Frederick Hammett Knott (30 October 1891 – 10 February 1972), known as Freddie Knott, was an English amateur

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er. Knott played for

Oxford University Cricket Club Oxford University Cricket Club (OUCC), which represents the University of Oxford, had held first-class status since 1827 when it made its debut in the inaugural University Match between OUCC and Cambridge University Cricket Club (CUCC). Follo ...

and

Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ken ...

in the years before the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. He played occasionally after the war, including once for

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

in 1926. Knott was considered one of cricket's brightest schoolboy talents at

Tonbridge School Tonbridge School is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school for boys aged 13–18) in Tonbridge, Kent, England, founded in 1553 by Sir Andrew Judde (sometimes spelt Judd). It is a member of the Eton Group and has clo ...

but had a more disappointing time at Oxford. He also played varsity

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

and was a fine all-round sportsman, later becoming a scratch golfer. He served in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

in both World Wars and won the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level until 1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) Other ranks (UK), other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth of ...

after being wounded in

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

in 1917.

Early life

Knott was born in

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly Tunbridge Wells) is a town in Kent, England, southeast of Central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone ...

, the eldest child of the Reverend Frederick George Knott and his wife Alice. His father was the first Headmaster at Skinners' School in the town. Knott attended

between 1905 and 1910 where he played cricket, captaining the school side in his final year, as well as

and

racquets Rackets or racquets is an indoor list of racket sports, racket sport played in the United Kingdom, United States, and Canada. It is infrequently called "hard rackets" to distinguish it from the related sport of squash (sport), squash (also cal ...

and represented the school in

gymnastics Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring Balance (ability), balance, Strength training, strength, Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, agility, Motor coordination, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movem ...

.Lewis P (2014) ''For Kent and Country'', pp.227–230. Brighton: Reveille Press. .Steed HE (1911) ''The register of Tonbridge School from 1826 to 1910'', p.378. London: Rivingtons.
Available online
Retrieved 2018-10-16.) He was a number of school exhibition scholarships and went up to

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The l ...

in 1910. Knott was described by ''

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "Bible of cricket" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...

'' as a "wonderful cricketer" whilst a schoolboy. Toppin C (1911) Public School Cricket in 1910, ''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "Bible of cricket" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...

'', 1911, p.128.
Available online
Retrieved 2018-10-16
Archived version
archived 2018-10-18.) He was considered a considerable talent with Charles Toppin writing that "seldom, if ever, have the doings of a school boy caused so much interest in the cricket world". He scored over 1,000 runs in school cricket in 1910, making six centuries and

averaging In ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by how many nu ...

over 80 runs per innings and scored 155 for a Public Schools XI against MCC in under two and a half hours at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

.Toppin ''op. cit.'' p.191. His "watchfulness and strength of his back play" were considered his greatest strengths as a batsman at school, although Toppin considered that he had "most of the known strokes at his command".

Pre-war sporting career

Knott made his

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

debut for

in early August 1910, a week after playing for the Public Schools XI.Knott, Frederick Hammett
Obituaries in 1972, ''

'', 1973. Retrieved 2016-06-04. Kent had a very strong batting lineup and won the County Championship in 1910. In his "trial" Knott played well and ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' wrote that he "more than fulfilled expectation",The Averages: Kent, ''

'' 1910-09-01, p.15. including scoring a century in his first home match against

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

and he was awarded his

county cap In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the e ...

in his first season.Moore D (1988) ''The History of Kent County Cricket Club'', p.72. London: Christopher Helm. . In its review of the season the paper said that although he "must be a fine player" but suggested some ways that his technique could be improved;Cricket: Review of the Season, ''

'', 1910-09-10, p.16. at the end of August the same paper had commented that "his style is not altogether convincing" despite the number of runs he had scored.Cricket: The Waning Season, ''

'', 1910-08-29, p.14. He played in six of Kent's matches during the season.Moseling M, Quarrington T (2013) ''An Half-Forgotten Triumph'', p.28. Cheltenham: SportsBooks. . Knott went up to Oxford later in 1910 and at the start of the 1911 season he was considered one of the players around whom "interest naturally centred", going up with a "great reputation"Cricket: The Universities, ''

'', 1911-05-08, p.13. and as the "most promising

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or colloquially frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational in ...

who had gone up to either university in a long time".Freshmen at Cricket, ''

'', 1929-04-25, p.6.

