Pauline Priano has submitted the following:-

Thomas Garbutt Knott, one of three sons, he was the eldest child of James Knott, born at Howden, Northumberland, January 31st 1855, baptised at St. Peter, Wallsend, March 4th 1855 and Margaret Annie Garbutt of Holmfirth, Yorkshire, also born in 1855, she was the daughter of Reverend Thomas Garbutt.

James Knott was a man of humble beginnings, the son of a grocer. Educated at the Scotch School in North Shields he left at the age of 14 to start work as a shipping clerk at an office on Newcastle upon Tyne quayside and by the age of 20 began his own business as a shipbroker. Having borrowed money from a friend at the age of 23 he bought an old collier, Pearl, ship number 23195, for £186, of Scarborough. On  September 17th 1878, he and Margaret Annie were married at Tynemouth, Northumberland.

Thomas Garbutt Knott was born July 14th 1879 at North Shields, in 1881 they were living next door to Margaret Annie’s widowed mother, her sister, brother and his wife, at 1, Frank Place, North Shields. James Leadbetter was born December 2nd 1882. His father had bought a steam ship from Swan Hunter named Saxon Prince, ship number 79247, and founded the Prince Line Ltd. which became one of the biggest shipping lines in the world with a fleet of over 40 ships, with distinct slate grey hulls, black and red funnels with white Prince of Wales’s feathers.

The family enjoyed a wealthy lifestyle and became well known. They left North Shield and moved to Manor House, Jesmond, a suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne and it was here that youngest son Henry Basil Knott was born, February 5th 1891 and baptised April 18th at St. George, Newcastle. The house was run by 47-year-old Annie Hindmarsh with the assistance of a butler, cook, a kitchen maid and 2 housemaids. James Leadbitter (8) and Henry Basil (3 months) were looked after by a certificated nurse, a nursemaid and were schooled by a live-in tutor. Thomas at the age of 11 was living as a boarder at The Manse, Thirston, Northumberland, the home of Presbyterian minister James Lemon, his wife and son.

By 1901 the family had moved to 4, Sydenham Terrace, Jesmond, which was fully staffed, James Leadbitter Knott (18) was the only son still living at home, Thomas Garbutt, not wanting to join the family business, had departed to South Africa, Henry Basil (10) was a boarder attending Langley Place School, Horsemore Green, Langley, Buckinghamshire, however, he had returned to the family home, now at Close House, Wylam, by 1911.

Thomas Garbutt Knott was a wanderer, he departed to South Africa in 1899 aboard a ship of the Prince Line as a deck hand, having been refused free passage by his father. He joined the African Light Horse and served for the duration of the Boer War 1899-1902. In 1907 he was living at Ashtabula, Ohio, U.S.A. where he married, October 17th 1907, Sarah Elizabeth Fowler. When war was declared between Britain and Germany he was in New Zealand and in answer to the call, joined the forces August 14th 1914 assigned as Trooper 9/154 Otago Mounted Rifles. He was 34 years old, 5 feet 4 and a half inches tall, fair complexion, brownish green eyes, brown hair, 140lbs. On October 13th 1914, Thomas is promoted to Corporal.

He departed October 15th 1914 from Port Dunedin disembarking at Alexandria, Egypt on December 3rd 1914. On December 15th 1914, Thomas was in hospital for three days with a sprained back, caused by lifting sacks of Bran. The G.O.C. commanding the Otaga Mounted Rifles on March 4th asked for a Medical Board to be convened to discuss Thomas’ health, he was declared fit.

March 20th 1915, at his own request he reverted back to the rank of trooper. Trooper Knott embarked for the Dardanelles on August 3rd 1915 upon his arrival by August 23rd he was admitted to Hospital from the 16th Casualty Clearing Station at Anzac Cove, and transferred to Mudros. Fully recovered he rejoined his unit on October 1st 1915.

