE

 

 

 

The following details were kindly provided by Cathy Young in England and Leanne Wroe in Australia but, unfortunately, they do not relate to the Collett family of Toft in Cambridgeshire

 

 

 

 

 

60h1

Tobias Collett

Born in 1585 at Great Chalfield

 

 

 

 

60h1

Tobias Collett was born at Great Chalfield near Bradford-on-Avon in Wiltshire in 1585.  It was on 8th February 1609 that he married Catherine Stile.

 

 

 

60i1

Thomas Collett

Born on 16.01.1611 at Great Chalfield

 

60i2

Anthony Collett

Born in 1620 at Great Chalfield

 

 

 

 

60i2

Anthony Collett was born at Great Chalfield in Wiltshire during 1620, the son of Tobias Collett and Catherine Stile.  He married (1) Sarah and their two known children were baptised at Great Chalfield.  He later married (2) Elizabeth Bond and their children were born with the St Dunstan area of London.  Anthony Collett died in 1659 and prior to the birth of his last child.

 

 

 

60j1

John Collett

Bapt on 08.01.1649 at Great Chalfield

 

60j2

Mary Collett

Bapt on 19.04.1652 at Great Chalfield

 

60l3

Benjamin Collett

Born in 1656; died 1656 in London

 

60j4

Tobias Collett

Born in 1658 in London

 

60j5

James Collett

Born in 1660; died 1662 in London

 

 

 

 

60j4

Tobias Collett was born in London and baptised at St Dunstan’s Church in Stepney on 25th March 1658, the son of Anthony Collett and his second wife Elizabeth Bond.  He married (1) Elizabeth Adams, who was buried in London on 4th October 1685 following the birth of their daughter who was also buried with her mother on that same day.  He then married (2) Mary Hull who was born in 1655 and by whom his known children were born.  It would also appear that he married again, for the third time, that marriage taking place at Reading on 26th March 1711, when his father was confirmed as Anthony Collett.  Tobias Collett died fourteen years later at Cumberwell in Wiltshire in 1725.

 

 

 

60k1

Elizabeth Collett

Buried on 04.10.1685 in London

 

The following are the children of Tobias Collett and by second wife Mary Hull:

 

60k2

Josiah Collett

Born on 29.03.1686 in London

 

60k3

Joseph Collett

Born on 02.05.1688 in London

 

60k4

Elizabeth Collett

Born on 19.11.1689 in London

 

60k5

Ann Collett

Born during 1694 in London

 

60k6

Tobias Collett

Buried on 04.11.1694 in London

 

60k7

Rebecca Collett

Born on 30.07.1699 in London

 

60k8

Benjamin Collett

Born on 06.02.1700 in London

 

 

 

 

60k2

Josiah Collett was born at All Hallows in London on 29th March 1686, the son of Tobias Collett and his second wife Mary Hull.  It was at Lavington, south of Devizes in Wiltshire on 20th August 1718, where he married Rachel Pinnell and when his father was confirmed as Tobias Collett.  Rachel was born during 1693 and died in 1771.

 

 

 

60l1

Jeffrey Collett

Born on 14.09.1719 at Reading

 

60l2

Josiah Collett

Born on 14.02.1721 at Reading

 

60l3

Mary Collett

Born on 11.01.1722 at Reading

 

60l4

Tobias Collett

Born on 04.06.1725 at Reading

 

60l5

Josiah Collett

Born on 22.06.1729 at Reading

 

 

 

 

60k4

Elizabeth Collett was born in London on 19th November 1689, a daughter of Tobias and Mary Collett.  Elizabeth, the daughter of Tobias, was married at Lavington in Wiltshire on 16th March 1723.

 

 

 

 

60k5

Ann Collett was born during in London 1694, another daughter of Tobias and Mary Collett.  She married (1) Thomas Barney or Barny during 1756 in Oxfordshire and later married (2) Thomas Whitehead at Kingsbury in Warwickshire in 1783.

 

 

 

 

60l1

Jeffrey Collett was born at Reading on 14th September 1719, one of the sons of Josiah Collett and Rachel Pinnell.  Jeffrey later married Mary Leckonby at St Anne’s Church in Soho, Westminster on 8th April 1763 but was only married for a short while before he was buried at Reading on 17th December 1769

 

 

 

 

60l2

Josiah Collett was born at Reading on 14th February 1721, another of Josiah and Rachel, who was only six months old when he died at Reading on 21st August 1721

 

 

 

 

60l5

Josiah Collett was born at Reading on 22nd June 1729, the second of the two sons of the same name for Josiah and Rachel Collett.  Sadly, like his brother and namesake, he too did not survive and was five weeks old when he died at Reading on 4th August 1729.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

