Stanleigh Knowlton and his parrot Mate in their Main Street home
Stanleigh Knowlton and his parrot Mate pictured above were not in the true sense of the word local historical characters. Stanleigh was a Brit who fetched up in Calais in 1965 on his way to the South Seas and died here in 1982. He is buried in Canada. Nonetheless Stanleigh was as unique a character as ever lived in the St. Croix Valley and though his stay was short, he added some color and flair to the local scene if only briefly. It is hard to describe Stanleigh. On his good days he was delightfully odd, on his bad days he was irascible, difficult and even obnoxious. Stanley and Mate spent much of the day strolling up and down Main Street entertaining and often insulting friends and strangers alike. These days we would say Stanleigh “lacked boundaries” and Stanleigh would be delighted to be so described.
Stanleigh Knowlton arrives in the United States 1958
Stanleigh arrived in the United States in March of 1958 on a freighter from Lagos, Nigeria and was a sufficiently interesting “character” to arouse the interest of the Boston Globe:
Boston Globe March 9/19/58
He Has the Rock That Killed Him Last Time on Earth
By Earl Banner
A seagoing disciple of Bridie Murphy and 13,000,000 lbs. of cocoa beans came into the port of Boston last week with Connecticut Yankee by adoption captain Knute Ross aboard the Farrell Lines African Glen.
Nearly 1/3 of the cocoa was unloaded here. The rest was divided between four other Atlantic ports. The Cocoa cargo was the largest unloaded here throughout the past several years.
The passenger was one of the most intriguing to walk down a Boston gangplank for even longer than that because included in his luggage was the rock with which- he seems convinced- he was removed from his last preceding tour of duty on the planet earth.
He is Stanleigh Knowlton, 54, British artist, bachelor, Royal Air Force veteran, and self-styled fatalist and believer in reincarnation.
Before he passed through Boston, Knowlton (a native of Northamptonshire-this time) had earned his living as an interior decorator in such widely spaced metropolitan centers as London, Rome, Paris, Berlin, St. John’s NL and Lagos, Nigeria.
He boarded the African Glen at Lagos on the start of what he hopes will be his final voyage this time round. He is searching for a South Sea Island upon which he can spend the rest of his current ration of life in contemplation and painting.
Knowlton describes his painting style as impressionistic, but he can and does paint in older fashion styles too.
“I want you to understand that I am not wealthy” the British artist stressed. “But I am a fatalist, a Micawber of sorts. Frequently, I am sure that I am down to my last farthing and then something turns up. My only income is a few bob a month from my RAF pension. But this very morning I received an unexpected draft of $200- enough to take me on the next leg of my trip. Ask the captain here.”
Captain Ross confirmed Knowlton’s statement.
Knowlton said that he had been planning to spend his latter years painting on some South Sea Island ever since he was 17. He decided to get a hustle on and find that island quickly shortly before he embarked on the African Glen at Lagos.
“Almost everybody has had the strange experience of entering a brand-new scene with the uneasy feeling that they have been there before” Knowlton contends. “It happens frequently to me. But when I first set eyes on this old house in Lagos, I knew that this was the place where I had been murdered in my previous existence.”
“I checked the local records and found that the man had indeed been murdered there many years ago. I went back to the house and walked around the yard. I saw a small rock there and something told me that this very rock was the murder weapon. The message was so compelling that it picked up the rock and will carry it with me in my travels from now on.”
Marblehead Massachusetts 1958
He stayed in the Boston area for some period of time before moving to St. John’s NFLD where he may have lived previously as the Globe article mentions he had been an interior decorator there at some time in the past. We know he resided in Newfoundland for several years as he was a member of the Newfoundland Art Colony and painted many Newfoundland scenes. We have photos of some of his Newfoundland paintings. He is described in the Government of Canada’s history and cultural records as a painter with a file in the National Gallery of Canada archives and Library.
The Whidden House is the 3 story building to the right of the tall tree, near what is now Marden’s entrance
By 1965 Stanleigh had moved to Calais and settled into General Whidden’s house on Main Street in Calais. An article in the Bangor Daily described an art show in 1965 at the St Croix Hotel in Calais in which he was the principal exhibitor. The paper reported:
Artist Knowlton studied art at the Colchester School of Art in Essex England and has been on sketching tours in Europe and Africa is a member of the St John’s Newfoundland Art Club and has had several one-man shows at the Gourley Art Gallery St. John the most recent being in 1964. The paintings are displayed in the lobby and others by Mr. Knowlton are hung in the main dining room as well. Of interest to local residents is the most recent painting put on display by Knowlton of the Calais Free Library along with other scenes of Calais and its surrounding area.
