9K1
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HENRY COLLETT - it is not known at this time whence
he came. What is known is that he
married Elizabeth Pincot on 25th July 1759 at St Bartholomew’s
Church in Aldsworth. Both signed the
register in their own name and both were listed as being of this parish,
although no earlier family has been found for either of them. Henry’s occupation was given as blacksmith
and over the following two decades he was twice named as the witness at the
marriage of two members of his wife’s Pincot family. The first of them was on 6th May
1765 for the Aldsworth wedding of Frances Pincot to Richard Cockbill of Brailes
in Warwickshire, and the second was on 6th January 1774 when
Martha Pincot was married to John Hitchman of Coln St Aldwyns. It seems likely that Frances and Martha
were the younger sisters of Elizabeth Collett nee Pincot.
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During
his working life it would appear from the Church Warden & Parish Council
Accounts that Henry Collett was employed to carry out repairs to the
Aldsworth church bells. The entry
reads that from May 1779 to May 1781 Henry Collett was paid 3 Shillings and 6
Pence for mending bells. A second
entry refers to ‘repairing the church house’ which was undertaken by Richard
Collett from May 1793 to May 1795, for which he was paid 16 Shillings. Who Richard was, has still to be determined,
but there is a chance that he was related to Henry, perhaps even a missing
son.
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Elizabeth
Collett nee Pincot was buried in the churchyard of St Bartholomew’s Church
and was born in 1737, as indicated by her age of 88 at the time of her death
on 25th March 1825. It is
not known in which year Henry was born as no age was given at the time of his
death on 11th December 1808, when he too was buried at Aldsworth. What may be of interest is an earlier entry
in the Aldsworth Parish Records. The
entry, dated 11th June 1758, relates to the baptism of Hannah
Pincot, the daughter of Elizabeth Pincot – no father named, the event taking
place just one year before Elizabeth married Henry Collett. In addition to that the baptism of the
couple’s first child within the first few days of 1760 means that the birth
took place less than five months after they were married.
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During
his later life Henry Collett was the tenant of two plots of land owned by
Lord James Sherborne, according to the 1799 enclosure map. One of the plots was referred to as
Collett’s Close and was a pasture in the centre of the village, while the other
was known as Homestead and contained two buildings, possible a house and
blacksmith’s forge. Together the two
plots made up an area of just under one acre.
Even in 2006 in Aldsworth there is a property known as the Old Forge
which is believed to date from 1780.
It is very likely therefore that this was built during the time when
Henry Collett was the blacksmith in the village.
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9L1
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Elizabeth Collett
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Born in 1759
at Aldsworth
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9L2
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Anne Collett
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Born in 1761
at Aldsworth
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9L3
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Robert Collett
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Born in 1763
at Aldsworth
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9L4
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Thomas Collett
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Born in 1765
at Aldsworth
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9L5
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Mary Collett
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Born in 1766
at Aldsworth
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9L6
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WILLIAM COLLETT
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Born in 1768
at Aldsworth
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9L7
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Margaret Collett
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Born in 1770
at Aldsworth
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9L8
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Sarah Collett
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Born in 1774
at Aldsworth
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9L9
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Jane Collett
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Born in 1777
at Aldsworth
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9L1
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Elizabeth Collett was born at Aldsworth within five
months of the date that her parents were married there in July 1759, and it was
there also that she was baptised on 5th January 1760, the eldest
child of Eliza and Henry Collett – which it is assumed is a reference to
Henry Collett and Elizabeth Pincot. She
later married Richard Hyde during 1784.
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9L2
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Anne Collett was born at Aldsworth in 1761 and she
later married Thomas Maycock during 1782.
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9L3
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Robert Collett was born at Aldsworth and baptised there
in 1764. Robert was a blacksmith like
his father and was married three times and out-lived all three of his wives. It was the baptism record for his son John Collett,
who was born in 1813, that first confirmed Robert was a blacksmith. Robert’s first wife was (1) Ann, whom he
married prior to 1787, although it was that year when she died at Aldsworth,
having just given birth to Robert’s first child who was born there. Not long after the death of his first wife
Robert married (2) Hannah Hall by licence at Maisey (Meysey) Hampton on 6th
August 1787, when Robert was confirmed as being from Aldsworth. Hannah provided Robert with his next three
children, and all of them born at Sherborne where she was buried in early
1799 at the age of 34 years.
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Following
her death, and still living in Sherborne, widower Robert married (3) Amy
Fowler by licence at Sherborne on 19th October 1799, and just two
months after the wedding she gave birth to Robert’s first-born son
William. On the day of her wedding Amy’s
age was recorded as 20 years and 18 days, compared to Robert who was 35. As a result of their marriage Robert
fathered a further thirteen children with Amy, all of whom were born and
baptised at Sherborne, although not all of them survived.
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Amy
Fowler was baptised at Sherborne on 8th November 1779 and it was
there also that she died during 1837, following which she was buried in the
churchyard of St Mary Magdalene Church in Sherborne on 12th
February 1837 at the age of 58. The
first national census of 1841 recorded Robert Collett living at Sherborne at
the age of 75. Also still living there
with him were his sons Henry Collett and Robert Collett and unmarried
daughter Jane Collett. It was five and
a half years later that Robert Collett died at Sherborne on 4th
January 1847
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The
Will of Robert Collett, blacksmith of Sherborne, was made on 1st
September 1846 and was drawn up by Wilkins and Kendall, solicitors of
Bourton-on-the-Water. The Will was proved
within four months of his passing at Gloucester on 26th April 1847,
when it revealed the document included the names of fifteen of his seventeen
children, but not his wife Amy who had passed away nine years before the Will
was made (see Will in Legal Documents)
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9M1
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Elizabeth Collett
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Born in 1787
at Aldsworth
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The
following were the children of Robert and his second wife Hannah:
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9M2
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Mary Collett
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Born in 1789
at Windrush, near Sherborne
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9M3
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Sarah Collett
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Born in 1795
at Sherborne
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9M4
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Ann Collett
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Born in 1798
at Sherborne
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The
following children came from Robert’s third marriage to Amy Fowler:
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9M5
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William Collett
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Born in 1799
at Sherborne
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9M6
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Henry Collett
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Born in 1801
at Sherborne
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9M7
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Jane Collett
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Born in 1802
at Sherborne
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9M8
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Jane Collett
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Born in 1803
at Sherborne
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9M9
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Charles Collett
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Born in 1805
at Sherborne
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9M10
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Charles Collett
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Born in 1806
at Sherborne
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9M11
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Richard Collett
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Born in 1808
at Sherborne
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9M12
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George Collett
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Born in 1811
at Sherborne
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9M13
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John Collett
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Born in 1813
at Sherborne
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9M14
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Hannah Collett
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Born in 1815
at Sherborne
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9M15
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Lucy Collett
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Born in 1817
at Sherborne
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9M16
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Robert Collett
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Born in 1819
at Sherborne
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9M17
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Amy Collett
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Born in 1822
at Sherborne
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9L4
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Thomas Collett was born around 1765 and his inclusion
in this family is based purely on the fact he was living at Aldsworth in 1841
with a rounded age of 75. In addition
to which, five years later, a Thomas Collett died at Aldsworth in 1846 and
was buried there on 5th November 1846 at the age of 84. There is also a record of a Thomas Collett
who married Amy Naish (or Nash) at Aldsworth on 2nd March 1812.
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There
is a possibility that Thomas Collett, born around 1762, was the brother of
Richard Collett of Aldsworth, rather than the son of Henry Collett, as
indicated here. Richard was most
likely related to Henry, but all that is known of him at this time is that he
was a farmer at Hall Farm in Aldsworth, was married to Eliza with whom he had
a son William Collett who was
baptised at Aldsworth on 15th April 1790 and was a witness at a
wedding in Aldsworth during 1791. It
may also have been that particular Richard who repaired the church house at
Aldsworth in 1794.
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9L5
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Mary Collett was born at Aldsworth in 1766. She was still living there thirty-two years
later and was one of the witnesses at the marriage of her brother William
(below) to Ann Sparrow in 1798 which may indicate that she herself was never
married
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9L6
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WILLIAM COLLETT was born at Aldsworth where he was
baptised in 1768. He later married (1)
Ann Sparrow at Aldsworth on 11th October 1798 and William’s sister
Mary Collett (above) was a witness at the wedding. The marriage is known to have produced at
least two children for the couple before Ann died, possibly during or after
the birth of the second child. Some
years after the death of his first wife William married (2) Elizabeth Howes
on 1st April 1807 at Aldsworth with whom he is known to have had
at least a further five children, although there may have been others.
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At
the time of the Aldsworth census of June 1841 William had a rounded age of
70, while his wife Elizabeth was 60.
Living with them was their unmarried son Charles whose rounded age was
30. According to the next Aldsworth
census in 1851 William Collett was 83 years of age and was still listed as
working as a blacksmith, like his father before him. Still listed as living with him was his
wife Elizabeth and their bachelor son Charles who was 41 and another
blacksmith. William survived for
another three years and was buried at Aldsworth in 1854 at the age of
86. His widow Elizabeth, who had been
born around 1779, continued to live at Aldsworth where she died two years
after her late husband during 1856, and was buried there at the age of 77.
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9M18
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Elizabeth Collett
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Born in 1798
at Aldsworth
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9M19
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Jane Collett
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Born in 1800
at Aldsworth
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The
following were the children from William’s second marriage to Elizabeth
Howes:
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9M20
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Charles Collett
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Born in 1807
at Aldsworth
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9M21
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HENRY COLLETT
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Born in 1810
at Aldsworth
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9M22
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Mary Collett
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Born in 1811
at Aldsworth
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9M23
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Jane Collett
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Born in 1813
at Aldsworth
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9M24
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William Collett
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Born in 1817
at Aldsworth
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9L7
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Margaret Collett was born at Aldsworth in either later
1770 or early 1771 and was baptised there on 25th April 1771, the
daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Collett.
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9L8
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Sarah Collett
was born
at Aldsworth during either 1773 or 1774 and was baptised there on 18th
October 1774, the daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Collett. It was also at Aldsworth where Sarah
Collett married George Pocock (or Peck) from Melksham in Wiltshire on 3rd
March 1794 when the witness was William Collett who was very likely Sarah’s
older brother (above).
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9M1
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Elizabeth Collett, who was also referred to as Betty,
was born at Aldsworth and was baptised there on 2nd October 1787,
the only known child of Robert Collett and his first wife Ann. Elizabeth never married and was named as
Elizabeth Collett the eldest daughter of blacksmith Robert in his Will made
in 1846. By the time of the 1861
Census for nearby Windrush she was referred to as Eliza Collett, the sister
to William Collett (below), a cordwainer of Sherborne and in whose house she
was living at that time. Living with
William Collett, age 61, and Eliza age 73, was their sister Mary Collett
(below) of Sherborne who was 71, which was also stated to be the place of
birth for Eliza, albeit incorrect.
Mary was listed as housekeeper.
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Ten
years later in 1871 she was still living at Windrush with her brother
William, aged 71, and was then listed as Betty Collett, aged 83, who had
taken over the role of housekeeper from her sister Mary. On that occasion however, she correctly
gave her place of birth as Aldsworth.
Betty must have passed away during the next ten years, as she was not
listed in the census of 1881.
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9M2
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Mary Collett was born in 1789 at Windrush, the
village next to Sherborne where her parents eventually settled just after she
was born. It was also at Windrush that
she was baptised on 11th October 1789, the eldest child of Robert
Collett and his second wife Hannah. Like
her half-sister Betty (above), she too never married and was named as Mary
Collett the second daughter of Robert in his Will of 1846. In the 1851 and 1861 Censuses for Windrush
she was listed as being aged 60 and 71 respectively, when she was acting as
housekeeper at the home of her widowed brother William Collett (below).
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It
was just six weeks after the census day in 1861 that Mary Collett died
following which her role as housekeeper to her brother William was taken over
by her older half-sister Betty Collett (above). Mary was buried in the graveyard of the
Church of St Mary Magdalene in Sherborne on 23rd May 1861 where a
headstone marks the grave, with the following inscription. “To
the Memory of Mary daughter of Robert and Hannah Collett departed this life
May 23rd 1861 aged 72 years”.
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9M3
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Sarah Collett was born at Sherborne where she was
baptised on 20th October 1795, the daughter of Robert and Hannah
Collett. She was later married to
become Sarah Walker, as confirmed by her father’s Will in 1846.
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9M4
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Ann Collett was born at Sherborne and was baptised
there on 21st February 1798, the daughter of Robert and Hannah
Collett. The baptism record gave her
name as Anne Collett. It was her
father’s Will of 1846 that confirmed she had married by then and that she was
Ann Ireland.
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9M5
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William Collett was born at Sherborne where he was
baptised on 24th December 1799, the eldest son of Robert Collett
and his third wife Amy Fowler. He was
a cordwainer (shoemaker) and was married but was widowed by the time of the
1851 Census when he was living at nearby Windrush. His father’s Will, which was proved in
1847, bequeathed ten pounds to William, as it did to thirteen of his fourteen
surviving siblings. As the eldest son
of blacksmith Robert, it is curious why he was not named as an executor for
his father’s estate. This role was
given to Henry Collett (below).
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William’s
older sister Mary Collett (above) was listed as living with him as his
housekeeper in 1851 and again in 1861 when he was 61 years of age. Mary died between 1861 and 1871 following
which his eldest sister Betty Collett (above) took over the housekeeper role
for him. In 1871 William was listed as
being aged 71 and of Sherborne. William
Collett, age 81 and a widower from Sherborne, was a retired shoemaker living
at nearby Windrush at the time of the next census in 1881. However, it has to be assumed that he died
shortly after that time. However, no
record after 1854 has so far been found for his possible son, Charles
Collett, who married Mary Andrews that year.
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Note:
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It
seems highly likely that William Collett of Sherborne had a son Charles who
would have been born during the early 1820s.
The reason for including mention of this here, without any positive
confirmation, is that Charles Collett of the parish of Sherborne was named as
the son of William Collett when he married Mary Andrews at Aldsworth on 7th
February 1854.
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9N0
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Charles
Collett – not proved
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Born circa
1822 at Sherborne
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9M6
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Henry Collett was born at Sherborne in 1801, and it
was there also that he was baptised on 27th December 1801, the son
of Robert and Amy Collett. Following
the death of his mother Amy in 1837, Henry continued to live with his widowed
father Robert Collett at Sherborne.
Also still living with them at the family home in Sherborne were
Henry’s siblings, unmarried Jane (below) and brother Robert (below). It was eight years later, and two years after
Henry’s father had died, that he married Jane Hewer who was born at High
Holborn in London on 22nd May 1808 to parents William and Sarah
Hewer of Southampton Buildings. Jane’s
mother was Sarah Kibblewhite of Preston in the County of Gloucestershire and
she was married to farmer William Hewer by licence on the 26th
March 1808 at St Andrew Holborn, just two months before Jane was born.
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Upon
the death of his father in 1847 it was Henry Collett who was named as the
sole executor of his Will, while each of his siblings received ten
pounds. Henry’s name was excluded from
that list but all other residual money, plus furniture, trade and personal
effects, were bequeathed to Henry to carry on with the family blacksmith
business.
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The
marriage certificate for Henry and Jane included the following
information. The wedding took place at
Meysey Hampton on 12th April 1849 when the witnesses were Thomas
Hewer and Anne Hewer. Henry Collett of
Sherborne was a bachelor and a blacksmith, while Jane Hewer of Meysey Hampton
was a spinster and a servant. Jane’s
father was named as William Hewer who was a farmer, while the father of Henry
Collett was not completed, and curiously his occupation was given as being a
farmer rather than a blacksmith. Both
the bride and the groom were stated as being of full age.
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The
couple’s advanced years, with Henry and Jane both being in their forties,
there was little chance of them raising any children, and certainly none have
been identified to date. According to
the census two years later in 1851, the couple had settled in Sherborne where
Henry Collett, age 49, was a smith (blacksmith) married to Jane, who was 43,
and who had been born at St Andrews in London. Living with them, and again following the
death of their father, was Henry’s younger brother Robert Collett (below),
who was also a smith from Sherborne.
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Sometime
during the next decade Henry and Jane left Sherborne and moved to Ampney St
Peter, near Cirencester, where they were living in April 1861 when Henry was
59. Living there with him was his wife
Jane who was 52, and at that time the couple were being supported by two
servants. The census ten years later
in 1871 also confirmed the couple were still living in the village of Ampney
St Peters, where Henry was listed as being 69 and a retired farmer from
Sherborne, while his wife Jane was 63 and from Holborn in London.
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Henry
Collett was 73 when he died on 24th May 1873 at Ampney St Peter,
where he was also buried. Eight years
later his widow Jane was still living at Ampney St Peter. According to the census in 1881, widow Jane
Collett, age 73 and from London, was listed as being a visitor at the
Kempsford home of gentleman farmer Thomas Arkell of Kempsford who was
35. His wife Jane Elizabeth Arkell,
age 36 and from Kempsford, was the former Jane Elizabeth Hewer, so was very
likely a distant relative of Jane Collett.
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At
the age of 83, Jane Collett was still living at Kempsford ten years later in
1891 but, on that occasion, she was staying with the Knipe family. Jane survived for almost another two years,
before she died at Kempsford on 5th January 1893 at the age of 85,
following which she was buried with her husband Henry Collett at Ampney St
Peter.
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Jane
Collett nee Hewer had a younger sister Elizabeth, who was baptised in Wootton
Bassett on 23rd November 1810, and it was her descendent Marilyn
Griffiths who kindly provided much of the detail for the March 2012 update of
this family line. It is interesting
that Elizabeth Hewer was very young when she married William Part Bowne
(Bown) from Down Ampney on 3rd May 1824. The story becomes further involved when Ann
Collett (Ref. 1L3) married Robert Hewer around 1790, and unrelated William
Collett (Ref. 56L3) married Susannah Bowne in 1792. Today the Bowne family are represented by
Pete Bown, who is the nephew of the aforementioned Marilyn Griffiths.
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9M7
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Jane Collett was born in 1802 at Sherborne and was
baptised there on 18th February 1803. The parish record indicated that her
parents were Robert Collett, and his wife Hannah who had died a few years
earlier, he being married to Amy at that time. However, sadly their daughter was not well,
and she died less than a week after being baptised, when she died at
Sherborne on 23rd February 1803.
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9M8
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Jane Collett was born at Sherborne after February
1803, when she was named in memory of her late sister above. It was also at Sherborne that she was
baptised on 26th August 1803, the daughter of Robert and Amy
Collett. It is understood that she was
never married although, when in her very early twenties, she gave birth to a
base-born son William. He was born at
Sherborne but then, perhaps because of the shame to the family, he was taken
in by another family at nearby Fairford, where he was also baptised.
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By
June 1841 William Collett was 15 and was living and working with tailor
Thomas Lea at his home in Fairford.
This was very likely the reason why he gave Fairford as his place of
birth in later census records, rather than Sherborne. Also in 1841, unmarried Jane Collett was 35
was still living in Sherborne with her father Robert Collett and her brothers
Henry (above) and Robert (below). By
the time her father made his Will in 1846 Jane was still a spinster and, as
Jane Collett, she received ten pounds from her father’s estate.
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By
the end of March in 1851 Jane had been reunited with her son William and both
of them were then living with tailor and draper Thomas Lea at his home in
Fairford. Jane’s occupation was that
of an apprentice tailor at the age of 45 and she was described as being a
visitor from Sherborne. Her son
William Collett was 24 and of Sherborne, and his occupation was also that of
a tailor’s apprentice. Ten years later
in 1861 Jane Collett was 57 and was a servant at the Fairford home of 77
years old landed proprietor Mary Ann Rose of Chilton in Wiltshire. After a further ten years, Jane Collett,
age 67, was recorded in the 1871 Census as being an independent of Sherborne,
while she was still living in lodgings at Fairford.
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The
census of 1881 confirmed that Jane Collett, age 75, was an annuitant from
Sherborne, living at Ampney St Peter with her granddaughter Amy Jane
Collett. Amy, who was 10 and who had
been born at Fairford, was the daughter of Jane’s only son William. Four years later Jane’s son William died as
a result of an accident at work. That
happened on 22nd March 1885 and exactly one year later on 22nd
March 1886 Jane Collett died while living at the home of her late son at 40
Princes Street in Swindon, the death being recorded at Highworth. The death certificate for Jane reveals that
she was 84 and a domestic servant, and that the cause of death was
bronchitis. Present at the death was
Jane’s younger brother John Collett (below) from West Bromwich.
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9N1
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William Collett
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Born in 1826
at Sherborne
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9M9
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Charles Collett was very likely born at Sherborne in
1804, where he was baptised on 10th February 1805, the son of
Robert and Amy Collett. Tragically he
only survived for four days after his christening when he died on 14th
February 1805.
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9M10
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Charles Collett was born at Sherborne in 1805 and was
named in memory of his late brother above.
It was early in the following year that he was baptised at Sherborne
on 23rd February 1806, when he was confirmed as the son of Robert
and Amy Collett. Charles was around 20
years old when he married Sarah, with whom he is known to have had a
daughter. By the time of the census in
June 1841 Charles and Sarah were living in the Hanover Square district of
London with their daughter. The census
return recorded the three of them living at Grosvenor Mews as farrier Charles
Collett, age 35, Sarah Collett, also aged 35, and Amy Collett who was
15. All three of them were listed as
not being born within the same county area.
Charles Collett was named in his father’s Will, which was proved in
1947, and from which he received ten pounds, as did all his other siblings
except his older brother Henry who inherited the family’s blacksmith
business.
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Ten
years later in 1851, Charles and Sarah were still living within the parish of
St Georges Hanover Square, but by that time their daughter had left the
family home, perhaps to be married.
The census on that occasion confirmed that Charles Collett from
Sherborne was 45 and a farrier, and that his wife Sarah Collet was 47 and
from Netswell Cross in Essex. They
must have been well placed at that time, when they were residing at 30
Grosvenor Mews Rooms, where they had taken in three lodgers who listed as
three domestic servants. They were
Isabella Calvert, age 29, a married nursemaid from Knightsbridge, unmarried
Sarah A Robinson, age 37, a cook from Kings Lynn, and unmarried Mary Maddocks
from Benfield in Berkshire who was a cook at the age of 40.
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Charles
Collett died sometime during the next decade, and his wife Sarah was listed
as a widow still living within the Hanover Square district of London in both
1861 and 1871. According to the census
in 1861, Sarah Collett was 57, and was 67 in 1871, but with no record of her
in the census of 1881, it would be logical to assume that she died during the
1870s.
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9N2
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Amy Collett
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Born in 1825
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9M11
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Richard Collett was born at Sherborne and was baptised
there on 9th May 1808, the son of Robert and Amy Collett. It would appear that Richard married
Elizabeth just after 1831 and that they made their home in West Bromwich,
where the marriage had produced three children for the couple by June
1841. The census at that time listed
the family as Richard Collett, with a rounded age of 30, Elizabeth who was
25, and their three children, John Collett who was three, Henry Collett who
was two and Fanny Collett who was under one year old. Richard Collett was another of the children
of Robert Collett to be named as a beneficiary under the terms of his Will of
1846, when he received ten pounds.
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Ten
years later the next census in 1851 still recorded the family living in West
Bromwich, although by then Richard’s family had increased in size with the
addition of three more children.
Richard Collett from Sherborne was 42, his wife Elizabeth was 40, and
their children were John Collett who was 14, Henry Collett who was 12, Fanny
Collett who was 10, Lucy Collett who was eight, Robert Collett who was six
and William Collett who was four years old.
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By
the time of the next census in 1861 the family was recorded with a
misspelling of the surname, with the absence of the second t. Richard Collet, age 52 and from Sherborne,
was residing at 11 Hallam Street in West Bromwich with his wife and family,
where he was a blacksmith employing three men. Elizabeth Collet from Trysull near
Wolverhampton was 50 and their four unmarried sons on that occasion were John
Collet who was 24, Henry Collet who was 22, Robert Collet who was 16 and
William Collet who was 12 and still attending the local school. All four sons were confirmed as having been
born at West Bromwich.
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Living
with the family, and described as boarders, were Richard and Elizabeth’s
married daughter Lucy with her baby daughter Harriet, plus Richard’s and
Elizabeth’s granddaughter Lydia Harrison aged three years, the daughter of
the couple’s older married daughter Fanny.
Completed the household was lodger William Tickel who was 22 and a
smither presumably one of the men employed by Richard. All of the four visitors had been born at
West Bromwich.
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According
to the census of 1871 the family was still together and living at Hallam
Street in West Bromwich, by which time Richard of Sherborne was 62, his wife
Elizabeth was 60 and from Wolverhampton, and still living there with them
were their three sons. John Collett
was 33, Henry Collett was 31 and William Collett was 23, and while William
was unmarried, his two older brothers were both described as being widowed. Also living with the family was Richard’s
and Elizabeth’s grandson Richard Collett who was nine years old and also born
at West Bromwich, who was the son of either John Collett or Henry Collett. It seems very likely that Richard and
Elizabeth both died during the next ten years because their grandson Richard
was living and working with his uncle Robert Collett (Ref. 9N7) in 1881,
following the death of his own father around 1875.
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9N3
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John Collett
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Born in 1836
at West Bromwich
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9N4
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Henry Collett
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Born in 1838
at West Bromwich
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9N5
|
Fanny Collett
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Born in 1840
at West Bromwich
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9N6
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Lucy Collett
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Born in 1842
at West Bromwich
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9N7
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Robert Collett
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Born in 1844
at West Bromwich
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9N8
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William Frederick Collett
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Born in 1848
at West Bromwich
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9M12
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George Collett was baptised at Sherborne on 15th
September 1811, the son of Robert Collett and his wife Amy Fowler. In an earlier version of this family line
George had been mistakenly recorded as being married to Elizabeth Emms from
Hazelton, when in fact that was George Bryan Collett of Bourton-on-the-Water,
whose details can be found in Part 14 – The John Kyte Collett Line under
reference 14M16. All that is known
about George is that he was still alive when his father made his Will in
1846.
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9M13
|
John Collett was born at Sherborne and was
baptised there on 10th October 1813, the son of blacksmith Robert
Collett and his wife Amy Fowler. Just
like his brother Richard (above), John
eventually left Sherborne and initially headed for south to Hertfordshire. It was while there that he met and married
Sarah who came from Little Gaddesden, just north of Hemel Hempstead. The marriage of John Collett of Little
Gaddesden, the son of Robert Collett, and Sarah Simmonds, also of Little
Gaddesden, the daughter of Daniel Simmonds, took place at the Church of St
Peter & St Paul in Little Gaddesden on 18th August 1845. It was during the following year that John’s
father passed away, with the name of John Collett being mentioned in his Will
of 1846, when he was bequeathed ten pounds.
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Within
the first four years together Sarah gave birth to the couple’s first two children
while they were still living at Little Gaddesden, where they were also
baptised. However, soon after that,
John travelled to West Bromwich to establish a new home for the family and to
be reunited with his older brother Richard, who had moved there some ten
years earlier. It was also at West
Bromwich that John was recorded on the day of the census in 1851, when John Collett
from Sherborne was 37. On that same
day his wife and their two children were staying with Sarah’s widowed father
in Little Gaddesden. Daniel Simmonds
was 60, his son D Simmonds was 20, while his daughter Sarah Collett was 33, grandson
Harvey Collett was three and granddaughter Sarah Collett was two years of
age, and all born at Little Gaddesden.
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Sarah
and the two children joined John at West Bromwich later on in 1851 and it was
there also where the couple’s next three children were born. Those three new arrivals were recorded with
the family in the West Bromwich census of 1861, when they were all residing
at Winkle Street. On that day the
family was recorded as John Collett from Sherborne who was 47 and a
blacksmith employing one man, his wife Sarah from Little Gaddesden was 45, and their five
children were Harvey aged 13 and another blacksmith, Sarah aged 11, William who was nine,
Martha A Collett who was seven, and Charles who was four years old, the three
youngest children having been born at West Bromwich. No further children were added to the
family after that, so by 1871 the West Bromwich family was listed as only
Sarah aged 53, together with two of her sons William aged 19 and Charles who
was 14. Her husband was away on his
travels and on that day was recorded at Matlock in Derbyshire as visitor John
Collett from Sherborne who was 58 and a married blacksmith.
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Ten
years later John and Sarah were living at 46 Thyme Street in West Bromwich,
where John was listed as a retired
shoeing smith aged 67 years. Sarah was
listed as being 63 years old and her place of birth was confirmed as Little
Gaddesden in Hertfordshire. It seems
likely that Sarah died during the next decade as John
aged 77 was living alone at West Bromwich in 1891 and he too is assumed to
have died shortly thereafter. It was
also five years earlier, in 1886, that John travelled to Swindon to be with
his sister Jane when she was dying.
Jane’s only son William had been killed the previous year in an
industrial accident and both John Collett and his sister Jane were staying
with her widowed daughter-in-law Sarah Ann Collett at her home in Princes
Street.
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9N9
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Harvey Collett
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Born in 1848
at Little Gaddesden
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9N10
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Sarah Collett
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Born in 1849
at Little Gaddesden
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9N11
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William Collett
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Born in 1851
at West Bromwich
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9N12
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Martha Ann Collett
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Born in 1853
at West Bromwich
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9N13
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Charles Collett
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Born in 1856
at West Bromwich
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9M14
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Hannah Collett was born at Sherborne in 1815, the
daughter of Robert and Amy Collett, although to date no baptism record has
been found. It was during the earlier
1840s that she married James Hardcastle, the marriage producing at least
three children who were with Hannah on the day of the census in 1851. It was also confirmed that she was Hannah
Hardcastle in her father’s Will made in 1846.
By the time of that census in 1851 Hannah Hardcastle from Sherborne in
Gloucestershire was a lodger at the Wootton St Lawrence home of David and
Elizabeth Steel just west of Basingstoke in Hampshire. Hannah was 35 and only had her three
children with her, and they were Hannah Hardcastle who was six, Lucy
Hardcastle who was four and James Hardcastle who was two years
old. James Hardcastle was back with
his family in 1861 when the census that year revealed they were living within
the parish of St Edmunds in Salisbury, Wiltshire, where James was 42, his
wife Hannah was 46, and the only child still living there with them was their
son James Hardcastle who was 13.
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Ten
years later the widow Hannah Hardcastle from Sherborne was 52 when she was a
servant at a house in Lambeth and Brixton registration district of
London. Where she was in 1881 has not
been discovered but, after a further decade had passed, Hannah Hardcastle was
staying with her married daughter Lucy and described as mother-in-law of head
of the household George Tookey, age 41, a joiner from St Pancras. Lucy Tookey was 43 and her mother Hannah
was 73. George Tookey was unmarried at
the time of the previous census in 1881 when he was a lodger at 37 Hanover
Gardens in Lambeth, so Lucy Hardcastle was in her thirties when she married
him. It was less than four years later
that Hannah Hardcastle nee Collett from Sherborne passed away, her death
recorded at Lambeth (Ref. 1d 422) during the first three months of 1895 when
it was said that she was 79.
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9M15
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Lucy Collett was born at Sherborne where she was
baptised on 18th October 1817, the daughter of Robert and Amy
Collett. At the time of the first
national census in 1841, Lucy Collett, age 23, was living and working in the
Hanover Square area of London, not far from where her older brother Charles
(above) was living with his wife and daughter. Like some of her older sisters, it would
appear that she never married.
Certainly, she was still Lucy Collett when her father made his Will in
1846. By 1871 Lucy Collett aged 53 and
from Sherborne was residing within the Wandsworth & Clapham district of
London.
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9M16
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Robert Collett was born at Sherborne and baptised
there on 21st December 1819, the son of Robert and Amy
Collett. Following the death of his
mother in 1837 Robert continued to live at the family home in Sherborne. At the time of the first national census in
June 1841 he was 20 and was still living there with his widowed father Robert
Collett the blacksmith, with whom Robert was also working as a blacksmith
with his older brother Henry (above).
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His
father died in 1847 when Robert received ten pounds under the terms of his
Will proved in Gloucester at the end of April that year. By 1851 he was once again confirmed as
living and working in Sherborne where he was still a ‘smith’. On that occasion though he was lodging with
his brother Henry who was then married to Jane. However, it was during the next decade that
Robert married Ann of Little Compton in Oxfordshire, who was born there in
1817.
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The
Sherborne census of 1861 confirmed that Robert Collett was 41 and that he was
married to Ann Collett, age 43.
Staying with the couple on the day of the census was journeyman
blacksmith Daniel Cook of Barnsley in Gloucestershire. Just four years later Robert died at
Sherborne aged 45 and was buried there on 30th May 1865. According to the 1871 Census, Ann Collett
aged 55 of Little Compton had returned to Oxfordshire and was living within
the Chipping Norton registration district which included Little Compton.
