In a message dated 12/10/01 08:08:26 GMT Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: > My William KNIBB PORTER was born in Salisbury in 1835 and there must be a > reason why he is named KNIBB - someone suggested once that there was a > preacher by the name of KNIBB who was very popular at the time but I have > not been able to connect that. > The 'preacher' was the Rev William KNIBB, baptist missionary in Jamaica [Michèle's first cousin, 7 times removed]. After a slaves uprising and his imprisonment in Jamaica, he came to England in 1832 to plead the cause of emancipation and to raise funds for the burned baptist churches. He first persuaded a meeting of the Baptist Missionary Society to support his views against the then policy of the Society and subsequently toured the country making impassioned speeches against the monster that was slavery. The meetings he addressed were attended by masses of people and widely reported in the local press wherever he went. He raised 13,000UKP, a huge amount at the time. He succeeded in turning public opinion against slavery and made an impact on the newly returned MP's elected following the Reform Act. As a direct result, the Emancipation Act was duly passed in Parliament. William KNIBB was truly a hero of the time and his name was so well known that parents in respect for him could have 'borrowed' the name, just as there are BECKHAM's today. Even so I will continue to look for a Miss KNIBB who married a Mr PORTER sometime before 1835. bfn Alan