See Charles' and Alexandra's Marriage Certificate
__________



Click the image to see a larger photo of Charles, Alexandra and their two sons.

See Charles' Birth Certificate
__________

Charles is aged 13, living with his parents in 1901.
__________

Charles' neice Kitty described Charles to me as a "charming rogue".
__________

The exact circumstances surrounding Charles' life after the end of WWI are quite puzzling so the best I can achieve is to outline the events that we either understand or know to have taken place:

We know that Charles served in France during WWI where he met and fell in love with a young French girl named Mariette Levillain. He returned to England when the war was over, and we know that at some time, he left his wife and two young sons in England and returned to live in France. We believe he remained in France for the rest of his life until he died in Rouen, Normandy, in 1936. Alexandra refused to divorce him.

It's understood that after returning to England at the end of the war, Charles was very much on edge, and continually asked his wife Alexandra whether there had been any post. It's assumed that Alexandra became suspicious so one day, when a letter arrived for Charles from France, Alexandra intercepted it and read it. The letter was from a woman in France informing Charles that she had a child. Whether Alexandra confronted him with it or whether she never showed him the letter, isn't known, but after this, he left Alexandra and went to join the woman in France - the name of the woman was never mentioned but the family remember that there was a connection with music. We know now that it was Mariette Levillain.

Nothing at all was known about the baby, but the natural assumption was that Charles was the father. In 2009, we learned that there was a child named Rozanne, born in 1919 who sadly died in 1921 at about two years of age. This child is buried with Charles at the Bihorel cemetery, so it is most likely that Rozanne was the child referred to in the letter.

We know that Charles and Mariette lived together in Bihorel, Rouen, France and they were joined for a short while by Charles' sister Dorothy, her husband Charlton Wykes, and their daughter Lilian, but they returned to England several months before Charles and Mariette's daughter Rozanne Harriet was born.

Rozanne Harriet Knibbs was born on 14 December 1923 at the Middlesex hospital in England. She was registered as the daughter of Charles Knibbs and his wife Alexandra. The informant of the birth was Charles Knibbs. We now understand that Charles brought Mariette to England for the birth of their child, but used the name of his legal wife, Alexandra as the mother of the child to avoid the child being registered as illegitimate.

Charles died from natural causes in France, aged 48. His death was registered in Rouen by Mariette Levillian. He is buried at the Levillain family plot at the cemetery in Bihorel, Seine-Maritime, France with his daughter Rozanne who died in infancy, Senateur and Josephine Levillain (Mariette's parents) and Suzanne Amouret who we believe to be Mariette's sister.
__________

We think Charles may have taught piano and or maybe even given performances. His neice Kitty has it in the back of her memory that he was a fine pianist and earned money at it. There was certainly a piano at their house in Bihorel.


See an extract from the Death Register at Rouen

See Alexandra's Birth Certificate
__________

A twin of John.
__________

In 1911, Alexandra was living in at the Greenwich Union Workhouse at Woolwich Road, Greenwich, London. She was one of the nursing staff:
Ada Regan Ass't Officer Single F 37 Nurse Kent Canterbury
Alice Gould Ass't Officer F 51 Nurse Berks Farington
Minnie Rebecca Everson Ass't Officer Single F 50 Nurse London Greenwich
Blanche Spurgeon Ass't Officer Single F 30 Nurse Suffolk Ipswich
Matilda Stack Ass't Officer Single F 41 Nurse Essex Brentwood
Gertrude Emily Evans Ass't Officer Single F 37 Nurse London Finsbury Park
Pauline Emmeline Campion Ass't Officer Single F 38 Nurse London Kentish Town
Alice Shaw Ass't Officer Single F 33 Nurse London Bayswater
Beatrice Sarah Wood Ass't Officer Single F 32 Nurse London Peckham
Edith Brooks Ass't Officer Single F 30 Nurse Surrey Redhill
Emily Ann Mills Ass't Oficer Single F 31 Nurse Essex Colchester
Elizabeth Waters Ass't Officer Single F 31 Nurse Glamorgan Aberkenfig
Emily Wright Ass't Officer Single F 29 Nurse London Greenwich
Minnie Shortland Ass't Officer Single F 24 Nurse Kent Woolwich
Alexandra Frogley Ass't Officer Single F 26 Nurse London Stepney
Mary Jane Frances Davis Ass't Officer Single F 28 Nurse Glamorgan Swansea
Olivia Ellen Webb Ass't Officer Single F 25 Nurse Surrey Sutton
Annie Webb Ass't Officer Single F 40 Middlesex Bromley By Bow
Jean Deadman Ass't Officer Single F 29 Nurse Kent Plumstead
Charlotte Emmeline Greenaway Ass't Officer Single F 35 Nurse London Deptford
Emily Jane Britton Ass't Officer Single F 39 Nurse Lancs Manchester
Annie Hoar Ass't Officer Single F 26 Nurse Resident France Marseilles
Clare Thomas Ass't Officer Single F 40 Nurse London Victoria Park
Ethel Minnie Priestley Ass't Officer Single F 35 Nurse London Westminster
Mary Annie Comben Wallis Ass't Officer Single F 35 Nurse Dorset Sherborn
Cissie Geraldine Digby Ass't Officer Single F 26 Nurse London Chelsea
Margaret Louisa Minson Ass't Officer Single F 26 Nurse London Dulwich
George Nash Inmate Widower M 66 Formerly Watchmaker London Greenwich
William Sexton Inmate Widower M 73 Formerly Carter in Woolen Trade Bucks Wycombe
William Price Inmate Widower M 76 Formerly Waterside Labourer Wilts Westbury
__________

We see Alexandra living at 32 Palmerston Road, Wood Green, Middlesex, at the time of the 1939 Register, with her two sons Stanley and Leslie.We see Stanley living at 32 Palmerston Road, Wood Green, Middlesex at the time of the 1939 Register.
AlexandraKnibbs 01 Jan 1880 Domestic Duties Unpaid Widowed
Stanley J C Knibbs 21 Sep 1912 Book Keeper (Provision) Married
Leslie A Knibbs 21 Nov 1914 Male Clerk Single