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9M17
|
Amy Collett was born at Sherborne in 1822 and was
baptised there on 5th April 1822, the last child of Robert Collett
and his third wife Amy Fowler. Sadly,
her mother died in 1837 at the age of 58 when Amy was only 15, leaving the
teenager to be looked after by her elderly father Robert Collett who was 72
at that time. Perhaps that was more
than the old man could cope with, for not long after Amy was forced into
domestic service. Amy Collett appeared
in the first national census in June 1841 as living at Westminster in the St
George area of London, where she was given a rounded age of 15 (rather than
her true age of 18). At that time in
her life, she was working as a domestic servant at the home of Charles and
Sarah Collett in Hanover Square.
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During
the late 1840s she became friends with Jane Wood who was very likely the
sister of Sarah Wood who married Amy’s brother John Collett (above), both
girls having been born at Little Gaddesden near Hemel Hempstead. By 1851 Amy Collett, aged 27, and Jane
Wood, aged 24, were recorded together as lodging at the home of Ann Hiron
within the Luton & Dunstable registration district of Bedfordshire. Four years earlier the name of Amy Collett,
the daughter of blacksmith Robert Collett, was the last in a list of fourteen
of his children, who each received ten pounds in his Will which was proved on
26th April 1847.
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It
was during 1860 that Amy’s close friend Jane Wood married Reuben Horn of
Ivinghoe Aston in Buckinghamshire and, according to the census conducted in
the following year, Amy Collett from Sherborne was lodging with the couple,
who were living within the Luton & Dunstable registration district. The full household on that occasion
comprised Reuben Horn 25, his wife Jane who was 30, their baby daughter Amy
Jane Horn who was not yet one year old, sixteen years old nurse maid Eliza
Brinklow, and lodger Amy Collett who was 34, rather than 37.
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Amy
continued to live with the Horn family and by 1871 the census that year
revealed that also living at the home of Reuben and Jane Horn in Dunstable
was Jane’s mother Mary A Wood who was 61.
It would appear that ‘baby’ Amy Jane Horn must have died while still a
child, as the only children living with Reuben and Jane was their son William
Horn, who was seven, and their daughter Sarah Horn who was five years old.
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By
April 1881 Amy Collett was still living at the home of Reuben and Jane
Horn. Reuben was 43 and a plait
merchant and he and his family were living at 1 Princess Street in
Dunstable. Their son William, age 17,
was working as a pupil teacher, while daughter Sarah was 15 and an apprentice
dressmaker. Amy Collett on that
occasion was described as being an unmarried dressmaker and a visitor, who
had been born at Sherborne in Gloucestershire. As with all of the previous census records,
she gave an incorrect age when she said she was 52, instead of her true age
of 57.
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Two
points are of interest. The first that
the daughter of the Horn household was an apprentice dressmaker which,
presumably meant that she was being taught the trade by Amy Collett, and
secondly that Reuben’s wife Jane Horn nee Wood who was 48 was born at Little
Gaddesden in Hertfordshire.
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And
as previously mentioned, it was at Little Gaddesden that Sarah, the wife of
Amy’s brother John
Collett (above) was born, so such a long time together for
Amy and Jane is perhaps a very good indication Jane and Sarah were indeed sisters. That certainly would make it all the more
reasonable for the strong long-term friendship relationship between Amy and
Jane. Amy Collett died at Luton nine
years later in 1890, when she was 68 years of age.
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9M18
|
Elizabeth Collett was born at Aldsworth around 1797, the
first known child of William Collett and his first wife Ann Sparrow. The only other record found for her so far
is a listing in the 1851 Census when she was 64 and was living at
Stow-on-the-Wold, when her place of birth was confirmed as having been
Aldsworth.
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9M19
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Jane Collett was born at Aldsworth in 1800 to
parents William and Ann Collett, but with within a couple of years she died
and was buried there in 1802. Her
mother also died around the same time.
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9M20
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Charles Collett was born at Aldsworth around 1807,
the first child of the second marriage of William Collett to Elizabeth
Howes. He never married and was a
blacksmith all his life. In 1841 and
1851 he was the only member of the family still living with his parents William
and Elizabeth Collett at Aldsworth. In
the census of 1841, he was listed with a rounded age of 30 and in 1851 he was
41. Both of his parents died in the
1850s so by 1861 he was living on his own at Aldsworth when he was 53. The Aldsworth 1871 Census confirmed that
Charles was 63 and that his occupation was still that of a blacksmith. On that occasion he had living with him his
nephew Francis Collett (Ref. 9N28) who was 13 and from Coln St Aldwyns, the
son of Charles’ brother William Collett (below).
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Sometime
during the 1870s, and probably because of his advancing years, Charles took
into his home another nephew who could help with the family blacksmith
business. That was William Henry
Collett and his family, the son of Charles’ brother younger Henry Collett
(below). By April 1881 Charles, at the
age of 73, had living and working with him his nephew and blacksmith William
Collett (Ref. 9N15), age 38 and from Aldsworth, his wife Augusta Collett
(Ref. 9N26), age 29 and from Quenington, and their daughter Ada Collett who
was eight years old.
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Ten
years later, on the day of the Aldsworth census in 1891 Charles was 82 and a
retired blacksmith when he still had living with him his nephew William and
his wife Augusta who, by then had two children Ada and Cecil. Living in the dwelling next door to Charles
was his brother Henry Collett (below) and his wife Mary, who was the father
of Charles’ nephew William Henry Collett.
It was later that same year that Charles Collett died and was buried
in the Aldsworth churchyard where a tombstone bears his name.
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9M21
|
HENRY COLLETT was born at Aldsworth in 1810, the
son of William and Elizabeth Collett, and it was at Aldsworth that he married
Mary Carter at St Bartholomew’s Church on 3rd March 1837. The witnesses were his father William
Collett and sister Jane Collett (below).
All four of them signed their name in the church register in which the
couple gave their ages as 27 and 19 years respectively. Mary was the daughter of Richard Palmer
Carter and Jane Fowler who were married at Aldsworth on 16th
October 1817. The Carter family are
well represented in the churchyard at Aldsworth, with gravestones for Richard
dated 11th November 1872, Mary dated 29th June 1858,
and Richard’s father James in 1793. By
June 1841 the marriage of Henry and Mary had produced their first child and
that was confirmed in the census return which listed Henry with a rounded age
of 30, Mary as 20, and baby Ann who was still under one year old.
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During
the next ten years Mary presented her husband with a further four children so
at the time of the 1851 Census for Aldsworth Henry Collett was aged 40 and
was a blacksmith living with wife Mary 32, and their five children. They were Ann aged ten, William Henry who was
eight, Richard who was six, Charles who was four, and Elizabeth who was one
year old. Their next child Robert, who
was born in 1851, must have been born after 30th March, which was
the census day that year.
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Henry
Collett was the enumerator for the Aldsworth censuses of 1861 and 1871 having
taken over the role from his brother-in-law Joseph Waine who married Henry’s
sister Jane (below). In 1861 the
family comprised Henry who was 51, Mary who was 42, Ann who was 20 and a
teacher, William aged 18, who was a blacksmith working with his father,
Richard aged 16, and Charlie who was 13, both of them working as agricultural
labourers, Elizabeth who was 11, Robert who was nine, Lucy who was six, and
Mary Ann who was three, and all of them born at Aldsworth.
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Moving
on ten years and blacksmith Henry was 61 years old when he was living with
his large family at the Lodge in Aldsworth.
His wife Mary was 53 and still living with them were eight of their
ten children. William H Collett aged
28 was a blacksmith, Richard Collett aged 26 was employed on a farm, Charles
Collett aged 24 was a blacksmith’s assistant, Elizabeth M Collett was 21,
Robert Collett aged 19 was another blacksmith’s assistant, while the three
youngest children were daughters Lucy Collett who was 16, and Mary Ann
Collett who was 13, and the youngest son Henry Collett who was nine years
old.
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|
According
to the Aldsworth Census of 1881 only unmarried siblings Charles Collett and
Mary Anne Collett were living at home with their parents at that time. The census record also confirms that the children
were born at Aldsworth and that Henry, aged 71, and Charles were both
blacksmiths. Mary Anne who was 23
years of age, married Thomas Bennett during the following years.
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The
later census of 1891 for Aldsworth listed Henry collett, age 81, as a retired
blacksmith living with his wife Mary who was 73, while living next door was
his son William Henry Collett and Henry’s older brother Charles Collett
(above). Henry Collett died in 1892
and was buried at Aldsworth on 2nd April 1892. Later that same year Mary died on Christmas
Day and was buried on 30th December 1892. Just outside the entrance to the church
there is a well-preserved gravestone for Mary, next to which there is a
broken stone which is very possibly that of Henry.
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9N14
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Ann Collett
|
Born in 1840
at Aldsworth
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9N15
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William Henry Collett
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Born in 1842
at Aldsworth
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9N16
|
RICHARD COLLETT
|
Born in 1844
at Aldsworth
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9N17
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Charles Collett
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Born in 1846
at Aldsworth
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9N18
|
Elizabeth Mary Collett
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Born in 1849
at Aldsworth
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9N19
|
Robert Collett
|
Born in 1851
at Aldsworth
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9N20
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Lucy Collett
|
Born in 1854
at Aldsworth
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9N21
|
Mary Collett
|
Born in 1856
at Aldsworth
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9N22
|
Mary Anne Collett
|
Born in 1857
at Aldsworth
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9N23
|
Henry Collett
|
Born in 1861
at Aldsworth
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9M22
|
Mary Collett was born at Aldsworth in the latter
part of 1811 to parents William and Elizabeth Collett. However, she only survived for a short
while when she died and was buried there in April 1814 and the age of just
two years.
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9M23
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Jane Collett was born at Aldsworth and it was
there that she was baptised on 21st November 1813, the daughter of
William and Elizabeth Collett. She
later married baker Joseph Waine on 2nd April 1840, and it was
Joseph Waine who was the enumerator for the Aldsworth census in 1851. It is also interesting to note that
Joseph’s mother was Susanna Waine nee Fletcher, the sister of Mary Fletcher
who married Thomas Collett (Ref. 2M11) and the sister of Ann Fletcher who
married Henry Collett (Ref. 2M16).
This then provides another link back to the one of the main lines of
Collett ancestors.
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By
1881 Jane was a widow carrying on the family business as a baker and grocer
in Aldsworth, Joseph having died in 1854.
Still living with her was her unmarried son John Waine, age 27,
grandsons Ernest Charles Waine, age 12, and Harry Edgar John Waine, who was seven, and granddaughter Lucy
Ann Howard, age 14, all of them born at Aldsworth. The household was completed by two
servants. Jane died in 1899.
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9M24
|
William Collett was born at Aldsworth during late
1816 or early 1817 and was baptised there on 4th February 1817,
the youngest child of William Collett by his second wife Elizabeth
Howes. He was a blacksmith just like
two of his brothers. He married Jane
of Coln St Aldwyns in the parish church at Coln St Aldwyns, where William was
living and working as a blacksmith in 1841.
The couple married sometime after 1841 and before 1844 when their
first child was baptised in Coln St Aldwyns, at which time they may have also
been living there or at nearby Quenington.
All of their later children are believed to have been born at
Quenington, although they were all baptised at the parish church in Coln St
Aldwyns. However, there seems to be
some conflicting information regarding whether their second child was born at
Quenington or at Coln St Aldwyns.
Sadly, it would appear that the couple’s first child died shortly
after he was born and was buried at Coln St Aldwyns.
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By
1851 William was 34, Jane was 30, and their daughter Georgiana was four, when
they were confirmed as residing at Quenington just south of Aldsworth. The census for that year confirmed that
William was a blacksmith who had been born at Aldsworth, while Jane and her
daughter Georgiana were both said to have been born at Coln St Aldwyns. Jane was most likely with-child on the
census day since she presented William with a second daughter later that same
year. Ten years later in 1861 the
family was again living in Quenington when the census return revealed the
family as William 44, Jane 41, and their children Georgiana, age 14, Augusta
who was nine, Anne Priscilla who was five and Francis who was three years
old, the three younger children reported as having been born at Quenington. William and Jane only had their two
youngest children living with them in the next census in 1871. The census recorded the family as William
53, his wife Jane 50, their daughter Anne 15 and their son Francis who was
13.
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In
1881 William, age 64, and Jane, age 61, were still living at Quenington. It is likely that the couple lived
virtually all of their married life together at Quenington, since their
daughter Anne was certainly born there, as was their daughter Augusta who
married her cousin William Henry Collett (Ref. 9N15). In addition to these, their son Francis was
also born at Quenington, although he had left the family home by 1881 and was
living and working in Bristol. There
is further confirmation of this in the census of 1901 when the couple was
still living in Quenington and were listed as William, a retired blacksmith
aged 84 who had been born at Aldsworth, with 80-year-old Jane who was born at
Coln St Aldwyns. Still living with
them was their daughter Annie, a spinster of 45 years. William Collett died on 28th
October 1906 at the age of 90, while his wife Jane passed away three years
later on 11th August 1909, aged 89, and both of them were buried
at Quenington.
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9N24
|
Francis Collett
|
Born in 1844
at Coln St Aldwyns
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9N25
|
Georgiana Collett
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Born in 1846
at Coln St Aldwyns
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9N26
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Augusta Collett
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Born in 1851
at Quenington
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9N27
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Anne Priscilla Collett
|
Born in 1855
at Quenington
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9N28
|
Francis Collett
|
Born in 1858
at Quenington
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9N1
|
William Collett was the base-born son of spinster
Jane Collett of Sherborne. He was born
at Sherborne in 1826 but was quickly removed to live with a family in
Fairford where he was baptised on 13th August 1826. That very uncertain start to his life was
very likely the reason why, in the later census records, he was unsure about
his date and place of birth. His age
had the biggest variations, whereas the place of his birth alternated between
Sherborne and Fairford.
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By
the time William was 15 he had left school and was living and working with
Thomas Lea and his wife Betty and their two daughters Patience and Mary at
their family home in Fairford. Thomas
Lea was a tailor and he was teaching William how to become a tailor himself. Although not confirmed, it is possible that
it may have been with the Lea family that William had been placed fifteen
years earlier. Ten years later,
according to the census of 1851, William was 24 and was a tailor’s apprentice
still living at the Fairford home of tailor and draper Thomas Lea. Also lodging at the house at that time was
William’s mother Jane Collett, who was 45 and described as a tailor of
Sherborne.
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Over
the next ten years William continued to live in Fairford, but by 1861 he was
living on his own and in the census that year he was recorded as being a
carrier aged 35 and from Sherborne. It
was at nearby Cirencester in 1865 that William married Sarah Ann Cockbill who
is pictured here at the age of sixty-one at the wedding of her youngest son
Albert in September 1901, by which time she had been a widow for sixteen
years. Sarah Ann Cockbill was born at
Filkins north of Lechlade in Wiltshire around 1840. A note on the couple’s marriage certificate
indicated that William Collett’s unnamed father had died when he was a child.
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William’s
and Sarah’s first five children were all born while the couple was living at
Fairford and prior to the family’s move to Swindon, where the sixth and
youngest child was born. According to
the 1871 Census for Fairford William, age 42, was a carrier and inn keeper
living with his wife Sarah, age 36 and of Filkins. On that occasion William gave his place of
birth as Fairford. Living with the couple
were their first three children Harry, who was five, Charles, who was two,
and Amy who was one year old. Rather
strangely the family also had living with them at that time a young child by
the name of Charles Constable who was seven years of age and from Lechlade.
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Between
1875 and 1879 the family moved from Fairford to Swindon where William had
secured the job of labourer with the Great Western Railway. By April 1881 he and his family were living
at 40 Princes Street in Swindon.
William was described as being 47 and from Fairford. The census record also confirmed that he
was a labourer employed by the Great Western Railway in the E & M
workshop.
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His
wife was confirmed as Sarah A Collett, age 40 of Filkins, and their children
at that time were Henry R Collett age 14, Charles Collett age 12, Frederick Collett
who was nine, Hedley Collett who was six, and Albert Collett who was only ten
months old. Living with the family on
that occasion was boarder William Strong, a workmate of William’s at the GWR. For whatever reason, probably one of
overcrowding in the male orientated family home, William’s and Sarah’s only
daughter Amy, age 10 and born at Fairford, was living at Ampney St Peter near
Cirencester with her grandmother Jane Collett (Ref. 9M8).
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Tragically,
William Collett died in hospital on 22nd March 1885 as a result of
an accident at work during the previous day.
It transpires that William was a labourer and a track leveller and
that on the afternoon of Saturday 21st March he fell through a
hole into a fire while working on the tracks near Rodbourne Lane
Cottages. His age at that time was
recorded as being 49, and the death certificate indicated that his mother
Jane Collett was still alive at the age of 82. Ironically, she died exactly one year later
on 22nd March 1886.
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An
inquest into the incident that killed William took place at The Cricketer’s
Arms Inn in New Town Swindon on Wednesday 25th March 1885 at which
it was said that his son Henry Robert Collett identified the badly burned
body. As a result of the findings of
the inquest, a verdict of accidental death was announced. The surviving family of William Collett of
40 Princes Street in Swindon was recorded as his widow, his six children, and
his mother who was 82. William’s widow
Sarah Ann Collett was offered compensation for her husband’s death by the
Great Western Railway, which she declined, saying that she would prefer each
of her sons to be offered employment and an apprenticeship with the company,
where her eldest son was already working at that time. And judging by the trades taken up by her
sons, it seems more than likely that her demand was accepted.
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According
to the next Swindon census in 1891, Sarah Ann Collett was 49 and was a widow,
while still living at 40 Princes Street with four of her six children. They were Henry 24, Frederick 19, Hedley
14, and Albert who was 10. Her son
Charles Collett had died in 1888 and no trace of Amy Jane Collett has been
found in 1891. Just after the turn of
the century Sarah A Collett of Filkins was 61 and was still living in
Swindon. Also living in Swindon at
that time were her sons Henry 32, Frederick 29, Hedley 26, and Albert who was
20. Sarah Ann Collett nee Cockbill
died at Swindon on 10th March 1910 at the age of 70.
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9O1
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Henry Robert Collett
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Born in 1866
at Fairford
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9O2
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Charles Ernest Collett
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Born in 1868
at Fairford
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9O3
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Amy Jane Collett
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Born in 1870
at Fairford
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9O4
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Frederick William Collett
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Born in 1872
at Fairford
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9O5
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Hedley John Collett
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Born in 1874
at Fairford
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9O6
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Albert Joseph Collett
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Born in 1880
at Swindon
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9N3
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John Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1836, the
eldest child of blacksmith Richard Collett of Sherborne in Gloucestershire
and his wife Elizabeth from Trysull near Wolverhampton. According to the West Bromwich census of
1841 John was three years old and living with his parents in West Bromwich,
while it was the same situation ten years later when he was 14. By 1861 John Collett from West Bromwich was
24 and a married man who was still living with his parents at 11 Hallam
Street in West Bromwich. His
occupation was that of a blacksmith, like his father, and whether it was an
error made by the census enumerator, but his place of birth was given as
Trysull, which was where his mother had been born.
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Curiously
so far, no record of his wife has been identified, while it seems likely that
it was very shortly after the census day in 1861 when their son and only
child was born. So perhaps John’s wife
was at the home of her parents to have the baby, which often happened. However, tragically, his wife did not survive
the ordeal as was confirmed by the next census in 1871 when once again John
was still living with his parents at Hallam Street in West Bromwich. According to the census details that year
John Collett from West Bromwich was 33 and a widower, whose occupation was
that of a blacksmith. Also living with
him at that address was his son Richard Collett who was nine years of age and
also born in West Bromwich who was still attending school.
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With
no apparent record found after 1871 for John Collet, a blacksmith from West
Bromwich, coupled with the fact that his son Richard Collett at the age of 19
was living with his uncle Robert Collett in 1881, John’s younger brother
(below), it may that John Collett during the 1870s.
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9O7
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Richard Collett
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Born in 1861
at West Bromwich
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9N4
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Henry Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1838 and
was aged two years in June 1841 and was 12 years of age in the census of
1851. He was still living with his
family at 11 Hallam Street in West Bromwich in 1861 when he was 22 and
working as a carpenter. During the
next decade he became a married man but tragically lost his wife, most likely
during childbirth, since in the next census of 1871 he again living at Hallam
Street with his parents when he was described as a widower of 31 who was
still working as a carpenter.
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That
situation was confirmed by the next census in 1881. The census return for April that year included
Henry Collett as being 39 while living at Taylors Lane in West Bromwich,
where his occupation was again confirmed as being that of a carpenter. The same census also confirmed that he was
a widower and that his live-in housekeeper was Annie Ince who was 40 and a
dressmaker. With her were her three
children Arthur Ince who was seven, Dora Ince who was five and Wilbert Ince
who was one year old. Each child was
described as the son or the daughter of the housekeeper.
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By
1891 Henry Collett was 50 and was still living in West Bromwich, but sometime
during the next decade he was taken into the West Bromwich Union Workhouse
where he was recorded in March 1901 as being 62 years old, a pauper and a
retired carpenter, who was also said to be an imbecile. Sadly, he died just a few months later, his
death recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 517) during the
third quarter of 1901 when his age was 61.
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9N5
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Fanny Collett was born at West
Bromwich in 1840 and was under one year old in June 1841. Ten years later she was still living with
her parents in West Bromwich and was 10 years old. During the latter half of the 1850s, when
she was around sixteen or seventeen, Fanny married blacksmith Charles
Harrison from Great Bowden near Market Harborough. In fact, it is possible that she may have
met him through her father who was a blacksmith who employed such men. By the
time of the census in 1861 Fanny had already given to her first two children,
by which time she and Charles were living in the Aston & Duddeston
registration of Birmingham.
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Being
nearly ten years younger than Charles, Fanny Harrison was recorded in the
census return that year at the same age as her husband when, clearly, she was
not. Charles Harrison was 28 and
living with the couple was just their youngest child Elizabeth Harrison
who was one year old. However, on that
same day the couple’s eldest daughter Lydia Harrison, who was three
years old and born at West Bromwich, was living with Fanny’s parents at 11
Hallam Street in West Bromwich where she was described as the granddaughter
of Richard and Elizabeth Collett.
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Four
year later Fanny presented Charles with their only son, Charles S Harrison
who was also born at West Bromwich, while by 1871 the enlarged family was
residing within the Birmingham parish of St Thomas. Charles Harrison was 37, Fanny Harrison was
30, Lydia Harrison was 13, Elizabeth Harrison was 11 and Charles S Harrison
was six years of age. Two more
children were added to the family during the 1870s, the first of them born in
Birmingham, with their last child born after the family had moved to
Smethwick.
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By
the time of the next census in 1881 Charles and Fanny were recorded living at
64 Rabone Lane in Harborne, near Kings Norton, where Fanny’s nephew Richard
Collett (Ref. 9O7) was living in 1891.
The 1881 census confirmed that Charles Harrison was 49 and a
blacksmith from Great Bowden in Leicestershire, his wife Fanny from West
Bromwich was 40, their son Charles S Harrison was 16 and already employed in
the chandelier trade, while the couple’s two youngest children were Louisa
Harrison who was five and Gertrude F Harrison who was not yet one year old.
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The
family, although reduced in size, was still living at Harborne in 1891, when
Charles Harrison was 61, Fanny Harrison was 49, Louisa Harrison was 15 and
Gertrude Harrison was 10 years old.
Charles Harrison passed away during the last decade of the century, so
in the census conducted in March 1901 it was just Fanny Harrison from West
Bromwich who was 59 and then living in Smethwick who was managing a huckster
shop assisted by her youngest daughter Gertie Harrison who was 20.
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9N6
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Lucy Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1843, the
fourth child and youngest of the two daughters of Richard Collett from
Sherborne and his wife Elizabeth from Trysull near Wolverhampton. In the West Bromwich census of 1851 Lucy
Collett was eight years of age. She
was still in her teenage years when she was married to become Lucy Sonedley
(or Sanedley) as confirmed in the census of 1861 when she and her first child
were living with her parents at 11 Hallam Street in West Bromwich. Lucy Sonedley from West Bromwich was only 18
years old and had with her, her daughter Harriet Sonedley who was
eight months old. Her unusual surname
has made it virtually impossible to trace Lucy and her family in the later
census records.
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9N7
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Robert Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1844 and
was six years old in 1851 and was still living in West Bromwich with his
parents at 11 Hallam Street in 1861 when he was 16 and a blacksmith working
with his father and his older brother John (above). It was on Christmas Day in 1865 that Robert
Collett married Mary Ann Evans from West Bromwich, the event recorded at West
Bromwich (Ref. 6b 1183). The wedding
ceremony was conducted at Holy Trinity Church on 25th December
when Robert, the son of Richard Collett, was 20 and Mary Ann, the daughter of
Thomas and Mary Ann Evans, was 21. During the first five years of their
marriage Mary Ann presented Robert with the first three of their thirteen
children, so by 1871 the family residing at Hallam Street in West Bromwich
was made up of Robert Collett, a coachsmith, and Mary Ann Collett, both aged
26, and their three daughters Martha Elizabeth Collett aged four years, Mary
Ann Collett aged two years, with the youngest one Amy Collett just five
months old.
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According
to the next census of 1881 the family was living at 56 Hallam Street in West
Bromwich from where Robert, at the age of 36, was described as a shoeing and
coaching smith who was employing two men.
Mary, also 36 and of West Bromwich, was confirmed as his wife, while
the couple’s first three daughters were then referred to as Mary Elizabeth
Collett who was 14, Margaret Ann Collett who was 12 and Amy C Collett who was
10. Mary (Martha in 1871) had left
school by then, whereas the next four children were still receiving their
education.
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In
addition to the couple’s three eldest children the other younger members of
the family that day were recorded as Lucy Collett who was eight, Elizabeth
Collett who was six, Robert Collett who was four, Henry (who was referred to
as Harry) who was two years of age and baby Frank who was just seven months
old. All of the children were
confirmed as having been born at West Bromwich. Also living with the family in April 1881
was Robert’s nephew Richard Collett aged 19 who had been living with Robert’s
parents ten years early with his widowed father John – Robert’s eldest
brother.
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Over
the next ten years a further five children were added to the family. So, by the time of the 1891 Census, there
were ten children living with Robert and Mary Ann at West Bromwich, with two
of the five oldest daughters having already left the family home. Robert and Mary Ann were both 46 and with
them were Mary 22, Amy 20, Lucy 18, Robert 14, Henry 12, Thomas 11 (who was
Frank in 1881), Hannah, who was eight, Richard, who was seven, James, who was
five, Joseph, who was three, and Minnie who was two years old.
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Just
after the turn of the century eight of the children of Robert and Mary Ann
were still living at home in West Bromwich
with their parents. The total 1901
family comprised general blacksmith Robert aged 56 and his wife Mary Ann,
sons Robert 24, Henry 22, Thomas 20, Richard 17, Arthur 15, and Joseph aged
13, together with the two youngest daughters Hannah 18, and Minnie aged 10.
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It
was just over three years later that Robert Collett passed away on 11th
November 1904 when he was living at 56 Hallam Street in West Bromwich. His death at the age of 59 was recorded at
West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 599) during the last two months of the
year. Following his passing, it was
his widow Mary Ann Collett who was named as the sole executor of his estate
of £445 4 Shillings 11 Pence.
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The
next census in 1911 included Mary Ann Collett of West Bromwich, a widow at
66, who was still living at Hallam Street with four of her children for
company. They were Henry, James,
Joseph and Minnie. Mary Ann Collett
was still living at 56 Hallam Street in West Bromwich when she died on 15th
February 1923. Probate of her estate
of £481 4 Shillings was resolved at Lichfield on 2nd May 1923 in
favour of Henry Collett, a moulder, and Edgar Stokes, a hame maker. They were her son and the husband of her
daughter Hannah.
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9O8
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Martha Elizabeth Collett
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Born in 1867
at West Bromwich
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9O9
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Mary Ann Collett
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Born in 1869
at West Bromwich
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9O10
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Amy Collett
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Born in 1870
at West Bromwich
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9O11
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Lucy Collett
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Born in 1872
at West Bromwich
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9O12
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Elizabeth Collett
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Born in 1873
at West Bromwich
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9O13
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Robert Collett
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Born in 1875
at West Bromwich
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9O14
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Henry Collett
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Born in 1877
at West Bromwich
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9O15
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Thomas (Frank) Collett
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Born in 1880
at West Bromwich
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9O16
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Hannah Jane Collett
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Born in 1882
at West Bromwich
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9O17
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Richard Collett
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Born in 1883
at West Bromwich
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9O18
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James Arthur Collett
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Born in 1885
at West Bromwich
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9O19
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Joseph Edward Collett
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Born in 1887
at West Bromwich
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9O20
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Minnie Collett
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Born in 1890
at West Bromwich
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9N8
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William Frederick
Collett was born at
West Bromwich in 1848 and was four (sic) years old in the West Bromwich
census of 1851. After a further ten
years his age was 12 when, in the West Bromwich census of 1861, he was still
at school and living with his family at 11 Hallam Street. It was also at Hallam Street that he was
still living with his family in 1871 when he was 23, unmarried and with the
occupation of a coachsmith. Around seven
years after that he married the much younger Amelia Fanny Fellows at West
Bromwich (Ref. 6b 935) during the third quarter of 1878. The birth of Amelia Fanny Fellows was
recorded at Kings Norton Ref. 6c 619) during the third quarter of 1858, thus
making her around twenty years of age when she married William who would have
been ten years old.
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Shortly
after they were married Amelia presented William with the first of their
seven children and one year later their second child had arrived. By the time of the West Bromwich census of
1881 William said he was 28, while his wife Fanny from Smethwick was 23. Perhaps it was from the embarrassment of
having a much younger wife that William did not give his actually age of
around 32. At that time in April 1881
William and Amelia were living at 8 Cottrell Street in West Bromwich with
their two children Amelia, referred to as Fanny aged one, and William who was
three months old, both of them having been born at West Bromwich. William’s occupation at that time in his
life was that of a farrier. Three
years later Amelia presented her husband with their third child, but
tragically he was born deaf and dumb.
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By
1891 the family had moved away from Cottrell Street and instead were living
at 38 Victoria Street in West Bromwich.
Head of the house William Collett was 43 and a farrier and general
smith, while his wife Amelia was 32, and living there with them were their
three children, Amelia F Collett who was 11, William F Collett who was 10 and
Albert A Collett who was six years of age.
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The
family was still living in West Bromwich in 1901 when William F Collett of
West Bromwich was confirmed as being a farrier and shoeing smith aged 53 and
his wife was Amelia aged 44 and from Smethwick. Their son, also listed as William F
Collett, was living with them aged 20 and was working with his father, his
occupation being that of a shoeing smith.
Completing the family was their son Arthur A Collett who was 16 and
their daughter Adelaide Collett who was five years old. Their daughter Amelia F Collett had left
the family home by then and was working away at nearby Tipton at the age of
21.
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The
West Bromwich census of 1911 provided the full name of William Frederick
Collett from West Bromwich who was sixty-three and a shoeing smith with his
own account working at home, which was a six-roomed property at 38 Victoria
Street. His wife of thirty-four years
was confirmed as Amelia Fanny Collett, also from West Bromwich, who was
54. During those years the marriage
had produced a total of eight children for the couple, of which only five
were still alive. Still living with
them on that occasion was their handicapped son Albert Arthur Collett, who
was 27 and described as totally deaf and dumb from birth. Of the two younger children Adelaide Lucy
Collett was 15 and was already working as a paper counter at a local printing
works, while Dorothy May Collett was still attending school at the age of
eight years. Lodging with the family
was boarder Thomas Albert Young who was 30 and a fitter, electrical breaker
foreman from Leeds.
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All
of the couple’s five children who were still living in 1911 are as listed
below. Therefore, the three who had
already died were sons Richard and Harry, plus one other not listed below,
who may have been born in the 1890s.
It was just over seven years later that William Frederick Collett, a
farrier, died on 18th November 1918 when he was still residing at
38 Victoria Street in West Bromwich. Probate of his personal effects
amounting to a value of £1,395 1 Shilling 5 Pence was grant to his widow
Amelia Fanny Collett. He was 69 when
he died, his death being recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b
1771) during the last quarter of the 1918.
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Amelia
had been a widow for almost eighteen years when she passed away on 28th
May 1937, at which time she was still living at the family home at 38
Victoria Street. Her Will was proved
at Birmingham on 21st July 1927, by which time her estate had
increased in value to £1,431 6 Shillings 2 Pence while it was her unmarried daughter Adelaide Lucy
Collett who was made as the sole executor of her Will.
