Author: Knight, Titus
Biography:
KNIGHT, Titus (1719-93: Evangelical Magazine)
He was born in Halifax to working-class Church of England parents whose names may have been John and Sara (Crowther) Knight: no reliable confirming document has been found. A pious child with an appetite for learning, he became a collier. On 23 May 1742 he married Sara Shuckleton, also of Halifax. Knight was converted to Methodism under the influence of John Wesley in 1747; with Wesley's encouragement he took up schoolteaching and began a fruitful career as a preacher. In 1762 he parted amicably from the Methodists but continued to assist Whitefield occasionally at the Tottenham Court Chapel in London, meanwhile preaching as an Independent in Halifax. After the death of his first wife in 1756 he married Elizabeth Mellor (d 1806) on 11 Feb. 1758 and by her had at least four children, including Samuel Knight (1759-1827) who became an eminent C of E clergyman. By 1772 he had attracted a congregation large and prosperous enough to finance the construction of a fine new building in Halifax, the Square Chapel, where he was eventually buried, along with one daughter who predeceased him, and joined later by his widow and one of their sons. A memorial inscription records his service as the first pastor and his ministry of 43 years. Knight's other publications are sermons and dialogues in prose, including Amyntas and Philetus (1770) which includes some autobiographical material. ("Memoirs of the Life of the Late Rev. Titus Knight of Halifax," Evangelical Magazine 1 [Sept. 1793] 2-11; findmypast.com 21 Jun. 2021; ancestry.com 21 Jun. 2021; DMBI 21 Jun. 2021; "Knight, Samuel [1759-1827]" ODNB 21 Jun. 2021) HJ
Other Names:
- T. Knight