St George's House,
Northern Police Orphanage. 1898-1956  Harrogate, Yorkshire, England.

Miss Evelyn Mainwaring Knocker. Born 19.10.1890, Putney, London. 

Miss Knocker was a lady of extremely strong religious principles. In 1926, after working at the Southern Provincial Police Orphanage at Redhill, Surrey, her plans to be a Missionary in Africa were altered overnight by her friendship with Miss Catherine Gurney and the resignation of Miss Emma Chapman. After much praying, she accepted the position of Lady Superintendent of the Northern Police Orphanage in Harrogate, Yorkshire, and devoted the rest of her life to the care and spiritual education of around 300 St.George’s children.
 

She was well built, almost 6 feet tall, wore size 12 shoes and to small children appeared to be a forbidding figure. Being a strict disciplinarian her religious beliefs were foremost. She demanded adherence to her set  rules of conduct and a summons to her study could be a formidable experience for a vulnerable gentle-minded child. However, she was not a bully and mainly left the physical punishments to the House Masters and Matrons, preferring to mete out 100 lines, the learning by heart, of long passages from the Bible, the names of all the books in the Old and New Testaments and long classical poems. 

Her main aim in life was to care for the spiritual, physical and educational welfare of her charges, in that order. This ambition was achieved through her management and organisational skills, which were remarkable, considering the fact that there were normally about 70 children of both sexes, from nursery age to 17, in her care at any one time. She was fair-minded, but tended to treat the boys more leniently than the girls, who were always being advised about the “sins of the flesh”. The responsibility must have been enormous.  

By the late 1940s, after undergoing surgery for breast cancer, she had mellowed  and became a more approachable and tactile mother figure. She instilled into each child her St. George’s code of ethics and moral values, which have been passed on, through the generations, to the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of her St. George’s Boys and Girls. For that alone, she deserves our respect, admiration and gratitude. 

Miss Knocker retired from St. George’s in 1949. She and Miss Marjorie Adams, who had been her Secretary at St. George’s for a number of years, then shared a house at 52 St. George’s Road, Harrogate, employing Betty Rider, a St. George’s Old Girl, as their housekeeper.  Miss Knocker died there (of a Cerebral Haemorrhage)  on 27th May,1952, aged 62.

 Written by: Elsie Gale, formerly Pickering, nee Bradley. St. George’s 24.3.1942- 24.7.1948

   
                                                                                                                                                                Miss E.M.Knocker

                                                                                                                                                 

Footnote: Miss Knocker's father was born in India,1853 and, on the 1901 Census recorded at Upper Richmond Rd,Putney aged 48, he was described as 'Export Manager'. Her mother was Minnie Townend nee Wilkinson, born Tulse Hill,Surrey,1864,died December Quarter 1950,Worthing.W.Sussex.

                                                                                              
                                                                                               Deus vult