A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE 



that a certain R.B. succeeded him, but nothing 

 is yet known concerning him. 



A small offshoot from Carter's Reading 

 foundry, or what appears to be such, is sug- 

 gested by a bell at Wingrave (Bucks) by W.W., 

 in 1618. The only founder known at this 

 date with these initials is William Wakefield, 

 mentioned in Carter's will as his apprentice. 

 Only three other bells attributed to him are 

 known, two in Sussex dated 1632, and one 

 undated in Kent. The Wingrave bell, how- 

 ever, seems to have no resemblance to these. 



What was doubtless also an offshoot from 

 the original Reading foundry, and a very 

 important one, was started some time in the 

 sixteenth century, and lasted until early in 

 the eighteenth, when it was moved to London. 

 This continued during the whole of the time 

 it was at Reading in the hands of one or other 

 of the Knight family ; it must here be dealt 

 with very shortly. 



The name of William Knight has been 

 already mentioned under the original Reading 

 foundry. It seems most probable that he 

 learnt his work there, and that there were two 

 generations of the same name. If the William 

 Knight who was Under Warden of the 

 Founders' Company of London in 1518, 

 Upper Warden in 1528, and Master of the 

 Guild in 1530-31, was identical, as seems 

 likely, with the Reading founder of the same 

 name, who appears in ' The Booke of the 

 Names and Ordinnances of the Cutlers and 

 Bellfounders Companye,' he was then doubt- 

 less identical with the William Knight who 

 was churchwarden of St. Lawrence's, Reading, 

 in 1519, and who was buried in that church 

 in 1535. Mr. Stahlschmidt * was inclined to 

 think that the Knights' foundry was of Lon- 

 don growth, but the fact of this early Reading 

 churchwarden, and the appearance of a John 

 Knight in the same parish as early as 1498, 

 are strong reasons for a contrary belief. 



There is, however, no record of any bell 

 cast by a Knight until the year 1567, when 

 William Knight recast one for St. Law- 

 rence's, Reading. It seems reasonable to 

 suppose that he was son of the individual 

 above referred to, and probably therefore the 

 second founder of the name. The two 

 oldest dated bells by him, now known, were 

 cast in 1578 ; one is at Flaunden (Herts), and 

 the other was formerly there also, but was 

 removed to St. John's, Uxbridge (Midd.). 

 He generally added his initials. There are 

 four undated bells with curiously misspelt 

 English inscriptions, entirely in Lombardic 

 capitals. These may be older than his dated 



bells, which have equally misspelt Latin 

 inscriptions in clumsy black-letter smalls. 

 The bells with Lombardics may possibly be 

 by the older William. 



The inventory of the goods of (the second ?) 

 William Knight was taken by Joseph Carter 

 and others on 24 November, 1586, so he 

 probably died early in that month. His will 

 is dated 19 October, 1586, and was proved 

 28 April, 1587. 



He was succeeded by his son, Henry 

 Knight. I have notes of between eighty and 

 ninety bells by him. He began by using 

 clumsy black-letter, like his father, from 

 whose bells his however are distinguished by 

 the change of initial. Beginning in 1610, all 

 bells from this foundry during the next forty- 

 eight years are inscribed in irregular, heavy 

 Roman capitals. Besides the inequality in 

 size of letters apparently belonging to the 

 same set, there were several sets in use, of 

 different sizes, but of more or less similar 

 type. The following is one of his more 

 remarkable inscriptions, one line to each of 

 four bells : 



THINKS NO COST TO MVCH 

 THAT YOV BESTOW OF ALL 



TO BRINGE TO PAS 



SO GOOD A THING 



On a ring of five bells, the above third and 

 fourth lines are both on the third bell ; the 

 fourth bell has : THAT FIVE BELLS MAY TO- 

 GETHER RING, and the tenor has a reproduc- 

 tion of a fifteenth century Latin inscription. 



The burial of Henry Knight is recorded in 

 the register of St. Lawrence's, Reading, on 

 8 January, 1622 ; and an inventory of his 

 goods was taken on the tenth, which, besides 

 the bellfounding appliances, includes the 

 ' Debts due vppon specialtie.' Three of 

 these were ' in the County of Buck ' ; one 

 was ' in the County of Oxon ' ; and one ' At 

 Blewberie in the County of Berkes ' amounted 

 to ' xxiij li.' the largest item of the five. 



He was succeeded by his son Ellis, under 

 whom the business increased and prospered. 

 His most common inscription was, PRAYES YE 

 THE LORD, and others similar in style were 

 nearly as common. For a ring of five he put 

 (one line on each bell) : 



I AS TREBLL BE GINN 



I AS SECOND SING 



I AS THIRD RING 



I AS FORTH SOVND 



I AS TENAR HVM ALL ROVND 



1 Bells of Surrey, p. 94. 



For a ring of six, the fourth has : i AS 

 FORTH IN MY PLACE, and the fifth : i AS FIFT 



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