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| Cork-Cutters of Mark Lane, London |
William Peter Knolton, born in 1702 at Luton, Bedfordshire (1), trained as an apprentice in London to learn the craft of the fan-maker (2). His bride Hannah Clark, a young widow, was born Hannah Roebuck in 1708 at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire (3). Their wedding took place on 6 October 1735 at the London church of St Anne and St Agnes.
In London, the Knoltons became members of the Fetter Lane congregation of the Moravian Church. Their son Christian David Knolton, born 6 September 1742, and daughter Mary Knolton were baptised at the Fetter Lane Chapel on 30 October 1742 and 30 April 1744, respectively (4). Hannah’s son by her first marriage, named Samuel Clark after his father, had been baptised at All Hallows Staining Church, London, on 12 May 1734.
A register of Moravians in London, dated 1743, named the Knoltons as ‘fan-maker & cork-cutter at the corner of Star Alley, Mark Lane’ (5).
A map of London, from the time of William Peter Knolton, shows the location of Star Alley, Mark Lane, near the church of All Hallows Staining.
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Extract from John Rocque’s map of London published in 1746.
For interesting photographs and discussion see
A London
Inheritance |
In the map above, Fenchurch Street is an east–west thoroughfare with Rood Lane, Mincing Lane, and Mark Lane running to the south. The church of All Hallows Staining is marked on the west side of Mark Lane (the map has been edited to highlight the church with a red outline) with the churchyard to the rear. Star Alley is shown running from Mark Lane along the north side of the churchyard before taking a sharp right turn at the end of the churchyard up to Fenchurch Street.
The parish of All Hallows Staining was Hannah’s home at the time of both of her marriages (6). It appears that the cork-cutter business on Mark Lane may have been established by either Hannah’s first husband Samuel Clark, or her Roebuck family (7). Her second husband, William Peter Knolton, took over the running of the business while continuing in his professional trade as a fan-maker.
The 1743 register revealed that Hannah’s brother Jarvis Roebuck was employed by Knolton to manage the cork-cutter side of the business (8). The dual endeavour of fan-maker and cork-cutter is an unexpected combination; it gives an interesting example of a family business in eighteenth century London.
The Moravian Church has its origins in 15th-century Bohemia, in what is today the Czech Republic. In the 18th-century, the Moravians became the first Protestant church body to send lay people (rather than clergy) as missionaries to many parts of the world. In 1732, Moravian missionaries settled in the island of St Thomas, in the West Indies (now the United States Virgin Islands). In 1741, the Moravians established a presence in Pennsylvania where they were active in mission work with the Indigenous peoples. They built the community of Bethlehem which became a centre of Moravian activity in colonial America (9).
In 1745, William Peter Knolton and his wife Hannah left London to join the Moravian mission in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. They were accompanied by Hannah’s brother Jarvis Roebuck (10). (Whether the children also travelled with them has not been verified). In September, after a journey of six months, they arrived in Philadelphia (11). The six-month passage may suggest that they stopped off in the West Indies before continuing to the east coast of British America. From Philadelphia they proceeded to their destination of Bethlehem.
After a one-year stay in Bethlehem, the Knoltons relocated to Philadelphia (12). They set up in business providing the services of both a fan-maker and cork-cutter as advertised in Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette, 10 August 1749: (13)
| Peter Knolton, from London, makes, mends, mounts and sells all sorts of fans, and fan-sticks, wholesale and retail, in Sassafras Street, near the Moravian church. Also lengthens short fans, and sells all sorts of corks. |
A record gave the details of the birth of their son Ignatius Daniel Knolton, on 15 January 1747, in the ‘Pennsylvania Woods about 14 miles from Philadelphia on the road to Bethlehem’ (14). Their daughter Elizabeth Knolton was born on 27 March 1748 in Pennsylvania (15).
The Knolton family returned to London in 1750 (16). It appears that William Peter and Hannah Knolton resumed their business at the same Mark Lane location which they had left five years before.
Hannah Knolton, aged 52, was buried at All Hallows Staining Church on 30 October 1760. This was five days after the death of King George II which marked the start of the long reign of King George III.
William Peter Knolton was buried at All Hallows Staining Church on 29 November 1767. A probate document gave his address as Mark Lane. To clarify his dual professions of fan-maker and cork-cutter the document affirmed that ’William Peter Knolton by the within different descriptions was only one and the same person‘ (17).
An auction of real estate owned by the late William Peter Knolton was announced in the Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser, London, 18 April 1768: (18)
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To be Sold by Auction by Thomas Skinner
At the Globe Tavern at Moorgate, by order of the executors of Mr William Peter Knolton, merchant, deceased, late of Mark Lane, tomorrow the 19th instant, at four o'clock. The following estates, in three lots: four dwelling houses, with gardens to each, in Pitfield Street, Hoxton, let to Mr Jackson, carpenter, and others, at 46l. per annum, near 800 years unexpired, subject to a rent of 5l. Also a piece of ground adjoining, fronting to Charles Square [Hoxton], front eighty feet, on which ground may be built four dwelling houses. Also two dwelling houses near Hoxton Town coffee house, let to Mr Taylor and Mrs Marsland, at 32l. per annum, 54 years unexpired, subject only to a pepper corn rent. Also sheds and workshops, near the Bull, in Old Montague Street, near Whitechapel Church, late in possession of Mr Knolton, eleven years unexpired, rent 3l. The said premises may be viewed by applying to the tenants. Printed particulars may be had at the place of sale; at each of the houses; and of Mr Skinner, sworn broker, Goswell Street. |
In his will, William Peter Knolton named his two sons Christian David and Ignatius Daniel, his daughter Elizabeth, and his stepson Samuel Clark, who had settled in Jamaica (19).
