Caroline Wells

LIFE GOES ON: AN INTRODUCTION

MY GRANDPARENTS - I - MY GREAT-GRANDPARENTS - I - MY GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS - I - MY GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS

THE SIXTEEN FAMILIES

KNOTT - I - BOWLES - I - WATERS - I - HARRALL - I - PAGE - I - WISEMAN - I - CROSS - I - CARTER

CORNWELL - I - HUCKLE - I - MORTLOCK - I - MANSFIELD - I - REYNOLDS - I - CARTER - I - ANABLE - I - STEARN

CHRONOLOGY - I - DRAMATIS PERSONAE - I - WHERE PEOPLE CAME FROM - I - CALENDAR

MAP OF ELY - I - MAP OF MEDWAY
MAP OF CAMBRIDGE AND DISTRICT

THE WORKHOUSE

WORLD WAR I - I - WORLD WAR II

simonknott.co.uk I home I e-mail

LIFE GOES ON

Caroline Wells
born Rainham, Kent, 1798
died Chatham, Kent, 1883

on the Knott family tree
part of the Knott family story

married to William Knott

mother of George Knott

Caroline Wells (1798-1883). My Father's Father's Father's Father's Mother. My Great-Great-Great-Grandmother.

1798: Caroline was born in Rainham, Kent, and baptised at St Margaret's church on the 25th November. The surname of her parents John and Mary in the register is unclear, but there are a number of other baptisms of babies born to John and Mary Wells at Rainham in the 1790s, and Caroline appears to have the surname Wells when she marries in 1817. The entry is here. The font in which she was baptised was replaced by a Victorian one during the 19th Century restoration of the church.

1817: Caroline married William Knott on 30th March at St Margaret's church, Rainham, Kent. The Rainham registers are poorly preserved, but both parties appear to have been previously unmarried, and both were residents of Rainham parish. Although Caroline was illiterate and signed with a cross, William was able to write his own name. The witnesses were William Wells and William Taylor. William Wells was presumably a family member, but William Taylor witnesses several other marriages on the same page, and was probably the parish clerk. The entry in the register is here.

1826: William and Caroline's son William was born in Northfleet, Kent, and baptised at St Botolph's Church, Northfleet on the 13th August.

1836: William and Caroline's daughter Jane was born in Gillingham, Kent, and baptised at St Mary Magdalene's church, Gillingham on 25th May.

1839: William and Caroline's son James was born in Gillingham, Kent, and baptised at St Mary Magdalene's church, Gillingham on 10th March.

1841 census:

Caroline was forty-three years old at the time of the 1841 census. The Knott family were living at the Street, Gillingham, Kent.

Caroline is shown as an agricultural labourer. Her husband William was not in the house on the night of the census.

There were eight children in the house. Mary was 23, Elizabeth was 19, William was 15. John was 12, Fanny was 7, Samuel was 5. James was 2 and Thomas was 2 months old.

Everyone in the household was born in Kent. You can see the two pages of the entry here and here.

1843: William and Caroline's youngest son, my great-great-grandfather George Herbert, was born in Gillingham, Kent on the 31st March. His father was William Knott, his mother Caroline Knott formerly Wells. His father's occupation was given as agricultural labourer. The birth was registered on the 8th May. So far I have found no baptismal record for George.

1851 census:

Caroline was fifty-two years old at the time of the 1851 census. The Knott family were living at 8, Church Street, Gillingham, Kent.

Her husband William is shown as an agricultural labourer. He was 58 years old.

Caroline had three children at home. William, an agricultural labourer, was 26, James was 12 and my great-great-grandfather George was 8. Also living in the household was Rebecca Knott, aged 3, shown as a granddaughter. She was the daughter of Caroline's son William; her mother Fanny had died in March 1849 at the age of 23.

Caroline is shown as being born at Rainham, Kent. Her husband William was born at Dover in Kent. Caroline's son William was born at Northfleet, while James, George and Rebecca were all born in Gillingham. The entry is here.

1863: on 28th February, the Chatham News reported the death of a woman after child birth, Mrs Sarah Rutter, who had been living in the Weekes Alley, High Street, Chatham household of Caroline Knott. As there is only one Caroline Knott of adult age in the Medway Towns on the 1861 census, this is likely to be our Caroline. The inquest into the death, at which Caroline was a witness, found no suspicious circumstances.

1861 census:

Caroline's given age was sixty-four at the 1861 census (she was 62). She was a widow. The Knott family were living at 1 Hillington Square, Gillingham, Kent.

Caroline is shown as employed on a farm.

There were two children. Jane was 26. She does not appear on the 1851 census with the family, but is probably the 7 year old Fanny on the 1841 census, and was probably in domestic service in 1851. George was 16. Also living in the household was James Wood or Hood, a labourer.

Caroline was born at at Rainham in Kent. Jane and George were born in Gillingham. The transcript for their entry is here.

1870: On 15th January, the Chatham News reported that Caroline Knott had been the victim of a clothes line theft. As there is only one Caroline Knott of adult age in the Medway Towns on the 1871 census, this is likely to be our Caroline. The thief, Ann Potts of Chalk Hill Lane, received two weeks hard labour.

1871 census:

Caroline's given age was seventy-six years at the time of the 1871 census (she was 72). She was living at Bennett's Wharf, Gillingham Lane, Gillingham, Kent.

Caroline is shown as a widow and a seamstress.

Also living in the house was her son James, and agricultural labourer aged 30, and two lodgers, the 82 year old pensioner William Price, and 40 year old Norfolk-born Thomas Clark, an excavator.

Caroline was born in Rainham, Kent, her son James in Gillingham. The entry is here.

1881 census:

Caroline's given age was 88 years old at the time of the 1881 census (she was 82). She was living in the Medway Union Workhouse, Chatham, Kent.

Caroline is shown as a charwoman.

She was born at Rainham, Kent. The entry is here.

1883: Caroline died in the Medway registration district in the 3rd quarter of the year. Her age was given as 91 (she was 84).