COLLEY FAMILY TREE

Family Members circa 1872 - 2002

We are trying to trace our ancsestors.

Our great great great great grandfather, Thomas Colley. Thomas married Elizabeth Hotham (b. 2 June 1802?, Hessle by Hull) on 27 November 1817 in Heesle by Hull, E Riding, Yorkshire.

Elizabeth's father may have been George Hotham, my great great great great great grandfather.

Thomas and Elizabeth had 8 children (see family tree diagram on this site). One of their children, George, married Jane (surname unknown as yet), and they had a daughter Jane Grace Colley b. 1849). Did they have any other children? Did George Colley's 7 brother's and sisters have any children?

Jane Grace, had her first child in 1872, Jane E (Elizabeth?). Jane Grace had married a farrier (by 1891 a Stable Overseer) William Lancaster(b.1849,Ripon area, Yorks) and I believe she was outcast by her family because of this...or perhaps the child, Jane, was illegitimate?

Jane Grace had another three or more children, Mary A Lancaster, Thomas W Lancaster, Edith Colley Lancaster and possibly Mabel(Maybell(e)?)Lancaster.

William Lancaster died in approximately 1892/3.

After William died a man came on the scene to help Jane Grace's family. He was known variously as the 'Uncle' or 'Guardian'. Who was he? One of Jane Grace's father's brothers?

The 'uncle' sent some or all of the children to finishing school in France and Germany.

She moved to London with her husband when she left home (they married in London), and lived over stables in Eton Place Chelsea, until her husband died. Then her 'guardian', as she called him..perhaps a brother.....came and sent all 3 children to finishing school in Europe to'smarten them up'.

But Jane Grace herself did not want to return to her old middle class life, and moved to, probably, South East London. She never remarried.

Her son and daughter, under 'guardian's continued guidance, moved back to near Jane Grace's parents' home...perhaps in the Midlands? Not sure. The brother and sister never married and lived together in a comfortable house until the 1970s I think, as Mr and Miss Lancaster, when they both died.

Jane Grace's eldest, my great great grandmother Edith, refused to be transferred from her finishing school in Paris to one in Germany; her 'uncle' as she called him, presumably the 'guardian' told her that if she did not move schools he would wash his hands of her. She sent him a bar of soap.

Edith married a soldier, Jasper Baker, whom she met whilst on holiday staying with a schoolfriend in England, and Jasper stepped out of the bushes to stop her runaway dog cart, then started to call on her. They married in Paris, under the auspices of the woman who ran the finishing school there, Grandmere, no relation, but by then a great friend.

Edith and Jasper had 2 children, my grandmother Anna Phyllis and Norma ......

Anna Phyllis married a soldier too, Cyril William Bacon, and had 3 children, Elizabeth (Betty early on), Jasper and William (Bill). Betty married Desmond Wright and had two children, Philippa and Stephen. Jasper maried Mary Morgan Jones and had two daughters, jane and Maryanne. Bill married Dawn Barlow and had two children, Jasper and Louise. The Family Tree shows the marriages that led to the last generation of children from Stephen, Jane, Jasper and Louise. (Fill in later.)

Norma married Jacques de Guingand, a Frenchman, and had two sons, Christopher and Robin. Chris has lived in Australia all his adult life, married to maggie, with six? children, ........ Robin became a Roman Catholic priest as a young man in England, but died in his twenties, in the late 1960s when, on his way to a music lesson on his motorbike, was hit by a lorry. Chris and Robin's mother, Norma, followed Chris out to Australia, and there died in the 1970s. Chris and Margie's children and their children through marriage will be shown on the Family Tree diagram when it is updated.

COLLEY FAMILY TREE

Family Members circa 1872 - 2002

Other surnames in the Family

Places of Interest