William KNIGHT1 was born on 5 Apr 1862 in Staveley, Derbyshire, England.
William was a miner who
astonishingly managed to leave the mines to become a market gardener in
Saxilby during the week and a "bookie" (despite this being illegal
at the time), at the weekends in Woodhouse Mill. He was a real character
according to my uncles who are in their 80's being smartly dressed and
travelling around in a pony and trap. He had 2 families, one in Woodhouse
Mill and the other in Saxilby ....neither knowing of the other until the
funeral.
The William Knight Saga: An
Account by Jeff Knight: 18-March-2011
====================================================
The William Knight Saga :
date 18 march 2011
William has been a mystery
for 3 generations as it was known that he had 2 families but he had carefully
concealed each identity from the other. Even his death certificate proved
difficult to find and this only came to light as a result of research into his
burial inSheffield, revealing that he died in Saxilby. The identity of his
son, C. Storey who was the “informant” re-opened the search.
William Knight was born in
Staveley, Derbyshire on 5th April 1862, the son of Joseph Knight, born
Lubenham, Leicestershire, and Eliza Bosworth, born Desbrough, Cold Ashby,
Brixworth, Northants, . The Knight family had lived in the Lubenham area for
several generations and were a relatively well off family of Bakers.
Joseph, his father, had had a
complicated early life which is extremely difficult to trace in detail/with
certainty. William's grandfather, Thomas Nelson Knight appears to have taken
over the family bakery business when his father Thomas died, which he ran
with his mother; married quite late in life; had only one child, Joseph; and
died in the Northamptonshire Lunatic Asylum whilst Joseph was an infant .
The family appears to have
been quite comfortably off as they rented a box pew in Lubenham church and there
are several reasonably substantial headstones for the family in the Lubenham
churchyard.
William married Mary
Meredith, born 1863, whose family originated in the free-mining culture of
the Gloucestershire Royal Forest of Dean. They married in Chesterfield on 4th
February 1883. Mary's family is interesting in itself, providing an insight
into the way of life in the Victorian Forest of Dean mining community.
In the 1871 census, William
is 8 years old and living with his parents at Woodhouse Mill, Sheffield. His
father, Joseph, is a coal miner.
In the 1881 census, William
is 18 years old and a miner, living with his parents at “the island”,
Woodhouse Mill, Sheffield.
The island was a horseshoe
shaped development of 3 rows of terraced houses on a solid area of land
surrounded by an area of swampy land which was flooded when the river was in
full flow. There was a single access lane onto the island. It is thought that
the houses belonged to the owners of Orgreave Colliery where all/most of the
occupants worked. There was a single shop on the island which was run at one
point by Percy Knight, one of William's sons. The back yards to the houses
were made of timber supported by wooden piles/columns and apparently the
toilets discharged at the bottom of the yards directly into the river …..the
imagination is tested when the conditions in the summer when the river is at
its lowest are considered ! According to extracts from books on the area,
(sadly now out of print), which belong to a local shop-keeper whose family
have lived in Woodhouse Mill for generations, the island was described in the
late 1800's as “the worse living conditions in the whole of the West Riding
of Yorkshire, the odour being almost unbearable as a result of the close
proximity of a huge bone yard, tannery and soap works”.
William married Mary Meredith
on 4th February 1883, the marriage being registered in Sheffield.
In the 1891 census, William
is married to Mary and is still living on the island at Coalbrook Terrace. He
is 28 years old, a coal miner, and has 6 children.
