Robert Martin COLLINS (1815 – 1885) and Sarah Elizabeth Wilhelmina BAILLIE (1808 – 1859)
Sarah Elizabeth Wilhelmina BAILLIE was baptised on 07-Aug-1808 at Shepherdswell, Kent, England. Quite often this location is also indexed as Sibbertswold.
Her parents were Henry BAILEY (1768 – 1822) and Mary MILES (1772 – 1833) who also appears to be known as COLYER. The BAILEY family surname spelling varies between BAILLIE, BAILEY and BAYLEY through the records and generations.
She was the seventh of eight children although one of her siblings had died before she was born. The family seems to have been settled in this area since 1793 when the eldest child came along.
Robert Martin COLLINS was born on 17-Sep-1815 1 to John COLLINS (1784 – 1854) and Elizabeth BIRCH (1784 – 1873). He was christened on 22-Oct-1815 2 at St Nicholas Parish Church 3, Ash (near Sandwich), Kent, England. Robert was the first of three sons born to the couple.
Sadly Edward Birch COLLINS (1821 – 1821) can only have lived for a couple of weeks it would seem when Robert was 5 and his brother William COLLINS (1818 – 1879) aged 3.
For the early part of Robert and Sarah’s lives there is limited information available. It is possible that by looking at newspapers may find more but there are many people of similar names in the location.
Sadly, we can see she lost her father when about 14 and her mother a decade later. All the surviving children had reached adulthood by this time. Apart from at their funerals would presumably also be fairly confident that she would have attended the marriages of her siblings whilst growing up.
In the first modern census, taken 06-Jun-1841, Robert along with his parents and younger brother William are listed under Richborough in the Parish of Ash next Wingham. The place quoted before the record shows Richborough is given as Guston which I know to be a village 4 much nearer Dover, Kent, England.
Looking at the Ordnance Survey 5 map of the area as it was surveyed in 1872 there is a Guston Farm next to a Brides Farm and then Richborough Farm is a short distance away. So presumably all the people shown under those locations would be around the three farms.
Robert’s age given as 25, due to the practise of rounding down to nearest 5 years (for over 15s) in this document type. The three males are described as Ag Lab for Agricultural Labourers and were born in the county.
In the same parish, but in a place described as Ash Street, Sarah is found splitting a property with a Susanna WARDEN. They are both F S, meaning Female Servants, and Sarah is also given as 25 with her house companion being 30.
Although the modern map helps give an idea of the landscape there have been many changes since the census and so it is not easy to identify Ash Street. Looking through the list there are at least five pubs along the stretch so perhaps used as a general descriptor for various lanes leading to Ash itself.
It may be possible to hone in on their property locations using the historic pub research that has been done for the local area along with the old maps, census overview and any more notable properties listed.
At this time as well the information for employment is limited so can only presume that Robert and Sarah met due to some level of proximity with work or perhaps church attendance. They can only be living at maximum 3 miles from each other.
On 15-Jan-1842 they married at Ripple Parish Church in Ripple, Kent, England. Her younger brother George Francis BAILEY (1811 – 1878) was a witness. Just over four months later, on 29-May-1842 the baptism of their first child, a daughter, took place at St Mary’s Church, Sandwich, Kent, England.
Two years on, 03-Mar-1844, a son was baptised in Ash-next-Sandwich, Kent, England. I think it is referenced in this fashion as there is another Ash in Kent. Then on 28-Dec-1849 another son was born who was baptised 03-Mar-1850 also in the location of Ash-next-Sandwich. His birth was registered Q1 1850.
In the 1851 Census, night of 30-Mar-1851, they are still within the parish of Ash next Sandwich and living in Guston. Therefore, this would be nearer the farm on the path between the Richborough Roman Fort and the area of Lower Goldstone.
Robert is still an Agricultural Labourer and in the household it is just the five of them. However, on the same page of the census return we find his parents with just a couple of families living between them.
His parents are the first ones put as Richborough after Guston on this document but it is clear we are talking minimal distance. It is likely that Elizabeth was the main support for her daughter-in-law at each of the births.
In Q2 1852 a third son came along, and again the birth registered under Eastry. They had four children together in total –
- Mary Elizabeth COLLINS (1842 – 1931)
- Robert Edward COLLINS (1844 -1922)
- William John COLLINS (1849 – 1929)
- John Henry COLLINS (1852 – 1936)
Robert’s father died in Q2 1854 at the age of 70 and then his wife Sarah on 06-Mar-1859, aged 50, and was buried at St Nicholas in Ash. This probably meant that Mary, coming up 17, ended up being responsible for her younger siblings for a period and perhaps had already been doing so if her mother was unwell before her demise.
