Reginald Knight (died 1969) was a

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a self-governing British Crown colony in Southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as South ...

n politician and judge. Born in

Wanstead Wanstead () is an area in East London, England, in the London Borough of Redbridge. It borders South Woodford to the north, Redbridge to the east and Manor Park to the south, with Leytonstone and Walthamstow to the west. It is located 8 m ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, Knight was educated at

Mill Hill School Mill Hill School is a 13–18 co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, private, Day school, day and boarding school in Mill Hill, London, England that was established in 1807. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' ...

and the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. He was called to the English bar by the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

in 1930. From 1940 to 1945, Knight served in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

. Emigrating to Southern Rhodesia after the war, Knight was called to its bar in 1947. He was appointed a KC in 1951. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Southern Rhodesia in 1954. In 1958, he was appointed to the cabinet, and served as

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

and

Minister of Internal Affairs An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

. In 1962, he left politics and became a judge of the Water Court, eventually becoming its senior judge. He was also president of the

Court of Appeal for Native Civil Cases A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and Administration of justice, administer justice in Civil law (common law), civil, Criminal law, criminal, an ...

. He died in service in 1969. According to John Redgment, Knight was an indecisive judge and left a large backlog in the water court at his death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Reginald Alumni of the University of London British emigrants to Rhodesia People from Wanstead People educated at Mill Hill School Members of the Middle Temple 20th-century English lawyers Rhodesian lawyers Rhodesian Queen's Counsel 20th-century King's Counsel Members of the Legislative Assembly of Southern Rhodesia Rhodesian politicians 1969 deaths