Thomas George Collett

Thomas George Collett was born at Petone, Wellington on 22nd March 1843, the son of Henry and Elizabeth Collett. It was on 2nd October 1866 that he married Mary Ann Russell of Mangaroa, who had been born at Lower on 14th August 1846 Hutt, and with whom he established a farm on the eastern side of the Mangaroa Valley. The farm was later worked by Thomas’ daughter Elsie and her husband. Mary Ann Collett nee Russell died at Lower Hutt on 22nd April 1902 at the age of 55. Curiously there are records for another Mary Ann Collett, the former daughter of John and Mary Russell but, whilst she too died in 1902, she was born in 1852.

Only thirteen days prior to her death she had made a Will leaving her estate, of approximately £300, to be divided equally among Thomas, her husband, and their four sons.  By that time her three surviving daughters were married, and were not mentioned in her Will.  The Will, signed and dated on 9th April 1902, only gave the names of her four sons, who were Henry Edward, Albert George, Charles William, and William Herbert.  Prior to the discovery of the document only the last two sons were previously known and listed here with their sister Elsie who did not survive.

Having lost his wife, Thomas Collett made his Will in June 1903 in which the beneficiaries were his daughter Ellen Mary Dick, the wife of Richard Dick of Mangaroa, and his four sons Henry, Albert, Charles and William, each of whom would receive one-fifth of his estate. Why his two older surviving daughters were not named is unknown. However, Elizabeth and Emily were added by way of a codicil in 1908, but only to each receive £25. A second Codicil was added to the Will of Thomas George Collett upon the death of his son Charles William Collett in France during 1918. That Codicil prepared in 1919 continued to name his three surviving sons as Henry Edward , Albert George, and William Herbert, and his three surviving daughters as Elizabeth Sarah Goss, Emily Alice Benge, and Ellen Mary Dick.
In a third Codicil drawn up in 1920 reference was made to the to any of his children who might predecease him, in which case their share of the estate would automatically pass on to any issue they might have had, that is to the grandchildren of Thomas George Collett. A fourth and final Codicil was issued during 1921 and related to the appointment of a new executor, Alfred Kingston Jowitt, following the death of the previously named executor who was Thomas Edwards.
Thomas George Collett out-lived his wife by over twenty-eight years, when he died on 25th June 1930, following which he was buried at Trentham (Upper Hutt) in New Zealand. During the following his death his Will was proved through the probate process on 30th July 1930, when it was noted that the executor, Adam King Jowitt, had been erroneously named as Alfred Kingston Jowitt in the Fourth Codicil. The two surviving daughters, E M Dick of Upper Hutt and E A Benge also of Upper Hutt, were sworn in, as was the aforementioned Adam King Jowitt. It the end the estate of Thomas George Collett was valued at £2,077 on 24th October 1930.