Christian David Knolton settled in New York City. A New York marriage licence was issued on 13 September 1766 for Christian David Knolton, cabinet-maker of New York, and Jeanneta Arabella Pilkington. A marriage witness was Knolton’s maternal uncle Jarvis Roebuck, who was established in New York as a cork-cutter. A record dated 11 September 1770 named David Knolton as a cabinet-maker and freeman of New York City (20).
Ignatius Daniel Knolton enrolled at the University of Edinburgh as a student of medicine in 1770 and graduated MD in 1773 (21). He became a physician at Boston, Lincolnshire (22).
On 6 January 1767, Elizabeth Knolton, aged 18, married Charles Robinson at St Mary’s Church, Whitechapel in East London. Charles Robinson became the successor to his father-in-law William Peter Knolton as the manager of the cork-cutter business at the corner of Star Alley, Mark Lane.
Next: Cork-Cutters of Mark Lane, London: Charles Robinson
General References
Databases, with browsable document images, hosted by Ancestry online:
- London Directories, London Metropolitan Archives and Guildhall Library.
- London parish registers, London Metropolitan Archives.
History of the Moravian Church:
| Benham |
Daniel Benham, Memoirs of James Hutton; comprising the Annals of his Life, and
connection with the United Brethren, 1856,
Google eBook  . |
| |
John C. Erickenstein, ‘The Second "Sea Congregation," 1743’,
Transactions of the Moravian Historical Society, 1869,
Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 107–124, JSTOR digital library . |
| Graf |
London Congregation List, March 1743, Moravian Church Archives –
Appendix 4 in Lanie E. Graf, ‘Moravians in London: A Case Study
in Furniture-Making, c. 1735–65’,
Furniture History, Vol. 40, 2004,
JSTOR digital
library . |
| Reincke |
Abraham Reincke and William C. Reichel,
‘A Register of Members of the Moravian Church, and of persons attached
to said church in this country and abroad, between 1727 and 1754’,
Transactions of the Moravian Historical Society, Vol. 1, 1873,
JSTOR digital
library . |
Notes
- Notes on the Knolton / Roebuck / Robinson Families
(2) There is an apprentice record for William Knolton, son of John Knolton of Cripplegate [London], apprentice to Thomas Plummer, fan-maker; payment date April 1717 (Register of Duties Paid for Apprentices’ Indentures, 1710–1811, Ancestry online; and Apprentices of Great Britain, Society of Genealogists online). It is assumed, but not confirmed, that this was the same William Knolton who was born in Luton, Bedfordshire and became a fan-maker.
(3) Benham (p. 92) states the date and place of Hannah’s birth.
(4) Non-Conformist Baptisms, Moravian church, Fetter Lane, London (FindMyPast online).
(6)
Hannah’s first marriage took place at
St Paul’s Cathedral, London, on 3 July 1733:
Samuel Clark, widower, and Hannah Roebuck, spinster,
both of the parish of All Hallows Staining, London, were married
by a licence from the Archbishop’s Office in this Cathedral.
Her second marriage was recorded in the parish register of
St Anne and St Agnes, City of London, on 6 October 1735:
William Knolton of St Paul Covent Garden, bachelor, and
Hannah Clark of All Hallows Staining, London, widow; with licence.
(London parish registers, London Metropolitan Archives, Ancestry online).
(7) Reincke (p. 301) identified William P Knolton as a fan-maker, and his wife Hannah Knolton as a cork-cutter.
(8) Graf (p. 42) described Jarvis Roebuck as ‘cork-cutter and journeyman to Mr. Knolton’. The identity of Jarvis Roebuck as Hannah’s brother is from the will, probated in the PCC in 1786, of Benjamin Roebuck, the half-brother of Jarvis Roebuck.
(9)
Moravian Church ,
Wikipedia;
A Brief
History of the Moravian Church ,
The Moravian Church in America; and
New Herrnhut
Moravian Church, Saint Thomas
Wikipedia.
(14) Baptism record dated 7 April 1760 in Non-Conformist Baptisms, Bedford Moravian Chapel, Bedford, Bedfordshire (FindMyPast online).
(15) Catalogue of
Bedford
Congregation of the Bedford
Moravian Church, Bedfordshire Archives.
(17) Bank of England Will of William Peter Knolton registered 19 December 1767 (Bank of England Will Extracts, Society of Genealogists data online).
(18) 17th & 18th Century Burney Newspapers Collection.
(19) Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC) Will of William Peter Knolton, cork-cutter of Mark Lane, London, probated 28 November 1767 (National Archives).
(20)
George Henry Knowlton, editor, Errata and addenda to Dr. Stocking's
History and genealogy of the Knowltons of England and America,
Boston, 1903, p. 170,
Internet
Archive ; and
New York
marriage licences .
(21)
The University of Edinburgh Historical Alumni
online
database .
(22) Catalogue of
Bedford
Congregation of the Bedford Moravian Church,
Bedfordshire Archives – this document recorded that
Ignatius Daniel Knolton was born 15 January 1747 in Pennsylvania.
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