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A grain of truth or a pinch of salt? Sometime in the middle of the last century, it has been estimated about the 1950s, my grandmother (pictured above) went to Fleetwood in search of her father's ancestors. She would not have had access to any of the census information (she died in 1986) we now have and must have travelled to Fleetwood based on information from within the family.My grandmother was Elizabeth Robinson born Preston, Lancashire 1904. Her father was David Robinson born Preston, Lancashire, 1871. Census information for David shows his parents as James Robinson from Enniskillen, Ireland and Isabella born Newcastle Upon Tyne, approximately 1843. My grandmother told us that Isabella's maiden name was Knight and her marriage certificate to James Robinson confirms that her father was Robert Knight. However, she cannot be traced under that name either on censuses prior to her marriage, on baptism or birth registration records. My grandmother's journeying to Fleetwood in search of her father's ancestors long before family history became the pursuit of every man and his uncle was possibly motivated by the wish to rescue her father's and her uncle's reputation from the aspersions cast upon their credibilty by her husband and her father's own wife. Her father had a map which he kept in a leather pouch and he often said that he had only to 'sign something' and he would be a rich man. The map was reputedly of Australia. There is also a story of her father being a 'favourite nephew'. Circumstances, however, show that there was no-one close enough or economically secure enough to prevent David, age 9 in 1881, along with the rest of the family being inmates of the Fulwood Workhouse. There is also a story of a letter being sent to him saying 'when you are better' and enclosing a fare (it is speculated that it was an invitation to go to Australia). He had apparently been in hospital either ill or after an accident. All these stories, rightly or wrongly, are woven in to one narrative by a living descendant. And how much truth or accuracy they contain is also unknown as they have passed through three generations of telling and we suspect there may be many conflations and assumptions built in. The ancestor my grandmother went in search of in Fleetwood was her father's uncle, Robert Knight. Again, the story goes that this uncle was supposed to have made money in Australia come back and built the Strawberry Gardens (a pub) in Fleetwood. My grandmother's husband dismissed the story told to her by her father's brother as 'fanciful' and he is quoted as saying to her "You know what your Uncle Jimmy's like". Her father never was rich and as far as we know never went further than Bolton. Furthermore my grandmother subsequent to her Fleetwood trip started repeating the name 'Robert Abel knight'. Armed already with the name Robert Knight and finding an Abel Knight had been at The Strawberry Gardens my grandmother must have assumed that Robert must have had two names. But there was no such person as Robert Abel Knight. Abel Knight was landlord or proprietor (we're not sure of his status in relation to The Strawberry Gardens whether he owned it or was just licensee for a time -the latter being most probable) from around 1906/7 until 1913. Abel Knight's family and origins have been investigated and contact made with a living relative. His family were all from Leicester, he married in Torquay, had children in Torquay, Derby, Scotland and Manchester, was a member of the Hallé Orchestra and was later a publican in Manchester before his stint at The Strawberry Gardens. Although Abel's brother George did go to Australia there is no connection between his family and any other details we know of my grandmother's father's family i.e no mention of Leicester and there is no connection between Abel Knight and Robert Knight. Both Robert Knights were dead by the time Abel arrived in Fleetwood. There was no Robert and no Isabella Knight in Abel's family and so he couldn't have been David's uncle. He was Abel Knight and always Abel Knight not Robert. Having ruled out Abel Knight as the wrong Knight we didn't know whether there was some other connection to the Strawberry Gardens or whether it was just 'a Knight in a pub in Fleetwood' we, and previously my grandmother, were looking for. For the Fleetwood connection we still had, for evidence to work on, the act of my grandmother going to Fleetwood in search of a Robert Knight. The only other Knight family in Fleetwood did contain a Robert -two, in fact -father and son. The father is of most interest. His second marriage, in Preston, Lancashire in 1844, was to Rachel Drummond, from Sunderland Durham, -sister of Thomas Atkinson Drummond who features prominently in the building history of Fleetwood and so famous in its history he recently had a pub named after him. Robert Knight the Elder was later to have The Ship Inn, in Warren Street, Fleetwood, having formerly been a carter and before that on the 1841 census, with his first