John Picknett was born on 20 June 1765 in London and died on 10 January 1811 in Redcar. On 13 September 1776, the 11 year old, who was described as a poor child of the parish of Saint Mary Whitechapel, was apprenticed to James MENAKAN, a mariner of the parish of Marske in Cleveland. It can only be imagined what the young Londoner thought of Redcar with its miles of sandy beach and single street.

Many Apprenticeship Indentures were entered into with the ultimate intention of getting a child working and, therefore, off the rolls of the poor where his father might already be a pauper and claiming parish relief. The child was, in effect, being sent to a foster home but the way he was treated very much depended on the personality of his master and his family. Nothing is known of John's time as an apprenticeship, but he fulfilled the Indenture and, in turn, became a master mariner and traded in a schooner between Aberdeen and Whitby.

There has been a myth that John was given the name 'Picknett' as a result of picking nets from the beach. However, he definitely had the name before going to Redcar and was possibly the child of John PIGNETT and Elizabeth BARBER and christened in St Leonards, Shoreditch on 4th August 1765. There were PICKNETTs in North Essex and some in Sussex before 1765, with whom John was almost certainly linked. There is evidence that at least one of the PICKNETTs had children born in Whitechapel (East London), but baptised in the non-conformist church in Great Wigborough, Essex. There is also evidence that a certain John PICKNETT, a brewer in Coggeshall, travelled to the port of London to buy hops, thus proving that a connection between the villages of rural Essex and London existed. However, to date, a definite link cannot be established and any relationship must remain speculative.

John married Jane Potts (b. 1767), daughter of Allan POTTS and Anne LANGLEY, on 17 November 1788 in the church of St. Germain in Marske. Both marked the certificate with a cross. At this time, the old church of St. Germain was the parish church and was usually reached by the cliff-top path or by carriage; at times of low water, the direct route was along the beach.

The couple had eight children:

• Thomas (1791 - 1811)
• Elizabeth (b. 1792)
• John Potts (1796 - 1870)
• Ann Potts (b. 1796)
• Allan (b.1798)
• Ann Dorothy (b. 1800) Ann Dorothy married John THOMPSON on 7 February 1826 in Marske.
• Richard (1803 - 1827) According to a letter written by William Allen Picknett to his son Sidney, Richard was out fishing with his brother John when they saw a boat lowered from a frigate and start towards them, evidently a press-gang. They managed to escape by hard rowing, but Richard was so exhausted he drank a deep draught of cold water which caused his death.
• Jane (1807- 1828)

All the PICKNETTs I have been able to trace are descended from John Potts PICKNETT.

By the time of John's death in 1811, Redcar had a population of 411 and had become 'a place of fashionable resort for sea-bathing'. In 'A Trip to Coatham' W. Hutton describes mountains of drift sand covering the streets, which in some places came right up to the eaves of the cottages and needed clearing each day. The people were clean and well-mannered and the children well-kept. Hutton did not see a single 'ragged person'. The sea was the mainstay of life, yielding fish and sea-coal, both of which were consumed by locals themsleves or sold.