Children of Edward Knight and Elizabeth Bridges. Special Marianne Knight (May).

Marianne Knight was born in 1801.¹ She was the daughter of Edward Knight and Elizabeth Bridges

Photo: Edward Knight left
Photo: Elizabeth Bridges right

Children of Edward Knight and Elizabeth Bridges

• 11 children (Elizabeth dying in 1808, 2 days after the birth of the last) including:
  
  
  *Fanny Knight (1793-1882) (Jane Austen's favourite niece) who married Sir Edward Knatchbull (1820) & begat 9 children including Edward Hugessen Knatchbull (1829-1893) (1st Baron Brabourne 1880; edited 1884 Letters of Jane Austen). Fanny became simultaneously the sister-in-law and aunt as well as stepmother to her step-daughter Mary Dorothea Knatchbull when Mary Dorothea married Fanny's brother Edward (see below). 

• *Edward Knight (1794-1879) who married his step-niece Mary Dorothea Knatchbull in 1825 & begat 7 children and thence married Adela Portal in 1840 & begat a further 9 children.

 *George Knight (1795-1867) who married Hilare, Countess Nelson in 1837 (no issue).

 

*Henry Knight (1797-1843) who married firstly Sophia Cage and thence Charlotte Northey & begat children from both marriages.

 

*William Knight (1798-1873) who married firstly Caroline Portal and thence Mary Northey & begat children from both unions.

 

*Elizabeth Knight (1800-1884) who married Edward Royd Rice in 1818 & begat 15 children.

 

*Marianne Knight (1801-1896) who died unmarried.

 

*Charles Knight (1803-1867) who died unmarried.

 

*Louisa Knight (1804-1889) who married Lord George Hill in 1847 (after the death of her sister Cassandra Jane) & begat 1 child.

 

*Cassandra Jane (1806-1842) who married Lord George Hill in 1834 & begat 4 children.

 

*Brook John (1808-1878) who married Margaret Pearson (no issue). 

janeaustenand

 

Marianne Knight, one of Fanny's younger sisters, recalled "that when Aunt Jane came to us at Godmersham she used to bring the manuscript of whatever novel she was writing with her, and would shut herself up with my elder sisters in one of the bedrooms to read them aloud. I and the younger ones used to hear peals of laughter through the door, and thought it very hard that we should be shut out from what was so delightful." jasna

Edward Austen first took the name of Knight in addition to his own, but formally adopted the surname Knight in 1812. Of his eleven children, his daughter Marianne never married but lived at Godmersham with her father until his death in 1852, then with two of her brothers in turn, at Chawton till 1867 and Bentley till 1878, before ending her days with a niece in Ireland.

In around 1875 Marianne Knight was visited by a family friend, Miss Eleanor Glubbe, later Mrs Steele. Marianne Knight gave the pelisse to Miss Glubbe during the visit. In later years Mrs Steele wished to return the pelisse to the Austen family and sent it to Mrs Winifred Jenkyns, a great granddaughter of James Austen, Jane’s eldest brother, with a note that reads “I missed the little coat for a long time but lately it turned up. I cannot remember if it was 'Jane's' but it seems probable". austen-pelisse

The sister I enjoyed reading about most was Marianne (May). Her story  could have been heartbreaking, but her strength of character and bravery made it one of triumph over adversity. She never married but devoted herself to looking after her father and then,after his death,  her brothers. She did indeed begin life as  an Emma Woodhouse figure, the daughter of a great house, Godmersham in Kent, administering the household and overseeing the care of the poor in the parish under her care after the marriage of her sister Fanny. She eventually moved from Godmersham to Chawton where she lived with her brother Charles Bridges Knight, who was rector of Chawton, and like her Aunt Jane, she seems to have enjoyed her quiet, settled life in that village. But she ended her life as a Miss Bates, impoverished and without a real home to call her own, settling in Ballyarr in Donegal, with her widowed sister, Lou, where she eventually died. I loved her character, with its refusal to be cowed by circumstances, her positive outlook and above all, her humour. She did indeed seem to inherit some of her Aunt Jane’s strongest character traits. austenonly/book-review-of-maylou-and-cass-jane-austens-nieces-in-ireland-by-sophia-hillan/