Ellis Cornelia Knight (27 March 1757 – 18 December 1837) was an English gentlewoman, traveller, landscape artist, and writer of novels, verse, journals, and history. She had the acquaintance of many prominent figures in her lifetime, from members of the circle of

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson ( – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

and

Sir Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter who specialised in portraits. The art critic John Russell (art critic), John Russell called him one of the major European painters of the 18th century, while Lucy P ...

in her girlhood;

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, Sir William and Lady Emma Hamilton, and Lord Horatio Nelson during her Italian sojourn; and members of the British Royal Family during her service to

Queen Charlotte Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Sophia Charlotte; 19 May 1744 – 17 November 1818) was Queen of Great Britain and Ireland as the wife of King George III from their marriage on 8 September 1761 until her death in 1818. The Acts of Un ...

and Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales. She corresponded with or met other writers of her time including

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, and

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Biography

Knight's father was Sir Joseph Knight, a career

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

officer knighted by King George III, who attaining the rank of Rear Admiral of the White. Her mother Philippina Deane was his second wife. She was carefully educated, and taught to dance by Augustin Noverre. Upon her father's death in 1775, Knight and her mother were left with only a small income and no pension, inducing them to leave for the Continent in 1776, where they settled in Italy. In 1790, Cornelia anonymously published ''Dinarbas'', a continuation of Johnson's ''Rasselas'' in which Rasselas becomes ruler of Abyssinia, marries, and finds happiness. Following its success, she published '' Marcus Flaminius'' in 1792, a historical epistolary novel. The Knights were living in Naples in 1798 when word came of Nelson's victory at the

Battle of the Nile The Battle of the Nile (also known as the Battle of Aboukir Bay; ) was fought between the Royal Navy and the French Navy at Abu Qir Bay, Aboukir Bay in Ottoman Egypt, Egypt between 1–3 August 1798. It was the climax of the Mediterranean ca ...

. They participated in the ecstatic celebrations of that victory when Nelson arrived in Naples, and became good friends of the Hamiltons and Lord Nelson. After her mother died in 1799, Knight was invited to accompany the Hamiltons and Lord Nelson on their return journey to England. During this trip she became increasingly uneasy about the warmth of the relationship between Lady Hamilton and Lord Nelson, though she also witnessed her ode to Nelson on the Battle of the Nile sung by Emma with a musical setting by

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

. Once back in England, Knight settled independently, writing and making frequent visit to friends. She was appointed companion to Queen Charlotte (1805) and to a similar position, later, in the household of Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales (1813). In 1805 her reputation as a learned author of highly respectable character earned her an invitation to join the household of Queen Charlotte. Knight was with the Queen as the King's mental capacity declined and a

Regency In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

was established. In 1812 she became Companion to Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales, holding this post until the Regent fired her in 1814 for imagined lapses of judgement. In 1818 she became a teacher of English, literature, science and fine arts to the young Massimo Taparelli, the Marquis d'Azeglio, who was an important Italian writer, painter, patriot and politic. He mentioned Cornelia in his ''d'Azeglio's Memoirs'' (1867), in chapter XIV where d'Azeglio met Knight in 1818 at Castelgandolfo. The last twenty years of her life were spent outside England, and she died in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Works

Knight published five works in her lifetime: *''Dinarbas'' (1790), a continuation of

's '' Rasselas'' *'' Marcus Flaminius: a view of the military, political, and social life of the Romans in a series of letters from a patrician to his friend'' (1792), a romantic

epistolary novel An epistolary novel () is a novel written as a series of letters between the fictional characters of a narrative. The term is often extended to cover novels that intersperse other kinds of fictional document with the letters, most commonly di ...

set in ancient Rome during the reign of the emperor

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus ( ; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was Roman emperor from AD 14 until 37. He succeeded his stepfather Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Cl ...

. *''A Description of Latium, or La Campagna di Roma'' (1805), with her own etchings *''Translations from the German in Prose and Verse'' (1812) *''Sir Guy de Lusignan, a Romance'' (1833) At her death she left behind an incomplete autobiography and a journal. Her autobiography is a most valuable source of information for the court history of those days. The most important statements in the work were edited and published posthumously in 1861.

Notes

References

* * Uses Cornelia as her first name.

External links

Frogmore Lodge press
where Ellis Cornelia Knight taught and produced books for Princess Charlotte

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Cornelia 1757 births 1837 deaths 18th-century English novelists 19th-century English novelists English autobiographers 19th-century English translators Writers from the City of Westminster

Biography

Works

Notes

References

Further reading

External links