John Knight (died 1683)
English merchant and politician (1612–1683)
Sir John Knight (24 November 1613 – 16 December 1683) was an English merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1660 to 1681. When mayor of Bristol he became notorious for his activities against Nonconformists.
Life
Knight was born in Bristol the third son of George Knight, a provision merchant of Bristol and his wife and his wife Anne Dyos, daughter of William Dyos. He inherited his father's business in Temple Street, and became one of the most prosperous merchants in the city, and a prominent High Church member of the common council.
In 1660, Knight was elected Member of Parliament for Bristol in the Convention Parliament and was re-elected in 1661 for the Cavalier Parliament. He was knighted on the visit of the King to Bristol on 5 September 1663. He was an alderman from 1662 to 1682, and served as the mayor of Bristol 1663-4; his tenure of office was distinguished by his opposition to Quakers and other religious minorities. He had their houses watched, and took measures with Guy Carleton, bishop of Bristol, for their punishment. Moderates were scandalised by the mayor's rushing out of church for his Sunday recreation of hunting down Quakers, Nonconformists and Catholics. In his time as mayor over 920 people were fined for indulging in liberty of conscience.
The public source identifies “John Knight (died 1683)” as english merchant and politician (1612–1683). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around John, Knight and died.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 29, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q6243319. VIAF identifies the subject as 78467085. The Library of Congress control number is no2003051818. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1613, 1683, 1660 and 1681.
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This entry incorporates text from “John Knight (died 1683)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.