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9O21
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Amelia Fanny Collett
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Born in 1879
at West Bromwich
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9O22
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William Frederick Collett
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Born in 1881
at West Bromwich
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9O23
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Richard John Thomas Collett
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Born in 1882
at West Bromwich
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9O24
|
Albert Arthur Collett
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Born in 1884
at West Bromwich
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9O25
|
Harry Harvey Collett
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Born in 1887
at West Bromwich
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9O26
|
Adelaide Lucy Collett
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Born in 1895
at West Bromwich
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9O27
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Dorothy May Collett
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Born in 1902
at West Bromwich
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9N9
|
Harvey Collett was born at Little Gaddesden during
the second quarter of 1848, the birth being registered in the Berkhamsted
district of Hertfordshire. It was also
at Little Gaddesden where he was baptised on 30th April 1848, the
son of John Collett and Sarah Simmonds.
On the day of the census in 1851 Harvey Collett was three years of age
when he and his younger sister Sarah (below) were with the children’s mother,
staying at the home of her widowed father Daniel Simmonds at Little
Gaddesden. That day the children’s
father was setting up a new home for the family in West Bromwich. And it was at West Bromwich where all of Harvey’s
three new siblings were born during the 1850.
While Harvey was incorrectly recorded in some census returns, his
place of birth was generally confirmed as being Little Gaddesden in Hertfordshire.
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By
1861 the West Bromwich family was complete with Harvey as the oldest child at
the age of 13, residing at Winkle Street.
Upon leaving school it would appear that he had a love of animals,
probably through the contact he had with the horses that came to his father
for shoeing and went to London to qualify as a veterinary surgeon. And it was at Camden Town that Harvey Collett
aged 23 and a veterinary student was situated at the time of the census of
1871. Perhaps out of ignorance for his
actual place of birth and, bearing in mind the short amount time spent there,
he gave his place of birth as West Bromwich rather than Little
Gaddesden.
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It
was towards the end of the following year when Harvey Collett married Ann
Woodward of Stourport in Worcestershire, the event recorded at West Bromwich
(Ref. 6b 1265) during the fourth quarter of 1872. Their marriage, by banns, was conducted the
Holy Trinity Church on 11th December 1872, when Harvey was 24 and
confirmed as the son of John Collett.
Ann was 21 and her father was named as Thomas Woodward. It was also at West Bromwich where Harvey
established his veterinary business alongside his father’s blacksmith
business. Over the next ten years Ann
presented Harvey with six children, all of them born at West Bromwich. By April 1881 Harvey of Little Gaddesden
was aged 33 and was living at 41 Carters Green in West
Bromwich. His occupation
was recorded as ‘veterinary surgeon employing four smiths’ and these were
most likely members of his Collett blacksmith family. His family in 1881 comprised his wife Ann
from Stourport who was 30, and their children Frances Helen Collett who was
seven, William Harvey Collett who was six, Amy Sarah Collett who was four,
Margaret Collett who was two, Ethel Mary who was one year old, and baby Emily
Collett who was ten months old. In
addition to all of these, the family was supported by Eliza Jones aged 17
from Dudley who was employed as a general servant.
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Towards
the end of 1881 the couple’s youngest child on the day of the census that
year suffered an infant death. The
loss of their daughter was offset by the birth of four more children who were
added to the family over the following decade. Emily’s premature removal from the family
was confirmed by the next census in 1891.
Harvey Collett was 43 and a veterinary surgeon and Ann Collett was
40. The children still living at home with
them, which by then was on Dudley Road in West Bromwich, were Frances H
Collett aged 17, William H Collett aged 16 and a scholar, Amy S Collett aged
14, Margaret Collett aged 12, Ethel M Collett aged 11, Elsie G Collett who
was nine, Norman T Collett who was six, Sidney H Collett who was four and
Eliza Collett who was two years old.
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|
During
the next ten years some of the older members of the family left home. According to the West Bromwich census of
1901 Harvey Collett from Little Gaddesden was 53 and his occupation was still
that of a veterinary surgeon when he and his reduced family were living at
Red Cow Yard within the parish of St Andrew.
Still living with him and his wife Ann, who was 51, on that occasion
were his unmarried daughters. They
were Frances H Collett aged 27, Amy S Collett aged 24, Margaret Collett aged
22, Ethel M Collett aged 21, Elsie G Collett aged 19 and Olive Collett who
was 12. Completing the family were the
couple’s two youngest sons Norman T Collett who was 16 and Sidney H Collett
who was 15. None of them was credited
with having an occupation, so presumably they were supporting their father
and mother. It is interesting to note,
that the couple’s youngest child, Eliza in 1891, was named Olive in 1901.
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By
April 1911 the family of Harvey Collett was residing at 11 Dudley Street in
West Bromwich, although by then it was just four of his children who were
still living with him and Ann. Harvey
was 63 and was continuing to work as a veterinary surgeon, Ann was 61, and
the four children were their eldest daughter Frances Helen Collett who was
37, Ethel Mary Collett who was 31 and working as a school mistress, Sidney
Howell Collett who was 25 and an engineer’s pattern maker, and Olive Collett
who was 22. The census return that
year indicated that Harvey and Ann had given birth to ten children, of whom
nine were still alive. This therefore confirms
the loss of their daughter Emily in 1881.
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Just over four years after that Harvey Collett of
11 Dudley Street in West Bromwich died on 25th July 1915, when
administration of his personal effects of £1,219 11 Shillings 2 Pence was
granted to his widow Ann Collett. He
was 67 and his death was recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b
920) during the third quarter of the year.
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9O28
|
Frances Helen Collett
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Born in 1873
at West Bromwich
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|
9O29
|
William Harvey Collett
|
Born in 1874
at West Bromwich
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9O30
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Amy Sarah Collett
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Born in 1876
at West Bromwich
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9O31
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Margaret Collett
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Born in 1878
at West Bromwich
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9O32
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Ethel Mary Collett
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Born in 1879
at West Bromwich
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9O33
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Emily Collett – infant death
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Born in 1880
at West Bromwich
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9O34
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Elsie Gertrude Collett
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Born in 1882
at West Bromwich
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9O35
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Norman Trustrum Collett
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Born in 1884
at West Bromwich
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9O36
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Sidney Howell Collett
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Born in 1886
at West Bromwich
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9O37
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Elizabeth Jane (Olive) Collett
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Born in 1888
at West Bromwich
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9N10
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Sarah Collett was born at Little Gaddesden in 1849 and
was baptised there in the Church of St Peter & St Paul on 18th
November 1849, the daughter of John and Sarah Collett. She was two years old in the Little
Gaddesden census of 1851 and was 11 years of age in the West Bromwich census
of 1861, when living at Winkle Street in West Bromwich with her mother. It was around the time of the next census
in 1871 that Sarah married Daniel Mayor who was born at Chorley in Lancashire
and they had five children during the 1870s, all of them born at Preston
where the family was living at Chaddock Street in 1881. Daniel was 36, Sarah from Little Gaddesden
was 31, John J Mayor was ten, Martha Anne Mayor was eight, Sarah
Mayor was six, Amy Mayor was two, and Daniel Mayor who was
one year old.
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Daniel
and Sarah were again residents of Preston in 1911, at the ages of 66 and 61
respectively. The only children still
living there with them were their unmarried daughters Martha Anne Mayor, who
was 38, and Amy Simmonds who was 31, whose second forename was a tribute to
Sarah’s mother’s maiden name. Just
over ten years later the death of Sarah Mayor nee Collett was recorded at
Preston register office (Ref. 8e 609) during the last three months of 1921
when she was 72. Nine years after
losing his wife, Daniel Mayor passed away in 1930, his birth recorded at
Preston (Ref. 8e 542) during the third quarter of the year, when he was
85.
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9N11
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William Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1851,
where his birth was recorded (Ref. 18 631) during the third quarter of the
year. For some reason his baptism was
delayed and because of that he was baptised in a joint ceremony with his
younger sister Martha (below) on 6th November 1853. He was nine years old in the April census
of 1861 when William and his family were living at Winkle Street in West
Bromwich. He was still living at West
Bromwich with his parents ten years later in 1871 when he was 19 and working
as a draper’s assistant. Curiously no
obvious record of him has been located in the next census of 1881 and it was
just a few months later when he married the much younger Emily Wood from
Macclesfield in Cheshire on 3rd August 1881. Over the next decade the marriage produced
the couple’s first three children, as confirmed in the census of 1891, by
which time the family, recorded as Collitt, was residing at Thirland House on
Thirland Lane in Attercliffe-cum-Darnell in Sheffield. William Collett from West Bromwich was 39
and a Wesleyan Methodist Minister, while his wife Emily was 32. The three children on that occasion were
named as Harold H Collett who was eight, Maurice J Collett who was four and
Henry Wm M Collett who was only eight months of age.
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It
was very likely William’s work which had taken him to various locations, as
his three sons were all born in different places, the first at Altrincham in
Cheshire, the second at Lancaster in Lancashire, and the third after the
family had settled in Sheffield. He
and his family were still in Sheffield three years later when the couple’s
last son was born there. Sometime
after the birth the family moved again, on that occasion to 25 Greek Street
in Stockport, Cheshire, where they were recorded in the census of 1901. That year the complete family was listed as
William Collett, who was 49 years old and a Wesleyan Minister, Emily Collett
42, Harold H Collett 18, Maurice J Collett 14, Henry W H Collett 10 and
Charles E Collett who was four.
Supporting the family was domestic servant Annie S Webster.
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During
the next decade the two eldest sons left the family and by April 1911 the
reduced family of four was residing at 58 Alderley Road in Hoylake-cum-West
Kirby on the Wirral, between the River Dee and the River Mersey. Wesleyan Minister William Collett from West
Bromwich was 59, Emily Collett was 52, Henry William Howell Collett was 20
and Charles Edward Collett was 14. On
that day the family’s domestic servant was Kate Jones who was 18. The census return also confirmed that
William and Emily had been married for twenty-nine years, during which time
they had given birth to four children who were all still alive.
This photograph of William Collett was
taken in 1908 at a conference in Nottingham.
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On
the occasion of receiving the tragic news of the death of their son Henry,
who was away in France fighting for King and Country, William and Emily were
living at Ferney, Queen’s Park in Chester.
That was in the autumn of 1916, although not long after that William
and Emily, together with sons Maurice and Charles moved to 8 Shelton Road in
Wallasey. Sometime later William and
Emily returned to William’s roots in the West Midlands, and it was at 16
Waterloo Road in Wolverhampton that William Collett died on 18th
August 1925. The probate process
referred to him as the Reverend William Collett, a clerk, when administration
of his personal effects, valued at £752 1 Shilling 10 Pence, was granted to
his youngest son Charles Collett, a manufacturer. However, there may have been some
complication with his estate as it was over seven years after his death that
his Will was finally proved in London on 24th November 1932.
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The
widow Emily Collett nee Wood died ten years later when she was living at
Colington Flats on Gronant Road in Prestatyn, Flintshire, where she passed
away on 22nd February 1942.
Her Will was proved at Liverpool on 15th May that same
year, when her two eldest sons Harold Harvey Collett and Maurice John Collett
were named as the joint executors of her personal effects valued at £1,856 14
Shillings 10 Pence.
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9O38
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Harold Harvey Collett
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Born in 1882
at Altrincham, Cheshire
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9O39
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Maurice John Collett
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Born in 1886
at Lancaster, Lancs.
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9O40
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Henry William Howell Collett
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Born in 1890
at Sheffield, Yorks.
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9O41
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Charles Edward Collett
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Born in 1896
at Sheffield, Yorks.
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9N12
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Martha Ann Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1853
where her birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 505) during the fourth quarter of that
year. She was baptised on 6th
November 1853, the same day as her older brother William (above), the
children of John and Sarah Collett. It
was at Winkle Street in West Bromwich that Martha A Collett was seven years
old in 1861, when she was living there with her family. Perhaps through an illness or a tragic
accident, the death of Martha Ann Collett was recorded at West Bromwich (Ref/
6b 397) during the third quarter of 1867, when she was just 13 years old.
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9N13
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Charles Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1856, his
birth recorded there (Ref. 6b 564) during October or November of the
year. And it was there also that he
was baptised on 23rd November 1956, the last child born to John
Collett and Sarah Simmonds. Charles
was four years old in the census of 1861 when his family was recorded at
Winkle Street in West Bromwich. He was
still living with his West Bromwich family in 1871 and was aged 14, but after
leaving school he left the West Midland and moved south to Bedfordshire. By 1881 he was listed in the census that
year as Charles Collett aged 24 from West Bromwich and was working as a clerk
for the widow Maria Taylor who ran a draper’s business from premises at 12
and 14 George Street in Luton where Charles was also living as a boarder at
that time. No trace of Charles has so
far been found in either the 1891 or 1901 census.
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9N14
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Ann Collett was born at Aldsworth and was
baptised there on 30th September 1840, the eldest child of Henry
Collett and his wife Mary Carter. She
was a school teacher in 1861 and later married Samuel Archer. By 1881 she and her family were living at
Turkdean, by which time she had had eight children.
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9N15
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William Henry Collett was born at Aldsworth during 1842
where he was baptised on 25th December 1842, the son of Henry and
Mary Collett. He too was a blacksmith
like his father and was 18 in 1861. At
the time of the Aldsworth census in 1871 William H Collett was an unmarried blacksmith
at the age of 28 who was still living with his parents at the Lodge in
Aldsworth when he was working with his father and supported by his two
younger brothers Charles and Robert (below).
Not long after the census that year William married his cousin Augusta
Collett (Ref. 9N26), the daughter of his father’s brother William Collett
(Ref. 9M24).
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From
the 1881 Census William Collett, age 38 of Aldsworth, his wife Augusta, age
29 of Quenington, and their eldest daughter Ada, who was eight years old and
of Aldsworth, were living at the home of William’s elderly old uncle Charles
Collett (Ref. 9M20). Ten years later
in 1891 the family was living next door to William’s father, retired
blacksmith Henry Collett, who was 81, with William having then taken over the
family business. The census listed the
family as William Collett, age 48, his wife Augusta, age 39, and their two
children Ada Collett, who was 18, and Cecil Collett who was four years old. Living with them was William’s uncle
Charles Collett, who was 82 and another retired blacksmith of Aldsworth.
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According
to the next census in 1901, William Collett, age 58, was a blacksmith and a
shoeing smith. Listed with him was his
wife Augusta, age 49 and from Quenington, together with their son Cecil W F
Collett who was 14 and born at Aldsworth.
Ten years later William was 68, Augusta was 59, and still living with
then at Aldsworth was their blacksmith son Cecil who was 24. William Henry Collett died at Aldsworth
four years later at the age of 72 and was buried there on 15th
February 1915, while his wife Augusta survived for almost another two years
when she died at the age of 65 died in 1917 at Aldsworth where she was buried
on 27th January 1917.
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9O42
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Ada
Collett
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Born in 1872
at Aldsworth
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9O43
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Rosa Georgiana Collett
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Born in 1876
at Aldsworth
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9O44
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Cecil Francis William Collett
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Born in 1887
at Aldsworth
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9N16
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RICHARD COLLETT was born at Aldsworth in 1844, where
he baptised on 31st March 1845, the son of Henry Collett and Mary
Carter. In 1861 he was 16 and was
working as an agricultural labourer while still living at Aldsworth with his
family. According to the next census
in 1871 Richard Collett, age 26, was employed on a farm when he was still
living at home with his parents at the Lodge in Aldsworth. He married Jane Porter on 31st
May 1873 at St Bartholomew’s Church when he was 28 and Jane was 23. The marriage was witnessed by Richard’s
brother Robert Collett (below) and Jane’s sister Eliza. Early on in their marriage Richard and Jane
lived with Richard’s uncle James Carter at 17 Aldsworth. James Carter was the brother Richard’s
mother Mary Carter.
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According
to the 1881 Census Jane was 31 years old and had been born at Winson, just west
of Bibury and Aldsworth, although in the census of 1891 for Aldsworth her age
was given as 43. The 1881 record also
showed that at that time Richard and Jane, together with their children Rose
Georgiana, who was three years old, and Joseph Sydney, who was only eleven
months, were living at the home of their uncle James Carter an unmarried
agricultural labourer of 60 years.
Apart from Jane, all were listed as being born at Aldsworth.
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The
only change between that and the 1891 Census was that James Carter was no
longer living with the family but that Jane’s six years old niece Sybilla
Porter, who was born at Aldsworth in 1884, was living with them as their
foster daughter. The other details
listed Richard 45 an agricultural labourer, Jane 43, Rosa 13 and Joseph
11. By 1901 Richard was aged 56 and an
ordinary agricultural labourer living at Aldsworth with his wife Jane aged
53. By that time their foster daughter
had adopted the Collett name and was listed as living with the couple as
Sybilla Collett aged 16.
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Ten
years later Richard and Jane were still living in Aldsworth and the census in
April that year confirmed that Richard of Aldsworth was 66, while Jane was
63. At that time their foster daughter
was living and working in the Brentford area of London. However, there were three members of the
family living with Richard and Jane that day, and they were their daughter
Rose Georgina Collett from Winson who was 33, their daughter-in-law Edith
Elizabeth Collett from Oddington who was 30, and their granddaughter Ethel
Rosa who was just one month old and born at Arlington, Bibury. The latter two were the wife and first
child of Richard’s son Joseph.
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Jane
Collett nee Porter died just over a year later in June 1912 at the age of 65
and was buried in the Aldsworth churchyard on 23rd June 1912. Richard died nine years later in 1921
although there is no record in the parish register at Aldsworth, again
perhaps suggesting that the Plymouth Brethren buried him elsewhere. Daughter Rosa Georgiana, who was working in
Leamington at the time of her mother’s death, recalled returning home to find
her father coming out of the house in a flood of tears.
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9O45
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Hilda Mary Collett
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Born in 1874
at Aldsworth
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9O46
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Rosa Georgiana Collett
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Born in 1877
at Winson
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9O47
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JOSEPH SIDNEY COLLETT
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Born in 1880
at Aldsworth
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9O48
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Sybilla Collett -
formerly Porter
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Born in 1884
at Aldsworth
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9N17
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Charles Collett was born at Aldsworth during 1846 and
baptised there on 4th February 1847, the son of Henry and Mary
Collett. He was initially an
agricultural labourer and was 14 in 1861 but, by 1871 when he was a bachelor
of 24, he was a blacksmith’s assistant working alongside his younger brother
Robert (below) with his father and older brother William (above). He was still unmarried at the time of the
census in 1881, when Charles Collett, age 33, and his unmarried sister Mary Ann
Collett (below) were the only two children still living at the family home in
Aldsworth. However, it was three years
later that on 14th April 1884 Charles married Elizabeth Keylock
who was also born in 1847 at Eastington near Aldsworth, although sadly there
were no children resulting from the marriage.
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Three
years earlier, Elizabeth Keylock was 34, and in the census of 1881 her place
of birth was given as Farmington near Northleach. She was not married at that time and was
living with her widowed farm shepherd father George Keylock at Ablington near
Bibury, where she was the housekeeper for her father and her two younger
brothers.
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Sometime
after Elizabeth and Charles were married Charles added to his occupation of
being the village blacksmith by becoming the inn keeper at the Sherborne
Arms, as indicated in the 1891 Census, when Charles Collett was recorded as
being age 44, as was his wife. The
previous publican at the inn was his father-in-law George Keylock, the
Sherborne Arms being a tied house of Taylor & Co. (Cotswold Brewery) of
Northleach. However, by the time of
the Sherborne census of 1901, Charles was 54 and once again he was listed as
a blacksmith. Virtually four months
later Charles died at the age of 54 and was buried in the churchyard at
Sherborne on 1st August 1901.
Elizabeth
was also 54 in April 1901 and survived her husband.
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9N18
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Elizabeth Mary Collett was born at Aldsworth in 1849, where
she was baptised on 27th May 1849 as Elizabeth M Collett. Her birth, using both forenames, was recorded at Northleach (Ref. xi
401) during the second quarter of the year. She was a daughter of Henry Collett and Mary
Carter, and was one-year-old in 1851 and was eleven years of age and
attending school in 1861, according to the Aldsworth census returns. At the time of the Aldsworth census of
1871, she was recorded as Elizabeth M Collett, aged 21, who was unmarried and
still living at the home of her parents at the Lodge in Aldsworth, but had no
stated occupation. Eight months later
on 5th December 1871, Elizabeth Mary Collett married Peter Mason,
a stonemason of Aldsworth, their
wedding recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 792) during the last month of the
year. Once they were married, they
left Aldsworth, when they moved to Charlton Kings near Cheltenham, where all
of their children were born.
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The 1881 census for Charlton Kings
recorded the couple together with their first three children. Stonemason Peter was 38, Elizabeth was 31,
Harry Mason was eight, Lillie Mason was four, and Louisa Mason was
under one year old. Ten years later,
and after the birth of three more children, the enlarged family was residing
at a property in Charlton Kings known as Ryeworth. Peter Mason was 48,
Elizabeth Mary Mason was 40, Harry Edward Mason was 18 and a coach
painter, Laura Mason was 11, Louisa Annie Mason was 10, Catherine
Mason was eight, and Frank Mason was five. In 1901 the reduced family comprised Peter
aged 58, Elizabeth aged 51, Louisa aged 20 and a dressmaker, Catherine aged
18 another dressmaker, and Frank Mason who was 15 and a hair-dresser.
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By 1911 the family was recorded
residing at Charlton Kings, near Cheltenham, where Peter Mason from the
Gloucestershire village of Cowley was 68 and a stonemason, and Elizabeth
Mason from Aldsworth was 62. Still
living with the couple were three of their four children, and they were daughters
Louisa Mason aged 30 and Catherine Mason who was 27, both of them working as
dressmakers at home, and son Frank Mason aged 25 and a hair-dresser working
at home. All three children had been
born at Charlton Kings and were not married.
Also living with the family was Peter and Elizabeth’s grandson Horace
Mason who was five years old and born at Charlton Kings. He was very likely the son of either Louisa
or Catherine. Fourteen years after
that day, the death of Elizabeth Mary Mason, nee Collett, was recorded
Gloucester register office (Ref. 6a 593) in 1925, at the age of 75.
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9N19
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Robert Collett was born at Aldsworth in 1851 and
there baptised on 24th September 1851. At the age of 19 he was working with his
father and his eldest brother William (above) as a blacksmith’s assistant
like his older brother Charles (above).
However, by the time he became a married man his occupation had
changed to that of an agricultural labourer.
He married Mary Anne Fleetwood on 3rd June 1876, Mary Anne
having been born at Moreton-in-Marsh around 1858. In 1881 Robert’s occupation had changed
again, and by that time he was a gardener at the age of 29. His wife Mary Anne was aged 23 and living
with them at Aldsworth were their first three children. Henry Edwin Collett, who was four years but
who died shortly after, Alfred William Collett, who was two years, and Fanny
Collett who was one year old, all three children having been born at
Aldsworth.
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By
1891 the family at Aldsworth had been extended by a further four children and
was recorded as Robert aged 39, Mary aged 33, Alfred who was 12 and an
agricultural labourer, Fanny who was 11, Mary who was nine, Lizzie who was
seven, Robert who was four, and Edwin who was only eleven months old. Three of the children, Mary, Lizzie and
Robert had been born at Lyneham in Oxfordshire.
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In
the 1901 Census for Aldsworth Robert Collett was 47 and, in addition to his
occupation as an agricultural labourer, he had now added butcher. Listed with him was his wife Mary Collett
who was 43, sons Robert 14 and Edwin who was 10, while their two daughters,
Mary aged 20 and Lizzie aged 18, were in domestic service at nearby Bibury. Nearly eight years later, at the end of
1908, Mary Anne Collett nee Fleetwood died at the age of 49 and was buried at
Aldsworth on 1st January 1909.
So, by the time of the next census in April 1911 her husband Robert
Collett was a widower at the age of 59 and was still living at Aldsworth,
although by then all of his children had left the family home. Robert had survived his wife by twenty
years when he died in 1929 at the age of 78.
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9O49
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Henry Edwin Collett
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Born in 1876 at
Aldsworth
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9O50
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Alfred William Collett
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Born in 1878
at Aldsworth
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9O51
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Fanny Collett
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Born in 1880
at Aldsworth
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9O52
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Mary Viola Collett
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Born in 1882
at Lyneham
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9O53
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Lizzie Rose Collett
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Born in 1884
at Lyneham
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9O54
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Robert E Collett
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Born in 1886
at Lyneham
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9O55
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Edwin H Collett
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Born in 1890
at Aldsworth
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9N20
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Lucy Collett was born at Aldsworth in 1854 and was
baptised there in November that year.
By 1861 she was six years old and in 1871 she had left school and, at
the age of 16, was very likely helping her mother look after her large family
at the Lodge in Aldsworth, since she was recorded in the census that year as
having no stated occupation.
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9N21
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Mary Collett was born during 1856 at Aldsworth
where she was baptised on 11th January 1857. It was also at Aldsworth that she died two
months later and was buried there on 10th March 1857.
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9N22
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Mary Anne Collett was born at Aldsworth during the
latter half of 1857 following the death of her sister Mary (above), and it
was there also that she was baptised on 17th January 1858. By the time of the Aldsworth census of 1871
she was recorded living there with her family, when she was still attending
the village school at the age of 13.
She married Thomas Bennett at Aldsworth on 13th September
1886.
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9N23
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Henry Collett was born at Aldsworth in 1861, where
he was baptised on 22nd September 1861, the youngest child of
Henry Collett and his wife Mary Carter.
He was nine years old at the time of the Aldsworth census of 1871 when
he was living with his large family at the Lodge. In 1881 he was in service as a footman at
92 Harley Street, Marylebone in London, the home of Henry Thomas a retired
Royal Artillery Colonel. He later
married Ada Earl and they had one daughter Maud who was born at Harlow in Essex.
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By
1901 the family of three was living and working at Parndon Hall in Essex the
home of Loftus Arkwright and his American wife Julia. Two interesting historical facts are (i)
that Loftus was a descendent of Richard Arkwright who invented the Spinning
Jenny and (ii) Parndon Hall was the house in which Florence Nightingale’s mother
was raised. According to the census
return for 1901 Henry Collett, age 39, was employed at the hall as a butler,
while his wife Ada, who was 38 and had been born at Folkestone, was employed
as a laundry maid. With them was their
six-year-old daughter Maud. Ten years
later the census in 1911 identified the family of three living within the
Epping registration district of Essex where Henry Collett of Aldsworth was
49, his wife Ada Collett was 48, and their daughter Maude Collett was 16.
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9O56
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Maude Collett
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Born in 1894
at Harlow
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9N24
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Francis Collett was born in the hamlet of Quenington
in 1844 and was baptised at the parish church in Coln St Aldwyns on 2nd
April 1844, the first child of William and Jane Collett. It would appear that he died during the
following few years since he was not listed with his family in the Coln St
Aldwyns census of 1851.
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9N25
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Georgiana Collett was born at Quenington in 1846 and was
baptised at the nearby parish church in Coln St Aldwyns on 13th
September 1846. By the time of the
1851 Census, she was four years old and the only child living with her
parents William and Jane Collett at Coln St Aldwyns.
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9N26
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Augusta Collett was born at Quenington in 1851 but
after the thirtieth of March that year since she was not listed with her
family on the census day. What is
known is that she was baptised at Coln St Aldwyns on 1st June
1851. By the time she was 19 the
census in 1871 confirmed that she had been born at Quenington and was a
servant at 3 Woodfield Road in Westbury-on-Trym, the home of Customs Officer
Charles Lemon from the Scilly Isles and his family. She later married her cousin William Henry
Collett. See Ref. 9N16 for the
continuation of this line.
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9N27
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Anne Priscilla Collett was born at Quenington in 1855 and was
sometimes referred to as Annie. She
featured in every census from 1861 to 1901 and, on each occasion, she was
living with her parents who both died in the early 1900s. From the 1901 Census for Quenington the
conclusion may be drawn that she never marriage as she was recorded as being
a 45 years old spinster. Curiously in
the 1871 and 1891 Census she was recorded as Anne D Collett but it must be
assumed that it was a simple transcription error.
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9N28
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Francis Collett was born in 1858 at Quenington and
was baptised at Coln St Aldwyns on 20th April 1858 when he was
named in the memory of his late brother and first-born child of William and
Jane Collett. By the time of the
census in 1871, Francis was 13 and was living with his uncle Charles Collett
(Ref. 9M20) and his place of birth was given as Coln St Aldwyns which was the
birthplace of his mother.
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On
leaving school he became an engineering draughtsman and pattern maker and was
working in Bristol in April 1881 where his employed was named as E &
M. In the census that year Francis
Collett was listed as being a lodger, aged 23, unmarried and born at Quenington,
residing at 14 Langton Street, Bedminster in Bristol the home of the Emms
family. It was later that same year
that Francis Collett married Jessie Latham although, curiously, the couple
were not recorded together until 1911.
The first listing for Jessie was in the Windsor area in 1901 when she
was recorded as being 41 and from Bristol, but where Francis was on that
occasion, and previously in 1891, is still a mystery.
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However,
the next census in 1911 revealed more about the elusive couple who were the
only occupants of the dwelling that was 47 Sunny Hill Road in
Bournemouth. Francis Collett, age 53
and from Quenington, was an engineer’s pattern worker who had been married to
Jessie Latham Collett, age 51 and from Bristol, for thirty years, the couple
having had no children. Twenty-eight
years later, at the time of the death of Francis Collett, the couple was
living at 23 Eldon Terrace, Windmill Hill in Bedminster. Francis Collett died on 7th May
1939 and was buried at Quenington at the age of 81, when he was referred to
as Francis the son of William Collett.
Probate was confirmed at Bristol on 9th June that same year
in favour of his widow Jessie Latham Collett, when his estate was valued at
£1,758 10 Shillings 7 Pence.
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9O1
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Henry Robert Collett, who was referred to as Harry, was
born at Fairford in 1866 and was 4 at the time of the 1871 census for
Fairford. At the age of 14 years, he
was an errand boy living with his family, who by that time, had moved to
Swindon and were living at 40 Princes Street in the town. His father died in a tragic accident while
working for the GWR in March 1885, and two year later his younger brother
Charles Ernest Collett (below) died in 1887.
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Following
the premature death of his brother, Henry Robert Collett, a carpenter of New
Swindon, was named as the next-of-kin and brother of Charles Ernest Collett
at the granting of the administration of his personal estate of £104 1
Shilling 8 Pence at Salisbury in January 1888. Three years later Henry and his three
surviving brothers were still living with their widowed mother Sarah Ann
Collett at Swindon in 1891. Henry R
Collett was recorded as being 24 and of Fairford. Seven years later in 1898 he married
Blanche Phillips Mitchell who was born at Carnbrea near Camborne in
Cornwall. Blanche was eight years
younger than Harry, having been born in 1874.
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The
wedding took place at Redruth in Cornwall and within two years of being
married, Blanche presented Harry with a son Henry who was also born at
Carnbrea near Camborne in April 1900.
The census in March of the following year revealed that Harry and his
young family had returned to Swindon.
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Henry
R Collett of Fairford gave his age as 32 rather than 34, perhaps because of
the difference in age between himself and his young wife Blanch who was
listed as 26. The couple’s son Henry
was recorded as being eleven months old.
Harry’s occupation at that time was that of a carpenter and it is
understood that he was employed by the Great Western Railway where his father
had worked, and where he had tragically died in March 1885. In fact, it was Henry Robert Collett, son
of the deceased, who identified the badly burned body of his father William
Collett.
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Over
the following decade a further four children were born into the family,
although only three survived. So, by
April 1911 the family comprised Henry who was 40 (rather than 44), Blanche
who was 35, and their four children Henry who was 10, Hedley who was eight,
Elizabeth who was five and two-year-old Ernest, the last three having been
born in Swindon. At that time the
family was living at 6 Dryden Street in Swindon, from where Harry continued
to work as a carpenter, while the census return confirmed that Blanche had
given birth to five children, with only four still living.
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9P1
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Henry Robert Collett
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Born in 1900
at Carnbrea, Cornwall
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9P2
|
Hedley Charles Collett
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Born in 1902
at Swindon
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9P3
|
Elizabeth
Collett
|
Born in 1905
at Swindon
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9P4
|
Ernest
Collett
|
Born in 1907
at Swindon
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9O2
|
Charles Ernest Collett was born at Fairford in 1868 and was
two years old and was living with his parents at Fairford in April 1871. Sometime around four or five years later
the family left Fairford and moved to Swindon where they settled at 40
Princes Street and where Charles was 12 in 1881. He was 17 years old when his father died
while at work in 1885, and tragically two years later Charles also died at
Swindon on 9th May 1887 before reaching his twentieth
birthday. His death was registered
with the Swindon & Highworth registrar, although the cause of death is
not known at this time. The
administration of the personal estate of Charles Ernest Collett, coachbuilder
and bachelor, late of New Swindon in Wiltshire was granted at Salisbury to
his brother and next-of-kin Henry Robert Collett, a carpenter of New Swindon,
the amount being £104 1 Shilling 8 Pence.
