Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The Second Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902, South Africa.
• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

23 - 24 August 1914. The BEF had its first encounter with the German Army at Mons. Using the defensive barrier of the Mons Conde Canal the BEF was able to delay the German advance partly through the accuracy and speed of its rifle fire, and partly through the heroism of individuals. The first VC's of the war were awarded at Mons (M.Dease & S. Godley). The Belgians pulled the line left and the French to the right and, eventually, the position at Mons became untenable and the BEF slipped away to start its long retreat to the River Marne, to the East of Paris.

Detail :

He embarked for active service in France with “A” Company of the 4th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment on 13th August, 1914 and landed at Boulogne the following day, falling at Mons on Sunday, the 23rd August, 1914, while cheering and encouraging his men with great bravery. He fell with brother officer and Freemason, Captain Kenneth James ROY of Albert Victor Lodge 2328. An account tell us that the attack on the Middlesex position began about 10.30 in the morning of Sunday, August 23, with a heavy artillery fire, which had lasted some while before the German infantry began to advance, disregarding all cover and firing erratically from the hip. Our men were well placed and protected, and offered a stubborn defence against desperate odds. Major Davy's company on the left was hard pressed, and its commander was wounded early in the day. As Major Abell with his company came up to its support he was shot down, as also were Captain Knowles and 2nd Lieut. Henstock. A third of this company fell in the advance, but the rest reached their comrades in the firing-line, and for the time made the trenches in this part secure. The centre of the Middlesex line was held by Captain Oliver's company, who from a well-concealed trench took a heavy toll from the enemy, peppering away for all they were worth as if at manoeuvres. Here, also, as the day wore on, the pressure became severe, and two companies of the Royal Irish were brought up in support. On the right, at Obourg bridge, Captain Roy had been killed, and Captain Glass was wounded.

Captain Knowles was a very keen sportsman, a very good shot with the rifle, obtaining many good heads in India and Burma and was also keen on regimental sports. He married Viva Brabazon Bagot, granddaughter of the late Colonel Charles Oldfield and left three children: Nina Mary, born 1910; Viva Joan, born 1912: and Jonathan Maynard, born 1913.

His death is reported in the Shipley Times and Express on the 11th of September 1914 and the Army & Navy Gazette on the 12th September 1914. The details of his estate amounting to £115,135 was also recorded in the Liverpool Daily Post on the 30th November 1914.


On 23 August Knowles was with his Company in positions close to the railway line that ran between Obourg and Nimy and came into action in support of the forward companies of the 4th Middlesex as they tried to stem the German assault. It is frequently recounted that Captain Knowles was killed beside the Officer Commanding “A” Company, Major William Henry Abell that day, but the facts are rather different.

Captain Knowles was in actuality mortally wounded on 23rd August and was taken from the battlefield at Obourg across the canal to Feldlazarett No. 3 IX Armee-Korps at Maisieres, where he died of his wounds two days later. The correct date of his death is recorded on German burial records (now preserved in the Archives of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission), which confirm that he died on 25 August 1914.

Originally buried in Plot I, Row A, Grave 3 of Maisieres Communal Cemetery, the remains of Captain Knowles were exhumed in January 1957 and moved to Cement House Cemetery near Langemark, where he was reinterred at Plot XVIII, Row D, Grave 16. He is also commemorated in by a stained glass window, left light behind the altar in the chancel of St John the Evangelist Church, Bradford, West Yorkshire.

While it is technically correct that Captain Knowles is remembered as one of the first British officer battle casualties of the Great War, as he was mortally wounded, the date currently recorded on his headstone of 23rd August, 1914 is incorrect, as confirmed from the German records for those soldiers of both sides who had died at Feldlazarett No. 3 at Maisieres and had been buried in the Communal Cemetery. This also provides the explanation for a question which is frequently asked – if Captain Knowles had been killed beside Major Abell, why wasn’t he buried at St. Symphorien Military Cemetery? The answer lies in the evidence recorded in the German burial records and explains why he is now buried at Cement House Cemetery.

Masonic :

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley