Jessie Knight

Jessie Knight
Born 1904
Croydon
Died 1992
Barry
Nationality British
Education Charlie Bell
Known for tattoo artist

Jessie Knight (1904 - 1992) was the first recorded female tattoo artist in the UK.[1]

Personal life

Jessie Knight was born in Croydon in 1904, one of 8 children. Her family worked in circuses and she was involved in sharp-shooting and riding acts. She was married aged 27, but this only lasted 8 years.[1] She died in Barry in 1992.

Career as tattoo artist

Knight began as a tattoo artist in 1921 in Barry, South Wales having learnt how to tattoo from her father.[2] She was later an apprentice with Charlie Bell in Kent. She then moved to her own tattoo shops in Portsmouth and subsequently Aldershot. Many of her clients were women.[3] She returned to Barry in 1968 and continued working into the 1980s.[4]

Her style was to work freehand after drawing the design onto the body.[2]

In 1955 her tattoo of a highland fling won second prize in the Champion Tattoo Artist of All England competition held in London.[1]

Legacy

Her work was included in an exhibition at National Maritime Museum Cornwall March 2017 - January 2018 showing a history of British tattooing.[5] Tatty Divine has made a brooch and a neckless using an original design of Jessie Knight. "Skin Digging", an exhibition of work by and owned by Jessie Knight from the remarkable collection of Neil Hopkin-Thomas January 18 - February 18 at the Art Exchange gallery on the University of Essex campus in Colchester.

Curator Dr Matt Lodder will be giving a talk on Jessie Knight and tattooing in the 20th century at a special event on 7 February 2018.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Iqbal, Nosheen (14 March 2017). "Life at the sharp end: Jessie Knight, Britain's first female tattoo artist". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  2. 1 2 DeMello, Margo (2014). Inked: Tattoos and Body Art around the World (First ed.). ABC-CLIO. p. 809. ISBN 978-1610690751.
  3. ↑ "Jessie Knight". YouTube. Pathe News. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  4. ↑ Mifflin, Margot (2013). Bodies of Subversion: A secret history of women and tattoo (3rd ed.). Powerhouse Books. p. 192. ISBN 978-1576876138.
  5. ↑ "Tattoo: British tattoo art revealed". National Maritime Museum, Cornwall. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
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