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9O3
|
Amy Jane Collett was born at Fairford in 1870. Towards the latter end of the 1870s Amy’s
family left Fairford and moved to Swindon where her father was working for
the Great Western Railway. However, as
the only daughter amongst the six children of the family, and perhaps because
of the lack of space in their new family home in Swindon, it would appear
that Amy went to live with her grandmother at nearby Ampney St Peters.
This picture of Amy was taken in the
September 1901 at the wedding of her
younger brother Albert when she was
thirty-one and still a single lady.
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The
fact that she lived with her grandmother was confirmed by the census of 1881
when Amy Jane Collett was ten years old and of Fairford and was recorded as
living with Jane Collett at Ampney St Peters.
Jane who was 75 and from Sherborne, was described as being unmarried
and an annuitant, while Amy was described as her granddaughter.
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On
the day of the census in 1891 Amy J Collett, aged 20 and from Fairford, was
employed as a general domestic servant at Shetland Road in Westbury-on-Trym
near Bristol, the home of hatter and hosier Thomas W Bott and his wife and
their two young children. No positive
trace of Amy from Fairford has been found in the next census of 1901 when she
would have been thirty, although an Amy Collett from Swindon was 29 and was a
boarder at 316 Lynton Road in Bermondsey, London, where she was a jam trade
finisher. In addition to this, the
photograph above is Amy Jane Collett taken from a large family photograph
which was taken at Swindon in September 1901.
However, it is established that it was three years later when Amy
married Charles Archer in 1904 and by April 1911 the couple was living at
Tamworth in Staffordshire, where Amy Jane Archer was 39 and Charles Archer
was 48.
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9O4
|
Frederick William
Collett was born at
Fairford in 1872. By the time of the
census of 1881 Frederick who was nine and the rest of his family were living
at 40 Princes Street in Swindon. Ten
years later, at the age of 19, and following the death of his father five
years earlier and the death of his older brother Charles (above), Frederick W
Collett was still living in Swindon with his widowed mother and his three
brothers Henry, Hedley and Albert in early April 1891.
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Around
two years after, in 1893, he married Mary Ann Harrison who was born in the St
Giles area of the City of Oxford and within four years their marriage was
blessed with their only two known children.
By March 1901 Frederick W Collett of Fairford was 29 and was working
as a coach trimmer with the Great Western Railway, while living in Swindon
with his wife Mary Ann 28 and their two children who were six years old
Evelyn M Collett, and Frederick W H Collett who was three years of age. Living with the family in Swindon was Mary
Ann’s widowed father Henry Harrison, a retired bricklayer of Bicester north
of Oxford.
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Ten
years later in April 1911 Frederick’s daughter Evelyn had left the family
home in Swindon and was working in domestic service in Leighton Buzzard in
Bedfordshire. The family at that time
comprised Frederick W Collett of Swindon who was 39 and a coach trimmer, his
wife of seventeen years Mary Ann of Oxford who was 38, and their son William
who was 13 and was still attending school.
The census also confirmed that the family was living at 47 Rosebery
Street in Swindon and that living with them was Frederick’s younger brother
Hedley J Collett. Just over eighteen
years later the death of Frederick W Collett was recorded at Swindon register
office (Ref. 5a 21) during the second quarter of 1929 when he was 57.
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9P5
|
Evelyn Minnie Collett
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Born in 1895
at Swindon
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9P6
|
Frederick William H Collett
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Born in 1897
at Swindon
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9O5
|
Hedley John Collett was born at Fairford in 1874. Not long after he was born, Hedley’s family
left Fairford and moved into Swindon where they were living in April 1881 at
40 Princes Street, where Hedley was listed as being six years old. The young Hedley suffered two family
tragedies during the next decade.
First, in 1885 when he was 10, his father died as a result of an
accident at work, and that was followed by the death of his older brother
Charles in 1888. So, by 1891 Hedley
was living at Swindon with just his mother and his three brothers. By March 1901 Hedley was still living with
his mother and younger brother Albert at their family home in Swindon. Hedley J Collett was described as 26 and
born at Fairford, and his occupation was that of a foreman and engine fitter,
presumably with the Great Western Railway where his father had worked and
died.
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It
seems likely that Hedley may have never been married, or that he married much
later in his life. Either way,
according to the Swindon census of 1911 he was still a bachelor at the age of
35. At that time, he was living with
his married brother Frederick (above) and his family at 47 Rosebery Street in
Swindon, the same street in which their younger brother Albert (below) was
also living on that occasion. Hedley
was confirmed as having been born at Fairford and his occupation at the time
was simply described as a fitter.
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9O6
|
Albert Joseph Collett
was born at Swindon
in June 1880, following his family’s move there from Fairford. In April 1881 at the age of ten months
Albert was recorded as being with his family at 40 Princes Street in Swindon. By 1891 his family had been struck by the
double tragedy of the loss of Albert’s father through an industrial accident
and the death of his older brother Charles.
So, the census that year recorded Albert as being aged 10 and living
with his widowed mother and his three surviving brothers.
This photograph of Albert was taken at
his wedding in September 1901.
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According
to the census of 1901, Albert J Collett of Swindon was 20 and was a coach
builder, most likely with the Great Western Railway, while still living in
the family home with his mother in Swindon.
It was later that same year, when Albert was just past his
twenty-first birthday, that he married Clarissa Ellen Sheppard at Swindon in
September 1901. Clarissa was the
daughter of Charles and Sarah Jane Sheppard and she was three years older
than Albert, having been born at nearby Liddington in 1877.
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The splendid picture below shows the
happy event on that September day
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The
small boy on the left of the picture (in the sailor’s hat) is very likely
Frederick William Collett aged 4, the son of Albert’s brother Frederick
William Collett and his wife Mary Ann Harrison who are believed to be the
lady standing immediately behind the boy, and in front of her husband (far
back left). Their daughter Evelyn
Minnie Collett who was seven years old is one of the four young ladies
(bridesmaids) sitting at the front, possibly the one second from the left.
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Of
his other two brothers, it is likely that Albert’s best man was his eldest
brother Henry R Collett who is seated to the right of the bride with his wife
Blanche Phillips Mitchell. If that is
true then his brother Hedley J Collett was very likely one of the two men
standing in the middle on the back row immediately behind sister Amy Jane
Collett who is standing next to her widowed mother Sarah Ann Collett. All of the bride’s Sheppard family are grouped
on the right-hand side of the picture, including Clarissa’s four brothers who
are standing at the back.
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Over
the next eighteen years following their wedding day Clarissa presented Albert
with six children, the first four being born at Swindon prior to April
1911. The census that year confirmed
the family was living at 25 Rosebery Street in Swindon from where Albert, who
was 30 and of Swindon, was a coach builder.
His wife of ten years was Clarissa of Liddington who was 33. Their four children at that time were
William who was nine, Walter who was seven, Clarice who was five, and Dorothy
who was four years of age. Two further
children were added to the family, one either side of the Great War, which
may indicate that Albert was away on active service during the intervening
years.
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Albert
was happy to help around the home with the domestic chores, while his wife
‘Clara’ enjoyed a game of whist, visits to the cinema, and holidays in
Blackpool. Albert Joseph Collett died
around 1944 and was followed three years later by Clarissa who died in
November 1947 at the home of her eldest son William Albert Collett. It would appear that the family lived at
Rosebery Street for many years after that, according to family
recollections. Rosebery Street is
still there today in 2009 and runs parallel to County Road on which is
situated the County Ground, the home of Swindon Town Football Club.
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9P7
|
William Albert Collett
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Born in 1902
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9P8
|
Walter Charles Collett
|
Born in 1904
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9P9
|
Clarice Elizabeth Collett
|
Born in 1906
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9P10
|
Dorothy May Collett
|
Born in 1907
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9P11
|
Frank James Collett
|
Born in 1912
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9P12
|
Evelyn Collett
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Born in 1919
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9O7
|
Richard Greenland Collett
was born at West
Bromwich in 1861, his birth recorded there in early 1862. It was simply as
Richard Collett aged nine years, that he was living with his widowed father
John at the home of his grandparents at Hallam Street in West Bromwich on the
census day in 1871. Ten years earlier
the census in 1861 recorded his married father, but not his mother, living at
11 Hallam Street with Richard’s grandparents.
So, unfortunately at this time, the name of Richard’s late mother is
not known. After a further ten years,
and presumably following the death of his grandfather Richard Collett (Ref.
9M11), Richard Collett from West Bromwich was 19 years old when he was living
with his uncle Robert Collett (Ref. 9N7).
Robert Collett was a shoeing and coaching smith employing two men, one
of which was Richard who was simply listed in the 1881 Census as a shoeing
smith. At that time, he was living
with his uncle’s family at 56
Hallam Street in West
Bromwich.
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Four
years after that Richard became a married man, although the record of the
event at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 943) included a curious second name which
does not appear in any other of his records.
The marriage took place during the third quarter of 1885 when Richard
Greenland Collett married (1) Phoebe Elizabeth Butler, the witnesses being
Eliza Ann Harris and William Powell.
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That
was confirmed by the next census in 1891, by which time Richard and his young
family were living within the parish of Harborne near Smethwick. Richard Collett from West Bromwich was 29
while his wife Phoebe Elizabeth Collett was 27. Living there with them were their two West
Bromwich born children, Agnes Grinder Collett who was five and Richard John Collett
who was just one year old and named after his grandfather who had died around
1875. Tragically on 25th
June 1900 Phoebe Elizabeth Collett nee Butler died at the age of 37 with her
death recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 568). Three weeks later her personal effects of
just £50 were proved in London on 16th July 1900 which stated she
died at the family home at 18 Boulton Road in West
Bromwich and that she was the wife of Richard Collett, a blacksmith.
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That
was confirmed by the census in 1901 when Richard Collett was described as a
widower at the age of 39. He and his
children were still living at 18 Boulton Road in West Bromwich, where his
occupation was that of a shoeing and coaching smith. His two children on that occasion were
recorded as Agnes Collett who was 13 and John Collett who was 11. Two years later the marriage of Richard
Collett and the much younger (2) Ann Maria was recorded at West Bromwich
register office in 1903. That second
marriage produced at least a further three children for Richard prior to the
next census in 1911, although it is possible that other children may have
been added to the family after that time.
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On
the occasion of the census in April 1911 Richard Collett was 49 and still
living with him was his son John Collett who was 21, while his daughter Agnes
Collett, who was 23, was still living nearby within the West Bromwich
registration district. Richard’s new
family comprised his wife Ann Maria Collett who was 35, his daughter Ada
Collett who was six, and two sons Ralph Collett who was four and Cyril
Collett who was two years old. Twenty-eight
years after that day Richard (Greenland) Collett was still living in West
Bromwich in 1939, since it was there where his death was recorded during that
year.
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9P13
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Agnes Grinder
Collett
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Born in 1887
at West Bromwich
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9P14
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Richard John Collett
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Born in 1889
at West Bromwich
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The
following are the children of Richard Collett by his second wife Ann:
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9P15
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Ada Collett
|
Born in 1904
at West Bromwich
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9P16
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Ralph Collett
|
Born in 1906
at West Bromwich
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9P17
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Cyril Collett
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Born in 1908
at West Bromwich
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9O8
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Martha Elizabeth Collett
was born at West
Bromwich in 1867, the eldest child of Robert Collett and Mary Ann Evans. Her birth was recorded at West Bromwich
(Ref. 6b 727) during the first quarter of 1867 and it was on 24th
March 1867 that she was baptised at All Saints Church in West Bromwich, when
her parents were confirmed as Robert and Mary Ann Collett. It was in the census of 1871 that she was
named as Martha Elizabeth Collett who was four years of age, while ten years
later she was recorded in error as Mary Elizabeth Collett who had left school
and was 14. At that time Martha and
her family were residing at 56 Hallam Street in West Bromwich. Seven years later, when Martha was 21, she
married Joseph Clemson, the event recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 825)
during the first three months of 1888.
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By
the time of the next census in 1891 Joseph Clemson was 25 and a beer retailer
at The Railway Inn at 21 St Michael Street in West Bromwich. His wife Martha E Clemson was 24, while
living and working with the couple was Emma Collett who was 16 who was a
general domestic servant. It is now
known that she was Emma Elizabeth Collett who was born at Kenilworth in 1874,
the eldest daughter of Henry Collett and Harriet Field who were living at 2
St John’s Street in Kenilworth in 1881 when Emma was six years of age, but
who had moved to Henry Street in Kenilworth by 1891. Whether there was a family connection for
the arrangement or a pure coincidence, has not been determined. See Part
15 – The Kenilworth and Coventry Line (Ref. 15N28) for further details of
the family of Emma Elizabeth Collett.
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Tragically,
Martha passed away eight years later, perhaps during childbirth, with the
death of Martha Elizabeth Clemson recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 509)
during the last three months of 1899 when she was 32. Following her death there is a recorded of
a Joseph Clemson from West Bromwich living and working at Birmingham in March
1901 who was a publican manager.
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9O9
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Mary Ann Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1869,
where her birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 705) during the second quarter of that
year, the second child of Robert and Mary Ann Collett. It was with her family at 56 Hallam Street
in West Bromwich that Mary Ann was two years old in 1871, where they were
also in 1881 but when Mary was incorrectly recorded as Margaret Ann Collett
aged 12. Ten years later Mary Ann was
22 when again she was still living with her family at Hallam Street. Just over four years after that day, the premature
death of unmarried Mary Ann Collett, aged 26, was recorded at West Bromwich
(Ref. 6b 484) during the third quarter of 1895.
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9O10
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Amy Collett was born at Hallam Street in West
Bromwich in 1870, the third daughter of Robert and Mary Ann Collett, whose
birth was recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 714) during the last three
months of the year. Because she was
recorded as being five months old in the census of 1871 the month of her
birth was very likely October. The
next census in 1881 placed her and her family residing at 56 Hallam Street in
West Bromwich, when Amy was the third child of the household to be recorded
with an error. On that day she was
named as Amy C Collett aged 10 years, when no such similar record of her has
been found, while Amy Collett aged 20 was still living with her family at
West Bromwich in 1891. Amy Collett was
22 when she married Alfred Hawkes at West Bromwich, where the event was
recorded (Ref. 6b 1193) during the second quarter of 1893. Alfred was baptised at All Saints Church in
West Bromwich on 17th January 1866, the son of Job and Elizabeth
Hawkes.
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Over
the remainder of the century Amy presented Alfred with the couple’s first
four children, with the family living at Loveday Street in West Bromwich in
1901. Alfred Hawkes was 35 and a
whitesmith, Amy Hawkes was 30, and their four offspring were Amy Elizabeth
Hawkes who was seven, Minnie Hawkes who was six, Alfred Robert
Hawkes who was four and Henry Hawkes who was not yet one year old. According to the next census, it would
appear that son Henry suffered a childhood death, but a few years later Amy
gave birth to the couple’s last child.
It was still in the West Bromwich North-East registration district
that the family was recorded in 1911.
Whitesmith Alfred was 45, Amy was 40, Amy Elizabeth was 17, Minnie was
16, Alfred Robert was 14 and Horace Hawkes was just five years
old. All of the occupants had been
born in West Bromwich. Forty years
later the death of Amy Hawkes nee Collett was recorded at West Bromwich (Ref.
9b 1322) during the first three months of 1951, when she was 80 years old.
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9O11
|
Lucy Collett was born at Hallam Street in West
Bromwich on 27th August 1872, the fourth daughter of Robert and
Mary Ann Collett, who was baptised at Holy Trinity Church on 11th
May 1873. She was eight years old and
18 years of age in the next two census returns when she was living with her
family at 56 Hallam Street in 1881 and 1891.
Just over a year later young Lucy Collett married David Richards, the
wedding recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 1141) during the third quarter of
1892. David was the son of Jeremiah
and Hannah Richards and was born at West Bromwich on 13th June
1870 but was only baptised just prior to his marriage to Lucy at Christ
Church on 19th May 1889.
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Like
her married sister Amy (above), Lucy had also given birth to four children
prior to the end of the decade. The
family of six was recorded living on Spon Lane in the Christ Church district West
Bromwich South-West as David Richards who was 29 and a furniture dealer, Lucy
Richards was 28, daughter Elsie Richards was eight, David Richards
junior was seven, Hilda Richards was three, and Leonard Richards
was two years of age. Ten years later,
and after the birth of the couple’s fifth child, the family was recorded in
the North-East area of West Bromwich.
The census in 1911 listed the family as general dealer David aged 40,
Lucy aged 38, Elsie May aged 18, David junior aged 17, Hilda Mary aged 13,
Leonard aged 12, and Margaret Richards who was six years old. The death of Lucy Richards nee Collett was
recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 9b 729) during the second quarter of 1953 at
the age of 80. Just over four years
after being widowed, the death of David Richards was recorded there (Ref. 9b
948) during the last three months of 1957 when he was 87.
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9O12
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Elizabeth Collett was born at Hallam Street in West
Bromwich in 1874 and was six years of age in the census of 1881 when
Elizabeth and her family were residing at 56 Hallam Street. Her absence from the family in 1891
resulted in the discovery of the death of Elizabeth Collett recorded at West
Bromwich (Ref. 6b 482) during the second quarter of 1885.
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9O13
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Robert Collett was born at Hallam Street in West
Bromwich in 1876, where his birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 826) during the third
quarter of that year. He was living in
1881 at 56 Hallam Street with his family, at the age of four years. He was still living with his parents in
1891, aged 14, and again in 1901 when he was 24 and was working as a general
blacksmith with his father Robert Collett who was also listed as a general
blacksmith. Nearly eighteen months
later the marriage of Robert Collett and either Frances Hannah Davies or
Alice Groom was recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 1363) during the third
quarter of 1902. However, with no
record of Robert and his wife in the census of 1911, it is assumed that once
married they moved overseas.
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9O14
|
Henry Collett was born at Hallam Street in West
Bromwich in 1878 and was aged 2 in April 1881 when living with his family at
56 Hallam Street in West Bromwich. He
was also there in 1891 aged 12 and later in 1901. At that time, he was still living with his
parents at the age of 22 and his occupation was that of an iron moulder,
perhaps working with his father and older brother Robert (above). Following the death of his father during
the first decade of the new century, Henry continued to live with his widowed
mother Mary Ann at West Bromwich, and by April 1911 he was still a bachelor
at the age of 32. It was Henry
Collett, a moulder, who was named during the probate process for his mother’s
estate in 1923.
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9O15
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Thomas (Frank) Collett was born at 56 Hallam Street in West
Bromwich, his birth recorded (Ref. 6b 811) during the third quarter of 1880
under the name of Thomas Collett. He
was entered on the census return in 1881 as Frank Collett aged seven months,
meaning he could have been born during September. Ten years later he was correctly named as
Thomas Collett in the census of 1891 when aged 11, and again in 1901 when he
was 20 years old. It would appear that
his work at that time was allied to that of his father and older brothers
with whom he was living at West Bromwich, as his occupation was stated as
being a hollowware moulder. Nine years
after that census day the marriage of Thomas Collett and Sarah Ann Bartram
was recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 1500) during the third
quarter of 1910. Sarah was the sixth
child of Jeremiah and Sarah Bartram of Union Street in West Bromwich, where
daughter Sarah Ann was born in 1885.
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It
was again as Thomas Collett from West Bromwich that he was recorded in the
census of 1911. On that day he and his
wife were living with Sarah’s widowed mother in West Bromwich, together with
Sarah’s two older brothers John and Alfred, and her younger sister Martha
Bartram. Son-in-law Thomas Collett was
30 and his occupation was that of a shoesmith, while his wife Sarah Ann
Collett was 25. Whether they had any
children during the early years of their life together seems unlikely, while
the only child born of a Collett/Bartram coupling was recorded many years
later at West Bromwich in 1926. She
was Emily B Collett whose birth was registered there (Ref. 6b 1319) during
the first quarter of that year, when the mother’s maiden name was confirmed
as Bartram.
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An
interesting item listed within the Chelsea Pensioners’ Service Records
relates to a Thomas Collett from Staffordshire who was said to be born around
1879/1880, and this may be a reference to Sarah’s husband. The only certain later detail about him is
the fact that his death was recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref.
9b 1026) during the first three months of 1964 when he was 83 years old.
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9P18
|
Emily B
Collett
|
Born in 1926
at West Bromwich
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9O16
|
Hannah Jane Collett was born at West Bromwich during 1882,
the daughter of Robert and Mary Ann Collett, whose birth was recorded at West
Bromwich (Ref. 6b 860) during the second quarter of that year. She was 23 years of age when she married
Edgar Stokes, the marriage recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 1376) during
the third quarter of 1905, by which time her father had died. They are known to have had two children, a
son Edgar John Collett Stokes who was four years old in the census of
1911, and a daughter Lucy Mary Adelaide Stokes who was three. At that time in their lives the family was
residing at 191 Bentley Lane in Walsall from where Edgar was a manufacturer -
cart hame maker. Upon the death of
Hannah’s widowed mother in 1923, it was Edgar Stokes, a hame maker, who was
named as a joint executor of her estate together with Hannah’s older brother
Henry Collett (above).
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9O17
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Richard Collett was born at West
Bromwich in 1883 and was seven years old by 1891. He was still living at the family home in
West Bromwich in 1901 but, instead of following in the family blacksmith
business, Richard was an apprentice bricklayer at that time aged 17. Bachelor Richard Collett from West Bromwich
was 27 and was living and working in the village of Martley just six miles
north-west of the City of Worcester in 1911.
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9O18
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James Arthur Collett was born at West
Bromwich in 1885 and was referred to as James aged 5 in the West Bromwich census of 1891. Ten years later at the age of 15 he was
listed in 1901 as Arthur Collett. At
that time, he was still living with his parents and was already employed as
an embosser. Shortly after 1901 James’
father passed away and by April 1911 he was still living at west Bromwich
with his mother and three of his siblings when, as James Arthur Collett, he
was 25 years old.
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9O19
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Joseph Edward Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1887 and
at the age of three years he was living with his family in West
Bromwich. Ten years later he was still
there when he was 13 years old and still attending the local school. In the years following the census in 1901
Joseph’s father died, after which Joseph Edward Collett aged 23 was still
living at the family home in West Bromwich with his mother and three siblings
in 1911.
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9O20
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Minnie Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1890, the
youngest of the thirteen children of Robert and Mary Ann Collett. At the time of the census in 1891 Minnie
was recorded as being two years of age when she would have been nearer two
months old. However, in the next two
census returns her age was more accurately stated. In both 1901 and 1911, Minnie Collett was
living in West Bromwich. On the first
of these she was 10 and when she was living there with her parents, but
during the next few years her father passed away, so at the age of 20 she was
still living there but with just her widowed mother and three of her
siblings.
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Four
years later, during 1915, Minnie married George William Philpott who had been
born in 1889. Their marriage produced
a total of three children, and they were Lilian Philpott, who was born
in 1916 – who died around 2008, Ralph Collett Philpott, who was born
in 1921, and Jeffery William Collett Philpott who was born in
1927. George W Philpott died in 1967
and was survived by Minnie, who passed away ten years later in 1977. Jeffrey William Collett Philpott, who died
during 2006, was the father of Jayne Ray nee Philpott who kindly provided the
new details for the family of Minnie Collett.
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It
was as leading aircraftsman Ralph Collett Philpott with the Royal Air Force
Volunteer Reserve, service number 153508, that he was killed in action in
India on 18th November 1944, following which he was buried at the
Madras War Cemetery in Chennai (India).
His military record at the time of his death confirmed that he was the
son of George William and Minnie Philpott of West Bromwich in Staffordshire.
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9O21
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Amelia Fanny Collett was born at West Bromwich on 23rd
July 1879 when the registration of her birth named her parents as William and
Fanny Collett. It was one month later
when she was baptised there on 22nd August 1879. In 1881 she was simply referred to as Fanny
Collett aged one year when she was living with her family at 8 Cottrell
Street in West Bromwich, and was 11 in 1891, after they had moved to 38
Victoria Street in West Bromwich.
However, by 1901 she had left the family home in West Bromwich and was
living nearby at Tipton and was 21 years of age. What is very interesting is that there were
two Collett families living in Tipton at that time, and they were the
brothers William and Thomas, the sons of Richard and Hannah Collett of
Dudley. That therefore begs the
question, was Amelia related in some way to that branch of the family.
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The details of this family can be
found in
Part 48 – The Dudley West Midland Line
(Ref. 48M7)
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It
was during the three months following the census in 1901 when Amelia Fanny
Collett, aged 21, married William Foster Rhodes, aged 22, at West
Bromwich. Ten years later the
childless couple was still residing in West Bromwich when William Foster
Rhodes was 32 and his wife Amelia Fanny Rhodes was 30. After just thirty-one years of married life
Amelia Fanny Rhodes nee Collett, age 53, died at
her home at 117 Paradise Street in West Bromwich on 22nd December
1932. Administration of her personal
effects, valued at £968 8 Shillings 7 Pence, was granted at Birmingham on 24th
February 1933 to her husband William Foster Rhodes, a newsagent. William passed away four years later, when
he died on 1st November 1936 while he was still living at 117
Paradise Street. In his case, probate was granted to Joseph Arthur Moreton, a
solicitor’s clerk and to Joseph Taylor, a wholesale newspaper agent, by which
time his estate was worth £1,972 4 Shillings 2 Pence.
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9O22
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William Frederick
Collett was born at
West Bromwich on 11th January 1881 and was baptised there on 4th
February 1881, the eldest son and second child of William Frederick Collett
and Amelia Fanny Fellows. He was three
months old by the time of the April census in 1881 when, at that time, he and
his family were living at 8 Cottrell Street in West Bromwich. The family later moved to 38 Victoria
Street in West Bromwich, and it was there where they were living in 1891 when
William was 10 years old. After a
further ten years, William F Collett was 20 and was still living with his
parents in West Bromwich in 1901. His
occupation was that of a shoeing smith and he was working with his father
William F Collett who was a farrier and shoeing smith.
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The
West Bromwich census of 1911 provided his full name, it being William
Frederick Collett, when he was 32 and his place of birth was confirmed as
West Bromwich. Although no details are
currently known, it seems likely that he later became a married man, and that
he had a son Arthur. At the time of
his death on 18th December 1958, when he was 77, it was Arthur
Collett, a draughtsman, who was named as the executor of his considerable
estate of £5,389 16
Shillings 6 Pence, his Will proved in Birmingham on 9th March
1959. By that time in his life William
Frederick Collett was living at 73 Bromford Lane in West Bromwich and it was
at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 9b 811) that the death of William F
Collett was recorded.
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9P19
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Arthur
Collett – not confirmed
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Born at West
Bromwich, date unknown
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9O23
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Richard John Thomas
Collett was born
within the Christ Church area of West Bromwich on 25th December
1882, where he was baptised on 19th January 1883, the son of
William Frederick and Amelia Fanny Collett.
Tragically he was approaching his second birthday when he died, his
death recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 491) during the last three months of
1884.
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9O24
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Albert Arthur Collett was born within the Christ Church area
of West Bromwich on 29th August 1884, following which he was
baptised there on 10th October 1884, the son of William Frederick
and Amelia Fanny Collett. Sadly, he
was born deaf and dumb, as described in the West Bromwich census of 1891 when
he was six and living with his family at 38 Victoria Street. Just after the turn of the century, in the
census of 1901, Albert was listed as being a juvenile aged 16, living with
his parents in West Bromwich. The West
Bromwich census of 1911 provided his full name as Albert Arthur Collett, when
he was 27 and was still living with his family at 38 Victoria Street in West
Bromwich. He was listed as having no
occupation and was described as being totally deaf and dumb from birth.
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9O25
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Harry Harvey Collett was born at West Bromwich on 3rd
November 1887 and was baptised there on 4th January 1888, another
son of William and Amelia Collett.
However, the death of Harry Harvey Collett was also recorded at West
Bromwich (Ref. 6b 506) during the first quarter of 1888 when he was only a
few months old.
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9O26
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Adelaide Lucy Collett was born at West Bromwich during 1895
who by 1901 was five years old when she and her parents were living at 38
Victoria Street in West Bromwich.
After a further ten years Adelaide Lucy Collett was 15 and was already
working as a paper counter at a local printing works.
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9O27
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Dorothy May Collett was born at 38 Victoria Street in West
Bromwich during 1902. And it was there
also that Dorothy May Collett was still living with her family in 1911 when
she was attending the local school at the age of eight years. They were still
living there in November 1918 when her father passed away at the age of 69.
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9O28
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Frances Helen Collett was born at West Bromwich where her
birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 787) during the last three months of 1873. She was the first child born to Harvey
Collett and Ann Woodward. Using her
full name, she was six years old in the West Bromwich census of 1881 when
living at 41 Carters Green. In 1891
Frances H Collett of Dudley Road was 17 and, prior to the next census in
1901, her mother died, at which time she took over the role of housekeeper
for her widowed father and his large family. The census that year placed the family living
at Red Cow Yard in West Bromwich, when unmarried France H Collett was
27. Ten years later in April 1911, unmarried
Frances Helen Collett was 37 and was one of only two siblings who were still
living with their elderly father Harvey Collett. The other sibling was her youngest brother
Sidney (below).
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9O29
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William Harvey Collett was born in 1874 at West Bromwich, his
birth recorded there (Ref. 6b 852) during the fourth quarter of the year, the
son of Harvey Collett and Ann Woodward.
In the following census in 1881, William Harvey Collett was six years
of age when he and his family were living at 41 Carters Green in West
Bromwich, where his father was a veterinary surgeon. William was still attending school in West
Bromwich at the age of 16 in 1891, when his family was recorded at Dudley
Road. Curiously no record of any kind
has revealed where he was in 1901, perhaps he was serving abroad with the
military. It is established that
William married Elizabeth
Turner Tomlinson whose birth was recorded at Kings Norton (Ref. 6c 474) during
the last quarter of 1882. Not long
after she was born, Elizabeth was baptised at Smethwick on 2nd
November 1882, a daughter of William Tomlinson, a surveyor, and Elizabeth
Turner, with whom she was living at Smethwick in 1891 when she was eight years
old.
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According to the census 1911, the
couple was living in the Ardwick district of South Manchester. William Harvey Collett from West Bromwich
was 37 and employed as a financial clerk undertaking work for a mission, when
his wife Elizabeth Turner Collett from Smethwick was 28. The completed census return included the
details that they had been married for six years, during which time Elizabeth
had given birth to two children, only one of them still alive. The birth and the death of the couple’s
first child was recorded at the Chorlton register office (Ref. 8c 759 &
8c 435) during the second quarter of 1906, when the mother’s maiden-name was
confirmed as Tomlinson, and when the father was William, a mercantile clerk. The family’s home address was 48 Apsley
Grove, Ardwick in Manchester, when the record of the child’s death stated
that he was nine hours old, with the cause of death being marasmus premature
birth. The identity of the couple’s
surviving child has yet to be discovered, as has the marriage of William and
Elizabeth.
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It was information received from
Keith Skidmore in Queensland, Australia in November 2021 which resulted in
more details being added under the name of William Harvey Collett. Elizabeth Turner Tomlinson and William
Harvey Collett are Keith’s great-grand-aunt-and-uncle through his great
grandfather Albert Charles Tomlinson.
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9P20
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William Collett
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Born in 1906 at Ardwick, Manchester
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9O30
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Amy Sarah Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1876, her
birth recorded there (Ref. 6b 836) during the last quarter of the year. She was listed under her full name with her
family at 41 Carters Green in the West Bromwich census if 1881 and, as Amy S
Collett aged 14, she was living with her family at Dudley Road in West
Bromwich in 1891 and again in 1901 when she was 24 years old and unmarried
and still living with her family at Red Cow Yard in West Bromwich. No record of her being unmarried has been
identified in 1911, so she was possibly married by then.
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9O31
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Margaret Collett was born in 1878 at West Bromwich,
where her birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 823) during the third quarter of the
year. She was two years old in the
census of 1881 when the family was living at 41 Carters Green. She was 12 years of age in 1891 at Dudley
Road in West Bromwich and was 22 at Red Cow Yard where she was still living
with her family in the West Bromwich census of 1901. She was very likely married after that
time, because no record of Margaret Collett from West Bromwich has been found
in Britain after 1901.
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9O32
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Ethel Mary Collett was born in 1879 at West Bromwich, and
it was there, possibly at 41 Carters Green, that her birth was recorded (Ref.
6b 867) during the second quarter of the year. Emily Mary was one year old in the census
of 1881 when she and her family were residing at 41 Carters Green. After ten years the family was living on
Dudley in West Bromwich where Ethel M Collett was 11 years old while, in the
census of 1901, the family’s home at Red Cow Yard, when Ethel M Collett was
21 with no stated occupation. During
the next ten years she trained to be a teacher, as confirmed in the next
census of 1911. By that time unmarried
Ethel Mary Collett was 31 and a school mistress, who was still living with
her family, but at Dudley Street in West Bromwich. The marriage of Ethel M Collett and Norman
V Bridge was recorded at Walsall register office (Ref. 6b 1780) during the
last three months of 1919. Their
marriage produced a known son, when the birth of Norman W Bridge was
recorded at Walsall (Ref. 6b 1408) during the third quarter of 1920, his
mother’s maiden name confirmed as Collett.
