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The Weald of Kent, Surrey and Sussex
Reverend Vicesimus Knox, D.D., headmaster of Tonbridge School and writer, son of Reverend Vicesimus Knock, LL.B. and Ann Knox [Wall]
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Vicesimus Knox, D.D., was born on 8th December 1752 at Newington Green in North London the only child of Reverend Vicesimus Knox, LL.B., (1729-1780) and Ann Wall. He was educated privately at home until the age of 14 when Vicesimus was sent to Merchant Taylors' School in London where his father was a master and at St. John's College, Oxford (1771-1775). He subsequently became a fellow of St John's until 1778 when he took the post of headmastership of Tonbridge School replacing his father who had held the post for the previous six years.

Vicesimus' period as headmaster for 34 years is noted for the growing reputation of the school and its increasing popularity with numbers of pupils rising four-fold to 80 during his term in office. He held strong views on education and christian values and published extensively throughout his career including Essays Moral and Literary (1778), Liberal Education (1781) and Elegant Extracts (1783 & 1789). He wrote extensively on morals and literature, and as a minister he preached on behalf of philanthropic causes and against war. He was an outspoken supporter of grammar schools throughout his life and published in his final year Remarks on the Tendency of Certain Clauses in a Bill now pending in Parpiament to Degrade Grammar Schools

In 1778 Vicesimus had married Mary Miller and, together, they had four children - Vicesimus (1779-1855), Sarah (1781- ), Thomas (1783-1843) and Holles Josiah (1787- ). The son Vicesimus became a barrister and Thomas, who was educated at Tonbridge School under his father and then at Brasenose College, Oxford, suceeded his father in 1812 to the headmastership of Tonbridge School which he held until 1843. Indeed, the three generations of Knox, were to hold the headmastership of Tonbridge school continuously for seventy-one years from 1772 until 1843.

In 1812, Vicesimus retired from his position at Tonbridge to live in London. On a visit to his son at Tonbridge in 1821, he was seized with an infammation of his intestines from which he died on the 6th September at the age of 69. His funeral took place at Tonbridge and he was buried in the parish church of St. Peter and St. Paul where a monument commemorates his dedication "to the moral and intellectual improvement of man"


See also Vicesimus Knox, D.D. biography in The History of Tonbridge School by Septimus Rivington, B.A., published in 1869 and


Date
Type
Information
Source
 
8th December 1752
Born
At Newington Green in the County of Middlesex
The History of Tonbridge School
 
1778
Published
Essays Moral and Literary
The History of Tonbridge School
 
26th December 1778
Married
Mary Miller at St. James' Church in the Parish of Westminster, London
ODNB web site
 
1778 to 1812
Appointed
At Tonbridge Grammar School in the Parish of Tonbridge, Kent; Head Mastership
The History of Tonbridge School
 
1779
Birth of a son
Vicesimus in the Parish of Tonbridge, Kent
IGI - Family Search
Batch P00839-1
 
1781
Birth of a daughter
Sarah in the Parish of Tonbridge, Kent
IGI - Family Search
Batch P00839-1
 
1781
Published
Liberal Education, or, A Practical Treatise on the Method of Acquiring Useful and Polite Learning
The History of Tonbridge School
 
1783
Birth of a son
Dr. Thomas in the Parish of Tonbridge, Kent
IGI - Family Search
Batch P00839-1
 
1783
Published
Elegant Extracts, or, Useful and Entertaining Passages in Prose
The History of Tonbridge School
 
1787
Birth of a son
Holles Josiah in the Parish of Tonbridge, Kent
IGI - Family Search
Batch P00839-1
 
1787
Published
Winter Evenings, or, Lucubrations on Life and Letters
The History of Tonbridge School
 
1789
Published
Elegant Extracts, or, Useful and Entertaining Passages in Poetry
The History of Tonbridge School
 
1790
Published
Elegant Epistles, or, A Copious Collection of Familiar and Amusing Letters
The History of Tonbridge School
 
