164 Recent Wiltshire Books, Pamphlets, Articles, die. 



Sir Vincent H. P. A. D. Hussey-Fieke G. Knowles 



Caillard John Kidley W. H. Fowle 



Col. Sir Joiin Walling. J. G. Wood C. H. Parsons 



ton Thomas Reed Prof. J. Wrightson 



Col. E. G. W. Chaloner H. F. Giffard A. Stratton 



Col. J. R. Magrath P. T. Macquoid Alderman John King 



Col. Michael Foster J. A. Tyndale Powell R. M. Hall 



Ward J. M. Swayne Robert Butler 



Recollections and Letters of the Rev. W. H. E. 

 McKnight, M. A., sometime Rector of Silk Wil- 

 loughby, Lincolnshire, by his Niece, Edith Isabel 



Thompson. London : Masters & Co. 1907. Cloth, 7^in. X 5in., 

 pp. X + 371. Price 6*. 



William Henry Edward McKnight, son of James McKnight, was born 

 Aug. 1st, 1819, at Shifnal, Salop, and was educated at a school kept by 

 a Mr. Macgregor, near Chester. Before he was 17, he began to teach 

 in a large school in London, where he remained for six years, reading 

 hard himself the while. In 1843 he became private tutor to Lord Suffolk's 

 grandsons at Charlton Park. Having taken the Dublin degree he was 

 ordained deacon on Dec. 20th, 1846, by the Bishop of Gloucester, and 

 became curate of Charlton, Brokenborough, and Westport, and private 

 chaplain to Lord Sutfolk. This curacy he held until 1849, svhen his 

 tutorship came to an end, and as he could obtain no house in Malmesbury 

 or the neighhourhoed, he gave up his curacy at Westport, and after two 

 years at Purton he settled down at Lydiard (Millicent) Manor, with 

 pupils, in January, 1852, having married Miss Davis, to wiioni ho had 

 been engaged for some years, on Dec. 30th, 1851. Here he remained 

 with a constant succession of pupils until August, 1879, when, having to 

 give up the arduous work of teaching by the orders of his doctor, he 

 accepted the living of Silk Willoughby, in Lincolnshire, and left Lydiard 

 with very real sorrow. He died suddenly at Silk Willoughby on May 

 3rd, 1896, Mrs. McKnight having predeceased him in July, 1894. Of 

 the old manor house, which was burnt after Mr. McKnight's time, and 

 has been in ruins ever since, there is a good photo, and in connection 

 with the house the following ghost story is told. In 1764, Miss Mary 

 Askew, the daughter of the then owner of the manor, was engaged to the 

 Rector, but at the same time " privately favoured " another suitor. The 

 Hector shot himself at the rectory, in the presence of the lady and the 

 other gentleman. Four years later she married a Col. Blunt, who died 

 in 1811, and some years after this she came into possession of the manor 

 and lived there an eccentric secluded life, dying in 1822. After her 

 death she "walked" as she had done in life, up and down the garden 

 path that commanded a full view of the old Rectory, and on a certain 

 night in every year she was seen sitting under a tree known as " Mrs. 

 Blunt's Tree." 



For thirteen years Mr. McKnight was practically in charge of the 

 parish at Lydiard, at first during the non-residence of Dr. Warneford, 



