John George Knight (1835 - abt. 1892)

Born 13 Feb 1835 in Limehouse, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom

Husband of Alice (Bertrand) Knight — married 1853 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Descendants

Died about 10 Jan 1892 at about age 56 in Palmerston, Northern Territory, Australia

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Biography

John Knight is Notable.

John was born about 1830. He emigrated to Australia around 1852.

Obituary: Saturday 16 Jan 1892 The Argus Melbourne (via Trove.nla.gov.au) MR. J. G. KNIGHT. Those who knew Melbourne in the Fifties and Sixties will have received with sentiments of genuine regret the news of the death of Mr. J. G. Knight, which occurred on Sunday evening at Palmerston, in the Northern Territory, where he filled the post of deputy-sheriff and stipendiary magistrate, a position he had occupied for- several years past. In the early days he was a member of the firm of Knight and Kerr, architects, of this city,' to whom we owe the preparation of the designs for the Parliament-houses, which are still in process of erection under the superintendence of Mr. Peter Kerr, the surviving member of the firm ; and it is a structure which will form, when completed, the noblest example of classic architecture south of the equator. It was Mr. Knight's earnest wish that the western facade of the building should be faced with Italian marble, which would not have cost more, he calculated, than freestone, but the operative masons raised such a clamour against the proposition that it had to be abandoned ; while the author of it was depicted in one of the cartoons of Melbourne Punch, by the pencil of Mr N. Chevalier, as an Italian image-boy hawking about a marble model of the edifice. But it was as an organiser of exhibitions that the special talent of Mr. Knight first developed itself. Ir was resolved that this colony should be represented in the Paris Exhibition of 1855, and in the year previous the first display of Victorian products of all kinds was held m a miniature Crystal Palace erected for the purpose on the site of the present Mint in William-street. Seven years afterwards a second industrial display was held in that building, upon which occasion it was, if we remember rightly, that Mr. Knight conceived the idea of representing the gross product of gold in Victoria by means of a gilded obelisk, the dimensions of which were equivalent to the bulk of the precious metal which had been raised up to that time. It was an object lesson of a singularly impressive character, and excited much at tention somewhat later both in Paris and London, whither the ingenious designer of it proceeded in charge of the Victorian exhibits, Lord Palmerston among others complimenting him upon the ingenuity of the idea. Mr. Knight had charge of the Melbourne Exhibition of 1866, and of the Victorian , Court at the Paris Exhibition of 1867. In the seventies, he entered the service of the South Australian Government, and became Government Resident at Palmerston, Northern Territory, where his days were ended. He occasionally sojourned in the South, being put in charge of the Northern Territory Court at the Adelaide Jubilee Exhibition of 1887, and the Melbourne CentennialExhibition of 1888-9. Though he had great faith in the resources of tropical Australia, he was never sorry to have the chance or living for a little while in a Christian climate. Tropical Australia, somehow, does not go ahead, though prose poets have been issuing glowing forecasts for these 30 years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_George_Knight

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/knight-john-george-3966

Sources

• Victoria BDM: Event: marriages Registration number 26155 / 1853

Family name: BERTRAND Given name(s) Alice Place of event: MELBOURNE, Australia Spouse's family name: KNIGHT Spouse's given name(s) John George

• http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/knight-john-george-3966

• https://ris.cdu.edu.au/ws/portalfiles/portal/23599012/Thesis_CDU_Mastin_J.pdf

Knight departed London 17 October 1851 aboard the Lady Peel and arrived in Port Phillip, Melbourne, Victoria on 3 February 1852

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/102764716/john-george-knight : accessed 14 February 2022), memorial page for John George Knight (1822–10 Jan 1892), Find a Grave Memorial ID 102764716, citing Pioneer Cemetery, Parap, Darwin City, Northern Territory, Australia ; Maintained by Sleepy Hill (contributor 47177870) .