Henry Knollys

Who was Henry Knollys?

Henry Knollys of Kingsbury, Warwickshire was an English courtier, privateer and Member of Parliament.

He was born the eldest son of Sir Francis Knollys, Treasurer of the Royal Household, and Catherine Carey, Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth I. He was reputedly educated at Magdelen College, Oxford.

He entered Parliament in 1562 as MP for Reading in Berkshire and was re-elected for Reading in 1571. He served against the Northern rebels in 1569 and by 1570 had been appointed Esquire of the Body to Queen Elizabeth I. In 1572, together with his father, he became MP for Oxfordshire.

Around 1578, he joined Sir Humphrey Gilbert in a venture designed to set up a new colony on the east coast of North America although Henry showed more interest in the more profitable business of privateering in the Spanish Caribbean. Gilbert gathered eleven heavily armed ships and a crew of 600, many of them convicted pirates especially pardoned for the voyage. Knollys soon refused to acknowledge Sir Humphrey's authority and, together with the pirate John Callis, took three ships to the Spanish Coast on a privateering expedition.