Villett and similar (Villet, Vilette etc.) as a variation of Willett were excluded from my ongoing “Willetts in Essex” analysis. Villett and variants does often appear in discussion of Huguenot Families, and given the suggestion that the Willetts may be of Huguenot origin, it is accepted that research may have to be expanded. This post looks at the distribution of “Villett” and similar in Essex.
(more…)10 January, 2025
16 April, 2024
5 April, 2021
On This Day; 5 April 1981 – Census
On 5 April 1981 the 1981 UK Census was taken. Normally this is not a particular issue but for my mother it was. She was adopted but had traced her birth mother. On the approach to Census night she realised that she would be staying with her birth mother that night so would be listed as a “visitor” on her mother’s household census form.
This meant her mother would have to record their relationship. In 1981 this was “a secret” and left my mother in a quandary; knowing her mother had promised her (later) husband that she would keep my mother’s existence a secret but also knowing she wanted to be honest – how could she complete the form?
(more…)30 August, 2020
30 January, 2020
5 June, 2019
On this day – 75 Years Ago: D Day
My late mother, then Elizabeth Willett, was almost 14 in June 1944. In her memoirs she wrote of her memories of D-Day. She was away at boarding school in Sherborne, Dorset.
(more…)During the night of the 5th – 6th of June 1944, everyone in my house was woken by the staff and prefects to watch the gliders being towed over to Normandy at the start of D-Day.
11 November, 2018
On this day 100 years ago: Armistice
One hundred years on it is hard to imagine the impact of the Armistice. I was too young to discuss it with any of my relatives who survived the war. I imagine amidst the celebrations there would have been a sad reckoning.
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20 November, 2017
A remarkable but tragic coincidence
Elsewhere I have written about Wilfred Willett and how his wife rescued him when he was left for near-dead in a Base Hospital in Boulogne. He had been injured on 13 December 1914 when crawling out into no-mans land to assist one of his men who had been shot.
I now read of an incident involving his brother Lewis Willett. It caught my eye because my mother was adopted by a Willett and was consequently a cousin once removed of Wilfred and Lewis. (more…)
27 October, 2016
The Willetts of Colchester, Essex (and Daylight Saving) 2 of 2
I have split my current discussion of the Willetts of Colchester into two posts:
- (Previous Post) How I am related (through an adoptive line) to the William Willett of Daylight saving fame. He is my Great Great Uncle, so I need to trace back to his father (also William Willett) and thence to him.
- (This Post) Checking out the structure of the family at the beginning of the 19th Century (William Willett, the elder’s ancestors). Hopefully this will provide a few hooks for those who think they are related to the Colchester Willetts.
This article is fairly long and detailed – a briefer post about Willett Antecedents summarises some of the relationships.
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