Philip Knight (1806-1879)

PHILIP KNIGHT (1806-1879) was baptized at Foulness Island, Essex, on 13 May 1806. He is said to have been the youngest of eleven sons (or probably of eleven children) of John and Mary Knight. He perhaps spent his early life at Shelford Farm on that isolated island.

The family seem to have dispersed in the 1820's, and Philip moved to London. He learnt the trade of a carpenter, and on 28 July 1829, at the age of 23, he married Jane Portsmouth at St Mark's Church, Kennington. Her family was probably from Sunninghill in Berkshire. The couple lived in Clapham, and it was at Holy Trinity Church there that their three children were baptized, Joseph in 1832, Jane (known as Jenny) in 1833, and Eliza in 1836.

We know a little about the Knights' circle of friends at this time. The witnesses at the wedding in 1829 were Charles and Elizabeth Gardner (he signed, she made her mark). They may have been related to the William Gardner who witnessed a marriage at Foulness in 1796, and been friends from Essex. There was Yearley Waterer, a man of some status, who lived in Union Road, Clapham. (He, or his father, had been returning officer for Westminster in the 1789 election, and had also served in the Second Royal East India Volunteers.) His daughter, Jane, born in 1800, had married Samuel Dorrington in 1822 at St Anne's, Soho, and the family lived near the Knights.

Another family acquaintance was Daniel Sturdy (1793-1873?). Some thirteen years older than Philip, and born in Clapham, Daniel lived at number 18, Priory Road, and described himself in 1851 as a 'landed proprietor'. His son Daniel, born in 1829, became a solicitor in the 1850's, and acted for Philip in many of his transactions.

Philip collaborated with Daniel Sturdy in a development at St John's Road, Battersea. They bought the land on 23 March 1847. The main part of the development seems to have been completed around 1858. In 1865, he and Daniel Sturdy sold the freehold of 1 New Road, St John's Hill - 24 ft at front and back and 80 ft in depth - to Thomas Porter, hosier, of 94 The Strand. Daniel received £54 and Philip £314. And Edwin Paul Corin and his son Edwin Philip Corin inherited properties here, some of which were in the Corin family's possession in the 1920's.

By 1841 the family were living at 25 Priory Road, off Wandsworth Road, Lambeth, with a 14-year-old servant girl, Charlotte. A John Pile also lived in a separate part of the house. Yearley Waterer's daughter, Jane Dorrington, lived at number 12 with her husband Samuel, a bookbinder. (In 1851, Samuel and Jane were at 10 Union Road.)

In 1844 Yearley Waterer bequeathed some of his property to Jane Dorrington and Philip Knight jointly. There was a house at 9 Phoenix Alley (later called Hanover Court), Long Acre, occupied by a Mr Isaacs. (This was occupied in 1851 by Minna Ward, a 34-year-old German brothel keeper, by a widower, Woolf Israel and his two sons, an orange seller from Aldgate, and by two girls, described as a dressmaker and a servant.) Then there was a house at 36 Stanhope Street, Clare Market, occupied by George Edward Dorrington (Jane and Samuel's son, born in 1826, presumably). (George was a 'Master Pocket Book Maker'. The house does not appear on the 1851 census. However, George's seven children, the eldest of whom was called Yearley Waterer Dorrington (he died in infancy) and the youngest Samuel Waterer Dorrington, were born there between 1854 and 1865.) Lastly there was a development of five houses off Bethnal Green Road, at 6-10 Edward Street.

Ten years later, in 1854, Philip bought out Jane's half share, selling the Long Acre property, which was completely surrounded by the Bedford Estate, to the Duke of Bedford in 1861, and the Bethnal Green property in 1874 to John Cannon, who had married Mary Jane Dorrington (Jane and Samuel's daughter) in 1859.

In January 1848, Philip's wife Jane fell ill with bronchitis. After six days' illness, she died on 27 January 1848. Philip purchased a plot (on 1 February, 12 feet deep, 6'6"x2'6", at a cost of £3/3/-) at the South Metropolitan Cemetery, in West Norwood, and Jane was buried there on 3 February 1848. At some time after this, the Knights left 25 Priory Road and Philip moved to Tunbridge Wells.

On 26 June 1849, Philip himself married again, to Mary Nye, a 39-year-old spinster. The wedding was at Holy Trinity Church (then known as "the District Church") in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Philip gave his address as Tunbridge Wells. The witnesses were Mary Jane Hart, Jane Knight and Henry Nye Senior.