Plum Warner Sir Pelham Francis Warner, (2 October 1873 – 30 January 1963), affectionately and better known as Plum Warner or "the Grand Old Man" of English cricket, was a Test cricketer and cricket administrator. He was knighted for services to sport ...

picked him out as one of the young players who could "keep up the reputation of English cricket in the near future" in that season's edition of ''Wisden'', but Knott failed to live up to his potential in 1911. Pardon SH (1912
Little in cricket need reforming interference
Notes by the editor, ''

'', 1912. Retrieved 2018-10-17. He made his first-class debut for the university side against Kent but was disappointing in his first season, doing "hardly anything" and failing to win a

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

. It was at rugby that Knott was more successful in his first year at Oxford, winning a blue for the University side and playing for The Rest against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in January 1911. He won further rugby blues in each season from 1911 and 1913 and played in the England side against The Rest in 1912, although he did not win an England cap. Knott played at

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16� ...

in the Oxford side alongside Ronald Poulton at scrum-half, one of the most "exciting and influential" players of the time.Corsan J (2009) ''For Poulton and England'' p.5. Leicester: Matador. .
Available online
Retrieved 2018-10-17.) After his disappointing 1911 season, Knott "redeemed to some extent his reputation" in 1912 and was back in the university side, playing in the

University Match The University Match is an annual cricket fixture between Oxford University Cricket Club and Cambridge University Cricket Club. First played in 1827, it is the oldest varsity match in the world. Until 2001, when first-class cricket was reorga ...

. He maintained his place in the side and was captain in 1914, although he played rarely for Kent in these seasons and only made 11 appearances for the county side in total, six of which had come during 1910.Moseling & Quarrington ''op. cit.'', p.12.Freddie Knott
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2018-10-16. He never fulfilled his potential as a schoolboy and was considered "that sad disappointment at Oxford" by

Sydney Pardon Sydney Herbert Pardon (23 September 1855 – 20 November 1925) was a sports journalist who was the editor of ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'' for 35 editions, from 1891 until his death. His father was the journalist George Frederick Pardon. He t ...

in his editor's notes in ''Wisden'' in 1920. Pardon SH (1920
Cricket still attractive
Notes by the editor, ''

'', 1920. Retrieved 2018-10-17. In all Knott made 40 appearances in first-class matches before the outbreak of the

, 29 for the university. On graduating he took up a position as a teacher at

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English private boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. It was founded as Marlborough School in 1843 by the Dean of Manchester, George ...

in August 1914.Notes on News, ''The Marlburian'', p.133, vol.49, no.740, 1914-10-08.
Available online
Retrieved 2018-10-17.)

Military service

Knott was the last member of his Brasenose common room to enrol in the military,''The Brazen Nose'', 1914, p.26. joining the

Wiltshire Regiment The Wiltshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 62nd (Wiltshire) Regiment of Foot and the 99th Duke of Edinburgh's (Lanarkshire) Regiment of Foot. T ...

in December 1914. He was commissioned as a temporary second lieutenant, joining the 7th (Service) Battalion of the regiment which had formed at

Devizes Devizes () is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman architecture, Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-cent ...

, near to where he was teaching at

Marlborough Marlborough or the Marlborough may refer to: Places Australia * Marlborough, Queensland * Principality of Marlborough, a short-lived micronation in 1993 * Marlborough Highway, Tasmania; Malborough was an historic name for the place at the sou ...

. After serving briefly in France in the autumn of 1915, the 26th Division, which the 7th Wiltshire's formed part of, moved to

Salonika Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

to form part of the

British Salonika Army The British Salonika Army was a field army of the British Army during World War I. After the armistice in November 1918, it was disbanded, but component units became the newly formed Army of the Black Sea, and General Milne remained in command. Fi ...