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9O33
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Emily Collett was born in 1880 at West Bromwich,
where her birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 795) during the third quarter of the
year. It is likely she was born at 41 Carters
Green in Wes Bromwich, where Emily was ten months old in the census of
1881. It was probably there also that
she died a few months later, the death of Emily Collett, aged one year,
recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 438) during the last three months of 1881
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9O34
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Elsie Gertrude Collett was born at West Bromwich where her
birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 861) during the second quarter of 1882.
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9O35
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Norman Trustrum Collett was born at West Bromwich where his
birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 850) during the last three months of 1884.
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9O36
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Sidney Howell Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1886, his
birth recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 875) during the first quarter of that
year. He was four years old in 1891,
when living at Dudley Road with his family, and was listed as 15 years of age
in the West Bromwich census of 1901 when he was living with his widowed
father and the majority of his siblings at Red Cow Yard. By the time of the census of 1911 all but
one of his older siblings had left their father’s home in West Bromwich,
leaving just Sidney Howell Collett aged 25 and his eldest sister Frances
(above) acting as housekeeper for the two men.
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Four
years later, when he was 29, Sidney Howell Collett married Ethel Bird, also
29, at St James Church in Handsworth, Staffordshire, on 12th June
1915. The father of the groom was
confirmed as Harvey Collett, while the father of the bride was named as
Alfred Bird. That marriage produced at
least two children, the second child born after the war and named after his
paternal grandfather, perhaps indicating that Sidney had been involved in the
campaign. The birth of their daughter
was recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 1172) during the third
quarter of 1917, where their son’s birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 1579) during
the third quarter of 1920.
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At some later time in their life the family
travelled south to East Sussex and it was in his home at South Lodge,
Eastgate in Lewes, where Sidney Howell Collett died on 15th
October 1963. Probate of his estate
valued at £6,911 was granted jointly at Bristol on 15th January
1964 to Albert Almor Millard, a chartered accountant, and his son Harvey
Collett, a publican.
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9P20
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Joan Collett
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Born in 1917
at West Bromwich
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9P21
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Harvey
Collett
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Born in 1920
at West Bromwich
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9O37
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Elizabeth Jane Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1888, the
youngest child of Harvey Collett and Ann Woodward. Her birth under that name was recorded at
the Kings Norton register office (Ref. 6c 446) during the final three months
of 1888. However, it was as Eliza
Collett that she was listed with her family in the census return for West
Bromwich in 1891 when she was two years of age, while thereafter she appears
to have been known by the name of Olive Collett. Certainly, it was as Olive Collett aged 12
years that she was living with her family in 1901, and again ten years later
Olive Collett, who was 22, was living at 11Dudley Road in West Bromwich with
her parents Harvey and Ann Collett, plus three of her older siblings.
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9O38
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Harold Harvey Collett was born at Altrincham in Cheshire on
16th July 1882. He was the
eldest of the four sons of William Collett and Emily Wood who recorded his
birth at Altrincham (Ref. 8a 170) during the third quarter of that year. It was his father’s calling as a Wesleyan
Minister that was the reason for the family constantly moving around the
north of England when Harold was a child.
At the time of the census in 1891 Harold H Collett was eight years old
when he and his family was recorded at Thirland House on Thirland Lane in
Attercliffe cum Darnell in Sheffield.
By 1901 the family was living in the Stockport area of Cheshire where
Harold H Collett was 18.
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Towards
the end of the next decade Harold married Amy Maude Ridley and their daughter
was born after the couple had settled in Sunderland, where the family of
three was living at the time of the census in 1911. On that occasion Harold Harvey Collett from
Altrincham was 28 and a tool-maker and fitter, his wife Amy was 29, and their
daughter Aileen Yvonne Collett was two years of age. It seems likely that their family was added
to over the following years with the birth of Josephine and Ruth, the two of
them pictured with Aileen Collett in a family photograph taken before
1925. Eleven years earlier, the
Kelly’s Directory of 1914 contained an entry for Harold Harvey Collett, which
described him as residing at 3 Duneln on Dunning Street in Sunderland, the
Manager of Sunderland Gas Works.
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After
the Great War Harold and his family are known to have been living in Leeds,
and perhaps it was there that his two youngest daughters were born. Upon the death of his mother, Emily Collett
nee Wood, at Prestatyn in 1942 it was Harold and his brother Maurice who were
named as the joint executors of her estate of just under £2,000. At the age of nearly sixty years Harold
Harvey Collett was still working as a gas engineer.
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9P22
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Aileen Yvonne
Collett
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Born in 1908
at Sunderland
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9P23
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Josephine
Collett – not confirmed
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Date of birth
unknown
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9P24
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Ruth Collett
– not confirmed
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Date of birth
unknown
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9O39
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Maurice John Collett, who was later known as Jack Collett,
was born at Lancaster in Lancashire during the summer of 1886, his birth
being registered there (Ref. 8e 754) during the third quarter of that
year. In 1891 when Maurice J Collett
was four years old he and his family were residing at Thirland House on
Thirland Lane in Attercliffe cum Darnell in Sheffield, where his father
William was a Wesleyan Minister. By
March 1901 the completed family was living within the Stockport area to the
south of Manchester when Maurice J Collett was 14. During the next few years, he left the
family home which, by 1911, was at Hoylake-cum-West Kirby in Cheshire, while
Maurice John Collett from Lancaster was 24 and was living and working in
Sculcoates, a district of Kingston-upon-Hull.
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However,
just after the death of his brother Henry (below) in 1916, Maurice was once
again living with his parents who had subsequently moved to at 8 Shelton Road
in Wallasey where they had staying with them Maurice and his brother
Charles. It was a few years later that
Maurice John Collett married Elizabeth Constance Banks, the event recorded at
Chester register office (Ref. 8a 1119) during the third quarter of 1919.
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Maurice’s
mother died at Prestatyn in 1942 following which he and his older brother
Harold (above) were named as the joint executors of her estate. At that time
in his life the occupation of Maurice John Collett was that of a
secretary. Eight years later, the
death of Elizabeth Constance Collett, the wife of Maurice John Collett, was
recorded as taking place at Aston Lodge, Peachfield Road in Malvern Wells in
Worcestershire on 1st October 1950. Probate of her considerable fortune of
£101,205 11 Shillings 1 Pence was granted at Oxford on 14th
November to her husband Maurice John Collett, a company director, Lillias
Elsie Downes, a single woman, and Walter Laurence Curtler, a solicitor.
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9O40
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Henry William Howell
Collett was born at
Sheffield in Yorkshire during the month of August 1890, the third son of
William and Emily Collett. It was also
in Sheffield that his birth was recorded (Ref. 9c 502) during the third
quarter of the year. At the time of
the census in 1891 he was only eight months old when, as Henry Wm H Collett,
he and his family were residing at Thirland House on Thirland Lane in
Attercliffe-cum-Darnell in Sheffield.
It was his father’s work as a Wesleyan minister that was the reason
why the family was living at various places over the next few years, although
the family was still living in the Sheffield area five years later when
Henry’s youngest brother Charles (below) was born. However, not long after that the family
moved again, on that occasion to 25 Greek Street in Stockport, where Henry W
H Collett was 10 years old in the census of 1901. He was still living in the family home by
the time of the census April 1911 which, by then, was at 58 Alderley Road in
Hoylake-cum-West Kirby in Cheshire, when he was recorded under his full name
of Henry William Howell Collett who was 20 years old.
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By
1914 Henry was working as a solicitor for Watson & Atkinson in Liverpool
when he enlisted with the 1st Liverpool Battalion of Pals and
later joined the 17th Battalion of the King’s Liverpool Regiment
on 2nd September 1914. At
that time in his life, he was 5 feet 8½ inches tall, weighing 163
pounds. He was later promoted to
acting unpaid lance corporal on 29th December 1914 but was once
again a private on 23rd February 1915 and from 29th
April through to 4th September 1915 he was based at Belton Camp
near Grantham in Lincolnshire for basic training. It was on 5th September that he
left Belton for Lark Hill Camp on Salisbury Plain, where he remained until 7th
November 1915 when he was sent to France.
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The
above photograph of Henry in his army uniform was taken sometime around the
start of the war, when he was Private Henry W H Collett, service number
16019, with 17th Bn. of the King’s Liverpool Regiment. After initially serving the first year and
sixty-six days of his military career in England, Henry eventually spent the
following 266 days in action in France, making a total military service of
697 days. Henry and his comrades were
part of 89th Brigade, 30th Division, which served in France for
the duration of the war, during which “The Liverpool Pals” were amongst the
most successful battalions who attacked the German defences at the Somme on 1st
July 1916. Henry was involved in that
battle and thankfully survived without injury. However, he was not so lucky at the end of
that month when he and the 17th battalion were required to support
the 18th and 20th Battalions of King’s Liverpool
Regiments when they were attacking the heavily fortified village of
Guillemont on 30th July.
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The
assault started at 4.45 a.m. despite the dark night and foggy conditions,
while the German Army were aware the British were coming and bombarded their
positions with gas shells. Tragically
Henry and his unit were cut down by machinegun fire as the fog cleared away,
with Henry being badly wounded. It
transpires that after he was attended to by a doctor and, whilst he was being
carried on a stretcher to the safety of the field ambulance, the rescue party
was hit by an enemy shell, killing them all.
So it was that Henry William Howell Collett was killed in action at
the Battle of Guillemont during Sunday 30th July 1916, with his
name being one of those on the Thievpal Memorial. His name can also be found at the Wesleyan
Church in Chester
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9O41
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Charles Edward Collett was born at Sheffield in 1896, and
shortly he was born his family left Sheffield when they moved to Stockport in
Cheshire, where Charles E collett was four years of age in the census on 1901. His father’s work as a Wesleyan Minister
saw the family move once again before the next census in 1911, by which time
Charles’ two eldest brothers had left the family home. The census that year recorded Charles
Edward Collett, age 14 and from Sheffield, living with his parents and older
brother Henry at Hoylake-cum-West Kirby on the Wirral in Cheshire. The inscription on the sailor’s hat in this
photograph suggests that Charles was a member of the Royal Navy Volunteer
Reserve.
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It
was five years after the war, on 4th September 1923, that Charles
Edward Collett married Victoria Lucie Powell.
Two years later his father died in August 1925, while it was a further
seven years before his father’s Will was finally passed through probate at
London in 1932, when Charles Collett, a manufacturer, was named as the sole
administrator of his estate.
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9O42
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Ada Collett was born in 1872 at Aldsworth, her
birth recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 362) during the last three months of
the year. For some reason her baptism
was delayed until she was around two years old, the event taking place on 3rd
November 1874. In the Aldsworth census
of 1881 she was eight years old, and ten years later in 1891 she was still
living with her parents at Aldsworth when 18 years of age. Curiously she was not still living with her
parents in 1901, nor has she been located in any of the census returns for
that year. It is known that she never
married and that she later returned to Aldsworth where she died in 1916 and
was buried in the churchyard there on 2nd December 1916.
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9O43
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Rosa Georgiana Collett was born at Aldsworth and her birth
was also recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 417) during the first few days of
1876. It appears that she was a poorly
child as her baptism followed very quickly after her birth, taking place at
Aldsworth on 4th January 1876, and died shortly thereafter,
following which she was buried at Aldsworth on 7th January 1876. As a consequence, the death of Rosa
Georgiana Collett was recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 281) during the first
quarter of 1876.
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9O44
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Cecil Francis William
Collett was born at
Aldsworth on 28th February 1887, with his birth recorded at
Northleach (Ref. 6a 377) during the second quarter of 1887. He was four years old in the Aldsworth
census of 1891 and by March 1901 Cecil W F Collett was still attending school
at the age of 14 years and was still living at the family home in
Aldsworth. On leaving school Cecil
then followed his father by becoming a blacksmith and was in fact the last in
a line of five generations of blacksmiths in Aldsworth. According to the census of 1911, blacksmith
Cecil Collett of Aldsworth was 24 and was still a bachelor living with his
parents at Aldsworth. Four and a half
years later, the marriage of Cecil F W Collett and Hannah E Lafford was
recorded at Cirencester register office (Ref. 6a 1107) during the last
quarter of 1915, their marriage producing three sons for the couple.
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Hannah
E Collett nee Lafford died during 1963 and, seven years later the death of
Cecil Francis W Collett (Ref. 7b 886) during the last months of 1970. Both Hannah and Cecil were buried in
Quenington Cemetery, he in 1970 aged 83 and she in 1963 aged 76. A single headstone marks the grave with the
inscription ‘Cecil Collett 1887 – 1970 and his wife Hannah Collett 1887 –
1963’. The couple’s three sons were
all still living in 2002.
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9P25
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Frank William Collett
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Born in 1917
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9P26
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John
A Collett
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Born in 1918
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9P27
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Donald E Collett
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Born in 1925
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9O45
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Hilda Mary Collett was born at Aldsworth in 1874, the eldest
child of Richard Collett and Jane Porter.
Sadly, she was just four years old when she died at Aldsworth,
following which her death was recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6n 270) during the
fourth quarter of 1878.
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9O46
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Rosa Georgiana Collett was born at Aldsworth in 1877 and it
would appear that she was named after her cousin (above) who died in infancy
in 1876. So far, no record of her
baptism has been found at St Bartholomew’s Church. This perhaps suggests that her parents were
worshipping with the Plymouth Brethren who had just recently starting meeting
in Aldsworth at around that time. By
April 1911 she was recorded as Rosa Georgina Collett born at Winson, a
spinster of Aldsworth who was still living there at the age of 33 with her
parents. Rosa never married but she
and her brother Joseph Sydney Collett were committed to the Plymouth Brethren
for all their lives. Rosa
died in 1961 and was buried at Quenington by the Plymouth Brethren.
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9O47
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JOSEPH SIDNEY COLLETT was born at Aldsworth on 26th
April 1880, his birth recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 413). He was eleven months old in the Aldsworth
census during the following year and was 11 years of age by the time of the
Aldsworth census in 1891. According to
the next census in 1901 Joseph was 20 and was working as a domestic groom
domestic while living at nearby Bibury.
At the time of his marriage to Edith Elizabeth Eden at
Shipston-on-Stour in 1908, he was recorded as being an agricultural
labourer. Edith was three years older
than Joseph, having been born in 1877.
Their wedding day was recorded at Shipston-on-Stour register office
(Ref. 6d 1375) during the second quarter of 1908.
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By
the time of the census of 1911 the marriage had produced the couple’s first
child, when the family home was already established in Bibury, where head of
the household Joseph Collett from Aldsworth was 30 and working as a butcher’s
assistant. His wife and daughter were
recorded at the home of Joseph’s parents back in Aldsworth, where Edith
Elizabeth from Oddington was 33, and their daughter Ethel Rosa Collett was
just one year old and had been born at Bibury, where the couple’s three other
children were born. The death of Joseph
Sidney Collett was recorded at Bristol register office (Ref. 7b 15) during
the first three months of 1966, when he was 85 years old, and following which
he was buried in Bristol.
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9P28
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Ethel Rosa Collett
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Born in 1909
at Bibury
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9P29
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SYDNEY George COLLETT
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Born in 1911
at Bibury
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9P30
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Donald R Collett twin
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Born in 1914
at Bibury
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9P31
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Jessie Mary Collett twin
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Born in 1914
at Bibury
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9O48
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Sybil Collett was born at Aldsworth in 1885 as
Sybilla Porter. She was the niece of
Jane Collett nee Porter who was married to Richard Collett of Aldsworth, and
it was Jane and Richard that took over the care of Sybilla prior to
1891. By 1891 she was a foster child
living in the Collett’s Aldsworth home.
During the next decade Sybilla had adopted the Collett name and was
recorded in the census of 1901 as Sybilla Collett aged 16 who was living at
Aldsworth with her foster parents Richard and Jane Collett. Ten years later Richard and Jane were still
living in Aldsworth, but by that time Sybilla had moved to London where she
was listed as Sybil Collett 26 of Aldsworth, living and working within the
Brentford registration district.
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9O49
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Henry Edwin Collett was born at Aldsworth and was
baptised there on 1st April 1877.
Tragically he died when he was only five years old and was buried in
St Bartholomew’s Churchyard at Aldsworth on 2nd August 1882.
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9O50
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Alfred William Collett was born in 1878 at Aldsworth, where
he was baptised on 22nd August 1878. He was two years of age in the Aldsworth
census of 1881 and on leaving school he worked as an agricultural labourer,
as confirmed in the next census in 1891, when he was only 12 years old. During the next few years Alfred sought
employment of the railway and, by 1901 when he was 22 and still a single man,
he had moved north to Staffordshire, where he was a railway shunter and a
boarder at the home of the Baker family in Thornley Street, Horninglow, a
district of Burton on Trent. Also
living in Horninglow that same day, with her family, was Alfred’s future
wife, albeit only 13 years of age. It
was just of four years later when the marriage of Alfred William Collett,
aged 27, and Emily Ford, aged 17, was conducted at St Mary’s Church in
Tutbury and recorded at Burton-on-Trent register office (Ref. 6b 653) during
the third quarter of 1905. Emily was
born at Tutbury in 1888 and was baptised there on 26th February
1888, the daughter of William Henry Ford and his wife Emily Amelia, who were
residing at Goodman Street in Horninglow in 1901.
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Within
the next first two years of their married life together, Emily presented
Alfred with a daughter, although their second child was born nearly ten years
later. According to the
Burton-on-Trent census in 1911, Alfred William Collett from Aldsworth was 32 still
employed as a railway shunter, his wife Emily Collett from Tutbury was 23,
and their daughter Viola Emily Collett was four years old. Tragically, it was ten years later that the
premature death of Alfred W Collett was recorded at Burton-on-Trent register
office (Ref. 6b 439) during the first three months of 1921, when he was 42
years old.
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Further
sadness happened within the family twenty-two years later, when Emily Collett
received the dreadful news that her son had been killed in the Far East by
the Japanese, while serving King and Country during the Second World War. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
confirmed that the parents of Alfred Edwin Collett were Alfred William and
Emily Collett of Burton-on-Trent.
Widow Emily Collett continued to reside in Burton-on-Trent for the
rest of her life, living not far away from her married daughter and her
family. The death of Emily Collett nee
Ford was recorded there (Ref. 9b 57) during the second quarter of 1960, when her
age was incorrectly recorded as being 78 instead of 72.
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9P32
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Viola Emily Collett
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Born in 1907
at Burton-on-Trent
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9P33
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Alfred Edwin Collett
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Born in 1916
at Burton-on-Trent
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9O51
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Fanny Collett was born at Aldsworth where she was
baptised on 1st February 1880, her birth recorded at Northleach
(Ref. 6a 334) during the first month of 1880.
She was one year old in 1881 and was 11 years of age in the Aldsworth
census of 1891. After leaving school
she worked as a domestic cook and was recorded at Lancaster Road in Hampstead,
London in 1901, at the home of physician John H Chaldecott family. Back home in Aldsworth she married George Frederick
J Hall on 19th October 1903, the event recorded at Northleach
(Ref. 6a 914). In 1909 George took
over his father’s forge at Great Barrington, just west of Burford. That was confirmed by the census of 1911 when
George was recorded as being 37 and born at Wednesbury, his wife Fanny was 31
and from Aldsworth, and their children were E F G Hall aged six years and
Lizzie F Hall who was three – both born in Middlesex, and twin William R Hall who was only
one month old and born
at Great Barrington. Interestingly,
his twin brother Walter Hall was not with the family that day, but was living
in Great Barrington with Thomas and Fanny Preston, when he was described as
their adopted son, who was one month old. Completing the household was nursemaid
Nelly Lewis from Birmingham who was 29.
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The
complete list of their children, with three more born after 1911, was made up
of Edward Frederick George Hall (born in 1903, died in 1938), Lizzie Florence Hall (born in
1907), Walter Hall (born
in 1911 and recorded at Stow-on-the Wold (Ref. 6a 370) during the first
quarter of the year), William R Hall (born in 1911 and recorded at Stow (Ref. 6a 359)
during the second quarter of the year), John H Hall (born in 1913, his
birth recorded at Stow (Ref. 6a 745) during the second quarter of the year,
and Alfred J Hall (born in 1916, his birth also recorded at Stow-on-the-Wold
(Ref. 6a 623) during the last quarter of 1916. In both cases the mother’s maiden name was
confirmed as Collett.
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Fanny
Hall nee Collett died in 1925, her death recorded at Stow-on-the-Wold (Ref.
6a 385) during the third quarter of the year, when she was 45 years old. Just less than two years after being made a
widower, George F J Hall married (2) Florence E Monk, their wedding recorded
at Stow-on-the-Wold (Ref. 6a 977) during the second quarter of 1927. After twenty-six years together, the death
of George F J Hall was recorded at Cirencester (Ref. 7b 354) during the last
three months of 1953 when he was 78 years old.
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In
2006 Brian Hall, a grandson of Fanny and George, was living in Windrush and
was a lifelong friend of Gordon John Collett of Lincolnshire
(Ref. 3Q5). Brian’s sister, Brenda
Hall married Malcolm Margetts and was living somewhere on the south coast at
the turn of the century. Brian and
Brenda were the children of Fanny and George’s son William R Hall, who was
known as Bill. The Margetts name also
appears in Part Two – The Secondary Line
(Ref. 2M23 and 2M24) and continues from that reference as the starting point
for Part Three – The Chedworth Line. There are also further references under
2N36 and 3N8.
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9O52
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Mary Viola Collett was born either at the end of 1881 or
early in 1882 at Lyneham, just north of Milton-under-Wychwood. Her birth was recorded at Chipping Norton
in 1882, while within the 1939 Register her year of birth was given as
1881. Before she was ten years of age
her family left Lyneham and returned to Aldsworth where they had been living
just prior to her birth. In the
Aldsworth census of 1891 Mary Collett from Lyneham in Oxfordshire was nine
years old, whereas ten years later, at the age of 20, she was working as a
cook domestic at a house in Bibury when her family was still at Aldsworth. Once again, the census return in 1901 stated
that she had been born at Lyneham in Oxfordshire. Where she was living at the time of the
next census in April 1911 has not yet been determined, although it is known
that she was married four year later.
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Her
marriage to Frederick Gardiner was recorded at Tetbury in Gloucestershire
during 1915. Frederick was a policeman
with the Gloucestershire constabulary and had been born at Carhampton in
Somerset, the son of agricultural labourer Richard Gardiner and his wife
Harriet. His birth was recorded at
nearby Williton (Ref. 5c 291) during the last three months of 1884 and he was
six years old in the census of 1891 when living at Eastbury in Carhampton
with his family. Ten years later, as
Fred Gardiner aged 16, he was still living at Carhampton with his parents and
his two siblings Gilbert who was 18 and Alice who was 12, by which time he
was employed as a labourer working on a farm. By 1911 he was a police constable in Gloucestershire.
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Once
they were married Mary and Frederick settled in Stroud, although it may have
been the Great War that delayed the birth of their two children, both of whom
were born in Stroud. Mary was in her
early forties when she gave birth to their daughter Alice Mary Gardiner,
who was born in 1922, but sadly their son Gilbert Gardiner was just
one year old when he died in 1926. Frederick retired from the police force around 1934 when he was 50
and he and Mary were still residing in Stroud when he passed away during
1956. Upon the death of her husband Mary moved to live in London,
where she died in 1965. Their son
Gilbert was named after Frederick’s older brother who died at Carhampton in
1918.
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9O53
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Lizzie Rose Collett was born around 1884 at Lyneham. She married her sister’s brother-in-law
William Hall on 4th December 1909.
Lizzie’s sister Fanny Collett (above) had earlier married William’s
brother George Hall. It is understood
that William died shortly after they were married and that Lizzie later
married for a second time. The census
of 1901 listed Lizzie as being aged 18 and born at Lyneham in Oxfordshire and
just like her sister Mary, she too was in service and also at Bibury where
she was a housemaid domestic.
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9O54
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Robert E Collett was born in 1886 at Lyneham, the son
of Robert Collett and Mary Anne Fleetwood.
He was four years old in the Aldsworth census of 1891. In the next census in 1901 Robert’s place
of birth was given as Milton-under-Wychwood, which is the next village to the
south of Lyneham. At the age of 14 he
was listed as being an ordinary agricultural labourer, while he was still
living at home with his parents at Aldsworth.
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His
mother died in December 1908, and just over two years after that Robert’s
father was still living in Aldsworth, although by that time Robert was 24 and
was living and working nearby with the same Northleach area. Robert married Florence Ethel Midwinter at
Aldsworth with the wedding recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 861) during the
second quarter of 1912, their marriage resulting in the birth of three
children at Aldsworth. Robert’s
occupation was that of a plumbing engineer and worked for Godwins of Quenington
before setting up his own business in Aldsworth. He was instrumental in bringing piped water
to Aldsworth in the 1920s. His wife
Florence died at the age of 58 and was buried on 10th January
1946, while Robert lived on until 1976, when he passed away.
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9P34
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Charles William Collett
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Born in 1915
at Aldsworth
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9P35
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Rosalind Enid Collett
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Born in 1920
at Aldsworth
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9P36
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Frederick Robert Collett
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Born in 1924
at Aldsworth
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9O55
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Edwin H Collett was born at Aldsworth in April 1890
and was the youngest son of Robert Collett and Mary Anne Fleetwood. He was eleven months old in the census the
following year and was 10 years old in the Aldsworth census of 1901. By the time Edwin was 20 in April 1911 he
may have been living somewhere other than England, since his whereabouts has
not been determined from the census returns for that year. However, an Edward Collett of Aldsworth who
was 20 was living and working in the Tetbury registration district of Gloucestershire
at that time. He later became a
married man, but the marriage produced no children for Edwin and his
wife. However, it is established that
the couple lived at Bibury, where Edwin Collett was a blacksmith.
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9P1
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Henry Robert Collett was born at Carnbrea in Cornwall on 17th
April 1900, the eldest of the four children of carpenter Henry Robert Collett
from Fairford near Swindon and Blanche Phillips Mitchell from Carnbrea near
Camborne. The birth of Henry Robert
Collett was recorded at Redruth register office (Ref. 5c 187) during the
second quarter of 1900. By the March
census in 1901 his father had taken the family of three back to Swindon where
Henry was eleven months old and ten years later In April 1911 Henry Collett
was 10 years old when he and his family were residing at 6 Dryden Street in
Swindon. Just three years later Henry
left school and joined his father as an employee with the Great Western
Railway. The railway record dated 21st
April 1914 confirmed that he was taken on as an apprentice at the age of 14
and that he was born on 17th April 1900. At the time of his death Henry Robert
Collett was 78, the event recorded at Weymouth register office (Ref. 23 0807)
during September 1978.
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9P2
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Hedley Charles Collett was born at Swindon on 7th
July 1902, the second child of Henry Robert Collett and Blanche Phillips
Mitchell. His birth under his full
name of Hedley Charles Collett was recorded at Swindon register office (Ref.
5a 30) during the third quarter of 1902.
In April 1911 the census included Hedley Collett who was eight years
old and living with his family at 6 Dryden Street in Swindon. Just over five years later, when Hedley was
14, he was taken on by the Great Western Railway for a position at Swindon
Station, his name one of those on the alphabetical listings for office boys
and messengers. Sometime later Hedley
married Edith Mabel to whom he was still married when he died at 98 Harvest
Road in Smethwick on 22nd October 1941. Administration of his personal effects of
£293 7 Shillings 1 Pence was granted at Birmingham on 10th
December 1941 to his widow Edith Mabel Collett. Hedley was 39 and his death was recorded at
Smethwick register office (Ref. 6b 1282) during the last quarter of 1941.
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9P5
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Evelyn Minnie Collett was born at Swindon in 1895, her birth
recorded there (Ref. 5a 35) during the first three months of that year. She was recorded in the 1901 as being aged
six years when she was living with her family at Swindon. Ten years later at the age of 17, Evelyn
Minnie Collett from Swindon was employed as a general domestic servant at the
Leighton Buzzard home of Bernard Robert Parkinson and his family of Ristholme
on Albany Road in the town. Bernard
was 38 and a consulting gas engineer from Holloway in Middlesex. Living with him at Ristholme was his wife
Annie Louisa of St Pancras who was also 38, and their nine years old son
David Bernard who had been born at Harborne in Birmingham.
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Five
years later in 1916 Evelyn, who was more often referred to as Min or Minnie,
married Sidney Love with whom she had a daughter Phyllis Love who was
born in 1920. During the couple’s
later life, they were known to have lived in the Shrivenham Road in Swindon
which is fairly close to Rosebery Street where Minnie’s cousins (listed
below) lived with her uncle Albert Joseph Collett and his wife Clara. Pat Brearley nee Collett of Canada recalls
that, during a visit to England in 1973, she met her Aunt Min who was still
alive at that time. Her only other
recollection of that time was that Aunt Min, who was still hoarding sugar,
commented on how lucky Pat’s son Paul was to have been adopted. The only other known fact about Evelyn’s
family, is that her daughter Phyllis was eventually married and had a son
David.
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9P6
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Frederick William H
Collett was born at
Swindon in 1897, the son of William Frederick Collett and Mary Ann
Harrison. In March 1901 he was
recorded with his family in Swindon as Frederick W H Collett aged three
years. Ten years later he was
described simply as William Collett who was 13 and still attending school,
when he was living with his parents at 47 Rosebery Street in Swindon, his
older sister Evelyn having left home by then.
What happened to Frederick after 1911 is not known, except that his
death was recorded at Swindon register office (Ref. 7c 520) during the second
quarter of 1950 when he was 52.
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9P7
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William Albert Collett was born at Swindon in 1902. His parents lived at 25 Rosebery Street in
Swindon and it was there that the family was recorded in April 1911 when
William was nine years old. William
later married Gladys Davis a few years before the Second World War, with whom
he had three children. Only two
children survived and, although both were later married, there were no
children resulting from either of the marriages. Following the death of William’s father in
1944, it would appear that his widowed mother Clarissa went to stay with
William and his family, and it was while living with them in November 1947
that she passed away.
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9Q1
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Michael Collett
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Born in 1928
at Swindon
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9Q2
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Marion Claire Collett
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Born in 1939
at Swindon
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9Q3
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Alan David Collett
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Born in 1940
at Swindon
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9P8
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Walter Charles Collett was born at Swindon in 1904 and he and
his family were living at 25 Rosebery Street in 1911 where Walter was listed
as being aged seven. During the early
1930s Walter married Irene Perry and the couple were blessed with a son over
the next couple of years.
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9Q4
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Kenneth C Collett
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Born in 1935
at Swindon
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9P9
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Clarice Elizabeth
Collett was born at
Swindon in 1906. At the age of five
years Clarice was living at 25 Rosebery Street in Swindon with her
family. It is also possible that
Clarice was born at that same address.
Clarice later married a Mr Baddeley and the marriage produced six
children for the couple. They were Victor
Baddeley, Mavis Baddeley, Brian Baddeley, Tony Baddeley,
Betty Baddeley, and Christine Baddeley. Eldest son Victor was the only child of
Clarice Baddeley who did not go on to be married. All of the other children did, and had
children of their own.
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9P10
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Dorothy May Collett was born at Swindon in 1907 and most
likely at 25 Rosebery Street where they were living in 1911 when Dorothy was
four years old. In 1924, when Dorothy
was only 17 years old, she married Robert Davies with whom she had just one
daughter who was born during the following year. Around twenty years later, her daughter Doreen
Davis married a German prisoner of war Gerhard Kailus. Their marriage produced three children,
these being Karen Kailus, Martin Kailus, and Andrew Kailus. All are now married with children of their
own. Doreen Kailus nee Davis died in
1999 at the age of 74.
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9P11
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Frank James Collett
was born at 25
Rosebery Street in Swindon in 1912 where his family was living in April 1911
and where they are known to have lived for many years thereafter. His birth was recorded at Swindon register
officer (Ref. 5a 39) during the third quarter of 1912, when his mother’s
maiden name was confirmed as Sheppard.
Just prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, Frank married Mary
Edith Bridle on 15th August 1939, the event recorded at Pontypool
in Monmouthshire (Ref. 11a 393). It
was also at Pontypool register office where the birth of Mary Edith Bridle
was recorded in 1916. She was referred
to as Molly by members of the family and presented Frank with two children
during the war years. Tragically,
Molly died when the younger of her two children was only ten years old. That happened on 5th January
1955 when she was only 38. After six
years her widowed husband remarried, when the marriage of Frank J Collett and
Gladys R Hunt was recorded at Swindon (Ref. 7c 1719) during the third quarter
of 1961. it seems ironical that
virtually exactly twenty-four years after Molly had passed, Frank James
Collett died on 6th January 1979 aged 67.
