Henry Gally Knight, FRS (2 December 1786 – 9 February 1846) was an English M.P., traveller and writer.
Henry Gally Knight was a country gentleman of Yorkshire, educated at Eton and Trinity Hall, Cambridge.[1] He was the author of several Oriental tales, Ilderim, a Syrian Tale (1816), Phrosyne, a Grecian Tale, and Alashtar, an Arabian Tale (1817). He was also an authority on architecture, and wrote various works on the subject, including The Ecclesiastical Architecture of Italy, and The Normans in Sicily, which brought him more reputation than his fictions. He was the nephew of the novelist Frances Jacson.[2]
His best claim to fame may be the satirical poem "Ballad to the Tune of Salley in our Alley" by Lord Byron, in which Byron facetiously accuses him of being not only a poetaster, but a dandy as well.
He owned Firbeck Hall in Rotherham. Sir Walter Scott's novel Ivanhoe is set nearby, and Knight may have been Scott's source of local information when he was writing the book. He was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society on 20 May 1841.[3]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London, J. M. Dent & Sons; New York, E. P. Dutton.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Henry Dawkins Henry Fynes |
Member of Parliament for Aldborough 1814–1815 With: Henry Fynes |
Succeeded by Granville Harcourt-Vernon Henry Fynes |
| Preceded by Francis Jeffrey John Charles Ramsden |
Member of Parliament for Malton 1831–1832 With: Francis Jeffrey 1831 Lord Cavendish of Keighley 1831 Charles Pepys 1831–1832 |
Succeeded by William FitzWilliam Sir Charles Pepys, Bt |
| Preceded by Viscount Lumley Thomas Houldsworth |
Member of Parliament for North Nottinghamshire 1835–1846 With: Thomas Houldsworth |
Succeeded by Lord Henry Bentinck Thomas Houldsworth |