Thompson / Corporaal Family History

Robert Collet ¹

  General Notes:

Robert Collet was born at The Hale in Wendover in 1726, the youngest of the four sons of William Collet and Elizabeth Kipping. He was only two years old when his mother died while, by the time he was born, two of his three older brothers had also passed away. He was baptised at Wendover on 27th May 1727 when his parents were confirmed as William and Elizabeth Collet. Robert was educated at Trinity College in Oxford where he matriculated on 3rd November 1743 at the age of 17. The university records refer to Robert Collett as the son of William Collett of The Hale in Wendover.

He was sworn of homage of the Manor of The Hale at a Manorial Court held on 16th September 1748, the last Collet of the Manor of The Hale in Wendover. It was during that period of history when Hale House was burnt down and it was Robert who rebuilt it in 1748, his initials R C being etched on the front of the house. Sadly two years later Robert was unmarried and was only twenty-four when he died in 1750. Four years earlier the legal guardian of Robert Collet, Robert Kipping '96 his mother's younger brother, had died and at that time Robert Collet, the sole heir of William Collet, had not reached the age of majority.


Therefore his Will made later and proved at Canterbury in 1750 bequeathed the family estate to his cousin Robert Stratfold (Ref. 63K1) on condition that he change his name to Robert Collet. "I Robert Collet, gentleman of The Hale in the Parish of Wendover, give and devise unto my cousin Robert Stratfold [written as Stretfold] the elder all and every manors, messuages, cottages, lands, tenements, tithes, hereditaments and estate whatsoever lying in the several parishes of Wendover, Weston Turville, Ellesborough, and Aston Clinton or elsewhere in the County of Bucks." Thus the estate was left in trust for Robert Stratfold (Ref. 63L2), the infant son of his cousin Robert Stratfold the elder who was only three years old at the time of the death of his uncle. The Will continued "the said Robert Stratfold the son, to procure an Act of Parliament for changing his name to Collet when of age or sooner; also that he and his heirs shall hereafter use the name and arms of my family".

The untimely death of unmarried Robert Collet brought to an end the direct succession to The Hale Estate and, although there were others of the name living, the estate was bequeathed to one who had no blood-kinship to the Collet stock.


At this point, the History of The Hale in Wendover is continued in
Part 63 '96 The Stratfold-Collet Family of Wendover starting at Ref. 63K1

Extracted from Brian Collet's Family History Part 18 & 63 - http://www.collettfamilyhistory.net/ ²

  Some of his life's milestones were:

* Reference *:,. ¹ Refer to Brian Collett's Family History Part 18 for details - http://www.collettfamilyhistory.net/