Charles William Robert Knight (1884–1957) M.C., F.R.P.S., F.Z.S. was a well-known British falconer. He promoted and wrote extensively on

falconry Falconry is the hunting of wild animals in their natural state and habitat by means of a trained bird of prey. Small animals are hunted; squirrels and rabbits often fall prey to these birds. Two traditional terms are used to describe a person ...

throughout his life. He and his eagle, Mr Ramshaw, feature prominently in the 1945 film ''

I Know Where I'm Going! ''I Know Where I'm Going!'' is a 1945 romance film directed and written by the British filmmakers Powell and Pressburger, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It stars Wendy Hiller and Roger Livesey, and features Pamela Brown (actress), Pamela ...

'' Knight was born at

Sevenoaks Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506, situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parishes in England, civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter South Eastern Main Line, main line railway into Lo ...

, Kent, to Charles and Emily Knight; his brother, Frank, was the father of the actor

Esmond Knight Esmond Penington Knight (4 May 1906 – 23 February 1987) was an English actor. He had a successful stage and film career before World War II. For much of his later career Knight was half-blind. He had been badly wounded in 1941 while on active ...

. Educated at

Sevenoaks School Sevenoaks School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school. It is co-educational, a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private boarding school, boarding and day school, located in Sevenoaks, Kent, England. Established in 1432, it ...

, Knight joined the Queen's Own Royal

West Kent Regiment The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army based in the county of Kent in existence from 1881 to 1961. The regiment was created on 1 July 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms, originally as the Queen' ...

on the outbreak of 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 ...

, serving as a sniper; he saw action at Ypres, Messines Ridge and the Somme, and was awarded 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 ...

. In 1917 he was promoted to captain in the 1st Battalion,

Honourable Artillery Company The Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) is a reserve regiment in the British Army. Incorporated by royal charter in 1537 by King Henry VIII, it is the oldest regiment in the British Army and is considered the second-oldest military unit in the w ...

, and went to the US in charge of a demonstration drill team. After the war, he worked in London as a tobacconist with his brother Frank, the Knight family business involving the importing of Havana cigars from

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

. In 1924, he married Eva Olive Margaret Bennet; she died two years later. Knight and Mr. Ramshaw made a joint appearance on the March 20, 1940 episode of the Fred Allen

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

show, during which the eagle flew about the studio, nearly defecated on a studio audience member, and refused to return to Knight until the end of the show. Allen later described the appearance as "chaos... the audience screaming with laughter... The program went off the air on a note of sustained pandemonium." Knight died in

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

in 1957, and received an obituary in ''

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 ...

''.

Selected publications

*Allen, Fred (1954). ''Treadmill To Oblivion''. Boston, Little, Brown and Company (An Atlantic Monthly Press Book). *Knight, C. W. R. (1946). ''Aristocrats of the air''. London, Williams and Norgate. *Knight, C. W. R. (1933). ''Mr. Ramshaw, my eagle''. London, Arrowsmith. *Knight, C. W. R. (1922). ''Wild life in the tree tops''. 53 illus. from photographs taken by the author. New York, G.H. Doran.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Chas 1884 births 1957 deaths Falconers People educated at Sevenoaks School