Richard Knightley

Sir Richard Knightley (1533 – 1 September 1615) of Fawsley Hall in Northamptonshire was an English Member of Parliament (MP) and leading patron of the Puritans during the reign of Elizabeth I. The Knightleys were one of the leading families of Northamptonshire. Biography Knightley was the eldest son of Sir Valentine Knightley of Fawsley and his wife Anne (née Ferrers). He succeeded his father in 1566 and was knighted in 1565. He was MP for Northampton in the Parliaments of 1584 and 1586, and for Northamptonshire in those of 1589 and 1598. He served as High Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1568–1569 and 1581–1582. In 1587, he was commanded by Queen Elizabeth to be present at the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots (which took place in Northamptonshire). He was a conspicuous member of the Puritan faction in Parliament, and in November 1588 was involved in the printing of the Marprelate tracts. In the late spring of 1588, Elizabeth Hussey allowed the printer Robert Waldegrave and the Puritan preacher and pamphleteer John Penry to set up a secret press at her country home at East Molesey, Surrey, across the Thames from Hampton Court Palace. The first tract to be printed there was a work by John Udall, the Demonstration of Discipline.