Mary was born in Tunbridge Wells on 8 February 1810, the daughter of Henry Nye, a bookseller, and Ann née Everest (from Hartfield). Mary's birth was recorded at Sevenoaks Wesleyan Chapel. She was baptized at Tunbridge Wells Wesleyan Chapel on 3 April 1810. (A sister Elizabeth was born on 6 July 1811, and baptized at Maidstone Methodist Chapel on 11 October as well as at the Wesleyan Chapel in Tunbridge Wells eleven days later! She lived only a few months, and was buried on New Year's Day 1812 at Hartfield, Sussex. A brother, Henry, was born on 21 January 1813 and baptized on 28 February. He became a house agent, and it was perhaps through him that Philip and Mary came to know each other. Census returns, however, always describe him as a stationer and bookseller. He died in 1882. Another sister, Ann Martha, was born on 1 March 1818 and baptized on 29 March. She died in 1870. Another sister, Eliza Dane Nye (1820-1895) was born on 1 April 1820, and baptized on the 30th, at Tunbridge Wells and at Sevenoaks.)

Mary was a schoolmistress, and is listed in Pigot's Directory for 1840 as proprietor of a day and boarding school. It is not clear whether the school was in Grosvenor Road, Tunbridge Wells, or more probably she was living in Grosvenor Road, next door to her brother and her father, and perhaps their bookshop and library. The school may well have been in the Mount Sion area. Certainly in 1851, after her marriage, she was keeping the school at Burlington House, a Tunbridge Wells seminary for girls adjacent to the Grove on Little Mount Sion. On Census Night 1861, she was also in Tunbridge Wells, visiting her two sisters, Ann Martha and Eliza Dane Nye.

In 1851, Philip and Mary were living at Burlington House along with Eliza, who was studying there. Philip described himself as a "Proprietor of Houses". (Mary's father, Henry, probably died in the third quarter of 1853.) However, by 1853, Philip was living at Stanhope Street, Hampstead Road, St Pancras, and was developing premises at 21 and 22 St Augustine's Road, taking a lease on 31 December 1852 and assigning it on 19 September 1853. St Augustine's Road was in the upper part of the Camden Estate. The land belonged to the Earl of Camden, and the area came to be known as Camden New Town.

In the middle of 1854, Philip moved again, to Stoke Newington (or technically to Hornsey, as Albion Grove, where the Knights lived, was a tiny die.ched enclave of Hornsey parish within Stoke Newington). Here Philip developed a line of houses at the south end of Milton Road, typically with frontages between 31' and 36' and depths between 98' and 107'. These were sold off to such people as Joseph Edward Every, beer seller of the Dreadnought Beer Shop, Gloucester Place, West Hackney; Daniel Bowker Catling, of Halliford Street, Islington; and John Runtz of King Henry's Walk, Islington.

In 1857, Philip himself had moved into one of the houses in Milton Road, which he called Burlington Villa.

It is not known how Philip financed his land deals and building work. After moving out to Stoke Newington, he stopped describing himself as a carpenter, and called himself a builder. On his daughter's death certificate, for which he was the informant, he is described as a retired builder. By 1861 he was describing himself as a landed proprietor. The figures of John Matthews Chamberlain, gent., of 30 Basinghall Street, and of Patrick Young Hill, parliamentary agent, of Great College Street, Westminster, appear in some of the deeds. The Stoke Newington development seems to have been carried out in partnership with Abraham Hargreaves, a builder of 16 John's Terrace, Back Road, Kingsland, and Richard Edward Bolton, a plumber and glazier of Bethnal Green Road. Another business partner was probably Edward Duckett, another builder, who appears to have moved to Thanet House, Milton Road, around the same time that Philip moved away from there.

Some of these friends and partners may have been Plymouth Brethren, and Philip himself was a member of the Brethren.

In the 1850's, Philip's younger daughter, Eliza, was sent to school at one of the several private schools at St Omer, in France. Philip's other daughter, Jenny, died on 13 October 1857 at Ventnor, where she was staying.

It was only Eliza, then, who accompanied Philip and Mary at the beginning of 1858, when they left Stoke Newington and moved to 4 St John's Hill, Battersea Rise. Here Philip was responsible for laying out a new road off St John's Hill, and in 1861 we find him living in one of the new houses with Eliza (described as 'Housekeeper') and a 24-year-old house servant from Romford, Jennie Mills. (Philip's wife Mary was with her sisters in Tunbridge Wells on census night 1861.)

