Vincent Edward Knowles (1903-1976)

Vincent Edward Knowles
from his passport 1974

I have a few, distinct memories of my paternal grandfather, Vincent Edward Knowles. For most of the time I knew him he lived in a bungalow in Market Weighton, which he shared with my grandmother, Florence Mary, and a one-eyed cat called Mr Jinx.

My grandmother died in 1971 when I was aged just six. My only memory of her is a silent, vacant figure sitting in a corner of a dark room in her home. She had suffered a stroke, I believe, and was a complete invalid.

We never lived near to my grandfather for the few years in which my life overlapped his. Briefly, in the early 1970s, we lived in Beverley, only 11 miles from Market Weighton, East Yorkshire, but we did not have a car and our visits to him were by bus.

I have faint memories of his second wedding, in 1975, to Florence (I do not know her surname). This led to him moving to Billericay, Essex, where he spent the last year of his life.

Click here to see photos of Vincent Edward Knowles.

Here's a summary of my grandfather's history, as I know it.

Vincent Edward Knowles (1903-1976)

Early years

Vincent Edward was born on 31 August, 1903 in Stickford, Lincolnshire, the son of Edward Henry Knowles and Lucy Ann Carrott.

(Of course, she was Lucy Ann Knowles by that time, but I'll generally refer to married women by their maiden surname, because it helps to explain the connections in the family tree).

The Knowles family had lived in same area of Lincolnshire for generations. Vincent Edward is registered on the 1911 census, aged 7, in Stickford, Lincolnshire.

Click here to see a Google map for Stickford.

Family and employment

He trained as a cabinet maker and then became a Methodist Minister. What led him to choose a life in the church I do not know, although his family had been Methodists for some generations.

Vincent Edward married Florence Mary Bogg in Wilmslow, Cheshire, in 1934. They had two children, Angela (born 1935) and Vincent Arthur (born 1939).

Later years

For many years my grandfather lived in Market Weighton, south Yorkshire. In 1975 he married for a second time, to Florence.

Vincent Edward died in Billericay, Essex, on 17 December 1976.

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