ISLANDERS REUNITEDFrom Joy McPherson (nee Stanley), PO Box 775, Lithgow 2790, New South Wales, Australia, e-mail: joy.mcph@gmail.com
I HAVE been researching my father’s family history for the past couple of years.
His grandfather and uncle retired to the IW in the 1890s and I thought perhaps someone on the Island may be able to help with my research.
I am curious to know whether there was a particular reason why the brothers on the Island, i.e a distant family connection I still haven’t unearthed.
My great grandfather was Arthur Stanley (born Arthur Knott). Arthur was born in 1844 in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, and became a goldminer in South Africa. He retired on the IW in 1892/93, when he bought the Esplanade Hotel in Ryde.
Arthur was married to Martha (Dutch Boer) and they had five children.
Marion was born in the Transvaal in 1891 and then there was Arthur, who was born in London in 1892 and undertook an apprenticeship with the railway on the IW before becoming a ship’s engineer.
Alfred was born in 1893 on the IW and became a ship’s draftsman, while Evaline and Marguerite were also born on the IW. None of the family were married or died on the IW but they lived there from 1892/93 until after the 1911 census, at the very least.
Arthur Stanley had a brother, Alfred George Knott, who became a sugar planter in South America, before also retiring to the IW. I believe he and his family settled around the same time as his brother. Their address was Mountfield, High Park Road, Ryde. He was married to Sarah and they are both buried in Ryde St Johns, I believe.
They also had five children — not born on the IW although they lived there — Ethel Maude Lizzie Blanche, Frank Garnham, Alfred Charles Edwards and Richard Stanley. They were all Knotts and four out of the five were born in South America.
Lizzie died aged 21 and is buried beside her parents in St Johns. Richard Stanley Knott was killed on the first day of the Somme battles, in July 1916, and his name is inscribed on the war memorial in Ryde. The boys all went to boarding school in Weston Super Mare, Somerset, but perhaps their early primary education would have been on the Island. I think the girls would have stayed on the Island.
I believe Arthur Stanley would have been a rather flamboyant character and well known if he owned the Esplanade Hotel. I would be interested in any information from Island residents. I would also be delighted to provide more details about this family, if it is of interest to anyone. I am a resident of New South Wales, Australia, although born in Scotland, and as yet have not had the opportunity to visit the Island, which I hope to do in the next couple of years.