Jerome Knapp was the Clerk of the Haberdashers' Company

Worshipful Company of Haberdashers

The Worshipful Company of Haberdashers is one of the senior Livery Companies of the City of London. The organisation, following on from the Mercers' Company, another Livery Company connected with clothing and haberdashery, received a Royal Charter in 1448...

 and Treasurer of the Middle Temple

Middle Temple

The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...

 in the City of London

City of London

The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...

, and also Clerk of the Assize

Assizes

Assize or Assizes may refer to:Assize or Assizes may refer to:Assize or Assizes may refer to::;in common law countries :::*assizes , an obsolete judicial inquest...

 on the Home Circuit in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

Jerome was the son of Jerome Knapp Senior of Chieveley

Chieveley

Chieveley is a village and civil parish about north of Newbury in Berkshire, close to the M4 motorway and A34 road.-Character:Chieveley is a village of 1,481 people and 508 households. A map of 1877 stated the area at the time to be roughly . Chieveley Service Station serves Junction 13 of the M4...

 in Berkshire

Berkshire

Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...

 and Walthamstow

Walthamstow

Walthamstow is a district of northeast London, England, located in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It is situated north-east of Charing Cross...

 in Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

 (now Greater London

Greater London

Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...

) and his wife, Sarah, daughter of Thomas Preston of Bromley

Bromley

Bromley is a large suburban town in south east London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Bromley. It was historically a market town, and prior to 1963 was in the county of Kent and formed the administrative centre of the Municipal Borough of Bromley...

 in Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

 and heiress of her brother, Alderman Thomas Preston of the City. He was educated as a barrister

Barrister

A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...

 at the Middle Temple and was called to the Bar in 1749. He became both Clerk of the Haberdashers' Company and Clerk of the Assize on the Home Circuit in 1754. He purchased the latter post for £5,000. He became Treasurer of the Middle Temple in 1789. He died in Bath in Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

 in 1792.

In 1758, Jerome had married Sarah the daughter and eventual heiress of George Noyes of Soutcote

Southcote, Berkshire

Southcote is a suburb and local government ward of Reading in the English county of Berkshire.The suburb of Southcote is bounded to the north by the Bath Road and Prospect Park, to the west by the more recently developed suburb of Fords Farm, to the south by the Holy Brook and the water meadows of...

 in Berkshire and Andover

Andover

-Places:In the United Kingdom:* Andover, Hampshire, EnglandIn Canada:* Andover, New Brunswick* Perth-Andover, New BrunswickIn the United States:* Andover, California* Andover, Connecticut* Andover, Florida* Andover, Illinois* Andover, Iowa...

 in Hampshire

Hampshire

Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

 and his wife, Anne, the eldest daughter of Charles May of Basingstoke

Basingstoke

Basingstoke is a town in northeast Hampshire, in south central England. It lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon. It is southwest of London, northeast of Southampton, southwest of Reading and northeast of the county town, Winchester. In 2008 it had an estimated population of...

 also in Hampshire and his wife, Anne, sister and heiress of William Noake

William Noake

William Noake was a High Sheriff of Berkshire in England.William was born in Reading, the son of Robert Noake of Southcote, a gentleman brewer and sometime Mayor of Reading, and his wife, Ann. He inherited his father's business and estate in 1719 and became High Sheriff ten years later. He never...

, the High Sheriff of Berkshire

High Sheriff of Berkshire

The High Sheriff of Berkshire, in common with other counties, was originally the King's representative on taxation upholding the law in Saxon times. The word Sheriff evolved from 'shire-reeve'....

, and sister and heiress of Daniel May of Sulhamstead House also in Berkshire. Jerome and Sarah had eleven children, including Jerome William Knapp Senior, Thomas George Knapp and Mary Anne, the wife of William Best, 2nd Baron Wynford

William Best, 2nd Baron Wynford

William Samuel Best, 2nd Baron Wynford , was a British peer.-Background:Wynford was the son of William Best, 1st Baron Wynford, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and his wife, Mary Anne, daughter of Jerome Knapp Junior of Chilton in Berkshire , Clerk of the Haberdashers' Company, by his second...

. Jerome incorrectly, but successfully, claimed founder

Thomas White (merchant)

Sir Thomas White was an English cloth merchant, civic benefactor and founder of St John's College, Oxford.He was born in Reading, Berkshire, the son of William White, a clothier of Reading, and his wife, Mary, daughter of Henry Kibblewhite of South Fawley, also in Berkshire. He was brought up in...

's kinship for his sons at St John's College, Oxford

St John's College, Oxford

__FORCETOC__St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, one of the larger Oxford colleges with approximately 390 undergraduates, 200 postgraduates and over 100 academic staff. It was founded by Sir Thomas White, a merchant, in 1555, whose heart is buried in the chapel of...

. The family mostly lived in London, but their country estate was Symeon's Court at Chilton

Chilton, Oxfordshire

Chilton is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse about southwest of Didcot. The parish was part of Berkshire until the 1974 local government boundary changes transferred the Vale of White Horse to Oxfordshire....

 in Berkshire (now Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

).