Sir William Knighton: The Strange Career of a Regency Physician by Charlotte Frost – a review

Sir William Knighton was a man of surprisingly humble beginnings and yet he rose to become one of the most influential people in the country, as confidential advisor to King George IV. He was a figure shrouded in mystery – the secret influence behind the throne – and has been subject to suspicion and conjecture concerning the hold he had over the King.

In this biography, Frost dismisses these rumours and presents us with a hard-working and dutiful man who abandoned a lucrative medical career in order to devote himself to serving George IV.

Drawing on a wealth of new research, she presents many interesting details of Knighton’s youth and rise to fame. She shows the gradual change from the shy young doctor who would study rather accept a flattering dinner invitation, to the London physician who looked after the nobility, finally becoming the trusted advisor of the King.

Her description of Knighton’s journey to becoming a London physician shows a fascinating insight into the training then thought acceptable for a medical practitioner. Even more illuminating was the need for a London doctor to conduct himself like a fashionable gentleman.

It is intriguing to follow the path of influence, from the courtesan, Sally Douglas, to Marquess Wellesley, and so to George IV. Advancement was very much a case of who you knew, and Knighton took advantage of the opportunities offered him to gain a position of royal patronage.

Frost cleverly overcomes the possible confusion arising from multiple people of the same name within Knighton’s family by assigning them a constant designation at the start of her book. She applies the same policy to other key characters, referring to them by surname. I did not find this worked quite as well as these people are more usually referred to by their titles and I found myself constantly flitting back to the page of names to remind myself that, for example, Robert Banks Jenkinson was Lord Liverpool.

This is a comprehensive biography, crammed with details about Sir William Knighton’s life and work, which uses many original sources to present a well-rounded picture of this important Regency courtier.

Sir William Knighton (1777-1836): Part 2 Royal advisor

Sir William Knighton
from Memoirs of Sir William Knighton
 by Lady Knighton (1838)

Confidential advisor to the Regent

In 1812, Knighton was appointed physician-in-ordinary to the future George IV. It was soon evident that Knighton was George’s new favourite. In January 1813, Knighton was created a baronet. To receive this honour after being physician-in-ordinary to the Regent for only a year was exceptional. But Knighton’s services to the Regent were by no means limited to the medical sphere. George increasingly relied upon Knighton to conduct his confidential business as well as to provide him with emotional support following the deaths of Princess Charlotte in 1817, his mother in 1818 and his brother, the Duke of Kent, and his father in 1820.

Sir William Knighton's coat of arms
from Debrett's Baronetage of England (1835)

The entry for Sir William Knighton, Baronet,
in Debrett's Baronetage of England (1835)

The McMahon affair

In 1817, the Regent was faced with a potentially explosive situation. His private secretary, Colonel McMahon, was dying, losing his mind due to alcohol abuse after the death of his wife. George feared that McMahon might have damaging papers in his possession, in particular, papers regarding his secret marriage to Mrs Fitzherbert. It was to Knighton that George entrusted the task of retrieving them. Knighton duly visited McMahon and extracted various papers and letters from his possession and waded through them on George’s behalf, organising those that should be kept and destroying any that might incriminate George.

‘Private secretary’ to the King

Despite Knighton’s growing influence, McMahon was replaced by Benjamin Bloomfield as private secretary. This was not a happy appointment. The relationship between Bloomfield and George deteriorated and eventually, George agreed to abolish the role of private secretary in order to be rid of him.

Despite the abolition of the role, Knighton effectively became George’s secretary, unofficially and therefore unpaid. Officially, he became the Auditor of the Duchy of Cornwall in 1818 and was made Keeper of the Privy Purse in September 1822, having by then given up his medical practice in order to devote himself to the King’s service.

Knighton exerted great influence over George and controlled his expenditure by requiring tradesmen to only accept orders signed by himself. The Memoirs confirm that Knighton made the Privy Purse debt-free though they do not describe quite how he achieved it!

