Sir Arthur Rowland Knapp

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

CSI KCIE (10 December 1870 – 22 May 1954) was a British civil servant who served as the Revenue Member of the Executive Council of the

Governor of Madras This is a list of the governors, agents, and presidents of colonial Madras, initially of the English East India Company, up to the end of British colonial rule in 1947. English Agents In 1639, the grant of Madras to the English was finalized be ...

from 1923 to 1926.

Early life

Arthur Knapp was born at Woolston in 1870 to Lt Col. Charles Barrett Knapp. He was educated at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

and

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

. He married Florence Annie Moore on 9 August 1899 at Madras, India. His wife Florence was the daughter of Edward Moore, DD Principal of St Edmunds Hall Oxford. His daughter Margaret Elfreda Knapp was married to the prominent

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

officer and Director of

Naval Intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...

Anthony Buzzard, and the theologian

Anthony F. Buzzard Sir Anthony Farquhar Buzzard, 3rd Baronet, Royal College of Music, ARCM (b. 28 June 1935), is a biblical criticism, biblical scholar, unitarianism, unitarian Christian Christian theology, theologian, author and professor on the faculty of Atlanta B ...

is his grandson.

Career

A Knapp joined the Indian civil service in 1891 and served as Assistant Collector and magistrate,

Malabar district Malabar District, also known as Malayalam District, was an administrative district on the southwestern Malabar Coast of Bombay Presidency (1792-1800) and Madras Presidency (1800-1947) in British India, and independent India's Madras State (19 ...

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. In 1899, he was appointed Under-secretary in the Board of Revenue rising to become Secretary. Knapp was made a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in 1919, invested as a Companion, Order of the Star of India (C.S.I.)Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003 volume 1, page 628 in 1922 and Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire in the 1924 New Year Honours list.

Legislative Council

In 1923, Knapp was nominated to the

Madras Legislative Council Tamil Nadu Legislative Council was the upper house of the former bicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It began its existence as Madras Legislative Council, the first provincial legislature for Madras Presidency. It was initia ...

and served from 1923 to 1926.

Death

Knapp died on 22 May 1954 at the age of 83.

Cultural References

His inexperience and lack of understanding about the nuances of local culture led to many of his administrative reforms being ineffective and unpopular. Long after Knapp had left Malabar, his name was assimilated into Malayalam as "knappan", translated as "an incompetent individual".

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Knapp, A. R. 1870 births 1954 deaths Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of the Star of India Knights Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire Madras Presidency Indian Civil Service (British India) officers British people in colonial India