On discovering Knighton …… that suburb of Leicester which was once its own place

An occasional series on the village and township of Knighton, as it was and as it is today.

Knighton in 1834

In 1846 Knighton was described as “2 miles S. by E. of Leicester, a village, township and chapelry, containing 465 inhabitants, and 1638 acres of fertile land, intersected by a small rivulet, and traversed by the Midland Counties Railway, and the turnpikes from Leicester to Welford and Market Harborough”.

On the north side of the chapelry "was a pleasant suburb called Stonegate, adjoining the Racecourse of Leicester, and having several handsome houses, occupied by manufacturers, &c, who have their places of Business in that town.  The soil on the north is good loam, and on the south strong clay.

Sir E.C. Martopp, Bart., occupied the Hall, as a hunting box, and is lord of the manor, and owner of a great part of the soil; and the rest belongs to G.A.L. Keck, Esq., Sergeant D’Oyly, Mr. Joseph Johnson, and a few other proprietors.”

The place was mentioned in the Domesday Book, and over the centuries passed through the hands of several landowners.  Its church predated the Norman Conquest, while Wesleyan chapel was only erected in 1816, and “the commodious National School was built in 1840”.

Knighton's most prominent residents, 1846

The description concluded with listing the 21 most prominent individuals of whom ten lived in Stoneygate  and had their places of business in Leicester.

 The remaining eleven lived in Knighton, and amongst them were two publicans, three farmers, assorted professionals, some shop keepers and Elizabeth Hughes the teacher at the National School.

All of which is a start, and because we have the census returns we can add to the 21, the other 400 or so inhabitants, recording their names, occupations, places of birth as well as the age profile of Knighton.

Added to this we also have the electoral register for 1841, which not only lists the names of those entitled to vote, but just how they cast their votes.

So, I know that Mr. Charles Simpkin, the farmer, voted for the Tories and Mr. Alfred Burgess, who described himself as a “Woolpacker” and was  later a J.P., cast his two votes for the Whigs.

And if I can locate the tithe records and rate books I will have a better idea of how the land was farmed, the size of farms, and  the level of annual rents.

All of which will provide a detailed description of Knighton in the 1840s, before it became a suburb of that big city two miles up the road.

Location; Knighton

Next; Who were the 18 Knighton electors in 1841 ..... and how did they vote?

Pictures; Knighton in 1834, from Greenwood’s map of Leicestershire, Greenwood’s Atlas, 1829-1834, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/, and Knighton’s prominent residents in 1846, from History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Leicestershire, 1846

*History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Leicestershire, 1846

Who were the 18 Knighton electors ……. and how did they vote in 1841? ... Leicester snapshots

Now I have yet to find a portrait of any of the Knighton electors who were eligible to vote in the General Election of 1841.

Elections in 1836

I am confident that I might strike lucky given that they were the good and respectable of the township of Knighton, added to which there were just 18 of them.

This was out of a total adult population of 180, which if I have done my sums correctly represents just 10%, which was still better than the national average which in 1833 stood at 4%.

But this was still a time when only men could vote, and only men with a property qualification.

So, of our 18, three were farmers, one was an aristocrat and the rest were engaged in commerce and industry, leaving Mr. William Simmons who not only held land and houses, but was the landlord of the Dun Cow.

Unlike many places almost all of our electors lived in Knighton, with just three living elsewhere.

And by sifting through the census returns, old directories, and poll books it is possible to get an idea of who they were.*

William Simmons for instance was 50 years old, was married and had one son who was a butcher.

One of his near neighbours was Charles Simkin who was a farmer with 140 acres, employing three labourers, while out on the London Road lived Mr. Richard Warner Wood, who in 1841 was in the hosiery business, a decade later described himself as a “Land Proprietor”, and retired as a banker, leaving £16,000 on his death in 1867.

So far I know a bit about 12 of the 18, and in time will find out about the others.

Knighton in 1834

But the 12 are the ones who interests me because they actually voted in the General Election and I know who they voted for, because each had his votes recorded.

This was after all, a good three decades before voting was undertaken in secret, and votes were not only recorded, but seen to be so.

And that in turn might lead to difficult choices, where some electors were tenants or customers of the powerful landed interests.
Voting bribery and intimidation did go on, and the election described in Pickwick Papers chimes in well malpractices reported in the press.

The Manchester Guardian reported in the July of 1841, how “a long string of voters came up from Rathy a parish which is the property of the Earl of Stamford” which was in the same constituency as ours, “decorated with the colours of the Tory candidate and when asked of whom they voted, replied ‘I vote for the two that Lord Stamford supports’”.**

How Knighton voted in 1841

The 1841 Election saw a big swing to the Tory Party from the Whigs, who in the previous decade had pushed through a series of reforms, from the Great Reform Act, the abolition of slavery and the reorganization of the Poor Law.

But for some they now looked like “extinct volcanoes” and the result of the election was a Tory victory with the Tories gaining 53 extra seats and the Whigs losing 73, giving the Tories 51% of the total vote.

Here in Knighton our 12 followed the national trend, with seven voting for the two Tory candidates and the remaining five supporting the Whigs.

Across the constituency the result was pretty much the same, and the two Tory candidates were re-
elected.

All of which leaves me to go looking for any election material that has survived, and perhaps even a comment from one of the 12 on that election result.

We shall see.

Location; Knighton

Pictures; The Election at Eatanswill, Phiz (Hablot K. Browne), August 1836, the Pickwick Papers,  Knighton in 1834, from Greenwood’s map of Leicestershire, Greenwood’s Atlas, 1829-1834, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

*1841 Census, Enu 8 St Margaret, Leicestershire, Poll Book 1841, Directories 1841 & 1843

**Leicester South, Manchester Guardian, July 14th, 1841