George IV
from Memoirs of George IV
by Robert Huish (1830)

On His Majesty’s Secret Service

Knighton travelled with George to Hanover in September 1821, and again to Scotland in August 1822. But as well as these public trips, George relied upon Knighton to liaise with his government and transact his personal business. He made several trips to the German states to deal with George’s family affairs and secret trips to France to attend Lady Conyngham’s dying son.

He was also commissioned to buy up unfavourable newspaper reports concerning George’s relationship with Lady Conyngham and help silence the controversy over an unpaid loan from an entrepreneur called De Beaune which had been stirred up by a pamphlet called The Royal Criterion.

Another secret mission was to deal with the famous courtesan, Harriette Wilson, who was publishing her memoirs, and offering to omit the names of her previous lovers for a price. It appears that she had obtained incriminating correspondence between Lady Conyngham and John Ponsonby, to whom she had been engaged and had later become one of Harriette Wilson’s lovers.

Opposition

Despite Knighton’s position of influence, he was refused a seat on the Privy Council by Lord Liverpool, who cited his earlier profession as the main objection. The secrecy concerning many of Knighton’s actions increased the suspicion concerning his role and laid his conduct open to speculation and rumour. On 18 February 1828, he was openly criticized by Thomas Duncombe in the House of Commons as the “secret influence behind the throne”. He was also subject to attacks from the press, who caricatured his invisible influence on the King.

The devoted servant

Knighton worked unceasingly in George’s service. Often he would be summoned to urgently attend George’s side. George addressed him frequently as “my dear friend”, signing himself as “ever your most affectionate friend.” The strain took a toll on Knighton’s health and he suffered from bouts of ill health and depression from as early as 1825.

Knighton had truly become part of George’s family. But as such, he felt unable to resign; it was possible to resign from a position, not from a family.

Royal influence

Knighton often acted as intermediary between the King and his subjects. He promoted the interests of Robert Southey, David Wilkie, Sir Thomas Lawrence and Sir Walter Scott. Lawrence and Scott in particular became good friends.

Sir Walter Scott (1808)
from Waverley 

Death of George IV

On 26 June 1830, George IV died.

Knighton wrote to his wife: “Thus ended the life of George the Fourth, one of the cleverest and most accomplished men in Europe – full of benevolence! There will be many to deplore his loss. It is impossible for me to quit this place at present; I have a weight of care before me not be described...My health has suffered much, and I am at this moment more dead than alive.”

Life after George

As George’s executor, Knighton was involved in dealing with the King’s affairs for many months. Together with the Duke of Wellington, he went through all George’s letters and papers, destroying anything that might be damaging to the late King. Eventually, he was able to retire to family life at Blendworth Cottage in Blendworth, Hampshire. But the exertions of his life at court had taken their toll and his health remained poor. He died on 11 October 1836.

Read more about Sir William Knighton, Regency physician

Sources used include:
Courthope, William (ed), Debrett's Baronetage of England (Rivington, 1835)
Frost, Charlotte, Sir William Knighton: The Strange Career of a Regency Physician (Authors OnLine, 2010)
Hamilton, J A, Knighton, Sir William, first baronet (1776-1836), revd Judith Schneid Lewis, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004, online edn, May 2009)
Hibbert, Christopher, George IV (©1972, 1973; Penguin, 1976)
Knighton, Lady, Memoirs of Sir William Knighton, Volumes I and II (London, Richard Bentley, 1838)
Parissien, Steven, George IV, The Grand Entertainment (John Murray, 2001)

Sir William Knighton (1777-1836): Part 1 Regency physician

Sir William Knighton
From Memoirs of Sir William Knighton
 by Lady Knighton (1838)

Obituary in the Medical Gazette

“Sir William was unquestionably a man of excellent talents; but he was still more conspicuous for his fine sagacity and knowledge of the world. His success in life was remarkable; such was at one time his interest at court, that it is quite certain he might have commanded almost anything which the highest influence in the empire could bestow; yet he never showed himself either avaricious or greedy of honours.”

