Family and Education

b. ?1741, 1st s. of Rev. Henry Gally, rector of St. Giles-in-the Fields, Holborn, Mdx. by Elizabeth, da. of Isaac Knight of Langold, sis. and h. of Ralph Knight. educ. Eton 1753-7; Trinity Hall. Camb. 1757, LLB 1764, fellow 1764; L. Inn 1756, called 1765. unm. suc. mat. uncle and took additional name of Knight 1768; fa. 1769.

Offices Held

Bencher, L. Inn 1795, treasurer 1802; sheriff, Notts. 1797-8.

Biography

Gally Knight was a confidant of Henry, 2nd Duke of Newcastle, and sat as his nominee for Aldborough. In the House he gave silent support to Pitt’s administration. In 1791 he was listed hostile to the repeal of the Test Act in Scotland. On the death of the 3rd Duke in 1795 he was appointed by his will a co-trustee of the ducal electoral interest at Aldborough and Boroughbridge. As such, he acquiesced in the plan to raise money on the nominations at the election of 1796, surrendering his own seat with a plea of ill health. He died 20 Oct. 1804 ‘in his 64th year’. His estate descended via his brother to his nephew Henry Gally Knight*.

PCC 516 Newcastle; Lawson-Tancred, Recs. Yorks. Manor, 304; Nottingham Univ. Lib. Newcastle mss NeC 5947; Gent. Mag. (1804), ii. 1074.

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820

Author: Winifred Stokes

Notes