On 8 April 1862, Eliza married Edwin Paul Corin, who had come to London from Penzance and was a commercial traveller, and some time in the next six months, Philip and Mary moved to 4 Emerson Terrace, Forest Hill. Here Philip commenced the development of a stretch of land at the south end of Devonshire Road which had formerly been owned by the Croydon Canal Company, next to the new railway there.

In 1871 the Knights were living at 6 The Villas, Devonshire Road, with Mary's sister, Eliza De May, a retired governess. (The 'De' may have been an affectation, or even a mishearing of "Nye". She was presumably on a visit, as we find her in 1881 (as Eliza D Nye) lodging at 39 Calverley Road, Tunbridge Wells.) The Corins had moved to 2 The Villas in 1864.

Philip's wife Mary died in September 1878, and was buried with his first wife, Jane, at South Norwood on 13 September.

Philip Knight died on 25 February 1879 at 6 The Villas, aged 72. He was buried at the South Metropolitan Cemetery, in West Norwood, three days later

. The person by whom the ceremony was performed is listed as J H Boddy.

Philip had made his will on 2 April 1872

. His estate was valued at 'less than £14000 net' (although the inventory figure was £14187/8/4). He left his house, furniture and effects, and an annuity of £200 per annum to his widow, and, after her death, a bequest of £2000 to be divided among the children of his deceased son Joseph when the youngest reached 21, and the residue to devolve on Eliza Corin, his daughter, and after her, her children. As Mary had predeceased him, the bequests to the grandchildren, Philip, Henry, Jenny and Frederick were made immediately, and the house passed to Eliza. (A note made in December 1920, after the estate finally vested on Eliza's death in 1916, records its value as £140775/16/-, and notes "Some whitewash here"(!))

1 JOSEPH KNIGHT (1831-1869), born on 22 August 1831 and baptized at Holy Trinity Church, Clapham, on 9 October. He was a carpenter like his father. He married Emma Toop at Battersea parish church by licence on 19 February 1849. He was seventeen, she was 24. He and Emma (who it seems was also known as Elizabeth) had eight children.

Emma Elizabeth was the daughter of James Toop, a carpenter (and later a weaver), from Westbury, Wiltshire, and Keziah Self from Wilton. She was born on 12 December 1824 at Westbury, and was at Dilton Marsh in Westbury in 1841. When she married she was living in Clapham. (One family tradition says the families opposed the marriage.)

Two months later, on 24 April 1849, they embarked on the Medway, a ship of 653 tons, with assisted passages to Australia. They arrived at Port Philip on 9 August 1849. On the passenger list, Joseph gave his age as 20, Emma's correctly as 24. It is said that Joseph served as ship's carpenter.

A family tradition suggests that Joseph and Emma settled for a while in Melbourne, and that Joseph carved or helped carve the doors for St Paul's Church there - the land was cleared for the original church in 1848 and it was consecrated in 1852. (St Paul's Church was demolished in 1885 to make way for the present Cathedral.)

He and Emma moved to Maldon, probably as part of the Maldon Gold Rush, in the mid-1850's. Gold was discovered in Maldon in 1853, and it is said that forty-thousand gold-diggers headed along the road from Victoria to Castlemaine to claim a share of "the bank-till free to all": the richest shallow alluvial goldfield in the world.

Joseph Knight died of a pulmonary condition in February 1869, aged 37 (the family bible claims on the 29th!), and was buried at Maldon on 1 March. Emma Elizabeth lived on until 3 January 1910, dying at Llaneast Street, Malvern, Victoria, at the age of 85. She was buried in the Baptist section of Boroondara Cemetery, Kew, in Melbourne.

1.1 JOSEPH HENRY KNIGHT (1849-1849), a son born on 4 November 1849, soon after their arrival in Australia, He died on 17 December the same year.

1.2 HENRY JOSEPH KNIGHT (1851-1898), was born on 27 September 1851 at Melbourne. (Emma's family bible, (presented to her by by Westbury Leigh Sunday School for "regular attendance and general good conduct" on 24 January 1841, and now in the possession of the Stevens family) gives the date as 23 October 1850.) In 1876, he married Margaret Ellen Harris at Maldon, Victoria.

She had been born at Mountain Ash, Glamorgan, in 1852 and had arrived in Australia in 1859 with her parents and siblings.

