Lees Knowles

Sir Lees Knowles, 1st Baronet KStJ CVO (16 February 1857 – 7 October 1928) was a British barrister, military historian and Conservative politician.[1]

Sir
Lees Knowles
Bt KStJ CVO
Painting by Charles Van Havermaet, 1906
Member of Parliament for Salford West
In office
1886–1906
Preceded byBenjamin Armitage
Succeeded bySir George Wiliam Agnew
Personal details
Born(1857-02-16)16 February 1857
Oldham, Lancashire
Died7 October 1928(1928-10-07) (aged 71)
Pendlebury, Lancashire
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
Spouse
Lady Nina Ogilvy
​
(m. 1915)​
EducationRugby School
Alma materTrinity College, Cambridge
Lincoln's Inn
Military career
AllegianceUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
RankLieutenant Colonel
Honorary Colonel
UnitVolunteer Force
Territorial Force
Commands heldLancashire Fusiliers

Early life

Knowles was the son of John Knowles and Elizabeth Lees of Green Bank, Oldham, Lancashire whose family owned Andrew Knowles and Sons, collieries in the Irwell Valley. He was educated at Rugby School and at Trinity College, Cambridge.[2] He was a prominent athlete at both institutions and became president of the Cambridge University Athletics Club. He studied law, and was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1882.

Career

Politics

Knowles was involved in Unionist politics, and stood unsuccessfully for the Conservatives at Leigh in the 1885 general election. In the following year, another general election was held, and he was returned as Member of Parliament for Salford West.

From 1887 to 1892, Knowles held an appointment as unpaid parliamentary secretary to Charles Ritchie, President of the Local Government Board. On 24 April 1890, he brought a motion before the House of Commons and was subsequently appointed to formulate the Royal Commission on Tuberculosis.[3]

Knowles remained unpaid parliamentary secretary when Ritchie became President of the Board of Trade in 1895. From 1896 to 1906, he was Second Church Estates Commissioner. He was created a baronet, "of Westwood in the County of Lancaster", in the 1903 Birthday Honours.[4]

In December 1904, he was knighted as a Knight of Grace of the Order of Saint John (KStJ).[5]

His parliamentary career came to an end when he lost his seat at the 1906 general election.

Military

Knowles had a great interest in military history, and wrote a number of books on the life of Napoleon. In 1912 he made a bequest to his alma mater, Trinity College. This established the Lees Knowles Lectureship, an annual series of talks on military science given by distinguished military and naval figures.

He held a commission as an officer in the Volunteer Force and its successor the Territorial Force, reaching the rank of lieutenant-colonel. After a stint as Honorary Colonel of the 3rd (Volunteer) battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers, he was on 14 May 1902 appointed lieutenant-colonel in command of the battalion.[6] At various times he commanded the 3rd, 7th and 8th battalions of the Lancashire Fusiliers. He subsequently became the vice-chairman of the Lancashire Territorial Army Association.

Knowles was a philanthropist, supporting a number of charities, notably the Guinness Trust for Housing the Poor. He died in on 7 October 1928, aged 71, at his home in Westwood, Pendlebury.[7]

Family

In 1915, he married Lady Nina Ogilvy-Grant, youngest daughter of Francis Ogilvy-Grant, 10th Earl of Seafield. Lady Nina was presumably the Lady Nina Ogilvy-Grant who appeared at a meeting of the Conservative and Unionist Women's Franchise Association on 11 May 1909 at 52 Portland Place in London, as reported by Votes for Women, the organ of the Women's Social and Political Union.[8] They had no children.[7]

Arms
Coat of arms of Arms of Sir Lees Knowles, Baronet of Westwood and Turton Tower
Crest
In front of a ram's head, couped, argent, armed or, three roses fessewise as in the arms.
Escutcheon
Gules, on a chevron cotised, between in chief two crescents and in base a cross-crosslet all argent, three roses of the field barbed and seeded proper.[1]
Motto
Nec diu nec frustra ("Neither for long nor in vain")[9]
Symbolism
The escutcheon and crest incorporates elements of previous arms used by the Knowles/Knolles/Knollys family.[10][11] The canton of the baronet at the top left is the Red Hand of Ulster, sinister.

Works
  • Lees Knowles, A day with corps-students in Germany
  • Knowles, Lees (1914). Minden and the Seven Years War. Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Company.
As editor

References
  1. Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. Burke's Peerage Limited. 1914. pp. 1145–1146.
  2. "Knowles, Lees (KNWS875L)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  3. TUBERCULOSIS IN CATTLE Parliament, The Times, 11 April 1891.
  4. "No. 27617". The London Gazette. 17 November 1903. p. 7029.
  5. "December 9th, 1904" (PDF). The London Gazette. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
  6. "No. 27433". The London Gazette. 13 May 1902. p. 3182.
  7. "Obituary". The Press. Vol. LXIV, no. 19485. 5 December 1928. p. 16. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
  8. "Conservative and Unionist Women's Franchise Association". Votes for Women. 21 May 1909.
  9. Fairbairn, James (1892). Fairbairn's Book of Crests of the Families of Great Britain and Ireland. Jack. p. 51.
  10. "Cheshire Soldiers of Fortune: Sir Robert Knolles". Journal of the Architectural, Archaeological, and Historic Society for the County and the City of Chester and North Wales: 224. 1908.
  11. Burke, John; Burke, Bernard (1842). A General Armory of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Edward Churton. p. 620. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  • 'Obituary: Sir Lees Knowles. A Life of Public Service.', The Times, 8 October 1928, p. 18
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