Many are the
published literary works that celebrate the contribution of William Knibb and
this is as it should be. He was the fifth child, along with his twin sister
Ann, of Thomas and Mary Knibb (nee Dexter) of Kettering in the British
Midlands. The senior Knibbs had eight children, namely, Thomas, William, Ann,
Edward, Frances (Fanny), Mary Anne, Christopher and James.
William Knibb, the best known of the children, made an outstanding contribution to the emancipation of enslaved people in Jamaica, where he spent 21 years, dying in 1845 at the age of 42. What is not sufficiently known is the extent to which Knibb’s relatives came to live and work in Jamaica.
Knibb’s older brother, Thomas Billing Knibb, was the first in the family to come to Jamaica. He was to be a BMS missionary who was a school administrator. When he arrived, he was only 21, and he was assigned to serve at the school attached to East Queen Street Baptist Church. He was also put in charge of the Baptist church in Port Royal. His time in the country was brief – from January 20, 1823, to April 25, 1824, the date of his death. Disappointed, his wife Elizabeth and her infant son, Thomas, returned to England, where Elizabeth passed away in Northampton on January 31, 1825.
William Knibb volunteered to replace his brother in Jamaica. BMS accepted him and he sailed from Blackwell, England, arriving in Morant Bay, Jamaica on February 12, 1824. Few persons who have any knowledge of the history of the church in Jamaica are ignorant of William’s vital work to publicize the inhumanity of slavery and to advocate against it.
William Knibb’s twin sister Ann did not undertake missionary work in Jamaica. However, when, in 1829, she married Samuel Lea in Kettering, England, she did not know that one of her children would follow the example of her brothers, Thomas and William, into missionary service in Jamaica. The union of Samuel and Ann produced four children including Thomas Lea. Arriving in Jamaica in 1858, Thomas Lea worked successively in Stewart Town, Falmouth, Lucea and Spanish Town circuits. Notably, Thomas Lea was the founding pastor of the Gibraltar Baptist Church. Challenges he faced when he was called to succeed James Phillippo in the Spanish Town circuit influenced him to resign and become and Anglican. He returned to England in 1881, after having completed four years as curate at the Anglican cure in Kingston and later at Mile Gully in St Elizabeth. In England, he served as curate at Anglican churches in Northamptonshire.
Yet another member of the Knibb clan who served as a missionary in Jamaica was Benjamin Bull Dexter, Knibb’s cousin. The maiden name of William Knibb’s mother was Mary Dexter. Mary’s brother had a son whom he named Benjamin Bull Dexter. He was a BMS missionary to Jamaica from 1834 to 1853. He served successively in the following churches – Salter’s Hill, Rio Bueno, Stewart Town, the Alps, Crombie and Liberty Vale in south Trelawny. In 1834, after Knibb returned from England, Dexter assisted him in processing a thousand persons for baptism.
While in Jamaica, Benjamin Dexter and his wife had a son whom they gave the name William Knibb Dexter. After his father died suddenly in 1863, William went to live in England with his mother and brother. Later, he became a Baptist minister and served in Bedford in the southeast of England.
Thomas Knibb's "infant son" – Thomas Wilson Knibb, who was born a few weeks before the death of his father – grew up in England and, in 1840, he returned to Jamaica to carry out a teaching ministry in a Baptist-related school, working under his uncle’s superintendence. According to BMS missionary John Clarke, Thomas worked at the Suffield School in Falmouth and conducted services of worship at several BMS mission stations in Jamaica.
In September 1847, Thomas journeyed to Kingston for his marriage to a Jamaican woman, who was a member of the East Queen Street Baptist Church. He experienced an attack of fever that put an end to his wedding plans. After his three-day illness, he died on September 25, 1847, his last audible words reportedly being “Peace of mind! Peace of mind!” According to the Falmouth Post, Knibb “was esteemed and respected by all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance…. [He] was not celebrated for any political conduct but was a mild and unassuming Christian striving to do good among his fellow creatures whenever opportunity presented itself. He was remarkably pious [and] was justly beloved by his numerous pupils, who will feel his loss.”
Edward Knibb, a nephew of William Knibb, came to live and work in Jamaica, but not as a missionary. He came to Jamaica with his family – Elizabeth his wife, and their children – to improve his prospects as a businessman. He opened a shop in Falmouth where he sold farm produce. Edward and Elizabeth Knibb had three daughters – Susan, Mary (Polly), and Elizabeth Ann (Lillie) and two boys – Edward and Thomas. All the children were born in England.
Susan married Rev Caleb E. Randal, became a minister among the Disciples of Christ in Jamaica. Polly and Lily operated a school in Falmouth that was highly rated by the people of the community.
Polly and Lily managed the Misses Knibb Girls’ School in Falmouth where they were also teachers. At one stage, Miss Annie Fray, a granddaughter of William Knibb, also worked as a teacher at the Knibb school.
The Misses Knibb School ceased operation when Polly and Lily refused to accede to the wish of the parents of the schools’ pupils that two Black girls who recently had been admitted to the school should be expelled on account of the colour of their skin. These students were the children of two pastors – one a Presbyterian and the other a Baptist, William Webb who was serving, at that time, as pastor of the Stewart Town Baptist Circuit. Webb went on to open the Manchester School, later named Westwood High School where the daughters of the peasantry in Trelawny and across Jamaica received a gracious welcome.
In December 1848, Edward Knibb died in Trelawny. He was in his 58th year. Hardly did he fare better in Jamaica than he did in England. He was not known to be a professing or committed Christian, but from they were young, his children were given formative exposure to the church.
William and Mary Knibb faced many disappointments during their time in Jamaica. Most of their nine children died by their fifth year. Anne, Knibb’s second daughter became the wife of Ellis Fray, Sr. of Falmouth. Fray, Sr. trained for the ministry at Calabar College and started his post-College career as pastor of Refuge Baptist Church in Trelawny. Fray was the first Jamaican to serve as chairman (now president) of JBU. Fray, Sr. developed significant work at Rio Bueno and Waldensia and planted a Baptist church in Clark’s Town in 1883. Ellis and Ann Fray had a son whom they named Ellis Fray, Jr. He also became a Baptist minister and served as Secretary of the Jamaica Baptist Missionary Society for several years. Ellis Fray Jr. also worked as a JBMS missioner in Cuba.
Five of the Knibb children, including their two sons, died in their youthful years. On April 7, 1843, William Knibb addressed a letter to his friend, Dr. James Hoby, long-time supporter of the BMS and minister of the Mount Zion Baptist Church in Birmingham. This is what he said:
“Our only boy, our fourth is gone. He was a second William, and in him my heart was bound. I do not think that ever a father lost a more sweet and lovely child. His almost seraphic tones in singing frequently enchanted us. Though not yet six years of age, he was just commencing to play the colophon [a two-stringed musical instrument]. I gazed upon my only son saying, “This same one shall comfort us after our affliction. Alas! In a few brief hours, from perfect health, he was a corpse. My dear wife in silent submission, bows beneath the stroke, and I hope we can both say, “It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good.” I am cut to the heart. All, all is a blank. But still, I do not repine at the dispensations of heaven.”
The loss of so many of their children was a source of distress for the Knibbs; yet they faced their disappointment with monumental courage and kept on serving the Lord in the land to which they believed God had sent them on mission. We thank God for their example of sacrificial Christian service.
The story of the Knibb clan in Jamaica deserves to be popularized among Baptists in Jamaica.
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