Charles Knight

Charles Knight ( 1808 – 3 September 1891) was a New Zealand doctor, public servant and botanist. He was born in Rye, Sussex, England in 1808. He studied medicine at University College, London from 1828 until 1830. In 1840 he became a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland and a Fellow in 1869. Between 1830 and 1840 Knight worked as a doctor and spent time in America.

Botany Knight was a keen botanist and his main interest was lichens. He was the author of 20 scientific papers, 16 about lichens. Knight exchanged letters with Joseph Hooker Director of the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew for over 30 years. He also contributed specimens and drawings to the collections there and in other countries as well as in New Zealand. In addition, he organised New Zealand government funding for Hooker to write the Handbook of the New Zealand flora published in 1864. During 1868 and 1869 Knight was in Britain with Grey, and was able to spend time with the botanists and lichen collections at Kew. He was elected a fellow of the Linnean Society of London in 1857. He joined the Wellington Philosophical Society in 1869 and was president in 1873 and 1874. He was a member of the board of governors of the New Zealand Institute from 1870 to 1872 and in 1875.

Personal life Knight married Caroline Symes in 1844 when he was living in Adelaide. They had two sons and three daughters together. He died at his home in Wellington and is buried at Bolton Street Memorial Park.

Legacy Knight's extensive personal collection of specimens is in Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa although he also contributed to around 20 other herbaria in other countries.