William Knibb

William Knibb (1803-1845) was originally from Kettering. Knibb, along with his older brother, Thomas, moved to Bristol in 1816 to work with J. G. Fuller (Andrew Fuller’s son). The Knibb brothers joined the church at Broadmead and became Sunday school teachers. William was baptized there in 1822. Shortly thereafter, Thomas Knibb became a BMS missionary in Jamaica, but he died within a few months of his arrival. William promptly volunteered to take his place, sailing with his wife, Mary, for Jamaica in 1825. He first ministered at Savanna-la-Mar, then at Falmouth, from which the majority of his anti-slavery activities were conducted. Though discouraged by the BMS in London, Knibb was openly vocal in his opposition to slavery, and undoubtedly his activities were instrumental in provoking the Jamaica slave revolt of 1831-1832. Many of his followers were persecuted and imprisoned as a result of the uprising. After being held prisoner by the government, Knibb was released in February 1832, his chapels having suffered considerable damage. The criminal cases at Montego Bay against Knibb and his coworkers Thomas Burchell, Thomas Abbott, Walter Dendy, and Francis Gardner were eventually dropped.  Knibb returned to England and, along with Burchell and James Phillippo, spoke in churches and meetings across England, advocating the end of the persecution of the missionaries and slavery in Jamaica. His efforts led to the abolition of slavery throughout the British Commonwealth in 1834. He stated in June 1845 that the membership in his church at Falmouth was 1280; at Refuge, 780; Rio Bueno, 315; Waldensia, 746; Stewart Town, 813; Unity, 340; and Kettering, 200. Mary Watkins (b. 1799), formerly of the Broadmead church in Bristol, married William Knibb in October 1824. She died at Waldensia, Jamaica, in 1866. Knibb’s eldest son, William Christopher (b. 1825), died of fever at Refuge, in Trelawney, Jamaica, on 25 July 1837. Ann Knibb (1830-1892), William Knibb’s second daughter, married the Rev. Ellis Fray, who pastored churches at Refuge and Kettering, Jamaica. His eldest daughter, Catherine (b. 1827), married a Capt. Milbourne in 1848. She died in Jamaica in 1858. Knibb’s youngest daughter, Fanny (b. 1841), died at Stewarton, Jamaica, in 1861. Several children born to the Knibbs died in infancy. For more on the Knibb family, see letter 150. See also John Clarke, Memorials of the Baptist Missionaries in Jamaica (London: Yates and Alexander, 1869), 100, 114-115. See J. H. Hinton, Memoir of William Knibb (London: Houlston and Stoneman, 1847); Cox, History, vol. 2; Clarke, Memorials, 99-114; Tyrrell, “Moral Political Party,” 481-501; Wright, Knibb “the Notorious”; Gary W. Long, “William Knibb (1803-1845),” ed. Haykin, in The British Particular Baptists, 3:211-231.