Charles Knight ( 1808 – 3 September 1891) was a New Zealand doctor, public servant and botanist. He was born in

Rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe (Triticeae) and is closely related to both wheat (''Triticum'') and barley (genus ''Hordeum''). Rye grain is u ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, England in 1808. He studied medicine at University College, London from 1828 until 1830. In 1840 he became a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland and a Fellow in 1869. Between 1830 and 1840 Knight worked as a doctor and spent time in America.

Administrative career

In 1841 he sailed to Australia as ship's surgeon on the ''Lord Glenelg''. After arrival, he was employed by the Governor of South Australia, George Grey as a clerk. Knight moved with Grey when the latter was appointed Governor of New Zealand. In February 1846 Knight was appointed as the country's inaugural auditor-general and in 1855 became manager of the

Colonial Bank of Issue The Colonial Bank of Issue was a New Zealand state owned bank that operated between 1847 and 1856 in an early unsuccessful attempt to create a government-owned issuer of bank notes in New Zealand. The bank was created by an Ordinance of the Gov ...

and then auditor of public accounts and chaired many official commissions into subjects as diverse as

flax Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. Textiles made from flax are known in ...

production, meteorology and civil servant employment conditions. He later re-organised the postal banking system. In New Zealand, Knight first lived in Auckland and when the government moved to Wellington, he also relocated to the new capital in 1865.

Botany

Knight was a keen botanist and his main interest was lichens. He was the author of 20 scientific papers, 16 about lichens. Knight exchanged letters with Joseph Hooker Director of the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew for over 30 years. He also contributed specimens and drawings to the collections there and in other countries as well as in New Zealand. In addition, he organised New Zealand government funding for Hooker to write the ''Handbook of the New Zealand flora'' published in 1864. During 1868 and 1869 Knight was in Britain with Grey, and was able to spend time with the botanists and lichen collections at Kew. He was elected a fellow of the Linnean Society of London in 1857. He joined the Wellington Philosophical Society in 1869 and was president in 1873 and 1874. He was a member of the board of governors of the New Zealand Institute from 1870 to 1872 and in 1875.

Personal life

Knight married Caroline Symes in 1844 when he was living in Adelaide. They had two sons and three daughters together. He died at his home in Wellington and is buried at Bolton Street Memorial Park.

Legacy

Knight's extensive personal collection of specimens is in

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

although he also contributed to around 20 other herbaria in other countries.

References

1808 births 1891 deaths 19th-century New Zealand medical doctors 19th-century New Zealand botanists People from Rye, East Sussex New Zealand public servants English emigrants to New Zealand Burials at Bolton Street Cemetery {{NewZealand-med-bio-stub