Sir Francis Knollys (1592–1643) was an

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politician who sat in the

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variously between 1624 and 1643. Knollys was the son of Sir Francis Knollys of Battle Manor at

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Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

and his wife, Lettice, daughter of John Barrett of

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. He matriculated at

Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...

in 1604 aged 12. He was awarded BA on 23 January 1607, and was a student of

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

in 1610. ''Alumni Oxonienses, 1500-1714: Kandruth-Kyte'', Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714: Abannan-Kyte (1891), pp. 837-867. Date accessed: 23 February 2011
/ref> In 1624 Knollys was elected

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for

and was re-elected in 1625, 1626 and 1628. He sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament. In April 1640, Knollys was re-elected MP for Reading in the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on the 20th of February 1640 and sat from 13th of April to the 5th of May 1640. It was so called because of its short life of only three weeks. Aft ...

with his father. He was re-elected for the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...

in November 1640 and sat until his death in 1643. Knollys was Deputy Lieutenant of Berkshire. He married twice and had three sons and two daughters by his first wife. He predeceased his father, dying at the age of 51, and was buried in the family vault in St Laurence's Church, Reading on 17 May 1643.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Knollys, Francis 1592 births 1643 deaths People from Reading, Berkshire Deputy Lieutenants of Berkshire Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Reading Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford Members of the Middle Temple

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English MPs 1624–1625 English MPs 1625 English MPs 1626 English MPs 1628–1629 English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648