Thomas Knight (ca. 1701 – 26 February 1781) previously Thomas Brodnax (1701–1726) and Thomas May (1727–1738), of

Godmersham Park Godmersham Park is a Grade I listed house in Godmersham in the English county of Kent. The house is on the edge of the North Downs between Ashford and Canterbury. It has associations with the writer Jane Austen, and is depicted on the new B ...

, Kent, was an English landowner and Tory 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. ...

from 1734 to 1741.

Early life

Knight was the son of William Brodnax of

Godmersham Godmersham is a village and civil parish in the Ashford District of Kent, England. The village straddles the Great Stour river where it cuts through the North Downs and its land is approximately one third woodland, all in the far east and west o ...

, Kent and his second wife Anne May, daughter of Christopher May of Greenwich. He matriculated at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

on 2 June 1720, aged 18. In 1726, he succeeded his father to the family estate at Godmersham. Also in 1726, he succeeded his cousin Dame Anne May to the May estates at Rawmere, Sussex and changed his name by a 1726 Act of Parliament to May.William Berry ''County genealogies: Pedigrees of the families in the county of Sussex''
/ref>Deed Poll Office: Private Act of Parliament 1726 (13 Geo. 1). c. 4
/ref> He married Jane Monke, daughter of William Monke of Buckingham House, Shoreham at Grey's Inn Chapel on 11 July 1729. In 1732 he rebuilt the house at Godmersham.''Parishes: Godmersham'', The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 7 (1798), pp. 319-332. Date accessed: 24 November 2010
/ref> He served as

Sheriff of Kent The high sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown (prior to 1974 the office previously known as sheriff)."Sheriffs appointed for a county or Greater London shall be known as high sheriffs, and any reference in any enactment or instrum ...

for 1729.

Career

As May, he was elected Tory

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 ...

(MP) for

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

at the

1734 British general election The 1734 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 8th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. Robert Walpole's incr ...

. He voted with the Opposition and did not stand at the

1741 British general election The 1741 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 9th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election saw suppo ...

. In 1738, he changed his name by Act of Parliament to Knight after inheriting the Chawton estates under the will of Elizabeth Knight, widow of

Bulstrode Knight Bulstrode Peachey Knight (c.1681–1736) of West Dean in Sussex and Chawton in Hampshire was a British landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1722 to 1736. Knight was born Peachey, the fifth son of William Peachey, merchan ...

(who was her second husband, her first being William Woodrow Knight of Dean).

Later life and legacy

Knight retired to his seat at

and in 1742 he enclosed a park round it. He died at Godmersham in 1781. Although he and his wife had five sons and five daughters, only three daughters and a son survived. His son

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

inherited the estate and was later MP for Kent. Knight was described as "a gentleman, whose eminent worth is still remembered by many now living; whose high character for upright conduct and integrity, rendered his life as honorable as it was good, and caused his death to be lamented by every one as a public loss".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Thomas 1700s births 1781 deaths British MPs 1734–1741 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Year of birth uncertain High Sheriffs of Kent People from Godmersham