Elizabeth Collett

ELIZABETH COLLETT (Ref. 1N57) was born on 10th February 1817, and was baptised at Leonard Stanley on 20th March 1817, the daughter of James Collett and Hannah Land. She later married her cousin Henry Collett (Ref. 1N65) on 13th July 1840 at St Mary de Lode Church in Gloucester, Henry having been born at Leonard Stanley on 27th April 1818.
One month after the wedding day the couple emigrated to New Zealand when they sailed out of Gravesend on the British barque HMS London on 13th August 1840. The London was chartered by the New Zealand Company and sailed from England, bound for Port Nicholson with 228 emigrants aboard. The voyage took four months to complete and the ship eventually arrived at Port Nicholson in New Zealand on the 12th December 1840. There had been four infant deaths during the voyage and six new births. Astonished by the number of settlers arriving on their shores, the local Maori asked if the 'whole tribe' had come out from England, not realising that this was only the beginning of the settlement of New Zealand.
One account of the ship’s arrival, given by one of the passengers on board the London, was as follows: "Rising at dawn, we crowded the ships rails, anxious to get a first glimpse of the land which was to be our new home. The sea was calm as we sailed into Port Nicholson on that warm sunlit December morning in 1840 and soon shelters and shacks could be seen dotted along the waterfront. Presently, native canoes came paddling out from the shore; there must have been a score or more coming to greet us. Our long journey from England was coming to an end."
Historical Note: It was at Petone [Pito One], a former borough on the north side of Wellington Harbour and now a suburb of the City of Lower Hutt, on Petone Beach that the first settlers of Wellington landed in 1840.
Twenty years after their arrival in New Zealand, Elizabeth and Henry and their family were living at 81 Hutt Road in Petone, near Wellington, where their last child was born. Many homes were erected along Hutt Road for various members of the Collett family. The photograph below was taken in 1874 and shows the Collett farm. It was also on this day that the first railway train ran between Wellington and Napier, along land previously owned by the Collett family and purchased from them in 1873.
An announcement in the Evening Post on 13th December 1876 stated “The Treasurer of the St James’ Church in Lower Hutt Building Fund desires to acknowledge the receipt of the following amounts towards the Fund”. Included in the long list were the names of seven members of the Collett family. They were Mr H Collett - 5 guineas, Mrs Collett – 1 guinea, Mr Edward Collett - £5, Mr Jas Collett - £1, Mr Aaron Collett – 1 guinea, Mr C S Collett - £1, and Mr A W Collett - £1.
Elizabeth Collett died five years later at the family home on the Old Hutt Road in Petone on 25th October 1881 at the age of 63. An announcement in the local newsletter read as follows: “The friends of Mr Henry Collett are respectfully invited to attend the funeral of his late wife, which will leave his residence in Petoni on Thursday 27th inst, at half past 3 o’clock. Joseph Hall, Undertaker.” A later obituary in the Petone newspaper read as follows: “Collett – on 25th October at Petone, after a long and painful illness, Elizabeth, the beloved wife of Henry Collett, aged 63 years”.
A copy of the death certificate for Elizabeth Collett has been generously provided by Diane Margaret Evans Fussell from Tamatea, Napier in New Zealand which provides some interesting family details. Diane is the great great granddaughter of Elizabeth Collett and the granddaughter of Mabel Elizabeth Jane Collett, the daughter of Elizabeth’s son Aaron, and her husband William Grant Deville Evans of Petone. The death was registered at Wellington and the certificate confirmed that Elizabeth died at Petone on 25th October 1881 at the age of 63, and that she was buried at St James’ Churchyard in Hutt (Lower Hutt) on 27th October. She was last seen by Doctor Wilford the day before she died, and it was he who confirmed the cause of death as being obstruction of the bowels and natural decay.
It also confirmed that she had been living in New Zealand for forty-one years, and that she had been born in England, the daughter of wheelwright James Collett. What is curious, and to which there is no answer except to say it must have been an error made by the informant of her death, her mother’s maiden name was given as Elizabeth Moss and not Hannah Land. It is known that her mother Hannah was sometimes referred to as Elizabeth, so Elizabeth Land would have been acceptable, but not Moss unless that was her first married name. So it is very interesting that Hannah Land, who was baptised at Leonard Stanley on 26th October 1787, the daughter of Thomas and Hannah Land, also had a sister Elizabeth Land who was also baptised at Leonard Stanley on 8th November 1785. This therefore raises the question, did James first married Hannah and later married her sister Elizabeth, who was Elizabeth Moss through marriage by then.
In the final section of the certificate it stated that Elizabeth had married Henry Collett when she was twenty-years of age, and that the marriage had produced seven sons and three daughters, all as confirmed in the list below. Two years prior to her death, the following article was published in the Wanganui Chronicle on 22nd September 1879. “A serious accident occurred at the Hutt yesterday. Henry Collett and his son Albert were erecting a house, and owing to want of sufficient precaution while raising the framework it fell on father and son, the latter having both thighs fractured. The father had his leg broken below the knee, and his back so badly injured that he is not expected to recover. Both besides were dreadfully cut and bruised. Another son was also struck by the falling timber and much hurt, while his sister escaped by a miracle.” However, despite the serious nature of his injuries, it was almost fifteen years to the day when Henry eventually passed away from an attack of bronchitis.