John Knight (Exmoor pioneer)

Profile sketch portrait of John Knight, from commonplace book of his daughter Isabella. Edward Lear Collection, British Museum
Arms of Knight: Argent, three pales gules within a bordure engrailed azure on a chief of the last three spurs or[1]

John Knight (1765–1850) of Lea Castle, Wolverley,[2] of 52 Portland Place[3] in London, and of Simonsbath House, Exmoor, Somerset, was an agricultural pioneer who commenced the reclamation of the barren moorland of the former royal forest of Exmoor in Devon and Somerset, England.

  1. ^ Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 15th Edition, ed. Pirie-Gordon, H., London, 1937, p.1306, pedigree of Rouse-Boughton-Knight of Downton Castle, 1st quarter. Blazoned similarly for their cousins Knight of Wolverley, Worcestershire, in: Victoria County History, Worcestershire, Vol.3, 1913, Parishes: Wolverley, pp.567-573 as: Argent, three pales gules in a bordure engrailed azure on a quarter gules a spur or (Victoria County History, Worcestershire, Vol.3, 1913, Parishes: Wolverley, pp.567-573)
  2. ^ 2 miles north of Kidderminster
  3. ^ Harvey, Nigel. The Farmsteads of the Exmoor Reclamation, p.45 Archived 2014-10-15 at the Wayback Machine