Rainald Knightley Vanity Fair 5 November 1881

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

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

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

* {{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