William Kellet was a relative of William Morland and had been left his book of Statutes and Register of Briefs in Chancery indicating that William Kellet had also been groomed for a career in Chancery and the law of equity. The evidence below is that like his kinsman he was active in acquiring property.
From "A History of Sutton A.D. 675 - 1960" by Robert Smith.
A translation of the Cartulary of Chertsey Abbey published by the Surrey Records Society contains many references, dating from A.D. 1339, to tenants in Sutton and the terms of their tenure....
...In 1496 William Kellet, Clerk, holds a messuage with a curtilage attached, situate opposite the Rectory rent 2/6 a quarter". This is the first mention of a Rectory in Sutton History.
The name Kellet seems to have evolved into Killick. This shift in the name seems to have taken place in the early 17th century. Kellet is found as a family name in Sutton's and Banstead's registers in the 1630s. Kellet then peters our with Killick replacing it.
One pair of St Nicholas entries tells the story of the name change. On 17th Sep 1638 Lucresse Kellet the daughter of William Kellet was baptised. When she was buried 39 years later on 26th Mar 1677 her name had shifted to be Lucretia Killick.
The Killick name has a strong local association with Sutton and Surrey. If the name Killick is searched for at http://www.nationaltrustnames.org.uk/default.aspx using the 1881 census data set then it will show that Surrey is the heartland of the name and that Sutton has the greatest density in London.
In the 1400s Killicks were well established around Horley, Nutfield and Bletchingley. They spread a few miles into West Kent and down into North Sussex.
Horley may provide an interesting link as Chertsey Abbey had at one time property near there administered via the Sutton manor. Horley is one of the possible locations for the second Church mentioned in Domesday. The Kellet/Killick families seem to have been mainly yeoman/tenant farmers until the nineteenth century when they followed other occupations. In Sutton that included Inn keeping.
William Kelett died probably in the October of 1500. It is not known what caused his death but there was a great epidemic of plague in 1499-1500, in London and also in the surrounding countryside.
Source: GOTTFRIED, Robert S (1983), The Black Death: Natural and Human Disaster in Medieval Europe, London: Robert Hale.
Will of William Kelett
"1500 PCC 20 Moone
William Kelett clerk one of the Clerks in Chancery of the Lord King and parson of the Parish Church of Sutton.
Dated 2nd October 1500. To be buried in the Chancl of said church at St Nicholas. To the High Altar of same church one surplice and vestment red (satin?). Also I will that Elizabeth Nykson may have that tenement in Crassalton (Carshalton?) in which I dwell for her lifetime. My Executor to be Hugh Morland.
Proved in the PCC 20th November 1500 by John Reed notary public and admon granted to Hugh Morland the Executor named in this will. Inventory to be shewn at next feast of St. Hilary."
Source: Hooper, H. J. 'Some Surrey wills in the prerogative court of Canterbury, 1'. Surrey Archaeological Collections, 51
The Friends of St Nicholas Churchyard seeks to promote for the benefit of the public the conservation and appreciation of the churchyard, church and environs of St Nicholas Church, Sutton as a place of remembrance, historic importance and natural beauty.
