Miss Margaret Knowles

Miss Margaret Knowles. Image from the Marjorie Baker Collection, Henfield Museum (CC BY-NC-SA)

A person who deserves greater recognition for her work in Henfield is Miss Margaret May Knowles of Henfield Place.  She gave a large tract of land, part of the garden of her house, to the village to be used as a recreational area for the children of the village.  The gift was to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of King George V in 1935, and was therefore known as the King’s Field (next to the sports centre).  An oak tree was planted in memory of the gift, but was unfortunately felled during the building of Northcroft. The land originally bounded Upper Station Rd, but in the 1960s houses were built along the road and additional land was acquired at the side to compensate.  There is now no recognition of her gift to the village.
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Miss Knowles was born in London to a Charles Julius Kino on 22nd May 1877.  Family tradition gives his birthplace as Russia, confirmed by the Census as about 1841.  He came to England during the 1860s, with his naturalisation papers dated 18th Dec 1866, marrying Louisa Essinger at Marylebone, London in 1874.  The 1881 census shows them living very comfortably at 3 Edinburgh Terrace, Kensington with four servants and a governess.  Margaret had 4 siblings, Hugh C,, Guy J. F., Kate C. and Mabel.  Guy was a civil engineer who started a motor vehicle company with Lucien Legros, the son of the artist Alphonse Legros.  They produced the ‘Iris’ car, which in early days at least was described as ‘cumbersome and slow’ with a slow revving engine and was nicknamed the ‘Old Buggerinas’.

The Iris car (Image: public domain)

Charles Kino is recorded as a tailor and woollen Warehouseman, with a shop at 164, Fenchurch Street in the City of London.  Clearly a man of some means by this time, it would seem that he also indulged in property development in London, building 7 blocks of apartments on Prince of Wales Drive with Lord Battersea.  By 1891 the family name changed to Knowles, presumably with the intent of better fitting in with higher society.  Charles began collecting artwork and became friendly with 2 artists: Whistler and Rodin, Lord Battersea also being a patron of the former. Guy as a child would play with clay in Rodin’s studio.  After Charles died, his wife Louisa developed an infatuation with Rodin and commissioned a cast of Rodin’s “Brother and Sister” for her son Guy in March 1903.

He in 1898 bought Linkenholt Manor near Andover in Hampshire, including the whole village and estate of 1,073 acres!  Not destined to enjoy this country retreat for long himself, Charles Knowles died in February 1900, leaving his son Hugh £1.2M and his son Guy £400,000.  Margaret was left several endowments and large sums of money.  The family remained at Linkenholt until about 1913 (in 2009 the estate was sold for £25m), rebuilding the church and becoming known for their local largesse.
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It is believed that Margaret came to Henfield Place in 1913, having previously briefly lived near Frensham in Surrey. It was said her fiancée was killed during the First World War, although no individual has been identified, so this may not be the case.  In 1916, she joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment of the British Red Cross.  In total, she made for the cause 52 garments, 78 miscellaneous items and dedicated an estimated total of an impressive 638 hours' work.  In 1939 at the start of the Second World War, she allowed Henfield Place to become the ‘Henfield Central Hospital Supply Depot’.  From 1939 – 1945, 8448 garments were sewn in various workshops and sent to Henfield Place to be packed and sent to P.O.Ws, Emergency Maternity Hospitals, people blitzed and liberated captives. The depot also provided garments and bandages to Shermanbury Grange Hospital and the Royal Sussex County Hospital.  Due to the dedicated home knitters, 3272 knitted garments were sent to British and Allied Forces; the final total of work reached 13,022, all being packed and sent from Henfield.  All local men were given Christmas parcels.  Proudly no man was forgotten.

The Horsham stone tiled Henfield Place c. 1914, around Margaret Knowles' arrival. Image: Henfield Museum

Margaret Knowles was the driving force behind an organisation called the Girls Friendly Society (GFS) in Henfield.  The GFS was a national girls organisation founded in 1875.  It was originally set up to help young girls/women who left home in the country to work in towns and cities, and who very often had no friends or family and were extremely vulnerable.  The Society’s aim was to befriend and mentor these girls.  In 1880, the Society had 40,000 members and provided lodges which offered cheap good quality accommodation for young women working in domestic service or mill and factory workers. Miss Knowles was President of the Henfield branch for many years, and hosted meetings in her garden. According to Marjorie Baker, the village photographer, when former members of the GFS got married she used to present them with a tea set.  This was later stopped when Margaret found out that one of the girls had got pregnant before her marriage!

During the war years the Henfield GFS threw itself into the war effort raising money for, amongst others, the White Horse Club for boys and girls in London; another was to provide housecraft training for 16 - 18 year old girls.  The GFS carried on after the war and was active into the 1960s and became a youth club for young girls.  All in all, Miss Margaret Knowles gave a lot to the village both in time and money; next time you walk through the Kings Field to the Leisure Centre or go and play tennis or football, have a thought for this kind person.

Margaret’s sister Kate Christine Knowles set up the ‘Forget me not’ League, originally set up to send books and games to captured allied servicemen, but it developed into giving parcels of toiletries, shaving equipment and small luxuries.  To join the League you paid a fee of 1s (5p) and then undertook to raise money by organising dances, whist drives, etc.  When you raised 20s (£1) you were awarded the Forget-me-not medal.  It is interesting to note that the village that Kate lived in named a road after her – Knowles Walk; and Henfield named a road after Margaret – Knowles Close. 

Margaret died on 25th January 1947, leaving £296,000 (equivalent to almost £12 million in 2019) and being buried in Henfield Cemetery. Her white and black pearl platinum ring, which she always wore, went to her companion Mary Mullen Robinson.  Mary was also given an annual allowance of £3,000, and remained at Henfield Place until her death, being buried alongside Margaret.  Her staff, good causes, locals and multiple charitable organisations including the Sussex County Hospital, Diocesan Fund for Widows & Orphans and Tarner Home hospice benefited from her will.  Servants who worked for her received one-or two-year’s salary, depending on their years of service.  Her gardener Arthur W. Winter, who came with her to Henfield and lived in Mooltan Cottage in Neptown Road, received £1,000.  In 1921 he was there with his wife Emily, and six children.  According to Marjorie Baker, Miss Knowles always sought approval from Arthur before agreeing to stage any event in the garden of Henfield Place.  £200 was given to the Henfield vicar to be distributed amongst the poor of the village, while The Girl’s Friendly Society (GFS) received £750 - but not the local branch.  

It is not known why Charles Kino changed his name and why he chose Knowles, but it is known that Henfield is better off for having had such a kindly benefactor and friend in Miss Margaret Knowles.
 
By Steve Robotham (Assistant Curator) with thanks to Maureen Fletcher, Adrian Vieler, Alan Barwick, R. S. Gordon (researchers). First version published in the Henfield Parish Magazine, June 2019. Updated 2025, 2026.

Selected References

- Henfield Museum records (2015/34/P1)
- Census forms
- The wills of Margaret Knowles and Charles Julius Knowles/Kino
- Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD)/Red Cross record (accessed Sept 2025)
- 19thcenturyphotos.com (accessed May 2026)

Miss Margaret Knowles. Image from the Marjorie Baker Collection, Henfield Museum (CC BY-NC-SA)