LIFE 



THOMAS ANDREW KNIGHT, 



OF the early history of the family from which Mr. Andrew 

 Knight is descended but little is known with certainty. The 

 records of Shrewsbury show that, from the reign of Henry VI. 

 to that of Charles I., a family of the name of Knight resided 

 in that town, and repeatedly filled its civic offices ; and one of 

 them, Thomas Knight, in 1509, was elected one of its represen- 

 tatives in parliament. A pedigree of the Shrewsbury knights is 

 preserved in the British Museum, with arms identical with those 

 used by the present family : and the Christian names borne by 

 both bear a striking similarity. The name disappears from the 

 Shrewsbury annals just at the time when Mr. Richard Knight, 

 the great grandfather of the subject of this memoir, is known to 

 have been residing on an estate of his own at Castle Green in 

 the parish of Madeley, in the same county ; and when it is 

 recollected with what irregularity parish registers were kept 

 during the civil wars, it is not surprising that the connecting 

 link should not have been more exactly traced. 



Mr. Richard Knight's eldest son, Francis, was born at Castle 

 Green in 1640, where he succeeded his father and resided till 

 his death. The second son, Richard, was born in 1658, and 

 attained to considerable eminence in his day, from the success 

 which attended his mercantile speculations, and the high cha- 

 racter he established for independence and probity ; and he 

 deserves more especial notice here as the founder of the fortune 

 of his family. 



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