In the 1901 census, William
is 39 years old, living with his wife Mary and 9 children and “living on his
own means”. One of his children, Frederick is listed here as being a cripple
all of his life being born with a spinal injury. Two of his sons are also
listed as “living on his own means”. Family legend has it that at this time
he was working for himself as an illegal “bookie” involved in betting on
local dog racing and bare-knuckle fighting. It has recently come to light that
he was injured in a mining accident where he had damage to his chest as a
result of a rock-fall involving a pit-prop and that he was unable to work in
the mine for some time. This is an interesting detail as the type of injury
would normally be attributed to a “waste-drawer” in a modern mining
environment. It is important to understand here that Orgreave Colliery where
William worked was something of a revolution in the mining industry of the
time as it employed the brand-new state of the art long wall mining
techniques where coal is extracted by
driving 2 parallel tunnels then taking out a continuous strip of coal, (the
coal-face), between the 2 tunnels, i.e. extracting a wide progressively
moving wall of coal as the coal-face progresses forwards. The roof of the
extracted coal is supported by timber pit-props and these become
progressively over-loaded as the face moves forward resulting in catastrophic
collapse if not expertly and progressively controlled. This involves the
progressive removal of selected pit-props which are released in a controlled
way allowing the roof of the mine to gradually settle, slowly compacting
stacks of horizontal timber pillars, as the
coal extraction face moves forward. This is the cause of a predictable
subsidence wave at the surface resulting from the slow controlled collapse
of the roof of the mine. If the weight
of the roof is not carefully controlled, excess weight is applied to
individual pit-props resulting in them unpredictably snapping horizontally
with the broken props being shot sideways like a shell out of a gun; at great
speed and with massive force, potentially causing a total collapse of the
roof of the coal-face itself. These projectiles are obviously extremely
dangerous for the men working in the vicinity. Traditionally, the waste
drawing expertise was passed down within teams of men consisting usually of
father/sons/uncles/cousins etc. Injury from horizontal pit-prop accidents, as
is the case here, is almost always to those working as waste-drawers as these
are the highly specialised workers who do this work. It is known for a fact
that William's son William and his grand-son, also William, were employed as
waste-drawers, the former being also at Orgreave Colliery. It has also come to light that William may
have been involved in a criminal gang in Sheffield in his younger days which
may have been a reference to the under-world aspect of gambling at the time
and possibly the activities which ran parallel to it. We know that his 2 sons
who were “living on his own means” in 1901 were working for William and this
has always been assumed to have been an involvement in the “bookie” work.
However, it is equally possible that the illegal activities might well have
been wider than being a “bookie” and the sons might have constituted “the
gang” or at least been part of it. This will probably never be known for
sure.
The 1901 census is
interesting also in the fact that for the first time William appears to be in
2 places at the same time. He is clearly the “Head” listed on the 1901 census
for his home at Woodhouse Mill : he is also listed as “visitor” but under the
name William Night on the census entry for the family of Joseph Hughes, a
chimney sweep, at Killamarsh.. Their daughter Rebecca is living with them.
Rebecca soon becomes William's partner/wife and has a substantial family with
him at their home in Saxilby. Rebecca already has 2 children listed on the
1901 census, the elder of the 2, Hilda aged 2 years, being born in Boston in
Lincolnshire and William, aged 1, being born in Saxilby. Whether or not he is
simply listed as visiting or is actually living there is not known. Looking
back through the census entries for 1891 and 1881 shows Rebecca listed as
Rebecca Hughes in 1901 and Rebecca Storey, (her mother's maiden name and her “father”'s
name), Hughes, (i.e. Storey-Hughes), in 1881. This suggests that Rebecca was
born before Annis Storey and Joseph Hughes married and that her actual
surname was Storey.
In the 1911 census, things
become even more complicated as the census entry was made by “William Storey”,
this being over-scored, we can only assume by the enumerator, and Hilda, (the
12 years old daughter), being substituted. No doubt this is as a result of
the person signing the entry as correct, i.e. William Storey, does not appear
to be resident on the date of the census. Also, Rebecca was originally
entered as “Wife” and this has also been changed to read “Head”. Comparison
of the handwriting for the entry on the Saxilby 1911 census form and that
made by William Knight on the Woodhouse Mill 1911 census are identical ….even
the signature for “William” is identical. There is no doubt that the same
person completed both entries. The 7 children are listed as “Son”/”Daughter”
suggesting that the person filling in the form, i.e. William Storey/Knight
was their father. It is reasonable to assume that Rebecca believed that
William was her husband, albeit not actually married and that he worked and
lived away. Apparently, he came home for the weekend, every other week, returning
to Sheffield to work. In Sheffield, Rebecca believed William to be lodging
with a lady called “Polly”. The factor which puts all this in doubt is the
name that William used. Rebecca was clearly aware that he was William “Night”
as he is listed as “visitor” on the 1901 census for Rebecca's parents, yet in
1911 he is listed as William Storey. This suggests that Rebecca was party to
the fact that they lived as Mr & Mrs Storey,(her/her mother's maiden
name) in Saxilby whilst she knew that he was actually William Knight. Whether
she knew that he had a family in Woodhouse Mill or not is not, and maybe will
never be, known.