wife (she died) before he came to Fleetwood, an agricultural labourer. Robert Knight (junior) his son, was a bricklayer and later a grocer and beer-seller. We have tried to investigate the history of The Strawberry Gardens as much as possible. We were unsure as to when there was first a pub/hotel called The Strawberry Gardens and wondered whether at an earlier time the area was simply called Strawberry Gardens since some censuses seem to list the occupant as 'gardener' rather than publican or victualler. The Mannex directory for Fleetwood in 1851 however lists 'William Kelsall, gardener and beer house, Strawberry Gardens'. Though Robert Knight (jnr) was indeed a bricklayer he was only 3 years old in 1851 and that would have been stretching child labour a bit, even for 'back then', for him to have built The Strawberry Gardens. We have seen documents relating to applications to rebuild the whole thing approximately 1895/8 in Lancashire County Records Office but by the 1891 census Robert junior is listed as a grocer and beer-seller and would have been getting on for 50 years old. We also have information that the Drummond family (the building dynasty relatives of Rachel Drummond -Robert Knight's wife) bought land off the Strawberry Gardens to build properties on Abbott's Walk. We have also seen an inventory, dated in the early 1900s, of gifts made by Christopher Drummond (Thomas Atkinson Drummond's son) to family members including Australian 'government bonds' -was this the money made 'in Australia'? In 1921 Bertram Drummond, architect and grandson of Thomas Atkinson Drummond, surveyed The Strawberry Gardens and drew up plans for an extension. Both Robert Knights left wills for substantial amounts considering their humble origins and provided for their immediate family. Robert Knight junior and his wife Catherine don't seem to have had any children but had adopted Agnes, his sister's daughter, after his sister died, who is mentioned in his will. On the 1851 census Robert and Rachel Knight (nee Drummond) are living in Fleetwood with their children (HO107/2269/ff713 p42-3) and most interestingly of all (to us at least) there is a 9 year old 'lodger' living with them, Isabell Mather born in North Shields, Northumberland. There is convincing evidence to suggest that this is Rachel's illegitimate daughter perhaps unknown to Rachel's husband, Robert. There is a baptism of an Isabell Atkinson Drummond (mother Rachel Drummond, no father stated) in 1841 at Christ Church, North Shields. Rachel Drummond age 25 is found to be living in a house with three widows at Stephenson Street, North Shields on the 1841 census, not far from the church and the birth certificate of Isabel Atkinson Drummond gives Stephenson Street as the address at birth. Again there is no father given on the birth certificate. When Robert Knight married Rachel Drummond in Preston, Lancashire in 1844 Rachel gave her address as Penwortham and her occupation as servant, on her marriage certificate. But where was her daughter? Death certificates we have for Christopher and Rachel Drummond, Rachel's parents show they died in Newcastle Upon Tyne in 1845 and 1850 respectively. No-one left to look after the child perhaps? We think that 'Isabell' is my grandmother's father's mother. The children Rachel Drummond subsequently had with Robert Knight would be half brothers and sisters to her illegitimate daughter Isabell and if this Isabell is my grandmother's father's mother, that would make Robert Knight jnr my grandmother's father's half uncle. On the 1871 (RG10/4207/ff11/p22) and 1881 (RG11/4248/ff40/p16) census our Isabella's birthplace is given as Newcastle Upon Tyne, Northumberland (where Rachel's parents latterly lived and where Rachel had been baptised). On the 1891 census, now widowed, Isabella's birthplace is given as Fleetwood -we're not sure as to the reason for the change of birthplace but it is definitely her as she has the right named and aged children with her -we think perhaps one of the children (Mary Ellen was 16 at the time) gave the information to the enumerator. But she cannot be traced back as Isabella Knight in either place. Which brings us to the next complication in our search for her. The births of two of her children give her maiden name as Gregson (see table below). Note here that the same address is given by the mother who gives her name as 'formerly Gregson' as is given by the mother who says she is 'formerly Knight' (she was a spinster at marriage so it is not a former married name) and note also that her husband registers one of the births saying his wife's maiden name is 'Gregson'. Additionally, at the baptism of Agnes (whose birth is registered by Isabella 'formerly Gregson') Elizabeth Ann Robinson is the baby's sponsor or godparent, Elizabeth Ann being the daughter of Isabella's (formerly Knight) husband James from his first marriage. Agnes' death in 1879 is also registered at the same address. All their addresses -Clarence Street, Poplar Street and Buckingham Street are all next to each other, running parallel and Lodge Street is nearby. | ||||||
