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  in his lifetime. They were, according to Naunton, at continual feud with the Norris family, and, aided by Leicester's influence, kept their rivals in subjection until Leicester's death. Henry, the eldest son, described as of Kingsbury, Warwickshire, was educated at Magdalen College school, Oxford, and after accompanying his father to Germany, is said to have matriculated at the college, although his name does not appear in the university register, and to have obtained there the reputation of being a very cultivated and religious man. He was elected M.P. for Shoreham in 1562–3, and for Oxfordshire in 1572, and accompanied his brother-in-law, Walter Devereux, earl of Essex, to Ireland in 1574. He was an esquire of the body to Queen Elizabeth. His will, dated 21 Dec. 1582, was proved 14 May 1583. He married, before 11 April 1568, Margaret (1549?–1606), daughter of Sir Ambrose Cave, by whom he had two daughters, Elizabeth (dead before 1632), wife of Sir Henry Willoughby (d. 1649) of Risley, Derbyshire, and Lettice, wife of William, fourth lord Paget (d. 20 Aug. 1629), from whom descend the Marquises of Anglesey.

William, the second son, and eventual heir, is noticed separately.

Edward, the third son, was elected M.P. for Oxford 2 April 1571, and died about 1580.

Robert, the fourth son, was appointed keeper of Sion House in 1560, and usher of the Mint in the Tower, 5 Feb. 1578. He was M.P. for Reading from 1572 to 1589, and for Breconshire from 1589 to 1604, subsequently sitting for Abingdon, 1614, and again in 1623–4 and 1625, and for Berkshire in 1620. He was created K.B. 24 July 1603, and died in January 1625. He married Katherine, daughter of Sir Rowland Vaughan of Porthamel, Anglesey.

Richard, the fifth son, described as of Stanford-in-the-Vale, Berkshire, M.P. for Northampton in 1588 and for Wallingford in 1584, died at Rotherfield Greys 21 Aug. 1596, having married Joane, daughter of John Higham of Cliffords, Sussex, and sister of John Higham of Stanford. Her second husband was Francis Winchcombe of Bucklebury, Berkshire. She was buried at Rotherfield Greys 10 Oct. 1631. Sir Robert Knollys (d. 1659), her son by her first husband, was knighted 10 Jan. 1612–13, and acquired Rotherfield Greys from his uncle William 4 March 1630–1. The estate was finally alienated from the family in 1686.

Francis, sixth son, leased from the crown the manor of Battel, near Reading. He was well known at court as ‘young Sir Francis,’ and was M.P. for Oxford 1572–88, and for Berkshire in 1597 and 1625. His will was proved in 1648. He married Lettice, daughter of John Barrett of Hanham, Gloucestershire, by license dated 21 Dec. 1588. A son Sir Francis, who seems to have been M.P. for Reading in 1625–6–8 and 1640, died in 1643, and his daughter, Letitia or Lettice, was second wife of John Hampden [q. v.]

Thomas, apparently seventh son, distinguished himself in the warfare in the Low Countries, acting as governor of Ostend in 1586, and prominently aiding Peregrine Bertie [q. v.] in the siege of Bergen in 1588. He married Odelia, daughter of John de Morada, marquess of Bergen.

[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. i. 653–5; Cooper's Athenæ Cantabr. ii. 209, 548; Gent. Mag. 1846, pt. i. p. 250 (account of Lettice Knollys and her family); Froude's History; Lists of Members of Parliament; Cal. State Papers, Domestic, Colonial, and Scottish; Dr. F. G. Lee's History of the Prebendal Church of Thame, p. 593; Herald and Genealogist, vols. vii. viii.; Nicolas's Life of Sir Christopher Hatton; Devereux's Lives of Earls of Essex; Dugdale's Baronage; Strype's Whitgift, Eccl. Memorials, and Annals; Coates's Reading; Zurich Letters (Parker Soc.); Nichols's Lit. Remains of Edward VI (Roxb. Club); Naunton's Queen Elizabeth's Favourites; Pedigree of the family of Knollys and title to the manor of Rotherfield Greys, published by the House of Lords, 1810; Davenport's Lords-Lieutenants and Sheriffs of Oxfordshire, p. 60.]  KNOLLYS, HANSERD (1599?–1691), particular baptist divine, was born at Cawkwell, Lincolnshire, about 1599. He was educated privately under a tutor, was for a short time at Great Grimsby grammar school, and afterwards graduated at Cambridge; his college is not mentioned. Leaving the university, he became master of the grammar school at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire. In 1620 he was ordained (29 June, deacon; 30 June, priest), and he was presented to the vicarage of Humberstone, Lincolnshire, by John Williams, then bishop of Lincoln. He preached also every Sunday in the neighbouring churches of Holton-le-Clay and Scartho, but in two or three years resigned his living owing to scruples about ceremonies and admission to the communion, continuing, however, to preach. By 1636 he had become a separatist, and renounced his orders. He removed to London with his wife and family, and shortly afterwards fled to New England to escape the high commission court. A warrant from that court reached him at Boston, but after a brief imprisonment he was allowed to remain unmolested. He preached at Dover, New Hampshire. Cotton