watercolourist and merchant, was born in Kensington, London, on 15 March 1809, son of William Knight, a lawyer, and Rebecca, née Talbot. He came to Van Diemen’s Land in the Hugh Crawford in 1827 to investigate the business potential of the colony, returned briefly to England, then arrived back at Hobart Town aboard the Promise , a ship he partly owned, with a cargo of general merchandise. With this he set himself up in business at the Old Wharf and subsequently became a leading merchant of Hobart Town. In 1846 he married Hannah Mary Anne, daughter of the assistant commissary-general William Fletcher, and granddaughter of Joseph Hone, master of the Supreme Court of Tasmania – a brother of the well-known London publisher William Hone. They had ten children.

Knight strongly opposed the cessation of transportation (he advocated its gradual reduction). A principal shareholder and sometime director of the Derwent & Tamar Fire, Life and Marine Assurance Company, he was also closely connected with the Australian Mutual Provident Company: its first Van Diemen’s Land agent and subsequently chairman of its Tasmanian board. In 1872 he stated that his income as agent had increased from £7 10s in the company’s first year to £700 annually. Knight died on 30 June 1877 at his home in Sandy Bay, Hobart Town. His portrait was painted in the 1840s by T.G. Wainewright .

The seven watercolour paintings Knight lent to the 1846 Hobart Town Exhibition of Paintings, Engravings, and Watercolour Drawings included Arch Island, River Huon , A Female Head , Lake on the Summit of the Calderia Mountains, St Michael’s Azores and Native Hut (1845, p.c.), the last a precisely detailed, colourful and rather naive drawing. A romantic view of the Calcutta icebound in October 1840 (apparently a copy) was shown at both the 1846 and 1858 Hobart Town exhibitions as was Garth’s Cottage, River Huon . The Allport Library and Museum holds the former as well as his sepia wash of the latter title, either the exhibit or a preliminary drawing. Miss Lucy Knight lent a portrait of Lieutenant Edward Lord by her father to the Old Hobart Exhibition in 1896 and attributed it to her father.

Writers:

Staff Writer

Date written:

1992

Last updated:

2011