Sir James Knott

[treetop]

I have just been browsing some old research and came across a story about the man who founded the Prince shipping line. This chap rose from working in a shipping office on the Tyne and is an incredible example of the Victorian self made man. Two of his 3 sons died in WW1, one Capt H Basil Knott of 9th Bn Northumberland Fusiliers died near Ypres in Sept 1915 and another Major James Knott of West Yorkshire Regiment on the first day of the Somme. His second son must have feared the Somme as he wrote to his parents the day before. A third survived fighting in Egypt and inherited his title.This loss appears to have broken his spirit.

Shortly after the death of his second son he sold his business interests to Furness Withy and withdrew from public affairs to live in Jersey. His wife died in 1929 and he remarried at the age of 76 a much younger lady who must have finished him off 2 years later! After his death he bequeathed large sums to charity such as YMCA and anyone entering the Tyne will know of the massive Knotts flats on the banks of North Shields opened in 1938 for trawlermen and their families. His trust funds has given about a million pounds a year to charitable causes in the north east each year since 1990 alone.Funds to help widows and men in need from his sons regiments and £20,000 pounds for a war memorial in Newcastle in Eldon Square were also given after the war. Just reading about the man makes me wonder what we lost in this generation.

It is fashionable to criticise the officers in WW1 but we must have lost a generation of entrepreneurs, business brains and leaders as well.

[michaeldr]

Treetop

Many thanks for the above info

I had heard of the Knott charities but did not know of the background.

I also agree with your last thought; how different the latter part of the twentieth century might have been

Regards

Michael D.R.

[Bob Coulson]

Interesting, our local lifeboat is named "Sir James Knott" I now know some background, thanks.

Bob.

[Paul Reed]

Details of one of his sons here:

http://www.somme-1916.com/soldier002.htm

[Robert Missinne]

Both sons are buried on Ypres Reservoir Cemetery

Henry Basil Knott

James Leadbitter Knott

Edited 1 December , 2005 by Robert Missinne

[treetop]

Paul,interesting that the soldier website states that all three sons died when the one at Gallipoli actually survived and returned home in 1918 on leave ! Must have been a shock to the family,albeit a welcome one ! It may have stopped him withdrawing from the shipping industry if he had known one son would survive the war.This one Thomas Garbutt actually inherited his fathers title but it ceased on his death in 1950 ish. The son would loan money to local lifeboat and St Johns ambulance stations,etc then go in and pay the debt off after they had payed their dues for a year or two.Great believers in self help philosophy and if you showed you had the will to try he would help. Almost certainly the lifeboat would have been helped by the trust Bob,it seems Sir James had a strong affection for the lifeboat community in Cullercoats and the NE generally. When the old man remarried at 76 his wife was only 25 ! He reads up as a heck of a character.

[Paul Reed]

Paul,interesting that the soldier website states that all three sons died when the one at Gallipoli actually survived and returned home in 1918 on leave !

That extract comes from a WW1 roll of honour; I am told this son was the 'black sheep' and that the family preferred to think of him dead. He survived the war, as you say, but it seems the father never saw him again.

[Steven Broomfield]

The family get a write-up in Gerald Gliddon's "The Aristocracy and the Great War" (pp 276 - 278), and there's a brief mention of James Knott in the DSO book by O'Moore Creagh and Humphris.

[treetop]

That extract comes from a WW1 roll of honour; I am told this son was the 'black sheep' and that the family preferred to think of him dead. He survived the war, as you say, but it seems the father never saw him again.

Interesting Paul,I wonder what he did to become the black sheep ? He had gone to fight in the boer war and then to New Zealand where he joined up and was thought to be missing in Gallipoli before popping up in Egypt. Must have been something odd as he later did quite a few charitable works in Devon and Exmouth area when he inherited the baronetcy. The favoured son seems to have been James Leadbitter who was being groomed for succesion before going over the top at the Somme with the West Yorks. His old man appears to have donated quite a bit to York minster in his memory.