Sir Edward Knatchbull, 8th Baronet

Sir Edward Knatchbull, 8th Baronet (22 May 1758 – 1 September 1819)^[1] was a British politician and baronet.

Background

He was the only surviving son of Sir Edward Knatchbull, 7th Baronet and his wife Grace Legge, second daughter of William Legge.^[2] In 1789, he succeeded his father as baronet.^[3] Knatchbull was educated at Tunbridge and Winchester School.^[4] He matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford in 1777 and received a Doctorate of Civil Law by the University of Oxford in 1810.^[5]

Career

Knatchbull was High Sheriff of Kent in 1785.^[6] He entered the British House of Commons in 1790, sitting for Kent until 1802.^[7] He represented the constituency as Member of Parliament (MP) again from 1806 until his death in 1819.^[7] He was listed 'friendly' to the abolition of the slave trade and on 27 April 1792 he proposed that the abolition of the slave trade, which he supported, should nevertheless be deferred until 1796 and carried his point by 151 votes to 132. The 1792 Slave Trade Bill passed the House of Commons mangled and mutilated by the modifications and amendments of Pitt, it lay for years, in the House of Lords.^[8][9] Biographer William Hague considers the unfinished abolition of the slave trade to be Pitt's greatest failure.^[10] It was this gutting of Dundas's plan that caused the Slave Trade Bill to fail. By rejecting the incremental approach in Dundas's 12-point plan, the abolitionists lost their opportunity to win support in the House of Lords.^[11][12]

Family

In July 1780, he married firstly Mary Hugessen, daughter of William Western Hugessen, and had by her a son and two daughters.^[13] She died in 1784 and Knatchbull married secondly Frances Graham, daughter of John Graham on 2 June 1785.^[14] They had nine children, five sons and four daughters.^[3] After her death in 1799, Knatchbull married finally Mary Hawkins, daughter of Thomas Hawkins at St George's, Hanover Square on 13 April 1801.^[5] By his third wife he had seven children.^[3]

Knatchbull died aged 61, after a short illness, at his son's house at Provender, Kent and was buried in Mersham.^[4] He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his oldest son Edward.^[13] A younger son was probably John Knatchbull, a naval captain and convict found guilty of murder in 1844; who was one of the earliest to raise in a British court the plea of moral insanity (unsuccessfully).^[15]

References

1. "Leigh Rayment - Baronetage". Archived from the original on 1 May 2008. Retrieved 9 July 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
2. Kimber, Edward (1771). Richard Johnson (ed.). The Baronetage of England: Containing a Genealogical and Historical Account of All the English Baronets. Vol. I. London: Thomas Wotton. p. 402.
3. Burke, John (1832). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. Vol. II (4th ed.). London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley. p. 46.
4. Sylvanus, Urban (1819). "part II". The Gentleman's Magazine. London: John Nichols and Son. p. 371.
5. "ThePeerage - Sir Edward Knatchbull, 8th Bt". Retrieved 19 February 2007.
6. Hasted, Edward (1798). The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent. Vol. VII (2nd ed.). Canterbury: W. Bristow. p. 597.
7. "Leigh Rayment - British House of Commons, Kent". Archived from the original on 10 August 2009. Retrieved 9 July 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
8. "Parliamentary History". Corbett. 1817. p. 1293.
9. "Journal of the House of Lords". H.M. Stationery Office 1790. 1790. p. 391 to 738.
10. Hague 2005, p.589
11. "Slave Trade Bill". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 27 April 1792. col. 1293–1293.
12. Committee, HD Historic Scotland (10 April 2021). "Henry Dundas and the Great Abolition Debate of 1792". Medium.
13. Debrett, John (1824). Debrett's Baronetage of England. Vol. I (5th ed.). London: G. Woodfall. pp. 158–159.
14. "part I". The London Magazine. London: R. Baldwin. 1785. p. 461.
15. "Knatchbull, John (1792-1844)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. 1967. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 6 March 2008.

Sources

• Hague, William (2005). William Pitt the Younger. HarperPerennial. ISBN 978-0-00-714720-5.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Sir Edward Knatchbull, 8th Baronet

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Filmer Honywood Charles Marsham	Member of Parliament for Kent 1790 – 1801 With: Filmer Honywood 1790–1796 Sir William Geary, Bt 1796–1801	Succeeded by Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Parliament of Great Britain	Member of Parliament for Kent 1801 – 1802 With: Sir William Geary, Bt	Succeeded by Sir William Geary, Bt Filmer Honywood
Preceded by Filmer Honywood Sir William Geary, Bt	Member of Parliament for Kent 1806 – 1819 With: William Honywood 1806–1812 Sir William Geary, Bt 1812–1818 William Philip Honywood 1818–1819	Succeeded by William Philip Honywood Sir Edward Knatchbull, Bt
Baronetage of England
Preceded by Edward Knatchbull	Baronet (of Mersham Hatch) 1789–1819	Succeeded by Edward Knatchbull