The couple had ten children baptized in the parish of Foulness between 1789 and 1806, and John is said to have farmed there, perhaps at Shelford, at the west end of the island. He is said to have owned land, but there is no evidence of any Knights holding land in Foulness at any period. (It is possible but unlikely that the report of a connection refers to his wife.)
It is likely that this was the John Knight buried in Foulness on 15 March 1826 at the age of 62. The couple seem to have stayed in Foulness until at least then, but there is no record of Mary's death in the parish. George their son seems to have been continued to live in Foulness until between 1833 and 1836.
John and Mary Knight had perhaps ten children:
1 JOHN KNIGHT (1789-?), baptized at Foulness on 13 March 1789. There is no evidence that he ever married, though there is a possible marriage to Sarah Bruce at Roxwell on 11 October 1819.
2 EDWARD KNIGHT (1790-1799), baptized at Foulness on 25 July 1790. He died, aged eight, and was buried on 17 March 1799.
3 MARY KNIGHT (1792-?), baptized at Foulness on 2 December 1792.
4 JAMES KNIGHT (1794-18??), baptized at Foulness on 2 June 1794. He was perhaps a farm labourer working at Little Wakering in 1841, but this is not certain. If it was he, he was with his wife, Mary Cook, whom he had married at Little Wakering on 25 October 1815, and his sons James (20) and George (1) and daughters Eliza (15), Sarah (10) and Emma (5). (But according to the 1851 census, when James was a shepherd in Barling, he had been born in Southchurch and was aged only 52.) Another James Knight married Elizabeth Lamprell at Canewdon on 17 October 1816.
There were no other Knights from Foulness in the Rochford Hundred of Essex in 1851 but a James Knight of the right age was at Romford. He was a widowed agricultural labourer born in Writtle, near Chelmsford. Yet another James Knight, aged 58, from "Essex", was a married bricklayer at 86 Union Street, Lambeth, living with his wife Jane (38) and children George (11), John (9), Joseph (2) and Mary Ann (1 month).
5 GEORGE KNIGHT (1795-1796), baptized at Foulness on 22 September 1795. He died in infancy and was buried on 21 February 1796.
6 ELIZABETH KNIGHT (1797-?), baptized at Foulness on 16 May 1797. It is unlikely that she married in Essex. A marriage to George Gardner at Great Wakering on 18 October 1815 (with witnesses James Gardner junior and Sarah Gardner) seems too early.
7 SARAH KNIGHT (1799-?), baptized at Foulness on 13 January 1799. Again it is unlikely that she is the Sarah who married Thomas Browning at Paglesham on 17 October 1815 (by licence, with witness Ann Knight). She may have married John Day at Roxwell on 11 October 1822.
8 EDWARD KNIGHT (1803-1822), baptized at Foulness on 30 January 1803. He was still in Foulness in 1822, when he died, aged 19. He was buried at Foulness on 17 November 1822.
9 GEORGE KNIGHT (1804-1895), baptized at Foulness on 12 September 1804. He married Mary Marden before 1833. She had been born in Worth.
The censuses of 1851, 1861 and 1871 give Worth, Surrey as her place of birth, but this is almost certainly Worth in Sussex, and Mary is almost certainly the Mary Marden baptized there on 4 April 1802, the daughter of George and Jane Marden. It is not known when or where they married.
However, the couple's daughters were born in Foulness, so it seems that George remained on this island until some date between 1836 and 1840. He seems to have moved around then to Wandsworth. In 1841 he was a labourer and carman and living at James Street, Clapham. In 1851 he was working as a carman, and living at 22 Ann Street, Plumstead, with Mary, his daughters Caroline and Emma and his son, George. His age was given as 48.
In 1861, his age was given as 59. He and Mary were living at 24 Hudson Road, Plumstead, and they appear at the same address in 1871. By now, George was a labourer at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich. His son George and his family lived in the same house.
Mary died in the third quarter of either 1874 or 1876, aged 75. By 1881, George was living ("aged 79") at 25 Orchard Road, Plumstead. It seems that even at his age he was still working. His son, George and his family were still living with him. This was also the case in 1891. He died in the first quarter of 1895, aged 92.
9.1 CAROLINE KNIGHT (1833?-??), born in Foulness, and aged 17 in 1851.
9.2 EMMA KNIGHT (1836?-??), born in Foulness, and aged 14 in 1851.
9.3 GEORGE FRANCIS KNIGHT (1841-1925), born at James Street, Clapham on 16 August 1841. On Christmas Day 1864, he married Eliza Eldridge at St John's, Deptford. He was a labourer, living at 22 King St. Eliza was four years younger than George, and from Battle in Sussex.
