Sir Thomas Malcolm Knox (28 November 1900 – 6 April 1980) was a British philosopher who served as Principal of St Andrews University from 1953 to 1966 and vice-president of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

from 1975 to 1978.

Biography

Knox was born in

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, England, on 28 November 1900, the son of Scottish Congregationalist minister James Knox and his wife Isabella Marshall. He was educated at

Bury Grammar School Bury Grammar School is a 3–18 private day school for boys in Bury, Greater Manchester, England, that has existed since c.1570. It is now part of a group of schools for preschool, junior, senior and sixth form studies. Since 2017, when Bu ...

and the

Liverpool Institute The Liverpool Institute High School for Boys was an all-boys grammar school in the English port city of Liverpool. The school had its origins in 1825 but occupied different premises while the money was found to build a dedicated building on M ...

, and then at

Pembroke College, Oxford Pembroke College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, is located on Pembroke Square, Oxford. The college was founded in 1624 by King James I of England and VI of Scotland, using in part the endowment of merchant Thomas Tesdale ...

where he obtained a first-class degree in Literae Humaniores in 1923. He then worked as secretary to Lord Leverhulme at

Lever Brothers Lever Brothers was a British manufacturing company founded in 1885 by two brothers: William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme, William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). They invested in and su ...

before running the business interests of Lever Brothers in West Africa. His first wife died in 1930 and in the following year he became Bursar-

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

and lecturer in philosophy at

Jesus College, Oxford Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship ...

, later becoming a Fellow and Tutor. His interests did not fit in with those then prevailing at Oxford and so he moved to

St Andrews University The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, following the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, t ...

as Professor of Moral Philosophy in 1936, serving also as deputy principal and head of department. He was thus the natural choice as acting principal in 1952 on the death of James Irvine, and was confirmed in position in 1953. Knox was widely known to philosophers for his translations and commentary of the works of

Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a 19th-century German idealism, German idealist. His influence extends across a wide range of topics from metaphysical issues in epistemology and ontology, to political phi ...

and for editing the works of R.G. Collingwood. His scholarship was recognised with the award of an Hon. D.Litt. from the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

. In 1955 he was elected a Fellow of the

. His proposers were David Jack,

Edward Thomas Copson Edward Thomas Copson FRSE (21 August 1901 – 16 February 1980) was a British mathematician who contributed widely to the development of mathematics at the University of St Andrews, serving as Regius Professor of Mathematics amongst other posi ...

, David R. Dow and William Marshall Smart. He served as the Society's Vice President 1975 to 1978. Whilst Principal of St Andrews, his main task was to reconcile the interests of the section of the university based in St Andrews with those of the section based in

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

, Queen's College. However, he later concluded that separation of the two could not be avoided and then decided that it would not be proper to continue in his position as his stated policy had changed. In 1967 Queen's College separated from St Andrews to become the

University of Dundee The University of Dundee is a public research university based in Dundee, Scotland. It was founded as a university college in 1881 with a donation from the prominent Baxter family of textile manufacturers. The institution was, for most of its ...

. In retirement, he continued to write books, articles and reviews, including translations with commentary upon the writings of Hegel. Sir Malcolm was critical of the creation of new universities in Scotland in the 1960s, arguing that universities should have medieval roots and have faculties including divinity. While he reserved judgement on the proposed

and

University of Stirling The University of Stirling (abbreviated as Stir or Shruiglea, in post-nominals; ) is a public university in Stirling, Scotland, founded by a royal charter in 1967. It is located in the Central Belt of Scotland, built within the walled Airth ...

, he was critical of the transforming of technical colleges into the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde () is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal charter in 1964 as the first techn ...

and

Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University () is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and was subsequently granted university status by roya ...

. He was knighted by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

in 1961. Some of his papers are held by Archive Services at the University of Dundee. Letters of correspondence between Sir Malcolm and Cordelia James, Baroness James of Rusholme are held by the Archives at the University of St Andrews. He died at 19 Victoria Terrace,

Crieff Crieff (; , meaning "tree") is a Scottish market town in Perth and Kinross on the A85 road between Perth, Scotland, Perth and Crianlarich, and the A822 road, A822 between Greenloaning and Aberfeldy, Scotland, Aberfeldy. The A822 road, A822 joins ...

Perthshire Perthshire (Scottish English, locally: ; ), officially the County of Perth, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore, Angus and Perth & Kinross, Strathmore ...

, on 6 April 1980.

Family

He married three times: firstly to Margaret Normana MacLeod Smith then following her death in 1930 he married Dorothy Ellen Jolly who died in 1974. Finally he married Joan Mary Winifred Sumner, who outlived him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knox, Malcolm 1900 births 1980 deaths Alumni of Pembroke College, Oxford Fellows of Jesus College, Oxford Academics of the University of St Andrews 20th-century Scottish philosophers People educated at Bury Grammar School People from Birkenhead People educated at Liverpool Institute High School for Boys Anglo-Scots 19th-century Scottish translators Principals of the University of St Andrews Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Knights Bachelor Hegelian philosophers 20th-century British translators People associated with the University of Dundee Scottish knights Hegel scholars