Sir Norton Knatchbull, 1st Baronet (26 December 1602 – 3 February 1685) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

at various times between 1640 and 1679.

Life

Knatchbull was born at Mersham Hatch in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, the second son of Thomas Knatchbull and his wife Eleanor Astley, daughter of John Astley. In April 1640, Knatchbull was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

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 ...

. He was elected MP for

New Romney New Romney is a market town in Kent, England, on the edge of Romney Marsh, an area of flat, rich agricultural land reclaimed from the sea after the harbour began to silt up. New Romney, one of the original Cinque Ports, was once a sea port, w ...

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.History of Parliament Online – Knatchbull, Sir Norton, 1st Baronet
/ref> He sat until 1648 when he was excluded under

Pride's Purge Pride's Purge is the name commonly given to an event that took place on 6 December 1648, when soldiers prevented members of Parliament considered hostile to the New Model Army from entering the House of Commons of England. Despite defeat in the ...

. In April 1660, Knatchbull was re-elected MP for New Romney in the Convention Parliament. He was re-elected MP for New Romney again in 1661 for the

Cavalier Parliament The Cavalier Parliament of England lasted from 8 May 1661 until 24 January 1679. It was the longest English Parliament, and longer than any Great British or UK Parliament to date, enduring for nearly 18 years of the quarter-century reign of C ...

and sat until 1679. Knatchbull was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

, and on 4 August 1641, he was created a

Baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

, of Mersham Hatch, in the

County of Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces the ...

Works

In 1659 Knatchbull published ''Animadversiones in Libros Novi Testamenti. Paradoxæ Orthodoxæ, London. Guil. Godbid. in vico vulgo vocato Little-Brittain,'' 1659. The work consists of a large number of critical emendations, based on a knowledge of Hebrew. A second edition with appendix was published in 1672, a third, Oxford, 1677; a fourth edition, in English, appeared in 1692, entitled ''Annotations upon some difficult Texts in all the Books of the New Testament'', Cambridge, 1693; it is preceded by an ''Encomiastick upon the most Learned and Judicious Author'', by Thomas Walker of

Sidney Sussex College Sidney Sussex College (referred to informally as "Sidney") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1596 under the terms of the will of Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex (1531–1589), wife ...

. The original was reprinted at Amsterdam, and also at Frankfort, where it formed part of the supplement to Nikolaus Gürtler's edition of Brian Walton's ''Polyglot Bible''. 1695–1701. The work had a reputation for a century after its publication, and figures in a list of books annotated by Ambrose Bonwicke.

John Kitto John Kitto (4 December 1804 – 25 November 1854) was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent. Biography Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his ...

, however, found Knatchbull's remarks superficial. In 1680,

Peter du Moulin the younger Peter du Moulin (1601–1684) was a French-English Anglican clergyman, son of the Huguenot pastor Pierre du Moulin and brother of Lewis du Moulin. He was the anonymous author of ''Regii sanguinis clamor ad coelum adversus paricidas Anglicanos'', ...

dedicated to Knatchbull his ''Short View of the Chief Points in Controversy between the Reformed Churches and the Church of Rome'', a translation from an unprinted manuscript by his father,

Peter du Moulin the elder Pierre Du Moulin ( Latinized as Petrus Molinaeus; 16 October 1568 – 10 March 1658) was a Huguenot minister in France who also resided in England for some years. Life Born in Buhy in 1568, he was the son of Joachim Du Moulin, a Protestant mini ...

, which had been made over to him for purposes of publication by the baronet.

James Duport James Duport (; 1606, Cambridge17 July 1679, Peterborough) was an English classical scholar. Life His father, John Duport, who was descended from an old Norman family (the Du Ports of Caen, who settled in Leicestershire during the reign of Henr ...

, the tutor of his son John, addressed three Latin odes in his ''Musæ Subsecivæ'' to Knatchbull, who according to Ballard, himself acted as tutor to

Dorothy, Lady Pakington Dorothy, Lady Pakington (1623 – 10 May 1679) was an English friend and supporter of learned clergymen, and a writer of religious works. She was for many years reputed to be the author of ''The Whole Duty of Man''. She enjoyed the esteem and frie ...

Family

Knatchbull married firstly Dorothy Westtrow, daughter of Thomas Westtrow on 22 October 1630, and had by her three sons. He married secondly Dorothy Steward, widow of Sir Edward Steward and daughter of Sir Robert Honyewood at

St Martin-in-the-Fields St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. It is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. There has been a church on the site since at least the mediev ...

outside

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on 27 November 1662. He was succeeded in the baronetcy successiveley by his sons

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

and Thomas.

Legacy

The Norton Knatchbull School The Norton Knatchbull School is a grammar school with academy status for boys located in Ashford, Kent, England. Girls are accepted into the Sixth Form. As of 2017, the school serves more than one thousand pupils aged 11 to 18. History The ...

, situated in Ashford, was founded by his uncle and namesake, Sir Norton Knatchbull (d.1636)

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Knatchbull, Norton 1602 births 1685 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of England People from Mersham English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648 English MPs 1660 English MPs 1661–1679