Thomas Knifton was born in January 1827 at Coxbench, Derbyshire, a hamlet then in the parish of Horsley. He was the seventh child of Thomas, a butcher, and his wife Mary (née Slater), who had him baptised on 23rd March 1827 at St Clement’s Church, Horsley.
Aged 14 at the time of the 1841 census, Thomas was living with his parents, his brother William, and his sisters Ann and Mary, at Coxbench Lane. The 1844 Tithe map of Horsley Parish shows that the family were living at Coxbench in the plot marked as number 167, described as ‘four houses gardens outbuildings &c.’.
Extract from the 1844 Tithe Map of Coxbench
At the time of the 1851, census Thomas was 24, and living with his parents and younger sister Mary at Coxbench. He was ‘employed at home’, working as a butcher for his father who by then was a butcher, shopkeeper, and farmer of 5 acres of land.
On 2nd February 1852, Thomas married Emma Wilson at St Alkmund’s Church, Derby. The parish register shows that Thomas was a butcher, and that he and Emma were both of Little Eaton, which was then part of St Alkmund’s Parish. Their marriage was witnessed by Thomas’ brother William, and Emma’s younger sister Sarah.
Emma, the daughter of Matthew Wilson, a joiner, and his wife Alice (née Boardman), is thought to have been born in January 1827 at Mary Ann Street, Liverpool. She was baptised at St James’ Church, Toxteth, on 28th January 1827.
By 1841, Emma and her parents were living in ‘part of the manor house’ at Wallasey, a short distance from Liverpool, but by 1851, Emma and her younger sister Sarah had moved to Kilbourne in Derbyshire, where they were living with their uncle Samuel Wilson, a retired joiner and carpenter. Here Emma worked as a ‘house servant’.
After their marriage, Thomas and Emma moved to Holbrook where Thomas continued to work as a butcher. Their first child was named Edwin Wilson Knifton, and he was baptised at St Clement’s Church, Horsley, on 3rd July 1853. He was followed by Mary in October, who was baptised at Horsley on 10th December 1854.
Thomas’ mother died in November 1854 and between December 1854 and August 1856, Thomas moved his family back to Coxbench Lane where they lived in one of the houses which was owned by his father. Here on 20th August 1856, Thomas and Emma’s third and final child, Sarah Ann Knifton, was born.
On 10th March 1859, Thomas and Emma’s daughter Mary died aged 4 years and 5 months. She was buried at Horsley Churchyard 4 days later. On 10th July 1859, almost 3 years after her birth, Thomas and Emma had their daugter Sarah Ann baptised at St Clement’s Church.
Thomas’ father died on 4th November 1870 and in his Will he bequeathed to Thomas and his brother George equal shares in his ‘two copyhold dwelling houses gardens and appurtenances thereto belonging in Coxbench Lane’ which in 1861 were occupied by Matthew Bacon and John Fowke. The house which Thomas and Emma occupied was bequeathed, together with 3 other buildings, in equal shares to his siblings Ann, Mary, and Francis.
While Thomas continued to work as a butcher, which involved killing pigs, by 1871 Emma was working as a straw bonnet cleaner, assisted by her daughter Sarah Ann. At the time, ‘women and girls wore long skirts covered by equally long aprons. In winter a shawl covered their shoulders or was pulled over the head, and in summer cotton bonnets were worn. For Sundays they had straw bonnets – Emma Knifton of Coxbench made a small income as a straw bonnet cleaner.’ 1 Her son Edwin later became a straw hat manufacturer.
Wright’s 1874 Directory of South Derbyshire for Horsley, including Coxbench.
In his diary, Thomas Needham, a Horsley resident, noted that ‘Thomas Knifton’s house was rebuilt in October & November 1874.’
Thomas Knifton died on 7th April 1880 aged 53 years and was buried on 12th April at Horsley Churchyard.
The Derby Mercury, 21st April 1880
The memorial inscription at his grave mentions his daughter Mary who died 20 years earlier in 1859 but it is not known if she was buried in this plot.
‘In Affectionate Remembrance of THOMAS KNIFTON, of Coxbench, who died April 7th. 1880, aged 53 years. “Now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee”.Also of Mary, daughter of the above, who died March 10th. 1859, aged 4 years and 5 months.’
After her husband’s death, Emma continued to live at Coxbench. At the time of the 1881 census, she was visiting her younger sisters Sarah and Esther Wilson at 1 Prospect Vale, West Derby, Lancashire. Her occupation was described as ‘independent’ in 1881 and ‘living on her means’ in 1891. In October 1886 Emma was still living in one of the four houses owned by her husband’s siblings Francis, Ann, and Mary Knifton. She appears to have sold her share in the property which had been bequeathed to her husband Thomas in 1870.
Thomas’ sister Ann, a spinster, died on 6th March 1886 and in her Will she bequeathed ‘two hundred pounds to Emma Knifton the widow of my deceased brother Thomas Knifton’.
Between August 1895 and May 1900, Emma moved to 54 Wath Road, Swinton, Yorkshire, the home of her married daughter Sarah Ann Housley and her husband Charles, and it was here that she died on 24th March 1901. Her age was registered as being 76 but she was actually 74 years old. Her body was taken back to Derbyshire and she was buried on 28th March in Horsley Churchyard near to the grave of her husband.
‘In Loving Memory of EMMA, the beloved wife of THOMAS KNIFTON, who died March 24. 1901, Aged 76 years. “She hath done what she could.”’
A tree was planted in Emma’s grave which still survives. When I first photographed her final resting place in 2003 the tree had grown up to the face of the memorial, which had been already been moved to accommodate the tree’s gowth, but by 2016 it had become precarious. It was still standing in 2024, but during a visit in April 2025 I discovered that Emma’s memorial had collapsed.
In her Will written on 14th August 1895, Emma bequeathed her estate equally between her son Edwin and her daughter Sarah Ann, who she also appointed as Executors of her Will. She wrote ‘that my said daughter shall, if she shall think fit, have the option of purchasing at the price of £52 my Consolidated Stock in the Derby Gas Light and Coke Company Limited which formerly belonged to her’. Emma also added a Codicil in which she bequeathed £20 to Sarah Ann’s son Edwin on attaining the age of 21. Her estate was valued at £879 18s. 9d.
Thomas Knifton was my first cousin four times removed.
1 A. Webster, Horsley Through the Ages (Oldrini Publishing, 1998), p. 69.