The couple lived in Echuca, Victoria, and Henry died in Echuca in September 1898. His widow survived him, and was living at 12 Byron St, Brighton North, Victoria in 1918. She was at Glen Iris, Melbourne, Victoria, in July 1942. She died the same year. Henry and Margaret Knight had ten children:

1.2.1 WILLIAM HENRY PORTSMOUTH KNIGHT (1876-1881) was born in Echuca, Victoria in 1876. He was buried in Maldon cemetery on 4 January 1881.

1.2.2 WALTER HAROLD PORTSMOUTH KNIGHT (1878-1944) was born in Echuca, Victoria in 1878. He married Agnes Hughes in 1909.

Agnes had been born in Victoria in 1880, the seventh of nine children of Francis Hughes and Leah, née John. (Her brother Francis was father to Sir Davis Hughes, NSW Minister for Public Works in the late 1960s.)

Walter was a cooper, and enjoyed building boats as a hobby. However, he became a train driver, first driving steam engines at Koorumburra, and then obtaining a position as a driver on Melbourne's first suburban electric trains. In 1914, he was living at 30 Tribe Street, Port Melbourne. In July 1942 he was living at 12 Byron Street, North Brighton (now Elwood), Melbourne, Victoria. Walter died in South Melbourne, Victoria, in 1944 at the age of 66. His widow Agnes survived him, and died in Lilydale, Victoria, on 16 June 1946, aged 67. Walter and Agnes Knight had five children:

1.2.2.1 GORDON HUGHES KNIGHT (1910-1928), who was born in Korrumburra, Victoria in 1910. He was run over in a street accident at East Melbourne and died on 15 September 1928, aged 17.

1.2.2.2 FRANCIS WALTER KNIGHT (1913-1943), known as Frank, who was born in Korrumburra, Victoria on 6 March 1913. He lived at home, and worked as a bank clerk. He served with the Australian forces in the Second World War, and reached the rank of sergeant with the 105th General Transport Company. He was taken prisoner in Java in March 1942, and was interned in Thailand. He was subsequently transferred to the northern end of the Burma-Siam railway in Myanmar, and no doubt worked on the railway's construction. He died on 8 November 1943, from complications following a leg amputation, and is buried at Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery, some 65 kilometres from Moulmein, Myanmar.

1.2.2.3 GWENLILLIAN KNIGHT (1916-2011), who was born in South Melbourne, Victoria in 1916. She married John McKenzie Nash, who served in the Australian army during World War II at Brighton Baptist Church on 10 August 1940. John's work with the Argus newspaper group brought a move for the family from Melbourne to Sydney in 1954, but they later returned to Melbourne. In the mid-seventies they lived briefly in England, at St John's Wood in London. John Nash died in 1990. The couple had five children:

1.2.2.3.1 ELISABETH NASH (1941-), born in July or August 1941. She married a doctor, Dita Miglic, from whom she was subsequently divorced. They had four children: Peter, Richard, Victoria and Alexandra.

1.2.2.3.2 FRANCIS NASH (194?-). He married and had two(?) children. He lives in Newcastle, NSW, and lectures in CAD.

1.2.2.3.3 PHILIP NASH (1947-), deceased.

1.2.2.3.4 DAVID NASH (1951-).

1.2.2.3.5 ROSEMARY NASH (195?-).

1.2.2.4 HAROLD MURRAY KNIGHT (1919-2015), known as Harry, who was born in South Melbourne, Victoria on 13 August 1919. He studied at Scotch College, Melbourne, and Melbourne University, receiving a Master of Commerce degree. He served in the Royal Australian Army and Navy during the Second World War, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. He married Gwenyth Catherine Pennington on 7 April 1951 at Sydney. Brought up as an active member of the Brethren, he became active in the Anglican church, and was involved in the IFES (International Federation of Evangelical Students), the Scripture Union, and was for many years a member of the Sydney Diocesan Synod and a lay canon of Sydney Cathedral.

He became Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, and served as its Governor from 1975 to 1982. In 1952 he was living in Melbourne, but in 1968 was at 37 Murray Farm Road, Beechcroft, N.S.W. In 1980 he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In 1983 he was in retirement at 21 Hazelbank Road, Wollstonecraft, Sydney 2065 and in 2002 at 13 Tyron Street, Lindfield, Sydney 2070. He and his wife later moved to a retirement home in Willoughby, Sydney. Gwenyth died on 2 March 2013 at the age of 89. Harold died on 19 June 2015, aged 95. An obituary in the Sydney Morning Herald provides further information about his life.