The Whidden house was one of the oldest in the city but by 1965 it had fallen into disrepair. It had long been the home of Belle Woodcock. The home may have been purchased by the Unobskey family which may have been the reason Stanleigh was the tenant. He had come to Calais because Joe Unobskey had hired him to do the windows at Unobskey’s Clothing Store. The relationship soured quickly when Stanleigh opposed the Unobskey’s plans to build a Zayre’s gas station on the front of the lot and demolish the Whidden house.
Stanleigh’s Antique Store far right, corner Union and Main, Zayre Station
After much controversy, mostly generated by Stanleigh, he was evicted from the Whidden house and moved to the lot above at the corner of Main and Union Street. Many will remember it as Fred Spinney’s store. Stanleigh opened an antique shop and spent most days regaling his customers with his exploits in the RAF, his travels around the world and his spiritual philosophy. He occasionally sold an alleged antique although the provenance was often questionable. Some years ago, I posted a photo of Stanleigh and the antique store on our website and in response to questions about the owner I wrote:
The fellow who ran the antique store in last week’s photo was Stanleigh Knowlton. He spelled his name in this rather unconventional style because he was a completely unconventional character. Stanleigh was a Brit, wonderfully eccentric with the vocabulary of a sailor on shore leave who looked, as noted by Tom Brennan, very much like Mahatma Gandhi. He was born in Rushdon, England in 1908 and spent much of his early life traveling throughout Europe and Africa, sketching and painting. In Africa he discovered the place where he had been murdered in a prior life and, for those who doubted the story, he had the rock which had been the murder weapon on display at his antique shop. During the war he was in RAF and spent time with the occupation forces painting scenes on the Rhine.
Joe Unobskey was responsible for bringing Stanleigh to Calais. Joe needed a window decorator for his stores and somehow found Stanleigh in St. John, Newfoundland. He lived initially in the Rendol Whidden house just up Union Street and eventually moved to the building at the corner of Union and Main where he ran the antique business. He spent a lot of time walking the Main Street with his parrot Mate on his shoulder and was often in conflict with the youth of the town and not a few of the adults. Stanleigh could be acerbic to say the least, firing off volleys of obscenities and oaths in a wonderful British accent at the slightest provocation. I think he actually enjoyed these encounters.
Stanleigh did have some interesting antiques at the store which I presume he got in New Brunswick. I recall the day he tried to sell me Admiral Nelson telescope. Stanleigh invited me upstairs where he kept his real treasures and offered me a “nip” to lubricate the negotiations. Stanley drank as well as talked like a British sailor. He then produced a brass telescope much dented from use. He assured me the telescope had belonged to Lord Nelson and was very likely in his hands at the Battle of Trafalgar. Much as he treasured it, he was forced, he claimed, by his dire financial situation, to part with it and he felt I was the type of person who could appreciate the significance of this historic item. As difficult as it was for him, he would part with it for $50. I pointed out to Stanleigh that someone actually possessing Lord Nelson telescope from the Battle of Trafalgar would be crazy to sell it for anything less than 50 million dollars, I was not in the market for any telescope and clearly one which was NOT Lord Nelson’s. Stanley became very upset that I would question his honesty and remained angry at me for some time over this affront.
Stanleigh in a characteristic pose in his garden behind the antique store
He would sit for hours on a summer’s day in his small garden at the back of his home and shop and regale visitors with the story of his life while sipping gin. He was especially keen on sharing with folks the story of the rock that killed him in a prior existence although truthfully it was a very ordinary rock. Any display of skepticism on the part of the listener could excite Stanleigh’s ire. This was not an act; Stanleigh truly believed he had been murdered with the rock in Nigeria during a prior life.
Some years ago, I collected stories and impressions of Stanleigh from those who knew him.
Paul Redding:
Stanley Knowlton was one of a kind. Believed in reincarnation and according to him he was a rock (stone) in a previous life. Dressed in a bed sheet much of the time. I managed a duty-free store in the former Pickard’s laundry building and we rented sign space from Stanley so had him as a frequent visitor at the store. He at times would consume nothing but gin for a week at a time “to cleanse his body”.
Billie Parks:
This may be a little “too much information” but I recall Stanley teaching “Mate” to say – whenever he saw a woman – “silly bitch”
Betsy Fales:
I often wondered whatever happened to Stanleigh Knowlton. I seem to remember that he also taught art classes to supplement his income. On one occasion he invited me to a champagne party in honor of the Queen’s birthday. I didn’t attend the birthday party, but I did attend a New Year’s Eve party. He asked me to help with the refreshments. When I pointed out to him that he had given me a can of cat food to spread on the Ritz crackers he replied, “Just do it. Nobody will know the difference!” He was a colorful addition to historical Calais.