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9Q5
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Patricia Mary Collett
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Born in 1942
at Pontypoo4
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9Q6
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Dennis James Collett
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Born in 1945
at Pontypool
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9P12
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Evelyn Collett was born at 25 Rosebery Street in
Swindon in 1919. When she was around
twenty years old, she married Joseph (Joe) Rixon. That took place in either 1939 or 1940,
following which Evelyn presented her husband with two children, Peter
Rixon born in 1941 and John Rixon born in 1944. Sadly, Evelyn died tragically in 1954 when
she was only 35 leaving her two sons aged 13 and 10, the younger of the two
having died in more recent years.
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9P25
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Frank William Collett was born in 1917, his birth recorded
at Northleach register office (Ref. 6a 597) during the first quarter of the
year, when his mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Lafford. When he was 27 years of age he married
‘Cindy’ Pinchin at Aldsworth on 24th June 1944 at a time when
Frank was in the Army, the event recorded at the register office in
Cirencester (Ref. 6a 1201). Cecily M Pinchin
was born in 1919, her birth recorded at Northleach (6a 524) during the first
quarter of that year, when her mother’s name was Heyward. At the turn of the century the couple was
living at Bourton-on-the-Water where first Cindy died on 2nd
February 2007 aged 87, followed by Frank six months later on 3rd
August 2007 aged 90. Both were buried
at Bourton-on-the-Water where a single gravestone marks the spot, on which
Cindy is confirmed as Cicely Margaret Collett. (see Headstone Epitaphs)
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9Q7
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John William Collett
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Born in 1948
at Pontypool
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9Q8
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Susan Margaret Collett
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Born in 1950
at Pontypool
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9P26
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John
A Collett, who was
known as Jack, was born during the third quarter of 1918, his birth as John A
Collett recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 584), when his mother’s maiden name
was confirmed as Lafford. John A
Collett married Joan R Jeffries in 1948, the event recorded at Cirencester
register office (Ref. 7b 674) during the fourth quarter of that year. Joan was born at Stroud in 1922, the daughter
of a blacksmith, as was John’s own
father, Cecil Francis William Collett.
At the turn of the century the couple were living at Southrop and it
was there that John died in late
November 2008 at the age of ninety.
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9P27
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Donald E Collett was born in 1925, the last of the
three children of Cecil Francis William Collett and Hannah E Lafford. His birth, like those of his two older
brothers, was recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 576) during the last three
months of the year, with his mother’s maiden name confirmed at Lafford. Upon being married his name was recorded at
Cirencester as Donald P Collett, his marriage to Freda G Davey recorded there
(Ref. 7b 868) during the first three months of 1963. On being married, the couple settled in
Quenington to the east of Cirencester and south of Aldsworth, where their
only know child was born and where Donald’s parents were buried. At the end of the twentieth century Donald
and Freda were still living at Quenington.
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9Q9
|
Charles
Collett
|
Born in 1967
at Quenington
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9P28
|
Ethel Rosa Collett was born at Bibury in 1909, her birth
recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 373) during the third quarter of that year. She was one year old at the time of the census
in 1911 when Ethel and her mother were staying with Ethel’s paternal
grandparents at Aldsworth, while her father was recorded at the family’s home
in Bibury. She later married George E Turner,
with the marriage recorded at the Honiton register office in Devon (Ref. 5b
59) during the third quarter of 1931. It
was sixty years later that Ethel R Turner died in 1991.
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9P29
|
SYDNEY George COLLETT was born at Bibury on 23rd
September 1911, his birth recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 645) during the
last three months of the year, when his mother’s maiden name was confirmed as
Eden. He was a paper merchant and he
married Jeanie Thomson in 1941 at Trowbridge in Wiltshire, where the event
was recorded (Ref. 5a 493) during the third quarter of the year. He died in Birmingham where he was buried
in 2001. The death of Sydney George
Collett was recorded there (Ref. 0611f f12b) during the summer of that year.
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9Q10
|
Ian M Collett
|
Born in 1943
at Ilford, Essex
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|
9Q11
|
STEPHEN A COLLETT
|
Born in 1954
at Birmingham
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9P30
|
Donald R Collett was born in 1914 and was the twin
brother of Jessie (below). Their
births were recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 693) during the second quarter of
the year. He married Jean Richardson in
1944 at Derby, where their wedding was recorded (Ref. 7b 1531) during the
third quarter of that year. Their
marriage produced just one child, their son, who was born in the Bristol
area. Following Jean’s death, Donald
lived alone for many years and in 2005 he entered a residential home aged
92. Sadly, Donald passed away in
August 2008 at the age of 94 and was buried at Belton in Lincolnshire.
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9Q12
|
Richard E Collett
|
Born in 1948
at Bristol
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|
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9P31
|
Jessie Mary Collett was born on 24th March 1914
and was a twin with her brother Donald (above) and her birth, like that of
her brother, was recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 693) during the second
quarter of the yea. She later married
Theodore Tapp and it was as Jessie Mary Tapp that her death was recorded at
Bournemouth (Ref. 4271a a18d) during the spring of 2001. Stanley Theodore J Tapp, who was also born
in 1914, had died ten years earlier, with his death recorded at Eastbourne in
Sussex (Ref. 18 366) during the summer of 1991.
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9P32
|
Viola Emily Collett was born at Burton-on-Trent on 24th
November 1907, the eldest of the two known children of Alfred William Collett
and Emily Ford. Her birth was recorded
at Burton (Ref. 6b 406) during the first quarter of 1907, following which she
was listed as the only child living with her parents on the day of the Burton
census of 1911, when Viola Emily Collett was four years of age. Her father died in 1921 and nine years
later the marriage of Viola E Collett and Leonard J Ambrose was recorded at
Burton-on-Trent (Ref. 6b 918) during the third quarter of 1930. On their wedding Viola was already well into
the pregnancy for the couple’s first child, the birth of Jean M Ambrose
recorded at Burton (Ref. 6b 545) during the last three months of 1930, when
her mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Collett. The death of Leonard J Ambrose, at the age
of 66, was registered at Burton (Ref. 9b 32) during the second quarter of
1968. The death of his widow was
recorded at the East Staffordshire register office (Ref. 30 576) during the
summer of 1991, when she was 83.
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9P33
|
Alfred Edwin Collett was born at Burton-on-Trent in 1916,
where his birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 692) during the second quarter of the
year, when his mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Ford. He was still only four years old when his
father died, so was basically brought up by his widowed mother Emily. With the outbreak of war in 1939 Alfred
Edwin Collett, the son of the late Alfred William Collett and his wife Emily,
enlisted with the 5th Battalion Suffolk Regiment as Private
Collett 4805315. By that time, it
would appear from his army records, that he was not married since, on the
event of his death on 27th September 1943, his next-of-kin was
stated to be Emily Collett of Burton-on-Trent. The army record also stated that he was 27
when he died and that he was buried in the Kranji War Cemetery where his name
is one of the 24,000 listed on the Singapore War Memorial.
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9P34
|
Charles William Collett was born at Aldsworth on 14th
February 1915, the eldest of the three children of Robert Collett and Florence
Ethel Midwinter. The birth of Charles
W Collett was recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 706) during the first three
months of 1915, when his mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Midwinter. He married late in his life and, as a
consequence, there were no children.
Charles lived in Cirencester and it was there that he married Violet A
Pendry during the second quarter of 1954 (Ref. 7b 703). The death of Charles William Collett was
recorded at Cirencester (Ref. 4801 30d) towards the end of 1994.
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9P35
|
Rosalind Enid Collett, who was known as Rose, was born at
Aldsworth in 1920, with her birth recorded at the Northleach register office
(Ref. 6a 722) during the fourth quarter of the year, when her mother’s maiden
name was confirmed as Midwinter. It
was during the Second World War when Rosalind E Collett married Reginald
Crewe on 31st October 1942, the event recorded at Cirencester
register office (Ref. 6a 1199). The
couple lived at Elm Tree Cottage, now known as The Mullions in
Aldsworth. Rose took over running the
Post Office and village shop in 1961 which she was still doing at the turn of
the century but from a newer house in the heart of Aldsworth opposite Smith’s
Corner. The couple only had one son, Nigel
S Crewe, whose birth was recorded at Cheltenham (Ref. 6a 579) during the
last quarter of 1945, when the mother’s maiden name was confirmed as
Collett. He later married Shirley J
Lock during the summer of 1988, with whom he had one son Edward Crewe who was
born in 1993. By 2002, at the age of
80, Rose was the only surviving member of the Collett family still living in
Aldsworth, and in November 2008 she eventually retired, when the Post Office
was closed.
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9P36
|
Frederick Robert
Collett, who was
known as Fred, was born at Aldsworth on 6th January 1924. As with his two older siblings, his birth
was also recorded at Northleach (Ref. 6a 637), where his mother’s maiden name
was confirmed as Midwinter. He
continued to live at Aldsworth until around the age of nineteen, when he
joined the army during the Second World War.
The marriage of Frederick R Collett and Doreen Nancy (Nan) Hodson was
recorded at Northampton register office (Ref. 3b 1437) during the first
quarter of 1948. The marriage did not
produce any children and in November 2008 Fred and Nan were still living in
Northampton.
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9Q1
|
Michael Collett was born at Swindon in 1928, the
eldest of the three children of William Albert Collett and Gladys Davis. His birth was recorded at Swindon register
office (Ref. 5a 61) during the third quarter of that year, but tragically his
death was also recorded there (Ref. 3a 39) during the third quarter of 1931,
when he was only 3 years old.
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9Q2
|
Marion Claire Collett was born at Swindon in 1939, the
second child of three children of William Albert Collett of Swindon and his
wife Gladys Davis. The child’s birth,
record as Marion C Collett was registered at Swindon (Ref. 5a 14) during the
first three months of 1939, when the mother’s maiden name was confirmed as
Davis. Marion C Collett was just 20
when she married Maurice E Grant, the event recorded at Swindon (Ref. 7c
1489) during the first three months of 1959.
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9Q3
|
Alan David Collett was born at Swindon in 1940, his birth
recorded there (Ref. 5a 56) during the third quarter of the year, when his
mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Davis. Just like his sister (above), this child of
the family was also known by their second forename. As Alan D Collett he married Madeline M J
Eckett, their wedding recorded at Swindon (Ref. 7c 2445) during the third
quarter of 1967. So far, no children
from the marriage have been discovered.
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9Q4
|
Kenneth C Collett was born at Swindon in 1935, where his
birth was registered (Ref. 5a 40) during the third quarter of that year, when
his mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Perry. He later married Patricia Dewen, who was
known as Pat, with whom he had a son.
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9R1
|
Andrew J Collett
|
Born in 1961
at Solihull
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9Q5
|
Patricia Mary Collett,
who is referred to as
Pat, was born on 16th April 1942, her birth recorded at Pontypool
(Ref. 1a 210), when her mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Bridle. When Pat was 22, she married Anthony David
Brearley on 6th June 1964, the event recorded in Swindon (Ref. 7c
1188). The following year the couple
emigrated to Canada during March 1965.
They initially settled in Montreal, and later moved on to Vancouver
where their daughter Sara Brearley was born in 1969. Sara suffered with cystic fibrosis and
eventually had a double lung transplant.
However, she was only twenty-five years old when she passed away in
1994. Sara was exceptionally gifted
and excelled at mathematics and the arts.
Despite her obvious health problems in 1987 Sara attended the
University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver on a very prestigious
scholarship. In 1971 Pat and Tony
Brearley adopted a son Paul. It was on
a visit to England in 1973 that Pat’s Aunt Min commented that he was lucky to
be adopted, upon which Pat replied that she and Tony were lucky to have him
as their son.
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|
Paul Brearley
later married Corina Bouman on 27th March 1999 and together they
have two children, the first being a ‘honeymoon baby’. Kianna Brearley was born on 8th
February 2000, and Joshua Brearley was born two years later on 18th
June 2002. It is thanks to Pat
Brearley, supported by her brother Dennis Collett (below), that the
fascinating story of her branch of the Collett has been added to this family
line. It is also a massive coincidence
that when Pat Collett was still at primary school in Swindon around 1951/52,
she was friends with Glynis Ann Jinks of York Road in Swindon who later
married David Norris Collett (Ref. 1R10) whose family details are provided in
Part 1 –The Gloucestershire Main Line.
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9Q6
|
Dennis James Collett
was born on 20th
February 1945, his birth recorded at Pontypool (Ref. 11a 201), when his
mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Bridle.
The marriage of Dennis J Collett and Jennifer Smeed was recorded in
Swindon (Ref. 7c 1755) during the first three months of 1970. Their marriage produced a son for the
couple.
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9R2
|
a Collett
son
|
Date of birth
not revealed
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9Q7
|
John William Collett was born in 1948, his birth recorded
at Cirencester register office (Ref. 7b 604) during the first three months of
the year, when his mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Pinchin. John was 29 years of age when he married
Elaine Wigley, the event recorded at North Cotswold register office (Ref. 7b
1740) during the summer of 1973.
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9Q8
|
Susan Margaret Collett was born in 1950, her birth recorded
at Cirencester register office (Ref. 7b 761) during the second quarter of the
year, when her mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Pinchin. The marriage of Susan M Collett and Alec J
Close was recorded at North Cotswold register office (Ref. 7b 1399) during
the spring of 1971. Just over five
years later their son Paul Andrew Close was born towards the end of
1976, his birth recorded at North Cotswold (Ref. 22 1936), when his mother’s
maiden name was confirmed as Collett.
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9Q10
|
Ian M Collett was born at Ilford in Essex in 1943,
where his birth was registered (Ref. 4a 642) during the second quarter of the
year, when his mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Thomson. He was an engineer and he married Florence Mary
Fear during the last quarter of 1964, the event recorded at Leicester (Ref.
3a 1569). Their marriage produced four
daughters for the couple, while Florence was more commonly known within the
family as Mary. The births of the
first three girls were recorded at Birmingham register office, (Refs: 9c 1147
in Q1 1966; 9c 345 in Q2 1967; and 9c 605 in Q3 1970), with the fourth’s
registered at Solihull (Ref. 34 0463 in Q2 1975). In each case, the mother’s maiden name was
confirmed as Fear.
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9R3
|
Karen Ruth
Collett
|
Born in 1966
at Birmingham
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9R4
|
Maryann Rachel
Collett
|
Born in 1967
at Birmingham
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9R5
|
Alison Katherine
Collett
|
Born in 1970
at Birmingham
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9R6
|
Deborah
Elizabeth A Collett
|
Born in 1975
at Solihull
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9Q11
|
STEPHEN A COLLETT was born in Birmingham in 1954, and
it was there that his birth was registered (Ref. 9c 627) during the second
quarter of that year, when his mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Thomson. Like his brother Ian (above), Stephen was
also an engineer and he married Margaret Trim at Croydon in 1982 before
moving to Solihull in the West Midlands, where their three sons were born. The births of those three children were
recorded at Solihull register office, (Refs: 34 705 in Q1 1986; 34 609 in Q1
1988; and 0731b b93f in Q4 1993. In
all three cases, the mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Trim.
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9R7
|
James Matthew
Collett
|
Born in 1986
at Solihull
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9R8
|
Adam George Collett
|
Born in 1988
at Solihull
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9R9
|
David John Collett
|
Born in 1993
at Solihull
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9Q12
|
Richard E Collett was born in 1948, his birth recorded
at Bristol (Ref. 7b 263) during the first three months of the year, when his
mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Richardson. It is known that he married Maureen E
Graham, with their wedding day recorded at the Cumberland Whitehaven register
office (Ref. 1a 535) during the third quarter of 1972. That marriage produced a son and a daughter
for the couple.
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9R1
|
Andrew J Collett, whose birth was recorded at Solihull
register office (Ref. 9c 1953) during the second quarter of 1961, is the son
of Kenneth Collett and his wife Pat Dewen.
It was also at Solihull that the marriage of Andrew J Collett and Nicola
J Pyatt during the spring of 1998. The
couple have a son about whom no details are available at this time.
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9S1
|
a Collett son
|
Date of birth
unknown
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|
APPENDIX ONE
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|
This
appendix contains details for other Colletts who had associations with
Aldsworth
and Sherborne but who, so far, have not be identified as part of this family
line
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|
|
William Collett was baptised at Lechlade on 27th
October 1758 and was the son of Leonard
and Mary Collett. William was listed in the 1841 Census at the
age of 83.
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|
Elizabeth Collett married Ralph Guyse at Sherborne on
14th October 1630 (IGI)
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Thomas Collett married Mary Garn at Sherborne on 26th
December 1787 (IGI) – see burial record for Mary below
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|
Mary wife of Thomas Collett was buried at
Sherborne on 21st January 1798 (Parish Records)
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|
Emma Collett was buried at Aldsworth in 1813 aged
51 (Parish Records)
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|
Elizabeth Collett aged 74, a widow born at Aldsworth
and resident of Naunton, was living with nieces Elizabeth Rowland aged 38 and
Elizabeth Pudwinker aged eight years (1861 Census)
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|
John Collett aged 57 born at Sherborne living on
own means at Scarborough (1901 Census).
He was married to Mary who was born at Scarborough in 1845.
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|
APPENDIX TWO
|
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The Coachsmith Colletts
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|
This
appendix contains details of the family of coachsmith John Collett who was
born at West Bromwich in 1853. Previously
it had been wrongly assumed that he was the son of coachsmith Richard Collett
(Ref. 9M11) and later the son of his brother blacksmith John Collett (Ref.
9M13), until the register for his marriage revealed that his father was John
Collett, a coachsmith.
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|
As
a result of further research, it has been determined and confirmed that his
grandfather was William Collett, a locksmith, who was residing at Church Hill
in Wednesbury in 1841, whose eldest son was the John Collett, the coachsmith
and father of John Collett of West Bromwich who was born there in 1853. It may be of interest that Richard Collett
(Ref. 48M15) was baptised at Wednesbury in 1802, the son of Abraham Collett
and Ann Addich. However, the census in
1851 stated that William, the locksmith, was born at Willenhall, between
Wolverhampton and Walsall, under four miles from Wednesbury.
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9m1
|
William Collett was born at Willenhall around 1803
and he married Sarah Disturnal on 11th May 1928 at the Church of
St Mary in Bushbury within Wolverhampton.
Once they were married the couple settled in nearby Wednesbury where all
of their children were born and where they were living on the day of the
census in June 1841. William Collett
was a locksmith living at Church Hill in Wednesbury and was given a rounded
age of 35, while Sarah had a rounded age of 30. The couple’s five children were recorded as
John Collett who was 12, Samuel Collett who was 11, Josiah Collett who was
eight, Letitia (Lettisha) was three years of age and Sarah Collett was just
sixteen days old.
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|
Two
more children were born into the family over the following years but, it
seems likely that, William’s wife lost her life during the birth of an eighth
child, who also did not survive. The
death of Sarah Collett nee Disturnal took place at Wednesbury and was
recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 18 414) during the second quarter of
1850. It was at St Bartholomew’s
Church in Wednesbury that she was buried on was the second of those two
children. By the time of the
Wednesbury census in 1851 William Collett, incorrectly record as William
Colles, was a widower at 48 when living at Church Hill. Living there with him were six of his
children, with just eldest son John absent from the family home. Samuel was 21, Josiah was 18, Letitia was
14, Sarah Ann was 10, William was seven and George was four years old.
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|
After
a further eight years, the death of William Collett was recorded at West
Bromwich (Ref. 6b 412) during the last three months of 1859. Following his passing, only his four sons
John, Samuel, William and George were recorded in the census on 1861 and that
is because the three middle children all suffered a premature death between
1851 and 1855.
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|
9n1
|
John Collett
|
Born in 1828
at Wednesbury
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|
9n2
|
Samuel Collett
|
Born in 1830
at Wednesbury
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|
9n3
|
Josiah Collett
|
Born in 1832
at Wednesbury
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9n4
|
Letitia Collett
|
Born in 1837
at Wednesbury
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9n5
|
Sarah Collett
|
Born in 1841
at Wednesbury
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|
9n6
|
William Collett
|
Born in 1843
at Wednesbury
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|
9n7
|
George Collett
|
Born in 1847
at Wednesbury
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|
9n1
|
John Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1828, the eldest
child of William Collett and Sarah Disturnal.
He was 12 years old in the Wednesbury census of 1841 when he and his
family was living at Church Hill. Sadly,
his mother died just before the census in 1851 by time John Collett was 22
and living and working in West Bromwich, while the remainder of his family
was still living with his widowed father at Church Hill in Wednesbury. It was later that same year when John
Collett married Ann Stokes at Rushall, to the north of Walsall, on 4th
August 1851. Ann was the daughter of
Enoch and Ann Stokes and was baptised at the Church of St Bartholomew in
Wednesbury on 21st April 1883.
The marriage entry confirmed that John was the son of William Collett.
Ann, who was four years younger than John, was still a teenager on their
wedding day.
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|
During
their first ten years together, Ann may have presented John with more than
just the two children who were with them at the time of the next census in
1861. John Collett was 32, Ann Collett
was 28, and their sons Arthur and John were nine and seven respectively,
although the surname recorded in the West Bromwich census that year was
Coller, possibly a misinterpretation of Collet. The couple’s next two
children were named after John’s parents while, again, there may have been
other children who did not survive.
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|
On
the occasion of the census in 1871 the family of six was residing at Holloway
Bank midway between Wednesbury and West Bromwich. John Collett from Wednesbury was 42 and a
coachsmith, his wife Ann Collett from West Bromwich was 38, and their two
eldest sons were working alongside their father. Arthur Collett from Wednesbury was 19 and a
clerk at the coachworks and John Collett from West Bromwich was 17 and
employed as a labourer at coachworks.
Youngest son William Collett was five years of age and was attending
the local school and their daughter Sarah was two years old, both of them
also born at West Bromwich.
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|
According
to the census in 1881 coachsmith John Collett was 52 and his place of birth
was curiously recorded as Willenhall.
His wife Ann Collett was 49 and the only child still living with them
at 89 Albert Street in Wednesbury was their son William Collett who was 14
and a pupil teacher whose place of birth was recorded as Hill Top in West
Bromwich. It is possible that their
missing daughter Sarah had already suffered a childhood death. In the following census for Wednesbury in
1891, John Collett was 62 and his wife Ann Collett was 59, by which time all
of their children had gone their own way in the world. It is also possible that the absence of the
couple from the census in 1901 indicates they may have died during the last
decade of the century.
|
|
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|
9o1
|
Arthur Collett
|
Born in 1851
at Wednesbury
|
|
9o2
|
John Collett
|
Born in 1853
at West Bromwich
|
|
9o3
|
William Collett
|
Born in 1866
at West Bromwich
|
|
9o4
|
Sarah Collett
|
Born in 1869
at West Bromwich
|
|
|
|
|
9n2
|
Samuel Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1830, the
second son of William and Sarah Collett, and was baptised at the Church of St
Bartholomew in Wednesbury on 30th May 1830. In 1841 Samuel was 11 when the family home
was recorded in the census that year at Church Hill in Wednesbury. He was 21 years of age in the following
Wednesbury census of 1851 when he was a coachsmith with his brother Josiah
(below) still living with his family at Church Hill. Samuel has not been identified within the
census of 1861 although, prior to that, he had married (1) Rebecca Tonks, the
daughter of Simeon and Mary Tonks, who had also been baptised at St
Bartholomew’s on 5th August 1832.
It was at Sedgley, between Wolverhampton and Dudley, that they were
married, the event recorded at Dudley (Ref. 6c 190) during the last three
months of 1853. Samuel was 23 and the son of William Collett, while Rebecca
was 21, her father confirmed as Simeon Tonks.
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|
It
would appear that Samuel and Rebecca only had two children during the
remainder of that decade, with only their son surviving. The couple’s first child, Sarah Ann
Collett, was born at Wednesbury with her birth registered at West Bromwich
(Ref. 6b 577) during the fourth quarter of 1857. She was baptised at the Church of
Bartholomew on 25th December that year and her death, two years
later, was recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 420) during the last three
months of 1859. Within the next nine
months their son was born. While no
record of the death of Rebecca Collett has been found, both Samuel and son
George have not been identified in the census of 1861.
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|
|
|
Whether
made a widower or divorced, Samuel Collett was 35 when he married (2) Catherine
Benton during the last three months of 1865, the event recorded at Aston in
Birmingham (Ref. 6d 398). Like Samuel,
Catherine had also been baptised at St Bartholomew’s on 28th April
1839, the daughter of Walter and Elizabeth Benton. That marriage produced another four
children for Samuel, and all of them born at Wednesbury, where the family was
living at Mesty Croft in 1871. At that
time in his life, Samuel Collett was 41 and an axle-smith and his wife Catherine
was 32. Still living with his father
was Samuel’s older son George Collett who was 10, together with three of his
half-siblings, Martha E Collett who was four, Samuel Collett who was three
and Elizabeth Collett who was only a few months old.
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|
One
more child was added to the family two years later and, according to the
census in 1881, the family was residing at 23 Piercy Street in
Wednesbury. The census return that
year confirmed that Samuel, aged 49, had followed his father by being a
coachsmith and an axle builder. His
wife Catherine was 42 and completing the household were George who was 20
with no occupation, Martha who was 14, Samuel who was 13, Lizzie who was nine
and William James Collett who was seven, all of them attending school and
every member of the household born at Wednesbury. It is
interesting to note that Samuel’s nephew John Collett (Ref. 9o2), another
coachsmith, was recorded as living at 20-21 Piercy Street in Wednesbury when
he died in October 1900, where his widow Rebecca Collett and daughter
Beatrice Mary Collett were residing in 1901.
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|
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Six
years later the death of Samuel Collett was recorded at West Bromwich (Ref.
6b 436) during the third quarter of 1887.
His widow Catherine was still at 11 Piercy Street in Wednesbury in 1891
when she was 52 and was described as being kept by her family. The three
children still living with her were her daughter Elizabeth who was 19 and a
domestic servant, William who was 17 and a groom, and her married son Samuel,
aged 23 and a labourer. He had with
him, his wife Leah Collett who was 21 and from Walsall, plus their son Samuel
Collett who was just three months old.
Not long after that, Catherine, and son William, travelled to
Lancashire where her eldest daughter Martha Elizabeth Collett, aged 24, was
living with relatives in 1891 at Oak Street in Newton, Prestwich, from where
she was working a general domestic servant.
And it was there also that Martha Elizabeth was married, with her
brother William as one of the witnesses.
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|
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The
move to North Manchester was confirmed in the census of 1901, where widow Catherine
Collett from Wednesbury was 62 and her son William, also from Wednesbury, was
25 and a labourer at a local brewery.
On that occasion the pair of them was actually staying at the Bath
Street, Newton Heath home of Catherine’s married daughter Martha Elizabeth Houlton
and her husband James, another brewery labourer, and their three sons. Also living at the same address was John
Lloyd from Lincoln, with whom Catherine’s unmarried daughter Martha has been
living in 1891 with John’s mother Ann Lloyd from Staffordshire, who was
related to the Collett family through the family of Catherine Benton.
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Catherine
Collett from Wednesbury was still alive and living in Newton Heath in 1911
when she was 82 and described as the aunt of John Lloyd, at whose home she
was living. That stated relationship
certainly suggests that John’s mother Ann Lloyd was formerly Ann Benton, and
so was Catherine’s older sister. Also
living with her mother that day in 1911 was Catherine’s unmarried daughter
Elizabeth Collett from Wednesbury who was 39 and working as a servant.
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9o5
|
Sarah Ann
Collett
|
Born in 1857
at Wednesbury; died 1859
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9o6
|
George Collett
|
Born in 1860
at Wednesbury
|
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The
following are the children of Samuel Collett by his second wife Catherine
Benton:
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|
9o7
|
Martha Elizabeth Collett
|
Born in 1866
at Wednesbury
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|
9o8
|
Samuel Collett
|
Born in 1867
at Wednesbury
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|
9o9
|
Elizabeth Collett
|
Born in 1871
at Wednesbury
|
|
9o10
|
William James Collett
|
Born in 1873
at Wednesbury
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9n3
|
Josiah Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1832 and was
baptised there at St Bartholomew’s Church on 7th October 1932, the
son of William and Sarah Collett. He
was eight years old in the census of 1841 and was again living at Church Hill
in Wednesbury with his family in 1851 when he was 18 and a coachsmith,
working alongside his older brother Samuel (above). Four years later the death of Josiah
Collett was recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 387) during the second quarter
of 1855 and just after the death of his sister Sarah (below) also passed
away, both most likely as a result of the same illness, as had their sister
Letitia (below) four years earlier in 1851.
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9n4
|
Letitia Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1837, her
birth recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 18 410) during the last three months of
the year. She was three years of age
in the Wednesbury census of 1841 when she and her family were residing at
Church Hill. It was also at that same
address that she was recorded with her family in 1851 when she was 13. By that time her mother had been dead for a
year, and it was later that same year that the death of Letitia Collett was
recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 18 388) during the third quarter of
1851. Less than four years later two
of her siblings, Josiah (above) and Sarah (below) died, perhaps of the same
ailment that caused the premature death of Letitia.
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9n5
|
Sarah Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1841 and was
sixteen days old in the June census that year. When she was nine years old her mother
suffered a premature death, leaving Sarah Ann Collett aged 10 years living at
Church Hill in Wednesbury with her widowed father. The death of Sarah Collett was recorded
four years later at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 465) during the first three months
of 1855.
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9n6
|
William Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1843, a son
of William and Sarah Collett, who was baptised on 30th July 1843
at St Bartholomew’s Church. His birth
was recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 18 539) during the third quarter of 1843.
He was seven years old in the
Wednesbury census of 1851 but had left the family home by the time of the
next census in 1861. It was on leaving
school that he joined his father as a coachsmith, and in 1861, at the age of
17, William was a lodger at Holloway Bank in West Bromwich. Four years later the marriage of William
Collett and Harriet Allen was recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 849) during
the third quarter of 1865. By 1871
they had given birth to three children, all of them born in Wednesbury where
the family was still residing in 1871.
William Collett was 26 and a coachsmith, as was his wife Harriet, son
Josiah G Collett was four years old, daughter Sarah J Collett was two and
George A Collett was still under one year old.
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By
1881 the family had increased to eight children when, on the day of the
census, they were living at 6 Bridge Street off Palmers Terrace in
Wednesbury. William Collett from
Wednesbury was 37 and a coachsmith like his older brother John (above) and
his wife Harriet was also 37. Working
with William was his eldest son Josiah Collett who was also a coachsmith at
the age of 14. The next six children
were all attending school, and they were Sarah Jane who was 11, Arthur
(George A) who was 10, Phoebe who was seven, Lizzie who was six, William who
was four and Ernest who was three.
Completing the family was Alfred Collett who was one year old.
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The
couple’s ninth child was born during the following year and two years after
that she presented William with their tenth and last child, although seven of
their ten children were still living with them at Bridge Street in Wednesbury
in 1891. William Collett was 48 and still
working as a coachsmith, Harriet Collett was 47, George Arthur Collett was
20, Elizabeth Annie Collett was 16, William Collett was 15, Samuel E Collett
was 13, Alfred John Collett was 11, Florrie Alice Collett was nine and Dennis
Sidney Collett was seven.
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By
March 1901 only the six youngest children were still living at Wednesbury, at
60 Sparrows Forge Road, with William and Harriet, with the three older sons
working with their father who was an axletree forger at the age of 56, the
same age as his wife who had been born in West Bromwich. Their unmarried daughter Lizzie was 27 and
a mineral water manufacturer, son William was 23 and an axletree forger, as
was son Samuel who was 22, whereas son John was 21 and described as an
axletree striker. Def: axletree - a bar, fixed crosswise under an animal-drawn vehicle,
with a rounded spindle at each end upon which a wheel rotates.
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The
remainder of the family was made up of Florrie Collett who was 18 and with no
stated occupation, presumably helping her mother at home, and Dennis Collett
who was 16 and a hairdresser with his own account. Completing the family was grandson John
Collett who was eight years of age and he was the son of their eldest son
Josiah George Collett who had become a married man in 1892. It is rather strange that no record of any
member of the family has been found anywhere within the next census conducted
in early April 1911.
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9o11
|
Josiah George Collett
|
Born in 1866
at Wednesbury
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9o12
|
Sarah Jane Collett
|
Born in 1868
at Wednesbury
|
|
9o13
|
George Arthur Collett
|
Born in 1870
at Wednesbury
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|
9o14
|
Phoebe Collett
|
Born in 1873
at Wednesbury
|
|
9o15
|
Elizabeth Anne Collett
|
Born in 1874
at Wednesbury
|
|
9o16
|
William Collett
|
Born in 1876
at Wednesbury
|
|
9o17
|
Samuel Ernest Collett
|
Born in 1877
at Wednesbury
|
|
9o18
|
Alfred John Collett
|
Born in 1879
at Wednesbury
|
|
9o19
|
Florence Alice Collett
|
Born in 1882
at Wednesbury
|
|
9o20
|
Dennis Sidney Collett
|
Born in 1884
at Wednesbury
|
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|
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9n7
|
George Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1847, the
youngest child of William Collett and Sarah Disturnal, his birth recorded at
West Bromwich (Ref. 18 567) during the second quarter of the year. It was at St Bartholomew’s Church in
Wednesbury on 4th July 1847.
