Derek J Colier (dcollier @t onetel.com) of Midgham, Reading says: I am trying to trace information regarding my Gt. Gt. Gt. Grandfather William Collier. He was born around 1791, possibly at Uxbridge. From around 1811 until 1821 he was a Surgeon Apothecary in and around Hemel Hempstead, although I have no proof or information about this. I know he married Sarah Dell at Beaconsfield on the 29 April 1811. Sarah did come from Hemel Hempstead area, possibly Saratt or Great Gaddesden. I have found a possible baptism on the IGI which says she was Christened on the 21 March 1790. Is there any way of finding out where and who William worked for during the period 1811 to 1821, and if by any chance was William Collier really a local man. There is a possibility that he might have been apprenticed to another Surgeon in Hemel Hempstead before starting on his own. There is a write up about William and Sarah on the internet, which my family have had since it was written in the 1920s, but this does not give the information which I require.

You forgot to give the URL of the Internet text - but I was able to find it using www.google.com and contains an apparently incomplete text "A History of Collier and Dell Families" compiled by Mrs Ellen Amelia Upton of Richmond, Surrey, in 1928. (Link to text)

Old histories were researched at a time when there were few indexes, many records such as census returns were not available, and others such as parish registers were still held parish churches and difficult to access. This means that vast quantities of information which is readily available now was not available then - and this means it is important to check details. The key entry in this history reads:

SARAH COLLIER nee DELL

Born 1790 died 1858 married William COLLIER a Surgeon's Apothecary of HEMEL HEMPSTEAD at BEACONSFIELD Parish Church by licence on 29 April 1811 in the presence of her sister and brother in law John and Mary CHAPMAN and had 6 sons and 3 daughters, lived first at HEMEL HEMPSTEAD where the first 3 children were probably born. Later her husband took up a practice at Red House STOKENCHURCH, OXON where his other 6 children were born and baptised. She like her 2 sisters benefited under her Aunt MARTIN's Will by receiving interest on UKP 1,600 invested in Public Funds. In 1833 her husband wanted a loan and the family removed to LIVERPOOL and he made a forged transfer of stock. For this he was found "guilty" and was transported for life to TASMANIA and he left his wife with 9 children to support. ...

Other parts of the account suggest that her parents were William and Elizabeth Dell. Her father came from Water End, near Hemel Hempstead, and she had siblings William (1783), Rebecca (1787), Ann (1788). The IGI at familyseach shows baptisms at Great Gaddesden and Nettleden of Rebecca (1783), Joseph (1786), Ann (1787) and Sarah (1790), which is a close but not an exact match. The registers need checking as does "Aunt Mary's" Will , to see whether an error has occurred - or whether it is the wrong family.

The IGI record for the 1811 marriage is NOT from a register transcript - and the IGI entry may well have been copied from Mrs Ellen Amelia Upton's account so again needs checking with the register.

You don't give the names of William and Sarah Collier's children but if he was in Hemel Hempstead between 1811 and 1821 you might hope that some of their children were baptized there. In fact familysearch shows that a Sarah Collier, daughter of William and Sarah, was baptized at Hemel Hempstead on 22 April 1814 - but no others are indexed. When you check the register it will give you William Collier's occupation.

The web site contains what appears to be a partial extract from The Morning Chronicle of 4th January, 1834. You would probably need to go to the British Library's newspaper collection at Collingdale to see the original. The Times is far more widely available on microfilm at major libraries and its account may contain other interesting information.

There were two surgeons listed in Hemel Hempstead in the 1790's in the Universal British Directory. One was Elisha Blayney and the other was Charles Cherrington (who died in 1839 aged 69). The 1823 Pigot's directory lists the following Surgeons: Charles George Cherrington, Sir A P Cooper, Daniel Desormaux and T A Prentice.

It may be that William Collier was local as familysearch shows a William, son of Thomas and Sarah Collyer was baptised on 23rd December 1792 at Ivinghoe, Bucks. (At the time Nettleden was officially part of the parish of Pitstone, Bucks, which adjoins Ivinghoe, although most people in Nettleden used the much nearer church at Great Gaddesden.) There may also be some useful records in Australia which give William's place of birth - and it could be worth posting a message on the soc.genealogy.australia+nz newsgroup.

Derek J Colier (dcollier @t onetel.com) responded: Thank you for the information regarding the doctors who worked at Hemel Hempstead, plus the info regarding the villages of Great Gaddesden, Nettleden and Pitstone in Buckinghamshire. You suggested that I contact Australia to see if they had any information as to the place of birth of William Collier, this I did with the result being Uxbridge. I do have a copy of Mary Martin's will which was written in 1813. Although there is no mention of Joseph born in 1786, she does mention the other children of William and Elizabeth Dell. Perhaps Joseph had died by then.

HOME