1791
Published
Family Lectures, or, Domestic Divinity
The History of Tonbridge School
 
1793
Published
Personal Nobility, or, Letters to a Young Nobleman
The History of Tonbridge School
 
1795
Published
Christian Philosophy, or, An Attempt to Display the Evidence and Excellence of Revealed Religion
The History of Tonbridge School
 
1812
Retired
At Adelphi Terrace, in London
The History of Tonbridge School
 
1821
Published
Remarks on the Tendency of Certain Clauses in a Bill now pending in Parpiament to Degrade Grammar Schools
The History of Tonbridge School
 
6th September 1821
Died
In the Parish of Tonbridge, Kent
The History of Tonbridge School
 
After 6th September 1821
Buried
At St. Peter and St. Paul Parish Church in the Parish of Tonbridge, Kent
The History of Tonbridge School
 
to the memory of
VICESIMUS KNOX, D.D.
master of tonbridge school, and rector of runwell and
ramsden crays in essex.
born dec. 8, 1752-died sept. 6, 1821.

a sound divine,
an elegant and profound scholar,
a polished and powerful writer,
an elequent, zealous, and persuasive preacher of the
gospel,
he employed his high endowments
to the glory of god
and the moral and intellecual improvement of man.
anxious ever to advance the happiness of his fellow-
creatures,
upon the purest principles of christian philanthropy,
with a lofty spirit of independence,
and a rare disinterestedness in conduct,
he disregarded the ordinary objects of wordly
ambition,
and shewed himself on all occasions
the enemy of public abuses,
the friend of civil and religious liberty,
the opponent of oppresive war,
the promoter of peace,
and the advocate of all the claims of humanity.

"he being dead yet speaketh"

Ancestor's report
Descendent's report
Knock, Knokke, Knox, Knocker individual records
The ancestral pedigree of Reverend Vicesimus Knox, D.D., headmaster of Tonbridge School and writer
  
 Thomas Knockm: c 1725Anne 
 b: c 1700  b: c 1700 
  
  
 Susanna Reverend Vicesimus
 b: 2nd Nov 1726 London
ch: 27th Nov 1726 St. Lawrence, Pountney
 b: 28th Jan 1729 London
ch: 23rd Feb 1729 St. Lawrence, Pountney
d: 1780
    
Grandfather
record
   
   
   
 Reverend Vicesimus Knock
LL.B.
m: c 1750Ann Wall 
 b: 28th Jan 1729 London
ch: 23rd Feb 1729 St. Lawrence, Pountney
d: 1780
  b: c 1730 
  
  
 Reverend Vicesimus 
 b: 8th Dec 1752 Newington Green, Middlesex
d: 6th Sep 1821 Tonbridge, Kent
bur: After 6th Sep 1821 St. Peter and St. Paul Parish Church, Tonbridge, Kent
 
   
Parental
record
   
   
   
 Reverend Vicesimus Knox
D.D., headmaster of Tonbridge School and writer
m: 26th Dec 1778 St. James' Church, Westminster, LondonMary Miller 
 b: 8th Dec 1752 Newington Green, Middlesex
d: 6th Sep 1821 Tonbridge, Kent
bur: After 6th Sep 1821 St. Peter and St. Paul Parish Church, Tonbridge, Kent
  b: c 1755
d: May 1809
 
  
    
 Vicesimus Sarah Dr. Thomas Holles Josiah
 b: 1779 Tonbridge, Kent
ch: 21st Apr 1779 St. Peter and St. Paul Parish Church
d: Jan 1855 8 Stratford Place, Oxford Street, London
bur: 31st Jan 1855 Kensal Green All Souls, Kensington, London
 b: 1781 Tonbridge, Kent
ch: 6th Jun 1781 St. Peter and St. Paul Parish Church
 b: 1783 Tonbridge, Kent
ch: 26th Sep 1783 St. Peter and St. Paul Parish Church
d: 1843
 b: 1787 Tonbridge, Kent
ch: 30th Mar 1787 St. Peter and St. Paul Parish Church
       
Family
record

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