Harold and Gwenyth had four sons and one daughter.

1.2.2.4.1 JOHN KNIGHT (195?-). He is a doctor.

1.2.2.4.2 RICHARD HAROLD OLIVER KNIGHT (19??-). He is a graphics designer in the advertising industry.

1.2.2.4.3 SUSAN KNIGHT (19??-). She is a mathematician and analyst. She married Peter Crane, but later divorced.

1.2.2.4.4 ANDREW WALTER KNIGHT (19??-). He is a doctor.

1.2.2.4.5 PAUL KNIGHT (19??-). He trained as a lawyer, and currently is a website designer.

1.2.2.5 PHILIP OLIVER KNIGHT (1925-1999), born on 12 November 1925. He studied Civil Engineering at Melbourne University, and established a business as an earthmoving and civil engineering contractor. He married Jean Urquhart McPherson, a teacher. He was in Melbourne in 1952, but by 1963 was at 168 Carlingford Road, Epping, Sydney, NSW. He died in Sydney on 23 December 1999. He had issue:

1.2.2.5.1 JANET MARGARET KNIGHT (1955-), born on 14 May 1955. She is a doctor, married to Eric Hinder, with three children.

1.2.2.5.2 ROSS McPHERSON KNIGHT (1956-), born on 29 September 1956. He is married to Stacey Cheng, a teacher. He is a civil engineer and the director of a firm supplying engineering services.

1.2.2.5.3 ELIZABETH HUGHES KNIGHT (1958-), born on 4 April 1958. She is a physiotherapist, married to Mark Robinson, an actuary. The couple have three children.

1.2.3 HERBERT PHILIP KNIGHT (1879-1880), who was born in Echuca, Victoria in 1879 and died at the age of one.

1.2.4 EMMELINE RUTH KNIGHT (1882-1968), who was born in Echuca, Victoria in 1882. In 1906, she married William Peter Bonella in Victoria. She was living at Malvern, Victoria, in 1942. She died in 1968. William and Emmeline Bonella had two children:

1.2.4.1 WALTER WILLIAM BONELLA (1907-), born in Maldon, Victoria in 1907. (His mother's forenames are given as Evelyn Ruth.)

1.2.4.2 MARGARET RUTH BONELLA (1911-??), born in Footscray, Victoria in 1911. She married, and lived in New South Wales.

1.2.5 ELIZABETH THURSA KNIGHT (1883-1970), known as BESSIE, who was born in Echuca, Victoria in 1883. In 1910, when she was 27, she married Laurence James Stevens in Victoria. He had been born in Victoria. The family seem to have moved frequently over the next few years. She was living at Melbourne, Victoria in July 1942. She died in 1970. Laurence and Bessie Stevens had six children:

1.2.5.1 LINDSAY HARRIS STEVENS (1911-), born in White Hills, Victoria in 1911, who married Flor Melvine Allison in Victoria in 1939.

1.2.5.2 CLARENCE HENRY STEVENS (1912-1964), born in White Hills, Victoria in 1912. He married Olive Elaine Corran in Victoria in 1939. He died in Ashburton, Victoria in 1964, aged 52.

1.2.5.3 ALICE MARGARET STEVENS (1913-2005), born in Long Gully, Victoria in 1913. She married Bill Pollard. She died on 23 October 2005.

1.2.5.4 SYDNEY MERVYN STEVENS (1914-1979), born in Caulfield, Victoria in 1914. He married Gwendoline Beatrice Kelson in Victoria in 1941. He died in Balwyn, Victoria in 1979 at the age of 65.

1.2.5.5 LAURENCE MURRAY STEVENS (1916-2009), born in Elsternwick, Victoria in 1916. He married Edna Flor Graham in Victoria in 1942. He died in 2009.

1.2.5.6 KENNETH HAIG STEVENS (1919-), born in Elsternwick, Victoria in 1919.

1.2.6 EMMA MARGARET KNIGHT (1885-1954), who was born in Echuca, Victoria in 1885. She married Ewen Cameron in 1925 in Victoria, but was widowed before 1942, when she was living at Glen Iris, Victoria. Emma Cameron died in Maldon, Victoria in 1954, aged 69.

1.2.7 GWENLILLIAN ELLEN KNIGHT (1887-1890), known as GWEN, who was born in Echuca, Victoria in 1887. She died in Echuca in 1890, aged three.

