Robert Knight (13 March 1825 – 27 January 1890) was an English editor, journalist and newspaper proprietor. He was considered an avid critic of British imperialism and was an editor of ''
Times of India
''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, t ...
'' and founder of ''
The Statesman
A statesman or stateswoman typically is a politician who has had a long and respected political career at the national or international level.
Statesman or Statesmen may also refer to:
Newspapers United States
* ''The Statesman'' (Oregon), a n ...
'', two of the most prominent newspapers in India.
Biography
Knight was born in Vauxhall Walk,
Lambeth
Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...
, London. He came to Bombay in
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
in 1847 as a 22-year-old and later took up journalism and writing articles in newspapers. Robert Knight became the Editor of the ''Bombay Times'' in 1857 replacing
George Buist. In December 1859 the ''Bombay Standard and Chronicle of Western India'' was absorbed into it and later in and in 1861 it absorbed its rivals ''Courier'' and ''Telegraph'', both Bombay newspapers, and the name was changed to ''
The Times of India
''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...
''. It grew into national prominence under him.
He forged an arrangement with
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was estab ...
which made them the sole agent for India.
Later he left ''The Times of India'' and started ''
The Statesman
A statesman or stateswoman typically is a politician who has had a long and respected political career at the national or international level.
Statesman or Statesmen may also refer to:
Newspapers United States
* ''The Statesman'' (Oregon), a n ...
'' in Calcutta in 1875.
In 1854, he married Catherine Hannah (1837–1918), with whom he had 12 children. He died in Calcutta in 1890, apparently of malaria. His sons Paul and Robert were also journalists and newspapers proprietors.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Robert (editor)
1825 births
1890 deaths
English newspaper editors
English male journalists
Indian newspaper editors
People from Lambeth
Deaths from malaria
Journalists from West Bengal