32 Facts About Freddie Knott

Frederick Hammett Knott, known as Freddie Knott, was an English amateur cricketer.

Freddie Knott played occasionally after the war, including once for Sussex in 1926.

Freddie Knott was considered one of cricket's brightest schoolboy talents at Tonbridge School but had a more disappointing time at Oxford.

Freddie Knott played varsity rugby union and was a fine all-round sportsman, later becoming a scratch golfer.

Freddie Knott served in the British Army in both World Wars and won the Military Cross after being wounded in Macedonia in 1917.

Freddie Knott was born in Tunbridge Wells, the eldest child of the Reverend Frederick George Freddie Knott and his wife Alice.

Freddie Knott's father was the first Headmaster at Skinners' School in the town.

Freddie Knott attended Tonbridge School between 1905 and 1910 where he played cricket, captaining the school side in his final year, as well as rugby union and racquets and represented the school in gymnastics.

Freddie Knott was a number of school exhibition scholarships and went up to Brasenose College, Oxford in 1910.

Freddie Knott was described by Wisden as a "wonderful cricketer" whilst a schoolboy.

Freddie Knott was considered a considerable talent with Charles Toppin writing that "seldom, if ever, have the doings of a school boy caused so much interest in the cricket world".

Freddie Knott scored over 1,000 runs in school cricket in 1910, making six centuries and averaging over 80 runs per innings and scored 155 for a Public Schools XI against MCC in under two and a half hours at Lord's.

Freddie Knott made his first-class cricket debut for Kent County Cricket Club in early August 1910, a week after playing for the Public Schools XI.

Freddie Knott played in six of Kent's matches during the season.

Plum Warner picked him out as one of the young players who could "keep up the reputation of English cricket in the near future" in that season's edition of Wisden, but Freddie Knott failed to live up to his potential in 1911.

Freddie Knott made his first-class debut for the university side against Kent but was disappointing in his first season, doing "hardly anything" and failing to win a blue.

Freddie Knott won further rugby blues in each season from 1911 and 1913 and played in the England side against The Rest in 1912, although he did not win an England cap.

Freddie Knott played at fly-half in the Oxford side alongside Ronald Poulton at scrum-half, one of the most "exciting and influential" players of the time.

Freddie Knott maintained his place in the side and was captain in 1914, although he played rarely for Kent in these seasons and only made 11 appearances for the county side in total, six of which had come during 1910.

Freddie Knott never fulfilled his potential as a schoolboy and was considered "that sad disappointment at Oxford" by Sydney Pardon in his editor's notes in Wisden in 1920.

Freddie Knott was the last member of his Brasenose common room to enrol in the military, joining the Wiltshire Regiment in December 1914.

Freddie Knott was commissioned as a temporary second lieutenant, joining the 7th Battalion of the regiment which had formed at Devizes, near to where he was teaching at Marlborough.

Freddie Knott had been promoted to temporary lieutenant and in September 1916 became a temporary captain.

Every officer in Freddie Knott's company was wounded in the attack and he was shot in the left arm, suffering radial nerve damage which significantly effected his ability to play cricket after the war.

Freddie Knott was evacuated and recuperated in England before being posted to the 3rd Wiltshires based at Sittingbourne in Kent in April 1918 before resigning his commission in April 1919 due to his wounds.

Freddie Knott was awarded the Military Cross in the 1918 New Year Honours and was mentioned in dispatches for his services in the war.

Freddie Knott returned to teaching after the war, working as a preparatory school teacher at Eastbourne, Haywards Heath and Bexhill-on-Sea between 1920 and 1932.

Freddie Knott then became secretary of Worplesdon Gold Club and then NZ Gold Club - he was a scratch player.

Freddie Knott lived in Surrey for most of the inter-war period with his wife Joan whom he had married in 1922.

At the outbreak of the Second World War Freddie Knott was working for a company which dealt with Morris Motors and MG Cars.

Freddie Knott joined the Royal Army Service Corps and served as an instructor throughout the war with the rank of temporary major.

Freddie Knott died after s short illness in February 1972 at Woking aged 80.