1.2.8 DORA WINIFRED KNIGHT (1890-1965), who was born in Echuca, Victoria in 1890. In 1913, when she was 23, she married Samuel Charles Wesley James, the son of Ralph James and Eliza Mitchell. He had been born in Maldon, Victoria. He was 26. They were living at Glen Iris, Victoria, in 1942.

Samuel died in Maldon at the age of 67 in 1954. Dora died in Synd, Victoria, in 1965, aged 75. The couple had three children:

1.2.8.1 LIONEL HELSTON JAMES (1914-1968), born in Elsternwick, Victoria in 1914. He died in Synd, Victoria in 1968, aged 54.

1.2.8.2 BERNICE WINIFRED JAMES (1917-2012), born in Elsternwick, Victoria in 1917. Bernice married Edwin Alexander Raymond, known as Ted, in Victoria in 1942. They had one son. She was a widow for some years prior to her death.

1.2.8.3 MARGARET JAMES (1918-1927), born in Elsternwick, Victoria in 1918. She died at the age of nine in Prahran, Victoria in 1927.

1.2.9 ARTHUR BENJAMIN KNIGHT (1892-1978), known as BEN, who was born in Echuca, Victoria in 1892. In 1918 he married Miriam Cain in Trafalgar, Victoria. Ben and Miriam resided in Dandenong, Victoria for most of their married life. He was living at Melbourne, Victoria in 1942. Benjamin Knight died in Noble Park, Victoria in 1978, aged 86. Miriam died in 1988, aged 93. The couple had three children.

1.2.9.1 ARTHUR MURRAY KNIGHT (1919-2011), known as Murray. Murray was born in Trafalgar, Victoria. In 1941 he married Edna Roberts. They had two daughters and one son. Edna died in 1998 aged 82 and Murray died in 2011 aged 91.

1.2.9.2 MERVYN ERIC KNIGHT (1922-2014). Merv was born in Trafalgar, Victoria. In 1954 Merv married Julia Jesse (Peggy) Bolton. They had no children. Peggy died in 1977. In 1988 Merv remarried, to Margaret Ellen (Mollie) Obrien. They had no children. Mollie died in 1996. Merv died in Gatton, Queensland, in May 2014.

1.2.9.3 MELVA MIRIAM KNIGHT (1924-2011), born in Pakenham, Victoria. In 1947 Melva married Lewis Matthews and they had five children. Melva died in Dandenong in 2011 aged 87. Lewis remained in Dandenong, and died in March 2014.

1.2.10 PHILIP MURRAY PORTSMOUTH KNIGHT (1895-1918), who was born in Echuca, Victoria in 1895. He married in 1915 in New South Wales. His wife's name was Vera Amy Rose. He served in the Great War, enlisting in the Australian Infantry Forces at Maldon, Victoria on 27 June 1915. He rose to the rank of sergeant in the 1st Batallion. He was sent to France, and was involved in repelling the German offensive known as the Battles of the Lys. He died of wounds in France on 18 June 1918, aged 23, and is buried at Ebblinghem Military Cemetery in the Nord Département.

1.3 A daughter (1853-1853) was born on 28 July 1853 and presumably died at birth.

1.4 PHILIP KNIGHT (1854-1855) was born on 26 October 1854 in Melbourne. He died on 5 September 1855.

1.5 PHILIP PORTSMOUTH KNIGHT (1856-1883) was born on 15 August 1856 at Maldon, Victoria. On 7 August 1878, he married Ellen Alice White at Jamestown, South Australia. He died four years later, on 4 February 1883 at Terowie, South Australia, aged 26. His widow survived him, and remarried, to Otto Conrad Dassel on 10 May 1884. She died on 26 January 1941 at St Leonard's, South Australia. Philip and Ellen had four children:

1.5.1 CHARLES HENRY KNIGHT (1879-1964), born on 17 March 1879 at Caltowie, South Australia. On 3 February 1906, he married Florence Annie James. He died at Gawler, South Australia, on 19 September 1964. His widow survived him, and lived until 23 December 1977. There were two children:

1.5.1.1 CHARLES PHILIP KNIGHT (1906-1998), born on 6 September 1906 at Midland, Western Australia. He married Rita Veronica Mulhall at Perth on 26 January 1934. Rita died on 11 October 1983, and Charles died in Perth on 13 November 1998. They are buried at Karrakatta. Charles and Rita had two chidren:

1.5.1.1.1 COLIN CHARLES KNIGHT (b.1935), born at Perth on 12 March 1935. He is unmarried.

1.5.1.1.2 PAULINE VERONICA KNIGHT (b.1937), born at Perth on 3 December 1937. She married Leonard Maxwell Troy on 14 March 1970. He died on 13 June 1981, and on 25 April 1986, Pauline married Charles Henry Robertson. They have no children.

