Francis H. P. Knight
(1886[1] - ????)
Francis H. P. Knight was a UK fan from Walsall active in the 1930s. He was a member of the Science Fiction Association (SFA), joining in August 1938, and a long-term correspondent of C. S. Lewis.
Knight was a member of the British Interplanetary Society (BIS) from at least 1934, and possibly a founder member as he's mentioned several times in its second bulletin. He was an occasional contributor to Novae Terrae, writing in July 1937 'As you will issue a journal with a Latin title I have enclosed a Latin translation of part of this letter...'. In a later letter in August 1938 he said, 'Besides, admitting an age of 19,000 days, I may be Victorian in outlook.' This implies he was about 52 years old, in turn implying a date of birth in approximately 1886. In the same letter, he said:
The undersigned must confess that he hoards a large collection of s-f mags from 1926 onwards, as well as some volumes. He has no intention of parting with these before his translation to another Dimension. Some of these stories are variations only of older ones; but some I can read over and over again:- here are three titles only: 'Spacehounds of the I.P.C.' 'A Voice Across the Years' 'Exiles on Asperus'[2].
Knight attended at least one London SFA meeting in October 1938.
In December 1938 Novae Terrae reported that he was:
exchanging letters with C. S. Lewis, author of new hit s-f novel Out of the Silent Planet, resident of Magdalen College, Oxford
On November 14, 2023, the London auctioneers Bonhams sold a group of 14 Lewis works, seven of which were inscribed to Knight[3]. The seller said that his grandfather, Francis Bowler, had worked in a library where Knight had been a regular visitor. The Lewis books were bequeathed to Bowler and later sold for £25,600. The auction details make clear that Knight and Lewis met in early 1939 and they continued to correspond until at least 1956.
| Person | 1886—???? |
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- ↑ Approximate.
- ↑ E. E. Smith, Fletcher Pratt and John Wyndham respectively.
- ↑ Details of sale at Bonhams site.
