Blackmore Area Local History

War Memorial: Place and inscription
Epping War Memorial
Magdalen Laver War Memorial: E Knight

Rank:
Private

Regiment:
Essex Regiment. 1^st/ 6^th Battalion.  Service No: 40199 [CWGC]

Service Details:
Recorded as Samuel Ernest Knight [CWGC]
Recorded as Ernest Samuel Knight [Essex Regiment Museum]
Born Blackmore, Essex Enlisted Epping, Essex Residence Magdalen Laver, Essex [SDGW & Essex Regiment Museum]

Personal and family information:
Son of Mr & Mrs D Knight of Keeper’s Lodge, Wintry Park, Epping, Essex [CWGC]

No record of Ernest or Samuel Knight baptised at Blackmore, or Fryerning, or Ingatestone.  Baptism Register for Fryerning [ERO D/P 249/1/7] has the following entries for younger siblings:
14^th July 1901. Dorothy Emma Knight, daughter of David and Emma Rebecca Knight.
14^th July 1901. Ethel Susan Knight, daughter of David and Emma Rebecca Knight.

1901 Census: Gander Hall, Blackmore Road, Ingatestone.
The property is on the Ingatestone and Fryerning parish census, lying in the ecclesiastical parish of Fryerning.
David Knight.  Head.  Married.  [Age] 38.  Agricultural  Labourer  [Born] Highwood
Emma Knight.  Wife.  [Age] 37.  [Born] Ingatestone
Alfred Knight.  Son.  [Age] 18.  Worker.  [Born] Roxwell
William Knight.  Son.  [Age] 16.  Worker.  [Born] Roxwell
Arthur Knight.  Son.  [Age] 13.  Worker.  [Born] Highwood
George Knight.  Son.  [Age] 7.  [Born] Fryerning
Ernest Knight.  Son.  [Age] 4.  [Born] Fryerning
Ada Knight.  Dau.  [Age] 11.  [Born] Fryerning
Dorothy Knight. Dau.  [Age] 2.  [Born] Fryerning
Gander Hall is the first entry on one of three census returns for the parish of Ingatestone and Fryerning.  There are two properties labelled ‘Gander Hall’ with the third in the sequence being ‘Howletts Hall’. This matches the sequence of properties in what we know as Chelmsford Road, Blackmore.  An inspection of a six inch to one mile map dated 1923 shows that these properties were outside of the Blackmore parish boundary although the road in front of the properties was in Blackmore.

1911 Census: Cold Harbour, High Ongar.
David Knight.  Head.  Married.  [Age] 48.  Cowman on Farm.  [Born] Writtle
Emma Knight.  Wife (m 27 yrs).  [Age] 47.  [Born] Ingatestone
George Knight.  Son.  [Age] 17.  Cowman on Farm.  [Born] Blackmore
Ernest Knight.  Son.  [Age] 15.  Cowman on Farm.  [Born] Blackmore
Dorothy Knight.  Dau..  [Age] 12.  School.  [Born] Blackmore
Ethel Knight.  Dau.  [Age] 10.  School.  [Born] Blackmore
Nellie Knight.  Dau.  [Age] 7.  School.  [Born] Moreton
‘Cold Harbour’ lies in the detached part of High Ongar. The 1923 map reveals its location at being near Tylers Green where The Talbot public house is situated. It is on an existing footpath by the present Marconi Bungalows.  The head of the household gives Ernest’s birth as Blackmore, technically incorrect but the location of Gander Hall suggests a stronger association with the residents of this parish than Fryerning. 

The 1918 Electoral Roll for the Epping Division [ERO C/E 2/3/1, viewed online] has a David Knight and Emma Rebecca Knight living at Hall Lodge.  These surely must have been the same parents of a 4 year old Ernest living at Gander Hall, Blackmore Road in the 1901 census and confirmed by “A second Emma Rebecca Knight is buried in Magdalen Laver with her husband David, this is the couple who were living at Gander Hall Blackmore Road rather than the couple I have linked to this tree who were living in Chelmsford Road in Blackmore in 1901”. [http://www.myfamilytree.110mb.com/Knight/pafg03.htm].

Date of Death:
2^nd January 1918

Age:
21

Where died:
Died Palestine [SDGW & Essex Regiment Museum]

Place of Burial or Commemoration:
Cemetery: Gaza War Cemetery. Grave / Memorial Reference: XXII E5 [CWGC]

List of Sources:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Essex Record Office, Essex Regiment Museum, Rosalind Lloyd (website of Knight family), Soldiers who Died in the Great War.