1.5.1.2 GEORGE FREDERICK KNIGHT (1907-1990). He married Ethel May Maynard on 18 March 1933. He died on 6 August 1990 at Gawler, South Australia.

1.5.2 FREDERICK GEORGE CHAPMAN KNIGHT (1880-??), born on 7 May 1880 at Caltowie, South Australia.

1.5.3 MARGARET EMMA KNIGHT (1881-1947), born on 4 August 1881 at Terowie, South Australia. She married Herbert Frank Edmonds on 21 August 1901 at Peterborough, South Australia. Herbert died on 15 June 1938 in Glenelg, South Australia, and Margaret survived him, dying on 12 February 1947 in Adelaide. Margaret and Herbert had a son:

1.5.3.1 OTTO HERBERT EDMONDS (1904-1959), born on 17 May 1904 in Peterborough, South Australia. He married Kathleen Mary Lilian Clark on 1 March 1927 in Glenelg, and died on 4 September 1959 in Ipswich, Queensland. His widow died on 10 September 1996.

1.5.4 GEORGE PHILIP FREDERICK PORTSMOUTH KNIGHT (1882-1914), born on 12 December 1882 at Terowie, South Australia. He married Olive Clara Lillian McLeish in 1909. The marriage was a short one. Olive died on 26 October 1911 at Petersburg, South Australia (the township's name was changed to Peterborough at the outbreak of the World War), and George died shortly afterwards, on 4 June 1914.

1.6 A daughter was stillborn on 21 June 1859.

1.7 ELIZA JANE KNIGHT (1861-1945), known as JENNIE (or JEANIE) was born on 23 March 1861 at Maldon, Victoria. She married Charles Dawson in Victoria, Australia, in 1887, when she was 26. He had been born in South Australia. Eliza died in Brighton North, Victoria, Australia in 1945, aged 84.

Eliza and Charles Dawson had four children:

1.7.1 PHILIP STANLEY DAWSON (1888-1975), who was born in Collingwood, Victoria in 1888. He was the informant of his grandmother's death in 1910, when he was living at 16 Llaneast Street, Malvern. He died in Surr, Victoria in 1975, aged 87.

1.7.2 FRANK CYRIL DAWSON (1891-19??), who was born in Collingwood, Victoria in 1891. He later lived in Sydney, N.S.W.

1.7.2.1 MAISIE JEAN DAWSON (19??-). She married ? Ogilvie.

1.7.2.1.1 LORRAINE OGILVIE (b.1957). She married ? Edmunds. They live in Canberra and have three children.

1.7.3 ROY DAWSON (1895-19??), who was born in Collingwood, Victoria in 1895.

1.7.4 IVY MAY DAWSON (1903-19??), who was born in Fitzroy North, Victoria in 1903. She married Harry Eccles in Victoria in 1925 and had a daughter:

1.7.4.1 VIVIANNE ECCLES (19??-).

1.8 FREDERICK THOMAS KNIGHT (1864-1940) was born on 28 May 1864 at Maldon, Victoria. He married Fanny Jane Steel on 21 May 1890 at Abbotsford, Melbourne, Victoria. In 1894, he was appointed manager of the Trafalgar Butter Factory in West Gippsland. He died on 15 October 1940 at Caulfield, Melbourne. Fanny survived him, dying on 26 December 1945 at Brighton, Victoria. He had two daughters, and three or four sons, including:

1.8.1 FREDERICK CHARLES KNIGHT (1890-1975) born in Collingwood, Melbourne, on 10 November 1890. He married Marianne Lucy Brewer on 16 August 1921. They later moved to Bathurst, N.S.W., where Marianne died in 1970. Charles moved to Queensland, where he died on 5 November 1975.

1.8.2 JAMES CRAWFORD KNIGHT (1892-1960), born in Collingwood, Melbourne, on 18 January 1892. He married first Teresa Margaret Conway on 4 February 1914. He died on 8 July 1960.

1.8.3 HILDA ISABEL KNIGHT (1893-1975), born in Trafalgar, Victoria, on 18 April 1893. She married Joseph Alexander Miller on 24 January 1916 at Carnegie, Melbourne. He died, however, on 31 August 1933. Hilda died on 18 November 1975.

1.8.4 PHILIP ARNOLD KNIGHT (1894-1984), born in Trafalgar, Victoria, on 21 September 1894. He married Mary May Perriman on 18 March 1920 at Trafalgar. He died in Bacchus Marsh on 15 September 1984. He had six chidren:

1.8.4.1 LINDA MAY KNIGHT (1922-1991), born at Trafalgar on 20 March 1922. She married Raymond George Kaye on 1 November 1947 at Footscray, Victoria. She died on 12 October 1991 at Bacchus Marsh, Victoria. They had two children:

1.8.4.1.1 JANICE KAYE, born about 1949.

1.8.4.1.2 GLENYS KAYE, born about 1955.

1.8.4.2 NORMA JEAN KNIGHT (1924-), born at Koowerup on 22 February 1924. She married Harold Morrison. They had two children, Gail and Stuart.

1.8.4.3 JAMES PHILIP KNIGHT (1925-2010), born at Koowerup on 14 September 1925. He married Kazuko Matsuda ifrom Toma Mura, Japan, at the British Consulate in Kobe on 17 November 1952, and is the father of Kathleen M Griffiths, one of the contributors to these notes. He died on 12 November 2010, aged 85. Kazuko died at home, 23 Coghlan Street, Niddrie, Victoria, on 5 August 2019, aged 91.

1.8.4.4 LETTY KNIGHT (1927-2016), born at Footscray, Victoria, on 10 January 1927. She became Mrs Bullen. In old age, she entered a nursing home in Allandale, NSW, but developed Alzheimer's syndrome in 2013. She died at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney on 17 July 2016.

1.8.4.4.1 ROBERT BULLEN (1952?-1990). He was attacked by a white pointer shark and died on 8 April 1990 80 nautical miles off Townsville while free diving for Trochus. He was aged 37.

1.8.4.5 DOROTHY MARGARET KNIGHT (1938-), born at Footscray on 28 August 1938. She married Raymond Murfitt, and had a son, Adam, who died of prostate cancer aged around 30, and two daughters, Debra, born on 17 September 1957, and Rebecca. Dorothy and Raymond divorced, and she later married a Mr Wormsley.

1.8.4.6 GEORGE WILLIAM KNIGHT (1941-), born on 8 March 1941. He married Carole Muir. They divorced, and George later married Anne.

1.8.4.6.1 RICHARD KNIGHT.

1.8.4.6.2 STEPHEN KNIGHT.

1.8.5 HUGH FRANCIS KNIGHT (1906-1930), born in Carlton, Melbourne, Victoria, on 15 October 1906. He died at Melbourne on 25 October 1930, ten days after marrying Ethel May Lind, whose father was of Swedish extraction.

1.8.6 JEAN MARGARET KNIGHT (1913-1982), born in St Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria, on 15 October 1913. She married Roy Philip Lemon on 15 December 1949. Roy died on 3 January 1976, and Jean on 22 December 1982.

2 JANE KNIGHT (1833-1857), baptized at Holy Trinity Church, Clapham, on 1 September 1833. She was possibly abroad in 1851. She suffered from consumption, and died while staying at Greenville Cottage, Ventnor, Isle of Wight, on 13 October 1857. She is buried in the beautiful Old Cemetery at Bonchurch, Isle of Wight. Her headstone reads: "Them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him."

3 ELIZA KNIGHT (1836-1916), born on 7 November 1836. She was baptized at Holy Trinity Church, Clapham, on 4 December. It is said she was educated at St Omer.

An advertisement in The Times of 30 January 1847 reads: EDUCATION in FRANCE - Madame de COURMACEUL's SEMINARY for YOUNG LADIES, at St Omers. - In this highly respectable establishment eminent professors in the various branches of literature attend daily, and every possible attention is bestowed on the improvement and domestic comforts of the pupils. For prospectus, references and inquiries address Mrs. Murphy, 7, Clarence-terrace, Barnsbury-park, Islington. Mrs. M. will leave London for St Omers on the 10th of February. (There were several other like establishments at St Omer, for example the Pensionnat St Denis, of which a Miss Ferguson was in charge in 1852.)

In 1851, however, she was at her stepmother's school, Burlington House, in Tunbridge Wells. In 1861 she was living at home.

Eliza married Edwin Paul Corin at Christ Church, Battersea, on 8 April 1862. The couple had twelve children. Eliza Corin died at Hastings on 13 May 1916.