The last would be the most obvious root for our family. John Knight was a clothier in Elizabethan times, apparently donating £50 to the fund to defeat the Armada! He acquired and rebuilt the medieval Chawton manor house (about 30 miles from Dorking). When they ran out of children to inherit the property, they adopted (more distant relative?) Jane Austen's brother, Edward, who became a Knight, and it stayed in the family until 1992. Edward's jacket was one of the 100 Objects by which the BBC told the history of the world... Jane was a frequent visitor: her own house, where she wrote three novels, is about a mile away and currently engaged in an appeal for its post-Coronavirus survival. Her life there is described by HistoryExtra and letters by the Knights survive.
Another early Hampshire Knight was a guardian of Romsey church, helping to preserve it during the Dissolution. My photos of Romsey are here. By the 16th century, the Knight family held a great deal of land in Lambeth and Streatham, including Knight's Hill, Norwood, where our Knight family ended up.
The Songhurst surname is habitational, probably from Song Hurst nr Ewhurst, Surrey. It is possible to trace the Knight family back to Ewhurst - both Richard (1801) and his son Solomon (1728) were born there. There were then two generations in Cranleigh, and two in Dorking. Conversely, (with caution) we can trace our Songhurst family back to Thomas (1569, Ockley nr Dorking) and then another six generations around Dorking (mainly at Capel). Our other families like the Boshers and Sayers have similarly deep roots there. These days all these places are on the fringe of the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, a lung of London, just outside the M25.
The Songhurst surname is habitational, probably from Song Hurst nr Ewhurst, Surrey. It is possible to trace the Knight family back to Ewhurst - both Richard (1801) and his son Solomon (1728) were born there. There were then two generations in Cranleigh, and two in Dorking. Conversely, (with caution) we can trace our Songhurst family back to Thomas (1569, Ockley nr Dorking) and then another six generations around Dorking (mainly at Capel). Our other families like the Boshers and Sayers have similarly deep roots there. These days all these places are on the fringe of the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, a lung of London, just outside the M25.
Cranleigh was 'Cranley', possibly named after crane breeding grounds, but it was changed as all their mail was going to Crawley... Dorking is a market town which grew up around a staging post on Stane Street, between Chichester and London. While our family were there, the construction of a turnpike road made Dorking a staging post on the route to Brighton. It was once famous for a riotous form of football, and is still known for chickens. Just northeast of the town, the River Mole cuts a steep-sided valley through the North Downs, on its way to the capital.
One of the eleven children of Solomon Knight (1764, nr Dorking) and Rebecca Songhurst (1766, Dorking), was Solomon Knight (1789, Dorking).
The Bridger name probably derives from someone living by a bridge, rather than someone who built it. The Boxall name is Anglo-Saxon and probably derives from Boxhulle (now Bugshill) nr Midhurst, Sussex. One of the ten children of Daniel Bridge (1724) and Sarah Boxall (1756) was Mary Ann Bridger. She was born in 1784 at Lodsworth nr Petworth, close to the suggested ancient home, as were at least eight generations of the family, and several generations of Boxalls.
The Bridger name probably derives from someone living by a bridge, rather than someone who built it. The Boxall name is Anglo-Saxon and probably derives from Boxhulle (now Bugshill) nr Midhurst, Sussex. One of the ten children of Daniel Bridge (1724) and Sarah Boxall (1756) was Mary Ann Bridger. She was born in 1784 at Lodsworth nr Petworth, close to the suggested ancient home, as were at least eight generations of the family, and several generations of Boxalls.
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| Dorking church (credit) |
Lodsworth is a small village with a historic well of pilgrimage. The first transport other than pack horses or horse carts was in 1795 when the Rother Navigation was built from Pulborough to Midhurst, allowing canal barges to reach the wharf at Lodsbridge. This was used mainly to bring chalk and coal in and to export timber.
Petworth is an attractive small town - my photos are here. It is dominated by Petworth House, a large manor house owned by the National Trust. It was once a fortified manor house owned by the Percys of Northumberland. The main front was built while our family was still local, c. 1690, and Capability Brown carried out extensive works in the gardens and deer park (much painted a little later by Turner) between 1751 and
1763. To this day, the house's art collection would be recognisable to contemporaries of our family. My photos of the property are here.
For the record, and with the usual cautions, my oldest direct ancestors we know about in this part of the family are: Richard Knight (1701), John Bridger (1595), Ann Chaper (1625), Mariam Humphrey (1656), Elizabeth Pledge (1746), Thomas Songhurste (1569), Marye Bickner (1570), William Swayn (1440), Christian Gittins (1440), Agnes Reeves (1462), John Arnold (1480), Joan Morgan (1480), Joan Dee (1530), Ann Trumbull (1578), Nicholas Bannister (1510), Jane Jackman (1525), Thomas Andrews (1520), Richard John de Cooper (1525), John Kingsmill (1498), Elizabeth Goring (1505), William Strudwick (1540), Joyce Standen (1544), Jacobi Mill (1556), Johannes Laky (1608), Thomasina Coquer (1608), John Charman (1700), George Sayer (1716), Ralph Bosher (1605), Thomas Constable (1593), Robert Eede (1611), Katherine Delves (1629) and William Gardiner (1640). Needless to say, many of the above are tagged 'unverified' in my tree, the sources often being other people's trees. Those of later date are more likely to be accurate. Whilst it is true that the more aristocratic families have better records, the liberal numbers of titles and coats of arms in these other trees do not make a watertight case.
Anyway, Solomon was a bricklayer/builder and he (or his father) paid tax on a new tenement in Dorking prior to 1804. Solomon and Mary Ann married in Newington, Lambeth in 1810. This move represents a significant uprooting from Surrey and Sussex respectively.
They had six children in Lambeth. They were baptised in the same church, and at a similar time to the Little family in Chapter 10.
There is more on these individuals in Chapter 38.
Solomon's father retired to Croydon, the first appearance in the tree, of many, of this town.
Solomon jr's family appear in the 1851 census in Kennington, with Solomon listed as a retired builder. He died in 1854 near Faversham, Kent. My photos of Faversham are here. Mary Ann died in 1866 in Lambeth.
Next (or skip to the Part II)
Anyway, Solomon was a bricklayer/builder and he (or his father) paid tax on a new tenement in Dorking prior to 1804. Solomon and Mary Ann married in Newington, Lambeth in 1810. This move represents a significant uprooting from Surrey and Sussex respectively.
They had six children in Lambeth. They were baptised in the same church, and at a similar time to the Little family in Chapter 10.
- 38.2.1 - William Knight (1811)
- 38.2.2 - James Knight (1814)
- 38.2.3 - Johnson Knight (1816)
- 38.2.4 - Solomon Knight (1816). Solomon died in 1821.
- 38.2.5 - Rebecca Knight (1818)
- 38.2.6 - Mary Knight (1822)
There is more on these individuals in Chapter 38.
Solomon's father retired to Croydon, the first appearance in the tree, of many, of this town.
Solomon jr's family appear in the 1851 census in Kennington, with Solomon listed as a retired builder. He died in 1854 near Faversham, Kent. My photos of Faversham are here. Mary Ann died in 1866 in Lambeth.
Next (or skip to the Part II)
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