Florence Agnes Knight was born in Clerkenwell, London on Monday 6 August 1883 [1], the daughter of Abraham Knight, warehouseman from Clerkenwell, London and Mary Etherington of Portsea, Hampshire. Florence Agnes was born at 2 Eliza Place, a small courtyard directly opposite the Saddlers Wells theatre in Clerkenwell, London.

Eliza Place was situated in what was once known as Spa Fields, Islington. Spa fields took its name from the London Spa, a public house where water from an ancient spring was sold for medicinal properties. Tea-gardens and other resorts grew up in this area from the late seventeenth century, and house-building started in the second half of the eighteenth century. However, Eliza Place was demolished due to the creation of Rosebery Avenue in 1891 to provide an east-west route through Clerkenwell and alleviate traffic congestion. Today, Spa Green Gardens, opposite the Saddlers Wells theatre is all that remains of what was once Eliza Place.

Florence was the eldest of six siblings of which five survived beyond infancy: two sisters Ada and Alice and two brothers John and Abraham. Florence's immediate family is shown in the tree, below. By the time of the 1891 census Eliza Place had been demolished and the Knight family moved a distance of approximately 800m to 1 Margaret Place, Clerkenwell, close to St James Church. The 1891 census [2] shows that there were four members of the family living in two rooms of a terraced house, sharing with one other family. Florence's father Abraham was employed as a fancy goods packer and her mother was employed as a fancy bread worker, possibly working in the same factory. The photograph taken c1926, shows Florence Agnes Knight with her son Joseph David and her daughter Florence Emily at the entrance to the home at 86 Crondall Steet, Hoxton.

Although Florence could read and write, it is not known where she attended school.

The 1901 census[3] for Finsbury shows six members of the Knight family living in three rooms at 22 Block Q, Peasbody Buildings, Roscoe Street. At this time Florence had left school and was working as milliner, her father Abraham was employed as a boot packer and her mother was a cardboard box maker (appears to be a common occupation for women living in Clerkenwell).

On Monday 20th May 1907 Florence Agnes, aged 23, married Joseph Robert Wilkins aged 20 at St Peter's Church, West Hackney [4]. At the time of their wedding they were both living in Ufton Street, Hackney although they were probably staying in temporary accommodation, a means commonly used to circumvent the need to have the banns read at more than one church. No known wedding photos have survived and it appears that no members of there families were present as it is usual for family members to sign as witnesses (the witnesses were John Petit and Margaret Barling).

The 1911 census [5] shows the Wilkins family living at 10 Baldwin Terrace, Islington. Joseph Robert, Florence Agnes and their two sons, William Joseph aged 3 and Thomas Henry aged 11 months occupied 1 room in a house adjacent to the Regents Canal in Islington, opposite the Wenlock Basin. Although the houses have long since been demolished, the pub on the corner of Baldwin Terrace and Wharf Road, the Narrowboat is still open.

By the outbreak of the first world war they had four children: William Thomas their eldest son was born on Wednesday 26 August 1908 whilst they were living in Holborn; Thomas Henry was born on Sunday 17 April 1910 whilst they were living in Islington; George Robert, their third son was born in Islington on Saturday 11 May 1912 and Florence Emily their eldest daughter was born in Shoreditch on Sunday 27 September 1914, at which time the family were living at 86 Crondall Street, Hoxton.

During most of the war years, i.e. from 1915 - 1918 Florence, in common with most of the women in England, had to raise her four children alone, as her husband Joseph was serving in the British Army in France. After the war, Florence and Joseph had three more children: Albert Joseph born on Wednesday 16 May 1919; Joseph David born on Sunday 28 August 1921 and Doris Brenda born in September 1924, at which time the Wilkins family were living at 86 Crondall Street, Hoxton.

The 1921 census [6] shows Joseph Robert, a Gold Blocker, and his wife Florence Agnes together with their five children, William aged 13, Thomas aged 11, George aged 9, Florence aged 6 and Albert aged 2 living at 86 Crondall Street, Hoxton, London.

In 1925 the family suffered two deaths in a matter of six months. Florence's husband Joseph Robert, who had not been in good health due to injuries suffered during the war, died of tuberculosis and shortly afterwards her youngest daughter, Doris died in St Leonard's Hospital Shoreditch aged fourteen months. The following account of how she contacted pneumonia was told to me by my father, Joseph David Wilkins some fifty years ago  [7]. As was typical for this period the house they lived in was split between two families, the other family occupying the rooms above, an arrangement which indirectly had tragic consequences for the Wilkins family. Each evening one member of the neighbouring family used to make a pot of tea in the downstairs kitchen and then carry the large teapot up to their rooms on the floor above. One evening, whist young Doris Wilkins was crawling on the landing of the stairway their neighbour, whist making his way up the stairs with the large teapot, tried to get past young Doris on the landing but slipped and spilt the boiling hot tea all over her. Shortly afterwards on Friday 20 November 1925 Doris died of broncho-pneumonia in St Leonards Hospital, Shoreditch [8].

After her husband died, Florence struggled to raise her family, taking in washing to make ends meet. As was the norm for many households in Hoxton in the hard times that followed the first world war, food and clothing were provided by the Hoxton Market Christian Mission. The slogan 'Daddy Burtt's for dinner' became part of Hoxton folklore  [9]. I remember my father telling me how great it was when he enlisted in the army at the start of world war two, as he was able to get three square meals a day.

Some time before the outbreak of world war II the family moved to 158 Lordship Lane, Tottenham, directly opposite Tottenham lido, where my father (Joseph David) used to take us during the summer to spend the day splashing about in the pool. White Hart Lane, the home of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, was a ten-minute walk from Florence's house, and as a ten-year old in 1959 I was allowed to attend matches as it was close to my grandmother house. For two seasons on Saturday afternoons and mid-week evenings (I used to hop school in the afternoons) I was able to watch what was to become the great Spurs double winning side of the early 1960's.

Florence Agnes died on Friday 23 of December 1966, aged eighty-three [10].

Copyright © 2006 - R Wilkins