Family life

There were no indications from William Knighton’s early life that he was destined for greatness. He was baptised in January 1777, in Bere Ferrers in Devon, the only son of William Knighton, a farmer, and his wife, Dorothy Hill. After his father’s premature death, Knighton, his mother and his sister, Thamzin, were left in impoverished circumstances.

Medical training

In 1793, Knighton was apprenticed to his uncle, William Bredall, a surgeon-apothecary in Tavistock, Devon. To complete his training, he went to London and on 29 September 1796, he enrolled at St Thomas’ hospital to “walk the wards” under the tutelage of Henry Cline, an eminent surgeon.

In February 1797, Knighton received a diploma from the Company of Surgeons and was approved as assistant surgeon at the Royal Naval Hospital in Plymouth, where he worked for two and a half years. He inherited the private practice of Dr Francis Geach, senior surgeon at the Royal, on Geach’s death in 1798.

A happy marriage

In 1800, Knighton married Dorothea Hawker, the daughter of Captain James Hawker, head of one of Plymouth’s most respected families. The couple were devoted to each other. The Knightons had four children, Dorothea (1807), William Wellesley (1811), Mary Frances (1816) and a son who died in 1802.

The Royal College of Physicians

After the death of his son, the grief-stricken Knighton decided to move to London. Although he had received an MD, Doctor of Medicine, degree from St Andrews in 1800, he soon discovered that this was insufficient qualification to allow him to practice; to be examined by the Royal College of Physicians of London, he had to have studied at a university for two years.

To gain this experience, in 1804 Knighton moved to Edinburgh where he studied at the university. Having completed two years of study, Knighton applied for a degree, not from Edinburgh, but from King’s College, Aberdeen, which he was awarded in April 1806. He was duly examined and was admitted to the Royal College of Physicians on 25 June 1806. He set up practice in Hanover Square, primarily as an accoucheur – that is, a man-midwife.

Nineteenth century networking

Knighton’s rise to a position of influence in the court of George IV was largely due to what we would now term networking. He was fortunate to gain Sally Douglas, a courtesan who was also known as Moll Raffles or Mrs Lashley, as his patient. At the time, she was mistress to the Marquess Wellesley and she persuaded Wellesley to take Knighton with them on a trip to Spain in 1809. Knighton was to be given the sum of £5000 as compensation for loss of fees while he was abroad.

On their return, Wellesley was not in a position to pay the full sum and, in recompense, he introduced Knighton to the future George IV when he was taken ill at Oatlands in 1811. George thought Knighton “proud and overbearing” but “the best-mannered medical man” he had ever met. In January 1812, Knighton was appointed a physician-in-ordinary to George, giving him access to the royal household.

Famous patients

Knighton earned as much as £10,000 a year from his profitable London practice. As a gentleman, he did not charge for his services; he received what his patients chose to give in gratitude. His role gave him a position of influence in many leading households where the strength of his personality enabled him to gain ascendancy over the minds of his patients for their health and welfare. These included Lord Byron and the Duchess of Clarence, when her baby was born prematurely in December 1820, as well as George IV.

Queen Adelaide, Duchess of Clarence
From The History of the Life and Reign of William IV
by Robert Huish (1837)

Physician to courtier

George increasingly relied upon Knighton as his trusted advisor giving him less and less time to devote to his patients. Consequently, in September 1822, he gave up his medical practice and in 1823, he even resigned as physician-in-ordinary to the King so that he could devote himself to his other duties.

Read more about Sir William Knighton, royal advisor

Sources used include:
Frost, Charlotte, Sir William Knighton: The Strange Career of a Regency Physician (Authors OnLine, 2010)
Hamilton, J A, Knighton, Sir William, first baronet (1776-1836), revd Judith Schneid Lewis, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004, online edn, May 2009)
Hibbert, Christopher, George IV (©1972, 1973; Penguin, 1976)
Knighton, Lady, Memoirs of Sir William Knighton, Volumes I and II (London, Richard Bentley, 1838)
Parissien, Steven, George IV, The Grand Entertainment (John Murray, 2001)