| James and Isabella Robinson's children | ||||||
| When and where born | Name | Father | Mother | Father's Occupation | Informant | When registered |
| Twenty Seventh November, 1871 24 Lodge Street |
David | James Robinson | Isabella Robinson formerly Knight |
Iron Founders' Labourer | X the mark of Isabella Robinson, mother 24 Lodge Street |
Eighteenth December 1871 |
| Seventh July 1874 6 Poplar Street |
James | James Robinson | Isabella Robinson formerly Gregson |
Blast tenter | X the mark of James Robinson, father 6 Poplar Street |
Twentieth July 1874 |
| First September 1875 6 Buckingham Street |
Mary Ellen | James Robinson | Isabella Robinson formerly Knight |
Labourer at iron works | X the mark of Isabella Robinson, mother 6 Buckingham Street |
Twenty Eighth September 1875 |
| 1st january 1877 6 Buckingham Street |
Agnes | James Robinson | Isabella Robinson formerly Gregson |
Labourer at wagon works | X the mark of Isabella Robinson, mother 6 Buckingham Street |
Tenth January 1877 |
| Thirtieth June 1880 6 Buckingham Street |
James | James Robinson | Isabella Robinson formerly Knight |
Labourer | X the mark of Isabella Robinson, mother 6 Buckingham Street |
Thirtieth July 1880 |
| There is an Isabella Gregson on the 1861 census (RG9/3967/ff68/p27) giving her birthplace as Newcastle, Northumberland, of approximately the right age (b. approx 1843). She is listed as 'a worker at flax mill' at Holme Mill, Westmorland. On the 1871 census our Isabella gives her occupation as 'linen spinner'. On the 1861 census there is another unrelated family who are living at Holme Mill (on the previous page in the census to Isabella Gregson's entry) some of whom work at the flax mill and who subsequently turn up in Preston living not far from our Isabella and working in the linen (rover, spinner, winder) industry. Linen is woven from flax so the two occupations are closely related and this other family demonstrate their transition from flax to linen. It is thus equally plausible that the Isabella Gregson on the 1861 census is my grandmother's father's mother given that she seems to have had the name Gregson at some point in her life and worked in linen. But she cannot be traced back on the 1851 census with that surname. | ||||||
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So we have an Isabella Knight /Gregson (stating her father as Robert Knight - It was common for those of illegitimate birth to either make up a father's name or borrow the name of a familiar male to use as their father on their marriage certificate but declare them deceased to explain their absence from the wedding.) who marries James Robinson and gives birth to my grandmother's father and who has some connection with both Newcastle, Northumberland and Fleetwood, Lancashire and an Isabell Atkinson Drummond who is very probably Isabell Mather who is from North Shields and at the time of the 1851 census is living in Fleetwood with who is probably secretly her mother and her mother's husband Robert Knight. And then we have my grandmother going to Fleetwood based on knowledge from within the family looking for a Robert Knight -her father's ancestor. Can all these different names amount to the same person? And have we finally found our Isabella after 50 years of searching?
Isabel(l) Atkinson Drummond Born: Stephenson Street, North Shields/Tynemouth, Northumberland - 9th June 1841 Baptised: Christ Church, North Shields, Northumberland - 4th July 1841 Birth Registered 5th July 1841 | ||||||
| Robinson Censuses | ||||||
| Address | Name | Relation to Head | Condition | Age | Occupation | Where born |
| 1871 | ||||||
| 18 Old Lodge Street | James Robinson | Boarder | Mar | 40 | Labourer Iron Works | Ireland |
| 18 Old Lodge Street | Isabella Robinson | Wife | Mar | 30 | Linen Spinner | Northumberland, Newcastle Upon Tyne |
| 1881 | ||||||
| Fulwood Workhouse | Isabella Robinson | Inmate | Mar | 38 | Linen Spinner | Northumberland, Newcastle Upon Tyne |
| Fulwood Workhouse | James Robinson | Inmate | 9m | Preston, Lancashire | ||
| Fulwood Workhouse | Mary Ellen Robinson | Inmate | 5 | scholar | Preston, Lancashire | |
| Fulwood Workhouse | James Robinson | Inmate | Mar | 52 | Cotton Cardmaster | Enniskillen, Fermanagh Co |
| Fulwood Workhouse | David Robinson | Inmate | 9 | scholar | Preston, Lancashire | |
| 1891 | ||||||
| 8 Clarence Street | Bella Robinson | Head | Widow | 48 | Worker in Cotton Mill | Lancashire, Fleetwood | 8 Clarence Street | Mary Ellen Robinson | Daur | 16 | Cotton Spinner | Lancashire, Preston | 8 Clarence Street | James Robinson | Son | 11 | scholar | Lancashire, Preston |
There have been many other aspects to this research. Every lodger, lodged with, every marriage witness, baptism sponsor, neighbours etc of many associated families have been researched in order to find our Isabella but I wouldn't want to bore the reader with the details
Just who is and where is our Isabella Knight?
Thankyou for listening.
Please Email with any thoughts, comments or information.