He was four years old in the Wednesbury census of 1851 when he was one
of six children still living with his widowed father, his mother possibly
having not survived his birth. No
record of his father and most of his older siblings has been found within the
next census, when George Collett from Wednesbury was 13 years of age and was
already working as a butcher’s apprentice.
On that day in 1861 he was described as the nephew of Henry and Fanny
Walker, both born at Willenhall, when staying with them at their home on
Stafford Street in Willenhall, where George eventually he met his future
wife.
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Eight
years later George Collett was a butcher when he married Sarah Carver from
Willenhall. Their wedding was recorded
at Wolverhampton (Ref. 6b 610) during the third quarter of 1869 and actually
took place at Holy Trinity Church in Willenhall on 12th September
1869. The wedding register confirmed
that George was 22 and the son of William Collett, with Sarah being 21 and
the daughter of John Carver. It was
also at Willenhall where they settled, once they were married, and where all
of their children were born. In the
Willenhall census of 1871 George was 24, Sarah was 23 and their first child
William was still under one year old.
It was at 15 Union Street in Willenhall where the enlarged family was
residing in 1881. The census return
that year listed the family as George Collett who was 34 and a butcher from
Wednesbury, his wife Sarah Collett who was 32, William Collett who was 10,
George Collett who was three, and Lettie Collett was not yet one year old.
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One
more child was added to the family seven years after that census day
although, that child did not survive.
The family was still residing at Clarks Lane in Willenhall in 1891,
when George was 43 and a pork butcher, Sarah was 41, William was 20, George
was 13 and Letitia was 10. By March
1901 the two sons had left home which, by then, was in the Heath Town
district of Wolverhampton where George Collett from Wednesbury was 53 and a butcher. His wife Sarah Collett was 52 and, still
living the couple, was their daughter Letitia Collett who was 20 years old,
but with no stated occupation.
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|
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|
Absent
son George was married by then, and daughter Letitia was subsequently married
shortly thereafter. Living on there on
during the early years of the new century, George and Sarah moved to
Birmingham and, on the day of the next census in 1911, the couple was
recorded in the Saltley district of the city.
George Collett was 63 and Sarah Collett was 62. Living there with them was their son George
Frederick Collett who, by then, had been widowed following the death of his
first wife. It was later that year when the death of Sarah Collett was
recorded at Aston register office (Ref. 6d 493) during the third quarter of
1911 when she was 62. Having lost his
wife, it would appear that George senior moved again, back to the Willenhall
area, since his death was recorded at Wolverhampton register office (Ref. 6b
609) during the last three months of 1919, when he was 72.
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|
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9o21
|
William Collett
|
Born in 1870
at Willenhall
|
|
9o22
|
George Frederick Collett
|
Born in 1877
at Willenhall
|
|
9o23
|
Letitia (Lettie) Collett
|
Born in 1881
at Willenhall
|
|
9o24
|
John Carver Collett
|
Born in 1888
at Willenhall
|
|
|
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|
9o1
|
Arthur Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1851, the
eldest child of John and Ann Collett.
Not long after he was born his parents moved to nearby West Bromwich
where Arthur Collett was seven years old in 1861. Ten years after that Arthur’s family was
recorded at Holloway Bank near West Bromwich, when he was included in the
census of 1871 as Arthur Collett from Wednesbury who was 19 and a clerk at
the coachworks where his father and younger John (below) also worked. During the second half of the 1870s Arthur
married Sarah Jane, also of Wednesday where they were likely married, before
settling in Nuneaton where their only known child was born. However, it was within the parish of
Chilvers Coton to the south of Nuneaton that the family of three was recorded
in the census of 1881. Chilvers Coton was absorbed into the
Borough of Nuneaton in 1920.
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The
census in 1881 listed the family living at Coton Road in Chilvers Coton where
Arthur Collett was 28 and a commercial clerk working for a coal and iron
trader. His wife Sarah J Collett was
27 and their son Arthur H Collett was two years old. It was the same situation after a further
ten years when the Chilvers Coton census of 1891 identified the family as
Arthur Collett who was 39, Sarah J Collett was 38 and their son Arthur H
Collett was 11. The census in March
1901 told the same story, except by then the family was living at 61 Dugdale
Street in Chilvers Coton. Arthur
Collett from Wednesbury was 49 and was employed as a clerk at a colliery,
Sarah J Collett was 48 and Arthur H Collett from Nuneaton was 21 and an
ironmonger’s assistant. No record of Sarah
has been located within the census of 1911, so Arthur may have been widowed
during the first decade of the new century.
Certainly, within the census of 1911, Arthur Collett from Wednesbury
was 59 and living in Nuneaton, close to where his married son and his family
was living.
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|
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|
9p1
|
Arthur Horace Collett
|
Born in 1879
at Nuneaton
|
|
|
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|
9o2
|
John Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1853, the
second child of John and Ann Collett.
He was seven years old and 17 years of age in the two census returns
of 1861 and 1871 when, in the latter, he was working as a labourer at a local
coachworks with his father and his older brother Arthur. Just over four years later John Collett, a
bachelor and a coachsmith of full age residing in Birmingham, was married by
licence at the Parish Church in Sutton Coldfield on 5th July 1875
to spinster Rebecca Ball, aged 20 years and of Sutton Coldfield, the daughter
of Charles Ball, an engineer, deceased.
The father of John Collett was confirmed as John Collett, a coachsmith,
who was also one of the two witnesses, with Mary Anne Halford. All four participants signed the parish
register in their own hand.
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During
the next six years Rebecca presented John with four children while they were
living in Wednesbury, where the family was recorded in the next census in
1881. It was at 43 Oxford Street in
Wednesbury that John Collett from West Bromwich was living when he was 27 and
his occupation was that of a coachsmith and grocer. His wife Rebecca was 26 and from Wednesbury
and later census records would indicate that it was she who managed the
grocery shop. Their children on that
occasion were Alfred who was five, John who was three, Edith who was two and
Charles who was only two months old, all of them having been born at
Wednesbury.
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|
Their
business must have been flourishing as they could afford to employ a general
servant in the form of 14-year-old Ann Maria Gwilt of Darlaston. During the following couple of years
Rebecca presented John with a further
two children and by 1891 the family comprised John, age 37, Rebecca, age 36,
Alfred who was 15, John who was 13, Edith who was 12, Ernest who was 10,
Arthur who was eight, Harold who was seven, Florence who was five and
Beatrice who was four years of age. Sadly,
Florence was only fourteen when her father died at Wednesbury; the death of
John Collett at the age of 46 being recorded at West Bromwich register office
(Ref. 6b 556) during the third quarter of 1900. The Will of John Collett of 20-21 Piercy
Street in Wednesbury was proved at Lichfield on 22nd October 1900
when his personal effects were valued at £551 16 Shillings 6 Pence and the
executor of his estate was his widow Rebecca Collett. Nineteen
years earlier, according to the census in 1881, John’s uncle Samuel Collett,
a coachsmith, was living at 23 Piercy Street in Wednesbury.
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|
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Five
months later, according to the Wednesbury census of 1901, widow Rebecca
Collett was still living in Wednesbury, but at 21-22 Piercy Street, with just
six of her seven children. Where her
son John was at that time has not
been determined, nor has he been identified in the census of 1911. Rebecca was 46 and was listed as a beer
retailer having her own account, presumably running an outdoor beer house,
the colloquial name for such shops.
Still living with her on that occasion were her sons Alfred 25, Charles
20, Arthur 18 and Harold 17, and daughters Edith 22, Florence 15 and Beatrice
who was 14. Following the death of her
husband, it would appear that Rebecca, together with her youngest child
Florence, moved to North Devon sometime after 1901. By 1911 the two of them were living in the
Bideford area of Devon where Rebecca of Wednesbury was 56, and her daughter
was 25. That may have been a temporary
arrangement, since the remainder of the unmarried members of the family were
still residing in Wednesbury.
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9p2
|
Alfred Collett
|
Born in 1875
at Wednesbury
|
|
9p3
|
John
Brittain Collett
|
Born in 1877
at Wednesbury
|
|
9p4
|
Edith M Collett
|
Born in 1878
at Wednesbury
|
|
9p5
|
Charles Ernest Collett
|
Born in 1881
at Wednesbury
|
|
9p6
|
Arthur Collett
|
Born in 1882
at Wednesbury
|
|
9p7
|
Harold Collett
|
Born in 1883
at Wednesbury
|
|
9p8
|
Florence Amy Collett
|
Born in 1885
at Wednesbury
|
|
9p9
|
Beatrice Mary Collett
|
Born in 1887
at Wednesbury
|
|
|
|
|
9o3
|
William Collett was born at West Bromwich in 1866, a
son of John and Ann Collett. It was at
Holloway Bank near West Bromwich that William’s family was living in 1871
when he was five years of age and attending school. Ten years later it was just William who was
the only child still living with his parents who by then were living at 89
Albert Street in Wednesbury when William Collett was 14 and a pupil teacher
whose place of birth was recorded as Hill Top in West Bromwich. According to the next census in 1891
William Collett from West Bromwich was 25 when he was one of two people of
that surname recorded within the Cannock registration district of
Staffordshire, the other being his eighteen-year old cousin Phoebe Collett
(Ref. 9o13), the daughter of William and Harriet Collett.
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At
that time in his life William was a clergyman within the Church of England
and around 1891 he married Florence who was born at Wednesbury. Once married William was appointed to a
post at Walsall where their daughter was born and where he and Florence were
living in March 1901. The census that
month confirmed that William Collett from West Bromwich was 35 and a priest
of the Church of England, while his wife was described as Mary Florence
Collett from Wednesbury who was 40.
Their daughter Florence Collett from Walsall was eight years old. Another move to Wolverhampton took place
within the first decade of the new century and by April 1911 William Collett
from West Bromwich was 45 was a Clerk in Holy Orders residing at St Mary’s
Vicarage in Wolverhampton with his wife of eighteen years Florence from
Wednesbury who was 50. Supporting the
couple were two domestic servants, Maud Badger aged 21 and Alice Crowshaw who
was 16.
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9p10
|
Florence
Collett
|
Born in 1892
at Walsall
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9o6
|
George Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1860, the only
known child of Samuel Collett and his first wife Rebecca Tonks. He was baptised at St Bartholomew’s Church
in Wednesbury on 3rd July that same year. and Catherine
Collett. He was 10 years old in the
Wednesbury census of 1871 and was 20 but with no stated occupation in 1881
when he and his family was living at 23 Piercy Street in Wednesday. Two years later the marriage of George
Collett, the son of Samuel, was recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 922)
during the second quarter of 1883. His
bride was (1) Eliza Lavinia Griffiths, aged 18, the daughter of John
Griffiths, whose birth was recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 792) during the
second quarter of 1865. The wedding
ceremony was conducted at All Saints Church, Moxley in Darlaston on 4th
June 1883 when, both the bride and the groom were residing in nearby
Wednesbury.
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Their
son was born early in following year so, perhaps he was a honeymoon baby,
either that, or Eliza was already with-child on their wedding day. That child was around one year old when
Eliza died, most likely during the birth of the couple’s second child, who
also did not survive. The death of
Eliza Lavinia Collett was recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 539) during the
first quarter of 1885, when she was 19 years old. That tragic event left George with a
one-year-old baby to look after and presumably enlisted his family’s help and
advice. By the time of the census in
1891, widower George Collett was 29 and a labourer, when he and his son,
Samuel Collett aged seven years, were lodging at 32 Alma Street in
Wednesbury, the home of Richard and Marion Steadman.
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Within
the next fifteen months, George Collett married (2) the widow Mary Ann Evans. The wedding took place at the Wednesbury
Church of St Paul and St Luke on 4th July 1892, when George was
31, the son of Samuel Collett, and when Mary was 27, the daughter of Joseph
and Mary Smith. Both George and Mary
were said to be residing at Crankhall Lane in Wednesbury prior to that day,
while Mary Ann Smith was baptised at Wednesbury on 14th September
1862. It should be noted that, whilst
the church records at St Bartholomew, for both her baptism and remarriage,
used the forenames Mary Ann, the record of her second marriage to George
Collett at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 1136) gave her name as Mary
Jane Evans.
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A
year later, and five years again after that, Mary presented George with two
sons, when they were still living in Wednesbury. In addition to those two boys, plus
George’s son from his first marriage, there was another member of the family
listed with them in the census of 1901, and she may have been Mary’s daughter
from her first marriage, or though, no record of the birth or baptism for the
child has been discovered. The
Wednesbury census in 1901 recorded the family living at Albert Street as
George Collett, who was 40 and an ironworks labourer, Mary J Collett aged 37,
Samuel Collett, who was 17 and also a labourer at the iron works, Mary A
Collett aged 13, William A Collett who was seven, and George E Collett who
was three years old. Every member of
the household had been born at Wednesday.
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|
Mary
A Collett was described as the daughter of George Collett, while her age
suggests she was born around 1888, three years after his first wife had
passed away. If she was the daughter
of Mary Evans, she had already taken up the Collett surname. However, no record of her has been
discovered in 1911, by which time she may have been married. During the next decade George took his
family to Wolverhampton where they were located in the census of 1911. George Collett was 50 and still an
ironworks labourer, Jane Collett was 45, and their son George Collett was 13. As regards the two other sons of George
Collett, Samuel was living with George’s brother Samuel (below) in West
Bromwich on that day, while no record of William has been found for that day.
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|
9p11
|
Samuel John Collett
|
Born in 1884
at Wednesbury
|
|
The
following were the sons of George Collett by his second wife Mary Ann Evans,
nee Smith:
|
|
9p12
|
William Arthur Collett
|
Born in 1893
at Wednesbury
|
|
9p13
|
George Edwin Collett
|
Born in 1898
at Wednesbury
|
|
|
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|
9o7
|
Martha Elizabeth Collett
was born at
Wednesbury in 1866, the eldest of the four children of Samuel Collett by his
second wife Catherine Denton. Her
birth was recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 709) during the third quarter of
the year. Martha E Collett, aged four
years, and her family were living at Mesty Croft in Wednesbury in 1871 and
was 14 years old in 1881, by which time the family home was on Piercy Street
in Wednesbury. On completing her
education, Martha secured a job as a general domestic servant in Lancashire
and in 1891 was staying with relatives at Oak Street in the Newton, Prestwich
area of North Manchester. General
domestic servant Martha from Wednesbury was unmarried at the age of 24 but
was married shortly thereafter. The
relatives were Ann Lloyd aged 63 who had been born in Staffordshire and her
son John Lloyd from Lincoln who was 36.
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|
Three
years after the census day, the marriage by banns of Martha Elizabeth Collett
aged 26 and of Hadfield Street, the daughter of Samuel Collett deceased, and
James Houlton aged 27 and a labourer of 224 Oldham Road, the son of James Houlton
deceased, took place at St Anne’s Church in Newton on 11th
February 1894. It is established that
her mother Catherine and brother William Collett moved to that same area of
the country during the 1890s and, in fact, it was William Collett who was one
of the witnesses at her wedding.
Furthermore, the next census in 1901, Martha Houlton and her family had
her mother and brother living with them at Bath Street in Newton (Newton
Heath), North Manchester.
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|
Once
married, Martha initially presented James with their first three children
prior to the end of the century and the census in 1901 confirmed that the
following people were residing with them in Bath Street. James Houlton was a brewery labourer from
Newton Heath, Martha from Wednesbury was 33, James Houlton was six, William
Houlton was four, Fred Houlton was two, all born at Newton Heath,
Catherine Collett from Wednesbury was 62, and William Collett, also from
Wednesbury, was 25. Completing the
household was John Lloyd from Lincoln who was 47, and it was with him and his
elderly mother that Martha Collett was living in 1891.
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The
only daughter of Martha and James was baptised at Newton Heath on 23rd
December 1903, whose death was recorded at Prestwich register office (Ref. 8d
261) during the last quarter of 1904.
The remainder of the family was residing in Stockport in 1911, when
James Houlton was 44, Martha Houlton was 43, James Houlton was 17, William
Houlton was 14 and Fred Houlton was 12.
An error by the census enumerator had everyone’s place of birth as
Newton Heath, Martha’s elderly widowed mother was still living in 1911, with
aforementioned John Lloyd and his young daughter Eveline Lloyd who was eight.
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9o8
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Samuel Collett was born in 1867 at Wednesbury, the
third child of Samuel and Catherine Collett.
He was three years old in the Wednesday census of 1871 and was 13 and
still at school in 1881. At that time
in his life, he was still living with his family which was recorded at 23
Piercy Street in Wednesbury. The
marriage of Samuel Collett and Leah Slinn took place at St Peter’s Church in
Walsall on 9th November 1890.
Leah was 21 and the daughter of coal miner David Slinn, of 31 Whitehouse
Street in Walsall, with Samuel being 22, the son of Samuel Collett, who was
living at 31 Day Street in Walsall. By
the census day in 1891 Samuel and Leah had just given birth to their first
child. Head of the family residing at
11 Piercy Street was Samuel’s widowed mother Catherine, while labourer Samuel
Collett was 23 and his wife Leah Collett from Walsall was 21. Their son Samuel Collett was only three
months old that day, his birth having been recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b
909) during the early days of 1891.
His subsequent baptism had already taken place at the Church of St
Paul in Wednesbury on 22nd February 1891, when he was confirmed as
the son of Samuel and Leah Collett.
However, it was six years later that the death of Samuel Collett, aged
six years, was recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 579) during the first
quarter of 1897.
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Two
more children were born into the family over the next five years and in March
1901 the family of four was visiting Leah’s home town of Walsall and were
recorded at Wellington Street, the home of Leah’s father David Slinn. According to the census that month,
son-in-law Samuel Collett was 33 and an iron worker, daughter Leah Collett
was 31, granddaughter Lily Collett was seven and grandson David Collett was
five, both of them born at Wednesbury.
How long they were there has not been determined but, by 1911, the
family was once again living in Wednesbury.
Samuel was 43 and described as a labourer working in a yard, Leah was
42, Lilian was 18 and David was 16.
Staying with the family on the day of the census was Samuel’s nephew
Samuel Collett, the twenty-eight-year-old son of Samuel’s brother George
(above), who later married his daughter Lily.
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The
death of Leah Collett nee Slinn was recorded at West Bromwich register office
(Ref. 6b 1301) during the first three months of 1927 when she was 56 years
old. Samuel survived for a further
five years, when his death was also recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 689) during
the third quarter of 1932, at the age of 64.
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9p14
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Samuel
Collett
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Born in 1891
at Wednesbury; died 1897
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9p15
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Lily Collett
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Born in 1893
at Wednesbury
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9p16
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David Thomas Collett
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Born in 1895
at Wednesbury
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9o9
|
Elizabeth Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1871, one of
the daughters of Samuel and Catherine Collett. She was often referred to as Lizzie, as she
was in 1881 when she was nine years old and living with her family at 23
Piercy Street in Wednesbury. It was
there, at 11 Piercy Street, that she was described as Elizabeth Collett, aged
19 and a domestic servant in 1891. Ten
years later she had left the family home, and in the Birmingham census of
1901 she was listed as Lizzie Collett from Wednesbury who was 29 and still
employed as a domestic servant. After
a further ten years, unmarried Elizabeth Collett from Wednesbury was 39 and
employed as a general domestic servant at the Newton Heath Manchester home of
her cousin John Lloyd, the son of the sister of Elizabeth’s mother, Ann Lloyd
nee Benton. Also living at the Lloyd’s
home was Elizabeth mother Catherine Collett nee Benton.
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9o10
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William James Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1873, the
youngest known child of Samuel Collett and Catherine Benton, his birth
recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 832) during the third quarter of 1873. It was at 23 Piercy Street in Wednesbury
that the family was living in 1881 when William James Collett was seven years
old. His father died during the next
decade, so William was one of three children still living with their widowed
mother in 1891 at 11 Piercy Street in Wednesbury. By that time William Collett was 17 and
working as a groom. Sometime before
1894 William and his widowed mother left Wednesbury and moved north to Newton
Heath, where William’s sister Martha Elizabeth Collett was already living and
working in 1891. In 1894 William
Collett was one of the witnesses at his sister’s wedding and by 1901 William
and his mother were living with married Martha and her family.
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It
was at Bath Street in Newton Heath (Prestwich) in the North Manchester area of
Lancashire that the two parts of the family were living in 1901, when William
Collett from Wednesbury, as was his mother Catherine, was 25 and a labourer
at a local brewery. Just over one year
later, on 11th May 1902, William James Collett aged 23, a labourer
and the son of Samuel Collett deceased, a coachsmith, was married by banns at
All Saints Church in Newton to Sarah Gent, also 23, the daughter of Samuel
Gent, a greengrocer. As far as can be
determined, the marriage produced two children. According to the census in 1911 William
James Collett from Wednesbury was 37 when he was married to Sarah Collett,
also 37, who were living at Miles Platting in North Manchester with their son
Harry Collett who was four years of age.
It would also appear that William had taken over his father-in-law’s
business since, his occupation that year was that of a greengrocer and
shopkeeper.
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On
the day of the census, Sarah was expecting the arrival of the couple’s second
child and just a few weeks later the birth of Robert H Collett was recorded
at Prestwich register office (Ref. 8d 334) during the second quarter of
1911. The birth of their first child,
Harry Collett, was also recorded at Prestwich (Ref. 8d 306) during the third
quarter of 1906 and, upon his death, at the age of 76, towards the end of
1982 at Manchester, his date of birth was recorded as 17th June
1906. His father also lived all his
life in the Manchester area and it was there that the death of William J
Collett was recorded (Ref. 10e 392) during the final quarter of 1960 when he
was 87.
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9p17
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Harry Collett
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Born in 1906
in Newton Heath
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9p18
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Robert H
Collett
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Born in 1911
in Newton Heath
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9o11
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Josiah George Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1866, the
eldest of the eleven children of William Collett and Harriet Allen, whose
birth was recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 692) during the third quarter of
the year. It was also at Wednesbury
where he was baptised on 15th July 1866. As Josiah G Collett he was four years old
in 1871 and was 14 and already a coachsmith by 1881 when he was living and
working with his father at 6 Bridge Street, Palmers Terrace in
Wednesbury. During the next decade he
left Wednesbury when he became a policeman in Stoke-on-Trent where, in 1891 Josiah
George Collett from Wednesbury was 23 and a boarder at Heathcote Road, the
only Collett living in that area at that time. Less than one year later Josiah George
Collett married (Alice) Maud Bradbury, the event recorded at Stoke-on-Trent
(Ref. 6b 279) during the first three months of 1982. The marriage produced three sons and a
daughter for the couple who, by the time the next census was conducted in
1901, only had two children living with them at New Street in Longton. Josiah George Collett from Wednesbury was
31 (sic) and a fish salesman by then, his wife Alice Maud Mary Collett from
Hanley near Stoke-on-Trent was 29 and their sons were George Ernest Collett
who was six and William Edward Collett who was four, both born in Longton.
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The
couple’s eldest son and daughter had not survived beyond a few months after
being born and baptised and their loss, for their father Josiah, was made
even worse when he was widowed two years later. The death of Alice M Collett was recorded
at Stoke register office (Ref. 6b 172) during the first three months of 1903,
when she was only 31. Her husband
survived for just four years on his own, with two young sons to look after,
when the death of Josiah George Collett was recorded at Stoke register office
(Ref. 6b 213) during the first quarter of 1907, when his age was incorrectly
recorded by the informant of his passing as being only 37, when he would have
been 41 later that year.
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On
the occasion of the census in 1911 Josiah’s two surviving sons were staying
with Josiah’s married sister Florence (below) at 115 Mill Street in Kings
Hill, Wednesbury. The two brothers
were described as the nephews of Florence’s husband David Butler and were
listed as George Collett aged 16, a wooden box maker at a candle works, who
had been born at Fenton in Stoke-on-Trent, and William Collett aged 14, a
driller and an engineering worker from New Street in Longton.
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9p19
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John William G Collett
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Born in 1893
at Longton, Stoke-on-Trent
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9p20
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George Ernest Collett
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Born in 1894
at Longton, Stoke-on-Trent
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9p21
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William Edward Collett
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Born in 1896
at Longton, Stoke-on-Trent
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9p22
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Florence Mary Ann Collett
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Born in 1900
at Edensor, Stoke-on-Trent
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9o12
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Sarah Jane Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1868, a
daughter of William and Harriet Collett, whose birth was recorded at West
Bromwich (Ref. 6b 717) during the fourth quarter of that year. She was then baptised at St Bartholomew’s
Church in Wednesbury on 8th November 1868. She was two years old in the census of 1871
and was 11 years of age in 1881 at 6 Bridge Street (Palmers Terrace) in
Wednesbury but was no longer living with her family by 1891. Just a year after that census day the
marriage of Sarah Jane Collett was recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 876)
during the first six weeks of 1892.
The bridegroom was either William Henry Harper or Samuel Thomas
Purchass, but neither of them and Sarah were recorded in any subsequent
census return. One other name on the
marriage record, was that of Hannah Elizabeth Berlaw who, shortly after,
married Sarah’s brother George (below).
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9o13
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George Arthur Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1870, whose
birth was recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 805) during the second quarter
of the year. He was a son of William
and Harriet Collett, who was baptised at St Bartholomew’s Church on 19th
June 1870. As simply Arthur Collett
he was 10 years old in 1881 when living at 6 Bridge Street (Palmers Terrace)
in Wednesbury and was George Arthur Collett aged 20 in 1891 when he was still
living with his family. Just after
that, life for George changed dramatically. First off, the young lady he was
seeing discovered she was with-child.
Next their marriage was hastily arranged, following which the first of
their two daughters was born a short while after. The wedding of George Arthur Collett, aged
21, and Hannah Elizabeth Berlaw, also 21, took place at Wednesbury on 14th
February 1892. George of 6 Palmers
Terrace was confirmed as the son of William Collett, while Hannah of 42
Potters Lane was the daughter of Thomas Berlaw. Once married the couple moved to Walsall
out of embarrassment for their predicament, only returning to Wednesbury over
a year after the baby was born.
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Exactly three months after their wedding
day their daughter Florence was born at Walsall on 13th May 1892. She was over one year old when she was
baptised at Wednesbury on 30th August 1893, when her parents were
named as George Arthur and Anne Elizabeth Collett. Three years after that the couple’s second
daughter was born at Wednesbury on 27th July 1896 and when she was
baptised her parents were named as George Arthur Collett and his wife
Elizabeth. By 1901 the family of four
was residing at Palmers Croft, Bridge Street in Wednesbury, from where George
Collett, aged 28, was an axle-smith. His
wife Hannah Collett, also from Wednesbury, was also 28, and their two
daughters were recorded as Florence Collett from Walsall, who was eight, and
Phoebe Collett who was four.
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Less than one year after that census
day a double tragedy hit the Collett household, with an illness or accident
claiming the lives of, first George’s wife, closely followed by the death of
his youngest daughter. The deaths of
Hannah Collett (Ref. 6b 538/315) and Phoebe Letitia Collett (Ref. 6b 538/332)
were recorded at Bromwich during the first three months of 1902. According to the next census in 1911, widower
George Collett was 40 and a coach spring axle forger, who had living at
Wednesbury with him, his surviving child, Florence Collett who was 19. On that day her place of birth was recorded
as Wednesbury, while having no stated occupation, she had very likely been acting
as housekeeper since leaving school.
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That role was short-lived since it was
later that same year that Florence was married and started a family of her
own. George Arthur Collett was
probable involved in some way with his only daughter and her family, and it
was forty-five years later when the death of George A Collett was recorded at
Wednesbury register office (Ref. 9b 918) during the first quarter of 1956
when he was 85 years old.
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9p23
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Florence Alice Gertrude Collett
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Born in 1892
at Walsall
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9p24
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Phoebe
Letitia Collett
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Born in 1896
at Wednesbury
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9o14
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Phoebe Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1873 and was
living at 6 Bridge Street off Palmers Terrace in Wednesbury with her parents William
and Harriet in 1881 when Phoebe was seven years old. With a large family of brothers and sisters
it seems highly likely that Phoebe left home on completing her education,
because by the time of the next census in 1891 Phoebe Collett from Wednesbury
was living and working in the Cannock area of Staffordshire when she was
18. The only other Collett recorded in
that registration district was Phoebe’s cousin William Collett (Ref. 9o3).
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9o15
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Elizabeth Anne Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1873, her
birth recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 804) during the last quarter of
1873. It was on 2nd November 1873 at St Bartholomew’s Church in Wednesbury
that she was baptised, when her parents were confirmed as William and Harriet
Collett. She was described as Lizzie
Collett who was six years of age in 1881, when she living with her family at
6 Bridge Street, Palmers Terrace in Wednesbury. It was there also that she was still living
in 1891 when Elizabeth Annie was 16.
She was still living with her family in 1901 but at 60 Sparrows Forge
Road, when Lizzie Collett was a mineral water manufacturer at the age of 27.
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9o16
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William Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1875, his
birth recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 828) during the last three months of
that year. William was baptised at St
Bartholomew’s Church in Wednesbury on 3rd October 1875 when his
parents were confirmed as William and Harriet Collett. He was four years old in 1881 when he and
his family were recorded at Palmers Terrace, 6 Bridge Street in
Wednesbury. He was still living with
his family at Bridge Street in 1891, when he was 15, and again in 1901 when
he was an axletree forger but incorrected recorded in the census return as
23.
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9o17
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Samuel Ernest Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1877 another
son of William and Harriet Collett.
His birth was recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 877) during the
fourth quarter of the year and it was on 11th November 1877 that
he was baptised at the Church of St Bartholomew in Wednesbury. He may have been born at 6 Bridge in
Wednesbury, where he and his family were residing in 1881. On the day of the census, he was described
as Ernest Collett aged three years.
Ten years later, in the Wednesbury census of 1891, he was listed as
Samuel E Collett who was 13 years of age and a straw hammer driver while
continuing to live with his family at Bridge Street. After a further ten years, he was simply
Samuel Collett aged 22 and working alongside his older brother William
(above) as an axletree forger, when he was again living at the family home in
Wednesbury which, by 1901 was at 60 Sparrows Forge Road.
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Two
years after that, was when the marriage of Samuel Ernest Collett was recorded
at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 1428) during the third quarter of 1903, although it
is not clear whether he married Emily Haddock or Alice Ward. As with most of his family, no record of
Samuel and his wife has been found within the census of 1911.
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9o18
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Alfred John Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1879 a son
of William and Harriet Collett. He was
one year old on the day of the census in 1881 when Alfred Collett was living
at 6 Bridge Street in Wednesbury. In
1891 it was as Alfred John Collett, aged 11 years, that he and his family
were living at 60 Sparrows Forge Road in Wednesbury. On leaving school he joined his father and
older brother working in coach building when John Collett was an axletree
striker at the age of 21. It has been
assumed that he married Sarah around 1906 and within the next two years she
presented Alfred with a daughter. But
where he was in 1911 has not been determined.
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Instead,
his wife and child were visiting the home of Alfred’s married sister Florence
Alice Butler nee Collett (below) at 115 Mill Street in Kings Hill,
Wednesbury. The census return
confirmed that Sarah Collett from Palfrey, Walsall, had been married for five
years and was 29 years old, while her daughter Nellie Collett was two years
of age and had been born at Prince Street in the Pleck area of Walsall. Further children may have been added to the
family after 1911.
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9p25
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Nellie
Collett
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Born in 1908
at Pleck, Walsall
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9o19
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Florence Alice Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1882, one of
the eleven children of William and Harriet Collett. It was at 6 Bridge Street in Wednesbury
that she was born after the census day that year. She was named as Florrie Alice Collett who
was nine years old in 1891 and by 1901 Florrie was 18 with no occupation when
she was living with her family at 60 Sparrows Forge Road in Wednesbury. It was in 1904 that she married David Butler
and during 1908 she gave birth to their son and first child.
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According
to the census return in 1911 the family was living at 115 Mill Street in
Kings Hill, Wednesbury. David Butler,
a machinist at a tube works, was 27 and from Wednesbury, while his slightly
older wife of six years Florence Butler claimed she was also 27. Their son was Bernard Butler who was
born at Forge Lane in Wednesbury who was two years of age. Living with the family on that day were
four members of the Collett family.
Nephews George and William, the teenage sons of Florence’s eldest
brother Josiah, were actual staying there, having been orphaned four years
earlier. The other two were Sarah
Collett from Palfrey, Walsall, aged 29 and married for five years, the wife
of Florence’s brother Alfred John Collett (above), who was a visitor with her
daughter Nellie Collett who was two years old and born at Princes Street in
Pleck.
