William Knott

LIFE GOES ON: AN INTRODUCTION

MY GRANDPARENTS - I - MY GREAT-GRANDPARENTS - I - MY GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS - I - MY GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS

THE SIXTEEN FAMILIES

KNOTT - I - BOWLES - I - WATERS - I - HARRALL - I - PAGE - I - WISEMAN - I - CROSS - I - CARTER

CORNWELL - I - HUCKLE - I - MORTLOCK - I - MANSFIELD - I - REYNOLDS - I - CARTER - I - ANABLE - I - STEARN

CHRONOLOGY - I - DRAMATIS PERSONAE - I - WHERE PEOPLE CAME FROM - I - CALENDAR

MAP OF ELY - I - MAP OF MEDWAY
MAP OF CAMBRIDGE AND DISTRICT

THE WORKHOUSE

WORLD WAR I - I - WORLD WAR II

simonknott.co.uk I home I e-mail

LIFE GOES ON

William Knott
born Upchurch, Kent, 3rd December 1869
died Rochester, Kent, 27th July 1951

on the Knott family tree
part of the Knott and Bowles family stories

married to Mary Anne Waters

father of Vincent Helgia Knott

son of
George Knott
and Mary Ann Bowles

William Knott (1869-1951). My Father's Father's Father. My Great-Grandfather.

1869: William Knott was born on the 3rd of December at Upchurch, Kent. His father's name is given as George Knott, and his mother's as Mary Ann Knott, formerly Bowles. His mother was the informant, and her address shows that William was born at home. His father's occupation is given as a brickfield labourer. William's mother signed the register with a cross - that is, she was illiterate, and could not write her own name. The birth was registered on the 10th of January 1870.

1871 census:

William was one year old at the time of the 1871 census. The Knott family were living at Halstow Road, Upchurch, Kent.

William's father George is shown as a labourer, aged 28. His mother Mary Ann was 27 years old.

William was the third of three children. George was 5 and Joseph was 3

William is shown as being born at Upchurch, Kent. His father was born at Gillingham in Kent, his mother at Faversham in Kent. George was also born at Gillingham, and Joseph in Upchurch. The transcript for their entry is here.

1881 census:

William was eleven years old at the time of the 1881 census. The Knott family were living at 8, Reeves Cottages, Gillingham, Kent.

William's father George is shown as a brickfield labourer, aged 38. His mother Mary Ann was 37 years old.

William was the third of five children. George was 15, Joseph was 13, Frederick was 8 and Caroline was 4.

William is shown as being born at Upchurch, Kent. His father was born at Gillingham in Kent, his mother at Faversham in Kent. George was also born at Gillingham, Caroline was born at Halstow and Joseph and Fredrick were born in Upchurch. The transcript for their entry is here.

1891 census:

William was twenty-one years old at the time of the 1891 census. The Knott family were living at 14, Grange Road, Frindsbury, Kent. The road still exists, not far from the centre of Rochester.

William is shown as a general labourer. His father George is also shown as a general labourer, aged 46, while his mother Mary Ann is shown as 47 years old.

William was the second of five children. George was 25, Frederick was 18, Lilla was 6 and Thomas was 4. Joseph and Caroline, who appear on the 1881 census in the household, are no longer here.

William is shown as being born at Halstow, Kent. All other sources give Upchurch, but Lower Halstow is the next village to Upchurch, and so may be accurate. His father was born at Gillingham in Kent, his mother at Faversham in Kent. George was also born at Gillingham, Frederick was born at Halstow (Upchurch in other sources) while Lilla and Thomas were born in Strood. The transcript for their entry is here.

1892: William married Mary Ann Waters at St Mary's church, Strood, Kent on 3rd December. William was 23, Mary Ann was 20. They both gave their address as Grange Road. William's occupation was a factory labourer, his father George's occupation was a labourer. Mary Ann's father George gave his occupation as engine driver. Both signed the register, Mary Ann spelling her name without the final e. .

1893: William's first child Daisy Mary was born. Her baptism record at St Nicholas's church, Strood, on September 13th shows that the family were living at Cuxton Road, Strood, Kent.

1895: William's second child Gladys Violet was born. Her baptism record at St Nicholas's church, Strood, on December 29th shows that the family were living at Tobin Villas, Strood, Kent. This was a terrace on Cuxton Road, almost certainly the same house they were living at in 1893.

1897: William's third child Pansy Miriam was born. Her baptism record at St Nicholas's church, Strood, on August 22nd shows that the family were living at 12 Strood Hill, Strood. This is the same house that they would be living at in 1901.

1901 census: William was thirty-one years old at the time of the 1901 census. The Knott family were living at 12, London Road, Strood Intra, Kent. The house still exists, a short distance from where the family were living in 1891, and is now a hairdresser's shop.

