Knight, William Angus

Title ^Ref: *1

Revd, Prof

First name(s)

William Angus

Surname

Knight

Position(s) held at King's College London

• Lecturer in Philosophy, Easter Term 1896;
• Lectured on 19th century poets, Easter Term 1896, and 'Retrospects and Reminiscences' [Lent Term 1904]

Education & professional details

School, college and/or university attended ^Ref: *5

Edinburgh University; Glasgow University

Qualifications

LLD Glasgow 1879

Position(s) held (non King's College London) ^Ref: *6

• Minister for St Enoch, Dundee 1874-1876;
• Chair of Moral Philosophy, St Andrews University 17th October 1876-30th March 1903

Professional activities ^Ref: *7

Joined the Scottish Episcopal Church 1879; President of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Dundee); Member of the Angus Theological Club1900, the University Club, and the New Speculative Society of Scotland; Founder Member of the Scots Philosophical Club; Founder of the Wordsworth Society.

Publications

• The Philosophy of the Beautiful, being Outlines of the History of Aesthetics. (2 volumes, London, J Murray, 1891-1893)
• The Works of William Wordsworth and Dorothy Wordsworth (12 volumes, 1896-1897)
• The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth (1896)
• Nineteenth Century Artists, English and French (Edinburgh, Shulze, 1910)
• The Glamour of Oxford; Descriptive Passages in Verse and Prose by Various Writers (Oxford, BH Blackwell, London, New York etc. 1911)

Personal details

Date of birth ^Ref: *1

22nd February 1836

Place of birth ^Ref: *2

Mordington, Berwickshire, Scotland

Date of death ^Ref: *3

4th March 1916

Place of death ^Ref: *4

Keswick, Cumberland

Obituary ^Ref: *8

• Extracts: " The late Professor Knight was a son of the manse; and during his long and strenuous life he proved, by his manifold activities, the value of the simple, genial yet sternly-disciplined upbringing out of which the middle classes of the Scotland of his day produced many of their best men. He was an indefatigable worker. A list of his works, philosophical, historical, religious and poetic, fills a large page in the current biographical reference books. His claim to remembrance rests on a wide basis. He was first of all a Wordsworthian; he produced all through his life a wealth of writing about Wordsworth - through Coleridge, and Browning, and Tennyson were all included in the range of his friendship and memoirs - which, cumulatively made him a recognised exponent of the Lake poet. He was also a University reformer, and was prominently associated with the terms of association between Dundee University College and St Andrews University; and also with the introduction of the L.L.A. Scheme, by which St Andrews led the way in the movement for higher education of women in the Scottish Universities. His philosophic and religious works and his contributions to the criticism of poetry were the expression of an 'intensely' active spirit working in the light of his times, of a scholar who was seldom idle, in the literary sense, save when the attractions of golf, the gun, or fishing put philosophy and literature temporarily in chancery...
• ............ While this tribute aptly enough summarises the main points in a strenuous career of educational work, it does not by any means cover the activities of Professor Knight. Not only was he constantly writing books or editing books, but he extended his sphere of purely educational work far beyond St Andrews and Dundee. In 1887 he was elected examiner in Mental and Moral Sciences in the University of Edinburgh; in 1893 he received a similar appointment in Victoria University, Manchester. He held and examinership under the Civil Service from 1873 [? ] onwards; and the University of New Zealand granted him a similar honour. But his work as a literary man, as distinct from his services as a University reformer, rests on his reputation as a student and exponent of Wordsworth.
• Professor Knight was a frequent contributor to The Scotsman, the Contemporary Review, Nineteenth Century Fortnightly, Fortnightly, North British Review, Theological Review, British Quarterly, Spectator, and other periodicals. In 1897 he was elected a member of the Athenaeum Club, London, by its Committee, under the rule which permits the introduction of persons of distinguished eminence in literature. His enthusiasm for Wordsworth led him to become the founder of the Wordsworth Society, and to accept the trusteeship of Dove Cottage, the birthplace of the poet, now preserved as a memorial.

Family details

Son of the Revd George Fulton and Jessie Angus Knight

Notes ^Ref: *9

• 1) WAK's portrait (by Elizabeth Jean Alexander, oil on canvas, 1899) was presented to St Andrews University by the group:Ladies Literate in Arts (LLA). He was extremely influential in the field of education for women and had been the prime author of the University's LLA scheme, which entitled women to enter for examinations.
• 2) Professor Knight was involved in the LLA (Ladies Literate in Arts) scheme which offered a distance learning' qualification for women. The history of this qualification and Knight's involvement in the scheme in Smart's article can be found on the FAQs page (http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/library/specialcollections/aboutus/faqs/).