Apparently, William, (who had
a total of 11 children with Rebecca ….+ possibly 2 which are at present
unconfirmed), was well liked by his children in Saxilby and there are stories
of him bringing sweets etc., on his brief weekend visits. Having said that,
he also expected to be met at the station and if this did not happen he spent
the house-keeping in the local pub leaving Rebecca with no money ….she
subsequently became self-sufficient. The same goes for the children of the
Woodhouse Mill family although the bitterness felt after the existence of the
second family after his funeral soured the opinion of him over the following
generations. Apparently, he travelled from Woodhouse Mill to Saxilby by train
which was a relatively brief journey despite the huge distance involved for
the time. This suggests that Saxilby was perhaps chosen for this specific
reason. The story which was told in Woodhouse Mill was that he travelled to
Saxilby to collect vegetables for sale in Woodhouse Mill. Various different
forms of this story exist, ranging from him being a market-gardener to others
where he bought the goods for sale on markets or to market traders/shops. It
would be interesting to know if Rebecca's self-sufficiency meant that she
produced vegetables etc., some of which William subsequently took back to
Woodhouse Mill.
There are stories in
existence which have passed down from the Woodhouse Mill family. For
example:-
Colin Knight, William Knight's grand-son who
is still alive and in his late 80's, remembers William visiting his parents
when he was a small child. William was accompanied by a “posh” lady, both of
them being really well dressed and driving a pony and trap. He remembers that
his grandfather brought a large basket of eggs, “a real luxury at the time”.
He has always assumed that the lady was his grandmother Mary, but this cannot
be the case as Mary died in 1914, i.e. before Colin was born. It seems
unlikely that this was Rebecca but maybe it was “Polly”, we will never know.
He only recollects seeing his grandfather once.
Another story suggests that
William had, at some time in his life “long hair and a white beard”. This
story comes from William, his grandson, the son of William's son also called
William. William's son William had 5 children, 4 of whom are still alive and
all in their late 80's and 90's. Unfortunately they seem to remember little
of their grandfather.
Apparently, William left a
will, leaving everything he had to both families equally. This seems to be
understood to be the case no matter who is asked in the Woodhouse Mill
family, so it is probably correct. At present a copy of the will has not been
located.
The story also suggests that
the 2 families did not know about each other until after William's death. The
death certificate, death registered in Saxilby, is in the name of William
Knight and the informant is C. Storey, resident at West Bank, Saxilby, who is
listed as “Son” and the term “Step” has been inserted by the registrar ….i.e.
he considers himself as William Knight's son but the registrar has modified
this for some reason to step-son. This is proof positive that William Knight
and William Storey are one and the same person.
Apparently, at the funeral,
which was in Sheffield, the 2 families had a huge falling out as both wanted
to walk immediately behind the hearse. This story takes several forms from
verbal argument to fights etc. It would be nice to think that the former is
the case but the latter is equally possible.
William's name was not spoken
in several Knight households for 2 generations. This has made research
extremely difficult.
This saga is changing on a
daily basis and will be updated a appropriate
It is hoped that this brief
account is of interest to anyone interest in the William Knight/Rebecca
Storey/Mary Meredith family history. Any information/stories and/or
photographs (copies or originals which will be immediately copied and
returned) would be much appreciated.
This document has been
prepared by Jeff Knight, the son of William Knight, Grandson of William
Knight, great grandson of William Knight and Mary Meredith.
MAIN ADDRESS
107 Route de Ligne,
85570 St. Valerien
France
tel : (0033) 244376137 (we have free calls to UK
land-lines and are very happy to call back)
or
UK CONTACT ADDRESS (daughter)
99 Londesborough Road,
Southsea
PO4 0EU
email : jeff.knight@sfr.fr
<mailto:jeff.knight@sfr.fr>
A huge amount of research
into this subject has been/continues to be undertaken by Dilys Walker and
Gillian Richards
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William married (MRIN:8132) Mary MEREDITH1 on 4 Feb 1883 in Chesterfield,
Derbyshire, England. Mary was born in 1863.
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