Richard Knightley (3 June 1593 – 8 November 1639) was an English lawyer and politician, who was a Member of Parliament, and Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1626.
Although not as well known as John Pym, or his neighbour and friend, John Hampden, he was a long-time, high-profile opponent of the policies of Charles I. In 1630, he was a founder of the Puritan-backed Providence Island colony, which provided an organisational structure for what became the Parliamentary opposition prior to the 1642 to 1646 First English Civil War.
He died in September 1639, without children.
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Biographical
Richard Knightley was born 3 June 1593, only surviving son of Edward Knightley, 1562 to 1598, and his wife Mary Coles, 1577 to 1610. His grandfather Sir Richard Knightley, 1533 to 1615, came from a powerful Northamptonshire family, and was a leading Puritan activist.
Only five years old when his father died, he became a ward of Sir Thomas Smythe, who among many other business ventures, served as treasurer of the Virginia Company from 1609 to 1620. Knightley became a member of the company in 1618.
In 1614, he married Bridget Lucy (ca 1597–1641), but they had no children; after his death, she was reported to be "a lunatic". Four years later, he succeeded his uncle Sir Valentine Knightley, and inherited Fawsley Hall; on his death, it passed to his cousin, another Richard Knightley, (1580–1650).