Thomas Andrew Knight, FRS (12 August 1759 – 11 May 1838) was an English horticulturalist and botanist. He served as the president of the Royal Horticultural Society from 1811 to 1838.
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Origins
He was born at Wormesley Grange, five miles north-west of Hereford in Herefordshire, the second son of Rev. Thomas Knight (1697–1764) of Wormsley Grange, Rector of Bewdley, Worcestershire, and Ursula (née Nash), a daughter of Frederick Nash of Dinham, Shropshire. He was the heir of his unmarried elder brother the art connoisseur Payne Knight (1750–1824), MP, who had been the heir not only of their father but also of their uncle Richard II Knight (1693–1765) of Croft Castle and of Downton, and who had re-built Downton Hall as the surviving Gothic revival style Downton Castle. Richard II Knight as the eldest of five sons was the heir of his father Richard I Knight (1659–1745), of Downton, a wealthy ironmaster of Bringewood Ironworks, on the Downton estate, who founded the family's great fortune.
Career
He attended Balliol College, Oxford. After graduation, he took up the study of horticulture. In 1795 he published the results of his research into the propagation of fruit trees and the diseases prevalent among them. He used 10,000 acres (4,000 ha) of land he inherited and built a curvilinear greenhouse for breeding plants including strawberries, cabbages and peas. In 1797 he published his Treatise on the Culture of the Apple and Pear, and on the Manufacture of Cider and Perry, a work which passed through several editions. His breeding experiments, between identified plant varieties, led to new cultivars of apples. He would select among hundreds of seedlings to pick out the few with improved characteristics. For example, the Siberian Harvey cider apple was among about 4 seedings he kept from 300 crosses. His work on the specific gravity and thus sugar content of apple juice were important to development of the UK cider industry. He also devised new horticultural and agricultural equipment such as a new turnip seed drill, razor sharpener and pineapple pit.