
Rainald Knightley, 1st Baron Knightley (22 October 1819 – 19 December 1895), known as Sir Rainald Knightley, 3rd Baronet, from 1864 to 1892, was a British
Conservative Party politician.
Origins
Knightley was the son of
Sir Charles Knightley, 2nd Baronet of
Fawsley
Fawsley is a hamlet and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England.- OS Explorer Map 207: Newport Pagnell & Northampton South (1:25 000) The population at the 2001 census was 32. At the 2011 census the population remained less than 100 and ...
, and his wife Selina Mary, daughter of F. L. Hervey.
In 1864 he inherited the baronetcy and the
Fawsley
Fawsley is a hamlet and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England.- OS Explorer Map 207: Newport Pagnell & Northampton South (1:25 000) The population at the 2001 census was 32. At the 2011 census the population remained less than 100 and ...
estate on the death of his father.
The prominent ''de Knightley'' family originated at the Staffordshire manor of
Knightley, acquired by them shortly after the
Norman Conquest
The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...
of 1066. The
Domesday Book
Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
of 1086 lists the tenant of ''Chenistelei'' as ''Rainald'', namely "Reginald the Sheriff", who held 88 manors throughout England, said to be the ancestor of this family. Mark Noble (1787) wrote of the de Knightley family:
:''There is no private family in the kingdom has given more knights; none which has been more numerous in its branches; some of them have almost rivalled the eldest in consequence, and that fettled in France surpassed them, having many centuries ago been declared noble; the alliances they have contracted have been equal to themselves, and the many high offices held by them in the state, have been exceeded only by the very large possessions they have constantly had''.
In 1415 Sir Richard Knightley purchased the manor of
Fawsley
Fawsley is a hamlet and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England.- OS Explorer Map 207: Newport Pagnell & Northampton South (1:25 000) The population at the 2001 census was 32. At the 2011 census the population remained less than 100 and ...
in Northamptonshire, where the senior line of the family became seated.
Political career
Knightley entered Parliament for
Northamptonshire South in 1852 (succeeding his father), a seat he held until 1892. In 1892 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Knightley, of Fawsley in the County of Northampton.
Personal life
Lord Knightley married
Louisa Mary, daughter of General
Sir Edward Bowater, in 1869. The marriage was childless. He died in December 1895, aged 76, when the barony became extinct. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his first cousin Valentine Knightley. Lady Knightley died in October 1913.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Knightley, Rainald Knightley, 1st Baron
1819 births
1895 deaths
Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
UK MPs 1852–1857
UK MPs 1857–1859
UK MPs 1859–1865
UK MPs 1865–1868
UK MPs 1868–1874
UK MPs 1874–1880
UK MPs 1880–1885
UK MPs 1885–1886
UK MPs 1886–1892
UK MPs who were granted peerages
Peers of the United Kingdom created by Queen Victoria