Harold Clossey:
Odd chap, indeed. If I recall, it was Stanley Knowlton and had a parrot, quite often on his shoulder; I don’t remember its name. Stanley was quite English, I believe. He used to curse, swing his cane/walking stick and chase us kids away as we went past to Andrews’ to buy comic books and other treats.
Tom Brennan:
That little character was Stanley Knowlton. He was an English refugee living in Calais Maine disguised as an Antique Dealer. He used to walk the streets in his Bridge Over The River Kwai outfit with a green parrot on his shoulder. He also used to sport a walking stick, not to be confused with a cane, and favored little cigars. If Gandhi had been a white man and they both showed up at the St. Croix Hotel for lunch you would have had a hard time telling them apart. Thick wire rimmed glasses, bald heads and big noses with incomplete mustaches they were practically twins. Cheerio!
Nellie Walton:
Why, that would be none other than Stanley Knowlton. He worked with my mom at Unobskeys and bought me an orchid for graduation. I knew him quite well…. he certainly was a character.
Becky Lacasse:
Stanley Knowlton, flamboyant fellow w/a cigarette holder, carried a parrot. Heard stories from John Mitchell about him for a VERY long time. I believe Mrs. Mitchell bought a lot of her furniture from him.
Jim Kelley:
I don’t have much. I do remember one time Stanley blew in to our store on Main ST {the first one] and offered to do our window display. We gave him a few bucks to do our windows. We had no running water in that store, so Stanley gave the fixtures he wanted to use a spit shine. He did a great job with what he had to work with. We felt good about having a professional window dresser.
From Dave Fletcher: Stanleigh’s attorney:
Stanley died at St. Croix apartments. He was in the RAF, I saw some pictures. He came from England by way of Canada. He is famous, among other things, for wearing his medals from the UK to the naturalization ceremony, when he renounced his allegiance to the Queen. Stanley was an accomplished painter. In lieu of a fee, I have some of his watercolors for settling his estate. Let me know if there is a market. He has spent time in Africa, and left Phyllis and Norm Acker some of his African memorabilia, as I remember. You remember the carpet in my old office at the Merrill? I was in your position at the time that was put in, and he was outraged that the President of the Historical Society would have “fluffy carpets” in his office.
Note re Dave’s “fluffy carpets.”
Stanleigh really hated the carpets in Dave’s office. I was an associate with Dave’s law firm when Dave had this carpet installed. One day Stanleigh came in to talk with Dave about an urgent matter, but Dave was out. To Stanleigh all his problems were “urgent” and he was not to be put off. I was delegated to deal with that day’s crisis, and I took Stanleigh into Dave’s office to do so. I don’t recall the issue and although it was certainly not urgent, I listened to Stanleigh rant for a very long time and all the while he was smoking those vile, thin cigars pictured in the first photo above. Even though Dave had a large ashtray on his desk, primarily for Stanleigh I believe, Stanleigh flicked the ashes on Dave’s new carpet. When I explained Dave had just had the carpet installed and perhaps he should avail himself of the ashtray which was within inches of his hand Stanleigh replied in his classic English accent which so musically draws out a word twice its American length “ ____ David”.
From Jerry Lapointe: Comments of the photo of Stanleigh Knowlton’s Antique Store at the corner of Main and Union pictured above:
This is the building at the bottom of Union Street. It had two stores and one of them was Calereso’s candy store, I believe. I may not have the spelling correct but the name was in the tiles of the outside entrance to the store. I believe it was on the right-hand side of the building. The store was also used by Freddy Pisani as a convenience store for a while, probably in the 60s if I am remembering correctly but perhaps it was the early 70s, I’m not certain of that but I remember going there.
Of course you are looking for the name Stanley Knowlton. He worked for Joe Unobskey as a window dresser and was eccentric to say the least. He lived first in Belle Woodcock’s house (General Whidden’s) as I remember then moved into the apartment above this block. He had a long white caftan that he sometimes wore when he walked up the street in the early evening with a parrot on his shoulder. He was English but claimed he had been murdered in Africa in a past life and even had the rock that he claimed had killed him which he kept in the apartment. He certainly added color to the Main Street! I believe this was also in the late 60s or early ’70s. I expect a number of people will remember him.
Stanleigh stayed involved in the local artistic community, sometimes donating local paintings to fundraisers by local groups such as the Hospital Auxiliary.
Stanley Knowlton obit 1983
Stanleigh died in January 1982. We don’t know where the services were held but believe he was buried in St. John, Newfoundland. Perhaps his attorney Dave Fletcher, who became owner of several “Knowltons” knows.