I have not bought any of their death certificates but this is something that would likely do in future to learn more about the family medical background on this side.
The 07-Apr-1861 was the occasion of the next census return. Robert, now described as Widower, is listed as a Looker. Daughter Mary, now aged 18, is the housekeeper and 16-year-old son Robert also working in the same line as his father.
Presumably the two younger boys are attending school for at least the majority of the year. It is quite likely that during harvest time the family were helping out in the local vicinity.
Robert (junior) got married on 05-Nov-1864 and it appears Mary then had a child out of wedlock in early 1865. Perhaps with his elder siblings being less able to help out and having their own lives Robert (senior) remarried Q4 1865 to a Charlotte WILLIAMS (1829 – ?).
No idea how they met since she was born further afield in Kent and the 1861 Census had her placed in Maidstone with her family.
Mary got married the following year and continued her family. Robert with Charlotte then had two sons together so they actually then had nephews older than them.
- Frederick Thomas COLLINS (1867 – ?)
- Frank Richard COLLINS (1872 – 1959)
More research is needed as unable to be definite at this time on the death of their first son and Charlotte herself. However, know their youngest ultimately moved to Canada.
Going back though to the 1871 Census we find Robert, now given as 52, as head of the family with his wife, son William (21) and son Frederick aged 3. His job is described as Ag Lab and Looker.
A few properties down we still find Robert’s mother Eliza (for Elizabeth), at 86, as Shepherd’s Widow for employment, along with a 16-year-old grandson Henry, Ag Lab, who would actually be his son John going by middle name.
We know Elizabeth died a couple of years after this having been a widow for almost two decades. Also during this decade find William getting married on Christmas Eve 1876. Robert’s family has grown quite a bit with more offspring coming along for both the eldest two children as well.
Jumping along to the 1881 Census Return and under what appears to be Enstone, Bride Farm we have Robert as a Looker and Farmer of 36 Acres employing one man and one boy. Plausibly this is his own chilren.
Also, under the roof are his wife and three children. Having lost his roof when his grandmother died it would appear that John has come to join his father again. He is described as Looker and Ag Lab.
The other two boys, Frederick and Frank, now aged 13 and 8 are described as scholars. There is another person there visiting who can work out to be Charlotte’s mother Charlotte WHEELER (1808 -1889).
Next on the list under Richborough Marshes is William, employed as a Shepherd, with his wife and two children.
The elder Robert died on 15-Feb-1885 at Bride Farm, Kent, England. So really had not moved far during most of his lifetime it seems.
He was buried on 21-Feb-1885 in St Nicholas Churchyard with the Reverend Edward WOODS officiating. There is a headstone laid flat on the ground commemorating members of the family. The inscription for him is as follows:
In affectionate remembrance of
ROBERT COLLINS
Of Bride Farm. Ash
Born September 17th 1815
Died February 15th 1885
Aged 71 years.
There are some variances over the age as the stone says he was 71, the burial register has him aged 68 but would appear he was actually 69 when he died.
On 20-Apr-1885 probate for Robert was granted with the estate left in his will going to his widow Charlotte. His effects were £260 6s. 3d. which today would be worth just under £38,000 using a simple Purchasing Power Calculator 6.
Whilst the children of Robert with Sarah seem to stay and work locally it seems that his offspring with Charlotte decided to spread their wings further.
Have not found any of them in 1891 Census but by 1901 they are living in Slough, Buckinghamshire. Both Frederick and Frank became bakers and confectioner. They also have a servant living with them who appears to be working for the two sons.
When Frederick married in 1903 it is implied that his father is still alive as name given and that profession is that of a Farmer so presumably this was a miscommunication error. His brother Frank was one of the witnesses.
The last evidence found for Frederick is in the 1939 Register. Frank went to Canada around 1905 for the first time. He must have travelled back and forth as also have his arrival there in 1908, married in UK during 1910 and they are settled in Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada by 1911.
Robert Martin COLLINS had two wives, six children and 40 grandchildren. I am aware that as well as Canada there are descendants of him in Australia albeit the majority are still in the UK and many still within about 20 miles of where he lived.
Footnotes:
- Find A Grave, Robert Collins Memorial- https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/256375047/robert-collins ↩︎
- Ancestry, multiple record searches for the family – https://www.ancestry.com ↩︎
- St Nicholas Parish Church – https://thecanonrybenefice.org.uk/about-the-canonry-benefice/our-churches/saint-nicholas-church-ash-village-in-kent ↩︎
- Guston, Kent – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guston,_Kent ↩︎
- Ordnance Survey map via National Library of Scotland [NLS] – https://maps.nls.uk/view/102343543 ↩︎
- Measuring Worth – https://www.measuringworth.com/calculators/ukcompare/relativevalue.php ↩︎