On December 25th 1915 he disembarked at Alexandria from H.T. Baltana but again suffering from ill-health January 14th 1916, he was admitted to the General Hospital at Cairo with Influenza until he was discharged, January 21st 1916 and  transferred to a Convalescent Camp at Zeitoun. February 28th 1916, he was again admitted to Hospital with a strained back then discharged to Lady Godley’s Home, New Zealand Convalescent Home at Cairo on April 4th 1916, returning to the Base Depot at Ghezinch, April 20th 1916.

Trooper Knott was transferred back to the Otago Mounted Rifles Squadron on April 21st 1916 at Tel-el-Kebir and taken on strength, May 25th 1916, then transferred  to the Anzac Camel Corps. In March 1916, after two months of training, the first camel patrols left their depot at Abassi on the outskirts of Cairo to patrol the Libyan Desert. In 1915 the Senussi had attacked British and Egyptian outposts along the Suez canal and the Mediterranean coast. The resulting Senussi Campaign was largely over by then, but the patrols were to show the Senussi that the British were watching them, and to protect the border areas.

Around the same time long-range patrols, each of about thirty men, went into the south and south-east of the Sinai desert to detect any Ottoman incursion into the area. When the patrols discovered Ottoman outposts, the brigade organized a company-strength raid against the outposts. The ICC undertook similar patrols in the north to protect the rail and water lines, which were vital for any British attack.

Thomas was admitted to the 27th General Hospital at Abassi on July 17th 1916 with neuralgia and again on October 13th 1916. Plagued with illness he was admitted to hospital on a further three occasions for lumbago and malaria and debility between Cairo and Alexandria Hospitals. He was on leave to the UK from October 27th 1917, leaving from Alexandria for Taronto. He returned to his unit on January 20th 1918, detached to the Brigade Canteen and finally discharged from Port Said on April 16th 1919.

His younger brother Henry Basil Knott was killed in Belgium in 1915, James Leadbitter Knott on the first day of the Battles of the Somme in 1916 and for a time it was believed he too was dead. Trooper Knott returned to New Zealand, having spent time as a Prisoner of War and recuperating at Aoteo Convalescent Home, Egypt, suffering from memory loss. He was demobilised in England having been given compassionate leave to return home, as his mother’s health had been affected by the loss of her 2 sons, this also gave him the opportunity to reconcile with his father after many years of estrangement.

Although he would have liked to return to New Zealand he remained in England. His first marriage ended in divorce in 1925, he having named his wife Sarah Elizabeth as respondent and a Lincoln R. Robson as co-respondent. Thomas Garbutt remarried later that year widow Margaret Annie Anderson who had 2 sons from her first marriage to George Anderson who had perished during WW1. They separated soon after, however, he continued to look after them.

After the loss of his sons James Knott retired in 1916, in 1917 he received a Baronetcy which bestowed upon him and his wife the title of Sir James Knott and Lady Margaret. In 1924 Sir James and Lady Margaret settled on the island of Jersey, Channel Islands at Samares Manor. Lady Margaret Annie Knott nee Garbutt died 8th March 1929, aboard their yacht, in Cannes, France, aged 74 years. Sir James Knott 1st Baronet remarried in 1932 at Monte Carlo to Elizabeth Chystie Gauntlett, the 25-year-old daughter of Colonel V. C. Gauntlett, he died at St. Clements, Jersey, Channel Islands, 8th June 1934 and interred 12th June. Elisabeth Chystie Knott nee Gauntlett, who had married for a second time, also in Jersey, died on the 23rd November 1998.

Thomas Garbutt Knott at the time of his father’s death was living at Court Lands, Exmouth, Devon where he raised Jersey cows, employing 7 workers and a dairy maid and was a keen pigeon fancier, he inherited the title of 2nd Baronet. Sir Thomas Garbutt Knott died 10th April 1949 aged 69 years, probate 19th September 1949, effects £55,565 1s 4d to Midland Bank Executor and Trustee Company Limited. The title of Baronet ceased as neither of his marriages had produced an heir.

In God’s safe keeping. Rest In Peace.

Thomas Garbutt Knott is not remembered on a North East War Memorial.