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9o20
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Dennis Sidney Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1884, the
youngest child of William and Harriet Collett. It may have been at 6 Bridge Street in
Wednesbury that he was born, where his family was living in 1881. The Wednesbury census in 1891 included
Dennis Sidney Collett who was seven years old and after a further ten years,
and on leaving school Dennis Collett aged 16 was a hairdresser with his own
account who was still living with his family.
Sometime later he joined one of the armed forces and in the census of
1911 Dennis Collett from Wednesbury was 26 when he was described as overseas
with the military.
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9o21
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William Collett was born at Willenhall in 1870, the
eldest of the three surviving children of George Collett and Sarah
Carver. His birth was recorded at
Wolverhampton (Ref. 6b 539) during the third quarter of 1870. Unlike his three siblings below, no baptism
record has been found for William who was under one year old in the
Willenhall census of 1871. It was at
Union Street in Willenhall that William was 10 years old in the census of
1881. Ten years later the family was
living on Clarks Lane in Willenhall, where William was 20 and working with
his father as a pork butcher.
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After a further three years as a
bachelor, the marriage of William Collett and Emily Marston took place at
Willenhall and was recorded at Wolverhampton (Ref. 6b 951) during the third
quarter of 1894. By the time of the
birth of the couple’s first child, William and Emily had settled in Walsall,
where two more children were born before the end of the century. Those three children may have been born at
Oxford Street in Walsall, where the family of five was recorded in the census
of 1901. William Collett from
Willenhall was 30 and a railway engine stoker, his wife Emily Collett, also
from Willenhall, was 29, Letitia Collett was six, Emily Collett was four, and
Frederick W Collett was one year old.
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Emily gave birth to a further two
children over the next few years but was tragically was widowed just after
the birth of the couple’s last child.
The premature death of William Collett aged 36 was recorded at Walsall
register office (Ref. 6b 423) during the fourth quarter of 1906. According to the next census in 1911, his
widow Emily Collett and her five children were residing at Pleck Park within
the Borough of Walsall. To provide for
her children Emily was working as a charwoman at the age of 38. Her five children were recorded as Letty
Collett who was 16 and employed at a local book-binding and printing, Emily
Collett who was 14, Fred Collett who was 11, George Collett who was nine and
Harry Collett who was five years old.
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Despite
being a single parent with a young family to look after, Emily never
re-married and was still living in Walsall when she passed away twenty-five
years later. The death of Emily
Collett aged 65, was recorded at Walsall register office (Ref. 6b 697) during
the last quarter of 1937.
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9p26
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Letitia (Letty) Collett
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Born in 1895
at Walsall
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9p27
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Emily Collett
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Born in 1897 at
Walsall
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9p28
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Frederick William Collett
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Born in 1899
at Walsall
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9p29
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George Collett
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Born in 1902
at Walsall
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9p30
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Harry Collett
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Born in 1905
at Walsall
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9o22
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George Frederick Collett
was born at
Willenhall on 28th May 1877 and was baptised at St Giles Church on
25th July 1877, the son of George and Sarah Collett. His birth was recorded at Wolverhampton
(Ref. 6b 684) during the second quarter of that year. It was at Union Street in Willenhall that
three-year-old George was living with his family in 1881, while it was at
Clarks Lane that he and his family were living in the town in 1891 when
George was 13. Where he was in 1901
has not been discovered, although he was married and widowed during the years
between 1899 and 1911 when, once again, he living with his parents in 1911,
just prior to him marrying for a second time.
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The
most likely, but still unconfirmed, marriage of George Collett took place in
Birmingham in 1897 when he was 20 years old.
His wife may have been Charlotte Griffiths, aged 17 and also from
Willenhall, the daughter of Thomas and Lucy Griffiths. In 1901, Charlotte Collett was 21 when she
and her brother John Griffiths aged 13 and also from Willenhall, were staying
with their elderly grandmother Mary A Griffiths at her home on the High
Street in Willenhall. This raises the
queries that Charlotte may have been with-child by that time, while her
husband might have been in the army somewhere abroad. Upon the return of her husband from
wherever he was, he unfortunately discovered his wife and child has died
during the birth. However, no record
of the death of Charlotte Collett has been found
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Therefore,
on the day the census was conducted in 1911, George Frederick Collett, aged
32 and from Willenhall, was a widower and a railway fireman, who was living
within the Saltley district of Birmingham with his father George Collett and
his mother Sarah Collett, who were both in their sixties. Less than six months later George’s mother
died, and it was a year later than George F Collett married (2) Lily M
Townsend, the event recorded at Wolverhampton register office (Ref. 6b 1066)
during the third quarter of 1912.
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With
their two known children born seven years apart, it is possible that George
served in some capacity during the First World War and was therefore absent
from the family home during most of those years. The birth of George C Collett was recorded
at Wolverhampton (Ref. 6b 1242) during the second quarter of 1914, when his
mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Townsend. During the intervening years the family
moved south to Dudley, where the birth of daughter Ellen E Collett was
recorded (Ref. 6b 1940) during the fourth quarter of 1921.
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9p31
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George C
Collett
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Born in 1914
at Wolverhampton
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9p32
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Ellen E
Collett
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Born in 1921
at Dudley
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9o23
|
Letitia (Lettie) Collett
was born at Union
Street in Willenhall early in 1881 and was baptised at St Giles Church on 30th
March 1881, the daughter of George and Sarah Collett. She was two months old in the Willenhall
census of 1881 and by 1891 10-year-old Letitia was with her family, but at
Clarks Lane in Willenhall. Another
family move took place during the next decade because, by 1901 it was at
Heath Town in Wolverhampton that Letitia Collett from Willenhall was 20 years
of age and was the only child still living with her parents.
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Within
nine months she was married, with the wedding of Letitia Collett, aged 20,
and Arthur Bould, aged 21, recorded at Wolverhampton (Ref. 6b 759) during the
first three months of 1902. The
marriage actually took place at Wednesfield on 13th January 1902,
when the bride’s father was confirmed as George Collett. Arthur had been baptised at Heath Town on 1st
June 1880, the son of Joseph and Matilda Bould. And it was at Moseley Village in Heath Town
where the couple was living in 1911 and where their five children were
born. On the day of the census that
year, both Arthur and Letitia were 30 years old and their place of birth was
recorded as Willenhall. At that time
in his life Arthur was described as a bread deliverer. The five children were named as Flora who
was seven, Winifred who was six, Arthur who was four, Dorothy who was three
and Leslie who was just one year old.
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One
year after the end of the Second World War, the death of Letitia Bould nee
Collett was recorded at Wolverhampton register office (Ref. 9b 646) during
the third quarter of 1946, when she was 65 years old. Eleven years later the death of Arthur
Bould was also recorded at Wolverhampton (Ref. 9b 787) during the second
quarter of 1957, when he was 77.
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9o24
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John Carver Collett was born at Willenhall in 1888,
perhaps at Clarks Lane, where his family was recorded in 1891. The birth of John Carver Collett, the son
of George Collett and Sarah Carver, was born on 2nd February 1888
and was baptised at St Giles’ Church in Willenhall on 7th March
that same year. Tragically he was
around eighteen months old when the death of John Carver Collett was recorded
at Wolverhampton (Ref. 6b 311) during the third quarter of 1889.
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9p1
|
Arthur Horace Collett was born at Nuneaton in 1879, the only
child of Arthur and Sarah Jane Collett.
He may have been born at Chilvers Coton to the south of Nuneaton where
he was living with his parents at Coton Road in 1881 when he was two years
old. They were still there in 1891
when Arthur H Collett was 11, but in 1901 the family of three was residing at
61 Dugdale Street in Chilvers Coton by which time Arthur H Collett was
working as an ironmonger’s assistant at the age of 21.
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It
was in 1905 that Arthur Horace Collett married Appalina Stokes, the event
recorded at Nuneaton register office (Ref. 6d 828) during the third quarter
of that year. Appalina was born at
Tatenhill, south-west of Burton-on-Trent, the daughter of John and Elizabeth Stokes. By the time the next census was conducted
in 1911 his wife had presented Arthur with their first child, although others
may have been born to the couple after that year. Arthur Horace Collett was 31 and said he
had been born in Chilvers Coton while his wife Appalina (Appalura) Collett
was 33 and their son Ronald Arthur Collett was two years of age. At that time in their lives the family was still
living in Nuneaton, not far away from where Arthur’s father was living,
following the death of Arthur’s mother.
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Arthur
Horace Collett died sometime prior to the end of the Second World War and
presumably while he was still a resident of Nuneaton, since his widow
Appalina Collett nee Stokes died at 7 St Nicholas Road in Nuneaton on 7th
November 1947. However, it was nearly
four years later that her considerable estate, valued at £19,160 13 Shillings
5 Pence, was settled through probate in favour of her son Ronald Arthur
Collett, an Ironmonger.
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9q1
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Ronald Arthur Collett
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Born in 1908
at Nuneaton
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9p2
|
Alfred Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1875 and was
five years old at the time of the 1881 when he was living with his family at
43 Oxford Street in Wednesbury. He was
15 in 1891 and was 25 in 1901 when he was still living with his mother in
Wednesbury. His occupation at that
time was stated as being a commercial clerk.
During the next few years Alfred changed from being a commercial clerk
and took up the occupation of constructional engineer. Then in 1910 he
married Minnie who was born at Walsall in 1876. The following year the April census of 1911
revealed that Alfred of Wednesbury was 35 and that his wife Minnie of Walsall
was 34, and at that time they were living at 20 Richmond Park in Olton just
north of Solihull. Whether the
marriage produced any children for the couple is not known at this time.
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9p3
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John
Brittain Collett was
born at Wednesbury in 1877, his birth being recorded at West Bromwich (Ref.
6b 829) during the third quarter of that year. He was three years old in the census of
1881 when he was recorded as John
Briton Collett while he was living with his parents at 43 Oxford Street in
Wednesbury. In the later census of
1891, he was simply named as John
Collett who was 13.
No record of him after that date has so far been found, until that is,
his death was recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 9c 292) during the
third quarter of 1951 at the age of 74.
Therefore, it is unclear why his whereabouts has not been discovered
in Great Britain at the time censuses were conducted in 1901 and 1911. Perhaps he was not residing in the country
on those occasions but returned at some later time.
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9p4
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Edith M Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1878 and was
aged two years in 1881. At that time,
she was living with her family at 43 Oxford Street in Wednesbury and was 12
and 22 in the next two censuses. For
the latter in 1901 she was still living with her widowed mother at 21-22
Piercy Street in Wednesbury, together with four of her brothers and two of
her sisters. She was not described as
having any particular occupation but was probably helping her mother to look
after the family and possibly assisting her in the shop. With no record of her as Edith Collett in
the census of 1911, it may be safe to assume that she was married by then.
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9p5
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Charles Ernest Collett was born at Wednesbury in January 1881
since he was described as being two months old in the April census that
year. By the time he was 20 he was
still living with his widowed mother Rebecca at 21-22 Piercy Street in
Wednesbury where he was working as an apprentice coachsmith. His late father John
was also a coaching smith. The
Wednesbury census of 1911 revealed that Charles Ernest Collett aged 30 had
living with him his two brothers Arthur and Harold (below), together with
their youngest sister Beatrice Mary Collett.
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9p6
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Arthur Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1882 and,
just like his father and his older brother Charles, he too was listed as a
coachsmith in the census of 1901 when he was 18 years old and was still
living with his mother at Wednesbury.
Ten years later Arthur was still living with two of his brothers
Charles and Harold at Wednesbury when he was 29, while their youngest sister
Beatrice Mary (below) was managing the home for them in the absence of their
mother who was in Devon for the 1911 Census.
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9p7
|
Harold Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1883 and
just after the end of the century he was working as a railway clerk. He was still living in the family home in
Wednesbury in 1901 when he was 17 years of age. According to the census in April 1911
Harold was still living in Wednesbury when he was 27. Living at the same address with him were
his two brothers Charles Ernest and Arthur Collett (above) and his youngest
sister Beatrice Mary Collett (below).
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9p8
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Florence Amy Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1885 and was
15 in 1901 when living with her widowed mother Rebecca at West Bromwich. During the next decade Florence left
Staffordshire and, together with her mother, moved down to the West Country
where, in April 1911, she was recorded as Florence Amy Collett aged 25 from
Wednesbury who was living within the Bideford area of North Devon. Her widowed mother Rebecca Collett was
56. That may have been a temporary
moved, since four of her youngest siblings were still living in Wednesbury in
1911.
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9p9
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Beatrice Mary Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1887, the
last child born to John and Rebecca Collett.
She was four years old in the Wednesbury census of 1891 and was 14
years of age ten years later when she was one of seven children still living
with her widowed mother at 21-22 Piercy Street in the town in March
1901. When her mother and sister
Florence were recorded in Devon in April 1911, Beatrice Mary Collett was
still living at Wednesbury at the age of 24, when she was living with, and
perhaps was housekeeper for, her three brothers Charles, Arthur and Harold
(above).
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9p11
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Samuel John Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1884, the
only child of George Collett and Eliza Lavinia Griffiths, who were married
nine months earlier. The birth of
Samuel John Collett was recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 875) during the
first three months of 1884. Tragically,
he was only one year old when his mother suffered a premature death. By 1891 Samuel Collett was seven years of
age when he and his father were lodging 32 Alma Street in Wednesbury. Just over one year later his father
remarried and in 1901 the new family was residing at Albert Street in
Wednesbury, where Samuel was 17 years old and employed as a labourer at the
nearby ironworks, where his father also worked as a labourer.
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Samuel
continued to live and work in Wednesbury after his father and stepmother
moved to Wolverhampton. On the day of
the census in 1911, Samuel Collett was unmarried at 28 when he was a fitting
maker stocker who was described as the nephew of head of the household Samuel
Collett, his father’s younger brother.
The marriage of Samuel J Collett and his cousin Lily Collett was
recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 1776) during the first
three months of 1921. Lily was ten
years younger than Samuel and was the daughter of his uncle Samuel, with whom
he was living ten years earlier when Lily Collett was 17.
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Later
that same year Lily presented Samuel with their first child, which was
followed by a further two children.
The births of all three children were recorded at West Bromwich
register office, when the mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Collett,
their daughter named after Lily’s mother.
David J Collett’s birth was recorded during the third quarter of 1921
(Ref. 6b 1778), Leah C Collett’s birth was recorded during the first quarter
of 1923 (Ref. 6b 1566), and Samuel A Collett’s birth was recorded during the
fourth quarter of 1924 (Ref. 6b 1446).
However, a few months later the death of son Samuel A Collett and daughter
Leah C Collett were also recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 908 and Ref. 6b
915 respectively), both during the second quarter of 1925. Less than four years after tragically
losing her two of her three children, Lily had to suffer the pain of loss of
her husband, when the death of Samuel J Collett was recorded at West Bromwich
(Ref. 6b 1570) during the first three months of 1929 when he was only 45
years old.
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The
marriage of the couple’s eldest son was recorded at Walsall register office
(Ref. 6b 1439) during the second quarter of 1944, when David J Collett
married Florence A M Bentley. No
children have been identified arising from the marriage, nor has any marriage
of the couple’s youngest son been found. After son David had been married for
twenty-two years, his mother passed away at the age of 73, the death of Lily
Collett recorded at West Bromwich register office (Ref. 9b 815) during the
last three months of 1966.
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9q2
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David John
Collett
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Born in 1921
at Wednesbury
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9q3
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Leah C
Collett
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Born in 1923
at Wednesbury
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9q4
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Samuel Arthur
Collett
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Born in 1924
at Wednesbury
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9p12
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William Arthur Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1893, his
birth recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 875) during the last three months of
the year. He was the eldest of the two
sons of George Collett and his second wife Mary Ann Evans, formerly
Smith. As William A Collett, he was seven
years old in the Wednesbury census of 1901 when he and his family were living
on Albert Street. So far, no record of
him has been found within the next census of 1911, and it was nine years
later that he became a married man.
The
marriage of William A Collett and Annie F Pemberton was recorded at
Wolverhampton register office (Ref. 6b 1026) during the first three months of
1920. The births of their three sons were
also recorded at Wolverhampton, Henry W Collet (Ref. 6b 900) in the fourth
quarter of 1923, Arthur L Collett (Ref. 6b 921) in the fourth quarter of
1924, and Arnold J Collett (Ref. 6b 903) in the first quarter of 1927. In each case the mother’s maiden name was
confirmed as Pemberton. The death of William
A Collett was recorded at Rowley Regis (Ref. 9b 307) during the third quarter
of 1961, when he was 67.
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9q5
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Henry William
Collett
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Born in 1923
at Wolverhampton
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9q6
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Arthur L
Collett
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Born in 1924
at Wolverhampton
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9q7
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Arnold J Collett
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Born in 1927
at Wolverhampton
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9p13
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George Edwin Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1898, the
younger of the two sons of George and Mary Ann Collett, also known as
Jane. His birth was also recorded at
West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 940) during the second quarter of that year. As George E Collett, he was with his family
at Albert Street in Wednesbury in 1901 and, sometime during the first decade
of the new century, his father took the family to Wolverhampton, where George
Collett from Wednesbury was recorded with his mother and father in 1911, when
he was 13. Eight years later the
marriage of George E Collett and Laura H Eaton was recorded at Walsall
register office (Ref. 6b 1711) during the third quarter of 1919. The births of their two children were also
recorded at Walsall, for Vera it was during the third quarter of 1921 (Ref.
6b 1309) who later married Harry T Aston.
It was at Wednesbury register office (Ref. 9b 2158) where their
wedding was recorded during the third quarter of 1947.
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9q8
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Vera Collett
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Born in 1921
at Walsall
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9q9
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Peter B Collett
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Born in 1935
at Walsall
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9p15
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Lily Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1893, her
birth recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 966) during the second quarter of
the year, the daughter of Samuel Collett and Leah Slinn. She was baptised at St Paul’s Church in Wednesbury
on 20th June 1893. In 1901,
when Lily was seven years of age, she and her family were recorded at
Wellington Street in Walsall, the home of her grandfather David Slinn. Ten years later, it was at Wednesbury that
the family was living, when Lily was named as Lilian Collett aged 18 in the
1911 census. The marriage of Lily
Collett and her older cousin Samuel Collett was recorded ten years later at
West Bromwich register office (Ref. 6b 1776) during the first three months of
1921. Lily was ten years younger than
Samuel and gave birth to their first child later that same year. For the continuation of this family see
Samuel John Collett (above) – Ref. 9p11.
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9p16
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David Thomas Collett was born at Wednesbury in 1895, the
only surviving son of Samuel and Leah Collett. His birth was recorded at West Bromwich
(Ref. 6b 927) during the third quarter of that year, after which he was
baptised at St Paul’s Church in Wednesbury. It was at his maternal
grandfather’s house at Wellington Street in Walsall that he and his family
were living in 1901, when David Collett was five years old. Back at Wednesbury in 1911, David was 16
years of age when he was still living there with his family. At that time in his life, he had started
work as a labourer in a shop.
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Just
over ten years after that day, the marriage of David T Collett and Emily J
Cottrell was recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 1803) during the third
quarter of 1921. The marriage produced
a daughter and a son, the births of which were recorded at West Bromwich
(Ref. 6b 1650) during the third quarter of 1922 and (Ref. 6b 1444) during the
second quarter of 1928. On both
occasions, the child’s mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Cottrell. When his son was celebrating being
twenty-one years of age, the death of David T Collett was recorded at
Wednesbury register office (Ref. 9b 699) during the second quarter of 1949,
at the age of 53.
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9q10
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Cissie
Collett
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Born in 1922
at West Bromwich
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9q11
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Samuel
Collett
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Born in 1928
at West Bromwich
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9p19
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John William George Collett
was born at Longton
in Stoke-on-Trent on 24th March 1893, his birth recorded at
Stoke-on-Trent (Ref. 6b 308) during the second quarter of that year. At his baptism on 25th June 1893
at St John’s Church in Longton, he was confirmed as John William Collett, the
son of Josiah George Collett and his wife Alice Maud Collett. He was not living with his family at Longton
in 1901, nor has any record of him been found in the census of 1911. Also, no infant death for him has been
discovered but, the fact that a year later the couple’s next child was named
George, does suggest that he was only a few months old when he died during
the second half of 1893.
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9p20
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George Ernest Collett was born at Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, on
8th August 1894, his birth recorded at Stoke register office (Ref.
6b 280) during the third quarter of the year.
It was at the Church of St John in Lane End, Longton, that he was
baptised on 23rd August 1894, the older of the two sons of Josiah
George Collett and Alice Maud Collett. George was six years old in the Stoke census
of 1901 when living at New Street, one of only two surviving children of
Josiah and Alice Collett. Less than
two years later George’s mother died, and four years later his father passed
away, leaving George and his brother William (below) in the care of Florence
Butler nee Collett, their father’s married sister.
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On
the occasion of the census in 1911 Florence and David Butler and their family
were residing at 115 Mill Street in Kings Hill, Wednesbury. Their nephew George Collett, aged 16, was a
wooden box maker at a candle works, who had been born at Fenton in
Stoke-on-Trent. At the age of 21,
George E Collett of Wednesbury, whose place of birth was Longton in
Staffordshire, was serving with the 3rd Battalion of the South
Staffordshire Regiment in 1916, service number 32106. It was many years later that the death of
George E Collett was recorded at Wednesbury (Ref. 9b 760) during the last
quarter of 1961, when he was 67.
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9p21
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William Edward Collett was born in 1896 at Longton,
Stoke-on-Trent, his birth registered at Stoke (Ref. 6b 277) during the second
quarter of the year. He was four years
of age in the census of 1901 when he and his family were residing at New
Street in Stoke, by which time two of his siblings had already passed
away. Two years later his mother Alice
Maud Mary Collett nee Bradbury suffered a premature death, and after a
further four years William and his older brother George (above) were orphaned
following the death of their father Josiah George Collett. As a result of those tragic events, the
brothers were taken into the family of their father’s married sister Florence
(below) at 115 Mill Street in Kings Hill, Wednesbury. And it was there that they were recorded in
the census of 1911. On that occasion he
was described as William Collett aged 14 from New Street in Longton, who was
a driller and an engineering worker.
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It
was six years after that when William E Collett married Martha Simkin, their
wedding recorded at Walsall register office (Ref. 6b 843) during the first
three months of 1917. Their first
child, possibly a honeymoon baby, was born later that same year and was
recorded at Walsall (Ref. 6b 1014) during the third quarter of 1917, when his
mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Simkin.
Surprisingly the couple’s first child was nearly ten years old when
their daughter was born and again her birth was also recorded at Walsall
(Ref. 6b 1075) during the second quarter of 1927, when once again the
mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Simkin.
What happened to the family over the following years has not yet been
discovered, although the death of William E Collett was recorded at
Wednesbury register office (Ref. 9b 748) during the first quarter of 1948,
when he was 52 years of age.
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9q12
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William B
Collett
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Born in 1917
at Walsall
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9q13
|
Dorothy E
Collett
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Born in 1927
at Walsall
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9p22
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Florence Mary Anne
Collett was born in
1900 at Edensor in Stoke-on-Trent, her birth recorded at Stoke (Ref. 6b 326)
during the second quarter of that year, while it was at Edensor that she was
baptised on 9th August 1900, the daughter of Josiah George Collett
and Alice Maud. Tragically, it was
during that same third quarter of 1900, that the death of Florence Mary A
Collett was recorded at Stoke register office (Ref. 6b 194).
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9p22
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Florence Alice Gertrude
Collett was born at
Walsall in 1892, just a couple of months after the wedding of her parents George
Arthur Collett and Hannah Elizabeth Berlaw.
The fact that she was born at Walsall was most likely to save the
couple any embarrassment and it was only when Florence was one year that the
three of them returned to Wednesday, where Florence was baptised on 30th
August 1893. It was at Palmers Croft,
Bridge Street in Wednesbury, that the family was living in 1901 when Florence
from Walsall was eight years old. By
the time of her ninth birthday Florence’s mother and younger sister had died,
leaving her to be looked after by her father, as confirmed in the census of
1911, when Florence was 19.
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Only
a few months later, the marriage of Florence A G Collett and Percy Howard was
recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 1451) during the third quarter of
1911. Life was repeating itself, in
that Florence was already with-child when she married Percy, their son being
born just a few months later. The
birth of George Arthur Howard, named after Florence’s father, was
recorded at West Bromwich (Ref. 6b 1645) during the last three months of
1911, when his mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Collett. Further children followed, Percy Howard
in 1913, John H Howard in 1914, Florence Howard in 1915 and Olive
H Howard in 1921.
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9p25
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Letitia (Letty) Collett was born at Walsall in 1895, the
eldest of the five children of William Collett and Emily Marston, whose birth
was recorded at Walsall (Ref. 6b 821) during the first quarter of the year. Letitia Collett was six years old in the
census of 1901, when her family was living at Oxford Street in Walsall. Five years later the family was rocked by
the premature of her father, which forced the family to move to Pleck Park in
Walsall, where Letty Collett was 16 years old and bringing home some much
needed income from her work at a book-binding and printing company.
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Around
the end of the First World War, Letty and her sister Emily (below) became
friends with the Sunderland brothers, John and Joseph. As a result, the marriage of John W
Sunderland and Letitia Collett was recorded at Walsall (Ref. 6b 1729) during
the third quarter of 1919, her sister having already married Joseph
Sunderland. Their marriage produced
children, the first of which was daughter Letitia E Sunderland, whose
birth was recorded at Walsall (Ref. 6b 1573) during the second quarter of
1920, the second being John W Sunderland, whose birth was also
recorded at Walsall (Ref. 6b 1410) during the third quarter of 1921. In each case, the mother’s maiden name was
confirmed as Collett.
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9p26
|
Emily Collett was born at Walsall in 1897, perhaps
at Oxford Street, while her birth was recorded at Walsall (Ref. 6b 771)
during the first three months of that year.
Emily was four years of age in the Walsall census of 1901 when she and
her family were still residing at Oxford Street. Seven years after that the marriage of
Emily Collett and Joseph Sunderland was recorded at Walsall (Ref. 6b 1038)
during the first quarter of 1918. One
year later Emily’s older sister Letty (above) married Joseph’s brother John
Sunderland. The first child for Joseph
and Emily was Frederick J Sunderland whose birth was recorded at
Walsall (Ref. 6b 1610) during the second quarter of 1920, when the mother’s
maiden name was confirmed as Collett. Many
years after the birth of the couple’s first child, and the Sunderland
children of Emily’s sister Letty, a further child, Margaret Sunderland
with the mother’s maiden name of Collett, was recorded at Walsall (Ref. 6b
895) during the last three months of 1932.
However, from this scant information it is not clear to which of the
two families she belonged.
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9p27
|
Frederick William
Collett was born at Oxford
Street in Walsall on 11th June 1899, the third child and the first
of the three sons of William and Emily Collett. His birth was recorded at Walsall (Ref. 6b
743) during the third quarter of 1899.
As Frederick W Collett, he was one year old in the census of 1901, and
was 11 years of age in the following census of 1911, by which time the family
was headed by Fred’s widowed mother at Pleck Park in Walsall, after the death
of his father five years earlier. The
later marriage of Frederick W Collett and Doris E Spinks was recorded at
Walsall (Ref. 6b 1459) during the third quarter of 1922, and that union
produced three children for the couple.
The births of all three children were recorded at Walsall, when their
mother’s maiden name was confirmed as Spinks.
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9q14
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Joyce E Collett
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Born in 1923
at Walsall
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9q15
|
Jean L Collett
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Born in 1927
at Walsall
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9q16
|
Derek H Collett
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Born in 1931
at Walsall
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9p28
|
George Collett was born at Oxford Street in Walsall in
1902, his birth recorded at Walsall register office (Ref. 6b 787) during the
first three months of the year. He was
four years of age when his father died, after which the family moved to Pleck
Park in Walsall where George was nine years old in 1911. Just over twelve years after that, George
Collett married Sarah A Williams, the event recorded at Walsall (Ref. 6b
1448) during the last three months of 1923.
It seems highly likely that Sarah died not long after they were
married, perhaps even during giving birth to a child who also did not
survive. The reason for making that
assumption, is that a second marriage for George Collett was recorded at
Walsall (Ref. 6b 1693) during the second quarter of 1927, his bride on that
occasion named as Ada Edwards. Ada may
have already been carrying George’s daughter on that day, as the child’s
birth was recorded at Walsall (Ref. 1079) during the final three months of
the year. George Collett spent his
whole life living in the Walsall area, and it was at Walsall register office
(Ref. 9b 724) that his death was registered during the quarter of 1968 when
he was 66 years old.
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9q17
|
Gwendoline
Ada Collett
|
Born in 1927
at Walsall
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9p29
|
Harry Collett was born at Walsall in 1905, the last
child of William Collett and Emily Marston, whose birth was recorded at
Walsall (Ref. 6b 704) during the last three months of the year. Exactly one year later his father suffered
a premature death at the age of 38, after which the family left Oxford
Street, where Harry may have been born, to settle in the Pleck Park area of
Walsall. In 1911 Harry Collett was
five years old. It was only eleven
years after that when Harry Collett married Ann M Marney, the wedding
recorded at Walsall (Ref. 6b 1003) during the first three months of 1922. After a further six years Ann presented
George with a daughter whose birth was recorded at Walsall (Ref. 6b 1075)
during the second quarter of 1928. Daughter Joyce was just three years of age
when her father suffered a very premature death at the age of 25, his death
recorded at Walsall register office (Ref. 6b 784) in the final three months
of 1930.
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9q18
|
Joyce G
Collett
|
Born in 1928
at Walsall
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9q1
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Ronald Arthur Collett was born at Nuneaton on 29th May 1908
and was two years old in the census of 1911 when he was living in Nuneaton
with his parents Arthur Horace Collett and Appalina Stokes. By the time of the death of his widowed
mother at Nuneaton in November 1947, Ronald was described as an ironmonger
when he was named as the sole executor of her estate of over £19,000. For some reason it may appear that the Will
was contested since, it was nearly four years after her passing that probate
was finalised in favour of Ronald Arthur Collett. The death of Ronald Arthur Collett was recorded at the Nuneaton &
Bedworth register office (Ref. 31 233) during the first months of 1986.
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9q9
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Peter B Collett was born in 1935, the second child of
George Edwin Collett and Laura H Eaton, whose birth was recorded at Walsall
(Ref. 6b 856) during the first quarter of 1935. It was also at Walsall where his marriage
to Frances D Merrett was recorded (Ref. 6b 1316) during early 1971. Their only known child was born just over
one year later, the birth of Mark Peter Collett recorded at Dudley (Ref. 9b
817) during the spring of 1972, when his mother’s maiden name was confirmed
as Merrett.
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9r1
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Mark Peter
Collett
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Born in 1972
at Dudley
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9q14
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Joyce E Collett was born at Walsall in 1923 where her
birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 1213) during the second quarter of the year. Joyce was the first of the three children
of Frederick William Collett and Doris E Spinks. It was during the first three months of
1949 that Joyce married Franciszek Zagorski, the wedding recorded at Walsall
(Ref. 9b 1598). Joyce was expecting
the birth of a child on her wedding day, the birth of Marie J Zagorski recorded
at Walsall (Ref. 9b 1139) during the second quarter of that same year. Tragically the death of Joyce E Zagorski
was recorded at Walsall only two years later (Ref. 9b 647) during the last
three months of 1951.
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9q15
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Jean L Collett was born at Walsall in 1927 where her
birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 1119) during the third quarter of 1927. Jean was 19 years of age when she married
Leslie Goodman, the wedding recorded at Walsall (Ref. 6b 1321) during the
first three months of 1946. The
married produced a daughter for the couple, when the birth of Jill L Goodman
was recorded at Walsall (Ref. 9b 970) during the second quarter of 1955.
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9q16
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Derek H Collett was born at Walsall in 1931, the last
of the children of Frederick and Doris Collett. His birth was recorded at Walsall (Ref. 6b
1172) during the first quarter of 1931, when his mother’s maiden name was
confirmed as Spinks. It was also at
Walsall that the marriage of Derek H Collett and Sheila A White was recorded
(Ref. 9b 1358) during the second quarter of 1955. During that same three months, the birth of
Linda M Collett was registered at Birmingham (Ref. 9c 43) when the mother’s
maiden name was stated as being White.
Whether this was the child of Derek and Sheila has not been confirmed,
nor is it determined whether the wedding or the birth was the first of the
two events. Less than five years after
that, the birth of Ann Collett was recorded at Walsall (Ref. 9b 1010) during
the first three months of 1960.
However, the mother’s maiden name was recorded as Siverns, which may
have been a second wife for Derek.
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9r1
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Linda M
Collett (possible daughter)
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Born in 1955
at Birmingham
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9r2
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Ann Collett (mother Siverns)
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Born in 1960
at Walsall
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