My Russell ancestors came from Lichfield, with Henry Russell being a ‘hawker of brushes’ in the early 1800’s.
Sarah Helen was living in Derby when she met James William Knifton, who she married in 1889.
Born at Horsley, Derbyshire, James was a farmer at Mugginton and later at Red Hill farm, Makeney. In 1887 he married Harriet Riley (1864-1888) and following her death, he married Sarah Helen Russell (1868-1930) in 1889.
Born in March 1871 at 4 Mill Street, Derby, Rose was the second child of James and Fanny Russell. She was a witness at the marriage of her sister Sarah Helen on 26th June 1889 and by 1891 had moved to Ashby de la Zouch where she worked as a nurse for the Sugden family. Around 1899 Rose became the maid of Millicent Evelyn ‘Cecilia’ Georgina Crompton (later Inglefield), the daughter of the Derbyshire banker John Gilbert Crompton. On 28th March 1908, Rose accompanied Cecilia on the SS Lucania ocean liner which left Liverpool for Ellis Island, New York, where they disembarked and continued their journey to Bermuda. At the time of the 1911 census, Rose was with Cecilia and the Crompton family in Portsmouth, and on 9th June 1915 she attended the wedding of her niece Eva Knifton at Milford. Rose Russell died at Mickleover Manor in Derby, then occupied by Sir Frederick and Lady Inglefield, on 15th July 1919 aged 48.
By Kevin Knifton | 29th November 2022
Updated 30th December 2023