APPENDIX TWO

FIVE MORE COLLETT BAD BOYS – Cases 3 to 7

(go to Part 43 for Cases 1 and 2)

 

 

 

 

Case 3

In addition to bad boy Thomas Collott (Ref. 60N5 - previously Ref. 43o5), who was arrested for burglary in 1821 and subsequently transported to Tasmania, there were other members of the Collett family who suffered the same fate.  The following story relates to Thomas Collett, a soldier of the 3rd Regiment of Guards, who was tried at the Old Bailey in London on 1st July 1801.  The abridged court report read as follows:

 

 

 

“On the evening of Thursday 30th April 1801, John Fawkner was at the Bell Inn at Red Lion Market and White Cross Street when he was asked to accompany the publican’s wife Mrs Hayes to the tavern’s back room as she had something to show him.  Joining them was Thomas Collett of the Regiment of Guards, to whom John was introduced, upon which John was shown a bag of jewellery and was asked if he could melt-down the gold and silver.  He agreed and they left for his workshop.  The jewellery was stolen, owned by John Weppler, a planter from Jamaica who had arrived in London the previous evening, when he had discovered his trunk with its contents of jewellery valued at over £1,200 missing.  He immediately reported this to the Bow Street Police.  It was subsequently proved that it was Thomas Collett who had stolen the trunk.  John Fawkner, aged 29, was found guilty of receiving stolen goods and was sentenced to 14 years transportation, while Thomas Collett received seven years transportation.”  It transpires that it was the young barmaid working at the Bell Inn who had overheard the backroom conversation who had informed the Police, and it was she who claimed the reward.

 

 

 

 

Case 4

This one is very brief and relates to Nathaniel Collett, one of 300 convicts transported on the ship Isabella on 11th July 1833.  No further details are known at this time and, while there is one Nathaniel Collett born in London who could be of the right age, he was Nathaniel Samuel George Collett (Ref. 19n6) who was born during 1797 at Peckham, who was still residing in London with his family in 1841 and 1851.

 

 

 

 

Case 5

Also in 1833, but at Gloucester on 28th April, Stephen Collett was sentenced and subsequently transported to Van Diemen’s Land to serve a term of fourteen years.  So far it is not known who he was or what crime he had committed.

 

 

 

 

Case 6

This fourth case relates to a very young George Collett, the son of John Collett of Stoke Newington in London, both as yet unidentified.  The prisoner George Collett was 13 years of age when he was committed for trial at Worship Street Magistrates Court in Middlesex in August 1833 for robbing a garden of 13 pears from an uninhabited house.  The initial sentence passed down was one month imprisonment in the Middlesex House of Correction.  However, remission was prepared on 29th August 1833, when the petitioner John Collett, the prisoner's father, entered a plea on the grounds of clemency, his son being a youth of a prisoner in the company of older boys who paid fines imposed by court, for which the petitioner was unable to pay any fine.  A letter from Samuel Twyford at the Police Office in Worship Street raised no objection to remission of the sentence, while it was at father's request that prisoner was not originally discharged.

 

 

 

 

Case 7

The fifth case focuses on Edward Baldwin and his accomplice Pearce Collett, born 1770.  It was on 9th July 1800 in London that they were indicted, the first named for feloniously stealing, on 29th June, twelve yards of mode, twelve yards of muslin, eighteen yards of lace, and two pieces of handkerchiefs, each containing seven handkerchiefs, the property of John Read, Robert Read and James Read and valued around eighty shillings.  The other accused, for receiving the same, knowing them to have been stolen.  Thomas Sapwell was sworn in and made the following statement.  “On 29th June, on the Sunday morning, I took the prisoners into custody, about six o'clock.  I went to the prisoner Collett's house at 7 Two Swan Yard in Bishopsgate Street, and on a copper, close by where the prisoner stood, I found this piece of cambric muslin.  I asked him where he bought those things and he said, damn me, I would buy anything.  I then took Collett to the Compter, following which I then returned and searched the house.  In his box I found a piece of black silk mode.  I also found a piece of lace while I was searching the house.  I took the key out of Collett's pocket with which I unlocked the box.  I then went to a house at 17 Old Bethlem Court, where there lived one Elizabeth Day.  I took her into custody and took her to Collett's house where I searched her and found two pieces of silk handkerchief in her right-hand pocket.  I later apprehended Baldwin at the prosecutor's house.”

 

 

 

When Edward Baldwin was cross-examined, he admitted to having robbed the Reads on previous occasions and when asked why he said that Collett was continually after him, telling him to do it.  In the end both men were found guilty with Edward Baldwin being sentenced to seven years transportation and Pearce Collett, aged 30, being transported for fourteen years.  Pearce (or Pierce) Collett was married at that time, his wife being Mary Collett.