William is shown as a cement labourer. His wife Mary Ann, was 28 years old.

William had one child, Gladys V aged 5. (Another child, 7 year old Daisy Mary, was staying with her grandparents in Hitchin - the transcript for their entry is here.)

William is shown as being born at Upchurch, Kent. His wife Mary Ann was born in Flintshire, North Wales. Gladys was born in Strood, Kent. The transcript for their entry is here.

William's father George was fifty-three years old at the time of the 1901 census. The Knott family were living at 58, Grange Road, Frindsbury, Kent. This is the same road as in 1891, and it may even be the same house if they were renumbered. It is a short walk from his son's home in Strood Intra - both are parts of Rochester.

George is shown as a brickfield labourer. His wife Mary Ann is shown as 57 years old. She is shown as a sweets and general shopkeeper.

George had two children still living at home. Lilla (shown as Lily) was 16 and Thomas was 14. He is shown as an office boy - brickworks.

George was born at Gillingham in Kent, his wife Mary Ann at Faversham in Kent. Lily and Thomas were born in Strood. The transcript for their entry is here.

1902: William's eldest son William George was born. His baptism record at St Nicholas, Strood, shows that the family were living at 11 St John's Terrace, Cuxton Road, Strood, Kent.

1908: William's son, my grandfather Vincent Helgia Knott, was born on the 15th of February at 34 West Hill, Dartford in Kent. This house still exists, on the main road into Dartford from London. In the photograph above, it is the house with the white door under the trees directly through the gap in the wall. The father's name is given as William Knott, and his mother's as Mary Ann Knott, formerly Waters. His mother was the informant, and her address shows that he was born at home. William's occupation is given as burner in a cement works. The birth was registered on the 21st of March 1908. He was baptised at Holy Trinity, Dartford on 22nd April 1908.

1911 census:

William was forty-two years old at the time of the 1911 census. The Knott family were living at 16 Providence Street, Greenhithe, Kent. The house still exists, and can be seen clearly on Google Street View.

William is shown as a cement labourer and chalk digger. His wife Mary Ann, was 38 years old. They had been married for 18 years.

William had four children: Gladys was 15, William 8, Vincent 3 and Iris Alberta was 3 months old (she had been born on Christmas Eve 1910).

William was born at Upchurch, Kent, and his wife Mary Ann was born in Flintshire in Wales. Gladys and William were born in Strood, Vincent was born in Dartford and Iris was born in Greenhithe, all in north-west Kent. The transcript for their entry is here. You can see the original form here.

1912: William's daughter Daisy Mary Knott, who had been living with her mother's parents at the time of both the 1901 and 1911 censuses, was married at St Michael's church, Wilmington in Dartford on 3rd April. She gave her address as the One Bell public house, and so did her new husband Charles James Marchant, who gave his occupation as an instructor in physical culture. William and his second daughter Gladys were witnesses. Interestingly, Daisy gave her age as 21. In fact, she was just 18. The One Bell was where she was living in 1911, and her grandparents kept it. But her grandfather had died in 1911. Is it possible that she gave a false age to enable her to take on the running of the One Bell with Charles Marchant now that her grandfather was dead and her grandmother was infirm?

1914: William's mother-in-law, Mary Ann Waters neé Harrall, died of cancer at 96 Temple Street, Strood, on 27th November. Her age was given as 65. She died in the house of her daughter Mary Ann Knott, who notified the death, showing that my great-grandparents were back in Strood by 1914.

1919: William's daughter Gladys Violet was married at St Nicholas, Strood on 8th February. She gave her address as 96 Temple Street, Strood and so did her new husband Frederick Allen. Interestingly, William's occupation in the register is given as stevedore, meaning a docker. This is the only time I have found it recorded as anything other than a cement or brickfield worker.

1921 census:

William was 51 years old at the time of the 1921 census. The Knott family were living at 96 Temple Street, Strood, Kent. He is shown as a cement labourer at Wickham Cement, Strood. His wife Mary Ann was 48 years old. There were two children in the household, Vincent was thirteen and his sister Iris Alberta was ten. William's father George had died in the house six days before the census day. You can see the original form here.

1925: Kelly's Directory of Rochester, Chatham and Gillingham records William's address as 96 Temple Street, Strood.

1951: William Knott died on the 27th July at 143 Maidstone Road, Rochester, Kent, the house of his daughter Gladys. He was 81 years old, and the cause of death was exhaustion and internal haemorrhage. His occupation was given as cement burner in cement works - retired. The informant was his daughter, Gladys Violet Allen. He was buried in the family plot A192 at Strood Cemetery, Cuxton Road, Strood on 31st July, where both his parents lie.