. He had been promoted to temporary lieutenant and in September 1916 became a temporary captain. After two periods of illness and having been employed primarily defensively, the 7th Wiltshires took part in the Second Battle of Dorian in April 1917. Every officer in Knott's company was wounded in the attack and he was shot in the left arm, suffering

radial nerve The radial nerve is a nerve in the human body that supplies the posterior portion of the upper limb. It innervates the medial and lateral heads of the triceps brachii muscle of the arm, as well as all 12 muscles in the Posterior compartment of the ...

damage which significantly effected his ability to play cricket after the war. He was evacuated and recuperated in England before being posted to the 3rd Wiltshires based at

Sittingbourne Sittingbourne is an industrial town in the Swale district of Kent, southeast England, from Canterbury and from London, beside the Roman Watling Street, an ancient trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons. The town stands next to th ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

in April 1918 before resigning his commission in April 1919 due to his wounds.Craig ES (1920) ''Oxford University Roll of Service'', p.304.
Available online
Retrieved 2018-10-17.) He was awarded the

(MC) in the

1918 New Year Honours The 1918 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were published in ''The London Gazette'' and ''The Times'' in Janu ...

and was

mentioned in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

for his services in the war.

Later life

Knott returned to teaching after the war, working as a preparatory school teacher at

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. It is also a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, bor ...

Haywards Heath Haywards Heath ( ) is a town in West Sussex, England, south of London, north of Brighton, south of Gatwick Airport and northeast of the county town, Chichester. Nearby towns include Burgess Hill to the southwest, Horsham to the northwest, ...

and

Bexhill-on-Sea Bexhill-on-Sea (often shortened to Bexhill) is a seaside town and civil parish in the Rother District in the county of East Sussex in South East England. It is located along the Sussex Coast and between the towns of Hastings, England, Hastings ...

between 1920 and 1932. He then became secretary of

Worplesdon Worplesdon is a village NNW of Guildford in Surrey, England and a large dispersed civil parish that includes the settlements of: Worplesdon itself (including its central church area, Perry Hill), Fairlands, Jacobs Well, Rydeshill and Wood S ...

Gold Club and then NZ Gold Club - he was a scratch player. His wounds prevented his return to "serious cricket",Walsh D (2014) Public schools, Brasenose and the Great War, ''The Brazen Nose'', vol.48, 2013–2014, pp.92-101 - see note 18, p.101.
Available online
Retrieved 2018-10-17.) although he played amateur matches for teams such as the Yellowhammers, which he had been a founder member of at Tonbridge School with Leonard Marzetti, Gordon HSCM (1937) Club cricket in England, ''

'', 1937-05-25, p.48. and made a further four first-class appearances, three for sides raised by

H. D. G. Leveson Gower Sir Henry Dudley Gresham Leveson Gower ( ; 8 May 1873 – 1 February 1954) was an English cricketer from the Leveson-Gower family. He played first-class cricket for Oxford University and Surrey and captained England in Test cricket. His school n ...

and once for

Sussex County Cricket Club Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Sussex. Its limited overs team is called the Sussex Sharks. The c ...

in 1926 and played one match for Kent's Second XI in 1921. He lived in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

for most of the inter-war period with his wife Joan whom he had married in 1922. The couple had two sons. At the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Knott was working for a company which dealt with

Morris Motors Morris Motors Limited was a British privately owned motor vehicle manufacturing company formed in 1919 to take over the assets of William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield, William Morris's WRM Motors Limited and continue production of the same ve ...

and

MG Cars MG is a British automotive marque founded by Cecil Kimber in the 1920s, and M.G. Car Company Limited was the British sports car manufacturer existing between 1930 and 1972 that made the marque well known. Since 2007 the marque has been contro ...

. He joined the

Royal Army Service Corps The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and do ...

and served as an instructor throughout the war with the rank of temporary major.Brasenose College Roll of Service
1945. Retrieved 2018-10-17. Knott died after s short illness in February 1972 at

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

aged 80. His brother, John Knott, also played for Oxford and Kent in the inter-war years.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Knott, Freddie 1891 births 1972 deaths Military personnel from Kent English cricketers Kent cricketers Sussex cricketers Oxford University cricketers People educated at Tonbridge School Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers British Army personnel of World War I Wiltshire Regiment officers Recipients of the Military Cross British Army personnel of World War II Royal Army Service Corps officers Cricketers from Royal Tunbridge Wells Oxford University RFC players 20th-century English sportsmen