George, like his father, worked at the Royal Arsenal. In 1901 he was a machinist, and in 1911 and 1921, he was retired and living at 7 Gavin Street, Plumsted with Eliza and his son William. According to the 1911 census, he and Eliza had had ten children, of whom three had died prior to 1911. He died, aged 83, at 36 Horsa Road, Erith, on 9 January 1925. His daughter Florence Marshall was the informant.
9.3.1 MARY A KNIGHT (1866-??), born in Plumstead in the first quarter of 1866, aged 5 in 1871 and 15 in 1881.
9.3.2 JAMES FRANCIS KNIGHT (1868-19??), born in Plumstead on 30 March 1868. Between 1891 and 1911 he was a metal turner, specializing in "fuze work". In 1911 and 1939, the family were living at 36 Bostall Lane, Abbey Wood in Plumstead. He married Elizabeth Bridgehouse, from Plaistow, Essex, at Islington in the second quarter of 1897. They had one son:
9.3.2.1 ALBERT FRANCIS KNIGHT (1899-19??), born in Charlton, Kent, on 27 January 1899. In 1921 he was living at 36 Bostall Lane, and described himself as an unemployed cycle filer for the Dayton Cycle Co. of Shoreditch. In 1939 he was a heavy labourer.
9.3.3 GEORGE FRANCIS KNIGHT (1870-??), aged 4 months in 1871. He was a general labourer in 1891. His wife's name was Elizabeth Wright, from Erith in Kent, whom he married at Woolwich in the second quarter of 1893. (His marriage certificate calls him William George Knight.) In 1911 they were at 18 Florence Road in Abbey Wood. They had issue:
9.3.3.1 MAY HARRIET KNIGHT (1895-19??), aged 16 in 1911, born in Belvedere, Kent, in the second quarter of 1895 and working as a factory hand filling cartridges.
9.3.3.2 EDWARD GEORGE KNIGHT (1897-19??), born on 17 February 1897 and aged 14 in 1911, born in Belvedere, Kent. He married Maud E Long at Woolwich at the end of 1924. In 1939 he was an explosive worker living at 79 Alliance Road, Woolwich.
9.3.3.3 LILY KNIGHT (1899-19??), born on 23 June(?) 1899, born in Plumstead.
9.3.3.4 FRANK KNIGHT (1899-19??), aged 12 in 1911, her twin brother. in 1939 he was a gardener at 83 Foxgrove Road, Beckenham.
9.3.3.5 HERBERT GEORGE KNIGHT (1901-19??), aged 9 in 1911, born in Plumstead on 5 November 1901. He married Ivy K McPherson in the third quarter of 1934. In 1939, he was a storekeeper at Woolwich Arsenal, living at 23 Gloucester Circus, Greenwich.
9.3.3.6 VIOLET KNIGHT (1906?-19??), aged 5 in 1911, born in Plumstead.
9.3.4 ALFRED PHILIP KNIGHT (1876-19??), aged 4 in 1881, born in the second quarter of 1876. In 1891 he was making cartridges at the Arsenal. In 1901 he was a waiter, still in Plumstead.
9.3.5 WILLIAM HENRY KNIGHT (1879-19??), aged 42 and 3 months in 1881. He was perhaps born William James at Plumstead in the first quarter of 1879. He suffered from a deformity which incapacitated him. In 1901, 1911 and 1921 he was still living at home in Plumstead.
9.3.6 DAVID ALAN KNIGHT (1881-1915), born David Allen Knight in the fourth quarter of 1881, aged 9 in 1891. He also worked at the ordnance factory. He married Harriet Elizabeth Badcock in the second quarter of 1905 and they had two daughters, living at home at 112 Parkdale Road, Plumsted, in 1911. David died at the end of 1915.
9.3.6.1 WINIFRED MAY KNIGHT (1906-19??), born in the second quarter of 1906.
9.3.6.2 EVELYN GRACE KNIGHT (1909-19??), born on 21 November 1909. She married William F Taylor, who managed a greengrocer's shop, at the end of 1934. In 1939 they were at 147 Blendon Road, Bexley, Kent.
9.3.7 CHARLOTTE KNIGHT (1883-19??), born in the fourth quarter of 1883, and aged 7 in 1891. In 1901 she was a domestic servant in Charlton in the house of the McCanlis family, former neighbours from Plumstead.
9.3.8 FLORENCE LOUISE KNIGHT (1886-19??), born on 5 April 1886. She married William Jesse Marshall in the last quarter of 1916. Between 1925 and 1939 they were at 36 Horsa Road, Erith. William was an engine driver for the South Eastern & Chatham Railway in 1921, based at Slades(sic) Green, and a railway motorman in 1939. Their children included
9.3.8.1 EDWARD DAVID MARSHALL (1918-??), born on 25 February 1918. In 1939 he was working as a greengrocer's assistant. An annotation on his registration form notes that he was in the Metropolitan Police War Reserve.
10 PHILIP KNIGHT (1806-1879), baptized at Foulness on 13 May 1806, of whom more anon.