Charles Knight

According to his obituary he was born on 14 April 1809, the third son of Stephen Knight, a coachman and his wife Hannah. He lived to see 5 reigning monarchs from George III to Edward VII.  His parents Stephen Knight and Hannah (née Pink) were married on 27 February 1803 in Whitchurch, Hampshire and their first-born son Stephen was baptised on the same day.

1815 Census, page 78:  Aged 6 Charles was living with his parents and siblings on the east side of Northbrook Street, in Lovidge’s Yard, Speenhamland, near today’s Clocktower in the Broadway. His Father, a coachman, was 36 and his mother 38. His siblings were Stephen (12), William (8), Mary (4), George (2) and infant Joseph (bapt. 14/5/1815).  Three more children followed: James (bapt. 17/3/1817),  Edmund (bapt. 10/5/1818) and Sylvia (bapt. 14/5/1820).

His father was for many years a coach driver on the London to Bristol coaches along the famous Old Bath Road and he kept a public house in Newbury.  Tragically on 27 October 1823 when entering Slough his father fell off from the coach box and he was killed instantaneously by the wheels passing over his head.  He was 41 years old and he left his widow with a large family to support. He was brought to Newbury and buried at St. Nicolas’ Church on 31 October.

His widow Hannah was sole executrix and in the 1830 Pigot’s Directory she is listed as the innkeeper of the “Fountain”  Inn in Northbrook Street. Hannah died aged 64 in 1839 and she was buried at St. Nicolas’s Church on 24 August.

Charles, still a boy, was apprenticed to a butcher in Bath. On his return to Newbury, he was employed by Jonathon Farrow, a well-respected butcher trading in Northbrook Street. 

Charles married his first wife Eliza Kent (b. 1802 Newbury) on 25 September 1826 at St. Nicolas’ Church; the witnesses were William Kent and Mary Ann Kent. He had set himself up in business at the young age of 17 in Bartholomew Street (1830 Pigot’s Directory) and then moved to St. Mary’s Hill (1839 Robson’s Directory and 1841 census). 

Charles and Eliza had seven children:  Stephen (b. 1828), Henry (b. 1830), George (b. 1833), Charles (b. 1835), William (b. 1837), Margaret (b. 1839) and Tom (b. 1844). The family were living in West Fields on the Enborne Road.

Eliza died in 1858 aged 56 and she was buried in the Cemetery on 13 September.

1861 census: Living in the Enborne Road, West Fields, Charles was a widower, aged 52 and still trading as a master butcher.  Also living with him was his married daughter Margaret and his son-in-law Edmund Fisher a butcher journeyman and their infant daughter Eliza.

In November 1866 at St. John’s Church he married his second wife Charlotte Taylor (née Parsons). She was a widow and had been employed as a nurse by William Foxley Norris, curate of St. Nicholas’ Church at his residence No.2 Porchester Villas.

1871 census – Charles and Charlotte, together with her mother Jemima Parsons, lived at “Coombe View”, Enborne Road.  Jemima died on 27 October 1880 aged 89 and a few weeks later Charlotte died on 11 December aged 60.  They are both buried in the Cemetery.

1881 census – Widowed again and aged 71 Charles continued to live at “Coombe View”. His niece Laura Parsons was his housekeeper and Ann Edwards aged 74 had been employed as a servant. His daughter Margaret, her husband Edmund Fisher, their 2 daughters Eliza and Charlotte and infant grandson Albert Paine were living next door.

In October 1882 he instructed for “Coombe View” to be sold (NWN dated 26/10/1882) and after been elected to a vacancy he moved to No.5 Raymond’s Almshouses where he lived for the next 23 years until his death on 27 March 1906, aged 96 years.  He was buried on 31 March.

Mrs. P. Code  W163, page 26

His daughter Margaret Fisher was buried on 15 January 1907 age 67 and his son-in-law Edmund Fisher on 22 August 1911 age 72.

Sources:  Hampshire Parish Registers; 1815 Toomers’  census, page 78; 1841 to 1901 census; Berkshire Marriage Index;  Death Index 1Q 1906, Newbury District, Vol.2C, page 165; Berkshire Burial Index.  1830 Pigot’s Directory; 1839 Robson’s Directory, page 47.

Obituaries and Newspaper Announcements:

Newspaper:            Newbury Weekly News

Date:                       29 March 1906, page 8

LOCAL CHIT-CHAT

Old Charles Knight, who died in Raymond’s Almshouses on Tuesday, was probably the “oldest inhabitant” for he would have been ninety-seven had he lived to April 14^th.  He had been an inmate of the almshouse for no less than twenty three years, and probably owed his long life to the peaceful seclusion and means he had enjoyed during that long period.  He was a cheerful old chap, deeply grateful for the very comfortable manner in which he was allowed to spend his last years.  He had hopes  of celebrating his centenary, and certainly looked forward to the future, for he had manured his garden and laid in a stock of seed potatoes ready for planting.  He was very fond of his garden, and an enthusiastic observer of nature.

When one recollects that he dated from 1809, one can realise the extraordinary length of his life, and the many historical events that have happened in his time.  He lived in five reigns, and was a boy when Waterloo was fought, and was in middle age when the Crimean Campaign was in progress.  He had taken part in most of the local celebrations in Newbury when Kings and Queens were crowned or married, when peace was proclaimed or war declared. 

His father was a driver of one of the old coaches along the famous Bath Road, and Charles used to relate many incidents of his boyhood days, when Newbury was the principal stopping place between London and Bath.   It was at the latter place that he was apprenticed to a butcher, and came to Newbury to carry on the trade.  He was in business for himself by the time he was seventeen, so he began early.  He had a family of six sons and one daughter.  He had shops in three different parts of Newbury, and each of the shops have now disappeared in improvements.

The old man was an inveterate smoker, and never happier than when his pipe was in full blast, but in the manner of intoxicants exercised great abstemiousness.  The end came rather suddenly, and he retained full possession of his powers right to the last.

Obituaries and Newspaper Announcements:

Newspaper:            Newbury Weekly News

Date:                       29 March 1906, page 5

DEATHS:

KNIGHT – March 27, at 5, Raymond’s Almshouses, Charles Knight, aged 96. “His end was peace.”  -  Funeral on Saturday afternoon at Newbury Cemetery.

Obituaries and Newspaper Announcements:

Newspaper:            Morning Post

Date:                       29 October 1823, page 3

SUDDEN DEATH – Monday evening, between seven and eight o’clock, as one of the Bath coaches from London was entering Slough, the coachman, Stephen Knight, fell from the box, in an apoplectic fit, and one of the wheels passing over his head, he was killed on the spot.  The horses were immediately stopt (sic), and soon afterwards put under the guidance of another driver, without any damage or delay to the coach.

Newspaper:            Morning Advertiser

Date:                       30 October 1823, page 3

FATAL ACCIDENT – On Monday evening Stephen Knight, many years a driver of a Bath coach, met his sudden death on Maidenhead Thicket, Berks.  He was riding on the coach box, the guard having the reins, and when dozing, he fell, and was killed instantaneously by the wheels going over his head, and crushing one half of it.  The deceased was a very respectable man, who kept a public-house at Newbury, and who has left a large family to lament the catastrophe.

Author: Duff
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