Richard Knollys, MP

Family and Education b. c.1548, 5th s. of Sir Francis Knollys and bro. of Edward, Francis, Robert, William and Henry Knollys II. educ. ?Magdalen Coll. Oxf. 1564; M. Temple 1571. m. Joan, da. of John Heigham of Gifford, Suff., 3s. 2da.

Offices Held

J. p.q, Berks. from c.1593.

Biography Like his brothers, Knollys was a courtier. His seat at Wallingford was procured for him by his father, who, before the 1586 election, wrote a letter recommending him to his ‘very loving friends’ the mayor, aldermen and burgesses. He died in 1596. In his will, after expressing his protestant convictions, he left his property equally between his wife and two eldest sons, and made provision for his younger children.1

It may or may not be the same man who was the ‘Richard Knowlis, esq.’ returned for Northampton to the Parliament of 1589. His religious views and perhaps the recommendation of his wife’s uncle, Christopher Yelverton, the recorder of the borough, make it quite likely. But it is possible that the Northampton Member was Richard Knollys of Cold Ashby, a local gentleman known to at least two leading burgesses, who in the following years speculated in Northamptonshire lands. Additional weight would be given to this alternative identification by the fact that his patron, (Sir) Christopher Hatton I, was actively promoting other candidates in the area of this election.2

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603 Author: S. M. Thorpe